The South Is Rising

Big news around these parts at the beginning of 2015 is that Mercedes Benz has decided to move its new U.S. headquarters to Atlanta. Which is a fine thing for Atlanta. Mercedes and Porsche. Two high class car companies with U.S. headquarters in a high class car driving city. The more interesting aspect of the […]

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January 13, 2015  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business, Current Affairs, Deals

Atlanta Startups & Economic Development

This week I was interviewed for an upcoming article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on the subject of how innovation is driving economic development (job growth in layman’s terms) and what needs to be done to continue to attract and foster startup companies. This led me to think about the subject a bit and this […]

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October 23, 2014  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in atdc, Business, Film, Politics, Startups

Build A Real Business Now

Highly respected venture capitalist Bill Gurley sounded the alarm about a month ago in an interview in the Wall Street Journal about the amount of risk VCs and startup employees are taking on these days. Very specifically he is worried about burn rates. To quote: And I guarantee you two things: One, the average burn […]

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October 9, 2014  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business, Current Affairs, Entrepreneurship, Startups

Every Job In America

I recently came across this graphic on Planet Money. Three things struck me about it. How many people are in local government, how few people are employed in manufacturing, and how services have really come to dominate the US economy.

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May 20, 2014  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business

Take An Extreme Position

One of the top five classes I have ever taken was a shortened version of a negotiation course during a Mergers and Acquisitions executive education program at The Wharton School. The class was led by Stuart Diamond. It was darn good. It has been over ten years since I have taken that class. But there is […]

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March 5, 2013  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business, Deals

Get The Data

Great Jim Barksdale quote over on A VC today. If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine. Seems like the right approach for anyone running a company to take. It is the approach that I have seen most of the CEOs that I work for […]

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July 17, 2012  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business

Buying

About a month ago Half Off Depot announced that it had acquired Dealster. To quote the release: “Dealster marks the first acquisition for Half Off Depot. In addition to its membership base, Dealster’s value to Half Off Depot lies in its proprietary platform, which includes social elements for customers and merchants as well as other features […]

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May 14, 2012  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Business, Half Off Depot