Always something happening and nothing going on
There’s always something cooking and nothing in the pot
They’re starving back in China so finish what you got

John Lennon

I must be in a contrarian mood.  But sometimes when people are zigging you have to zag.  John would respect that thought.

SoCon, Startup Drinks, Ignition Alley Meetups, OnStartup, ATDC/TAG Entrepreneurs, ProductCamp, Mobile Monday, AWSome, Venture Pipeline, Startup Gauntlet, Startup Riot, StartupChicks, Atlanta Web Marketers, & StartupLounge Atlanta.

At least fourteen semi-startup focused events going on in roughly a month in Atlanta.  Fourteen events that did not exist four years ago.  And this is just the new stuff.  You could literally go to something everyday.  Often times more than twice a day.  Good grief.

The vibrancy is great.  Really great.  These are all well-intentioned efforts.  They are also fragmented efforts.  Fragmented efforts that need to form into a core that can create a critical mass. The Atlanta startup community does not need more events.  It needs more engagement.

My friend Josh Hallett recently wrote an article about the dashing from conference to conference by ‘social media experts.’  His thoughts apply to the Atlanta startup scene as well.  Events make neither experts nor entrepreneurs.  The pace is too much.  The objective of all this activity is to move startups forward.  If that is what we intend to do as a community then 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.

Things like creating products, getting customers, and building companies.