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

Every problem at Rutgers can apparently be solved with a furious cutting motion. Worried about a letdown in next week’s game at Cincinnati? Upset over a low ranking in the Bowl Championship Series standings? Bogged down with homework?

“Keep chopping,” advised Greg Schiano, the Rutgers coach.

Schiano gathered his players in a meeting room and recalled the words of a sports psychologist he once met at the University of Miami who told the team that playing football was like chopping wood.

“We’re in the middle of a forest,” he remembered telling the team. “It’s dark. You have to chop wood. You have to start chopping.”

“It was so simple,” said Ramel Meekins, a defensive lineman. “It made so much sense. Coach ingrained it in our minds. He kept saying it over and over. It’s all we know. It’s all we do. Chopping is a way of life.”

The ax is a logical extension of the chop. The day before each game, players wear shirts emblazoned with axes. Top contributors are awarded an ax affixed to a block of wood. A sign on the front of the practice field includes two painted axes.

If Rutgers did not have a 9-0 record and an outside shot at playing for the national championship, anyone carrying a makeshift ax on campus would probably be apprehended. But because of the circumstances, the ax is a symbol of dedication and perseverance.

“We live by it,” Leonard said. “It might be funny to some people, but it works for anything in your life. Get fired from a job? Keep chopping. Get another offer.”

Established:

If you are an early-stage company that is reaching for the stars, here are a few established companies that are now able to see the forest and the trees quite clearly. And they got there because everyone on the team became a lumberjack.

MFG.com – The largest online marketplace in the manufacturing space. Until recently, these guys were Atlanta’s biggest sleeper story. Now with Jeff Bezos’ personal investment group behind them, the sky is the limit. They’re profitable, growing, and they have a mandate from Bezos to conquer the world. If you want some deep insights into MFG, check out the podcast we did recently with MFG founder and CEO, Mitch Free. I had dinner and a few beers with Mitch last night, and one of my takeaways (among many) was just how passionate he is about innovation and execution.

EZ Prints – These guys are easily my “turnaround pick” right now. Formed during the dot com buildup, these guys ran into serious troubles during the bursting of the bubble. The investors were ready to pull the plug and write them off as a loss, but Jamie Bardin (now the CEO, at the time the head of Marketing) put together a plan to salvage the company. The investors bought off on it, and the wood chopping began. The rest is history. Now with strong revenue growth, and a nice outside round led by General Catalyst out of Boston, these guys have cleared a pretty sizable chunk of forest.

Rising Star/Sleeper Pick:

VendorMate – These guys didn’t need a venture capital infusion, thanks to the earlier successes of founder/CEO Andy Monin (Broadsource), but these guys have built a chopping wood culture like nothing you’ve ever seen. Andy has a sign over his desk that says “ABC = Always Be CEO’ing”. Of course, it may as well say “ABC = Always Be Chopping.” Whenever I walk out of their offices, I leave with a renewed sense of urgency in my own dealings. I like that. They are in the ATDC right now, but my gut tells me that won’t last for long. Their financials are looking solid, and Andy has what it takes to get them to that next critical level. Whether or not they take on a round of outside capital down the road is to be seen, but I can tell you that Vendormate will be driving the terms of that deal should it happen.

Embryonic/Newborn:

It is hard to pick companies at this stage, because they haven’t been in the forest long enough for you to determine whether or not they are going to chop at all. However, I’m going with my gut feeling here.

Intellection Group – I’m not very high on the name of the company, but they have some cool technology nonetheless. They turn natural language into database queries. “Computer, how many blue widgets did we sell in the northern provinces of China five years ago?” Yeah, cool stuff. These guys are a TAG Top 40 innovative company, and deservedly so – founder Dave Bernard is a first class geek who may very well be on to something with this one. They have a lot of wood to chop yet, but everytime I’ve seen Dave in the past few months, he’s been sharpening his axe.

I have a LOT of early-stage Georgia companies on my radar right now, and over the next few months or so, it will be interesting to see how many of them make the lumberjack roster, and how many of them end up running in circles like these guys instead:

Cheers.

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.

This is a must-hear podcast if you are an early stage entrepreneur.

So how does a guy go from running up his credit cards and cashing in the 401K to growing through acquisition in Europe, expanding heavily into China and processing over $4.5B in transactions in just a few short years? Join us for a very intimate conversation with Mitch Free, the founder and CEO of MFG.com, one of the world’s largest online marketplaces within the manufacturing space.

As an added bonus, hear Mitch’s view on where the Atlanta early-stage venture market is, what it is like to work with Jeff Bezos and the Samwer brothers, and what is next for MFG.com. We also discuss the subject of several outside venture funds taking a closer look at the Atlanta market.

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.

Here is the press release in its entirety:

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Manufacturing Marketplace MFG.com Secures Funding for Global Expansion

European Founders Fund Joins Bezos Expeditions as Key Investors.
Funding Follows Record Breaking Year in 2006 for RFQs and Revenue.

Atlanta, February 5, 2007 – MFG.com, Inc., the largest global online marketplace for the manufacturing community, today announced the closing of a round of funding by European Founders Fund (EFF), based in Munich, Germany. Existing investor Bezos Expeditions, LLC, led the round of funding. The funds will be utilized for MFG.com’s continued global expansion and the creation of innovative new online services for the manufacturing community.

“The manufacturing industry is one of the largest industries in the world, it is global by nature and highly fragmented,” said Oliver Samwer, co-founder of the European Founders Fund. “MFG.com is bringing tremendous efficiency to the manufacturing industry and has garnered the all important critical mass that a marketplace requires to be successful. Our organization knows the marketplace business firsthand and looks forward to contributing our experience and expertise to MFG.com.”

MFG.com also announced that for the year ending December 31, 2006, the Company saw a new record in the volume of manufacturing projects sourced through the online marketplace and recorded the highest sales and revenue in company history. Marketplace volume increased by 103% and revenue was up 97% from 2005.

“The Internet and the manufacturing ecosystem are both global and an online marketplace for the manufacturing industry won’t work on a localized basis,” said Mitch Free, Founder & CEO of MFG.com. “2006 was a fantastic year for us with a lot of focus on creating a global foundation for us to build upon. With our acquisition of SourcingParts.com in Geneva, the establishment of a wholly-owned foreign entity in China, our new offices in Europe, and a strategic partnership in India, we are now a significant player in the most important buy and supply markets.”

“I am pleased to have Bezos Expeditions and European Founders Fund as partners,” continued Free. “Jeff Bezos and the Samwer brothers are highly successful entrepreneurs with hands on experience building large global online businesses. They invest their own money and bring a level of expertise and experience that pure financial investors just can’t offer.”

The MFG.com online marketplace, which facilitates billions of dollars in manufacturing transactions annually, supports 10 languages and 12 currencies and has offices in Atlanta, Geneva, Shanghai, Paris and London.

About MFG.com
MFG.com is an online marketplace servicing the global manufacturing community. MFG.com instantly and intelligently matches sourcing professionals and engineers with suppliers who have the right expertise and capacity to manufacture parts and tooling on demand in accordance with their engineering drawings and CAD files. MFG.com’s on-demand service is consolidating the once-fragmented world of custom manufacturing into an efficient marketplace, enabling products to be sourced and built more easily, quickly, inexpensively, and at higher quality levels. For more information, please visit http://www.mfg.com

About Bezos Expeditions, LLC
Bezos Expeditions, a personal investment company of Jeff Bezos.

About the European Founders Fund GmbH
European Founders Fund GmbH is a highly selective investment company run by brothers Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, with offices in Munich, Germany. The Samwers are the founders of eBay Germany (alando) and Jamba! (now part of News Corporation). The internet companies founded by the Samwers have achieved combined sales of more than €1 billion. They are entirely focused on investing in the equity of young technology companies, especially internet & wireless. The Samwers have direct experience in these segments and an extensive network of partners who bring significant value-add to their portfolio companies. With every investment, the Samwers aim to make a difference and to build enduring, significant companies.
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Congrats, Mitch!

Cheers.