A long, long time ago in a place not so far away, Catalyst Magazine used to have a series where they would interview a prominent Atlanta technology person.  One of the questions they routinely asked was “What’s the best seat in Atlanta?”  The most excellent answer ever award goes to Kathy Harris of Noro Moseley who replied,  “The bar at Taqueria del Sol.”

With all due respect to the West Side Margarita, I gotta tell you, the seat that I have at ATDC right now is pretty hard to beat. 

First of all it literally looks out over Tech Square.  But more importantly, I get to interact with some amazing entrepreneurs, good angels and VCs, savvy technologists, and smart academics.  Every day is at least one new startup case study. Every day I learn something. Every day I see a new concept.  Every few weeks or so I see a great concept.  About once a quarter I find something great that I know I could make go.  It really is an ideal sentry position.  The master plan to achieve my goal of founding and leading a successful technology company is working.

Today is my one-year anniversary at ATDC.  In addition to spending lots of time with applicant and member companies, I have been focusing on opening up the ATDC and making it both more accessible and more meaningful to a larger number of entrepreneurs.  The biggest visible manifestations of this effort can be seem in the new programs ATDC is undertaking.  Over the course of the past year we have surveyed entrepreneurs to see how ATDC can better assist them, launched PeachSeedz, hosted BarCamp, reached out to TechJournal South to bring DeckParty to Atlanta, and been the driver behind Startup Weekend heading this way.  While there is always an opportunity for improvement, the general feedback is that we are heading in the right direction.

When I joined ATDC I made a two-year commitment to Tony and the ATDC team.  One of those years is behind me now and it has been a successful one.  Over the course of the next year, with the help of my teammates, you will continue to see more of the same. 

But I am also going to start putting my master plan into higher gear.