Thanks to everyone who helps to make this a great event for early-stagers in the Southeast!

Cheers.

As part of our new platform (which is still under development), we’re tracking lots of different metrics about our events. Here are a few interesting numbers:

Quick analysis: A lot of numbers here. The biggest number to me is that 60% of the companies at this event are “new” – meaning that they haven’t attended before. Part of our goal is to help as many people as we can, but part of our goal is also to try and keep the deals at CapConn “fresh” for investors.

I also really like the fact that we are seeing lots of first-time entrepreneurs (that bodes well for the future of the community). I think this feeds into the strong demand for our free PitchCamp sessions as well. Looks like a fair number of companies have revenues and IP in place. That’s always good news for investors. And speaking of investors, there is a nice mix of angels and VCs to boot.

The 70% of entrepreneurs who jumped at the chance to participate in our “FastPitch” pre-CapConn event is great! In fact, it is so great, that we realized we’ll need to take some time to plan this feature to better handle the demand, which is why we’ve pushed its launch off until the next CapConn (spring).

Breakdown of Company Stage:

Quick analysis: I really like this statistic. Most of the deals in the room already have a product and/or revenues in place.

Breakdown of Product Stage:

Quick analysis: As with the previous set of statistics on company stage, most of the deals in the room have already made some semblance of progress as it pertains to their product offering. For those out there that think we fill the room with napkin holders, think again! They are in the minority at only 5.15%.

Number of Employees:

Quick analysis: First, and obviously, most of the concentration is in the solo and 2-10 categories, however, there are some deals in other categories as well. I like the 2-10 category being the highest. This is usually indicative of an entrepreneurial “team” (i.e. the geek and the marketing guy). This is something that I know lots of thought leaders in Atlanta have have wanted to see more of (Stephen Fleming, David Ratajczak, Jeff Haynie, etc.). So this is encouraging!

Funding History:

Quick analysis: No surprise that since we are targeting early-stage companies for these events, that the trend clearly shows most deals in the room are either being bootstrapped or funded by friends/family thus far. I would like to slowly but surely see the crawl towards the angel bucket, and at 16.5% already, that makes for a good spread in the room.

Current Capital Status:

Quick analysis: Again, no surprises here. The 80.5% of people actively seeking capital are at CapConn for a reason. :) Nice to see some others there who are making connections for the future. As they say – the best time to befriend an investor is well before you may approach them for capital.

Top 4 Industries:

Quick analysis: Atlanta has had a large technology industry for a long time, so it is no surprise that tech plays are the top represented category. Tis is even more obvious when you consider how much easier it is to launch a tech company today than say, 5 or 10 years ago. This should dispel the rumor that the whole room is full of technology plays. There are certainly a large number of them there, but as you can see, there are plenty of deals to be had in other areas as well (including the dozen or so industries not listed here).

Fun numbers! See everyone on Wednesday ….

Cheers.

To our knowledge there have been at least 10 deals that have gotten investor traction from our first two events, including a possible $3M series-A and many, many angel deals. Of course, the relationships and connections that have been formed through the event are worth far more than the capital. However, nothing serves our cause better than to hear the successful networking stories from entrepreneurs and investors – so if you have feedback, or a story to tell, let us know!

The quarterly StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event now routinely draws a solid base of investors. Past attendees have included UPS, Imlay Investments, Croft-Bender, Southern Capitol Ventures, Chrysalis Ventures, Noro-Moseley, Atlanta Technology Angels, Smith-Hoffman Capital, Kinetic Ventures, Grotech, Leader Ventures, EGL Ventures, Monolith Capital Partners, and many others.

If you are a fast-growth entrepreneur in the Southeast U.S., or an investor who’d like to network among such innovators to scout for new deals, you won’t want to miss it.

For this next event, there will be some changes to the format:

1. Based upon feedback from both entrepreneurs and investors, we are introducing something new to the event. Investors will be let in an hour or so before entrepreneurs. This will afford investors with an opportunity to network among themselves prior to the event. Additionally, the StartupLounge.com team will hand-select a group of deals that will participate in a 2-minute “fast-pitch” on the microphone. No slides, no frills. Just two minutes presenting your deal to a room full of investors. After an hour of private networking and fast-pitching with the selected deals, we’ll open the venue to all attendees. Our goal here is threefold. First, we want to provide investors an opportunity to connect with each other, in a “less frenetic” environment. Second, we want to provide our investor attendees with a quick look at a handful of fresh (qualified) deals. Finally, the benefit to the entrepreneurial community is obvious.
2. Due to the logistics involved in throwing a party for 200-300 people every quarter, we are now going to close off registrations for the event a week or two before the actual event date. This will give us ample time to get name badges ready, and will allow the venue staff to prepare accordingly.
3. We are capping attendance from here on out. Fortunately (and I suppose unfortunately), the CapConn events have taken on a life of their own. And this means the venue is on the brink of getting filled to capacity. This has the side-effect of making it fairly difficult to navigate the room and find deals or investors. Therefore, we’ll be capping the attendance at around 225 people. What does this mean for everyone? It means you need to sign up sooner rather than later, in order to hold your spot!

The cost is still free, of course, and the room will be free of job-seekers and service-providers. However, we are seeking a few more sponsors to augment the sponsors we currently have. If your firm (or someone you know) is interested in helping us sponsor this event each quarter, please have them get in contact with us. Service-providers are welcome sponsors – in fact, it is the only way they can get in the room.

To apply to attend as an investor or entrepreneur/company, click here.

Cheers.

Here it is, midnight, and I just got home from our quarterly Capital Connections event. Wow, what a night. I am completely spent, so I’ll make this post brief!
We’ll have a full wrap-up posted in the next few days (along with tons of photos), but here are a few short observations:

• Despite the really terrible weather and apparently horrible accidents that backed up traffic on most of the major highways, we still managed to get over 200 people in the door – not bad. We had over 300 on the RSVP list, but I got calls from several investors and entrepreneurs shortly before the event telling me that they had diverted planes from Hartsfield Airport, and that the roads were seriously backed up. Several out of state VCs had their flights to Atlanta sufficiently delayed or cancelled. Yay. :( Nevertheless, 200+ entrepreneurs and investors in a room filled with gourmet crab cakes is never a bad recipe. It is probably a good thing – had the weather and traffic permitted, we would have quite likely been elbow-to-elbow. I think we may need to cap attendance at 250 or so for future events. 300 would have been brutal.
• It was good to see new deals and new investors in the room. Keeping the event “fresh” is something that is always at the top of our mind.
• It was also very encouraging to see established Atlanta entrepreneurs such as Chris Klaus coming to participate. We need more of this. Guys with ideas rarely become emerging growth companies without the mentorship, guidance, and wisdom that can be provided by those that have tread before them. Those of you who have experienced a great deal of success, and who are not sufficiently engaged, know who you are.
• The happy moment for me came when I looked across the demo area and saw literally dozens of entrepreneurs hunched over their laptops showing investors and other entrepreneurs what they were up to. This sort of transparency is very healthy.
• I saw some folks who participated in our recent PitchCamp showing off their new pitches and one pagers. Very cool!
• Despite repeated invitations, the Atlanta Journal Constitution still refuses to attend (or even write me back for that matter). Too bad. You would think that something as revolutionary, grassroots and impactful as these events would be newsworthy. Oh well. Thankfully, there is the Atlanta Business Chronicle, who realizes that this event represents a unique nexus between ideas and capital.

Thanks to everyone who came out and participated! A thanks to our sponsors as well! Your collective support allows us to continue providing a remarkable quarterly opportunity to drive change. The event continues to evolve, and we are grateful for your patience!
We’ll soon begin planning our Q4 event, which will be in early December. Should be a great time to gather around the holidays ….

Cheers.

I’d like to take a moment to thank the folks who’ve stepped up to sponsor our non-profit efforts:

• Chrysalis Ventures
• Southern Capitol Ventures
• Web.com
• Adams Capital
• Clements-Walker
• Slingshot
• Angus McRae
• ATDC
• Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

Without their substantial sponsor dollars and influence behind what we do, we’d have to pay for all of this ourselves (again), and let’s face it, that would suck. Each of these sponsors is behind our efforts because they truly believe in what we are doing – and that makes our relationship with them even sweeter.

Cheers.

Sooner or later, every startup struggles with the issue of how best to offer healthcare benefits to their employees. In a recent StartupLounge.com podcast, we were joined by Angus Mcrae, a guy who does a ton of consulting and brokering for healthcare benefits for Atlanta-area high-tech startups (for companies like N2 Broadband/Tandberg, ViTrue, etc.)

As an added bonus we toss (under the bus) the knuckleheads holding up SB80 (the legislative bill that would allow the Georgia teacher’s pension fund to be invested in private equity). We also provide an update on our upcoming Capital Connections and PitchCamp events (as well as TAG & ATDC’s upcoming CapVenture program) here in Atlanta.

This was another solid show with some great nuts and bolts content for entrepreneurs. How do healthcare benefit brokers work? What are the warning signs of unethical brokers? What about PEOs? How expensive are healthcare benefits for startups? Can they afford to do it? Should they? How big does a company have to be to offer benefits to employees? What are the key considerations in selecting a benefits program for your company?

Cheers.

Enjoy!

If you weren’t able to attend, we hope you can make the next one. We certainly had a blast putting it together, and even more fun sharing ideas and connections.
Cheers.