Two Speeds

I opened my eyes this morning to the simple thought that technology entrepreneurs and startup investors are wired to move at two very different speeds. 

Entrepreneurs want to move fast, decide, get things done, move on to the next challenge on their road to glory, then rinse and repeat.

Investors want to move a bit slower.  They are writing checks.  Think about anytime you are considering writing a big check.  You think about it a lot.  Cover all your bases.  Do diligence.  Get buy in from others of significance. 

As someone that has been in both of these roles I am not saying one is right or wrong, they just are.  Deal with it.

Quote of the Week

"The idea that you cannot build an important tech company outside of Silicon Valley is 'a crock of shit'."

Fred Wilson

Ignore Everybody Social Project

Tonight I had the pleasure to be a guest speaker along with Bill Nussey of Silverpop at the Shotput Ventures weekly dinner meeting.  I gave an updated version of my "Startups in 12 Quotes" presentation.  It was actually titled "Startups in 12 Quotes".  The reason for the change is at the end I pulled out my recently finished copy of Ignore Everybody and read three choice quotes from the book. And then I announced the Ignore Everybody Social Project.

You see I took Hugh MacLeod up on his secret evil plan to get a signed copy of the book.  True to his word he sent it and thus I have two copies.  I am quite sure the intent of this promotion was to create a pass along effect.  I just decided to formalize the pass along of my copy. 

Here's the deal.  I gave my unsigned copy to Nelson.  It is well marked with the passages that I found of interest.  It has my name and the date I completed reading it on the inside cover.  I instructed Nelson to:

1. Mark his favorite quotes in the book.
2. Put his name and the date he completed it on the inside cover.
3. Pass the book along to  someone else who agrees to participate in the project.
4. Come to this post and leave a comment with his fav quote from the book and the name of the person he passed it along to.
5. Rinse and repeat.

We will do this until Shotput's demo day where the book will be passed along to the next participant.  It would be really cool if we could get one person from each Shotput company to participant before then.

We will then go through steps one through four again among the broader Atlanta startup community.  At that point we will have a unique community created social object.

Rock on.

Quote of the Week

"The rich keep getting richer because they keep doing whatever it was that made them rich. Ditto for the poor."

Neal Boortz

July Event Roundup

I first did this type of post last month and some received positive feedback.  So here we go again.  Even though it is July lots going on.  And since we are celebrating freedom this month I thought it would be good to talk a bit about (mostly) free things.

Angel Investing For Entrepreneurs
Knox Massey of the Atlanta Technology Angels is putting on a short program to help Georgia based entrepreneurs understand the basics of angel investing—from an investors viewpoint.  These are taking place on July 8 and 23 from 12 - 2.  You can learn more here.  Free.

CapVenture
CapVenture is a unique ATDC education program that equips early stage (typically those seeking their first institutional round of financing) CEO's and executives for smarter and more productive capitalization of their business. Final applications are due July 15.  The program runs from run from August 25th to September 29th and concludes with an investor forum and a shot at getting involved with Venture Atlanta.  Not Free.

Atlanta CEO Council
The Atlanta CEO Council provides entrepreneurs, C-Level executives, investors, and selected services partners to participate in an exclusive networking environment.  Exclusive being a key word (one of the beenies ATDC companies receive is access). Their next shindig on at the Ritz on July 20 at 5:30.  Free.

Convince and Convert: How to Pull More Prospects Into and Through the Sales Funnel
Stacy Willams the president of Prominent Placement invited me to a Webinar July 21 from 2 - 3.  Stacy is a SEO guru and when she talks I listen.  Given that getting customers is a pretty darn important thing to be focusing on you should too.  Learn more here.  Free

Social Media Camp
Atlanta did not make the cut for the official Social Media Club Summer Tour.  But I want one.  Others seem to be doing their own.  We should too.  Not free.  It will take effort.  Who wants to play?