Aug 25, 2025 | 2025, Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, Economic Development, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Exits, FAV Funds, Financing, Founders, Investing, Legislation, Mid-Year Assessment, Regional Cooperation, Seed Investing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups, Valuation
“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” ― Carl Gustav Jung As we size up where we are mid-year with the Birmingham and Alabama entrepreneurial ecosystem, the theme that I see is: out of chaos comes order. One of the trends we’ve noticed...
Dec 6, 2024 | 2024, Alabama, Birmingham, Economic Development, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Investing, Legislation, Seed Investing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) recently released a comprehensive report on seed-stage investing in Alabama. We greatly appreciate the diligence PARCA put into this report and its thoughtful comparison of Alabama’s ecosystem with other...
Aug 29, 2024 | 2024, Advising, Alabama, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Investing, New Dynamics in Seed Funding and Financing Series, Post-Covid Investing, Seed Investing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
When you’re building a startup in Birmingham, Alabama—or any other non-coastal city—capital is a luxury, not a prerequisite. While the debate about the merits of this reality could go on indefinitely, I believe it’s more productive to accept it and build...
Aug 9, 2024 | 2024, Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Economic Development, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Investing, Mid-Year Assessment, Seed Investing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
It is that bi-annual time of year when I make my usual plea that we are not providing enough equity support. Once again, this is true, but perhaps this is also time for me to offer more productive thoughts. Thanks to Will Wright, the Head of Innovation at Protective...
Jan 12, 2022 | 2021, 2022, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
As always with the new year, we’re taking some time to pause and reflect. First Avenue does so by compiling our annual list of funded start-ups in Birmingham, which helps us analyze the health of the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. I also like to take stock...
