This a a guest post by Nina Sawczuk, general manager of ATDC and co-director of Flashpoint. It is cross posted from atdc.org.
Georgia Tech is proud to present Flashpoint, a startup accelerator program launching in August 2011. Flashpoint will provide mentorship, shared learning, office space, and an an environment for accelerated scalable business model search.
Selected participants will typically be eligible for $15,000 in funding in exchange for up to 6% equity stake. Investments will be provided by the new Flashpoint Investment Fund headed by Sig Mosley of Imlay Investments.
Apply if you are:
a team of at least two people with one or more ideas or a startup that has not yet reached the Series A funding stage of growth and
in need of funding or are just interested in the accelerator program’s learning and guidance and
utilizing technology as a competitive advantage in any market and
can operate in Atlanta during the program.
Apply now to join our next cohort. We will run cohorts twice a year.
If you have been following along you probably understand that it has been my intent for some time to leave ATDC and get back into a startup. That time has come. After four plus years of a totally awesome time I have decided to step away from my role as a startup catalyst and resign from ATDC. I've had the privilege of being involved with some amazing things during my time at ATDC, working with great startup teams, being on a few teams myself, and playing a small part in making Atlanta a better place for technology startups.
I have had the chance to be a part of a number of companies that have graduated from ATDC. They are BLiNQ Media, Clearleap, Endgame Systems, Izenda, Neurotic Media, PlayOn Sports, Purewire, and WorthPoint. Most of what these companies have already achieved is due to the passion of the founding entrepreneurs and the teams they built. Regardless, one of most rewarding aspects of my time at ATDC is working with these folks to help them build their companies. And there are more on the way.
BrightWhistle, LiquidText, Preparis, Regator, RentWiki, and ScoutMob all show great promise. And these are just a few of the thousands of startups that I have interacted with over the years. Hopefully those interactions created some small gems that helped an entrepreneur in some fashion.
During the past four years I have also been a co-founder of three startups. Skribit, Twitpay, and Socialytics. One of them is in the process of being shut down and the other two are struggling with traction. I have learned that going from zero to something is really hard. And once you have something getting to six figures in revenue is equally challenging.
Skribit and Twitpay came out of Atlanta Startup Weekend, something that I brought to life because I felt the strong need to get a bunch of aspring entrepreneurs together and try to do great things. While we may not have created any lasting companies of value just yet, Startup Weekend played a important role in invigorating the Internet startup sector. Atlanta Startup Weekend lives on as Start Atlanta and continues to build momentum. I dare say it will be around for some time.
I have been involved in more entrepreneurial programs than I can count but BarCamp, CapVenture, Entrepreneurs' Night, GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition, Junior Achievement Fellows Shark Tank, Tech Marketing Awards, Social Media Atlanta, Startup Council, and Venture Atlanta come to mind pretty quick. I created @secretsig. And SeedSpace.
In my first two years at ATDC I gave them a clue and got on the train of inclusion which resulted in us going from about 30 member companies to 50. Over the past two years Stephen Fleming double downed on that inclusiveness and we are now helping over 440 startups.
And we could not have done any of this without the amazing talent of of MBA graduate assistants. Smart driven people that love startups. They really do make the place go.
And there are some amazing things that are about to happen at Georiga Tech that make it hard to walk away. I love Flashpoint and have been working to get it off the ground. If the timing were different I would do that full-time. But it has been too long. I am confident that under Nina Sawczuk's leadership ATDC will continue to increase its impact on technology entrepreneurship in Georgia. My face will be seen in Tech Square supporting what ATDC is doing from time to time.
But at my core I love to grow Internet companies. To be in one. I found one that needs growing. That is what I am going to do.
Yesterday was a big day at the ATDC Startup Showcase. First and foremost nine companies graduated from ATDC. Not to take anything away from the success of these amazing companies and entrepreneurs but in the big scheme of things that may have been the smaller story.
The bigger story is that Georgia Tech announced that they were going to own the problem. They were pulling an Ohio.
In a nutshell in conjunction with Imlay Investments, Georgia Tech is launching a 21st century technology accelerator program. I have been involved with a small team led by Merrick Furst and Nina Sawczuk to bring this new technology accelerator to life. It is scheduled to launch on May 17. If you would like to find out more a visit to flashpoint.gatech.edu is in order.
It's that time of year again. It happens every Spring. It's time for the atdc Startup Showcase. The Startup Showcase is an annual event on the Georgia technology startup scene that draws about 500 or so technology leaders, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs to see what is happening at one of the world's leading technology accelerators.
This year there are nine companies becoming graduate members and about 50 of the most promising early stage technology startups struting their stuff. New atdc ringmaster Nina Sawczuk will be running the show.
I am particularly excited and proud of the 2011 graduating class. Of the nine graduates I have had the honor of working closely with four whose prospects are stellar. They are:
BLiNQ Media, which delivers breakthrough Facebook advertising optimization;
Clearleap, enables television service providers to stream Internet video over existing broadband networks;
PlayOn Sports, the nation's leading high school sports media company; and
WorthPoint, the world’s most largest resource of value data on art, antiques and collectibles.
Along with the other five graduates they comprise one of the strongest classes atdc has had in some time.
The Startup Showcase takes place on Monday May 9 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Registration starts at noon, the program kicks off at 1:30 and the showcase runs until 4:30 followed by an after party. This is a great networking opportunity.
Looking to raise capital? Investors from every angel and VC group in Atlanta are confirmed to attend.
Looking for a new gig or new business? About 50 startups will be exhibiting in what I would call a target rich environment.
Looking to network with other entrepreneurs? There will be hundreds.
If you have any thought of meeting people in the Atlanta technology startup community, you should plan on being at this event. Buy your ticket now and you'll save $5 off the cost at the door.
Shortly after posting I recevieved an email from Merrick Furst. Merrick is a co-founder of Damballa, teachs an undergrad entrepreneurial class out of Georgia Tech's College of Computing, and is managing director of Profounder, a seed-stage investment company in which I am a partner. With a simple FYI at the beginning this is the content of his note.
Ohio Launches Tech Incubator With Fund Led By Sequoia's Kvamme
The state of Ohio is adopting a tech incubator model that has been successful for others, such as Y-Combinator and TechStars, in an initiative to inspire new business ideas and grow the state's economy.
Ohio State University's Fisher College Center for Entrepreneurship has launched 10x, an accelerator focused on the professional development of young, technology entrepreneurs. The program is made possible through capital provided by Ohio's New Entrepreneurs Fund.
The ONE Fund initiative is being spearheaded by Mark Kvamme, director of job creation for Ohio. Kvamme is also a partner at Sequoia Capital who was recruited to head JobsOhio, Gov. John Kasich's new private, economic-development corporation.
Young entrepreneurial teams will compete for 10 spots that will each receive $20,000 for business and living expenses during the 11-week development program.
NCT Ventures, a Columbus, Ohio-based venture capital firm, has already guaranteed that one team to graduate the inaugural 10x program will receive $200,000 in follow-on funding to further pursue its venture.
The participants must agree to live in Ohio for the duration of the program, and any company formed through the program must be set up in Ohio. The teams will have access to all the resources provided by the Center for Entrepreneurship, ONE Fund, NCT Ventures and the start-up community in central Ohio.
"It's a robust environment, more than you would expect from your typical Midwestern town," said Michael Camp, executive director of Center for Entrepreneurship, in Columbus, and the architect of the 10x program. "The notion that place defines how big or good a business can be is out the window."
During my time at atdc I have had two high-level strategic insights of note.
The first occurred back in 2007. I came to believe that atdc needed be more open and reach out to better serve concept and seed stage startups. This, in part, led to the strategic shift atdc began in the summer of 2009.
The second occured this week. Some entity with staying power needs to step up and systematically tackle the lack of seed and early stage funding in Georgia. To architect a program like Michael Camp put together in Ohio. A state fund, big venture capital leadership, a robust program to vet startups, and local angel/venture capital involvement.
That in, 500 words or less, is what I mean by ownership.
I suspect that if some professor where to invite Mr. Blank to Georgia Tech he would have many of the same observations and the challenges would be the same and as equally apparent. Those challenges being the lack of venture capital (this includes angel funding) and the lack of a startup culture. I have never been to Ann Arbor but I suspect that Atlanta's startup culture is a bit stronger than that of Ann Arbor. Regardless Steve states that an influx of venture capital will solve the startup culture problem. Perhaps he is right. But the interesting thing (Steve says so himself) is this.
The interesting thing is that no one seems to own the problem. The University of Michigan tech transfer office has an incubator but 1) mixes software, hardware, med devices and life sciences deals in the same program, and 2) takes no ownership of figuring out how to get a risk capital ecosystem in place. Surprisingly, the same with the entrepreneuship center in the Business School. I would have thought they’d be leading the charge.
Cut University of Michigan and paste Georgia Tech and the paragraph holds true. The closest I have seen to anyone taking ownership is Venture Atlanta, with a hat tip to Morris Manning & Martin and DLA Piper for making an effort to get outside venture capital to invest in Atlanta startups.
But the really truly most interesting thing is that I believe the paragraph above is a prescription on what Georgia Tech and ATDC need to do to drive technology enterpreneurship in Atlanta and Georgia. Stop mixing software, hardware, medical devices, life sciences, and cleantech in the same program. Start taking ownership of figuring out how to get a strong risk capital ecosystem in place. Expand beyond helping entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies. Be on a mission to create a strong innovation cluster.
We are so close. It is so obvious. It would be a shame if we did not make it happen.
On Tuesday night at the Ferst Center for the Arts the awards ceremony for the Georgia Tech Reseach & Innovation Conference (GTRIC) was held. The winner of the 2011 Innovation Competition was Craig Tashman of LiquidText.
GTRIC brings together 400 Georiga Tech graduate students presenting their research to the Tech community. The event gives graduate students the opportunity to compete for monetary prizes for their research, in order to fund commericalization, continued research, or travel expenses for students to continue to make presentations across the country. This year the conference awarded a total of $85,000 in prizes, the largest being the Georgia Tech Edison Prize.
The Georgia Tech Edison Prize is a $15,000 award that goes to the winner of the event's Innovation Competition. The Georgia Tech Edison Prize was established in 2010 to foster the formation of startup companies from research conducted at the university. Graduate students work closely with Georgia Tech’s ATDC Venture Lab arm to tune their ideas and presentations prior to the event. Approximatley 100 graduate students entered the Innovation Competition.
ATDC is looking to hire an up and coming marketing guru to manage and lead its marketing efforts.
ATDC currently employs an online content marketing strategy. If you are hired you will be heavily focused on planning, developing, and managing website content. You will manage ATDC's email and social media marketing programs, create print marketing material and support marketing for ATDC events. You will also have the opportunity to attend technology startup events to grow awareness of ATDC and increase its reputation among customers, prospects, and, sponsors. If you want to learn the world of technology startups there are not many better places to be.
The ideal candidate will have a business or communications degree with about three years of related online marketing experience. You will need excellent written communication skills including past experience in the creation of case studies, collateral, press releases, and website content. You need to be a little bit of a geek, but just a little, with knowledge and use of Windows/Mac, WordPress, social media platforms (Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube), and web analytics tools. Knowledge of HTML, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are big pluses.
To be considered for the job you have to officially apply. You can do so here. Entering job number 0164162 will take you to the promised land.
On Monday the White House announced the Startup America Partnership. Startup America is a White House initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout America. Below is a nice video of Austan Goolsbee the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers explaining the program.
About the only criticism I have about the program is the expression "valley of death." I live in startup land. I have never ever heard anyone say "valley of death." Regardless the four main points Mr. Goolsbee makes are that Startup America will:
Expand access to capital for startups;
Identify and remove unnecessary regulations that are barriers to startups;
Startup America is the capstone of a sea change that has been taking place. For years and years governmental economic development efforts have mostly focused on big companies. Then last year, at least in Atlanta, something started to happen. It seemed like all of a sudden people realized that startups create jobs. Lots of groups starting turning their attention to startups. Why this happened I am not sure. But I am very encouraged that the White House understands the importance of entrepreneurship and startups in expanding the economy and creating jobs. I am also very encouraged that Startup America is getting the right people and organizations involved.
As part of the Start America kickoff 27 public and private commitments were announced. As far as I can tell there is no entity from Georgia involved. There should be. The state of Georgia needs to leverage the Startup America program with it's own economic development funding. It needs to get the right people and organizations involved. It needs to tap into existing startup support expertise (such as ATDC one of the world's top ten incubators). Doing so will help Georgia technology startups succeed, create jobs, and give Georgia an opportunity to reestablish itself as a technology leader.
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DISCLAIMER
The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone (with the exception of comments by others of course). They do not represent the opinion or position of any other person or entity. All postings adhere to my personal values.
