Charlotte Startup Dispatch
RealResponse, startup chief of staff role, and job opportunities
We have an action-packed Dispatch this month:
Company profile of RealResponse — a small-but-mighty startup with an impressive footprint in the athletics space and a great mission to boot.
What the Chief of Staff role is all about
A few Charlotte job opportunities
Our Charlotte “Exits & IPOs” list
Let’s get into it!
REALRESPONSE
Tagline: “Real-Time Information. Real-Time Response.”
What They Do: Help university and professional athletic organizations create a culture of accountability through surveys, real-time incident reporting, and anonymous texting.
Year Founded: 2016
Founder: David Chadwick
Location: Chalotte, NC
Founding Story: David Chadwick was a division 1 basketball player at Rice and Valparaiso. In an undergraduate entrepreneurship class, David pitched a business idea to provide a confidential way to bring feedback to leadership within sports organizations. The idea gained some traction, and he went on to interview hundreds of athletic directors to refine the idea. Read the full founding story direct from the source.
Employees: ~10 and hiring
Customers:
Collegiate: >100 colleges & universities including UNC, UNC Charlotte, Davidson College, Wake Forest University, NC A&T, Kansas University, TCU, University of Arkansas, Boise State, UC Davis, the University of San Diego, and many others.
Pro Sports: NFL Players Association, USA Gymnastics, The Broncos, The Chiefs.
News:
Recent announcement of new NFL deal:
📖 What We’ve Been Reading
When you think of the title “Chief of Staff”, it is entirely possible you think about a White House official rather than a role at startups. However, the Chief of Staff role is critical for some startups, and by some measures growing in popularity.
The focus of the role varies from company to company, but this individual often works hand-in-hand with the CEO and other seniors leaders on strategically important initiatives, giving the leadership team leverage. The Chief of Staff role is unique in that it typically doesn’t have any direct reports but generally sits at the leadership level. Smaller startups my opt for a single Chief of Staff and some larger tech companies have Chiefs of Staff for different business segments or functions.
These articles do an excellent job of capturing what the role can look like:
The Case for a Chief of Staff, Harvard Business Review
Exploring the Future of the Chief of Staff Role, CoS.network
The Chief of Staff role in Silicon Valley by Julia DeWahl
For those intrigued in the role and interested in what salaries ranges can be, here is a helpful overview of the compensation landscape:
How much $$ should a Chief of Staff be making? by Scott Amenta
💼 Job Opportunities in the Charlotte Area
We culled the internet so you don’t have to!
Director of Administration, Real Response (this seems like a Chief of Staff role with more of an emphasis on marketing strategy)
Senior Software Engineer, Emporos
Senior Architect, Anduin
Current openings in Product Management, Engineering, Implementation, and Marketing
💸 Exits & IPOs
In addition to the monthly Dispatches and our new Q&A series, we have plans to build out some ongoing “evergreen” resources that will be living and breathing documents. The goal with these resources is that anyone locally or around the world can get a quick feel for the startup landscape here in Charlotte — whether it’s someone local looking for job opportunities, someone thinking about relocating to the area, an investor, a business looking for partners, a startup support organization looking for mentors, you name it.
The first of these resources is our list of Charlotte Exits and IPOs — focused on companies either founded or headquartered in Charlotte. Exits and IPOs are critical in a few ways. First and foremost, these events can be life changing for startup founders and early employees. Exits and IPOs also have the potential to inject more risk capital into the Charlotte area, assuming some of that private wealth gets invested back into other local startups, potentially kicking off the flywheel for other local startup ventures. These events also build the credibility of those involved, making it easier to attract outside capital for future ventures.
We realize this list is just scratching the surface, so we look forward to your feedback on what we’re missing. Just drop us a comment in Substack or engage with us on the Twitter thread below.
Thanks for reading this month’s Dispatch! See you back here in a few weeks with our May Dispatch and Q&A with an under-the-radar startup in beta mode.
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Full disclosure: This is my employer 💪