I’ve been meaning to write a blurb on this, but Jeff Haynie did most of the heavy lifting for me, so I won’t repeat what he’s already said.

This is always a fun event, and it is a good chance to see some really cool companies doing some interesting things. It will be packed, and there will be plenty of energy to go around.

Of the graduating companies, I am most familiar with Emcien and Vendormate. These two companies have legs, and should be on everyone’s radar screens by now. Radhika (Emcien) and Andy (Vendormate) are both world-class entrepreneurs that know what they are doing. I expect great things from these two plays …

Mike and I are teaming up with Peachpods again and will be doing another podcast from there through our efforts with StartupLounge. We did a podcast last year, and in fact, enjoyed a great conversation with Radhika from Emcien. If you’re planning on attending, stop by and say hello! We’ll have a booth set up and will be recording throughout the day.

Cheers.

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.

If you’ve ever been curious about what Stephen Fleming and his crew are tinkering around with down inside the bowels of Georgia Tech’s VentureLab, you won’t want to miss this. Through countless hours of toiling over database schema and Maker’s Mark, Stephen has rolled out a really cool new site that lays out all the various research and commercialization ventures that are bubbling up down at VentureLab. Click on the link called “current technology projects and companies” for the lowdown.

Good stuff …. and a great resource for investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers looking for more visibility into the innovations on the horizon here in Georgia.

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.

I have resigned as CEO and Chairman of PlayMotion due to circumstances that arose which would prevent me from being an effective executive for the company. Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, but as I learned a long time ago, some things just don’t belong in print (or type, in the case of a blog). It was a very difficult decision for me to make, considering how vested I was emotionally, mentally, and financially into the company (and more importantly, the people). We achieved a remarkable number of things - despite it all (not the least of which was record revenue/business).

I hope that I have left the company better off than on the day I assumed leadership responsibility for it. In fact, of that, I am confident. I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication to the vision. It was a fun ride - brief - but fun.

I took a much needed rest over the past week or so, and have been giving some thought to what I will do next. I have already been approached by several investors and company-founders about getting involved in their startups, and that is pretty exciting. I may start another company, or perhaps pour my passion and energy into one of these existing startups, or maybe even explore some opportunities within the venture capital space (something I’ve been contemplating for a while).

Of course, none of this affects my involvement with StartupLounge (our non-profit organization focused on promoting fast-growth entrepreneurship in the Southeast). In fact, we have two more PitchCamp sessions coming up, and our next flagship networking event will be held on May 21st.

Note: if you’ve emailed me, and I haven’t responded, have patience …. I’m, shall we say, a tad bit behind.

In any event, I’ve learned quite a bit through all of this - as tragic as the ending was. I’m sure it will serve me in good stead down the road. One day, when I am sufficiently away from it all, I will try to capture some of those lessons learned for a blog post …

Cheers.

I just saw this report on Yahoo … in their new list of “best places for business and careers”, Atlanta (and the Southeast) fared pretty well.  Some snippets:

In our 10th annual ranking of the Best Places for Business and Careers, the Southeast is home to half of the top 10 for a third straight year. But there is new blood near the top, including Lexington, Ky., Atlanta, Ga., and Richmond, Va. (Spokane, Wash., and Fort Collins, Colo., also made big jumps).

Topping the list for a second straight year is Raleigh, N.C. Business costs are 14% below the national average, and the area boasts one of the most educated labor supplies in the country, with 38% of the adult population possessing a college degree and 12% holding a graduate degree. Raleigh’s secret is out, though, as people have been flocking to the area.

One metro that made a big jump was Atlanta, which improved to sixth from 25th last year. Its ranking benefited from strong job and income growth and a big reduction in crime. “Hotlanta” features a diverse economy and pro-business environment. Another built-in advantage for big employers like AT&T, Home Depot and IBM is Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest passenger airport in the world.

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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