The event formerly known as “Capital Connections”, and now simply referred to as “Capital Lounge” will be held on the evening of May 21st, 2008, from 5:30 to 9:30pm (location made available to you once you’ve been approved to attend). This should be another fantastic event, especially as we will be infusing a new wave of angel investors that are actively participating in our AngelLounge events. We’re expecting another raucous crowd.

Attendance will be capped at 250 people. We’ve historically had a backlog of people trying to get into the event, so if you are planning to attend, it would probably be best to sign up sooner rather than later. You can check out photos from past events here.

There are some changes to the event format and signup process, so be sure to read the official announcement.

We look forward to seeing you all at the event! Please continue to spread the word!

Cheers.

Our next event (formerly called Capital Connections, now simply called “StartupLounge”) will be held on May 21st, from 6-9pm (here in Atlanta, of course). Save the date!

We haven’t been able to turn on the registrations for the event, as we are busy working on the new version of the StartupLounge.com web site. We’ll be rolling out the new site over the next few days or so, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up on the date.

If you haven’t heard of this event, or been to it, it is basically a gathering of 200-300 entrepreneurs and investors. We do it every quarter, much to the dismay of my wife and immediate friends and family. Stay tuned …

Cheers.

I just had a moment to watch the various video pitches recorded for the TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition. A couple of quick thoughts:

• A couple of trends -the big clusters seem to be in:
  • Events, finding something to do, connecting with friends, social networking (3 deals out of the 25)
  • Educational plays - of the 25 pitches on the site, 5 of them were in the education space - that’s a very positive trend, in my opinion.
• A handful of the companies listed recently attended one of our PitchCamp sessions. I’ll say this. It is very obvious to me which ones put in the effort. The difference is night and day in terms of getting the core message across.
• Video pitches have the power to turn otherwise normal people into amateur actors. When I watch a 2 minute video pitch, I don’t want to be entertained - I want to learn about the business, the market, the company, the product - the pain. Bringing in your children for cameo roles, doing humorous skits, or hooting and hollering like a used car salesman just don’t get me all that excited. Granted, it leaves me laughing, but at what …. the jokes, or your business? My two cents … your mileage may vary. At the end of the day, an investor wants to invest in your business, not a local chapter of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

Cheers.

Over the past few months I’ve had the privilege of serving as an advisor and mentor to Henry Hipps, a young entrepreneur here in Atlanta who is embarking on a very ambitious, yet noble undertaking with his venture (Trajectory Learning). Henry entered Trajectory Learning into the TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition, which has a cash prize of $100K and $200K worth of professional services. This prize would allow him to really get the business going. He’s worked extremely hard on this, and it is exciting to see it coming together.

Henry participated in a video pitch component, which if he wins it, he will earn a “bye” during the first round of judging. This is the equivalent of the “People’s Choice” category.

If you have a moment - check out the pitch here (it is the second one listed). It is only a couple of minutes long. I’m sure Henry would appreciate your vote as well - if you have a moment, click the “Vote Here” link at the top of the page, and check the deal you like the most (we’re hoping, of course, that it is Trajectory Learning)

Good job, Henry!

Cheers.

I’ve been meaning to write a blurb on this, but Jeff Haynie did most of the heavy lifting for me, so I won’t repeat what he’s already said.

This is always a fun event, and it is a good chance to see some really cool companies doing some interesting things. It will be packed, and there will be plenty of energy to go around.

Of the graduating companies, I am most familiar with Emcien and Vendormate. These two companies have legs, and should be on everyone’s radar screens by now. Radhika (Emcien) and Andy (Vendormate) are both world-class entrepreneurs that know what they are doing. I expect great things from these two plays …

Mike and I are teaming up with Peachpods again and will be doing another podcast from there through our efforts with StartupLounge. We did a podcast last year, and in fact, enjoyed a great conversation with Radhika from Emcien. If you’re planning on attending, stop by and say hello! We’ll have a booth set up and will be recording throughout the day.

Cheers.

We had a great time at the recent PitchCamp session. If you haven’t heard of PitchCamp, it is a free workshop that we offer to entrepreneurs to help them better refine their pitch. We also get into some adjacent areas, such as the ins and outs of investor networking, and how to maximize the value from things like our StartupLounge.com investor networking events. It is amazing to hear the difference in the “before” versus “after” pitches.  And you get the benefit of learning by watching all the other pitches evolve as well.  Good stuff.

The first few times we did PitchCamp, we had 20-25 entrepreneurs in the room. It turned out to be too many. It was hard to give everyone the attention they needed in a limited amount of time. We’ve cut the audience in half, so only 12 slots are available for each session (which we seem to be doing once a month now).

Another cool thing is that something like 60-70% of the angel investors in our Angel Lounge have shared their interest in helping at PitchCamp. We hope to bring in some of these folks to help out with the sessions moving forward.

We have a few slots remaining for our upcoming May 7th, 2008 session. It is from 2p-5p over near Galleria. If you are interested in attending, contact me and let me know. This thing fills up fast …

Cheers.

If you’ve ever been curious about what Stephen Fleming and his crew are tinkering around with down inside the bowels of Georgia Tech’s VentureLab, you won’t want to miss this. Through countless hours of toiling over database schema and Maker’s Mark, Stephen has rolled out a really cool new site that lays out all the various research and commercialization ventures that are bubbling up down at VentureLab. Click on the link called “current technology projects and companies” for the lowdown.

Good stuff …. and a great resource for investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers looking for more visibility into the innovations on the horizon here in Georgia.

Cheers.

Building upon the success of last year’s event, Cleantech Georgia 2008 is gearing up to be even better! The date is fast approaching (May 14th) Attendees will have an opportunity to:

• Discover the many exciting Georgia innovations that are happening in the cleantech space
• Listen to venture capitalists, cleantech entrepreneurs, and other subject matter experts share their insights
• Enjoy fast venture pitches by a handful of select up-and-coming Georgia cleantech companies
• Explore our “cleantech showcase”, which will feature many emerging Georgia clean technologies

While we haven’t fully fleshed out the lineup yet, it is shaping up to be pretty strong:

• John Baumstark, CEO, Suniva: a solar cell play which just completed a $50M round of venture capital
• Dan Gordon, Valhalla Partners
• David Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, SJF Ventures
• Tom Johnson, Southern Company

Suniva should be fun to see - they are one of the biggest investments made in Georgia (cleantech or otherwise) in quite some time. David Kirkpatrick will be returning as well - his insights into the cleantech space were very valuable at last year’s event (check out his recent appearance on the StartupLounge.com podcast as well).

And of course, my favorite part - the early-stage entrants.

If you are a Georgia-based cleantech/green energy startup, and you’d like to be considered to be one of 3 hand-picked startups that will get to deliver a 3 minute fast-pitch at this event, please contact me so I can get you into the mix. Also, if you want to take advantage of our free “showcase” area for cleantech companies, contact me.

We have a number of industry players, angel investors and venture capitalists that will be in attendance as well - many of them have expressed to me their desire to learn more about the space, and to see what sort of innovations are coming out of Georgia.

For more information on the event, stay tuned to the TAG web site - more information will be posted soon.

Thanks to all of my fellow board members of the TAG Business & Technology Alliance for helping to pull this together. It should be a great event!

Cheers.

I have resigned as CEO and Chairman of PlayMotion due to circumstances that arose which would prevent me from being an effective executive for the company. Yes, there is a lot more to it than that, but as I learned a long time ago, some things just don’t belong in print (or type, in the case of a blog). It was a very difficult decision for me to make, considering how vested I was emotionally, mentally, and financially into the company (and more importantly, the people). We achieved a remarkable number of things - despite it all (not the least of which was record revenue/business).

I hope that I have left the company better off than on the day I assumed leadership responsibility for it. In fact, of that, I am confident. I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and dedication to the vision. It was a fun ride - brief - but fun.

I took a much needed rest over the past week or so, and have been giving some thought to what I will do next. I have already been approached by several investors and company-founders about getting involved in their startups, and that is pretty exciting. I may start another company, or perhaps pour my passion and energy into one of these existing startups, or maybe even explore some opportunities within the venture capital space (something I’ve been contemplating for a while).

Of course, none of this affects my involvement with StartupLounge (our non-profit organization focused on promoting fast-growth entrepreneurship in the Southeast). In fact, we have two more PitchCamp sessions coming up, and our next flagship networking event will be held on May 21st.

Note: if you’ve emailed me, and I haven’t responded, have patience …. I’m, shall we say, a tad bit behind.

In any event, I’ve learned quite a bit through all of this - as tragic as the ending was. I’m sure it will serve me in good stead down the road. One day, when I am sufficiently away from it all, I will try to capture some of those lessons learned for a blog post …

Cheers.

I just saw this report on Yahoo … in their new list of “best places for business and careers”, Atlanta (and the Southeast) fared pretty well.  Some snippets:

In our 10th annual ranking of the Best Places for Business and Careers, the Southeast is home to half of the top 10 for a third straight year. But there is new blood near the top, including Lexington, Ky., Atlanta, Ga., and Richmond, Va. (Spokane, Wash., and Fort Collins, Colo., also made big jumps).

Topping the list for a second straight year is Raleigh, N.C. Business costs are 14% below the national average, and the area boasts one of the most educated labor supplies in the country, with 38% of the adult population possessing a college degree and 12% holding a graduate degree. Raleigh’s secret is out, though, as people have been flocking to the area.

One metro that made a big jump was Atlanta, which improved to sixth from 25th last year. Its ranking benefited from strong job and income growth and a big reduction in crime. “Hotlanta” features a diverse economy and pro-business environment. Another built-in advantage for big employers like AT&T, Home Depot and IBM is Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest passenger airport in the world.

Cheers.