I had a fun lunch with Drew Ermenc from Catalyst Magazine last week. Our office is actually upstairs from theirs, so it was pretty convenient. Among the many things we talked about was the status of “rockstar entrepreneurs” here in Atlanta. Specifically, they are working on some events for later in the year, and were trying to put together a list of entrepreneurs that would make great panelists and/or speakers.

I was asked if I could suggest some “rockstar” caliber entrepreneurs that they could engage here in Atlanta (or Georgia). Ideally, this would be someone who was currently enjoying a great deal of success, and who also had “name recognition”. Obviously, the combination lends itself to “street cred”, and the ability to draw enough people to fill a venue.

I thought about it for a few minutes, and I must admit, I was a little stuck. I mentally sifted through a few dozen names, but they generally fell into one of the following buckets:

• They satisfied one criteria (are currently enjoying success in a venture), but not the other (they bring name recognition), or vice-versa.
• They are too “new” – they haven’t had a big hit yet, although I’m bullish on them. But they don’t have the street cred yet as a result.
• They had a great deal of success at some time in the past, but are not currently doing much of anything.
• They are ultra successful (cash-wise), and do not currently face the challenges that early-stage entrepreneurs face.
• They are “tired” – everyone has trotted them out over the past 5 or 10 years as a speaker, and thus wouldn’t bring a fresh perspective.
• They are “real estate” moguls, or in some other industry which is driven more by how much cash you can deploy rather than swinging for the fences as a bootstrapping upstart.

If I were to plot this as a distribution curve, there are lots of people on either side of the bell (the long tail!), but not many people inside of the sweet spot (currency/relevant now, street cred, success, etc.)

The only name that really jumped out at me was Mitch Free from MFG.com. MFG went from being bootstrapped from an Excel spreadsheet/sneaker-ware marketplace to an international B2B player backed by Jeff Bezos. And they are still going strong.

Who am I missing?

While I think there may be some gaps now, this won’t always be the case. I think in the next few years we’ll have a new wave of rockstars that will emerge from what is happening here now. But boy, if we were to hold a Woodstock and try to populate it with current Rockstars in Georgia, it wouldn’t be a terribly long show.

Cheers.

Atlanta’s MFG.com, the world’s largest online marketplace within the manufacturing space, today soft-launched their new project: MFGX.com. In essence, it is MFG’s attempt to leverage to social media (specifically wikis, forums, ads, and jobs), to offer a value add to their customers and users.

I’ve written on the issues of B2B marketplaces and online communities before (here and here), and I’m glad to see MFG moving in that direction. This will be a very interesting experiment for them.

I really like the fact that they decided to brand it “adjacent” to their marketplace site (MFG.com), rather than making it part of the marketplace site itself. This will provide a nice way to offer some free tools to non-marketplace participants as well, and hopefully serve to drive new subscription traffic into their crown jewel at MFG.com over time.

There isn’t much content up there yet – but this will change in the short-term I am sure.
Cheers.

Most businesses fail. Most businesses with solid revenues don’t. Most businesses with traction at least have a fighting chance. You can’t gather around the fireplace and kick your feet up unless you have firewood out back – and you can only get that firewood by chopping.

One of the big catch-phrases of 2006 was “chopping wood,” I phrase I picked up from Rutger’s football coach, Greg Schiano.

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For a great intimate conversation with Mitch Free, CEO of MFG.com, check out the latest installment of the StartupLounge.com podcast. I honestly think that content-wise this has been one of our stronger shows.

Mitch shares some very candid views on a variety of topics ranging from what its like to work with Jeff Bezos to what his view of the early-stage venture market is here in Atlanta.

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Some more breaking news from Atlanta. My friend Mitch Free over at MFG.com just sent the following notice to me, announcing a new round of funding, although he didn’t specify the amount (UPDATE: word on the street says $4M or so). Mitch will be joining us as our guest on the StartupLounge podcast later this month, so we’ll definitely add this to the list of things to discuss.

I have long felt that MFG.com (along with EZ Prints, Vendormate, and a few others) are leading the charge for early-stage Atlanta companies. These guys all continue to chop wood and gain traction. All of these plays have logical global expansion routes, although MFG is further along on that path than the others. Nice to see a globalization strategy paying dividends for them.

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Welcome to the first installment of “Georgia Startup Profiles“, a new series here at The Pothole that will focus on providing snapshot profiles of technology startups and emerging companies in Georgia. First up? A bootstrapping success story like none other … MFG.com!

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I was having a cup o’ Joe with a good friend of mine yesterday (after moderating a panel on business blogging over at the 400 Technology Connection), and the subject of B2B exchanges came up. Since we had just attended a discussion around blogging, we wondered whether or not the new iteration of the web (so-called Web 2.0) could provide the much needed ingredient for the continued resurgence of the online exchange model.

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