“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
~ Dr. Seuss

Time is a funny thing.  When you are young, you have seemingly boundless amounts of it. You wake up very day, full of zeal, and passionately chase your whim du jour.    Then, one day you wake up, and you realize that time has become a commodity, with a value all its own, and the opportunities to continuously expand your horizons have narrowed considerably.  The energy once dedicated to challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries ultimately succumbs to other forces … gives way to other things.   Eventually, every pursuit gives way to something else.

I guess this is as formal an “announcement” as I’m going to give on this, but after a lengthy period of soul searching, I have made the very difficult decision to largely step away from StartupLounge.com.

Five years ago or so, when Mike Blake and I came up with the concept of StartupLounge, neither one of us had any idea of what we were getting ourselves into.  Truth be told, I think if we had known how much work we’d need to put into something like this, we may very well not have started it at all.  Some folks have called StartupLounge “influential” or “important”, and I suppose to some extent it is.  But really, at the core, it is/was really about helping people help themselves, then to help others – and about 2 guys having fun yapping on a mic every now and then. And I will tell you – I most certainly learned more about our collective craft than others probably learned from me.

My reasons for stepping back from heavy involvement in StartupLounge is complex, and somewhat difficult to explain.  A big part of it is the time commitment required to record and produce podcasts (40 hours a pop), organizing events, PitchCamp, evangelizing, etc.   I simply do not have the time anymore to contribute at a high level in order to continue making a difference.  And when you’ve poured your heart and soul into something for as long as we have with StartupLounge, it makes the decision a very emotional one, to say the least.

Another huge factor in my decision is simply the level of energy required to perform my duties at my day job (StarPound).  Although we have a great deal of work ahead of us, the team is really doing some great things there. We’ve recently raised another round of capital, and are heads down on a ton of different things right now.

Finally, and perhaps the most important reason, is my family.  As it stands now, I am rarely home in time for dinner (thanks in part to Atlanta traffic).  I have a wife and two young daughters at home that I hardly ever see these days.  And this needs to change.  So, something has to give.

I should also add that there has been some speculation that my health is suspect, and that this somehow is contributing to my decision.  This is patently not true.  Sure, I’m battling a kidney stone right now (ouch!), but this too shall pass (literally and figuratively). Trust me. I’m as fit as a horse.  Then again, they shoot horses when they actually do get ill, so maybe that’s a bad analogy to go with.

Through StartupLounge, I have met some incredibly wonderful people over the past several years.  Entrepreneurs, most of which want to do something great.  Investors who actually want to engage with them.  And a wealth of community leaders and stakeholders who want to make a difference. I place an extremely high value on these relationships, and hope to continue nurturing them for years to come.

One person in particular, though, has meant the world to me throughout this journey.  Mike Blake.  I have come to rely on his wisdom and sensibilities for so, so many things.  Not just professionally, but personally as well.  I can only hope to one day even begin to repay him for the friendship, comaraderie, and contributions he has made to my life. Mike and I remain the best of friends, and I appreciate his understanding and patience throughout my rather circuitous decision making process.

With all of that being said, I should add that StartupLounge will continue on.  The inimitable  Josh Watts has agreed to replace me as the co-host of our podcast.  If you don’t know Josh, you should.  I can’t think of a better person to step into that role.  He has a solid understanding of early-stage entrepreneurship, technology, and carries with him a wicked sense of humor that will help keep the StartupLounge podcast as entertaining as ever.  So for you die-hard listeners of our podcasts, rest assured, it will continue to be worth tuning into. Who knows?  I might even make a cameo appearance every now and then

All of the free StartupLounge events will continue, including PitchCamp, Startup Seminars, and of course, the thrice yearly StartupLounge gathering in Atlanta.  Expansions are already underway to carry the philosophy and beliefs behind StartupLounge to other areas, including Savannah and Raleigh/Durham.  Mike is 100% committed to doing this, and his continued leadership will turn this into a reality.

As for me, well, it isn’t like I’m completely falling off the face of the earth.  I’ll still be around, helping as many people as I can, where I can.  I just may not be as visible. I will continue to attend StartupLounge events when I can, as well as others.  I continue to take enormous satisfaction in helping others achieve success, be it through mentoring, speaking, coaching, etc.  Oh, and continuing to learn new things myself.  I can’t imagine my life without those things, quite frankly.

Enough rambling from me.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.  Peace out.

Cheers.

I’m finally beginning to recover from last night’s CapitalLounge event, which was awesome.  Great turnout, and based upon my very informal survey of people as they were leaving at the end of the night, there were lots of facilitated connections. Thanks to everyone for coming and hanging out with us.

Urvaksh did a cool writeup on it as well.  He brought along an Atlanta Business Chronicle photographer as well … hoping to see some cool shots soon!  We should have the pics from our own photographer up on the site by next week …

Thanks to Allen Ulbricht from PeachPods And Anna McCullough from Adams Capital for jumping in and helping out at the badge table.  Man, that was a mess!  Lesson: Don’t let me and Blake manage the badges – that’s just a goat rodeo waiting to happen.

The next event will be in late May or early June, most likely.  We’ve also posted the date of the next PitchCamp session … if you are interested in attending, sign up now, it will fill up fast with only 12 slots available.

Cheers.

We’ll be holding a special edition of Startup Gauntlet just before our CapitalLounge event this Wednesday.  Space is limited to 12 startups and is first come, first serve. The focus on this edition of Startup Gauntlet will not be the usual 5 minute fast pitch with some slides.  This will be the “elevator pitch”.

E.g. “Hi, how are you?”  “Great!”  “So who are you, and what the hell does your company do?  And please don’t cling to me for 20 minutes trying to explain it.”

The only stipulation is that you must already be accepted for attendance at CapitalLounge that night.

For more information, or to RSVP check it out:

http://www.startupgauntlet.com

Cheers.

Unfortunately, we just received word that our normal location for CapitalLounge (The Pavillion of Dunwoody) has had to close their doors due to a disagreement with their landlord.  So, for our upcoming event on Wednesday, Februrary 25th, we have had to change the venue.

If you’ve already applied and been accepted to attend, you should receive an email tonight with directions to the new location.   If for some reason you do not receive an email tonight, check your spam folder (doh!), or go to the StartupLounge.com web site and pull up the event details page – if you’re logged in, you’ll see the information on the new location there.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and look forward to seeing everyone on the 25th!

Cheers.

Due to logistics, we’ve had to change the event venue from the Galleria to the ADTC – same time – 2pm.

Let me repeat – PitchCamp will NOT be held at the Galleria, but on the 3rd Floor (Hodges Room) at the ATDC. You can get address/map info here:

http://www.atdc.org/contact/

Thanks to Lance and crew at the ATDC for helping us out!

Cheers.

As I mentioned in my last post, our next Capital Lounge event is this Wednesday, 8/27. This is going to be far and away the best event we’ve done, on so many levels. More quality deals, more investors (4 to 1 company to investor ratio), and a couple of pretty big announcements, including one in particular that, to quote Mike Blake, that will “change the face of of the Atlanta early stage capital ecosystem.”

If you’ve ever planned a big event before, you obviously know all of the logistics and planning that go into it. CapitalLounge is no different. It’s a ton of work, for sure. But one thing that we do that many other groups don’t do is vet the attendees. This adds an order of magnitude to the effort required to pull off this event.

A key reason for the success of the CapitalLounge event is our vigilant effort to restrict attendance to direct capital providers and entrepreneurs with fast-growth potential. Investors and entrepreneurs are able to get maximum value from the event when they can spend their time establishing relationships with one another, rather than be distracted by other entities (hordes of service providers, job seekers, low quality deals, investor-wannabe types, etc.)

For the upcoming event, roughly one (1) out of every 4.5 applications was rejected for one reason or another. That’s a lot of filtering – and that equates to a lot of work. We have to do it this way – otherwise, we end up becoming the thing that we are trying change. There can be no sacrifice of the vision.

We get a lot of questions (especially from those whose applications are rejected) about the criteria we use, how we review applications, etc. Even though a lot of this information is automatically emailed to the applicant if their application is denied, I thought it might be instructional to provide a little more insight into how we select entrepreneurs, investors, and observers for this event.

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