I got a problem.  Two really.

Problem one.  A lot of people that I don't know want to meet with me for various reasons.  And with the economy in recession and people looking for new things to do the various reasons are increasing.  I want to be helpful.  Networking with the startup community is actually part of my job.  I am always looking for good companies to join ATDC.  I seldom say no to a cold or networking intro.  But it takes time.  Lots of time.  The meeting time aside it takes me a good 20 minutes a day to just coordinate via email whom I am meeting when and where.

Problem two.  I need to spend more time working with the companies in ATDC.  I am supposed to be spending the same amount of time working with these companies as I am with applicants.  That ain't working at the moment.  I tend to get assigned a lot of project and program work because according to my leader "you are so good at getting it done."  May be true.  But it's not really what they hired me to do.

So I am going to try something new this year and see how it works.  Officially Georgia Tech classifies me as a "professional with faculty status."  Georgia Tech requires that all faculty have office hours.  So I am going to set some up.  They are:

• Tuesday from 3 – 5 pm for ATDC member companies.
• Thursday from 2 – 4 pm for ATDC member companies and applicants in suite 202 of the Centergy Building.
• Friday from 9 – 11 am open office hours for anyone at the Tech Square Starbucks.

Let's see how this works.  Hopefully it will foster more efficient and effective dialog.  All I ask of you if you show up is to have a very specific purpose, be prepared to discuss it, and be considerate of others who may be waiting to chat. 

And if no one shows up I can just work on those pesky programs and projects.

Update: Received a lot of comments online and offline about this being very difficult to manage the people that just show up.  You can now schedule a 20 minute appointment via Genbook.