Hello Mr. Burkett, I greatly enjoyed your article on the state of Ga VC/Web 2.0, and found it to be very informative.

I’ve been running a couple of automotive forums for the past several years. I have several sites but my main one is www.REMOVED.com/.net and REMOVED.com. The sites generate some income (low five figures) from advertisers as well as from Adsense and CJ. I havent really tried in earnest to monetize the communities as it started as a hobby and wanted to build community and loyalty.

So, if you are reading this line, you are interested in growing a business. Great!

I will be launching several additional sites to leverage the traffic and expand out to political (REMOVED.com) and ethnic sites (I own REMOVED.com as well).

I’ve watched the online communities for automobiles grow, and have to some extent help shape it. REMOVED.com/.net is fairly well known within the online automotive communities as the definitive and largest online community for the REMOVED. REMOVED.com is probably 2nd or 3rd in size for the REMOVED.

Here is one method that worked particularly well for me in the past.

I do not know any VC’s or people within the finance industry who may be able to fund the next stage for the venture…or even if my sites would even merit interest in that regard.

I would greatly appreciate any information or contacts you may be able to provide to help guide and fund me through uncharted territory.

I thank you in advance and look forward to your response.

Cheers.

As you can imagine from the tone of this post, the ugly head has officially been reared.

You see, three years ago, I had the big idea. You know, that one idea that manages to claw its way through all of the various layers of my entrepreneurial idea filter, and leaves me thinking of little else at the end of the day. The idea consumed me, and thus, I had to consume it. I stumbled across a “perfect storm” – a big problem, with the right solution, and the right timing within the market. And finally, after three years of bootstrapping, it is finally about to see the light of day.

I am surrounded by a fantastic support network. My good friends and fellow entrepreneurs have been there pushing, prodding, and occasionally shoving me along my path to righteousness. If you are an entrepreneur (at any level), do yourself a favor, and find other entrepreneurs who will challenge you every day. Don’t make the mistake of surrounding yourself with “yes” cohorts. Go for the type that stick their finger in your face and say “what the hell are you thinking?”, then in the next breath, ask you for help. You’ll learn a lot, and hopefully give back a lot as well.

If you are sufficiently bored, you should continue your journey of self punishment by reading my recent post called “Defend or Evolve” for more of my thinking on this front.

So, what is this big idea of which I speak? I’ll blog more on it, soon, I promise. Business planning is complete, development of the first release has wrapped up, and our newly assembled management team is as stoked about what we’re doing as I am. So for now, I am hitting the road raising a Series-A round of venture capital, and setting my sights on building a fantastic company.

And so, the cycle begins anew. The idea has fermented, the passions stirred, and my vision sufficiently blurred. Let the games begin!

By the way, the painting (and detail shots) shown within this post are from one of my “other” creations. Created in 2001, this piece is 24×18, oil on canvas, and entitled Birth of an Island. The piece illustrates the energy, eruption, and violence often associated when oceanic volcanos serve up small islands. Quite fitting, I thought!

Cheers.

One of the fears that most entrepreneurs face sooner or later is the thought of some investor out there floating your plan to your competitors or other entrepreneurs. While some investors will jump up and down and scream that they “don’t have the time for this sort of activity”, it does happen. And it happens more often than you may think. I know. I’ve had current investors drop business plans on my desk with a note that said:

Now, in defense of the investors out there, there is a rational argument for them not floating your plan around. They aren’t going to do it because they are malicious, or because they want to “steal your idea.” However, you can bet your sweet ass that if they’ve invested $5M in a company, and you are perceived as competition (or thinking positively here, a potential partner), your plan will find its way to their portfolio company’s CEO. And why not? They wouldn’t survive long as investors if they didn’t. Whether or not this is something you should be worrying about is completely up to you. But I digress.

So, how can you defend against this sort of thing – assuming there is such a thing, and assuming you want to try. Well, this isn’t foolproof, and won’t stop everyone from emailing your plan around, but if it helps you sleep at night, then great.

What we are going to do is implement a semi-automated way of “serializing” your business plan. What this means is essentially we want to create a custom copy of your business plan for each investor, without having to edit a bunch of stuff everytime you want to create a new copy. Additionally, we are going to send out the business plan document in .PDF format, rather than in an editable format, such as Microsoft Word (so that a person can’t remove their name from the document.)

This little mini-tutorial assumes that you are using Microsoft Word – so if you are using something else, you are on your own.

First, you need to have the ability to print or export from Word to .PDF format. Microsoft Word doesn’t have this ability built-in, so you’ll need some sort of add-on. I recommend the freely available “CutePDF”, which you can download here. Download the latest version, install it, and proceed to the next step.

Open up your business plan document with Word. Click FILE, then PROPERTIES, and pick an unused field (I like to use the “Category” field, as I rarely ever use it for anything else.) Type in the person or company name to whom you wish to send your plan. For example “John Smith” or “John Smith, Acme Investments.”

Now that we’ve done that, we can insert this field wherever you desire within your document. The obvious place is on the title page of your plan. Place your cursor where you want to insert the person’s name, and click INSERT, then FIELD, then select “DocProperty” from the list on the left. Choose “Category” (or whatever field you used) from the list on the right.

Click OK, and you should end up with something like this (note I added a date field as well):

If you are really paranoid, or want to really get your point across, you can put it in the header or footer of every page. Click VIEW, then “HEADER AND FOOTER”, and position your cursor somewhere in the header or footer of your document, and repeat the steps above to actually insert the field.

When you’re done inserting the field wherever you want, and formatting it to the desired appearance, save the document.

To export your business plan into .PDF format, click FILE, then PRINT, and select the “CutePDF Writer” option from your list of available printers. Choose a file name to save to, and voila! Note that with CutePDF, it can take a few seconds to do the conversion before the new file is available.

Here is the beautiful part. Let’s assume that your new startup is really hot, and you have investors clamoring to open their wallets for you. To send out a new version, serialized for someone else, open up the business plan, click FILE, then PROPERTIES, and change the name of the person in the Category field (or whatever field you used).

To update your document with the new person’s name, you have two choices, both are easy. First, you can simply do a CTRL-A and select your entire document, then hit F9. You can also do this by clicking EDIT, then SELECT ALL, then hitting F9. Same thing.

Alternatively, you can click TOOLS, OPTIONS, then the PRINT TAB and click the “update fields” option. This will automatically update your fields whenever your print the document (in your case, when you “print” to a .PDF file using CutePDF).

Now you could just as easily type in the person’s name and/or company on your title page, and just print to .PDF, without having to do all of this mucking around with fields.  However, if you place it in your header/footer, or other places within the same document, this approach helps to automate things a bit.
Enjoy, and good luck!

Cheers.

—

Publicis Groupe’s Zenith Media, a division of ZenithOptimedia, will buy six-year-old Atlanta-based interactive agency Moxie Interactive, the companies said.

The acquisition will extend Zenith’s capabilities from traditional online media buying and planning to include other digital channels. These include search marketing, e-mail, site development, interactive kiosks, mobile and hosting services.

Moxie Interactive will retain its name, employees and headquarters, but its services will be “infused” through all Zenith Media USA offices, Publicis said. The agency boasts 100 employees in its home office. Clients include Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Saks and Verizon.

“Technology drives Moxie’s business model, but they don’t let that get in the way of great creativity,” ZenithOptimedia Group North America CEO Tim Jones said in a statement. “We will infuse this culture throughout Zenith, putting digital front and center.”

—

Cheers.

And of course, the proverbial ground rules: For certain leads, I must be careful not to disclose too much information – I want to be respectful of the confidentiality and trust I have established with people. In those instances, I realize that I may need to act as a conduit for interested parties, in order to protect the anonymity of certain of these leads. However, I will aspire to provide as much information as possible here in the text, so that you can contact each other directly (I really *don’t* want to get into the habit of playing middleman, other than passing along contact information as needed).

If you have something that you would feel to be of merit for this new section of the Pothole, by all means, let me know (spammers and open solicitors need not apply). Remember that the idea here is to provide visibility into “hidden” opportunities or news that is not widely known already – so don’t send press releases. And don’t forget to browse some of the past networking leads – many of them remain active for some time after the original posting!

Michael Halbert over at Northridge Systems let me know that they are looking hot and heavy for some good .NET developers. They are also looking for a more senior level person to come on board and help run the practice.

My buddy Jeff “Big Money, Big Prizes” Clement, Managing Director here at Spherion in Atlanta informed me that he was on the prowl for someone to step into the role of Senior Information Architect. If you are a stud in a variety of technologies, and would thrive in an environment where you have to pull a bunch of disparate environments together, let me know! Ideally, this person is someone emerging into this role – not someone with years and years of senior integration architect experience. Contact JeffClement AT Spherion DOT com for more info!

Tug Technologies is seeking a couple of Senior Accountants with JD Edwards Manufacturing experience. Check ‘em out at www.TugTech.com.

If you are a solid sound engineer that wants to get involved in a fairly visible podcasting effort here in Atlanta, let me know. Specifically, this outfit desires to have a discussion with someone about helping them with the recording, mixing (production), and mastering of a new weekly or monthly IT/business podcast.

Finally, as a reminder, if your Atlanta-based firm is in need of executive talent, let me know. I am routinely in contact with many talented executives (C-level, VPs, Directors) that are in transition and are anxious to dig into new and exciting opportunities. I am always happy to send referrals your way. No, I am not a recruiter. No, I don’t want to be a recruiter, so please don’t ask. And no, I don’t charge a fee for referring someone.

Cheers.

And of course, the proverbial ground rules: For certain leads, I must be careful not to disclose too much information – I want to be respectful of the confidentiality and trust I have established with people. In those instances, I realize that I may need to act as a conduit for interested parties, in order to protect the anonymity of certain of these leads. However, I will aspire to provide as much information as possible here in the text, so that you can contact each other directly (I really *don’t* want to get into the habit of playing middleman, other than passing along contact information as needed).

If you have something that you would feel to be of merit for this new section of the Pothole, by all means, let me know (spammers and open solicitors need not apply). Remember that the idea here is to provide visibility into “hidden” opportunities or news that is not widely known already – so don’t send press releases. And don’t forget to browse some of the past networking leads – many of them remain active for some time after the original posting!

I heard that Atlanta-based information security company Stonesoft is hiring sales folks (and some other roles).

A new exclusive business class airline in Las Vegas is hiring a CIO. If you have significant airline IT experience, along with startup experience, and would love to live in sunny Las Vegas, let me know and I’d be happy to forward you along.

A well-funded startup company in Chattanooga is seeking a CFO. They have capital, but would like to raise an additional $10M in the next 36 months. This person should have experience with all aspects of financial strategies, as they relate to start-ups. They should also be well versed in dealing with angel investors. Any industry experience in transportation, mobile communications, software, or IT is a plus.  The company has a controller to do the books, but an accounting background is probably a must for the CFO.  The CFO needs to have experience as a financial strategist for start-up company, along with experience in cash flow optimization, debt restructuring, etc.

A new Atlanta-based startup in the Web 2.0 market intelligence space is seeking $2.5M in a series-A round. Angels welcome. Let me know if you’d like an intro!

Finally, as a reminder, if your Atlanta-based firm is in need of executive talent, let me know. I am routinely in contact with many talented executives (C-level, VPs, Directors) that are in transition and are anxious to dig into new and exciting opportunities. I am always happy to send referrals your way. No, I am not a recruiter. No, I don’t want to be a recruiter, so please don’t ask. And no, I don’t charge a fee for referring someone.

Cheers.

And of course, the proverbial ground rules: For certain leads, I must be careful not to disclose too much information – I want to be respectful of the confidentiality and trust I have established with people. In those instances, I realize that I may need to act as a conduit for interested parties, in order to protect the anonymity of certain of these leads. However, I will aspire to provide as much information as possible here in the text, so that you can contact each other directly (I really *don’t* want to get into the habit of playing middleman, other than passing along contact information as needed).

If you have something that you would feel to be of merit for this new section of the Pothole, by all means, let me know (spammers and open solicitors need not apply). Remember that the idea here is to provide visibility into “hidden” opportunities or news that is not widely known already – so don’t send press releases. And don’t forget to browse some of the past networking leads – many of them remain active for some time after the original posting!

My friend Stephen Fleming, the Chief Commercialization Officer down at Georgia Tech, let me know that one of his portfolio companies, XCOR, is looking for some talented project managers, senior mechanical engineers, and expert machinists. If you want to live in the Mojave desert and take part in something extraordinary, let me know. XCOR is doing amazing things in rocket propulsion and space transportation.

If you are an aggressive tech sales/account manager, there is a software company here in Atlanta that could use you. Total compensation up to $120K. Let me know if you are interested and I’d be happy to forward you on to the recruiter on this deal.

I heard that Noro-Moseley’s proposed Georgia Venture Capital event has been postponed indefinitely. I am unclear as to why, but that is definitely a disappointment. Something like this is sorely needed here in Georgia. It was originally slated for this fall (2006). I am putting this here in the “networking leads” post because perhaps someone else will step up and take the lead in the short-term.

Finally, as a reminder, if your Atlanta-based firm is in need of executive talent, let me know. I am routinely in contact with many talented executives (C-level, VPs, Directors) that are in transition and are anxious to dig into new and exciting opportunities. I am always happy to send referrals your way. No, I am not a recruiter. No, I don’t want to be a recruiter, so please don’t ask. And no, I don’t charge a fee for referring someone.

Cheers.

And of course, the proverbial ground rules: For certain leads, I must be careful not to disclose too much information – I want to be respectful of the confidentiality and trust I have established with people. In those instances, I realize that I may need to act as a conduit for interested parties, in order to protect the anonymity of certain of these leads. However, I will aspire to provide as much information as possible here in the text, so that you can contact each other directly (I really *don’t* want to get into the habit of playing middleman, other than passing along contact information as needed).

If you have something that you would feel to be of merit for this new section of the Pothole, by all means, let me know (spammers and open solicitors need not apply). Remember that the idea here is to provide visibility into “hidden” opportunities or news that is not widely known already – so don’t send press releases! And don’t forget to browse some of the past networking leads – many of them remain active for some time after the original posting!

First and foremost, a reminder that yours truly is seeking a new opportunity. While I am always open to new ideas, I am currently focusing my search for a CIO/CTO/Tech VP opportunity within either a well-capitalized startup or a mid-size firm. I invite you to visit my online bio and if you have any leads, I would welcome an intro!

If you are an Oracle database guru with experience in some form of business intelligence (BI) (e.g. business objects, Cognos, Microstrategy, etc.), and you are looking for a new challenge, let me know! Junior level position paying $85K. I am happy to forward you along if you are interested.

Are you an AJAX stud? Do you stay awake at night counting XMLHttpRequest objects jumping over little fences in your mind? Would you love to work for a fantastic digital media company in Norcross? Drop me your resume, and I’d be happy to forward you along to the CTO.

A promising young Atlanta startup focusing on market/business intelligence is seeking investors. Let me know if you’d like an intro.

Andy Monin and the crew at VendorMate have a really compelling solution for providing business “credentialing” services. Want to know if your suppliers or vendors are who they claim they are? You will be amazed at the data they can pull for you. I had a chance to spend some time with them the other day, and they are getting traction. A great new play entering the ATDC. I expect great things from this one …

If you are an Atlanta-based technology company, or if you provide technology-related services, you owe it to yourself to register for TechLINKS Exchange, an up-and-coming B2B marketplace for corporate technology buyers here in Georgia.

Finally, as a reminder, if your Atlanta-based firm is in need of executive talent, let me know. I routinely am in contact with many talented executives (C-level, VPs, Directors) that are in transition and are anxious to dig into new and exciting opportunities. I am always happy to send referrals your way.

Cheers.

And of course, the proverbial ground rules: For certain leads, I must be careful not to disclose too much information – I want to be respectful of the confidentiality and trust I have established with people. In those instances, I realize that I may need to act as a conduit for interested parties, in order to protect the anonymity of certain of these leads. However, I will aspire to provide as much information as possible here in the text, so that you can contact each other directly (I really *don’t* want to get into the habit of playing middleman, other than passing along contact information as needed).

If you have something that you would feel to be of merit for this new section of the Pothole, by all means, let me know (spammers and open solicitors need not apply). Remember that the idea here is to provide visibility into “hidden” opportunities or news that is not widely known already – so don’t send press releases! And don’t forget to browse some of the past networking leads – many of them are still active!

First and foremost, a reminder that yours truly is seeking a new opportunity. While I am always open to new ideas, I am currently focusing my search for a CIO/CTO/Tech VP opportunity within either a well-capitalized startup or a mid-size firm. I invite you to visit my online bio and if you have any leads, I would welcome an intro!

My good friend and former Equifax CIO, Armando Cuevas has teamed up with his fellow ex-Gartner colleague, Wally Gramling to form a new firm, ArcMP. ArcMP’s flagship product is called Parsanon, and is billed as an enterprise architecture management platform. Deisnged by CIOs, for CIOs. I had the pleasure of seeing the demo of this thing the other day. If you are responsible for managing enterprise architecture, you owe it to yourself to contact them. This is a must-see demo. Their web site is currently in a “state of transition”, but it should be available soon.

Atlanta networking guru, Susan Knox at Corporate Connections, has launched her new and improved web site. Check it out! If your firm wants to accelerate your revenues by gaining key corporate relationships, you need to get thy rear end to the nearest telephone and call Susan Knox. Or better, watch her new online video and see the value firsthand.

If you are struggling with managing your IT security capabilities, contact the good folks at RBTi (Red Bull Technologies, Inc.). They work with dozens of product companies to put together a solution that meets your specific needs. These guys are experts, folks. Big boy football here – this isn’t the Pop Warner stuff.

I met an interesting fellow the other day. Leslie Hermitt has teamed up with Hunter Barrow for form Huntforce. Their focus is outsourced IT governance and PMO management. I had a riveting conversation with Leslie relative to their capabilities. Give ‘em a go.

Are you in transition? Contact Ruthie Powell to take advantage of her wonderful service called “Ruthie’s list.” She’ll email your resume out to her personal network of recruiters and HR directors. Not bad! She can be reached via email at “ruthiep AT bellsouth DOT net”.

Finally, as a reminder, if your Atlanta-based firm is in need of executive talent, let me know. I routinely am in contact with many talented executives (C-level, VPs, Directors) that are in transition and are anxious to dig into new and exciting opportunities. I am always happy to send referrals your way.

The actual press release is below.

No networking leads for today. Instead, I bring you some mo’ fresh-bidness goodness here in the ATL.

This is exactly the type of interactivity that we need between government, academia, and private enterprise. I am also pleased to announce that my good friend Tom MacDonald has joined the Carbon Motors advisory board. Congrats to Tom.

Carbon is definitely driving in the right direction (no pun intended). Watching these guys build their company is better than anything you get on television, folks.

Cheers.

Carbon Motors and Georgia Tech to Collaborate on Development of World’s First “Purpose-Built” Law Enforcement Vehicle

CARBON MOTORS and GEORGIA TECH SIGN MOU

ATLANTA, April 19, 2006 – Officials from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Carbon Motors Corporation – a new U.S. automaker that has announced plans to locate in Georgia – have taken the first step toward a collaboration that would develop the world’s first vehicle built expressly for law enforcement agencies. The company, which will market its innovative “purpose-built” vehicle directly to customers, also plans to revolutionize U.S. automobile manufacturing as a lean and integrated organization.

In March, the firm announced plans to locate its headquarters, research and development center, direct sales center, customer service, and mid-volume production and logistics operations in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Today officials from Georgia Tech and Carbon Motors signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) setting out their intent to establish research, education and financial arrangements.

“In this era of enhanced homeland security concerns, law enforcement first responders require the most appropriate specialized equipment delivered to them in the most efficient way possible so our women and men in uniform can patrol our communities in a more effective and safe manner,” said William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of Carbon Motors. “With more than 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide, we have developed a list of 74 critical criteria that law enforcement vehicles need to meet. This vehicle will be different in almost every way to truly meet the needs and desires of law enforcement.”

To make that vision a reality, Carbon Motors plans to take advantage of Georgia Tech’s expertise in a broad range of areas. Initially, the company’s designers and engineers plan to tap Georgia Tech’s expertise in the ergonomic design of aircraft cockpits and the integration of highly complex electronic and electrical systems.

“Police vehicles today have a complex set of systems that need to be ergonomically configured to ensure proper flow of information to officers, especially when they are in pursuit or in stressful situations,” said Li. “What we essentially need is comparable to the cockpit of a helicopter – which Georgia Tech has experience in designing. That is expertise not normally found in the automotive industry.”

Beyond the human factors interface expertise, the company also intends to take advantage of Georgia Tech experience with integrating complex electronic systems – expertise also developed in decades of work done for military agencies.

“The amount of electronic and electrical equipment that will be in this vehicle is an order of magnitude beyond what you’d find in any existing automobile,” Li noted.

“This becomes not only a systems integration issue, but also a testing and validation concern involving electromagnetic interference and compatibility issues under a variety of environmental conditions.”

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), which recently developed the Ultra-Armored Patrol concept vehicle for the U.S. military, plans to work with Carbon Motors on those key tasks. “Large scale systems engineering is an area where GTRI has a proven track record of success,” said Stephen E. Cross, director of GTRI and a vice president at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “We recently designed and built a concept military fighting vehicle to keep soldiers safer on the battlefield. We look forward to working with Carbon Motors to develop new vehicles that will make first responders
safer on the streets.”

Beyond human factors and systems integration, the company is also exploring Georgia Tech’s expertise in other areas, including materials selection, logistics, information technology, manufacturing product life cycle management, sensor technology, aerodynamics, decision making algorithms and process engineering. “This project is a prime example of how forward-thinking companies like Carbon Motors can collaborate with Georgia Tech to bring innovative products to the market and to transform a vital sector of the U.S. economy,” said Wayne Hodges, vice provost in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. “We look forward to working with the company to both develop this new vehicle and to change the way that automobiles are designed, produced and sold.”

For Georgia Tech, the collaboration will not only provide an opportunity to impact industry and help create jobs in Georgia, but it will also give students an opportunity to work on real-world projects, Hodges noted. That experience will equip those students to not only support Carbon Motors, but also to bring a new business model to the U.S. automotive industry, he added.

The collaboration is an example of how Georgia’s investment in higher education can have an economic development payoff, noted Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “One of Georgia’s strengths is its research capabilities and the involvement of our universities in economic development,” Lesser said. “Georgia Tech is truly a world-class university, and we are pleased that Carbon Motors will develop the kind of relationship that will benefit both organizations.”

Based on two years of market research, Carbon Motors identified what law enforcement agencies needed in a vehicle built expressly for their use. Current police vehicles are based on retail passenger vehicles that are modified by a highly fragmented set of local suppliers with little standardization or integration. Among the improvements will be significantly enhanced total vehicle performance, improved fuel economy, enhanced safety and a reduction in total costs. Carbon Motors is working with the state of Georgia, the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia Power Company, local governments and developers to determine the best location for a rail-linked 100-acre site to become the “Carbon Campus” housing the new company.

About Carbon Motors: Carbon Motors Corporation is a new U.S. automaker with an innovative business model. The company is developing and will manufacture, distribute and service an all-new purpose built law enforcement patrol vehicle. The Carbon Motors mission includes developing a new lower-volume capable vehicle platform, establishing a direct and efficient end-to-end supply chain, and continuing to foster public and private sector collaboration. For more information, visit (www.carbonmotors.com).

About the Georgia Tech Research Institute: The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. GTRI’s approximately 1,200 employees perform or support more than $100 million in research yearly for more than 200 clients in industry and government. For more information, visit (www.gtri.gatech.edu).

About the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute: The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute helps enterprises improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology and innovation. With integrated service offerings focused on specific customer sets, the Enterprise Innovation Institute helps companies achieve and maintain a competitive edge, fosters development of successful startup firms, and assists communities and economic developers in adopting innovative practices. For more information, visit (innovate.gatech.edu).

Research News & Publications Office
Georgia Institute of Technology
75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100
Atlanta, Georgia 30308 USA
Media Relations Contacts: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (jto...@gatech.edu) or
Kirk Englehardt (404-407-7280).