Advancing technological innovation and collaboration in Charleston, South Carolina.
A Semi-Complete List of Startup Accelerator Programs
Accelerating Success: A Study of Seed Accelerators and Their Defining Characteristics
Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Catalyst Center
Complete List of Incubators and Accelerators - launch.co
Follow accelerators on Twitter
National Business Incubation Association - search for incubators
US & Canada Seed Stage Tech Accelerators
Specific accelerators/incubators:
Bolt - Boston - internet-connected hardware
HAXLR8R - Bay Area, Shenzhen - hardware
Harbor Accelerator - Mt. Pleasant/Charleston, SC
Lemnos Labs - Bay Area - hardware
PCH Accelerator - hardware, run by international supply chain management company
Rock Health - Seed accelerator for digital health startups
TechStars - Boulder, Boston, NYC, Seattle - mostly web-based companies
Y Combinator - Bay Area
List of Books for Startups on Steve Blank's blog
The Circuit Designer's Companion by Tim Williams
Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart
Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge
Democratizing Innovation by Eric Von Hippel (free)
Discovery Driven Growth by Rita McGrath
Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
The Innovator's Solution by Clayton Christensen
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
An Introduction to Practical Electronics, Microcontrollers and Software Design (free e-book)
Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
Pitching Hacks by Venture Hacks
The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship (& Case Studies) by William Bygrave and Andrew Zacharakis
Product Design and Development by Karl Ulrich and Steven Eppinger
Smart Customers, Stupid Companies: Why Only Intelligent Companies Will Thrive, and How To Be One of Them by Michael Hinshaw and Bruce Kasanoff
The Startup Owner's Manual: A Step By Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution by Vijay Govindarajan
BizFilings.com Business Owner's Toolkit
Charleston Regional Development Alliance
Charleston Small Business Development Center
Fledgewing (Top 50 University Entrepreneurship Clubs)
Foundation for Enterprise Development
Kauffman Foundation - Entrepreneurship
South Carolina Business One Stop
U.S. Small Business Administration
Coding resources
8 Useful Resources to Learn How to Code Quickly
E Squared (Educational class search)
HCD Connect - Human Centered Design by IDEO (PDF toolkit)
InTech - Open-access online book publisher
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property: The Practical and Legal Fundamentals
Protecting Your Intellectual Property - University of Oklahoma
Solve For X - talks by Google's think tank
Proto Labs Educational Resources
Technology Entrepreneurship - Stanford class (Prof. Eesley's blog)
TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design talks
Alltop (Guy Kawasaki's aggregator)
Bryce.vc (Bryce Roberts, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures)
Chipreport.tv - video blog that covers newly released chips
For Entrepreneurs (David Skok, Matrix Partners)
EvD - solidsmack (design process), cadjunkie (design training) EngineerVsDesigner (design insight)
Jim Vileta's Business Research Launch Pad (University of Minnesota)
PracticeTrumpsTheory / LeanStack - Ash Maurya
NewbieHack - mechatronics tutorials
no upside - (Renee DiResta, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures)
Paul Graham - (Y Combinator)
Rita McGrath (Columbia University)
Startup Lessons Learned (Eric Ries)
VentureBlog (David Hornik, August Capital)
Hackaday.io / Hack-A-Day forum
Hacker News (Y Combinator)
Instructables - Share What You Make
Maker Faire - The World's most diverse showcase of creativity and innovation in technology, craft, science, fashion, art, food and more!
Reddit - r/hwstartups, r/startups, r/entrepreneur, r/askengineers
Stack Exchange - Q&A aggregator with a programming focus
Quora - high quality Q&A site
Angel Investors ($10K-250K+)
Upstate Carolina Angel Network
SouthEast Angel groups:
Angel Capital Group - Charleston, SC (based in Kansas City, MO)
Ariel Savannah Angel Partners - Savannah, GA
Atlanta Technology Angels - Atlanta, GA
Atlantis Group - Raleigh, NC
Blue Angel Ventures, Inc - Morrisville, NC
Blue Ridge Angel Investment Network (BRAIN) - Asheville, NC
Charleston Angel Partners - Charleston, SC
Charlotte Angel Partners - Charlotte, NC
Columbia Angel Partners - Columbia, SC
Emergent Growth Fund - Gainesville, FL
Fund for Arkansas' Future - Little Rock, AR
Inception Micro Angel Fund - Greensboro, NC
Nashville Capital Network - Nashville, TN
New World Angels - Boca Raton, FL
Piedmont Angel Network - Greensboro, NC
Springboard Capital - Jacksonville, FL
Startup Florida - Sarasota, FL
Triangle Accredited Capital Forum - Wake Forest, NC
Tri-State Investors Group - Chapel Hill, NC
WED3 (The Charlotte Area Angel Network) - Charlotte, NC
Wilmington Investor Network - Wilmington, NC
Competitions
Crowdfunding
CrowdRise (charity, events, & special projects)
Equity basics: vesting, cliffs, acceleration, and exits (article)
Founder's Pie Chart - tool to determine founder equity split
Google.org - philanthropic arm of Google, offers investments and grants
Pitch Development
How To Create An Early-Stage Pitch Deck For Investors - TechCrunch
Best Pitch Deck Examples on SlideShare
The Transparent Term Sheet & What's in a Term Sheet? by Founders Fund
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) - government open solicitations, $150k in first phase (6-9 months) and $850k (1.5-2 years) in second phase
Overview schedule of SBIR and STTR agencies
Venture Capital Firms ($2M - 50M+)
VentureMaven - follow VCs on Twitter
National Venture Capital Association
Charleston Entrepreneur Ecosystem
Entrepreneurship Education Resource
Harvard Business School - Entrepreneurship
Resources & Tools - Chuck Eesley
Resources - Celery crowdfunding app
NYU - Resources for Entrepreneurs
sbtdc - Online marketing resources & research tools
Start-up Tools - another PBWorks Wiki, mainly web-based tools for web-based companies
The Ultimate List of Legal Resources for Startups
Y Combinator - Startup Library - articles, books, blogs
Authorize.net (payment gateway, requires shopping cart)
DAQ & Analysis software
MATLAB
LabVIEW
Maple
Mathematica
Coroflot - hire designers
Clerky - The easiest way for startups to get legal paperwork done safely.
CRM
Highrise by 37signals
Docstoc - professional, legal, and financial documents
Employment Law Information Network
Finance
Expensify - expense reports
Financial Projections Model (first 5 years)
Find-an-Expert Services
Freelancer.com - hire a freelancer
GeniusRocket - crowd-sourced video production
Harvest - Timekeeping Software and App
IdeaConnection - crowd-sourced technology development, sourcing, IP monetization
IFTT - If This Than That - easy to use web automation service
Legal
Legal Zoom - legal documents
RocketLawyer - create legal documents, have lawyers review them
Marketing
HootSuite - Social media management
MailChimp - email newsletters and mailing lists
PRLog.com - free press release distribution
MixPanel - web & mobile analytics (freemium)
NineSigma - open innovation, crowd-sourced solutions
Open Source Software
Octave - Analysis / Visualization (like Matlab)
GIMP - Graphics Program (like Photoshop)
Project Management
Basecamp by 37signals
PBWorks (more than just a wiki)
Comidor : Enterprise Collaboration Platform for Project Management, CRM, Finance and Business Intelligence
Square - mobile CC payment system
ShipStation - shipping discounts, custom USPS labels, packing slips
Task Rabbit - Hire someone to run an errand or complete a task
TopCoder - crowd-sourced software development
Trade Show News Network - Top Trade Shows
ULINE - packaging materials (small MOQ & fast delivery)
UTest - crowd-sourced software testing
Web development
Freedigitalphotos.net - free stock photos
LaunchRock - Quick & easy launch page
Simple Machines - free forum software
Weebly - Quick & easy website builder
Wix - Free website builder
Dreamhost - Website hosting and domain registration
Upwork - find and hire freelancers from anywhere in the world
arXiv.org (Cornell)
Harvard Business School - Baker Library
MIT Observatory of Economic Complexity - the world's leading visualization engine for international trade data
PLOS (Public Library of Science)
SBA Office of Economic Research
U.S. Commercial Service - Market Research Library
3D Printing
Fictiv - 3D printed parts in 24 hours and CNC machined parts in 3 days + digital DFM feedback tools
123d - Software, content, and fabrication from Autodesk
3D Systems - 3D printers and 3D printing, based in Rock Hill, SC -
Engitype, LLC - 3D Systems Rep for NW. Will print parts at a low cost. They also do engineering visualizations (videos).
ExOne - sand, metal, glass 3D printing
Shapeways - 3D printing, including metals and ceramics
80/20 Inc - The Industrial Erector Set
Big Blue Saw - waterjetting services
Carr Lane - component parts of jigs and fixtures
Design2Parts - Design & contract manufacturing trade shows across the US
Electronic Parts
Adafruit - electronics for hackers
Allied Electronics (RS Components)
Monoprice - cheap wiring and electronics accessories
Parts-express.com - great for DIY audio
Seeed Studio - Shenzhen-based "open hardware facilitation" electronics company
Sparkfun - electronics for hackers/makers
Tindie - buy & sell electronics for hackers/makers
Electronic Board Fabrication
Vinatronic - Domestic PCB and PCB Assembly Shop
Advanced Circuits - they have free PCB layout/routing software on their website, they also do board assembly
Bittele Electronics - turnkey solutions with quick turn time.
ExpressPCB - free PCB layout software, low cost boards
San Francisco Circuits - For more advanced circuit boards for larger projects - bare and assembled; Also offers a hobbyist PCB Special (2 lyr, max 60 in2 Qty: 3 .062", $199) & (4 lyr, max 32 in2 .062", Qty: 3 $319); Made in USA & shipping included
Reviews of PCB houses from 3rd parties: Hackaday: Finding Cheapest Boardhouse * Near Future Laboratory: PCB Fab House Review * Build Electronic Circuits: Review of cheap PCB prototype shops
International sourcing
Essentra (formerly Reid Supply) - industrial supply
Freeman Manufacturing & Supply - mold making, tool making, foundry work
KellySearch - B2B Supplier search
Micron Motioneering - planetary gearhead sizing tool
Misumi - machine components, semi custom parts, materials, and mechanisms (linear slides, etc.)
MSC Direct - industrial supply
PIC Design - precicion mechanical components
Plastics
Protomold - injection molding and rapid prototyping
Ponoko - download your products from the internet and make them locally
Rapid Prototyping
Cubify (3D Systems)
Firstcut - CNC machining
Star Prototype - endorsed by Haxlr8r
RushGears - Custom gears and online CAD gear generator
Stream Unlimited - embedded software, hardware development, wireless
Scientific/Lab equipment
SDP/SI - Precision mechanical components
ThomasNet - Supplier Discovery and Product Sourcing
Uline - shipping supplies
Vistatek - rapid prototyping, rapid tooling, and injection molding (formerly CloudFab)
Who-sells-it.com - catalog product search
WM Berg - Precision mechanical components
Application Development
Apple Developer Library (99.00/yr membership to download s/w - must have an newer Apple computer - app must be approved by Apple)
iOS Human Interface Guidelines - Apple App guidelines
Start Developing iOS Apps Today - Walks you through all requirements and includes tutorial to build first app
App Design Strategies - design principals for a "good" app
DC motor tutorials (Micromo)
efunda - The Ultimate Online Reference for Engineers
Electronics
Arduino - open source Wiring platform/microcontroller (forum)
CircuitLab - Browser-based circuit design & testing
Electric Imp - easy WiFi integration
Raspberry Pi - $25 ARM GNU/Linux board (forum)
Free CAD Models
Yobi3D - 3D model search engine
Cubify (3D printing)
Thingiverse (3D printing)
Gowelding.com - welding calculations
IDES - plastics data sheets & UL yellow cards
Institutes, Societies, Publishers
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
AVS Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces and Processing
Association for Facilities Engineering
Consumer Electronics Association
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Physics Publishing
International Union of Crystallography
Professional Engineering Publishing
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
The Society for Information Display
KiCad - Open Source EDA Software
Kinematic Models for Design (Cornell)
Lagoa - cloud-based photorealistic rendering
MakeItFrom - material properties databsse
Make Lab Charleston - Charleston's local Hacker Space
Matweb - online materials information resource
Metal working reference charts
Metals stock list (Ryerson)
PEM - PennEngineering
Sheet Metal Thickness/Gauge Chart
Octoparts Common Parts Library
Open Source Hardware
BuildLog.net - CNC laser cutter
CNCZone - open source CNC machine forum
Lasersaur - CNC laser cutter
Open Source Software
Protomold's YouTube channel - plastic injection molding design
SmartDraw - Mechanical/electrical schematic software ($197)
System Engineering “Toolbox” forDesign-Oriented Engineers
ThisToThat - find the right glue for any two materials
TradePub.com - free trade magazines & technical papers
WolframAlpha - Computational Knowledge Engine
To help get you started with PBworks: