Several weeks ago, Unblakeable and I spoke at the monthly gathering of the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs group.  We provided a pretty thorough treatment of where we thought the Atlanta startup community was in terms of its maturity, and then presented a concept that we thought was pretty compelling at the time – the Atlanta Startup Cloud.  We put the call out to the community, and had a ton of people volunteer to help us build it.

We were pretty excited about the reception we received both at the event, and afterwards via email and other conversations.  Nevertheless, up to now, we haven’t had much time to get the ball rolling on some progress. Such is the joy of having day jobs

Fast forward a few weeks to now.  The ATDC announced a big revamp under the leadership of Stephen Fleming (of VentureLab fame).  As part of the revamp, the ATDC is proposing a number of new initiatives and policy changes.  Many of these initiatives either mirror or complement some of the things we were proposing as part of the Atlanta Startup Cloud concept.  As such, we don’t think it makes much sense for us to duplicate the effort.  Instead, we want to do our part to help ensure that the ATDC’s efforts are as successful as possible – and we ask that you get involved as well!

Note: I do think the first part of the Startup Cloud video is still worth watching, especially if you want some background on the Atlanta startup scene.

If you weren’t able to attend their open forum meeting, check out the video here.  It’s definitely worth the time.  Also be sure to read Stephen’s post (Why Are We Doing This?), and our most recent StartupLounge.com podcast featuring Stephen and David Sung (who manages the ATDC Seed Fund).

Mike and I both think that this new ATDC is going to have a profound impact on Georgia.  Stephen is the perfect man for the job, he has a good team in place, and we think his plan is pretty solid.  There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur in Georgia, and we hope to see everyone at the upcoming CapitalLounge event in a few weeks!

Cheers.

June is going to be a busy time in Atlanta for startups.   Here is a quick roundup of a few events that are worth taking a look at:

CapitalLounge

Being a co-founder of StartupLounge, I’m naturally biased.  But hey, at least I’m being honest about it.   Our next CapitalLounge gathering is coming up next week, Wednesday, June 10th.  Should be another awesome party for entrepreneurs and investors in Atlanta.  Our old friends J-Cap and DJ from Southern Capitol Ventures (yes, an “o”, not an “a”) are making the trek down from Raleigh, NC, as will the folks from Intersouth (also in NC).  Local investors will be out in full force as well, including Noro-Moseley, Fulcrum Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, Croft & Bender Capital, Arcapita, Grey Ghost Ventures, CEO Ventures, TechOperators, and even the Weather Channel’s venture arm.  And of course, a nice smattering of local angel investors.

If you are interested, you can check it out here.   Cost is free, but there is a vetting process.

Calling All Entrepreneurs: Atlanta!

Speaking of J-Cap and DJ from SCV … they will be in town on the 10th and the 11th.  In addition to hanging out at CapitalLounge on the night of the 10th, they are holding their “Calling All Entrepreneurs” sessions here in Atlanta.  Awesome.  I wish more VCs would do this.  No pressures, no pitching.  Just getting a chance to pick the brain of an investor over coffee.  Very cool.    From Jason:

David and I will be down in Atlanta next week on June 10 and 11. We were an original sponsor of CapitalLounge and will be at that the night of June 10th.

On June 11, we will have Calling All Entrepreneurs in Atlanta from 7-10am. We will find a place close to the ATDC. Again, any entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur is welcome to set up a time to come meet with us for 10 minutes. We will try and pack in as many meetings as possible and the coffee is on us! Read my prior post on this so you understand the structure and background. We did  this down in Atlanta a while back and filled it up quickly.

Just email me jason AT southerncapitolventures.com to schedule a time.

CapVenture

Also, don’t forget that the ATDC’s deadline for applications for their annual CapVenture program is on June 16th (the actual sessions are later in the year).  If you aren’t familiar with CapVenture, you should be.  It is an awesome program that aims to educate and equip early-stage entrepreneurs (primarily those seeking their first round of funding).  I have personally talked to several startup CEOs that have gone through the program and they rave about it.  Definitely check it out.

Of course, there are a ton of other events going on, some formal, some informal.   Feel free to drop a note here if you know of another great startup event happening here in Atlanta in June, or tune into the Twitterverse to get plugged in.

Cheers.

Man what a busy week! I think this month (May) will go down as one of the busiest in Atlanta startup history.

Hosting the Cleantech Georgia 2008 event was a ton of fun (my corny jokes aside). We had a great docket of speakers and panelists, and each delivered some incredibly valuable content.

Mike McQuary’s low-speed electric vehicle (RETV) got a nice workout after the event. Attendees could stand in line and take it for a spin around the block. Good stuff!

Read more »

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.

If you are a Georgia-based entrepreneur seeking to raise capital for your venture, check out the new program put together by TAG and the ATDC. Called “CapVenture”, it offers a 5 week training program to help prepare you for a capital raise.

Click here for more info …

And speaking of the ATDC, I’d like to state publicly that I think the state of Georgia should overfund the ATDC’s seed fund, and give them a very strong mandate to drive regional investment. I think it is time for the State’s economists and business development leaders to put their (our) money where their mouth is.

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.

Atlanta is a tough market for early-stage companies, and I (along with many others) spend a great deal of time trying to figure out ways to make it better. No doubt. But one of the things that we don’t do enough of is tout our successes - I am guilty of that as well.

On Thursday, May 10th, the ATDC will be holding their yearly showcase event. They’ll be graduating a handful of companies and there will be some good networking and product demos all around. From what I understand, there are nearly 300 people signed up to go, so it should be a pretty big affair.
The graduating companies this year are Cambia, Jacket Micro Devices, FTrans, Qcept, Racemi, and ScanTech.

For more info on the event, click here.

Sidenote: Some of these companies will be at our Capital Connections event coming up in two weeks, so if you are an investor or entrepreneur, and want to get closer to them, check it out.

Graduation from the ATDC effectively means that the company is finally sustainable (or they have overstayed their welcome of 3 years – whichever comes first, I believe.) In either case, these companies have all worked very hard to reach this point, and I encourage all of you to head down and congratulate them on this achievement (and to learn more about some of the newer companies.)

I do want to make a few observations, however.

The ATDC is calling this year’s event the Billion Dollar Celebration. According to their promotional material:

Join us to celebrate the Billion Dollars that ATDC companies have raised since 1999!

This number is a little bit misleading though, IMHO.

In my view, they shouldn’t count the 1999-2000 timeframe in the calculation at all. That was the height of the dot com bubble (and some could make an argument that 2001 shouldn’t be counted either, but …). That timeframe easily represents half (if not more) of the billion dollars, and lets be honest, since the vast majority of those companies imploded (or were acquired at ridiculous valuations, and then imploded), I don’t think we should go there.

I believe that the $1B figure also includes acquisitions, exits, and IPOs – essentially, any capital activity that occured against an ATDC company. Unless the activity occured while the company was physically in the ATDC, I don’t think it should count either. Anything that happened to a company after it leaves a business incubator is largely a reflection of their leadership, not who incubated them. Caveat: It may not actually be counted – I’ve no idea, as I haven’t seen the detailed numbers behind the actual calculation. Subtract all that out from the $1B and divide by the five or six remaining years and a slightly different story might emerge. Not a bad story, mind you, just one grounded in a little more reality.

However, I want to offer a slightly different perspective on things. The mission of the ATDC is to incubate companies that will provide economic/job growth for the state of Georgia (as opposed to wealth creation for individual entrepreneurs or investors.) To me, a better metric would be telling us how many jobs have been created (and are currently active) that stemmed from ATDC companies. I would venture to say that there aren’t many jobs still around from the dot com flameout. So how many companies graduated post-2001 from the ATDC and went on to (and continue to) have a substantial impact on the high-tech job market in Georgia?

The answer is: it is too early to tell. Food for thought.

So lets not get hung up on the $1B number. Instead, focus the celebration on the graduating companies and their hard work, along with the new class of ATDC entrants.

In any event, I do like where the ATDC is going. They are beginning to expand their operations and reach, and I like what Lance Weatherby is doing in putting a more transparent face on things there (via his blogging and open outreach to entrepreneurs.) If anything, I’d like to see them get even more funding from the state, so that they can have more of an impact in other parts of Atlanta and Georgia.

Cheers.