Many of you may remember my post and the resulting comment storm about last year’s affair.  I caught a good bit of flak for over that post, but the good news is that it promoted an important dialog, and dialog is never a bad thing.  The good news is that the organizers of the event have apparently listened to the collective voice of the community, and key changes have been implemented.

According to Lance, the competition organizers have clearly set forth that entrants must have raised less than $500K in aggregate cash capital, regardless of source. The TAG/GRA event took a nasty blackeye over the aforementioned flap last year, but they seem to have corrected the problem for future events.

With all of this being said, at a time when fewer angel investors are writing smaller checks with less frequency, this competition is even more deserving of your attention.

The winner of this year’s competition will receive $100,000 in cash, $200,000 in support services and lots of good publicity.

Each year, the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition organizers select a theme for businesses that they will consider for the award.  This year, the theme is Internet Technologies.

“This includes companies that are developing products, online services, or backend technologies that are using or extending the reach, flexibility and ease of the internet; with a particular interest in companies within the fields of digital media/technology, cleantech, mobility and securities.”

Lance is leading a panel discussion of prior winners on January 8th TAG Entrepreneurs Society monthly meeting at the ATDC (TSRB building) at 7:30 am.  The panelists will include IVOX, Acculynk, and REACH Call.

By the way, you can learn more about IVOX’s experience with the competition by listening to our podcast (StartupLounge #17) with Greg Warren called “Inside the Winner’s Circle: IVOX”, which we published on August 7, 2007.

Cheers.

Subject:  GA Entrepreneurs: Join TAG’s Research Panel

Let your opinion be known: Opt in to TAG’s Entrepreneur Survey

Dear Georgia Entrepreneur,

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) requests your participation in an important entrepreneur needs assessment survey currently underway.

Your feedback will directly influence programs and policies that affect all entrepreneurs in Georgia.  This is your chance to be heard.

Please take one minute to join our research panel by clicking here: Entrepreneur Survey Opt-in.

Within two weeks of joining the TAG Research Panel, you will receive the “Entrepreneur Needs Assessment Survey” with questions about your needs and experiences.  After you complete our survey, Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) will send you a free copy of “2008 State of the Industry Report: Technology in Georgia.”  This report, which will be published in March, will include hundreds of charts showing technology job growth, venture funding practices, sector growth, the results of this survey, and much more.

We thank you in advance for your participation.

Sincerely,

Tino J. Mantella – President, Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

The Entrepreneur Survey is sponsored by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of Georgia’s technology industry.

My other hand, however, is left wondering why a company that at one point was a significant going-concern, and was eventually bought out of bankruptcy court was even allowed to enter a competition aimed at fostering “new” companies. According to the rules of the competition:

The competition is aimed at “new” businesses, however the time and effort required to launch a successful business in the targeted areas may require that an entrepreneur form a company and begin certain limited functions before any meaningful business operations occur. These functions could include prototype or Intellectual Property development and for these or similar reasons up to $500K in external funding may be allowed. Market trials may also be required and for this or a similar reason some limited revenue may be allowed.

No matter how you slice this, it bothers me. It bothers a lot of people that I’ve talked to over the past few days.

I volunteered this year as a pitch mentor for the other three companies that were in the competition (Skybloxx, Global Crypto Systems, and ProperNotice). Each of these embryonic teams worked extremely hard to make it to the finals of the competition. During our pitch mentoring sessions, ATM Direct was absent – no idea why. But I know the other 3 teams came in and walked away with newly gleaned insights into their stories, and a genuine hope that they had a shot to win and get their companies off the ground. Instead, they lost to a company that had been auctioned off on the bankruptcy circuit (at least once, possibly twice).

In any event, the TAG/GRA business launch competition should be aimed at promoting and fostering the launch of new companies here in Georgia. Unless I am missing something obvious here, I can’t help but feel a little shame in this year’s affair. It sort of reminds me of a 16 year old trying to play on a little league team – great for the team that recruited him, but not terribly fair for the other teams. I suppose one argument would be that since the assets of ATM Direct were sold to Accullink, it is a new incarnation, new company, etc. So that would qualify them for the competition. I still don’t like it, though. It just doesn’t give me that warm and fuzzy feeling that I expect from a winner of a competition like this.

In fact, one could counter-argue since the assets were purchased for $600K, that alone would disqualify Accullink/ATM Direct as that would constitute an investment that is greater than the $500K limit outlined in the rules of the competition. I’d have much rather seen a true green-field idea company in that slot (like the other three contestants).

Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that TAG/GRA addresses this matter at some point, if nothing else than to send a message to would-be entrepreneurs here in Georgia that your dreams and efforts still matter. Due diligence is a good thing. Hopefully, someone from TAG or GRA will come and post here and help make some sense of this.

Cheers.

• A couple of trends -the big clusters seem to be in:
  • Events, finding something to do, connecting with friends, social networking (3 deals out of the 25)
  • Educational plays – of the 25 pitches on the site, 5 of them were in the education space – that’s a very positive trend, in my opinion.
• A handful of the companies listed recently attended one of our PitchCamp sessions. I’ll say this. It is very obvious to me which ones put in the effort. The difference is night and day in terms of getting the core message across.
• Video pitches have the power to turn otherwise normal people into amateur actors. When I watch a 2 minute video pitch, I don’t want to be entertained – I want to learn about the business, the market, the company, the product – the pain. Bringing in your children for cameo roles, doing humorous skits, or hooting and hollering like a used car salesman just don’t get me all that excited. Granted, it leaves me laughing, but at what …. the jokes, or your business? My two cents … your mileage may vary. At the end of the day, an investor wants to invest in your business, not a local chapter of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

Cheers.

Henry participated in a video pitch component, which if he wins it, he will earn a “bye” during the first round of judging. This is the equivalent of the “People’s Choice” category.

If you have a moment – check out the pitch here (it is the second one listed). It is only a couple of minutes long. I’m sure Henry would appreciate your vote as well – if you have a moment, click the “Vote Here” link at the top of the page, and check the deal you like the most (we’re hoping, of course, that it is Trajectory Learning)

:)

Good job, Henry!

Cheers.

Please join us for TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs “The South Shall Raise Again: Raising Early Stage Capital in Georgia and the Southeast” with Michael Blake, CFA and managing director of Adams Capital, Inc. This session will focus on the challenges early stage companies in the SE are facing in respect to raising capital. Mr. Blake will also convey success stories and address his thoughts on best practices. Finally, he will forecast the fund availability outlook going forward, and discuss what GA needs to do to be competitive with the SE and the most successful parts of the USA.

The event details are as follows:

• Organization: Technology Association of Georgia
• Event Name: TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs “South Shall Raise Again: Raising Early Stage Capital in Georgia and the Southeast”
• Date: March 6, 2008, 7:30am to 9:00am
• Entrepreneurs Only Roundtable:* 9:15am to 10:00am
• You MUST attend the presentation in order to attend the Roundtable*
• Location: Centergy One Building
• 75 5th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30308
• http://www.tagonline.org

Tino Mantella, the President of TAG joined us for a great podcast over at StartupLounge.com. In addition to giving us a nice update on this initiative, Tino also shared with us some other goodies, such as a new partnership with the ATDC. Take a listen for more details!

Cheers.

On a related note, Tino will be appearing as our January guest over on the StartupLounge.com podcast, so be sure to stay tuned for that. We’ll be discussing TAG’s role in promoting entrepreneurship in Georgia.

Cheers.

Next Tuesday, November 14th, B&TA/TAG will be sponsoring a can’t miss panel entitled “Commercialization: New Ways to Capture Value in Early Stage Technology.” The gyst:

This event will explore new ways to bring early stage intellectual property to market. The dot com boom conditioned entrepreneurs and innovators to assume they must form a newco (new company), write a business plan, raise capital and go directly to market. This may not be the best path to commercialization for all innovations. This event will explore alternate routes to market for early stage intellectual property.

John Bacon
Before founding Intellectual Property Partners LLC to develop new ways to commercialize exciting inventions, John Bacon was a software entrepreneur for more than 15 years. He ran several venture-capital-backed companies and took two of them public, one in the United States and one in Europe, after raising more than $37 million from seven venture capital firms. Mr. Bacon was an executive for more than 15 years with Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.; he was managing director of the company’s United Kingdom operation, building and marketing satellite communications equipment in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. He is vice-chairman of the Advisory Board of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and a member of the Board of Directors of the Technology Association of Georgia.

Chris Schenken
Chris is Vice President of UPS Global Innovations, Inc. His group is responsible for assisting UPS in bringing full value from intellectual property assets, those developed internally and acquired from the outside. As a result, they have been engaged with negotiating complex IP agreements with private, governmental, and quasi-governmental entities for the past 11 years.

Jan Bouten
Jan joined The Aurora Funds in 2003 as part of the investment team and focuses on Information Technology. He came to Aurora with strong operating experience in the high tech industry. At Aurora, Jan spends his time sourcing and evaluating new investments opportunities, and he also gives strategic and marketing support to existing portfolio companies. He is on the Board of Nextreme, Visitar and Mobile-Mind and is actively working with Centice and StrikeIron. In addition, Jan has lectured at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering and Fuqua School of Business, as well as NC State’s School of Management.

If you’re interested in attending, here are the logistics (although you will need to register online) :

Tuesday, Nov 14, 2006
07:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Technology Square Research Building (TSRB) Auditorium
85 5th Street, NW
Atlanta, GA Map

I hope to see you there!

Cheers.

Each year, the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) (through a partership with the Business & Technology Alliance) uses its Excalibur Awards program to recognize those tech-enabled companies that are leveraging technology to create competitive advantages. This year’s award winners:

Macon E. Gooch III Building Consultants (small organization category)
Intercontinental Exchange (medium organization category)
Southern Company (large organization category)
Georgia Innocence Project (creativity award)

You can read the official TAG press release here.

Additionally, the audience was treated to a fantastic keynote address by Matthew Szulik, CEO of RedHat. To the enjoyment of everyone, Matthew articulated very clearly the cultural aspects of the open source movement. After the ceremony concluded, the crowd continued networking, with some folks staying until nearly lunchtime! By the way, if you haven’t seen RedHat’s “Truth Happens” video clip – check it out here.

HiddenMarket sponsored a table at the event, and we had a great group of our friends, colleagues, and associates hanging out with us. That is the really fun thing about networking events – bringing really interesting people together so everyone can expand their business horizons.

From left to right: Mike Blake (Adams Capital), Alan Urech (Stoney River Capital), Mitch Free (CEO, MFG.com), Scott Burkett (CEO, HiddenMarket), Anne Simons (brandsizzle), and Nelson Chu (Kinetic Ventures). Not pictured: Andy Monin (CEO, Vendormate), Stephen Fleming (ATDC/GA Tech/VentureLab), Jim Williams (The Certus Group), Jerry Recht (HiddenMarket).

The TAG Excalibur Awards are quickly becoming a staple part of the Georgia technology scene, and they are a phenomenal way to recognize the people who really matter in this business — the end users! I was proud to be a part of the Excalibur Awards steering committee this year, and I am excited about our prospects for continuing to build this program. I definitely encourage technology leaders in other cities to consider running a similar program.

If you are a technology company, forget about trying to win those “me first” awards. Who cares if you are the “best technology provider in your class?” Instead, I encourage you to do your part in getting your customers to win awards such as the Excalibur Awards. If they are using your technology to improve their bottom line, and are getting accolades because of it, that speaks volumes!

I do want to take a quick second to plug the efforts of Tino Mantella, the current President of TAG. Through his leadership, TAG is once again establishing itself as the centerpiece of the technology industry in the state of Georgia. TAG has certainly been plagued with its share of issues over the years, but I think we are seeing some positive momentum under Tino’s stewardship.

And of course, no mention of TAG would be complete without also recognizing Laura Heinlein, (TAG’s Membership Development Director) who is arguably one of the most organized people I’ve ever known. Susan Stottlemyer, the CEO of Association Planners of Georgia was on hand as well, and once again delivered a great event to her customer (TAG). Marc Fleury, former CEO of JBoss and now RedHat VP, did a great job in chairing the event this year.

See you next year!

Cheers.