Blake Purdue and Guy Tessler made a few comments on my Seeing Leadership post that deserve further discussion.

The New Media Exchange was one of the more energetic pitch events that I have recently been to with a good pace, plenty of breaks, and hordes of interested potential strategic investors.  AOL, Cox, Microsoft, and Turner all had an obvious presence. 

The emerging companies that presented generally fell into the category of web app or nextgen cotnent delivery network.  The quality of the companies (complete list) was strong with Arootz, Asankya, Gumiyo, PLYmedia, and SimplyGen all standouts for me.  I was a little disappointed that only two companies were from the Southeast.  The vast majority were Israeli based.

But it is easy to understand why.  Why Turner certainly deserves the props I gave them previously, the real driver behind this event is the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce.  Like Turner, I commend them on their ongoing efforts.

And save the weather, the "Gala Reception" on the rooftop of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was a good ol Internet party event with A lister Jeff Pulver attending and blogging about his experience.

I am looking forward to being part of future events.