We had a great time at the recent PitchCamp session. If you haven’t heard of PitchCamp, it is a free workshop that we offer to entrepreneurs to help them better refine their pitch. We also get into some adjacent areas, such as the ins and outs of investor networking, and how to maximize the value from things like our StartupLounge.com investor networking events. It is amazing to hear the difference in the “before” versus “after” pitches.  And you get the benefit of learning by watching all the other pitches evolve as well.  Good stuff.

The first few times we did PitchCamp, we had 20-25 entrepreneurs in the room. It turned out to be too many. It was hard to give everyone the attention they needed in a limited amount of time. We’ve cut the audience in half, so only 12 slots are available for each session (which we seem to be doing once a month now).

Another cool thing is that something like 60-70% of the angel investors in our Angel Lounge have shared their interest in helping at PitchCamp. We hope to bring in some of these folks to help out with the sessions moving forward.

We have a few slots remaining for our upcoming May 7th, 2008 session. It is from 2p-5p over near Galleria. If you are interested in attending, contact me and let me know. This thing fills up fast …

Cheers.

Building upon the success of last year’s event, Cleantech Georgia 2008 is gearing up to be even better! The date is fast approaching (May 14th) Attendees will have an opportunity to:

• Discover the many exciting Georgia innovations that are happening in the cleantech space
• Listen to venture capitalists, cleantech entrepreneurs, and other subject matter experts share their insights
• Enjoy fast venture pitches by a handful of select up-and-coming Georgia cleantech companies
• Explore our “cleantech showcase”, which will feature many emerging Georgia clean technologies

While we haven’t fully fleshed out the lineup yet, it is shaping up to be pretty strong:

• John Baumstark, CEO, Suniva: a solar cell play which just completed a $50M round of venture capital
• Dan Gordon, Valhalla Partners
• David Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, SJF Ventures
• Tom Johnson, Southern Company

Suniva should be fun to see - they are one of the biggest investments made in Georgia (cleantech or otherwise) in quite some time. David Kirkpatrick will be returning as well - his insights into the cleantech space were very valuable at last year’s event (check out his recent appearance on the StartupLounge.com podcast as well).

And of course, my favorite part - the early-stage entrants.

If you are a Georgia-based cleantech/green energy startup, and you’d like to be considered to be one of 3 hand-picked startups that will get to deliver a 3 minute fast-pitch at this event, please contact me so I can get you into the mix. Also, if you want to take advantage of our free “showcase” area for cleantech companies, contact me.

We have a number of industry players, angel investors and venture capitalists that will be in attendance as well - many of them have expressed to me their desire to learn more about the space, and to see what sort of innovations are coming out of Georgia.

For more information on the event, stay tuned to the TAG web site - more information will be posted soon.

Thanks 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!

Cheers.

Who’s Your Daddy?
Spotting The Unscrupulous Investors That Linger in the Shadows and What To Do When Dad’s A Deadbeat

By Stacy A. Williams

StartupLounge.com seeks to pair qualified investors with qualified companies. Our screening process is pretty rugged but it is not bullet proof. If you ever have a question about the integrity of an investor or entrepreneur that you have met at a StartupLounge event, we want to know about it. Please feel free to contact us if you ever have any questions or concerns about anyone that you have met at one of our events. We are here to be part of the solution - not another piece of the problem.

It is a sad comment on our times that we still have not eradicated the plague of the unscrupulous investor from the world of entrepreneurship. Amongst the many earnest and upright angel individuals, who are dedicated to fostering innovation and commerce in their communities, there often lurk the shady evil doers that are really looking to line their own pockets by directly funneling your money from your bank account into theirs. It’s not pretty but it is predictable.

Some of these “investors” are just self-serving and need the income. We call these small fish: job-seekers, consultants and fund-raisers. They are not really doing anything illegal, but they can waste your time and money because they don’t plan to invest their own money and may not work that hard to find someone else’s for you - no matter how much you pay them.

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Our good friends up at Chrysalis Ventures in Kentucky just locked up their 4th fund - a nice $163M warchest. If you are an Atlanta entrepreneur, and you don’t know Chrysalis - you need to, especially if you are in the healthcare, media, or business services sectors. These guys are big supporters of our efforts with StartupLounge.com and our Capital Connections events, and they are in Atlanta early and often looking for deals.

Cheers.

The next Angel Lounge meeting is coming up on Thursday, March 6th at 11:30-1pm.

The purpose of the Angel Lounge (a part of Startuplounge.com) is to create an unstructured environment for local angels to meet each other and learn from each other. Our goal is to stimulate investment in Atlanta startups while creating the next generation of Angel investors.This is our second monthly luncheon. Last month we had about 15 angels and everybody was excited about the opportunity to come together on a monthly basis and talk angel investing. We also took a small survey to determine what topics may be of interest to discuss.

This month’s topic is “How to develop your investment profile.” Some of us will share while others will just listen. Not all attendees have made investments. Some of the attendees are just investigating angel investing.

Please feel free to invite a guest or two. The more angel investors and potential investors the better. Just be sure to tell me how many will be coming.

If you are interested in attending, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with the right person. To attend, you must either be (A) an active angel investor here in Georgia, or (B) someone who is interested in becoming an angel investor (and has the means to do so).

Cheers.

My good friend and StartupLounge.com co-conspirator, Mike Blake, is going to be presenting a very “unique” presentation at the upcoming TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs gathering on March 6th. Sadly, I will be out of town, and won’t be able to attend, but trust me, you will want to attend this one. Mike has put together perhaps one of the most compelling and thought-provoking presentations I’ve seen in a long time.

Please join us for TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs “The South Shall Raise Again: Raising Early Stage Capital in Georgia and the Southeast” with Michael Blake, CFA and managing director of Adams Capital, Inc. This session will focus on the challenges early stage companies in the SE are facing in respect to raising capital. Mr. Blake will also convey success stories and address his thoughts on best practices. Finally, he will forecast the fund availability outlook going forward, and discuss what GA needs to do to be competitive with the SE and the most successful parts of the USA.

The event details are as follows:

• Organization: Technology Association of Georgia
• Event Name: TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs “South Shall Raise Again: Raising Early Stage Capital in Georgia and the Southeast”
• Date: March 6, 2008, 7:30am to 9:00am
• Entrepreneurs Only Roundtable:* 9:15am to 10:00am
• You MUST attend the presentation in order to attend the Roundtable*
• Location: Centergy One Building
• 75 5th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30308
• http://www.tagonline.org

Cheers.

We just closed off registrations for our upcoming February 6th, 2008 installment of the StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event. Looks like we’re set for another fantastic event with a full slate of 200+ people.

As part of our new platform (which is still under development), we’re tracking lots of different metrics about our events. Here are a few interesting numbers:

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