Medium Models

Posted on June 3, 2010 · 1 Comment

"I think people are willing to pay for content. I believe it for music
and video, and I believe it for the media."

Steve Jobs

Steve made the comment at D8 on Tuesday. About the same time I was having an interesting conversation with some smart people about the same subject. And here was the most interesting point of the conversation. Music, video, and whatever the heck media is are very different.

People purchase music for the most part because it is provides very repeatable consumption. The number of times I have listened to Damn The Torpedos is countless. But with the exceptions The Lord of the Rings, T2, and whatever your personal favs happen to be, video is generally rented or subscribed to because you really only need to see it once.

Music, as content, is a little bit ahead of video in terms of consumption via new technology distribution methods. The buying model has held serve. I would surmise that as video becomes more Internet oriented that the traditional model of renting or subscribing and not owning will become the predominant purchase method.

People will indeed pay for content if packaged the right way. The big question is who will figure out the right way to package and deliver these next generation video rental/subscription services. It is going to be an interesting game.

June 3, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in Business, Current Affairs, Internet, Music, Television

Business Competition Tweets

Posted on June 3, 2010 · 1 Comment

My blogging mentor Toby Bloomberg wrote an entire book via Twitter (a story for another day). Given my lack of writing motivation lately I decided to try the same thing for a blog post. Instead of writing about the GRA/TAG business launch competition finals I thought I would just pull some tweets over the course of the event. Pretty much speaks for itself.

Good crowd at the Business Launch finals. VC panel kicking off. @jbmcconnell

VC panel at TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition. @stephenfleming

First VC: “Less money is better, let’s us focus less on the lookalike companies.” @gomeler

An A management team can’t make anything of a D market. – Crotty @urvaksh

Battery Ventures Tom Crotty says #1 factor 4 a good deal is founder’s ability to pick a mkt that is growing. @jacquichew

Tom Crotty, Battery Ventures: Atlanta is the most unappreciated VC investment market in the U.S. @stephenfleming

Atlanta companies can attract VC capital from outside. They can get it from Boston firms. – Crotty @urvaksh

Toomah on stage. Joe is very coachable. Strong opening. @lance

@jungledave is doing great explaining @solidfire at the business launch competition. @melonakos

Khu.sh has a great singing presentation today. I forsee a lot of tough questions from the vc panel. @themattcheek

Transaction Tree clearly came here to win, which you have to admire. @melaniebrandt

And the winner of the Tag/GRA 2010 Business Launch Competition is…. @startupangel

The GRA/TAG Business Launch winner is @Toomah. Learn the backstory on this hot new startup company. @techdrawl

| Comments | Tweet | Posted in Startups

Sign It Sonny

Posted on June 1, 2010 · 2 Comments

Back in March I wrote about the Angel Investor Tax Credit Bill. Well Georgia HB 1001 has morphed into Georgia HB 1069. The bill has passed both the State House of Representatives and the State Senate. It now sits on the Governor’s desk. It has been sitting there for a bit. Governor Perdue has until June 8th to sign, veto, or pocket veto the bill. It is time for the technology community to weigh in directly to the Governor. It's time for you to ask to him to sign the bill HB 1069. Now. Immediately. Here's why.

If all the tax credits are used it would mean roughly $100,000,000 potential investment into Georgia companies.
Technology startups that receive financial support related to the passage of the bill will have a direct and positive impact on job creation in Georgia.
Passing the bill will be conducive to providing an environment that will enable startup businesses in Georgia to remain in the state and succeed.
Georgia is competing with 23 other states which have such incentives for early
stage investors, those who directly invest in startup businesses.

People have been working diligently on the Angel Investor Tax Credit Bill for some time. Passing this bill is in the best interest of entrepreneurs and small
businesses in our state. It's time to make it law.

Please voice your opinion by contacting Governor Perdue today.

June 1, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in Angels, Politics, Startups

Startup Showcase

Posted on May 18, 2010

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.

May 18, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in Accelerators, atdc, Startups

GRA/TAG Business Launch Final Four

Posted on May 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

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

May 11, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in atdc, Entrepreneurship, Startups

Rock Analogy

Posted on May 6, 2010 · 3 Comments

Back in my Mobil days we were graded by our use of analogy. This is a good one by Shane Snow via Fred Wilson. Like all good analogies it speaks for itself.

May 6, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in Entrepreneurship, Startups

More Thinking About Shotput Ventures

Posted on May 4, 2010 · 8 Comments

Last week Shotput Ventures announced they had decided to "blow up" their summer program and turn it into more of an ongoing application process. This week David Cummings provided a little more insight into the why of the change.

Both Sanjay Parekh and David cited an underlying cause for the change that did not surprise me. There is a small supply of investable seed stages companies and little demand for a capital light web accelerator program in the southeast. When Shotput, and its never funded predecessor BoostPhase, where in their formative stages I estimated the supply of investable companies in the southeast to be four. Shotput invested in eight in 2009, three from the southeast (and intend to do three to five deals annually going forward).

The five from the 2009 class not from Atlanta left when the summer program was over. The saddening fact is they saw no follow on funding. Not enough VCs and angel investors interested in the deals. To the best of my knowledge, two four Shotput companies (Eventhive, Khush, Looxii, and OpenHatch) received follow on funding. Solve that problem, like the TechStars results show, by getting investors from around the country at investor day, and the class structure could work.

May 4, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in Angels, Startups, Venture Capital

ATDC Seeks Marketing Intern

Posted on April 29, 2010

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.

Interested candidates should contact me directly. Doing so in an appropriate and creative way will result in a conversation.

April 29, 2010 | Comments | Tweet | Posted in atdc, Marketing