Every few months or so, various Atlanta startup thought leaders are corralled together on a panel or round-table to discuss what can be done to improve our startup ecosystem.  Invariably, the outcome is the same: a regurgitated list of things we already know all too well.

Examples:

• Lack of local funding sources for early-stage companies
• Lack of management talent to take a company from startup to growth stage
• Georgia’s legal inability to invest state pension funds into alternative class investments such as venture capital funds
• Too many smart people are leaving the state
• Lack of this
• Lack of that
• Blah.

Undoubtedly, we all want the Atlanta startup ecosystem to improve (or continue to improve, as I believe is the case).   But for the past few years,  there have been two distinct threads running in parallel.

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.

According to our good friends Eric Gregg and Allen Maurer at TechJournalSouth, the Georgia Research Alliance is launching a new venture fund (details below). A good move, although I think the amount invested by the state is on the small end. A lot of the research coming out of the universities will require significant amounts of capital (biotech, cleantech, nanotech, etc.) Even though they are getting 3-to-1 matching funds from the private sector, it could/should be more.

Georgia launching venture fund
January 15, 2008
ATLANTA–Georgia is launching the Georgia Research Alliance Venture Capital Fund, Gov. Sonny Purdue told a Georgia Chamber of Commerce Meeting.

The fund will partner the state with private sector dollars to give companies formed around Georgia research university IP early stage financing.

The state is investing $10 million in the fund which will be matched 3-to-1 by private dollars.

This doesn’t help non-research-based ventures at all, but all boats rise with the rising tide, as they say. I still would like to see the state reconstitute and overfund the ATDC’s seed fund, however. It is time they got serious about boosting early-stage fast-growth deals in the private sector. Don’t get me wrong – governmental involvement is very rarely the solution to a problem. But in this case, I think they can send a strong signal, and play an integral role.

I referred a media contact of mine to the ATDC not too long ago. I completely envisioned a role whereby he could offer internal media/public relations consulting services to ATDC portfolio companies. Think about the tremendous advantage that having a free public relations expert at your disposal would bring to a typical startup. I think the ATDC folks liked the idea, but unfortunately, they are a government entity, and are thus susceptible to the normal budgetary constraints that you would expect.

Come on, Sonny. Let’s get it done.  The ATDC has some great ideas for the future, but the impact that they will inevitably have on the regional economy will be directly correlated to their operating budget and their ability to engage the private sector.

Cheers.

I’ve been so busy with PlayMotion over the past few months that I hadn’t realized that there was a bug in PWC/MoneyTree scripts that generate the cool dashboard on my home page showing Georgia venture capital activity.

The bug is fixed, so the data is now accurate. The other good news, is that there was more of a focus in early-stage and expansion-stage deals over Q2/2007, and a decrease in later-stage activity. Now that we are approaching the end of Q4, I’ll be curious to see those #s when they get published in Jan or Feb.

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.

Georgia Cleantech 2007 is fast approaching (June 12th)! I’ve briefly mentioned this event before (here and here), but as the date approaches I am getting even more excited about it. 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 hot, up-and-coming Georgia cleantech companies
• Explore our “cleantech showcase”, which will feature many emerging Georgia clean technologies

We’ve lined up a very strong set of speakers and panelists as well:

• David Bell, Resource Policy & Planning, Georgia Power
• Rolando Sanz-Guerrero, Vice President, CoalTek
• Murrary Campbell, Chairman, First United Ethanol LLC (FUEL)
• David Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, SJF Ventures
• Michael DeRosa, Managing Director, DFJ Element Ventures
• Bruce Wobeck, Partner, Morris Manning & Martin

I am particularly excited about hearing from CoalTek – they’re one of the most highly capitalized (via Draper Fisher Jurvetson) cleantech deals in the past few years, and have been largely running in stealth mode until now. In many ways, this is a bit of a coming out party for them. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say. Same for FUEL, which raised some cash, and broke ground on their ethanol plant this year.

A special thanks to my friends at SJF Ventures (David Kirkpatrick ) and DFJ Element Ventures (Mike DeRosa) for helping us out. They’ll be bringing the venture capital perspective to the table. I’m at a bit of an advantage as I’ve seen David’s presentation already, but it is chock full of good stuff.

Of course, being a startup geek, I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to work some of the younger companies into the mix. We’ll have three Georgia cleantech startups doing their fast pitch (C2Biofuels, Edge BioEnergy, and OMT Energy.) Plus, we’ll have an “Alternative Energy Showcase” area where start-up or established cleantech companies can set up a table with posters, demonstrations and materials to share their innovative ideas for alternative energy.

We have a number of 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.

Space is limited, so if you have an interest in attending, you’ll want to sign up sooner rather than later (click here). I say sooner, rather than later, because cleantech is a very hot space right now, and there are a lot of folks out there wanting to learn more about the industry.

Also, if you are a Georgia-based early-stage cleantech company (or technology) and you are interested in participating in the free showcase area, contact me.

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.

The first StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event is really shaping up! With very little promotion we’ve managed to get RSVPs from a dozen investors and over 40 entrepreneurs. That number is going to climb quite a bit here soon, as we ramp up our marketing efforts.

There are at least 5 or 6 attending companies that I think have a very good story to tell (in terms of traction.) I don’t know all of the attendees, so I don’t really know their stories yet.

If you are a Georgia entrepreneur, a high-net-worth individual investor interested in doing angel investments, or are a venture capitalist looking to scout the Georgia market for early stage entrants, you’ll definitely want to make this event.

Admission is free (as it should be – shame on people that charge for capital networking!) However, you will need to apply for attendance, be approved, and then RSVP with the # of people in your party.

To reiterate: service providers and job seekers will not be allowed to attend this event. We are taking some fairly exhaustive measures to make sure that the focus of the event remains on putting ideas and capital in the same room – free from as many distractions as possible. We define a “service provider” very broadly. It is anyone who charges a fee to conduct a service that would logically be aimed at any of our attendees. Service providers include consultants, attorneys, capital brokers, agents, marketers, etc.

This first event will be held on Wednesday, May 16th, from 6-8pm, so mark your calendars. You can read more about the event here.

Cheers.