A Partnership in Business and Life Rooted in Raleigh’s Entrepreneurial Community

Sean Newman Maroni and Becky Holmes Maroni met while developing their ventures in the co-working space of HQ Raleigh, which is now known as Raleigh Founded, in 2015.

Before meeting at the coworking space, Sean Maroni studied mechanical engineering at NC State where he was involved with NC State’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship program. He remembered learning what the word entrepreneurship meant during his first week at NC State. “I looked up on the registry what the different entrepreneurship classes are because I just learned that entrepreneurship is the thing where you get to do your own businesses,” Sean said. During his time at NC State, he developed and started his business Betabox, which provides STEM education services for K-12 schools.

While he was studying in Raleigh, Becky Maroni was studying at Duke University and was involved in their entrepreneurship program. During her college career, she started Ello Raw, a company that sold healthy snack bites.

After graduation, they both started using Raleigh Founded’s coworking space to continue to develop their ventures. The two were often the only ones left at the coworking space in the evenings. “I would be there, late at night, working on my laptop by myself,” Becky Maroni said, “and Sean was also there doing the same thing, so we met late at night.”

“I always sat near the kitchen and Sean came in one time and he was making himself pasta and I remember he didn’t put any sauce on the pasta,” Becky Maroni said, “I thought it was very weird, but we were struggling entrepreneurs.” Sean Maroni chimed in with a laugh, “yeah, I was just doing noodles and salt because it was cheaper.”

Their friendship started as they had conversations and bonded over being solo founders and the struggles that went along with that, like trying to make sure they could pay their employees. “We were both struggling to get our things working in a way that was more sustainable,” Sean Maroni said.

When the couple got engaged in 2020 they began considering different locations to get married in. “We ultimately did choose to get married in the same building that we met in, in downtown Raleigh, and that was super cool,” Becky Maroni said. They recalled how people from the entrepreneurial community — friends and mentors — helped the couple convince Raleigh Founded to let them have their wedding in the co-working space.

Before the wedding, Becky Maroni would joke that “if on the weekend we’re getting married, some engineer just walks in with his book bag and goes through the aisle, I wouldn’t even care, because it would be so quintessential to our journey.”

After reflecting on their journey from college to young solo entrepreneurs to now, Sean Maroni said, “It’s a different kind of success story than these company exits, it’s people coming together.” Becky Maroni followed up saying, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was the best.”

Even now, they both still have an entrepreneurial itch that is also present in their private life. “We use a database to think about our own goals as a couple and a family,” Becky said, “it’s funny to see us like we’re still in that mindset, even on the personal side, and we’re always kind of looking at new ideas and things to do together.”