Welcome to Founderville where we shine a spotlight on the innovation taking place in Greenville’s start up ecosystem. Chances are, our average reader hasn’t heard about many of these young companies. We’re looking to change that.
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January: RunVirt
RunVirt is taking a new approach to one of America’s oldest industries: printing. The company produces race bibs + participant identification for some of the world’s largest endurance events. The company blends the art of printing with the technology of printed electronics for participant tracking.
Founded:
Started in 2020, RunVirt became a full-time venture in mid-2022
Employees + hiring:
RunVirt went from a solopreneur organization in 2022 to three employees in 2023 to six employees in 2024 (with three to four contractors that support during peak seasons). So if trends continue, they’ll be hiring more.
Elevator pitch:
What started out as a print brokering business in a bonus room of a home in 2022 has quickly evolved into a custom-built production line that allows RunVirt to produce race bibs in one of the most cost-effective and energy-efficient ways to date. Within the past 6 months, they have added RFID label services, setting them apart and providing the most cost-efficient race bib+timing tag bundle in the US. They are also looking to pursue the newest of technologies with AI and machine learning to develop the concept further.
Why the Upstate?
This region has historically been a massive hub for the production of race bibs in the US. One of the major early producers of the product was Electric City Printing, based in Anderson. It produced bibs for events like the 1984 LA Olympics + the Boston Marathon (for decades). They are no longer in existence, but there was a talent pool here that RunVirt could utilize to reduce its learning curve by decades.
What do you need?
Additional funding would help accelerate plans to go beyond bibs + RFID, while the same is true for more web developers, as RunVirt looks to build solutions that have not existed before with AI and machine learning. Plus, more customers are always needed.
How has the Upstate’s entrepreneurial ecosystem supported your growth?
RunVirt was the first graduate of the Incubator Program with Anderson County Economic Development.
What sets your business apart from others in the same industry?
Our competitors don’t have to disrupt to exist, but for RunVirt to exist, we must disrupt, and that disruption is what leads to innovation. We are actively working towards crafting the future of our product and how it is used in the endurance event industry while others are focused on keeping the status quo. When you are a new company in an existing industry like ours, it can seem daunting to get a foothold because most people don’t like change. We view that as less of a challenge and more of an opportunity.
What were the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge that we have faced to date was shifting our business model from a brokering model to a manufacturing model. We went from a subsidized office and warehouse space courtesy of Anderson County to finding production space that checked our boxes. We then had to work to craft a production process + equipment that would give us an advantage over our competition and get it financed and, last but not least, installed and functional. This was our first major hurdle, and it was and still is not easy, but we are a gritty and crafty bunch, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team.
What advice do you have for fellow entrepreneurs?
Everyone hears “entrepreneur” and thinks of the Silicon Valley-types of companies that have contributed so much to our modern world, but that is the very rare few. A big draw to entrepreneurship, to me, was being able to own my outcomes, good or bad.
I crave our business’s competitive nature, but I also enjoy making something. We started as a broker-type of business, and I swore I would never get into actual production until it became painfully evident that it was the best route. That decision, while frightful, will be what sets us up to create the new “sexy” ideas for our industry.
