About

What is First Wednesdays?

First Wednesdays promotes internet, technology and startup businesses in Charlottesville, VA.  Great cities always have a strong entrepreneurial culture and the goal is to make Charlottesville a great place to start and grow a cutting-edge business.

By highlighting local companies, achievements and opportunities, as well as hosting startup and technology-focused events we hope to build a strong community and startup culture.

Currently, we meet the First Wednesday or every month at a bar to-be-determined.  Follow this blog to find out where the next location will be.

How Did It Start?

First Wednesdays was started after a few conversations I had with Adam Healey of Hotelicopter.  I was surprised to discover another internet company, almost as cool as Cloudbrain, right across the street and we started talking about ways to make it easier for similar companies to find each other and network.  At the time, we were also looking for ways to help with recruitment, and boost Charlottesville’s credibility as a startup hub.  So we emailed a bunch of friends and started hanging out at South Street.  That was the beginning of First Wednesdays.

Who Runs This and What is Cloudbrain?

My name is Daniel Strickland, I’m the CEO of Cloudbrain.  I run this site as well as organize the First Wednesdays events.  Cloudbrain is a digital media software company – we make programs for organizing your music collection.  We also have a lot of side projects in social media and locally – including First Wednesdays.

You can follow me on Twitter, check out the Cloudbrain blog or email me at daniel@cloudbrain.com.