Startup Riot Pitch Hour 2

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Live blogging of the second hour of pitches at Startup Riot.

High Road Craft

Craft ice cream for restaurants, hotels, and caterers.  They want to be the Ben & Jerry's for hotels.  Not looking for investment, have ten customers and are profitable.  Nice pictures.  I just ate and am getting hungry.  Will be looking at follow investment in a year.   Do not get the tech play here.

CoreMotives

Marketing automation that detects and tracks prospects.  Love the energy.  Met the team before.  Like what they are doing.   Business SaaS model.  Have customers.  You might be hearing more about this one.

NinjaPost

Next generation message board software.  Shotput Ventures company.  ATDC is using the software.  Works well.  SaaS model.  Looking for $150k seed round.  I have been coaching them a bit during my day job.

CoThrive

Helps team members make and keep commitments within email.  Have filed for a patent.  Have paying customers and $1 million in funding.  The founder and former CEO of EDGAR Online just joined as CEO.  Winner.

Bee Well Wishes

Online retailer offering comfy get well gifts for people that are sick, recovering or simply need cheering up.  E-commerce is good.

Nexpense

A real-time receipt management mobile to SaaS solution for small to mid-size businesses.  Nice opening.  Founder Jen Bonnett was eTour CTO and founder of StartupChicks.  Freemium model. Getting ready to go to alpha.  Company was started at Atlanta Startup Weekend.

QuoteJuice

An Internet based platform where users can get quotes, compare, and purchase individual health insurance plans.  They make commissions when a consumer purchases a plan.  "This isn't the valley.  Get a customer."  Looking for talent to help move things forward.  I have been working a bit with the company.

SkyBuyHigh

Electronic boutique featuring tax free gifts on domestic flights.  Patent pending software.  Market seems big, ever hear of SkyMall?  Going pretty fast.  Too much info.  Looking for capital.  Don't know how much.

HydroCoal

Patent pending (eight of them) technology to convert coal into synfuels.  Seeking $1 million for pilot. Making a gasifier.  Claims 10x cost reduction.  Nice serious presentation. Until he said "shit" right in the middle of it.

CitiSync

A social web utility that helps college students discover and share all of the events and specials happening in their city.  Good energetic presentation style.  Cool name.  Reminds me of Hapnin.  Facebook is waning?  I don't think so.  Sales heavy advertising model may be a challenge.  Looking for investors to expand. 

ElectronicNapkin.com

Visual accessory tool for computers that works like an overhead projector.  Big market, not sure what they are doing or how they fit in.  Do not have a revenue model just yet.  Selling product online.  Self funded to date.  Sounds like a two person team.  Advice to all:  drop the dot com.

Regator

Makes it easy for people to find and share the best blogs and blogosphere trends.  Good use of humor to poke fun at self.  Have a paid iPhone app.  It is my understanding they have sold quite a few of them.  Launching an API.  Three person team.  I have been working with them a bit for a while.  Like it.

Wildfire

Combines power of social networking with real-world grassroots action.  SaaS model.  Looking for customers and partners.  Not sure of business model.

Candeo

Makers of youhaveapackage.  Software that automates package delivery in multi-dwelling units.

Smart Video Interactive

Digital signage company.  Big, fragmented market.  I have played in that sandbox.  Tough.  Good presentation.  Looking for a CEO and $250k.  Product in test phase.    

LessMeetings

Helps organizations save time by making meetings more effective and providing visibility into meeting effectiveness.  In beta.  SaaS model.  Coached founder in CapVenture.  Nice pivot from the concept he had then.

PawPawMail

A simple web based email system for use by seniors and their caregivers.  Named after the founders grandfather.  Product in use.  Good press coverage.  Bootstrapped.  Looking for intros into assisted living facilities.

OpenStudy

A social study network for students.  CEO Phil Hill has past success.  Good team of developers working on a concept that was developed at Emory and Georgia Tech.  National Science Foundation and Georgia Resource Alliance funded.  Have commitments with partners that have access to 350k students.  Going to charge students via SaaS.  One of the best of the day. 

February 17, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Presentations, Startups

Startup Riot Pitch Hour 1

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Today is Startup Riot.
Startup Riot is a is pitch event where technology startups present
their companies for three minutes using four slides.  This year it
moved to the opulent and spacious Egyptian Ballroom at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.
The Fox is an Atlanta institution and the move there is representative of how the event has grown in stature.  Startup Riot was on NPR this morning and Robert Scoble of Scobleizer fame flew into town for the event.

This is the third year of the event and it continues to grow.

I covered the event in 2009 and 2008.

Today
I am going to try live blogging with quick updates on presenting
companies and a quick evaluation of their companies and pitches.

TransactionTree

An event driven digital receipt system.  Good use of props.  Like
electronic receipt concept.  Have customers and revenue.  Have unique
technoloigy.  Did not mention team.  While wanting money did not make a
specific ask.

MediaSode

Provides admin tools and a customer player to distribute combinations of media in one syncronized assemblage.  Led by Ben Dyer.  Don’t totally understand the problem.

OtherNum

Provides virtual PBX for startups and small companies.  Two person team working part-time.  Fully functional app looking for cusomers.  ATDC company.

Ultralite

Manufacture phototherapy machines and accessories for the treatment of skin disorders.  Reading slides is a major issue.  No passion.  FDA approved.  Seeking unstated amount for marketing.  Not my area of expertise so I can not comment on market need.

CritSend

Ensures reliable email delivery.  Low cost is not a great selling point for a startup.  Have a nice customer list.

PlaceVision

Helps non-profits and urban planners communicate more effectively online.  Great presence.  Not sure if there is a real problem or market but what do I know.  Raising unstated amount of funds.  Product not complete.

LessAccounting.com

Bookkeeping app for small business owner or free lancer.  Targeting QuickBooks.  He is right, they suck.  Good use of humor.  “We suck the least.”  Nice clean looking app.  Been around three years.  Good third party integration.  I am going to try the product.  Want money to “topple the evil QuickBooks.”

Artisanal Influence

Allows wine bloggers to gracefully offers to sample wines, attend industry events, and offer product giveaways.  Good presentation skills and storytelling.  Sitting next to two wine guys.  They don’t think there is a problem.

Neybor

A centralized real estate marketing service. They sell virtual tours and to newspapers in third tier markets that need an online real estate presence. They have complete product, customers, and revenue. I think he said profitable.  Woot!

Drive Safe

Uses needle free continuous, non-invasive technology to give diabetics an alternative to invasive glucose testing. Seems like a real problem. Have patents. Not sure how large the market might be. Over a year away from launch. Need investors to do that.

ViralPrints

The place where online video producers and fans alike can design, purchase, and sell merchandise based off their favorite online videos.  Have launched.  100,000 unique visitors.  Cash flow positive.  We make “kiss ass merchandise.” Rock on.

Learn It Live

On online marketplace where you can connect live with top experts and instructors in interactive one on one and group classes.  “A world of experts in the palm of your hands.”  Did not explain the business.  I coached Sidney.  I need to do better.

Gold Brothers Entertainment

Developer of iPhone and ITouch apps.  Created oBo Agent a fee based service connecting writers to agents and publishers.  Raised $250k.  Founder created “Trading Space.”  Did not explain business.

NetParty

Helps people make new business or social connections both online and off. Recently relocated to Atlanta. Not seeking funding.  Interesting play.  Merging social with dating.  Big market that they might be able to carve out a niche.

Rank ’em

Crowdsourcing music discovery by sorting the catalogs of every artist of all time based on the opinions of thost that know them best.  Great passion.  Releasing product next week.  Have revenue via affiliate marketing.  Looking to raise $250k.  Busy space.

Napstay

A marketplace aiming to make vacation rentals a more reliable alternative to hotels by offering online bookings, reviews, and more.  Nice slides.  Big market.  Even busier space than music.  With a few big established players.  I don’t understand how they standout.

JobTitled

Brings analytics to career management. Nice presentation manner. Good slides.  Interesting concept.  Have filed a patent.  Need to get some customer validation.  Currently collecting input from the same for development of alpha.

Looxii

A fresh approach to social media analytics. A Shotput Ventures company. They raised a follow on round. Adam has good presentation skills. Opening beta today. Could have explained business model better.

  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Presentations, Startups

Four

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Sandwiched right between Valentine's Day and my wife's birthday Force of Good turns four today.

Here are some stats for the past four years.

                                           One          Two            Three            Four
Visitors                                2,525     12,792        43,166         46,445
Posts                                      135          204             178             152
Comments                                52          253             685             655
Conversational Index                .38         1.24            3.85            4.31
Ranking*                           788,400   189,138      180,054        46,798
*technorati      

Unlike past years the numbers presented above are not cumulative.  Doing so makes it easier to understand what is transpiring.  I also added a row showing the number of posts and used this info to calculate a Don Dodge version of a conversational index.

The number of posts written on FoG has fallen.  Part of this, I am sure, is that I manage multiple blogs these days.  Another big part was I took a spring break from writing last year to gain a little perspective.  When I cranked things back up in the summer I had made the conscious decision that I was not going to write to build traffic, I was going to write to build community as well as devote more of my free time to other endeavors.

Traffic continues to grow, albeit at a decreasing rate.  More important to me is the fact that the conversational index is a healthy and a good indicator of the community here. 

The Technorati rank also has taken quite a jump, driven by the number of inbound links currently pointing to FoG.  I also ran FoG through Blog Grader and it emerged with a grade of 95.8 and a rank of 10,442 which put FoG in the 94% percentile.

Happy Birthday FoG.  You are growing up.

February 15, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Personal, Web/Tech

Customer Acquisition

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David Skok, a five time startup entrepreneur turned venture capitalist at Matrix Partners recently blew into Atlanta for the DLA Venture Pipeline meeting and he blew away the crowd with his talk on "Customer Acquisition & Monetization."  The presentation which is embedded below summarizes several key themes on David's blog, "for Entrepreneurs." 

I have written briefly about customer acquisitions costs here before.  What I have not fully explained, and what David does such a wonderful job of demystifying, is the analytical analysis and math that is a part of building a successful Internet business.  Capital light not only applies to product development, it applies to marketing.  Entrepreneurs must focus on making it easy for their product to function as a sales force and for customers to sell themselves.

In his presentation and on his blog David has provided a roadmap for not only reducing customer acquisition costs but for building a marketing machine.  Entrepreneurs would be wise to follow the path.

  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Entrepreneurship, Internet, Marketing

Be A Founder

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Here's the definition of CEO from Wikipedia.

A chief executive officer (CEO) or chief executive is one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators in charge of total management. An individual selected as president and CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency, reports to the board of directors.

By definition to be a CEO a couple of things have to be in place.  One, there has to be management present, or at the very least employees.  Two, there needs to be a formal organization.  Three, there has to be a board.  If you don't possess these characteristics don't call yourself CEO.  Be a founder.

February 12, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Entrepreneurship, Startups

EIEIO

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The other day while perusing Twitter I came across Typealyzer.  Typealyzer is an application that looks at the content of a blog to determine its personality within the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) framework.   Merely type in the URL of the blog and voila.

Who can resist, so I typed blog.weatherby.net into the input box.

The output, claimed FoG was an INTJ or “Scientist.”

Typealyzer INTJ

Over the years I have taken a few MBTIs.  The results have been mixed, ENTJ, ISTJ, ESTJ, and ENTJ.  I believe I am a border line INTJ/ENTJ. Here are some characteristics of ENTJs, “The Executives.”

  • Direct and assertive
  • Attuned to the big picture and how to get things done.
  • Likes making bold and sweeping changes in complex situations.
  • Outspoken and will not hesitate to speak of their plans for improvement

Seem like the behavior you have been seeing on FoG over the past week or so?  It does to me.

Bill Gates’ blog is an ESTJ and Fake Steve an ISTP.  SecretSig, which may be more of a reflection of me than Sig Mosely, is an ENTJ.

Give Typealyzer a whirl, it’s fun.  What’s the personality of your blog?

February 10, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Fun, Personal

Under The Bus

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One of the more rational voices during the recent chatter about startup events was Michael Blake. He asked the rather simple question “are there specific events that you think have outlived their usefulness?” and threatened to throw me under the bus in retaliation if I mentioned StartupLounge.  I am sure there are lots of buses I could throw myself under.  Not going to do that.

When I was with my first startup I never attended events unless I was speaking or it was a business development activity.  That, along with extensive travel left me not well networked.  Not a good place to be.  I got a bit connected and then involved with another startup.  I committed to not letting my network wither.  Toward that end, though the demands of rapidly growing a company made it difficult, I made it a professional development goal to go to about two events per month.  If I were an earlier stage entrepreneur, although I might have the time to attend many more events, I would follow the same general rule.  Target two per month, sometimes do more, sometimes do less.  And this is how I might spend that time.

Attend the annual Startup Riot.  Nice big event.  Good networking.  Opportunity to see lots of early stage startups present.  Watching others present and listening to the crowd feedback is a great learning opportunity.  If I were actually presenting at the Riot I would go to Startup Gauntlet to get open and honest feedback on my pitch.

I would attend StartupLounge.  Again, nice big event.  Great networking.  Build relationships with some folks that might be able to help you down the line.  Go to PitchCamp to prepare.  It’s a quarterly event.  As long as you are making significant strides in moving your business forward go every other quarter.

Go to the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition finals.  It will give you a view as to what people believe to be better seed stage companies.  If you think you are ready or need a forcing event, apply.  It will make you get some stuff done and you may get a mentor.

Startup Weekend.  If you have never been in a startup before this is a nice little proxy for what it is like.  We seem to do a pretty good job of launching companies like InstantLoop, Twitpay, and Skribit.

ATDC Showcase.  This annual event is getting bigger and better every year.

Atlanta CEO Council.  This is where the big dogs play.  Meets six times a year.  Need $1 million in capital raised or $5 million in revenue to get in the door.

Throw in ad-hoc and niche happenings in your area of interest and you are done.  That would be my approach.

Now I have three questions for you entrepreneurs and startups.  You are the customers of all this activity.  I believe that event organizers would all welcome candid feedback.  What specific events are helping to move you forward?  What specific events do you think have outlived their
usefulness?  Or put another way, if an entrepreneur came to you and asked for your advice about what events they should attend, what would you tell them?

  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Customer Focus, Entrepreneurship, Startups

Secret Cabal

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I can’t tell you how ironic it was when someone create secretcabal on Twitter.  Ironic because there was one.  Some time ago the good folks at Noro-Moseley Partners had invited me to a dinner meeting at White Space Gallery.  The purpose of the dinner was an open discussion of what’s happening in the Atlanta startup community.  There was a request not to mention it online, which I respected.  As did everyone else.  Intriguing.

So last night the entire Noro team assembled along with about 16 people from the tech community.  We broke out via dinner tables and Mike Elliott and Alan Taetle opened the proceedings with an overview of Noro.  Essentially the firm focuses in a geographic area from Virginia to Texas.  They talked a bit about their investing criteria.  Noro plans to make about 20 investments across the region from Fund VI.  Since that fund closed in 2007 they have made 13 investments.  Not a bad pace.

Mike also spoke about the contraction of venture firms both locally and nationally.  There is tremendous pressure on the entire venture industry to deliver returns to limited partners.   Funding devoted to venture could shrink by another 40% in the future.  VCs, including Noro, are fighting for survival.

On to the meat of the matter.  All those assembled had two menus.  One with food and wine pairings.  And a second topic menu.

  • What’s the state of the early stage and growth startup community?
  • What is the best way for all those assembled to work together?
  • What are Atlanta’s strengths?
  • What needs to change to foster a stronger community?

There was some great discussion.  I was fortunate to sit at Mike’s table.  I did not know him well before.  He is smart and engaging.  The table and the assembled group reached some interesting conclusions.  Personally my biggest conclusion is this.  It’s great to see the Noro team creating conversation and showing community leadership.

Nothing sinister about that.

February 9, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Startups, Venture Capital

Advisor Advice

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I was recently copied on an email exchange that took place between an entrepreneur and an investor.

It was brought to my attention that you have included my name and bio in your company materials as an advisor to your company. Both you and I know that I am not advisor to your company. We spoke at (event redacted) some months ago and that is the extent of it. Please immediately cease and desist from using my name and remove it from your business materials. Thanks. (name of angel investor redacted).

The probability of this firm ever raising an angel round just took a serious hit.  At the very minimum it lost a potential deal lead.  Depending on how this is handled the water could be poisoned across the entire angel community.

While having a small stable of advisors is extremely important for a startup, you need to form relationships with such folks and seek their permission before listing them as an advisor.  And after you get them involved you need to keep them engaged so something like the following does not happen.

Lance:  Entrepreneur of Newco tells me you are one of his advisors.

Advisor:  Yeah, what’s going on with Newco, I have not talked with them in a long time.

Getting good advisors is a bit like dating.  You don’t want to make it of the high school variety where you tell everyone that you are hanging with the most popular woman when that is not the case.  She is going to find out and it is not going to be pretty.   Your rep will take a hit and lord knows what her real boyfriend will do.

February 8, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Angels, Entrepreneurship

Taking My Own Advice

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I am killing the ATDC marketing circle and Internet circle.  These were small monthly gatherings of startup types that were interested in either topic.  I will continue to support Brandy Nagel who spearheaded the marketing circle effort. 

If anyone wants to engage with me about either subject hit the BookNow button in the right side bar and make yourself an appointment.

Update:  The marketing circle lives on.  Brandy has moved the event to Friday mornings from 8:30 – 10:30.  You can register here.

February 6, 2010  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in atdc, Internet, Marketing