Negative returns, venture capital fund raising down $30 billion, number of future firms closing funds down by over 500, few IPOs, SOX, exits only to strategic buyers, exit values down, no big technology shift creating innovative growth opportunities. John Jannarone of The Wall Street Journal does a pretty good job of summing up the state of venture capital.
At a macro level there is going to be a smaller VC asset class. At a micro level deals will be done. Less me too, more revenue traction. Entrepreneurs will have to find ways to get there.
Today at the sold out SoCon10 I am giving the presentation you see below entitled "Measuring Social Media ROI: An ATDC Case Study."
The genesis of the presentation is twofold. First and foremost in the summer of 2009 there was a lot of talk about how you could not or should not measure the return of your social media efforts. I do not believe either to be the case. Second, Stephen Fleming become the acting director of ATDC and decided we were going to change strategic direction. He announced this at a Monday staff meeting and wanted it implemented in seven days. That time frame pretty much limited our marketing efforts to online and we exclusively relaunched via social media This provided a great opportunity to demonstrate that social media ROI could be calculated and how to go about doing it.
This past Friday ATDC was the host sponsor for mobicamp, a new unconference centered around mobile technology and its impact on the day to day life of average users. About 70 or so mostly mobile devs descended on the incubator to talk about iPhone development (a bit too much) and more. While the production put together by Return 7 was described by some as "lightly attended", it was a great first effort for a growing group interested in mobile media on a beautiful Atlanta summer night. My favorite session of the night was put on by Jerry Rocha of Nielsen. Great research on the burgeoning smart phone space.
Here are some links from folks that covered mobicamp better then me as I wade back into the world of blogging.
mobicamp is a new, annual
unconference in Atlanta centered around mobile technology and its
impact on the day to day life of average users. It is aimed mainly at
software developers and students, but is open to anyone with interests
in the mobile/wireless space.
Somehow or the other I convinced Amro that it might not be a bad idea to have some more business focused discussions as well and he has partnered with the Wireless Technology Forum in an effort to broaden the scope a bit.
mobicamp is based on the wildly popular unconference design of BarCamp. We've had two very successful BarCamps at ATDC the past two years and the first CloudCamp back in January. There (hopefully) will be no cost to attend, but those that do so must agree to actively participate either as speakers, active audience members, or volunteers. The premise is simple. Come together. Meet new people. Think big thoughts. Say what you are thinking. Leave energized.
On January 20th from 4:00 to 9:30 ATDC is proud to be the host sponsor of CloudCamp Atlanta.
CloudCamp is an unconference where attendees can exchange ideas,
knowledge and information in a creative and supporting environment,
advancing the current state of cloud computing and related
technologies. The big driver behind CloudCamp Atlanta is John Willis aka Botchagalupe.
Like any unconference, CloudCamp is an informal member-supported gathering that relies
entirely on volunteers (and you can count me as one of those) to help with meeting content, speakers, meeting
locations, equipment and membership recruitment. CloudCamp is also looking for a few corporate
sponsors to provide financial assistance if anyone is feeling generous this holiday season.
You can register for CloudCamp Atlanta on Eventbrite.
ATDC is the host sponsor of BarCamp Atlanta 2, which essentially means I am spending the better part of the weekend with about 95 geeks and 5 geekettes.
Those that follow me on Twitter know that I used the service to crowdsource my presentation. I got the concept from a presentation that Chris Winfield created for SES Toronto back in June. I had a few requests to distribute the presentation and you will find it below. While the presentation was fine in the room you may need to view in full screen on SlideShare.
Thanks again for all those that participated in the making of a fun presentation.
Next week is going to be a big one in the Atlanta startup technology world. And I mean big. From Wednesday morning to Saturday afternoon it is one glorious gathering after another.
GTISC Security Summit
Wednesday morning kicks things off with the GTISC Security Summit. This year the focus is on emerging cyber security threats. Lt. General Robert J. Elder, Jr., who you most likely have never heard of, is giving a keynote entitled "Global Opeations and Mission Assurance in a Contested Cyber Envrionment". Tom Noonan, whom you most likely have heard of, is then moderating a panel on the subject.
Venture Atlanta
The biggest venture capital event in Atlanta history is taking place on Wednesday and Thursday at the Omni Hotel. The Omni is sold out and Venture Atlanta is almost as well. Over 100 VCs packing the halls talking deals. On Wednesday afternoon ATDC and VentureLab are putting on "Let's Make a Deal". I am partially playing the role of Monty Hall.
Executing Social Media
I am not going to be able to make it to the Executing Social Media conference but if Grayson Daughters says it is going to be good I believe her. For social media types with big expense accounts. The $1295 registration fee makes the cost of entry to Venture Atlanta seem like a bargain.
Meet The VC
I will be sitting down next Friday morning bright and early with Vimal Patel of Sierra Ventures out of Menlo Park for the second interation of ATDC's Meet the VC. Despite the early time slot the first session with Alan Tatele was full of energy. I expect more of the same and a sell out crowd. It is free but you have to register. And if you have any questions that you would like me to ask Vimal you can do so in the comments.
BarCamp Atlanta 2
This unconference is filling up fast with 169 folks registered to attend. The kick off on Friday night will be huge. Like Meet the VC, BarCamp is free and you can register here until it fills up. But it requires active participation. You have to come prepared to give a presentation or demo. I am pretty sure the title of my presentation is going to be "That's What You Twittered", a crowd sourced presentation. If you want to play along with that, follow me on Twitter.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc
unconference born from the desire for
people to learn and share in an open environment. If you have never attended a BarCamp session anywhere you really need to consider coming and participating. And participating is a requirement. If you come you have to either give a demo, present, or lend a hand in some way. And while there are lots of geeks at BarCamp anyone with expertise and an interest in sharing and learning is welcome.
BarCamp is a very fun and uplifting experience. Sign up now if you intend to attend. And spending the night is an option, not a requirement if you care to do so.
I have three roles in BarCamp Atlanta2. I am coordinating ATDC offering the space, I intend to present, and I am in charge of t-shirts. In order to have t-shirts I am looking for a t-shirt sponsor. Just pop me a line at lance at weatherby dot net if you might want to pitch in.
Atlanta Startup Weekend 2 is being planned for the weekend of November 7th. I am currently leading the effort again but looking for some folks to help with the effort this year. You can learn a bit more about the first effort at the Startup Weekend Atlanta blog. You can show support for bringing Startup Weekend to Atlanta again by voting here (it's gonna happen).
We are seeking sponsors for both events.
Save the dates. Spread the word. More to come as summer winds down.
I got a request to write up a article on SoCon via the Skribit app in my sidebar. It was quickly voted up so you folks must want to know what went on.
Truth be told, I did not spend a lot of time at SoCon. I went to the networking dinner on Friday night and made it a point to network. Met some folks I did not meet before. Saw a lot of old friends. Then left at about 9:30 to go to my first ever tweetup that Tessa put together at Octane. I used to hang out at Octane as an office when I was working on a startup awhile back. Never had been there at night. Somewhat bizarre bar scene with everyone in the place playing with their mobile device be it a laptop, MID, or smartphone. I found the real life conversation somewhat like twitter itself. Interesting, with spurts of chatter and spurts of silence. Hung for about two hours drinking a beer that had been aged in bourbon casks. Tasty!
I only was able to make it to the opening general session on Saturday morning this year. Unlike last year, I actually said something. Something about how one of the big changes that I have seen in the last year is traditional media's rush to embrace the social aspects of the web and predicting what the next big thing is extremely hard to do, and that is part of the wonder of the Internet. The joy of discovery and the unknown.
Afterward I found out there was a live blogging back channel going with all the kewl kids that I wish I could have been a part of. I do think that as Simon would say, things got a little pitchy at times. Amani Channel has a nice video that captures the essence of the event. Checking out these links will tell more of the story than I am capturing.
The SoCon gang once again pulled off a great unconference and I will be there in 09. Once again I ripped the picture on this post from Josh.
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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.
