Serial entrepreneur Austin Armstrong and his wife, Austin Carroll, unveiled Bullhouse during Raleigh-Durham Startup Week, pitching it as a "living room for founders, by founders" designed to keep Triangle talent from heading to the coasts.
The pair moved to and from the region several times over the last six years before planting roots here. The problem they kept running into: Duke, UNC, and NC State produce strong founders, but many graduates leave once they finish school. Bullhouse is their answer to that drain.
The model combines a high-end event space with dedicated co-working, and it goes further than a typical shared office. Bullhouse offers free space to startups it invests in, with a focus on companies disrupting fintech, sports tech, health tech, defense tech, and martech. Armstrong and Carroll write individual checks and form Special Purpose Vehicles for larger rounds on a case-by-case basis.
"Bullhouse isn't just about providing a desk and Wi-Fi," Armstrong said. "It's about building a community space designed to support a cohort of 10 to 15 full-time, committed founders."
Armstrong, who has built a social media following of more than 5 million, said programming and education are central to the concept. "We want to create a space where founders don't feel like they're building in a vacuum."
Bullhouse hosted an open house Wednesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. as part of Startup Week, giving the Triangle startup community its first full look at the venture.