Top 10 things people want to know about Charlotte

The folks at the Ask.com search engine just sent me their top 10 most asked questions about Charlotte. My takeaway: We've got a lot of newcomers looking for basic info on the area, a lot of sports nuts, and a lot of pre-teen girls dying to see His Hairness, Justin Bieber. Here are the top questions, along with Ask.com's answers:

Top Questions Asked about Charlotte on Ask.com

1. What county is Charlotte, North Carolina in?

Charlotte, North Carolina is located in Mecklenburg County.

2. What is the population of Charlotte, North Carolina?

The population in Charlotte is approximately 756,912.

3. Who owns the Charlotte Bobcats?

Hall of Fame basketball player, Michael Jordan, is the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

4. What is there to do in Charlotte?

Charlotte has something for everyone, from major sporting events to historic Carolina charm. Charlotte also boasts major shopping centers like SouthPark Mall and Concord Mills, as well as "NoDa" (Arts District north of Uptown), where you'll find an assortment of cool galleries and a hot lineup of live bands performing almost every evening.

5. What is the closest beach to Charlotte?

The closest beaches to Charlotte, North Carolina are Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina, and the Isle of Palms, Folly Beach and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. The nearest beach would be around a 4 hour drive from Charlotte, which is about 178 miles from Myrtle Beach.

6. Why is Charlotte called the Queen City?

The city is named for Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Germany, who became the bride of England's King George III. In 1768, founders named it "Charlotte Town" in an attempt to win favor with the crown.

7. Will the Carolina Panthers be Super Bowl material this season?

Most experts put them in the middle of the pack, with odds of winning the Super Bowl ranging from 30/1 to 55/1.

8. Are Justin Bieber concert tickets sold out in Charlotte?

Tickets for the August 8^th show at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte are sold out. However, there are still plenty of tickets available via third party resale sites.

9. How much are tickets to the NASCAR Hall of Fame?

Adult tickets are $19.95. Tickets for children are $12.95.

10. When is the next Charlotte Restaurant Week?

Charlotte Restaurant Week is Friday, July 16 - Sunday, July 25, 2010.

Can 'startup culture' catch fire in Charlotte?

Ben Vandgrift, a software developer, has done the Big Company thing.

He worked for IBM and Sun Microsystems. He even worked for the Charlotte Observer. But a few years ago, he decided to go solo. His current project, a dating website called Flowmingle, hasn't exactly put Match.com on the run, though. He's considering revisions.

Though life as a tech entrepreneur has its headaches, he doesn't sound like he's going back to Corporate anytime soon.

"It's so incredibly liberating," he said. "Once you get bitten by that bug, where instead of working on other people's vision you're working on your own, it's very hard to shake."

And these days, with big companies shedding employees, many smart people are finding themselves with skills in search of a market. Often, they turn to freelancing. Vandgrift is hoping he can help people like that through his latest venture, Start Charlotte (@StartCLT on Twitter).

He and his partners are taking an office space suite at the Area Fifteen business incubator in Optimist Park and turning it into a membership-driven co-working hub. They hope to attract freelance Web designers, software developers and other creative tech types. It's still a work in progress, but he hopes eventually he'll have enough members to leverage the kind of discounted group rates corporations enjoy for services such as health insurance or accounting.

That, he argues, would leave the members free to create and collaborate, and hopefully, form the kind of startup culture that breeds innovative companies like Google or Facebook. Beats working from home, he says. "Some people can handle working off of the couch for eight hours a day. I can't."

Interested? Drop by Area Fifteen at 15th Street and North Davidson on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., when Vandgrift and his collaborators will be holding an open house. Or you can visit the Start Charlotte's website or e-mail Vandgrift at ben@startcharlotte.com.