Venture Center To Hold Special Mixer Thursday, Encourages Entrepreneurial ‘Collisions’

The Little Rock Venture Center is holding a special evening mixer on Thursday (May 14) that officials said they hope will be a showcase event for the city’s burgeoning startup and tech community in the downtown area.

According to Jessica Johnston-Myers, the center’s director of programs and operations, the casual mixer is partly to celebrate the city’s recent tech and startup successes.

Most notably, privately-held PrivacyStar and publicly-traded Inuvo Inc., two data technology companies, are moving their corporate headquarters from Conway to downtown Little Rock’s fast-growing Creative Corridor.

The other purpose for the event, Johnston-Myers said at a recent One Million Cups event, is to give like-minded entrepreneurs, young professionals, small business owners, venture capitalists and tech innovators an opportunity to come together in a casual atmosphere that may encourage future collaboration.

“We are trying to create collisions between entrepreneurs and the business community,” Johnston-Myers said.

To encourage that edgy, high-energy atmosphere, the Venture Center and the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce have invited 40 technology companies, along with local professional, technical talent and startups to participant in the event.

The highlight of the event, Venture Center officials, said will be a Q&A session between Venture Center board members James Hendren and Rod Ford. The evening will also include an “open mic” event with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs, Venture Center officials said, culminating in a speed mixer allowing attendees to connect.

Hendren is former chairman of Arkansas Systems Inc. and one of the founders of Accelerate Arkansas, a statewide volunteer group of 60 business, professional, and education leaders. Ford, a serial entrepreneur, is founder of Xcelerate Capital, a Little Rock-based venture capital fund for first-stage investors.

The mixer will take place from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Venture Center, located at 107 E. Markham, across from the Statehouse Convention Center.

Admission is free, but registration is requested. Learn more here.