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Instant Karma

Feb 06, 10 in Entrepreneurship, Startups   14 Comments

What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you 

John Lennon

Given the comment level and unique visitors at FoG the posts of the last two days have hit a nerve.  And it is amazing what people conjecture and say.

Lance can't maintain his brand.

Lance is being all controversial on his blog to drive traffic to better sell sponsorships.

Lance please do get to know the value each event and it’s associated organization has to local startup execution and learn which events are startup-related and which are not.

Here is the real story.  

I was driving to work one morning.  I really don't remember when.  But sometime in the last six months.  The Beatles were a little hot in my head due to the release of the remasters, RockBand, and Sir Paul playing in the Piedmont Park. I had run through my Beatles collection and moved on.  I was listening to Lennon Legend. 

Listening to Lennon Legend in my car.  Driving to work.  Waiting for traffic to clear on 10th so I could make a left on Spring.  Track 16 came on.  Nobody Told Me.  When John started the second verse that I opened my post with the thought immediately popped into my head "just like the startup community around here."   

That's it.  Why it popped into my head I don't know.  A cognition gestalt. 

But as I continued to attend these events the thought kept returning.  As people kept asking me to promote their events at an increasing level the thought kept returning.  As I had to start mentally scheduling when I was going to promote events so that FoG (40% of readers are not in GA) and my Twitter stream (it seems the majority of followers are not in GA) would not become event spammy Atlanta focused the thought kept returning.  As I noticed, as one commenter noted, that it was almost the same set of people that were attending these events the thought kept returning.  I ran the "Always something happening and nothing going on" line by some entrepreneurs and they generally agreed. 

I wrote the article.   My motivation for doing so was plainly stated.  I believe "we need to concentrate our event efforts and become more deeply engaged so that startups can focus on more important things than the event of the day" and "fragmented efforts need to form into a core that can create critical mass."

That's it. 

No statement that events do not have value.  No indication that I would cease to support events.  No harmful intent.  No evil power thing. 

Peace out.  

Comments

Lance -
happy Saturday

Nicely stated, as were your prior posts that have your ATL followers in a froth. What they also seem to forget (not all but...) is that you were giving an opinion and as importantly, an option or two for the issue you commented on. in my view, peeps need to take things to heart and think about them, vs jumping on you to defend a position. seems a bit like not liking pitchcamp (or the like) for the value because sometimes you don't agree with every part of it. Good job... 'nuff said

Shannon Russo  |  Feb 06, 10 at 09:48 AM

I found going to events pretty easy. Building a functioning startup turned out to be harder.
I do think that you had to expect somewhat of a "violent” reaction from a portion of your readers. Next say we should have less startups and then see how the no customer, built for a year, never going to make it founders call you evil. When you insult people’s children/startup/event they get cranky, even if you are possibly correct.

Chris Morris  |  Feb 06, 10 at 10:14 AM

For all of the "controversy" I am glad you've said something. With as much as you've served as a resource to help people put on great events, you're one of a few people with the credibility to call a spade a spade on this.

Some events have value but have room for improvement. Some need to die. The high volume and inconsistent value of these events seems to have created a startup "scene" where people can show up, act startuppy for a day or 2, talk about the obstacles to startup success in Atlanta, and then do nothing until the next such event. I've been a part of this at times. I've been to a lot of great events that are the glue of Atlanta's startup community. It needs to evolve, and this conversation is a great catalyst for that.

Rob Kischuk  |  Feb 06, 10 at 11:11 AM

Following via Twitter from out West, it's nice to hear what going on in ATL, but it's just part of a larger picture.

Sounds like there has been deliberate efforts made to build a thriving social network that startups can plug into, but as already said, there is no substitute for actually getting it done.

At some point going to all the events doesn't make you more *startup*, but it might mean you find the events more exciting than the lonely 'climbs' that come before you summit with your startup.

Indy  |  Feb 06, 10 at 01:27 PM

The Atlanta startup community isn't organized around factual opportunity - but is instead the intersection of a thousand visions for what could be, a common dream, a longing for a better tomorrow that is uncertain, that may never come. Even as business conditions decline, the community thrives - because the community is meta, is organized around lifestyle and inaction.

Lance Weatherby for President.

Russell Jurney  |  Feb 07, 10 at 09:24 AM

If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve.

Lance  |  Feb 07, 10 at 09:51 AM

Great startup communities are built around great companies and not the other way around.

This city has had great tech startups in the past, but they've sold to larger entities elsewhere and the founders are no longer active here (or at least not in a visible fashion).

The "community" that has become evolved over the last three years is based around wishful entrepreneurs.

Very rarely do those that have great businesses participate (i.e. David Cummings). Instead they're focused on their industry which is as it should be.

Atlanta startups need to stop focusing on what you say, Sig said, etc. and instead focus on what's going to get them to stay alive another day as a startup.

Post Man  |  Feb 07, 10 at 09:29 PM

Hear hear.

Lance  |  Feb 07, 10 at 10:21 PM

@Post Man: Consider Boulder and Brad Feld: http://www.american.com/archive/2008/september-october-magazine/start-up-town

From the article: "It is indeed individuals who must start the cycle. Boulder did not become a start-up hub due to incentive-based tax policy to lure businesses, or special incubators, or mass investments in technical education (though some of these things were tried). Instead, it began with a group of individuals who moved to Boulder for various lifestyle reasons, but all the while were committed to working together to develop a local software and Internet industry. They were committed to developing a brand for the locality and jointly pushing it out to the world in order to attract and import experienced talent from elsewhere."

Can it happen in Atlanta? Dunno. But the fact it can happen elsewhere make me thinks we should damn well try.

Mike Schinkel  |  Feb 08, 10 at 12:35 AM

Mike - what that article says is that people went to Boulder, brought a lot of money, and started funding software/internet companies. It doesn't say they had 10 times as many events as actual startups.

Russell Jurney  |  Feb 08, 10 at 02:19 AM

@Lance - Thanks for rattling the local startup cage -- I think this is healthy and warranted.

@Post Man - I consciously work to spend three hours per week giving back and helping the startup community. It isn't a huge amount of time but it feels like the right amount for me. Take a look at TechDrawl for my articles on why Atlanta is great for startups (http://techdrawl.com/author/dcummings/) and check out my Twitter stream for other events and organizations I'm involved in (@david_cummings).

David Cummings  |  Feb 08, 10 at 10:33 AM

@Russell My comment wasn't focused on events, it was focused on people taking action to improve the ecosystem as opposed to everyone going head's down in their own office or basement alone, which is what the comment I was responding to appeared to be implying.

Mike Schinkel  |  Feb 08, 10 at 11:25 AM

@david_cummings

I'd say your approach and time commitment is exactly on target and commendable.

The difference between you and others is that it's 3 hours (probably more) of your 60-80 hour week versus other entrepreneurs who seem to spend 20-30.
You're referenced as a quality example that others should follow and not as a slight!

Post Man  |  Feb 08, 10 at 11:54 AM

@Mike Everyone's head down in their office, plotting new events is exactly what Lance was talking about being the problem.

Russell Jurney  |  Feb 08, 10 at 03:44 PM

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