It’s back. For the sixth year The Georgia Research Alliance and the Technology Association of Georgia are teaming up to present the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition.
The competition takes place over the period of four months, and qualified applicants receive publicity, mentors and the opportunity to present their business plans on several occasions to groups of judges comprised of influencers and investors in the community. If you want to get hooked into the Atlanta technology startup scene this is a great way to do it.
I participated back in 2006 as an entrepreneur. It was a great experience that forced me to meet some milestones in the business. For the past three years I have been heavily involved with the competition as a member of the task force and leading the screening team. This is a great program.
The competition culminates with a final competition where the three or four companies will present their business to a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and angel investors from around the country. The winner walks away with $50,000 in cash and $150,000 in a personalized suite of services.
You can read more about how to apply here. Preliminary applications are due February 17.
Cross posted to blog.weatherby.net.
BLiNQ Media has acquired Firecracker Digital Group, the largest digital advertising sales representation firm in the Southeast. BLiNQ’s merger with Firecracker solidifies a partnership that has been in place since 2010. The two companies decided to join forces based on their mutual success, strong cultural fit, and tremendous growth opportunities.
Since 2008 Firecracker has cultivated strong customer relationships and social media savvy. Prior to the acquisition, BLiNQ and Firecracker churned out innovative Facebook advertising campaigns, including projects with ad agency 22squared for Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Florida’s Natural and Shoe Carnival. The deal will bring this expertise and BLiNQ’s Southeast sales in house and increase BLiNQ’s ability to serve customers with high-performance Facebook campaign management solutions.
BLiNQ Media, an ATDC company, is a pure-play Facebook media and technology company and is one of only nine companies globally to have official access to the Facebook Ads API. Since its launch in mid-2010, the BLiNQ Facebook ad manager BAM has processed over 4.1M transactions for more than 50 agency clients.
One of the things we heard loud and clear in the fall when we surveyed ATDC companies was that we needed to provide more opportunities for entrepreneurs to network. Toward that end we are launching a new monthly event that will take place the third Thursday of every month from 6 PM to 7:30PM. It is quite simply named Entrepreneur’s Night.
The format will be a half an hour of networking with beverages and food followed by an informal presentation by an ATDC entrepreneur of some distinction. This month Chris Rouland will discuss his journey from CTO and Distinguished Engineer of IBM Internet Security Systems to founder and CEO of Endgame Systems. Endgame Systems recently raised $29 million in first round funding and launched it’s groundbreaking ipTrust product.
It should be a fun and informative night at what is sure to become one of the best networking events for Atlanta startup entrepreneurs. You can see the details and register here.
Exactly three weeks from now Start Atlanta will begin. ATDC is proud to be the host sponsor of this new event. Start Atlanta is a natural evolution of Startup Weekend. The Start Atlanta folks are doing some things to streamline and change the scope to more than just a weekend coding event. It is going to be interesting to see exactly how but the team fulfills its promise to build something epic and unique to Atlanta.
These type events have been quite popular and successful for three years in Atlanta and there is no reason to believe that 2010 will be any different. Start Atlanta is sure to sell out. If I were you I would get your ticket now.
So the ATDC can be quite the interesting place. I was walking down the hall yesterday when I noticed a lady that looked somewhat familiar standing in the reception area. I said hello and introduced myself. Turns out to be Jennifer 8. Lee. That is really her name.
We struck up a conversation. She was in town to speak at the inaugural meetup for Atlanta Hacks/Hackers about the Knight News Challenge, a grant competition for open-source news and information projects that gives away up to $5 million a year. Jenny 8 also told me about the SXSW accelerator program presented by long-time ATDC partner MicroSoft Bizspark.
The third annual SXSW Accelerator will take place March 14-16 at the 2011 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin. They are looking for business entries in Innovative Web Technologies, Social Media and Social Networking Technologies, Entertainment Technologies, Health Technologies and News Related Technologies. Finalists will receive up to two minutes to present their idea to a jury panel of venture capitalist or technology industry experts. The real benefit is exposure.
So if you need some of that mosey on over to the application process page or pass go and apply here by December 10. If you are self-funded and the $150 entry fee seems a bit much drop Chris Valentine a note.
Cross posted to blog.weatherby.net
Clearleap recently announced that it is raising a $4.5 million Series B round from existing investors Noro-Mosely Partners, Trinity Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Since its inception in 2008 Clearleap has raised nearly $17 million.
Over the past two years Clearleap has been focusing a on web technology platform that incorporates online video into legacy channel and video on demand systems. The company has agreements in place with six of the top ten cable and television operators in the United States. Clearleap’s technology has been deployed in more than 40 markets reaching more than 10 million subscribers. This new funding will be used to market its new stream on demand offering designed to television operators who want to deliver content via Internet connected set top boxes and devices.
Clearleap has over 30 employees and is headquartered in Duluth.
The MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta is seeking presenting technology companies for a “Run It By The Pros – 4 Under 35” workshop on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 from 3:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. This event is an opportunity for four early stage technology companies, who have a CEO who is 35 years of age or younger, to present their business to a panel of experts for constructive feedback.
The main benefit for the presenting companies is for them to gain critical experience and impartial feedback so they are more effective in delivering their message when presenting to a full audience of investors. This event is typically attended by 60-70 entrepreneurs, students, services providers and investors. The panel of experts is handpicked for their expertise in the area of launching early stage companies and typically includes a lawyer, investors and a successful serial entrepreneur.
If you are under 35 and have an early stage technology company and need experience in making investor presentations Run It By The Pros can be a great learning experience. There is no cost to participate as a presenter. Deadline for submission is Friday, December 10, 2010. Please send executive summaries and a completed Run It By The Pros Application to Virginia Martin.
Random Hacks of Kindness is a community of developers, geeks and tech-savvy do-gooders from around the world working to develop software for the challenges facing humanity today. RHoK brings geeks together with disaster relief gurus to identify critical global challenges and develop software to respond to them. They do this via RHoK Hackathon events that bring together the best and the brightest hackers from around the world, who volunteer their time to solve real-world problems. The founding partners include Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, three companies that don’t always get along but have come together for the cause.
On December 4th and 5th RHoK is hosting its third hackathon in many locations around the world. The Georgia Tech Research Institute is a RHoK partner and will be hosting RHoK in Atlanta.
There are winners and prizes up for grabs. Each RHoK hackathon is structured as a code challenge where software developers have a set amount of time to solve the challenges they are given. At the end of the two-day marathon of hacking, a panel will review each hack, and the winners will walk away with prizes, as well as the right to call themselves “RHoKstars” ever after.
You can learn more about joining other hackers in hacking for humanity at RHoK and register to participate.
Cross posted to blog.weatherby.net.
Social Media Atlanta is a week-long series of events which celebrates the technology and social media marketing achievements of Atlanta. It is kicking off today. For five days, all across Atlanta, participants will have the opportunity to attend events designed for Atlanta’s thriving social media community. So thriving that most of the events are sold out and have been for weeks. The ATDC and I are super excited to be playing a role in making it a great week of content and networking after things kick off Monday at the opening night celebration at The Fox Theatre.
- On Tuesday at 10:00 am Laura Nolte of Green Theory has assembled a panel to discuss “Social Media for Startups“ in the ATDC’s Hodges Room. The panel includes Adam Rice of Looxii, Dave Williams of BLiNQ Media, Jeremy Porter, of Journalistics, and Nicole Jayne of Scoutmob. I know a little about the subject myself and am honored to have a seat on the panel. We are going to discuss how to effectively develop and deploy social media strategies in a startup environment.
- “Is the Web Dead?“ I don’t think so. But on Thursday at 11:30 am my former colleague and current leader of PR+MKTG Camp Dan Greenfield will lead a spirited discussion on measurement, messaging & engagement in the age of apps. Peter Fasano of Dachis Group, Scott Lockhart of Regator, Jennifer Jones of Porter Novelli, and Jerry Rocha of The Nielsen Company comprise an astute panel of experts. This ATDC hosted event is catered and sold out.
- Later that day at 4:30 pm, once again in the Hodges Room, Olivia Patrick has put together a panel on “GenY and Social Media“. Kids these days know nothing about listing panelists. They do know social and I am eager to hear what they have to say.
While either sold out or on waiting list these three events are just a small part of an ambitious calendar of 40 events that are planned for the week. There is something for everyone and if we don’t meet in person at ATDC our social streams are sure to cross online.
Cross posted to blog.weatherby.net
WorthPoint, the world’s leading provider of valuation and associated services for art, antiques and collectibles, announced this week that they had topped 10,000 customers. At a entry price point of$9.95 a month the company has also surpassed a $1 million revenue run rate. While pulling in over 1.5 million unique visitors per month, according to CEO Will Seippel WorthPoint is just getting started. Over the coming months they intend to press on the product and customer development gas by continuing to vastly expand the Worthopedia price guide, introduce search enhancements, community forums, and mobile applications.
Founded in 2007, WorthPoint has become the world’s largest online resource for researching the value of art, antiques and collectibles. The company helps collectors accurately assess the worth of their items and provides expert advice from its international team of Worthologists on how to preserve or sell antiques and collectibles. In 2008 WorthPoint was lured from from Northern Virginia to ATDC in Technology Square. Two years later WorthPoint is becoming a nice little tech economic development success story.