Durham-based startup helps entrepreneurs

Two Durham-based entrepreneurs are still in their twenties, but don’t let their age fool you.

Aaron Houghton, an alumnus of UNC, and Taylor Mingos, a graduate of Duke University, are already veterans when it comes to entrepreneurship.

The men teamed up in July to start Downtown Durham Startups in an effort to connect and promote local entrepreneurs.

“We are trying to package everything that has been going on and putting it into one place,” Houghton said. “The site will provide visibility for people outside the area, but also for people inside the area.”

Both have previously established popular web programs geared toward small businesses.

Houghton describes his high school self as an extremely mediocre basketball and soccer player. But he launched his first business, Preation, at the end of his sophomore year.

He later ran Preation while attending classes in a little office above Qdoba, he said.

Houghton later co-founded iContact — an e-mail marketing program that has 650,000 users worldwide. Mingos is the founder and CEO of Shoeboxed, a bookkeeping website.

Their experience could help connect small businesses in Durham with the right contacts, Mingos said.

The Durham area has recently seen a change in the number of entrepreneurs and businesses in new fields, said Christopher Gergen, executive director of Bull City Forward, which is a mentoring initiative for young entrepreneurs seeking social change.

“Durham was dependent on communities that collapsed at the same time with the tobacco and textile industries and is now looking to reinvent itself,” Gergen said.

Bull City Forward is one example of a business Downtown Durham Startups is including in its network.

“We have to create a fertile environment for entrepreneurs,” Gergen said.

The organization is among many working to connect entrepreneurs with early capital funding.

Recently, several financing and mentorship programs have opened in Durham, including Joystick Labs and LaunchBox Digital.

“If you are a 21 and have a 40-page business plan, the (venture capitalist) route will not happen,” Mingos said.

These programs help new entrepreneurs access startup money because venture capitalists do not traditionally finance small companies.

“With the new tech startups, the people are not focused as much with making incomes, but growing something and developing a client base, and potentially growing a $100-million company,” Houghton said.

Mingos said he was surprised to find such a hub of business activity in Durham, even after spending four years at Duke as an undergraduate.

Downtown Durham Startups aims to create visibility for the area as well as to create a strong business connections amongst entrepreneurs, Houghton said.

“It is a good community which feeds off itself,” Mingos said.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.