Force of Good
ABOUT      CONTACT      FEED  Subscribe to this blog's feed

ATM Direct Cashes In

Jun 05, 08 in ATDC, Entrepreneurship, Internet, Startups   8 Comments

ATM Direct, led by Nandan Sheth, the co-founder and COO of Harbor Payments, is the winner of the 2008 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition.  ATM Direct seeks to become the leading alternative payments provider with a platform technology that enables PIN debit payments on the Internet.

$100,000 in cash.  $200,000 in services.  Cha-Ching!

ATM was selected by a group of judges that included Adam Coyle of Advent Group, Tom Crotty of Battery Ventures, Cynthia Glassman of the U.S. Department of Commerce , Mark Johnson, formerly of CheckFree, Chris Klaus of Kaneva, Ann Lamont of Oaks Investment Partners, and Fred Sturgis of H.I.G.  Why did this stellar team chose ATM?  The company has great management with a unique solution that is addressing a large and growing market.  They present well.  What more do you want?

This was a great year for the competition.  Seventy five companies, the most ever, initially applied.  Thirty one mentors helped the companies refine their businesses and presentations.  Forty five companies completed the second stage of the competition.  And ATDC played a larger role then ever.  Leading a kickoff luncheon, evaluating the initial applicants as well as the full business plans and recommending the semifinalists. 

Most importantly I am proud of the fact that I, (along with my partners in crime Scott Burkett, Nelson Chu, Alan Graber, Melanie Leeth, Sig Mosley, and the whole ATDC gang) helped to move these companies along and make them stronger startups.  How did we do this?  With pitch coaching for the semifinalists and finalists.  With one on one coaching with companies that requested it.  By providing feedback to companies when they missed a cut.

How do I know we helped them?  Because they told me and GRA the value they were getting.  It took a lot of time and effort to support this effort from the time it launched in January.  It was time well spent.

Congratulations to Sid Elliot of GRA and Tino Mantella of TAG for putting together the best competition yet.  It is a great program.  One that deserves continued support from GRA and from the community at large.

And congratulations to ATM Direct and all the companies that utilized the competition to make their startups stronger.

Comments

Lance,
ATDC, and you personally, were instrumental throuhout the challenging process of moving from 75 entries to the ultimate winner, while providing support and feedback to most of the competitors.
Sometimes we all hear how Atlanta/GA people don't come together to support entrepreneurs. If that was ever the case, it's certainly changing now, and I am personally hearing the buzz around town. Startup Riot, Startup Lounge, Venture Atlanta, GRA/TAG Business Launch, ATDC/TAG Entrepreneurs, new investor clusters, and so on.
Looking "under the tent" of the GRA/TAG competition one sees a community working together. Consider who stepped forward: over 30 mentors; prominent judges and semi-final judges; prestigious companies donating a comprehensive "suite of services"; sponsors; ATDC;GRA; TAG; and, of course, our competitors.
It's great to see and I was very proud to be a part of it all.
Tino

Tino Mantella  |  Jun 07, 08 at 08:41 AM

i'm going to say this and probably piss some people off.

i don't know this company at all so they're probably awesome and it's just not too obvious (even the website is terrible and not informative).

this feels a lot like the ole boy network working at its best again.

i've commented many times... the south's about who you know, not what you're doing.


i really wish this company would have been disqualified since they bought the IP of another company in bankruptcy (and spent $600K it would seem).

maybe this is a safe bet.... sorry for the sour grapes, not too exciting to hear about this.


Jeff Haynie  |  Jun 09, 08 at 09:07 PM

Based on the conversation going on over at http://www.scottburkett.com it is pretty obvious that the decision annoyed a lot of people. I understand that for many folks it does not get them jacked up. While I was not part of the final decision, I don't think the good ole boy network had anything to do with it. The reality is that the company that is furtherest along within the rules has the best chance of winning.

Lance  |  Jun 10, 08 at 12:31 AM

The first line of your post is, interestingly, blatantly misleading. ATMDirect was neither founded, NOR funded by Nandon Seth. It was founded nearly a decade ago by an individual named Robert Ziegler who raised a couple million dollars. Nandon Seth acquired ATMDirect for $600k during the Pay By Touch bankruptcy. Thus to state that he "founded" and "funded" ATMDirect is simply a misnomer. Just thought I'd set the record straight. FYI: You can visit www.biometricpayments.blogspot.com or www.pindebit.blogspot.com and do an ATMDirect search to learn more about ATMDirect's history as well as PIN Debit for the Web...

John B. Frank  |  Jun 10, 08 at 12:03 PM

John: It was not my intent to be misleading. I will make a correction. It seems like you know a lot about this company as well as the world of blogging. If you care to write up a guest article that explains the history of the company in full I would be more then happy to publish it.

Lance  |  Jun 10, 08 at 02:53 PM

Lance: Although I do believe there is some misleading being done, I certainly DO NOT think it is coming from you. I think I'll take you up on your invitation for a guest article. I'll put it together over the weekend and you should have it by Monday. Have a a good weekend...

John B. Frank  |  Jun 12, 08 at 12:17 PM

When I made the offer to publish John B Frank's thoughts on ATM Direct I did not realize that he was a former employee working for a competitor.

As I have told Nandan and now the world, I did not create this blog to act as arbitrator of two competitors vying for their version of the truth. Toward that end I am closing comments on this article and "It Bothers Me."

While I changed the text of the article to not say so based on John's comment, personally I consider Nandan to be the founder and funder of the current version of ATM Direct.

The purpose of this post was to congratulate Nandan and ATM Direct on winning the competition. That objective remains.

It's time to move on folks.

Lance  |  Jun 13, 08 at 12:30 PM

In an email exchange John B. Frank categorically and vehemently denied that he was an ever an employee of ATM Direct. He is currently not an employee but an adviser to HomeATM e-payment Solutions.

I agreed to publish his statement.

Lance  |  Jun 15, 08 at 08:57 AM