The Right Steps

In a recent post Rick Segal had a link to an old article about the steps JLA Ventures goes through when they are making an investment.

An observation.  Most entrepreneurs skip step one.  Which make them stumble at step three.

You need to read Rick's post, understand the steps, and put one foot forward at a time to get to the end goal of closing a deal.

And BTW, here are the steps to join ATDC.

The Best PR

Number one rule of technology marketing is that word of mouth is the number one source of new customers.  Now do you generate word of mouth?  By turning an organization on its head and empowering those closest to the customer do do the right thing.

Why am I writing this post?  Because  Ben McConnell over at the Church of the Customer Blog has a great article on the subject which is partially quoted below.

"...real PR, is generated at the root levels.

The root levels are the clerks, the sales people, the support staff, the receptionist, the call center people, the on-site technicians and consultants, or the police officers, the clerks at the government offices, or the nurses who take your temperature and blood at the hospital. It's their work that generates real PR.

The best PR comes from the smallest of actions by the root-level people. They smile when they first meet you. They call you by your name. They compliment competitors. They don't blame you for their system's misgivings. When forced to make a decision, they always, always, always do the right thing, even if it's not in the economic or political interests of their employer. They break the rules when it's obvious they must.

That's real PR. It's the total sum of stories people tell about you."

You have to have mechanisms in place to drive the behavior in your employees that you want your customers to see.  Mostly these are things that make employees love their jobs.  It comes through in their customer interactions. 

So you want happy customers talking about you in a positive manner?  Create happy employees.

Quote of the Week

"You can always divorce your spouse, you can't divorce your VC."

Alan Taetle

Candid VC

This morning Alan Taetle spoke to a nice crowd at the TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs Society on the state of venture capital funding in the Southeast.  It's hard to believe that I have known Alan for over 12 years since he hired me in the early days of MindSpring.

First and foremost Alan talked a bit about the types of companies Noro Moseley invests in.  The real short story is Noro Moseley, likes to be first institutional money in early stage, early growth technology, healthcare and business service companies in the Southeast.

Alan then went on to discuss the state of venture investing on the South, or "what keeps him up at night." 

Big concerns on the national front.  Silicon Valley's share of venture investment is growing, thus far in 2007 reaching over 50% of the total invested for the first time in several years.  He is also a bit worried that early stage venture capital investing is currently out of favor with big institutional investors.

Alan thinks Atlanta has a lot going for it.  A strong Internet security ecosystem, a good stock of serial entrepreneurs, interest by national VCs in the region (Sequoia was even in town last week), emerging strength in new media and alternative energy industries, forward thinking companies such as Turner, Synovus, and Weather.com showing some leadership, and a great university system.  Many of the things I have discussed before.

He also thinks we have some issues.  Over the past few years we have lost a slew of companies to acquisitions, and lack institutional capital in the region.  Again, right on both counts.

Of course the most interesting thing Alan talked about what needs to happen to change th    ings.  Here's his list:

1.  Create the next set of flagship companies.  He used to think EarthLink would lead that charge.  Not thinking that anymore.
2.  Re-engage the 'one hit wonder" executives.
3.  Companies and those that invest in them need to be patient enough to wait for the IPO, focus on building a great enduring company not on a near-term exit.
4.  Remove the stigma around partial founder liquidity during institutional investment rounds so that founders are not running scared and can be patient.

Alan stated that Noro Moseley was looking to take care of the last point in the companies that they invest in and in a somewhat rare show of candor in a room full of people stated that Noro aspires to be Austin Ventures. 

I don't know much about that, but if you are looking for a smart venture capitalist to sit on your board, Alan would be a guy to reach out to.