The purpose of this post is two-fold. One, to provide an update on the upcoming StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event, and two, to provide some quick tips for entrepreneurs to get the most out of the event.

Currently, we have over 60 companies and over 20 investors signed up to attend. We’ll probably hit around 80 to 90 companies and 30 investors before all is said and done (space is limited for this first event – it is already getting close to standing room only). What is also equally as impressive (to me at least) is the sheer diversity of ventures that will be in attendance. There are companies from at least a dozen different industry sectors, including information technology, IT security, social media, new media, outdoor media, cleantech, biotech, nanotech, pharma, and even athletic apparel!

We’re going to be doing our first ever podcast from a live event as well, so have your pitch ready!

So if you are an early-stage entrepreneur that doesn’t have much experience with investor networking, Mike and I would like to serve up a few tips that will hopefully help you get the most out of the experience. Feel free to add your own as a comment!

1. Bring demos/laptops! If you have a demo of your product that can be shown on a laptop – bring it! We’ll have a few tables on hand. If you get into a hot discussion with a potential investor, hop to the back of the room and fire up your laptop. Show and tell, baby!
2. Perfect a concise pitch! You want your pitch to deliver value in one or two sentences. I like the old format of: “We are Company Name, and we solve this problem, for these customers, by doing X.” Example: Acme Corporation is a maker of “magic paint” for homeowners who are tired of having to paint their house every few years.
3. Don’t hog an investor’s time! Toss out your pitch, listen to their questions, and answer them equally as concisely. Nothing turns an investor off more than an entrepreneur who drones on and on about how great they are. I’m guilty of this, too – most entrepreneurs are! So you have to check yourself. Get their card, thank them for their time, and let them know you’ll be in touch with your business plan, etc. Then free up their time for someone else (and your time to move on to another potential investor.)
4. Likewise, don’t let an investor hog your time! Do you really want to talk to the same investor for two hours? Probably not. Raising capital is a numbers game, so hit and run!
5. Ask investors what they are investing in (a novel idea, I know.) Seriously, it helps to set expectations. If you are a technology company and the investor in question is only looking for a nanotech deal, probably not worth camping out there (for either of you.)
6. If an investor doesn’t invest specifically in the kind of opportunity that you have, ask for a referral to someone he or she may know that actually might be interested – networking 101!
7. Don’t overlook the the value of making connections with your fellow entrepreneurs – they are gatekeepers to capital, customers, and other resources, and are often investors themselves!
8. Dress in a manner that will make an investor comfortable in giving you lots of money. Should you wear a suit? Up to you … but definitely don’t go any lower than business casual.
9. Help others! If you meet an investor that can’t help you, but may be able to help a friend of yours, walk the twelve feet and make the introduction.
10. There will be a handful of observers in the room. You’ll be able to identify them by their red name tags. They aren’t necessarily entrepreneurs or investors, but are industry luminaries, community figures, media members, and special invited guests. Do yourself a favor and take a moment to introduce yourself to them. You’ll thank us for it later.

This first event will be held on Wednesday, May 16th, from 6-8pm, so mark your calendars. You can read more about the event here.

Cheers.

Walls are great for privacy. But they impede progress unless there are doors in the walls that allow you to move freely from one room to the next. And if you can’t build doors, then tear down the walls. It’s far easier than measuring and fitting new doors for every room in the house.

Yes, I think all of these apply to Atlanta. But not Atlanta alone.

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The first StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event is really shaping up! With very little promotion we’ve managed to get RSVPs from a dozen investors and over 40 entrepreneurs. That number is going to climb quite a bit here soon, as we ramp up our marketing efforts.

There are at least 5 or 6 attending companies that I think have a very good story to tell (in terms of traction.) I don’t know all of the attendees, so I don’t really know their stories yet.

If you are a Georgia entrepreneur, a high-net-worth individual investor interested in doing angel investments, or are a venture capitalist looking to scout the Georgia market for early stage entrants, you’ll definitely want to make this event.

Admission is free (as it should be – shame on people that charge for capital networking!) However, you will need to apply for attendance, be approved, and then RSVP with the # of people in your party.

To reiterate: service providers and job seekers will not be allowed to attend this event. We are taking some fairly exhaustive measures to make sure that the focus of the event remains on putting ideas and capital in the same room – free from as many distractions as possible. We define a “service provider” very broadly. It is anyone who charges a fee to conduct a service that would logically be aimed at any of our attendees. Service providers include consultants, attorneys, capital brokers, agents, marketers, etc.

This first event will be held on Wednesday, May 16th, from 6-8pm, so mark your calendars. You can read more about the event here.

Cheers.

Thanks to Scott for allowing me to “guest blog”.

I’d like to note and comment on the passing of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, the first President of the Russian Federation, and a key architect in the destruction of Communism and the ending of the Cold War.

Mr. Yeltsin was as responsible or more than Mikhail Gorbachev for the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In 1991, it was Yeltsin who, as the President of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, gathered the leadership of the Ukrainian S.S.R. and the Byelorussian S.S.R. and formally dissolved the Soviet Union from within. Gorbachev only resigned about three weeks later when he no longer had a country to preside over.

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In case you haven’t heard, our good friend Jason Caplain at Southern Capitol Ventures is putting out the challenge again, this time, here in Atlanta. Jason will be here in Atlanta meeting with Entrepreneurs on May 17th.

What he didn’t say in his post was that he will also be here on the 16th (the day before), and will be our guest on the StartupLounge.com podcast. He will also be attending our Capital Connections event that night. So if you want another opportunity to meet with Jason (and his partner David), merry early Christmas.

I’ve blogged about this before, and I think what he is doing is wonderful.

Cheers.

I’m throwing this topic “Under the Bus” on our next StartupLounge.com podcast, but I can’t sit on this for another week.

Will someone please tell me why the following three events are all happening on the same day, and at the same time?

• AVF – Atlanta Venture Forum
• TAG/ATDC Entrepreneur’s Society
• IEI (Mike Vollmer’s group that split off from TAG a few months ago)

These groups all have their next events scheduled as a breakfast on the morning of Thursday, May 3rd.

Why are we splitting up an already fragmented entrepreneurial audience even further?

Given Atlanta’s population of 5M residents (we’re the 9th largest metro area now) and abundance of sprawl, the entrepreneurial/startup community is already fragmented enough as it is. And of course, the trend continues with all three of these events being held in either Buckhead or Midtown – out of reach of 75% of working Atlantans and about 20 miles (and an hour and a half of a miserable commute) out of the way for most angel investors.

As it stands, any investors that do venture (pun intended) beyond their offices that morning are going to be at AVF. The rest most likely won’t be seen at either of the other events (probably for fear of actually bumping into an early-stage entrepreneur.)

Building a successful startup culture is not something that is going to be achieved by simply parading around speakers. We don’t need more “speakers” anyway, and we certainly don’t need them all at once. We need more workshops, more capital, more networking, more outreach, more mentoring, more process, more geographic marketing, more tangible results – and less speakers, fragmentation and artificial walls. We need more transparency in the venture/startup process, not $25 at the door.

Cheers.

One of the things that entrepreneurs constantly lament on is the lack of capital in soft markets such as Atlanta. However, the money is out there – it is simply a matter of bridging to it. If you are an entrepreneur, angel investor (wannabe or otherwise), or early-stage venture capitalist looking for deals in Georgia read on:

Through our collaborative effort at StartupLounge.com, we are very pleased to announce our very first quarterly “Capital Connections” networking event. This first event will be held on Wednesday, May 16th, so mark your calendars. You can read more about the event here.

We are still finalizing the venue (still sifting through several interested corporate location sponsors), although it will be located on the north-end of the perimeter (for convenience). The cost will be free, but space will most likely be limited, so apply for consideration as soon as possible.

We already have a number of VCs from outside of Georgia who have expressed their interest (and in some cases already, their intent) to be there, as well as many angel investors here in Atlanta. These are individuals who are actively seeking deals in Georgia.

Right now, our estimate puts projected attendance at somewhere around 75-100 people.

In order to keep the focus squarely on connecting early-stage deals with money, service providers (including capital brokers or other fee-based services), later-stage private equity funds, consultants, job seekers, and other such parties will not be allowed to attend. We do have a few reserved spaces for qualified “observers” – so contact me if you feel you have a vested interest in attending.

Finally, spread the word! Feel free to send a link to this post to other entrepreneurs, angels, and VCs that would have a vested interest in attending.

This is certainly not the final answer to all that ails the early-stage market here, but we’re hoping it will be a sufficient start!

Cheers.