ATDC and the Georgia Tech Research Institute are co-sponsoring Random Hacks of Kindness Atlanta going on today at the ATDC. Over 40 developers, designers, project managers and subject matter experts convened on Friday. Seven pitches were made to the group for hacks to benefit humanity. Six of the projects were picked up and are all well underway and on track to be ready by the end of the 24-hour hackathon.
Here are the projects being developed:
Good Samaritan
A mobile app for people who need help. Not for life threatening situation, but if you have a flat tire, get lost or an injury. Notifies people nearby you that you need help.
DisasterAlert.org
Email alert to people in advance of an impending disaster such as a tornado, fire or earthquake. Adds a layer on top of existing emergency notifications. Includes instructions to people on how best to protect themselves.
Message Carrier
A web app to transmit messages out of a disaster area when phone and internet connectivity is lost. Works by passing and aggregating messages person-to-person until someone reaches a connection and can upload the messages to be sent.
OneCrisis.org
A place for people to volunteer to help after a disaster occurs.
KitTracker.org
Tracking system for relief supplies. Confirms delivery of supplies to those who need it.
WGACA Happens
Developing a platform on which game developers can create games teaching people how to survive natural disasters. The first game will focus on how to survive when water supplies are impacted.
Thanks to everyone who is here committing their time to helping. And to our sponsors of the event – Bright Whistle, Twilio, Cool Blue, Urjanet, Salestrakr, Tickle.me and Soneter. And thanks to everyone who brought in all the awesome schwag – Twilio, Code Guard, OpenStudy, Mailchimp and Damballa.
Pindrop Security, a member of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), recently won the 2011 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition, sponsored by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and Georgia Research Alliance (GRA). The Atlanta startup will receive $50,000 cash and more than $200,000 in donated services from the Atlanta business community to help the business grow. Pindrop Security offers a unique Caller ID technology that authenticates callers through the “fingerprint” of the phone call making financial and other transactions over the phone more secure.
“Winning the prize feels great, particularly because there were 88 other great companies competing for it. It provides validation for the technology, the efforts of the team and the market potential,” said Balasubramaniyan. “The team at ATDC, including Keith McGreggor, Roberto Casas, Nina Sawczuk and Lance Weatherby, have been really helpful in guiding us through these initial stages. The space, the advice and the events all provide great resources for any startup.”
Pindrop was founded by Vijay Balasubramaniyan, chief technology officer and a Ph.D. candidate at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, and Mustaque Ahamad, chief scientist and director of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. Together with Patrick Traynor, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, they developed the technology that formed the basis of the company through Georgia Tech’s VentureLab program, a one-stop center for technology commercialization that provides a clear pathway from laboratory innovation to the commercial market.
Originally called “PinDr0p,” the technology works by analyzing audio imprints left on calls by the multiple networks — cellular, voiceover IP, public switched telephone networks — through which they travel. It uses these imprints to positively identify the calling phone with high accuracy. Equally important is that the identification is made within 15 seconds of initial call placement.
“Pindrop is a great technology startup out of Georgia Tech with a powerful solution in the security space – a next generation caller ID,” said Nina Sawczuk, ATDC general manager. “They recently moved into the Centergy building at ATDC and have assembled a strong board to support them as they move forward toward commercialization. The recognition and prize money will accelerate their growth.”
The other finalists Soket, AuditMyBooks and ViscidTech – all ATDC member companies as well – will split the remaining $200,000 in pro bono services. Services include legal counsel, professional consulting, marketing, software and even real estate space. They have been donated to the final participants in a way to not only help ensure their success, but to assist in connecting the Atlanta entrepreneurial community with established businesses.
This year’s event also featured a “People’s Choice Award.” The more than 130 participants that took part in the final competition voted using the TAG Entrepreneurs Mobile App for their favorite presentation. Soket, a company that focuses on online promotions that offer local organizations a place to manage, monitor and make sense of promotional efforts on the web, was the proud recipient of the first annual People’s Choice Award.
Judges for the final round of the 2011 Competition included Ron Vern, former CEO of Sage Software; Allen Moseley, General Partner at Noro-Moseley Partners; Wayne Hunter, Managing Partner, Harbert Venture Partners (Roanoke, VA); John Glushik, Investment Team, InterSouth Partners (Durham, NC); and Tripp Rackley, Technology Entrepreneur and 2010 Inductee to the Georgia Technology Hall of Fame.
The competition, now in its sixth year, facilitates connections between the younger entrepreneurial community and the more seasoned entrepreneurs, with the initial applications being screened by an experienced panel of entrepreneurs, and the most promising applicants being assigned a mentor for the duration of the competition. Participants are also connected to the investor community, with out-of-state venture capital companies being represented among the judge’s panel and a multitude of angel and venture capital investors in attendance at the event.
ATDC member company Lehigh Technologies, located in Gwinnett County, is a great example of how Georgia Tech has a big impact on some of our local technology companies.
Lehigh Technologies has a patented method for taking old tires and recycling the rubber. They use a cryogenic process to shatter the rubber into ultra fine particles. This is then used to make all kinds of rubber based products including sealants, paint, asphalt and even new tires.
Lehigh has raised over $35M from Venture Capital firms including Kleiner Perkins.
Quite a few Georgia Tech alums work for the company. Tech banners and gold helmets are everywhere at Lehigh. Lehigh hires a number of Georgia Tech co-op students and interns every semester. The Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems at Georgia Tech helped Lehigh to identify the specifics of how their product saves dramatic amounts of power and water compared to traditional rubber manufacturing. Lehigh is also working with a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Ga Tech on a Phase 1 SBIR award and are jointly pursing on a Phase 2.
To learn more about Lehigh Technologies, go read this MIT Technology Review article.
UPDATE: We’re quite pleased to see the outpouring of grief over our pending move. We’re actually humbled by the reaction. Rest assured, this is just an April Fool’s Joke.
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After 31 successful years in Atlanta, the last 8 in Technology Square, ATDC is on the move. In June, ATDC will be moving to its new home at MissionWest in Cupertino, CA. “We have always been committed to helping entrepreneurs, no matter where they are located.” commented Stephen Fleming. “ATDC’s move will bring us closer to the largest concentration of entrepreneurs on the planet.”
More than 80% of ATDC’s members have already agreed to the move. “We’re excited to be uprooting and moving west”, said Jeff leaders, CEO of Soneter. “There’s just more stuff going on out there, I think”.
Through a grant from an anonymous California-based donor, ATDC will be paying the moving expenses of all of it’s member companies. They can expect to be contacted by Exodus Movers within the next two weeks to make arrangements.
Several former ATDC members commented on the move. “I would have preferred Boulder, but I understand why they made the move. I would have done the same thing.” said David Wright, founder of SolidFire. Jeff Haynie, CEO of Appcelerator merely said “It’s about time.”
Not everyone is pleased with the move. “Wifi Cat would not be the company it is today if it had been founded in California” said Scott Burkett, founder of Wifi Cat. “They wouldn’t have gotten it out there.”
But others are more supportive. “They’re handing out money to some of the stupidest ideas imaginable” said Keith McGreggor, Startup Catalyst with ATDC. “And I’ve got a lot of stupid ideas I want to work on.”
ATDC has recently passed 400 members. And many people are asking – “where are all these companies coming from”? To answer that question, we have built a map to show where the ATDC companies in Georgia are.
http://atdc.org/companies/map
(The map is a work in progress, we’re missing addresses from a number of members, but working to update this shortly)
In 1895, PH Fitzgerald had a very popular blog twitter feed newsletter for keeping Civil War veterans up to date on pension issues. He recognized that many veterans, especially those in the midwest were looking to move south, so he decided to monetize his blog twitter feed newsletter by creating a colony company. He sold shares in the company to veterans, which gave them the right to buy lots in a new colony city – Fitzgerald, GA.
The city fathers of Fitzgerald also had the foresight to donate land to the telecom companies railroad company to build a data center railroad station and repair facility. This drove much of Fitzgerald’s early success.
I visited Fitzgerald this week and was hugely impressed with the strength and history of economic development in the area. Fitzgerald is home to Wiregrass Georgia Technical College and has the top telecommunications technical program in the country. This is the telecom hub of south Georgia. The number of OC-192 connections through the city is astonishing.
The city and region have a long history with Georgia Tech. Four-star Marine general and Medal of Honor recipient Ray Davis was born in Fitzgerald and received a degree in Chemical Engineering from Ga Tech. Former GT President Wayne Clough is from nearby Douglas, GA. Everywhere I went I met Ga Tech graduates who believe a small town can be a technology leader.
Some other fun things I learned about Fitzgerald: They built an extravagant hotel in the city called the Grant-Lee Hotel. But after much protest, it was renamed the Lee-Grant Hotel. The first year the city decided to hold two parades, one for Union veterans and one for Confederate veterans. After the Union veterans lined up, all of the Confederate veterans joined them. And from then on, there was no distinction, they were all Georgians. Many of the Union veterans who moved to Fitzgerald had wooden Union shields on the front of their house. But they also had an upside down Union shield on the back of their house – to show everyone that they had “flipped” and become southerners.
Are you a technology entrepreneur? Do you live or work in Gwinnett County? We want to meet you.
Join us for Happy Hour on Tuesday March 8, 2011. We are gathering from 4-7pm at Jim ‘n Nicks in Suwanee. Get introduced to some terrific ATDC mentors. And meet with other entrepreneurs and see what happens.
Go here for more details and to sign up: http://techhappyhour.eventbrite.com/
(this is an entrepreneur-only event, sorry no service providers)
Many first time entrepreneurs treat the launch of a new business as an all-or-nothing proposition. They believe that they must be 100% committed to the startup. They quit their job and invest their life savings into the new endeavor. This is a mistake.
Technology startups are inherently risky. Even with the strongest team, the best market opportunity and the most differentiated and complete product, the odds against you are still quite high. Why risk your career, your entire financial position, and possibly your family to pursue such a risky undertaking?
There is another way.
Start slow and bootstrap. Work nights and weekends. Find a group of friends to share the workload. Talk to customers before you build your product. Create a minimum viable product and get feedback. Come to the ATDC Bootstrapping Circle to learn more.
Think of entrepreneurism as a dimmer switch. Gradually turn it up until it is bright indeed.
(As an entrepreneur, one of my heroes is Clark Howard. He inspired this post and coined the phrase “Entrepreneurism is a not light switch”.)
Facebook keeps raising more and more and more money. Over a billion dollars so far. Yet the founder, Mark Zuckerberg still owns an astounding 26% of the company. How can that be?
Quite simple really. Facebook always raised money on their own terms. Never because they had to. Facebook always had sufficient revenue to ensure they could control the fundraising process.
Bootstrapping doesn’t mean never raising money. It means only raising money on your terms – retaining control of your company.
If you’d like to talk more about bootstrapping, join us every Wednesday morning for the ATDC Bootstrapping Circle. We meet at 9:30am in the Entrepreneur Resource Center – first floor of Centergy.
(Thanks for Greg Branham of nFront Security for the link to the question on Quora)
Can you manage a startup the same way you manage a large company? This Forbes article compares Facebook to Myspace and answers that question with an unequivocal “NO”.
http://blogs.forbes.com/adamhartung/2011/01/14/why-facebook-beat-myspace/
(Facebook) No rules. Not really any plans. No forecasting markets. Or foretelling uses. No trying to be smarter than the users to determine what they shouldn’t do. Not prejudging ideas so as to limit capability and focus the business toward a projected conclusion. To the contrary, it was about adding, adding, adding and doing whatever would allow the marketplace to flourish. Permission to do whatever it takes to keep growing. And resource it as best you can – without prejudice as to what might work well, or even best. Keep after all of it. What doesn’t work stop resourcing, what does work do more.
Contrarily, at NewsCorp the leaders of MySpace had a plan. NewsCorp isn’t run by college kids lacking business sense. Leaders create Powerpoint decks describing where the business will head, where they will invest, how they will earn a positive ROI with projections of what will work – and why – and then plans to make it happen. They developed the plan, and then worked the plan. Plan and execute. The professional managers at News Corp looked into the future, decided what to do, and did it. They didn’t leave direction up to market feedback and crafty techies – they ran MySpace like a professional business.
And how’d that work out for them?
Unfortunately, MySpace demonstrates a big fallacy of modern management. The belief that smart MBAs, with industry knowledge, will perform better. That “good management” means you predict, you forecast, you plan, and then you go execute the plan. Instead of reacting to market shifts, fast, allowing mistakes to happen while learning what works, professional managers should be able to predict and perform without making mistakes. That once the bright folks who create the strategy set a direction, its all about executing the plan. That execution will lead to success. If you stumble, you need to focus harder on execution. Probably get a new President who understands execution – in a more brutal way.
This realization should have a profound effect on how you view your business. Throw away the Powerpoints. Listen to your customers. Move quickly when they ask for something. Stop planning and start building. Build something great.