The startup culture in Wilmington continues to grow as more entrepreneurs discover and want to be immersed in the area’s quality of life. While challenges remain, such as the need to attract more capital to the coast to help local startups thrive and potentially stay in the Port City, early entrepreneurs say they’ve found a welcoming atmosphere and important resources. The following are the stories of three Wilmington startup founders, in their own words.
 

Sydney Roughan, CEO and founder of Rowmue Inc., got the idea for her business when she was a junior at the University of San Diego, where she earned a degree in supply management. The 23-year-old’s company helps people with the difficult task of finding compatible roommates.
 

First job ever: “I started working at my parents’ company TAP Series when I was 7 years old. I would test courses, do bill reconciliation, payroll – let’s just say I was pretty good at using QuickBooks at 7.”
 

Inspiration: “When I was in college, I had the stereotypical bad roommate situation and was so confused about where I went wrong. The more I talked to people about my experience, the more I realized that almost everyone I knew who had found a roommate through Facebook or other housing sites had a similar experience.
 

It made me wonder, why is this such a common problem, and how can it be fixed?

After searching online, I realized it wasn’t about people being good or bad; it was about not having enough time to get to know each other before moving in. I also found out that nothing existed to help with this age-old problem. That’s when the idea for Rowmue popped into my head.”
 

Thoughts on Wilmington’s startup environment: “I think Wilmington has one of the best startup environments of any city in the United States. We owe a lot of that to the people who run the CIE center and the other business owners who support and guide new founders.”
 

Where do you hope your company will be in a year? Five years? “Over the next year, Rowmue will be expanding to other cities across the United States. We’ll be rolling out new features, like our compatibility rating system, that align with Rowmue’s mission of building a world where bad roommates don’t exist. We’ll keep innovating to make sure future roommates never have to worry about whether they’ll be compatible with the person they share a home with.”
 

Advice for other startups: “Knowing that no one knows what they’re doing at the beginning is key. When I started Rowmue, I had no idea where to even begin with developing an app. All I knew was that Rowmue was meant to be a mobile app, and I had $500 in my savings. So, I read every article I could find and searched every website to find a coder who believed in the idea enough to help me build it.
 

I spent 12-16 hours every day learning everything I could, trying over and over until something worked. Be willing to fall, but also be willing to learn from it and try again.”
 

What else do you want people to know about you and your company? “There’s no other roommate service that prioritizes compatibility first and foremost. I created Rowmue because, like you, I was tired of meeting roommates through Facebook and dealing with the stress that comes with finding the right one. Rowmue is built by a roommate, for roommates. It’s designed to cut down the time it takes to really get to know someone and make sure you’re picking the best roommate possible. It’s like having a mutual friend say, ‘Hey, you two would enjoy living together.’”