I’ll be helping out again with the Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition, which is always a rewarding experience.  And yes, the good Mr. Blake and I are in the process of giving StartupLounge a fresh kick in the pants.  Stay tuned for more on that.

I’m also sifting through over 200 draft blog posts that I’ve started over the years, in an attempt to locate any that deserve finishing.  The vast majority of them will be deleted, as they are no longer timely or relevant.  But there are a few gems I’ve found already.

At any rate, see you on the bitstream …

Cheers.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
~ Dr. Seuss

I guess this is as formal an “announcement” as I’m going to give on this, but after a lengthy period of soul searching, I have made the very difficult decision to largely step away from StartupLounge.com.

Five years ago or so, when Mike Blake and I came up with the concept of StartupLounge, neither one of us had any idea of what we were getting ourselves into.  Truth be told, I think if we had known how much work we’d need to put into something like this, we may very well not have started it at all.  Some folks have called StartupLounge “influential” or “important”, and I suppose to some extent it is.  But really, at the core, it is/was really about helping people help themselves, then to help others – and about 2 guys having fun yapping on a mic every now and then. And I will tell you – I most certainly learned more about our collective craft than others probably learned from me.

My reasons for stepping back from heavy involvement in StartupLounge is complex, and somewhat difficult to explain.  A big part of it is the time commitment required to record and produce podcasts (40 hours a pop), organizing events, PitchCamp, evangelizing, etc.   I simply do not have the time anymore to contribute at a high level in order to continue making a difference.  And when you’ve poured your heart and soul into something for as long as we have with StartupLounge, it makes the decision a very emotional one, to say the least.

Another huge factor in my decision is simply the level of energy required to perform my duties at my day job (StarPound).  Although we have a great deal of work ahead of us, the team is really doing some great things there. We’ve recently raised another round of capital, and are heads down on a ton of different things right now.

Finally, and perhaps the most important reason, is my family.  As it stands now, I am rarely home in time for dinner (thanks in part to Atlanta traffic).  I have a wife and two young daughters at home that I hardly ever see these days.  And this needs to change.  So, something has to give.

I should also add that there has been some speculation that my health is suspect, and that this somehow is contributing to my decision.  This is patently not true.  Sure, I’m battling a kidney stone right now (ouch!), but this too shall pass (literally and figuratively). Trust me. I’m as fit as a horse.  Then again, they shoot horses when they actually do get ill, so maybe that’s a bad analogy to go with.

Through StartupLounge, I have met some incredibly wonderful people over the past several years.  Entrepreneurs, most of which want to do something great.  Investors who actually want to engage with them.  And a wealth of community leaders and stakeholders who want to make a difference. I place an extremely high value on these relationships, and hope to continue nurturing them for years to come.

One person in particular, though, has meant the world to me throughout this journey.  Mike Blake.  I have come to rely on his wisdom and sensibilities for so, so many things.  Not just professionally, but personally as well.  I can only hope to one day even begin to repay him for the friendship, comaraderie, and contributions he has made to my life. Mike and I remain the best of friends, and I appreciate his understanding and patience throughout my rather circuitous decision making process.

With all of that being said, I should add that StartupLounge will continue on.  The inimitable  Josh Watts has agreed to replace me as the co-host of our podcast.  If you don’t know Josh, you should.  I can’t think of a better person to step into that role.  He has a solid understanding of early-stage entrepreneurship, technology, and carries with him a wicked sense of humor that will help keep the StartupLounge podcast as entertaining as ever.  So for you die-hard listeners of our podcasts, rest assured, it will continue to be worth tuning into. Who knows?  I might even make a cameo appearance every now and then :)

All of the free StartupLounge events will continue, including PitchCamp, Startup Seminars, and of course, the thrice yearly StartupLounge gathering in Atlanta.  Expansions are already underway to carry the philosophy and beliefs behind StartupLounge to other areas, including Savannah and Raleigh/Durham.  Mike is 100% committed to doing this, and his continued leadership will turn this into a reality.

As for me, well, it isn’t like I’m completely falling off the face of the earth.  I’ll still be around, helping as many people as I can, where I can.  I just may not be as visible. I will continue to attend StartupLounge events when I can, as well as others.  I continue to take enormous satisfaction in helping others achieve success, be it through mentoring, speaking, coaching, etc.  Oh, and continuing to learn new things myself.  I can’t imagine my life without those things, quite frankly.

Enough rambling from me.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.  Peace out.

Cheers.

Tree Pub and Grill
5071 Peachtree Industrial Blvd (recently renamed Peachtree Blvd)
Chamblee, GA 30341

http://www.thetreepubandgrill.com/

Band goes on around 9:30 on Saturday, August 14.

Hope to see everyone there!

… a most unfortunate story this week: the foreclosure and eviction of a Lithonia family whose son was the first Georgia casualty during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Jamaal Addison was killed during an ambush on March 2003, and the Lithonia branch of the United States Post Office has been renamed in his honor. And in a miserable twist of fate, the family is set to be evicted on the very day set aside to honor Spc. Addison, Monday August 2nd.

Above: Patricia Roberts (R), mother of US Army Specialist Jamaal Addison, mourns along with other family members during his funeral at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Georgia on Monday. Addison was killed when his unit was ambushed by Iraqi forces on March 23. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution

There has been some stuff written about what we’re trying to do to help the family.  While I appreciate the effort to spread the word, it isn’t about me, or some kind of magical thing I’ve done.  There were/are a lot more people involved in this.  I just made some phone calls, really.  Here is the story.

After reading Bo Emerson’s AJC article which shed light on his family’s difficult situation, I decided to see what we could do to help – being a vet myself, and having kids of my own, it just hit me hard.  After some super-sleuthing by Robert Shoe, my fellow ex-Army bizdev guy at StarPound, we were able to track Ms. Roberts down and talk with her about her situation. I had several different (very emotional) conversations with her, and I will tell you, Patricia Roberts is one of the most wonderful, salt-of-the-earth people you will ever meet.

My immediate concern was three-fold: 1) secure adequate housing for the family, so they wouldn’t have to worry about that, 2) keep the family together in the process (they already had to split up among relatives and friends, including Ms. Robert’s own mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s), and 3) ensure that Little Jamaal (his young son, who was only 2 when his father died) would be settled in time to start school. After this, we could knuckle down and help Ms. Roberts secure new employment (and we’re already making progress on that front).

I had been in contact with my wife, who had shared some of this with our own four year old daughter, Katie.  When I got home that night, Katie was full of questions.

• “Daddy, why does Little Jamaal need a new home?”
• “Where is his mommy?”
• “Mommy said something happened to Little Jamaal’s daddy. What happened, Daddy?”
• “So Little Jamaal’s daddy was trying to stop the bad guys?”
• “What kind of bad guys?”
• “Are the bad guys going to come to our house?”
• “Daddy, I’m scared of bad guys.”
• “Ok, Daddy, I won’t be scared any more.”
• “Daddy, I made a picture for Little Jamaal, can you give it to him?”
• “It’s a picture of their new house and he is looking out of the window at the sunflower. I even signed it with my name!”

I tried to navigate the endless barrage of 1-800 numbers, customer service agents, and loss mitigation “experts” from Suntrust (the foreclosing bank), but basically ended up wasting 3 or 4 hours on the phone.   I “get” that they are a business, and at the end of the day, they have policies which need to be upheld.  But when someone calls offering a financial solution in a situation like this, I would have expected to be received a bit more warmly, and that’s all I’ll say about it.  We could have gotten her current with her mortgage payments, bought it out of foreclosure for her, etc. But, no dice. Suffice it to say, I knew we had to take a different path.

To their credit, Suntrust at least eventually gave her family an extension on when they had to be out of their current home.  Of course, this was after they got hammered by Senators, the folks at Ft. McPherson, and other folks in the community.  But still … it does help.

In the meantime, Mike Blake and the great folks at HA&W stepped up to offer tax/accounting advice on how to treat the property if we were able to work a deal with Suntrust. Even though we chose a different path, they were absolutely awesome.

I immediately called my good friend and VetLoop co-founder Jason Jones of Cresa Partners here in Atlanta.  For those that know Jason, well, I don’t need to say anything else.  Jason is a former naval aviator who ran missions off the carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. He is also one of the most charitable and good-natured guys I’ve ever had the privilege of calling a friend.  Jason stepped up and got involved with us, as I knew he would.

One of our customers, Doug Ingram (DHL), was in our office working with our team on a project.  After mentioning the story to him, Doug stepped up and got involved as well.  On the side, Doug dabbles in rental properties.  He had an idle house that happened to be sitting on 6 acres of land he bought down in Fairburn, just south of Atlanta.  He graciously offered to let the Roberts’ family use the house until they could get back on their feet.  Several of us offered to pay her rent there, should she decide to stay longer (a point that Doug readily dismissed as unnecessary).  One evening, we went down to the house to check it out.  After spending a few hours on site, it was evident that we were going to need a veritable army of people to help get the house to a livable state.  We lined up a bunch of really great friends (aka the StarPound Flag Football team, Nest Construction, and some other folks) to come down on the weekend and do an overhaul.

I was thrilled that we had pulled together a solution for the family.

However, the next morning, after further reflection, we just didn’t feel good about putting her in the house – it just needed too much work.  The house was built in 1958 and had seen better days.  So, another path would have to be found. I was reminded of one of the many bits of wisdom my late father shared with me growing up. He used to tell me that “the worst feeling in the world is wanting so desperately to help someone, and feeling powerless to do so.”  I was starting to feel that way a bit.

Sometimes, the easiest solution is right in front of you.  Thanks to my good friend Mike Blake for slapping me silly and telling me what should have been obvious.  We’d raise enough money to cover the family’s rent in a decent rental home here in Atlanta say, for a year – plenty of time for her to get back on her feet, and take care of her family.  We’ve already identified several properties that might be a good match for the family. We all started throwing money into the hat, and very quickly found ourselves with $4,000. And this is what I need help with from the community out there.

Please.  If you can contribute to the effort here, please donate to the fund below, which will help provide a longer-term solution for the family:

Chase Bank
JAMAAL ADDISON II MEMORIAL FUND
Routing #: 061092387
Account #: 4901323066
1-800-788-7000

I never knew SPC Jamaal Addison, although I suppose one day I will get to meet him.  He paid the ultimate price to give us the freedom to talk about startups, technology, and other things that don’t really matter at the end of the day.  And his family needs our help.  Please help us.

–

UPDATE: Benefit concert

UPDATE: I inadvertently omitted a digit in the account # for the fund – corrected now – if you have contributed, PLEASE verify that your money went into the right account.  So sorry!

–

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.

The first thread is what I described above:  the onslaught of panels, round-table discussions, and speaker events where we continue to beat dead horses. Everyone is searching for the answer – the silver bullet.  And as should be evident by now to all of us – that doesn’t exist.  There is no panacea.  There is no succinct list of things that “if we only did this or that”, we’d be in business.  Lists don’t move the needle.

The second thread, is a veritable tidal wave of radical ideas and new ways of thinking.  And just as history repeatedly tells us, those things move the needle. And that is what I want to talk about in this post.

What I am about to say is going to run counter to many of the things I’ve said or published in the past.  I don’t have a problem with this – I think it  is very healthy, in fact.  As with many startups, here at StarPound, we challenge the ideas of our colleagues each and every day – none of us is the smartest person in the room.  I’d like to think that is a valuable trait of any initiative (startup or otherwise).

When I sold my last business a few years ago (2005) and came up for air, I fell into the trap of saying “hey, there isn’t enough venture capital money in Atlanta.”  That progressed to the position that for some reason or another, it was the fault of the venture capital firms here.   Thankfully, I’ve evolved beyond that narrow thinking.

About 7 or 8 months ago, Mike Blake and I presented our concept of the Atlanta Startup Cloud during a special session of the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs meetup.  In that presentation, we put forth several ideas.  Chief among them was that we went from a deafening silence to a cacophony of shouts here in the startup community.  In our view, there was too much noise in the community, and we proposed some ways to provide an umbrella for all of it.  I shelved that idea a few weeks later – not because I thought it was a bad idea at the time, but because it seemed to me, at least, that the rebirth of the ATDC was attempting to do a similar thing, so why duplicate effort?

But my thinking has evolved again.  A single umbrella organization or launchpad isn’t the right answer either.  So what is?

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

The answer …. is right in front of us.  And if you don’t see it, you are quite possibly part of the problem, and not the solution.

What follows in this post is a fairly unfiltered series of thoughts that I’ve had for the past few weeks.

A Marketplace of Ideas – the Social Media Revolution

Silver bullets do not exist for many challenges in life.  The evolution of any community, startup or otherwise,  requires a marketplace of ideas.  No single idea, group, or cause can move the needle alone. But things have changed – and continue to evolve.  Why?

I’ve said this a hundred times before, and I’ll say it again.  Without the advent and adoption of social media, we likely wouldn’t have any sort of tangible startup ecosystem here at all.  The social media revolution empowered the Atlanta startup community and gave us a much-needed “collective voice.”  In the immortal words of Margaret Mead:

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Blogs gave us the ability to not only play the role of citizen journalists, but also the ability to facilitate an ongoing dialog.  Twitter, a tool that I once shat all over, gave us the power to communicate in real-time, overcoming geography and time.    We could now participate in our own marketplace of ideas, unimpeded by legacy stakeholders, traditional media, and bits of stale culture that kept us back.

Social media gave us something that we desperately needed – a vehicle for the conveyance of new ideas, and a way to challenge those ideas.  The end result is a powerful example of group think.  Things like Startuplounge, Startup Riot, Startup Chicks, Shotput Ventures, Startup Gauntlet, Techdrawl, Startup Drinks, and the newly reborn ATDC, would simply not exist had it not been for the mass adoption of social media by the startup community here.  We wouldn’t have cool startup co-working facilities like Ignition Alley, 151 Locust, and others popping up all over town.  We wouldn’t have much of anything.

Remember WifiCat from Startup Riot 2009?  Remember what I said at the end of that presentation?  It was the prolific use of social media that enabled us to pull off that joke.  The fact that we were able to do so told me, at least, that we actually had a startup community in Atlanta now. We couldn’t have done it otherwise.

Even Urvaksh, the technology & startup beat writer for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, is engaged through social media.  And whether you like his ideas or approach, or loathe them, it is a cool thing.  Everyone has, and should have, a voice.  And we do. And voices move the needle.

In fact, there is a great story that you may recall about fifty six men that sat around and bantered about what freedom meant, and what it would take to attain it.  Radical ideas combined with passion gets the needle moving.

“Washing the Mountain into the Sea …”

The flow of water in a stream can be a powerful force.  Simple physics, really, but powerful nonetheless.  If a rock lies in the stream, water will simply flow around it.  Eventually, the rock will erode until it no longer impedes the flow of water at all.

There were certain individuals and groups in Atlanta that missed the boat when it came to becoming engaged within the social media discussion.  By not engaging (for the right reasons, or not at all), they made themselves largely irrelevant.

Case in point, and I’ll go ahead and say it here, because no one else will, despite everyone of you agreeing with me in private.  Look at the Atlanta Technology Angels.  The prior administration did not seemingly truly engage in this new movement, or the social dialog.  Sorry, but sitting on panels, while no doubt informative, doesn’t constitute engagement within the community.  It got to the point where many entrepreneurs simply did not view them as a relevant stakeholder within the community (hindering deal flow).  In many cases, the ATA became the “funder of last resort” in the eyes of many entrepreneurs here.  And no, this does not come just from companies that got rejected by the ATA.  The end result, was that the water learned to flow around the rock.

But that has changed – there is redemption.  Gordon Rogers, the new incoming ATA President, has done an amazing job in a very short period of time in engaging the community – listening, and reacting.  And contributing unique ideas himself.  And giving his time to those that can benefit from it.  The ATA is relevant again, and that’s a very good thing. The ATA has helped moved the needle.

And speaking of giving time …

One of the issues that we have historically lamented here in Atlanta is the fact that many successful entrepreneurs don’t “give back” to the community by serving as mentors and advisors to the next generation of entrepreneurs.  In my view, while this hasn’t completely been turned around, I think we are well on our way.

Case in point.  A few months back, Chris Hanks and I were fiddling around with the idea of having a “pitch-off” competition between UGA and Georgia Tech.  The first event was held a week before the UGA/Georgia Tech football game – fitting!  We were very diligent in trying to identify judges that would not be biased either way – which proved to be a very difficult challenge.

I reached out to two guys in particular that I thought fit the bill – Warren Bare (Headhunter/Careerbuilder) and Mitch Free (MFG.com).  Within minutes of sending the email, both of them not only agreed to do it, but also let me know why they were doing it.   These two (and they aren’t the only ones) embodied the sense of community spirit that we need.  In fact, just before the first pitch started, I leaned over to Mitch and said “hey, thanks for coming and helping out with this, I really appreciate it.”  His response?  “Hey man, the community calls and I come!”  What’s not to love?

Gangs of Five are cropping up all over town.  Investors are becoming more engaged (@Unblakeable is working on a companion post that will go into this in more detail).  More and more successful entrepreneurs are getting back in (e.g. Shotput Ventures).  There is a veritable army of people within the Atlanta startup community that are ready to advise, mentor, coach,  and help an entrepreneur make critical connections.  Bingo.

Yes, we need more folks like Mitch and Warren, but this problem has been diminished greatly over the past couple of years.  Why?  Social media.  They are engaged within the larger dialog – they are plugged in – and they want to help make a difference.  The needle moves again.

Event overload?  I don’t think so.

There was a lot of hubbub recently (here and here) about so-called “event overload” in Atlanta.  Yes, there are now cool meetups, events, and groups popping up all over town. And yes, at times, it can seem to be a bit much.  But guess what, folks?   That’s a good thing.  You don’t go from dying of thirst to drinking from a firehose without saying “WTF?”  But I would call that progress.

Why is it a good thing? These meetups, groups, and events spawn new ideas and new ways of thinking.  And those ideas will eventually get challenged.  And the needle will move again. Rinse and repeat – the needle will keep moving.

Can I go to every event that I am either invited to attend, or want to attend?  Absolutely not.  I have a day job, several non-profit efforts that I’m involved in, oh, and my wife and two kids.  But … cluebell here.  I don’t have to go to every event.  But I like having options. It wasn’t so awful long ago that the only events in town for entrepreneurs were held by service providers and the establishment.   Some of these were (and still are) good intentioned – but again, there was no moving of the needle.

We wanted a vibrant ecosystem here in Atlanta, and guess what, folks?  It’s here now.

There has been a seismic shift in the nature of these social opportunities in Atlanta.

Most of the new organizations that have sprung up are non-profit, all-volunteer, grass-roots organizations where the organizers not only do not get paid, they do well not to lose money.  Most of the new opportunities do not have speakers (remember how much we hated speaker-driven events?)

Most of the new social opportunities vigilantly exclude or limit service provider involvement so that meaningful conversations can take place.  There are real competitors to the service-provider-dry-hump-fests of old (nod to @Unblakeable for that one).

As a result, real entrepreneurs and real investors are attending and that flow has increased steadily over time.  Institutional investors, notably the ATA and Noro-Moseley, are actively reaching out.  You may argue with the methods by which they do so at this point, but the fact they give a damn is incredibly encouraging.  And we need that.

All these things indicate that the new ecosystem is here.  It’s not fully baked yet – that’s years away.  But it’s in the oven and cooking along quite nicely, thank you.

A year from now, many of the things we see now will have fallen by the wayside.  And new ones will have taken their place.  That’s a good thing.  But ideas need to have an opportunity to flourish.  That’s called innovating.  Iteration is important. The only thing that moves the needle is the community – and in this case, the community is the market - not a group, person, or single idea.  Listen to the market – it will tell you everything you want to know.

Improvise, adapt, & overcome

We had a saying in the military – one that predated my service, and one that still exists today.  Improvise, adapt, overcome. In the face of a dynamically changing battle space, military leaders on the ground have no choice but to evaluate their assets constantly, and make critical decisions not necessarily knowing what the next milestone or outcome will be.  Smart entrepreneurs do the same thing.  It’s called bootstrapping.  It’s called being nimble.  It’s called … well, being entrepreneurial!

So, you think there isn’t enough true early-stage venture capital money in Atlanta?  So what? Who gives a shit?  Stop whining and start executing for the love of Pete (whoever that is). Good deals, should they require it, can get funded. We all know this – this isn’t profound news.

Let me lead you through a concise version of the evolution of our StartupLounge philosophy over the past nearly four years:

• 2006: Not enough money in Atlanta, not enough transparency in the capital raising process, some bits of stale culture.
• 2007: People are getting connected, a real dialog is forming, but the problems still exist.
• 2008-2009: Investors are engaged, but entrepreneurs can’t pitch their deals to save their life.  Let’s do this thing called PitchCamp! (200+ CEOS have gone through PitchCamp to date)
• 2010: It’s not about the money – let’s change the format of our CapitalLounge event.  Entrepreneurs need more free education and training, on pitching, financial modeling, sales, etc. More blocking and tackling.  Kids in high school need to view entrepreneurship as a career path. Let’s tackle these problems now.

Again, it’s not about the money.  As an illustration, consider our upcoming StartupLounge event on March 4th.  We are making a ton of changes.  “CapitalLounge” is being renamed to simply “StartupLounge Atlanta”. There will be fewer attendees, but higher quality deals – ones that show traction, passion, and commitment on the part of the founders.  No more colored name badges – who cares who you are talking to at the event?  You aren’t there to get funding – you are there to hang out with like-minded people who care about early-stage companies (for a variety of reasons).  To make connections.  To help each other. To have fun with startups.  To consume copious amounts of adult beverages. And so on.  That’s what it is all about.

All of us, whether in our entrepreneurial endeavors or non-profit/community activities, have to be open to change, and open to being challenged (one of the many reasons I love things like PitchCamp and Startup Gauntlet).  And if you become irrelevant in the process, so what?  Evolve.  Re-invent yourself.  Find another way to contribute, or try and solve a different problem. Do your part to keep the needle moving.

Sig is retiring!! OMFG! What are we going to do?!?!?!?

Nothing.  Sig Mosley’s financial presence will no doubt be missed by us all.  Besides being a great guy, Sig is a legend, as is John Imlay.  But guess what?  The market will fill the void, just as it always has.  It isn’t the end of the world, because as I’ve said already here, it isn’t about one guy, one idea, etc.  Think Shotput Ventures & Tech Operators.  Ashish Mistry announced last night to a roomful of people that he was involved in a new fund.  There will be others.

Build successful companies and have some exits, and everything else will  just happen.  Trust me.

The needle is moving.

But all of our smart people are leaving!!!! OMFG!!

Whatever.

Sorry, but at this point, I have to question the alleged brilliance of “smart” people that leave Atlanta because they couldn’t get their idea off the ground here.

If you are a guy like Jeff Haynie (Appcelerator), and you raise a round of capital outside the state, and move the company thereafter – great!  I’m not talking about situations like that. Appcelerator had close to (if not more than) $1M in revenues before they raised their round and relocated.  That’s called execution.  That example is a perfect template of how to execute.  Traction. Traction. Traction.  And whatever happens, happens.

And I’m not talking about folks like Russell Jurney, who moved to Silicon Valley to expand his views on startups.  Again, different story – Russel took a great opportunity with Ning – he didn’t go there because he “couldn’t raise money here and everything in Atlanta sucks, and I’m sure they will love my idea in California.”

But, if your business plan is basically “I need to raise money for my idea”, you are most likely going to fail anyway, and spending the money to relocate is simply going to get you to your point of failure faster.  Frankly, if that is your path, and your advisors can’t convince you otherwise – I’d actually prefer that you move away from Atlanta.  That way, you can be a burden to some other city’s ecosystem.

If you execute, and do whatever it takes to get your company off the ground (drive value – financial or otherwise), you don’t have to leave Atlanta.  It’s as simple as that.  Atlanta is full of successful companies that didn’t have to leave to get off the ground – the founders just dug in and kept chopping wood (e.g. MFG.com).  Was it hard?  Sure.  But it’s hard everywhere – trust me.

So ….

This is more of a personal statement than anything else, but I am done sitting on panels to talk about what is wrong with Atlanta.  No more task forces, panels, and round-tables for me.  I fundamentally don’t believe anything is wrong at this point – we have gotten what we asked for. I am out of the “lists of things we can do better” and “10 step plans” business.  No more talking about how we get more investors to open up offices here, how we close the funding gap, and how do we get successful entrepreneurs re-engaged.  Those things will either happen on their own, as a by product of the movement, or they won’t.

Instead, I want to talk about innovation, startup strategies, business models, bootstrapping tactics, and ways to help others succeed.  And you should, too.

After all, that’s how we’ve already moved the needle. And that’s how we’ll continue to do so – together as a community.  Anything beyond that is gravy.

Cheers.

Faded Glory is a true story of a group of aging athletes, good friends for over 18 years, who never gave up the dream of playing baseball at a competitive level. Through the eyes of their manager Rick Cohen, Faded Glory follows the National Network team, 18 men over the age of thirty-five who have overcome life’s adversities, including injury, divorce, bankruptcy, infidelity, drug addiction, incarceration, and one life-threatening disease. It all takes place as National tries to win a National Amateur Baseball World Series title. Faded Glory is a captivating document of friendship, courage, humor, and the indomitability of the human spirit.

Through his hard work and passionate evangelism of his film project, Rick raised some angel capital for this film (partially through connections he made at one of our StartupLounge events).  I haven’t sought permission to mention the name of the investor in question, but he is one of the most successful technology entrepreneurs in the past decade here – and a good guy to boot.  Just goes to show you, no matter what industry sector your venture is in, you never know where a possible angel investor is lurking, and what motivates them to make an investment.

And interestingly enough, this investor shared this with me:

“I did invest some money in his movie as a result of meeting him at your StartupLounge event.  Not so much because I think movies are a good investment, but because I admire his passion and the way he has bootstrapped it thus far.”

There ya go.

The film has gone on to win a lot of critical acclaim:

• Delray Beach Film Festival Audience Award
• LA United Film Festival Audience Award
• ALL SPORTS LA Film Festival Audience Award
• Atlanta Film Festival Runner-Up Audience Award
• Real to Reel International Film Festival Runner-up Audience Award
• Newport Beach Film Festival – Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment names the film – audience favorite.

And hey, you can’t get better endorsements than these:

ANGELO PIZZO -
Writer of both “Hoosiers” and “Rudy.”

“A compelling documentary with authentic, well-earned emotions.”

ROGER TOWNE -
Writer of “The Natural.”

“Roy Hobbs and the New York Knights live in Rick Cohen. I’ve not seen so much blood and guts, self-less honesty, despair, pathos, passion, honor, and above all, — so much bravery in filmmaking.  Rick’s poignantly invested and dramatized love for his friends and the game of baseball shows clearly in this documentary.”

LEIGH STEINBERG -
Legendary Sports Agent who inspired the character of “Jerry McGuire.”

“This is THE documentary that resonates and connects with the deepest hopes and fears of males throughout the country and is a landmark event–Rick is a truly gifted talent! Faded Glory offers an unique opportunity for women to experience the locker room environment and psyche of men in an alternative habitat. It should not to be missed!”

Hey Rick, can I get a cameo role for promoting this? :)

Sooooo ….. support a local Atlanta entrepreneur and pre-order this awesome film on DVD.  Get the original indie film before Hollywood turns it into a blockbuster that may or may not capture the true spirit of Rick’s original vision. You can visit the online store here.

Rick will be attending our upcoming StartupLounge event on March 6th, and we’ll be giving away some signed copies of the DVD there as well …

Cheers.

I’ll be blogging more about this soon, but we’ve been pretty busy at StarPound lately.  We ended Q4/2009 strong, including the deployment of our platform to solve some major problems for a Fortune 50 customer (largest global player in their industry).  But amid all of the frenetic activity in Q4, something else emerged.  A really, really cool thing that I’ve decided needs to be it’s own thing.

So, to cut to the chase – here is what I am looking for.  Hopefully, some of you may have someone in mind for this:

I’m looking for an energetic, startup-minded developer (C++, Javascript, AJAX, XHTML, CSS, widgets, maybe some PHP, MySQL, etc).  Some Java would be nice, but not required.  The technology is a very unique IP voice application.  I am willing to give this person:

• Fully paid 3-4 bedroom apartment, including utilities – we’ll eventually give you some roommates to work with :)
• Salary, albeit small, but there nonetheless
• Equity in the newco

This person needs to be here in Atlanta, and is ideally a junior level person and is looking for a cool startup opportunity.  This is an awesome chance to get in on the ground floor of something very cool and exciting.

If you have anyone in mind, you can reach me at sburkett AT star-pound-tech dot com (no dashes).

Cheers.

Music and fashion weren’t the only things torn asunder in the 1980s.  We were locked into the Cold War with the Soviets.  The Soviets had missiles in Syria, capable of reaching Israel, and the Soviets/Cubans were monkeying around on the island of Grenada, not far from our own shores.  Two days after the barracks bombing in Beirut, the United States invaded Grenada.  President Reagan, who later became my first Commander-in-Chief,  delivered a powerful speech to the nation about both events a few days later. It was a crazy time.

Those of you who know me personally have a public view of me:  a tech geek, father of two little girls, wacky sense of humor, and passionate about startups and entrepreneurship.  But there is another side of me that many of you don’t know.  One that is deeply patriotic, and incredibly respectful of the traditions and sacrifices Americans have made throughout our history.

This past Saturday was Independence Day, and like so many of you, I enjoyed the fireworks with my family. Our 3 1/2 year old daughter cackled with glee at each explosion and burst of color.  But as each stream of color and smoke faded into the night, I said a small prayer for those warriors that died on the morning of October 23rd, 1983.  I said a small silent thanks to Lang, Dreier, Combites, Rivers, Cortez, Woodberry, Bamford, Starling, Strieter, Sinke, Fuller, Mitchell, Evans, Sciortino, Teal, Rey, and all the rest of the guys I served with in Delta/HHC companies, 3rd Battalion, 64th Armored Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, VII Corps.  Most of us couldn’t wait to get out of the Army, but as the years have rolled by, I think we all look back fondly on that shared experience.

Through Winter Warrior I and II, four Grafenwoehr gunnery densities, countless deployments to Hohenfels and Area Mud, REFORGER, Border Patrol, and all those 2:00am lariat advances and base lockdowns, we develop a shared history and bond that remains to this day.  To my fellow Marne Dogs of the 64th Armored Regiment, and the 3rd Infantry Division: “Rock of the Marne.  Rampage. We Pierce!”

My favorite song is, and since October 1983 has been, our national anthem.  I still choke up whenever I hear it. During a recent recording of the StartupLounge podcast, I was waiting for my cohort Mike Blake to finish munching a doughnut so we could get on with the recording (yes, I’m not kidding).  For no reason at all, I burst into singing my favorite song.  Of course, the mics were on, and the tape was rolling.  Doh!  Afterwards, I chuckled a bit, but Mike thought we should work it in the final edit of the show, as (at the time of taping that show) Memorial Day was approaching. So, we edited it in, complete with an added stadium effect.   I got a lot of emails about the song after we published the podcast, and I thought I would include an audio snippet here in this blog post.

Me attempting the National Anthem on the SL Podcast

Now with the musical portion of the post over with, I’d like to make a brief announcement.  I’ve teamed up with Jason Jones (CresaPartners), a fellow veteran (TOP-GUN!) who flew A-6 Intruder missions off the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise, to form VetLoop.com.

VetLoop is a unique (not-for-profit) community of veterans in the Atlanta community that aims to:

• Help service members transition from active military service to the civilian workforce, especially those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan
• Build relationships among veterans in Atlanta to help each other in business
• Educate the veterans community with an emphasis on business topics, and applying the lessons learned in the military to the business world

Once we roll it out in Atlanta, we would like to see the concept spread to other cities as well.

I found this great definition of a veteran online somewhere:

A veteran is someone who, at one  point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The  United  States of America” for  an amount of  “up to and including my life.”

Cheers.

The only thing that can save us now is the passing of time.

Georgia is the last state in the Union that does not allow private equity investments out of the state’s pension funds.  “Last.”  Wow.  Now there’s a word that simply emanates innovation.  Nothing says “cutting edge” like being listed as “last”.

“Last.”  That means that North Dakota is ahead of us in terms of allowing private equity investments from state pension funds.  WTF? Pinch me.

For all the hemming and hawing we hear from the state government about how great Georgia is for innovation, we’re really doing a pretty lame job of walking the walk, and leading by example.  We can pass a bill that invites the 2009 Georgia Peach Queen to appear before the House of Representatives, and slash the budget of the ATDC, but we can’t drive through a key piece of legislation to propel the Georgia economy into the 21st century.

“Last”.   You may also recall that Georgia is also “last” (or at least close to being “last”) in another category as well – public education for our children.  It is no coincidence.  We clearly have a remarkably uneducated group of people keeping us from joining the rest of the country in diversifying the state’s investments in the private sector.  Guess that lack of education has already caught up to us.

Does our state government really take these issues seriously?  Certainly there are some – many of whom I’ve met and had great conversations with.  But as a whole, no.  There are those that are hell bent on laying down in the middle of the street and preventing progress.

The most common arguments that I hear from opponents of such legislation is that it is “too risky” and “wouldn’t provide much in the way of economic development for anyone but Altanta.”  Humor me for a moment.

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation, which is a non-profit, independent, public policy think tank, recently published a very interesting article.  In the article, they cite the “lack of diversity” within the investments of the state’s pension funds.   Every investment has risk, but obviously the only defense against market risk is diversification of investments.  “Diversify or die”, as I like to say.  Not diversifying is even riskier. They lay out a pretty compelling case across the board. Read the article – it’s short and worth it.

With respect to the whole notion that Atlanta would be the sole beneficiary of such investments – that is simply ludicrous.  What these pundits fail to realize is that this is an ecosystem, not a one-way street.  All boats rise with the rising tide.  Would those dollars necessarily create direct jobs in rural areas?  Probably not, or certainly not that many.  Companies that attract venture capital and private equity investment tend to be fast-growth and/or high-tech companies, and those require infrastructure and a large labor force.  And those things exist in abundance in Atlanta, but few other places within the state.  But, what those investment dollars would do is create an economic return for the state.  And those additional dollars eventually make their way into port projects in Savannah, highways, schools, agricultural programs, and other projects around the state. Viewing this issue through any other prism is negligent in my view.

Normally, I would tell everyone reading this to contact your local state representative or senator, and tell them why you think passing legislation to allow the state to invest in private equity funds would be a good thing.  But we’ve all done that already.  Several times (SB80, HR249, etc).  I tire of the whole thing.

The only thing that can save us now is the passing of time, and the hope that at some point, enough rational people are voted into office to get us back on the right track.

“Last”.  I hate being last, don’t you?

Cheers.

We are bringing ideas to the table, and we want to hear yours.  And more importantly, we want to recruit you to help in the effort.  The only way we’re going to get there is if we execute together.  Gee, kinda like a startup team. :)

Click here for full details. Schink does a great job of laying it all out there.

If you currently play a current role in the Atlanta startup scene, want to play a role in it, or give a crap about it at all, you need to be there.  We are going to try and record the session for a slidecast/podcast for those that can’t make it – but no guarantees.

If you have ideas, bring ‘em on.  But don’t forget to bring your spirit of volunteerism with you as well.  Because you are quite likely going to be put to work.  Sitting in the crowd like a knot on a log is going to add zero value.  Throwing out ideas and not stepping in to help bring them to fruition adds only marginal value.  We want those people who are ready to step up and play their part as a software developer, web developer, mentor/advisor, educator, marketer, public relations guru, etc.

Let’s get it on.

Caveat: my wife and I are expecting our 2nd daughter to arrive at any point in the next week or so.  There is a possibility that either Unblakeable will have to go it alone, or that the event gets moved to another time.  Or, that I will run screaming from the building in a panic to get to the hospital right in the middle of something important  :)

Cheers.