Tag Archives: startups
Passing the Torch
Time is a funny thing. When you are young, you have seemingly boundless amounts of it. You wake up very day, full of zeal, and passionately chase your whim du jour. Then, one day you wake up, and you realize that time has become a commodity, with a value all its own, and the …
The Answer is Blowin’ in the Wind
Every few months or so, various Atlanta startup thought leaders are corralled together on a panel or round-table to discuss what can be done to improve our startup ecosystem. Invariably, the outcome is the same: a regurgitated list of things we already know all too well. Examples: Lack of local funding sources for early-stage companies …
Great Startup Opportunity in Atlanta
Sometimes, out of the chaos of business, great ideas emerge. Unfortunately, you rarely have the chance to aggressively chase those great ideas in the here-and-now. 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 …
Okay, Atlanta. Now What?
If you care at all about the Atlanta startup ecosystem, Mike Blake and I humbly request your presence next week at the monthly Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs meeting (18th at the ATDC). Mike Schinkel and the AWE gang have graciously invited Unblakeable and I to present our views of where Atlanta is right now, where we’re …
A Dozen Ways to get Rejected from CapitalLounge
We get a TON of applications every time we put together a CapitalLounge event. While most of the applications have some degree of merit, and eventually get accepted, there are many that don’t. Historically, we have a non-invitation rate of anywhere from 20-30%. Despite the enormous level of detail that we’ve published as to our …
Captain Anonymous and His View of Atlanta’s Startup Scene
Lately I’ve been getting some blog comments and Skribit “suggestions” from an anonymous visitor. Let’s just say the comments haven’t been terribly “engaging” – some of them have actually been quite nasty. And look, I’ll be the first to admit this – I cuss like a sailor (well, a former soldier), and believe me, I …
Military Lessons Applied to Startups
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jason Jones of CresaPartners, who hosts a podcast called “Battlefield to Business” for Business-to-Business Magazine. If you don’t know Jason, he’s a great guy, and a former naval aviator who served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. We had a great candid chat …
Why a Bad Economy Rocks for FOSS/SaaS Startups
The down market seems to be working in our favor. This probably isn’t going to news to some of you, but I thought I’d share a few random thoughts on this. As a FOSS (Free, Open Source Solution) company, that also offers a cloud-based software-as-a-service option, we’re sorting through more deal opportunities than we can …
Lessons From a Launch
Our bizdev guy jockeying for the top spot. FAIL! :) I’ve been involved in no less than two dozen software or Internet-related launches in my career. Having just finished the initial launch of StarPound, I thought I’d drop a few notes here about launching. This post will ramble a bit, as I am still really …
The Storm is Finally Here
I foresaw it a year ago. Stephen Fleming eloquently described it today. Lance Weatherby posted a nice rundown, too. Ashish Mistry piled on as well. Former Earthlink PR exec now turned media blogger, Dan Greenfield, wrote a nice bit as well. I was unable to attend Startup Riot as I came down with a nasty …