I just learned today that two of the companies I founded back in 1998 (and sold in 2004) were just acquired by F&W Publications, one of the largest private publishing and media houses in the country (with a niche focus in the fine art industry). It brought a smile to my face.

Back when I originally founded WetCanvas.com and Art-Agent.com, there was no concept of social media (although I do think we were a bit ahead of the times with some of the aspects of the community we built). It will be interesting to see what F&W does with the properties now. I’ve often thought back about WetCanvas!, and wondered what I would do with it in today’s landscape – especially given the advent of blogging and social networks.

We actually approached F&W about acquiring the company way back when (can’t remember exactly.) At the time, I don’t think they really “got” the concept (and power) of online communities. At the time, there rationale was along the lines of “we’re a traditional publisher, and the online space is not our core competency.” Glad to see this has changed. The WC community will benefit enormously by this transaction.

I also just had a strange flashback to a two week stint where I pulled all-night code rodeos trying to get the color matching algorithms to work right for searching art at art-agent.com. Ah, the good old days.

I found a cool online video put out by F&W – talking about the acquisition.

Congrats to Geoff and Kerri for a job well done!

Cheers.

I haven’t posted much lately as I’ve been knee-deep in a really cool new project (more soon).

The Atlanta entrepreneurial community continues to make inroads into the new transparent web. Check out the ATDC’s new blog (peachseedz.com).

Cheers.

For a great sneak peek at Vendormate, check out the latest installment of the StartupLounge.com podcast. Vendormate’s CEO Andy Monin stopped by and shared a great overview of the company, as well as his thoughts on creating high-performance teams in a startup.

We also had some great emails (including a particularly good question on raising angel money for a non-technology company), an update/wrapup of our recent Capital Connections event, and threw the state of Georgia under the bus. Wheee!

Cheers.

It is good to see more of Atlanta’s venture professionals getting involved within the online community. The latest entrant is Stephen Fleming, chief poobah over at Georgia Tech’s Venturelab. Check out his new blog here.

And speaking of Stephen Fleming, congratulations on securing new investors for XCOR! If you missed our recent StartupLounge.com podcast with Stephen, check it out, as we talked quite a bit about XCOR.

Cheers.

My old friend Toby Bloomberg has called on all Atlanta bloggers to pitch in and help spread the word about a very special young girl who could really use our collective help right now.

It will only take a minute – click here – and read her story. Having a 16 month old daughter of my own has really opened my eyes to a lot of things in the world.

Here’s hoping that my humble medium can play even a small part in helping this little girl.

Cheers.