So the past few days I have been hanging out a bit in the nifty new Flashpoint accelerator space. It's kinda a cool open space with high benches and work seats. Very open flow to it. And it is quite shocking to see a logo you helped create in a larger than life execution. We wanted the green to pop and boy does it. Kinda hides the fact those are official Georgia Tech blue and gold colors in the logo.

Flashpoint had it inaugural class kickoff yesterday. The accelerator program run through Georgia Tech, and which I played a small part in getting together, has selected its inaugural class of 18 teams to participate in the first cohort which runs from September to December. These teams are being funded by the $1 million Flashpoint Investment Fund I which is led by Sig Mosley of Imlay Investments. The program will culminate in two demo days, one in Atlanta and one in the valley hosted by 500 Startups.

Led by Merrick Furst, Flashpoint has an interesting focus. The accelerator intends to de-mystify the startup process by improving on a repeatable process of scalable business model discovery and further developing principles that support real world value creation. They call it startup engineering. Along with Merrick's startup risk framework, Flashpoint is using two textbooks to help the teams with the process. The Four Steps to the Epiphany which has been a personal favorite and Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers which seems so practical that I have already ordered a personal copy and may get the iPad app.

It is going to be interesting to both help a few of these initial teams as a mentor and see what pops out at demo day come December.