As I promised in my recent post on linear entrepreneurship, I have put down my thoughts on venture capital as a “numbers game.” Venture capital is a numbers game, but in more ways than you may realize if you are an entrepreneur living anywhere other than places like California, Boston, or Chicago.

While I consider myself to be a business-person first, I am (or was) a software engineer by trade. So, either way you slice it, I like data. The more the merrier. So, let’s examine things logically.

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My pal Justin Rubner at the Atlanta Business Chronicle recently published an interesting piece covering the PwC Money Tree Report. I wrote about this the other day as well (sorry again for scoopin’ ya, JRub). While you can’t really dispute the facts, some here in Atlanta think that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than is getting publicized.

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The latest numbers are in from the PwC Money Tree report, a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States. Despite the positive headlines in the press releases (“Venture Capital Investing off to a Solid Start in 2006 with $5.6 billion”), Georgia still isn’t faring very well.

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Veteran Atlanta angel investor, Charlie Paparelli, has posted a great article on what he sees wrong with the Atlanta startup scene. I don’t have an awful lot to add to what he says, other than to say that I agree with his sentiments.
Atlanta is a market that is begging for innovation, and as Charlie points out, we have all of the elements (people, ideas, and capital), yet we struggle as a startup market. I know of several local entrepreneurs who are exploring other options, including launching their ventures in other locales.

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Well, I’m starting to feel worse and worse about my recent rant on the lack of venture capital deal flow in Georgia. However, imagine the significant lift in my venture outlook when I got wind of the new half billion dollar “superfund” that is launching next year in our fine state! $500M in deal flow goodness that is sure to have a tremendously positive effect on our economic growth.

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The Georgia state government could take a lesson from our esteemed neighbors to the south, where Florida Governor Jeb Bush is doing his part to spur on local economic development.

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With sincerest apologies to John Mayer. It appears that I was perhaps a bit more optimistic than I should have been in my recent article on why 2006 would be a great year for doing business in Georgia. According to the latest “Money Tree” report published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2005 was an atrocious year for the venture capital market in Georgia. I sat down with a handful of Atlanta venture capitalists and asked them the obvious question. Why?

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