August Event Roundup

ATDC/TAG Entrepreneurs

Michael Price founder and CEO of CEO Ventures is the keynote for the ATDC/TAG Entrepreneurs Society this month.  Michael's topic is "Beyond Blue Ocean Strategies: Six Key Disciplines of High Growth".  Following the presentation will be an entrepreneurs only roundtable.  The event is on Thursday August 6 starting 7:30 AM at ATDC.  Learn more.

ATDC Open Office

You may have heard that ATDC is opening up its doors to all technology entrepreneurs in Georgia.  ATDC is looking to extend its reach and has some good ideas on how to do so.  Practicing a bit what we preach before we go build and launch product we thought it would be a good idea to talk with potential customers.  Toward this end some of my associates and I will be holding an open office on Friday August 7 from 9:30 - 11:30 AM at the Tech Square Starbucks.  Stop by, share a cup of joe, and let us know how we can best serve you.

Shotput Ventures Demo Day

ATDC was eager to help out Shotput Ventures when they were looking for a locale to hold their first demo day.  We lined up TRSB on August 10th, 2009 from 3 - 6 PM for each of the eight startups to give a five minute pitch along with a demo of their software. Its an invite only event for angel investors, venture capitalists, and technology executives.  To request an invitation, email info@shotputventures.com.

151 Locust Open House

151 Locust is a new startup facility created by former ATDC cataylst and current mayor of Avondale Estates Ed Rieker.  They are having an open house on Wednesday August 12th from 7 - 10 PM, where Rieker will be speaking on "Making Millions Bootstrapping".  Pizza and beer will be provided.  RSVP.

Pam Slim

The author of Escape from Cubicle Nation will be in town on August 15th to present "Reduce the Risk of a Failed Startup: Lessons from the Field".  This shindig is being put together by a host of groups including the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs, Atlanta Web Design Group, Atlanta Social Media Enthusiasts, and StartupChicks.  Learn more.

StartupChicks Business Roundtables New

August 19 at ATDC.  This event will be limited to 42 women.  Learn more.

ATDC Forums

My leader Stephen Fleming will be leading two open forums on August 20th at ATDC.  One session will run from 3 - 5 PM and the other from 7 - 9 PM.  Stephen intends to share his vision for ATDC and get your ideas for the future.  Registration details coming soon.

PRCamp

My former partner in crime Dan Greenfield is hosting PR Camp Atlanta on Friday, August 21 at GTRI. An unconference that promises a morning of highly-interactive discussions on social media complete with marshmallows and a virtual campfire.  Learn more.

Why Is Your Company A Tech Startup?

The what is a technology startup post did not reveal a lot.  Most of the comments revolved around why I was wrong, disagreement with terms, or how it was even a silly exercise.

My technology startups make unique products that people want still holds for me though it is lacking detail.

John Cottingham distilled this from a Paul Graham essay: a technology startup would be small group solving a technical problem that a lot of people care about, a technical problem that's too hard for competitors to duplicate.  Pretty darn good if you ask me.

We have lots of entrepreneurs on FoG so let's try another route.  If your company is a technology startup I would love to hear why you think so in the comments.

To use a company that I am associated with as an example: Twitpay is a technology startup because it created a new and unique way to send paymants via twitter.

Why is your company a tech startup?

What is a Technology Startup?

What is a technology startup?  Seems like a pretty straightforward question.  But there is surprisingly little written to answer the question. If you Google the title of this post you will find no results. Google "technology startup" produces little to define it well though it is interesting to note that my associate Blake Perdue is the number two result, the ATDC blog comes in the eighth spot, and the ATDC web site is 13th.  Paul Graham has a nice article on how to start a startup up but does not get into defining the term technology startup. Paul simply assumes most startups are technology startups.

<update>: Over on Hacker News Paul pointed me to the article entitled How to Make Wealth, where he does a most excellent job of defining a technology startup.</update>

This all become of great interest to me when it was decided that we were going to change the requirements of joining ATDC from a 200 word document to three words.  Georgia technology startup. I conducted a twitter poll and received little response.  Ben Dyer, who has launched a few companies in his day responded as well as a few others.  Surprised that the twitterverse had so little to say. 

Given all this it seems defining the term is in order.

The startup part is easy.  I recently created a series of articles that defined four stages of a startup, concept, seed, early, and growth.  A startup is a business with limited operating history.  Limited in that it could just be a girl with an idea.  Business in that it is a purposeful commercial activity.  

The technology part is a little more difficult. It seems that the Potter Stewart "I know it when I see it" standard is often times applied. We can do better.

There is an important distinction using technology and creating technology.  In order to be a technology startup the creation of technology is required.  Something is being made as a result of science or engineering.  Typepad, which created a blogging platform is a technology company.  ATDC, which uses Typepad to deliver some of its services, is not.  Services companies, in general, can not be technology startups.  Though often times technology startups begin as services companies and use the cash generated from services to create a technology. 

More often then not technology companies manifest themselves in products.  And yes products can be delivered as service.  Delivering technology as a service is different then technology services.  The latter usually requires an linear increase in the number of people required to deliver the service.  Which brings me to the point that technology companies also possess some mechanism that enables them to scale.  Scale that results in large gross profit margins when the startup turns into a company.

Lastly technology startups do something unique and innovative.  Novel perhaps.  Know now.  Something that hasn't been done before to solve a problem.  The bigger more complex the problem the better.  Solving big problems has more value then solving little problems.  But small problems have value too.  As long as it is a problem somebody wants solved and they are willing to part with something to solve it. 

Technology startups make unique products that people want.

Is there any more to it then that?

Disclaimer:  The statement "technology startups make unique products that people want" is not the official stance of ATDC or Georgia Tech.  Commmunity feedback is enouraged. 

New ATDC Launch Links

Today was a big day at ATDC.  Today we announced that ATDC was merging with Georgia Tech's VentureLab and the Georgia SBIR program and is opening its membership to technology entrepreneurs in Georgia at all stages of development. If you are a technology startup that has an interest in joining ATDC please let us know.  All in all this is a positive move.  

And all in all a successful launch.  Numbers are looking good.  Been a little busy orchestrating the launch to write about my perspective.  We will get to that soon.

But here are lots of links that pretty much tell the story.

ATDC Opens Membership to More Companies, Consolidates Staff Georgia Tech News Room

The ATDC's Second Act Atlanta Business Chronicle

Why Are We Doing This?  Academic VC

The Incubator Model in Atlanta is Changing  SBIR GA Blog

Great Day for Technology Entrepreneurs in Georgia!  StartupChicks

ATDC is Back and Better Than Ever Peach Pundit

Speed

"You can't teach speed."

Unknown

I don't know who said it but it's true.  It's a sports reference. Speed is really quickness.  You can't teach someone to run a 4.4 forty.  They just can.

It also applies to startups.  I was giving a presentation at Shotput Ventures recently and a word popped into my head that I had not used in a long long time.  Veloctile (və-ˈlä-sə-ˈtī(-ə)l).  It's a word I made up.  I made it up to describe a core characteristic that a person needed to possess in order to succeed in a high growth startup.  A person is veloctile if they have the ability to act quickly with little information in a rapidly changing environment.  They just can.  They do, and they do the right thing.  And if they don't have it you can't teach it. 

Chris Anderson Knows Twitpay

Chris Anderson the editor of WIRED was on Colbert last night pimping his new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (which by the way is free on iTunes as an audiobook.

At the 4:57 mark this exchange takes place:

Colbert: Can I twitter send me cash? It that legal?
Anderson: Twitpay. I believe.
Colbert: Twitpay?
Anderson: Twitpay.
Colbert: Some say I get that now.

The entire vid is worth a watch.

And it's pretty cool that the editor of WIRED knows about a company I helped create at Atlanta Startup Weekend.  The company was also written up again in The New York times yesterday.

Disclosure: I am a Twitpay adviser and stockholder.

Crossroads

I have been having a bit of a hard time blogging this days.  It's not that I have writer's block.  I am just spending my late night and early morning hours on other things.  On the next thing.

It actually started the day after I announced I was going on Spring Break.  A coincidence perhaps.  But a few of my co-workers cornered me in my office late that Friday over a few beers.  Basically told me that I was an idea stream and that I needed to just go and implement one of them.  We talked a bit about high level criteria.  Then we went into action mode.

The first thing we did was go and create Ordiri, which is pretty much a Startup Weekend type idea share.  Except it is not just focused on Startup Weekend.  It is ongoing.  While we were working through the best way to make Ordiri useful, (if someone with WordPress skills wants to get involved please reach out to me, it's an entrepreneur service project) while not exposing submitting entrepreneurs to idea theft, one of the test ideas started to take hold.  For now the concept will remain stealth.  But it is starting to take hold.

We undertook a market analysis.  It laid out a potential opportunity.  I got some good direction from a personal adviser to find out if people would pay for the app.  The answer was yes.  Market validation interviews created no red lights.  Friendlies were encouraging.  A small part-time team started to meet on a semi-regular basis.  New third party research validated the market size with an attractive CAGR.  We decided to go create a prototype.  It worked.  I incorporated.  Market validation interviews are ongoing.  Creating more friendlies to potentially play with the product.  Actually showed the prototype. People that have normally told me to stop in the past were telling me to go.  We are creating an alpha.  Determining go to market strategy.  Getting great advice from successful entrepreneurs.

And there are two other of these things going on at the same time.  Earlier this week I passed on the opportunity to lead a restart that an active angel brought my way.  Last week two other quite interesting concepts came my way.  A lot going on.

So FoG is at a bit of a crossroads.  I am not focused on blogging.  I am focused on creating a company.   Since that is what I am focused on that is the experience that it makes the most sense that I write about.  And hopefully by writing about that I can help other people down their own road.

I am also at a bit of a crossroads.  But only a bit.  It's not like I am going to quit my day job tomorrow.  I can work on these projects early mornings, late nights, and weekends for some time.  But to keep some of them moving along we are getting close to writing checks.  Writing checks is a serious endeavor. 

Worst Email Campaign Ever

No wonder they went bankrupt.  The only email that GM ever sent me adds absolutely no value.  Of course I unsubscribed. 

One of the smartest things I ever did was turn down a job there.

Startups: The Growth Stage

This is the fourth in a series of articles that discusses the stages of a startup. Previously the concept stage, seed stage, and early stage were covered.  Today the growth stage is addressed. 

Scale.  The growth stage is all about scale.  Scaling the business.  Becoming a real business.  Creating real value for stockholders.  Perhaps no longer really a startup at all.

The core product is completely built and being sold.  Product development is based on new features, extensions, and add on products come into play. 

The business focus is on accelerating market adoption and scaling infrastructure to support continued growth.  The company may be entering new verticals or closely aligned markets.  Selling more products to already established customers. Perhaps geographic expansion.  Traditional marketing comes into play.  Public relations.  Building repeatability not only in getting and keeping customers but in internal processes. 

The team continues to grow.  Growing so much that middle management appears.  Yeah middle managers.  An experienced well rounded management team often times has joined the founders.  But not always.  There are 30, 80, 100 employees or more.  Maybe much more. People that can't scale get submarined, moving down the org structure as the tide raises.  Keeping these folks on board and motivated is important and takes effort.  Real HR policies come.  Employee reviews, salary scales, and the like. Obviously a company in the growth stage is growing revenues.  Revenues are more than $1 million.  The key characteristic is that revenue growth is accelerating.  Or to get a little mathematical on you, the revenue curve has both positive first and second derivatives.  Which means the curve is getting steeper.  The hockey stick.  This can only happen for so long.  Say to the point of $60 million in revenue.  The growth rate slows. Then the company is really not a startup at all.

Growth stage financing can span a very broad range from as low as $5 million to $50 million or more. The funds are provided by a range of equity sources, regional and national venture capital firms and private equity funds. Profits can also be a funding mechanism.

The two startups that I was involved with that made it to the growth stage both stayed in it for about five years.  One had an IPO and continued like gang busters after the fact.  The other was acquired for $300.  Would love to hear timing from others that have been involved with growth stages companies.

Get to here and the company, yes company has two large options, get liquidity through an acquisition or IPO (very, very few IPO) or manage the business for cash flow.

At this point and the entrepreneur has two options as well. return to concept stage or enjoy what you have built and continue to make it even better.

Contagious Commitment

Two years or so ago I reached out to the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs to offer them some space for their monthly meetings.  It was a bit of a lone wolf effort but one I think was appreciated. 

And as a result the group has grown.  Grown into an event that attracts darn near 100 participants every month.  One hundred people showing up every month to discuss Internet entrepreneurship is good thing.  The downside is that the room we have this event in seems to heat up.   Nobody seemed to care.  Until tonight.

Stephen Fleming, the newly selected Vice Provost of stuff that takes too long to explain, read a few tweets about the room getting warm, got in in his car with his wife at 8:00pm, and hand delivered some fans to make the experience a bit better.  Leadership by example.  Contagious commitment.

Bravo.