Just a quick update on the upcoming Cleantech Georgia 2008 event, which is being held this coming Wednesday, May 14th.

In addition to having featured speakers from Coca Cola, Southern Company, Suniva, Hardin Construction, and Valhalla Partners, we are thrilled to have locked in Mike McQuary as a speaker. If you don’t Mike, or know of him, he was one of the original principals behind Mindspring (later merged with EarthLink). McQ is doing something really neat these days. Among other things, he is the CEO of Ruff and Tuff, a manufacturer of electric vehicles. Rumor has it that he will actually have one of their vehicles on display at the event.

Also, here is the list of startups that will be delivering a 3 minute fast-pitch at the event:

• Ride Cell
• i-Linc Technologies
• Radiance Energies

If you’d like to attend, here are the specifics.

Thanks again to all of my fellow board members of the TAG Business & Technology Alliance for helping to pull this together. It should be a great event! A special thanksto board member Cindy Cheatham of the ATDC. Cindy has really gone above and beyond to help bring this event together.

Cheers.

If there was ever an indicator of how things are improving here in Georgia for early-stage entrepreneurs, you need to look no further than the amazing slate of grass-roots and established events going on this month (shown below in chronological order):

• AngelLounge - May 1st - May we just held this yesterday, and again, we had a nice crowd of Atlanta-area angel investors in attendance. AngelLounge is a monthly peer group comprised solely of angel investors. The goal is networking, education/mentoring, and deal flow. This was our 4th meeting, and things seem to be rolling along with it. During yesterday’s gathering, the focus was on “deal flow” - we also talked a bit about BoostPhase - Stephen Fleming’s new grassroots funding/acceleration vehicle for early-stage (idea stage) technology ventures. Good stuff … more soon.
• PitchCamp - May 7th - PitchCamp is our free afternoon workshop for entrepreneurs. The goal is to work on pitches, one pagers, and investor networking basics. Good stuff. We (StartupLounge) do this monthly, and the results have been fantastic. The session next week is nearly full (we have one company slot still open if anyone wants to come). We’ll have some great mentors in the room as well, including Sanjay Parekh (co-founder of Digital Envoy and creator of Startup Riot), Steve Walden (angel investor, and one of the key early guys at Prodigy - also the guy who helped launched Bellsouth.net), and Clark Gilder of the Atlanta Technology Angels.
• Cleantech Georgia 2008 - May 14th - The clean energy technology sector is real. In fact, last year, the total dollars invested in cleantech eclipsed the investments made in information technology - wow. This is the second annual Cleantech event here in Georgia. Aside from the great slate of speakers (Coca-Cola Company, Southern Company, Valhalla Partners, Hardin Construction), we have another fantastic line-up of early-stage cleantech companies that will be delivering fast-pitches to the crowd. Brought to you by TAG’s Business and Technology Alliance (B&TA).
• ATDC’s Annual Entrepreneur Showcase - May 15th - held once a year, this is a great event that celebrates the graduating class of the ATDC incubator down at Georgia Tech. A great batch of companies this year, including Emcien and Vendormate. There will be a huge crowd, and StartupLounge will be doing a podcast remote again this year - good stuff!
• Startup Riot - May 19th - Sanjay Parekh is a one-man wrecking crew, in the positive sense. This should be a cool event - 75-80 companies delivering 3 minute pitches throughout the day. Drew Curtis (Fark.com) will be delivering a keynote as well. I spoke with Sanjay yesterday at AngelLounge, and it looks like around 200 folks will be there. Booyah!
• CapitalLounge - May 21st - the month concludes with StartupLounge’s flagship event. Formerly called “Capital Connections”, this quarterly event brings together 250-300 fast-growth entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and angel investors for a great night of cocktails, gourmet food, and open networking. And, in true StartupLounge fashion, no job-seekers or service providers allowed (save for our handful of stalwart sponsors).

This is perhaps the busiest I’ve seen this community since the late 90s. Life is good, and getting better.

Cheers.

I’ve started watching (Chef Gordon) Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC on my cable package. Although I started watching because cooking is a hobby of mine and I’ve always been fascinated by the restaurant business (when I worked at McDonald’s as a kid, I loved it), it has struck me how wonderfully educational the program is for entrepreneurs in general.

(note - Chef Ramsey does a reality show on Fox called Hell’s Kitchen - not the same show at all)

The premise of the show is Ramsey, a celebrity chef and owner of multiple high profile restaurants around the world, visits small restaurants that are failing and provides 7 days of consulting to turn them around. I’ve noticed several themes that have clear parallels with entrepreneurial ventures in general. For example:

• Understanding what drives profit is important and often counter to conventional wisdom (serving high-end, elegant food is sexy but is much harder to do profitably - the profitable activity often isn’t the sexiest).
• There’s no substitute for roll-up-your-sleeves marketing. When Ramsey analyzes a restaurant, he goes into town and interviews people to see why they aren’t coming. Then he goes out with the owner go out into the general public when the restaurant re-opens for marketing. Lesson 1: lots of the most important marketing is not all that sophsticated. Lesson 2 - even millionaires should never think they are too good to sell to the public. Lesson 3 - Figure out who your customers are and talk to them.
• Lack of product focus is an insidious source of pain for a company. When restaurants have menus with dozens of choices, food production is a nightmare - you don’t get particularly good at preparing many dishes. Plus, your sales staff (wait staff) has a much more difficult learning curve.
• Denial of problems (Ramsey is excellent at facing the brutal truth, usually involving a great deal of profanity) is a killer - once you recognize problems, even deep problems can be surprisingly easy to fix if you take a cold, dispassionate look at them.
• Even one wrong person on the management team can be a company-killer. They need to be excluded from the company quickly once it’s determined that they are the wrong person.
• Managing employees who are friends is really difficult because it’s hard to ask your friends to do things that you expect your employees to do - and it’s even harder to provide firm guidance when required.
• Management is leadership - people have to want to do what you say not just because you pay them, but because they value your approval. You can’t leave your employees in the trenches and hide from crisis. You have to treat employees with respect (that’s very different from coddling), and you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to make the customer happy.
• Poor communication among the production (chef), management (restaurant owner) and sales (waitstaff) - often leads to lousy food and lousy service.
• Lack of passion on the part of owners and employees leads to sloppy execution (you can’t provide good service to customers without a passion for what you do). In one show, the head chef realized he really wanted to work with troubled teens (which is why he staffed his kitchen with them) and he left the restaurant to be a social worker.

If you’re interested in becoming a more skilled entrepreneur, I highly recommend watching this entertaining and edcuational show. My wife Cordelia, who also loves entrepreneurship, is also hooked and it’s become quality time for me and the Mrs.

I’ve found good lessons for me as a manager from the show. You may also.

– mike

I just learned that Trajectory Learning made the final 15 list for the TAG/GRA Business Launch competition. Good job, Henry!

Cheers.

The event formerly known as “Capital Connections”, and now simply referred to as “Capital Lounge” will be held on the evening of May 21st, 2008, from 5:30 to 9:30pm (location made available to you once you’ve been approved to attend). This should be another fantastic event, especially as we will be infusing a new wave of angel investors that are actively participating in our AngelLounge events. We’re expecting another raucous crowd.

Attendance will be capped at 250 people. We’ve historically had a backlog of people trying to get into the event, so if you are planning to attend, it would probably be best to sign up sooner rather than later. You can check out photos from past events here.

There are some changes to the event format and signup process, so be sure to read the official announcement.

We look forward to seeing you all at the event! Please continue to spread the word!

Cheers.

I just had a moment to watch the various video pitches recorded for the TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition. A couple of quick thoughts:

• A couple of trends -the big clusters seem to be in:
  • Events, finding something to do, connecting with friends, social networking (3 deals out of the 25)
  • Educational plays - of the 25 pitches on the site, 5 of them were in the education space - that’s a very positive trend, in my opinion.
• A handful of the companies listed recently attended one of our PitchCamp sessions. I’ll say this. It is very obvious to me which ones put in the effort. The difference is night and day in terms of getting the core message across.
• Video pitches have the power to turn otherwise normal people into amateur actors. When I watch a 2 minute video pitch, I don’t want to be entertained - I want to learn about the business, the market, the company, the product - the pain. Bringing in your children for cameo roles, doing humorous skits, or hooting and hollering like a used car salesman just don’t get me all that excited. Granted, it leaves me laughing, but at what …. the jokes, or your business? My two cents … your mileage may vary. At the end of the day, an investor wants to invest in your business, not a local chapter of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

Cheers.

Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of serving as an advisor and mentor to Henry Hipps, a young entrepreneur here in Atlanta who is embarking on a very ambitious, yet noble undertaking with his venture (Trajectory Learning). Henry entered Trajectory Learning into the TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition, which has a cash prize of $100K and $200K worth of professional services. This prize would allow him to really get the business going. He’s worked extremely hard on this, and it is exciting to see it coming together.

Henry participated in a video pitch component, which if he wins it, he will earn a “bye” during the first round of judging. This is the equivalent of the “People’s Choice” category.

If you have a moment - check out the pitch here (it is the second one listed). It is only a couple of minutes long. I’m sure Henry would appreciate your vote as well - if you have a moment, click the “Vote Here” link at the top of the page, and check the deal you like the most (we’re hoping, of course, that it is Trajectory Learning)

Good job, Henry!

Cheers.