Entrepreneurship on the rise in Greenville

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – Greenville, South Carolina may be the place for you to explore a new idea. Entrepreneurship is on the rise. Fresh ideas and startups lead to a bustling community and thriving ecosystem.

If there’s anyone who is familiar with the work that goes into starting a business, Adam Steinhoff is a serial entrepreneur who enjoys the challenge of innovating. He’s currently building a company called MentrBee.

“Like a dating site for folks who are starting their businesses and looking to get connected with some people who may have a little more maturity on the business side,” is how Steinhoff described it.

Business mentorship.

Right now his company only has three employees, it started in January 2021.

“It’s lonely sometimes being a startup entrepreneur,” he said.

However, he draws inspiration from others who walk the journey of entrepreneurship – the tech community.

“It’s a thriving community, I don’t know that it’s huge,” said Steinhoff. “It is big enough to support us, yet small enough to make me feel like I know everybody.”

“We’re us and we’re doing some really cool things.” said Phil Yanov, owner of Tech After Five. “It’s based on what we have learned here.”

When you think of starting a new business adventure, some may feel there’s an “it” factor to getting done. However, determination and drive are required to get things up and running.

“I see someone whose got a tech thing and I just realize they are on fire,” said Yanov.

“You’ve got your certain software developers, you’ve got your product developers on the tech side of things. If you want to expand tech to say biomedical fields,” said Bryan Davis, managing director at the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Furman University.

In the tech community, you’d find collaboration, social capital, and a plethora of ideas.

“We have a rich collaboration currency here in Greenville,” Davis said. “If you and I are working on something together you may know ten people I need to talk to. I may know ten other people that you need to talk to, and we’re willing to help each other out.”

If entrepreneurship is something you’ve dreamed of pursuing, there are some organizations like Village Launch and NEXT Upstate that offer support.

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