SXSW Accelerator

So ATDC can be quite the interesting place. I was walking down the hall yesterday when I noticed a lady that looked somewhat familiar standing in the reception area. I said hello and introduced myself. Turns out to be Jennifer 8. Lee. That is really her name.  

We struck up a conversation. She was in town to speak at the inaugural meetup for Atlanta Hacks/Hackers about the Knight News Challenge, a grant competition for open-source news and information projects that gives away up to $5 million a year. Jenny 8 also told me about the SXSW accelerator program presented by long-time ATDC partner MicroSoft Bizspark.

The third annual SXSW Accelerator will take place March 14-16 at the 2011 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin. They are looking for business entries in Innovative Web Technologies, Social Media and Social Networking Technologies, Entertainment Technologies, Health Technologies and News Related Technologies. Finalists will receive up to two minutes to present their idea to a jury panel of venture capitalist or technology industry experts. The real benefit is exposure.

So if you need some of that mosey on over to the application process page or pass go and apply here by December 10. If you are self-funded and the $150 entry fee seems a bit much drop Chris Valentine a note.

Cross posted to atdc.org

ATDC Gwinnett

In a somewhat historic event Bud Peterson president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Michael Adams president of the University of Georgia came together on Monday to officially launch ATDC's new presence in Gwinnett County. ATDC, a Georgia Tech based technology business accelerator has established a presence on the University of Georgia's Gwinnett Campus.

Roll the tape.

Here is the official Georgia Tech announcement.

It is not clear if the two presidents discussed the future expansion of engineering education in Georgia.

Meet The New Boss

Not the same as the old boss.  

She's a woman.  She has a bio background.  I would not read too much into that.  She was the best candidate.  Diversity is good. 

Her first name is Nina. Last name is Sawczuk.  She speaks startup. She speaks business. I like her.  

Nina started working at ATDC last fall leading our biosciences effort.  She was the CEO of a startup.  A startup that failed. It happens. She's an entrepreneur and understands what it takes to be one.

Nina has a nice educational pedigree.  Undergrad Johns Hopkins. Masters in Molecular Biology from Harvard. MBA from Duke. More importantly, she is smart and engaging. Willing to learn. Based on conversations that I have had with her over the past year I think she can manage. Manage to exceed the expectations of ATDC members. 

And I am sure at some point in the hear future there will be plenty of opportunities to meet Nina.

Here is the official release if you care for such things.

CapVenture

CapVenture is a training program that is put on by ATDC and TAG that is in its third year. The purpose of the program is to prepare companies seeking their first round of institutional funding to go out and get it.  The programming takes place for six Tuesday evenings beginning on August 17. The final night, September 21, is pitch night.  The top company that emerges from CapVenture, as voted on by the audience (a crowd of about 100 investors and tech leaders) during the final presentations, will be offered a slot to present at Venture Atlanta.

The cost to participate, yes it costs money, starts at $174.  Here are the details.  Early registration closes on July 9 so if you are interested in participating it is time to get your application rolling.   Final registrations are due August 6, if you wait until then it will cost you a bit more to play.

PepsiCo10

Here in the heart of the New South folks don't talk about Pepsi much.  When I first moved to Atlanta from the NYC area I walked into Stone Soup and much to my surprise they did not even stock the stuff.  Over on North Ave our KO friends will not mention the company by name.  But the good folks from Purchase have put together a program called PepsiCo10 that is worth talking about.

PepsiCo10 is an opportunity for startups to share ideas and gain access to PepsiCo brand experts, media specialists, and venture capital mentors.  The program is focused on businesses in one of four subject categories: social media & marketing; mobile marketing; place-based and retail experiential marketing and digital video and gaming.  The PepsiCo10 is open to small media and technology companies with product in market.  Startups may have already publicly launched a solution or may have a beta ready for launch, but the product has to have been in market for less than two years.  Applicants must have minimum annual revenue of $250,000 or total funding ranging from $250,000 to $10 million.  They will make exceptions companies that have participated in accelerator or incubator programs (like ATDC).

Out of the field of applicants up to 40 companies will be invited to present a formal RFP and five minute introduction video to PepsiCo and its partners.  From there, up to 20 companies will be selected to present at a two day PepsiCo10 Summit on July 27 and 28 in Purchase, New York. Following the PepsiCo10 Summit, up to 10 companies will be chosen to pursue a pilot project with a PepsiCo brand team.  So if this sounds pretty interesting the first step is to fill out the online application by June 24.

Startup Showcase

In six days ATDC is going to host its Startup Showcase and 30th year celebration.  I reckon those 30 years make ATDC one of the oldest startup incubators going.  Not only is ATDC old, it's good, having recently been named by Forbes as one of 10 technology incubators that are changing the world.

It has been amazing just to watch the growth of the Showcase itself.  In the past four years it has expanded from a somewhat intimate setting in the Technology Square Research Building, over to the grand Biltmore, and this year moving on to the more spacious Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center.  It's going to be a big show. Registrations, even with an entry fee, are on pace for last year.  When it is all said and done I expect the largest attendance yet.

Bud Peterson, the president of Georgia Tech is going to kick things off and then vice president Stephen Fleming is going to give an update on how the new ATDC is working and what to expect over the coming year.  Then the show will move on to graduate members CommerceV3, Endgame Systems, Izenda, and Purewire (acquired by Barracuda) presenting their stories before the member exhibits open up.  The day will conclude at the bar with a special version of Startup Drinks.

Please join me, my partners in crime at ATDC, our expanded member companies, and a big hunk of the Atlanta technology world at the Startup Showcase by registering to attend. 

After this one is over I am going on vacation.

GRA/TAG Business Launch Final Four

When David Sung left ATDC for the greener pastures of the private sector I was once again charged with leading the process of screening the companies that applied to the GRA/TAG Business Launch competition.  Yesterday TAG announced the final four.  They are:

Khush, intelligent music applications for mobile phones;

SolidFire, a next-generation storage platform for cloud computing providers and other enterprises that need scalable, reliable storage for thousands of servers;

Toomah, a suite of interview management tools that dramatically reduce hiring costs by automating the scheduling, conducting and voice recording of phone interviews, which are then captured and stored via the web;

TransactionTree, an event driven digital receipt and marketing delivery system.

These four companies are slated to make their final presentations on June 2 at IBM as they go for over $300,000 in prizes including $50k in cold cash.

The final judges include my current leader Stephen Fleming, Vice President, Enterprise Innovation Institute; Tom Crotty, Managing Director, Battery Ventures, whom I got to know in my CipherTrust days; and Alan Taetle, General Partner, Noro Moseley Partners, the guy that took a chance on me when I wanted to get in the tech business. 

Just as important as these guys are the people that helped in the early stages of the process.  That included Mike Eckert, investor; Lawrence Guillory, CEO Racemi; Jeff McConnell, serial entrepreneur; Karen Robinson, Managing Partner, Atlanta Technology Advisors; and Gordon Rogers, President Atlanta Technology Angels.  These folks spent time reading through the final business plans, listening to short pitches, and debating what twelve companies were worthy of going forward.  It is somewhat interesting that this group picked only two of the final four.

Once the twelve were selected Glenn Bachman, President, Bachman International: Mike Lowry, investor; Craig Miller, Miller Ventures; and Nandan Sheth, President and COO, Acculynk spent a day of their valuable time coaching the contestants on their pitches.

Thanks again to all the volunteers for devoting the effort it takes to make the GRA/TAG Business Launch a success.  While your time is quite valuable your expertise and insights are invaluable to the entrepreneurs. 

And congrats to the final four!  If you are an entrepreneur and want to come see what a good investor pitch looks like when there is real money on the line go and register for the finals.  It's going to be a good show

ATDC Seeks Marketing Intern

ATDC is seeking an online marketing summer intern. The candidate should be willing to demonstrate a high level of resourcefulness and a willingness to learn online marketing skills. This 12-week position is designed to offer an individual a range of practical experience in online marketing including social media.  ATDC is aggressive in its use of social media and is looking for a young talent who can work within our culture as an integral part of our organization. The candidate should feel comfortable working in an open and unstructured environment.  

ATDC was recently recognized by Forbes as one of the top technology incubators changing the world.  It is located at Technology Square in Midtown, the heart of the Atlanta startup community. This position includes a $500 monthly stipend.  You will be expected to work in the office from 8am-12pm Monday through Friday with some flexibility.

Atlanta Facebook Dev Meetup

So Dave Williams of BLiNQ went out to the f8 show in San Francisco and realized that Atlanta needs a group to share best practices related to anything Facebook.  So, he pinged me about ATDC sponsoring such a group and low and behold it is so.  Should be a great group for developers working on the Facebook platform and companies looking toward Facebook for marketing purposes.  Meetings will be held held the 1st Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm.  Free pizza and beverages, will be served compliments of BLiNQ. You can join the meetup group here.

Ten Tech Incubators Changing The World

Forbes published an article on Friday how technology incubators are an efficient way to spur entrepreneurship and economic growth.  Using data from CB Insights they created a list of 10 technology incubators that are changing the world.  ATDC, where I am honored to work, was among them. Here is the list:

• Y Combinator
• Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives
• Houston Technology Center
• Palo Atlo Research Center
• The Technology Innovation Center
• The Icehouse
• The Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• The Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech
• University Research Park and MGE Innovation Center at the University of Wisconsin
• The Environmental Business Cluster

The Icehouse in New Zealand has the coolest name and thank goodness for our friends in the midwest for not only developing startups but having the down to earth sensibilities to come up with longer more convoluted names.

Here is the in-depth Forbes slideshow.