Last week, I had the pleasure to be a guest speaker, along side Mr. Ben Dyer, at Shotput Ventures. For those who don't know Shotput Ventures, it's a sort of "Bootcamp" for earliest possible stage startups, concept stage companies. Shotput Ventures partners David Cummings, Sanjay Parekh, Allen Graber, Suleman Ali, Wayt King, Dave Wright, Mitch Free, Jeff Hillimire and Dave Williams decided to bring the "Y Combinator" model down to Atlanta.
After sifting through hundreds of applicants, the Shotput dudes settled on 8 worthy ideas. For these fortunate few, they get the pleasure of working night and day through a "Hot Lanta" summer trying to crank out a product and test it in the market. Teams meet every Weds from 6pm to 9pm to hear inspring testomonials from seasoned entrepreneurs, share typical startup typical fare of pizza and sodas (extra caffeine please) and update each other on progress/challenges.
Being in the same room with these young, would wood be entreprenuers, took me back. Crazy long hours, fast food every night, less than comfortable working conditions, and the constant reminder of cash position or lack there of. Both personally and professionally. All that didn't matter. All the external matters were out of focus. What was in focus was the task at hand, making a difference.
It was all there last Weds. Were they conscious that it 90 degrees in the conference room? or that the Dow was up nearly 2000 pts in the past 3 months? Probably not, and it didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were about to embark on a great adventure, togther. And they had believers and coaches.
It's no picnic but I assure you at it's conclusion, they'll fondly look back at this experience as one of the best of their lives.
As part of the convention BIO held a "Be the Buzz of BIO" contest, a competition in which companies submitted an original video describing why their company and innovation should be the buzz. Last week BIO announced the winners of the competition and I am pleased to say that ATDC member company Zenda Technologies made the final cut. You may view their winning submission below.
As a winner of the contest, Zenda CEO Lawrence Catchpole will join Sir Elton as a speaker. He will present Zenda's innovative accurate and fast testing solutions for brian injury associated with Alzheimer's and concussions in front of industry leaders at the BIO Business Forum.
At DEMO earlier this month, Purewire launched PurewireTrust, a free Web app where users can go to verify the reputations of the
people, places (URLs), and things (Web apps) they interact with online. In a presentation described by BusinessWeek as incredibly smooth, Dr. Paul Judge showed a snapshot view into what Purewire Web Security Service provides on the back-end to enterprises that purchase its security-as-a-service offering. PurewireTrust is being offered free to the online community to raise awareness on the importance of understanding those interactions in order to bring safety and trust back to online communication, collaboration and commerce.
Dr. Paul Judge's impassioned presentation, which you can watch below, won a DEMOgod award.
The 2008 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition officially kicked off last week. So those that are not aware, this is a program that was put together by the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) and the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) to support the creation and growth of new startups in Georgia. The contest winner will receive a $100,000 cash award courtesy of the GRA and a diverse array of services valued at an additional $200,000. This comprehensive $300,000+ prize is one of the largest in the country. This year the competition is focused on Internet technologies, which includes companies that are developing products, online services, or backend technologies that are using or extending the reach, flexibility, and ease of the Internet.
To support entrepreneurs that have an interest in applying to the competition, ATDC is hosting a luncheon and workshop on Thursday January 24th from 11:45 am to 1:00 pm. At the workshop you will learn the logistics of the competition, get some coaching on how to best fill out the preliminary application materials (which are evaluated by ATDC staff), hear from a judge on why they picked past finalists, and enjoy lunch with other Internet entrepreneurs.
ATDC is providing boxed lunches to all registrants. If you want to register you need to do so by January 21. Please only register if you intend to attend. Food is a precious resource.
CapVenture, a 5-part financing bootcamp developed by ATDC and presented in partnership with TAG, recently celebrated its program conclusion with a Celebration & Forum. The auditorium was full of participants, coaches, angel and venture investors, eager to see this select group of early stage tech companies pitch their businesses.
The companies did an outstanding job, leading to requests for 56 meetings with angels and VCs. Todd Merrill of Global Crypto won a premium bottle of wine from sponsor Silicon Valley Bank as the company receiving the most requests for investor meetings. Global Crypto has developed a strong authentication technology that will help prevent the many billions lost by financial institutions from fraud. Bart Foster of SoloHealth also received a strong response from investors. He delivered a compelling presentation on how his self-screening vision kiosk can help grow the market for eye care by making eye exams become more regular and frequent, just as dental exams are today.
But most impressive was the commitment of the 7 CapVenture coaches that spent countless hours coaching the 15 participating companies over the previous month and a half. Truly their dedication sets an example for the many other successful entrepreneurs who have not yet fully given back to their community. Thanks a million CapVenture coaches!
From left to right are CapVenture Coaches and ATDC program staff: Cindy Cheatham (ATDC), Joan Herbig, Michael Reene, Glenn McGonnigle, Allen Graber, Mike Eckert, Steve Bachman, Jim Morgan, Charles Ross (ATDC)
For more information on CapVenture, which will be presented again next Fall with early summer applications, go to www.atdc.org/capventure.
Recently over cocktails I asked a former Bain colleague who gets hired by the top private equity firms in the country to evaluate the leadership teams of prospective portfolio companies what he has learned that is not so obvious about the qualities of good leaders.
In short, he said, we’ve learned that a failing profile for a leader is the Lamb!! The lamb is the individual where if you interview the person’s direct reports, they praise him or her for being a good guy or gal. This is a big red flag he says. They are well-liked, sociable but do not hold their team accountable.
Just the opposite, he said, is the winning leadership profile of one who sets high expectations and holds their team accountable.
At a recent TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs Society meeting, Kelly Gay spoke about this topic. 80% of what she focused on was the key job she has in helping her 7 VP’s be true leaders, taking accountability and responsibility for their actions and the actions of their team. Gay added that to make this work, a chief executive needs to be willing to let his or her leaders make decisions that she would not have made herself. Click here to view Kelly Gay’s presentation.
Are you the type or leader who truly bears the burden of leadership even when it means requiring leadership from your employees?
The next TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs Society Meeting and Roundtable on Thursday, October 4th will feature Claire “Yum” Arnold, on The Journey to Entrepreneurship:
Some entrepreneurs are born, for others it’s an evolution. Yum Arnold will explain how she moved from corporate roles at Coca Cola to forming Leapfrog Services, Inc. in 1998. Click here for more information or to register.
Next week the TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs CapVenture, a practical program to assist high potential early stage tech companies to develop a viable fund raising strategy, is kicking off.
We took applications for the program back in August. A unprecedented 100 companies applied for just 15 spots in this program. This made selection decisions quite difficult and there was not room for many excellent companies.
Because of the high demand for learning about the fundraising process and the high quality of the companies that applied, ATDC has organized a special program on Fundraising Fundamentals that will serve as both one of ATDC’s weekly lunch and learns (typically for ATDC members only) as well as a TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs special program.
Knox Massey Executive Director of the Atlanta Technology Angels investment group since 2002 will talk about the funding options available to early stage technology startups with a special focus on the state of angel investing locally and nationally. Knox will also discuss the stages that a typical technology company passes through and strategies for engaging investors. The program will take place on October 2 3 at 11:45 in room 335 of the Center Building. Lunch will be provided by the CapVenture sponsors.
Tycho Howle, founder of nuBridges and Harbinger, discussed values-based entrepreneurship during a recent ATDC Brown Bag lunch. A Georgia Technology Hall of Famer, Tycho shared some of his experiences and lessons learned over his award-winning career. He touched on important questions for managers and leaders, including:
Why should we focus on values-based entrepreneurship?
Why is it now a significant part of MBA curriculums and business literature?
Aren’t values formed long before you get to college or business school?
Tycho ran ATDC entrepreneurs through three provocative case studies that presented ethical dilemmas. He also shared his story of founding and growing Harbinger and a few key tips on entrepreneurial leadership, such as:
Recruit smart people and foster environment that helps smart people get smarter
Live by what he calls “the golden rule of management – to manage in the same way you would want to be managed if the situation was reversed”
Find other people who want to see you be successful – they will invaluable to you and your business
Make sure you create a sustainable pace for yourself – it took me 17 years to hit my 5 year plan
You can watch the video here (requires you download the Tegrity plugin) and read the cases here.
Some entrepreneurs are great at presenting and terrible at Q&A. Some are the opposite. It is important to shine during both portions of a pitch. A quality presentation shows that you understand your business and can explain it well. A quality Q&A session shows how you process and respond to challenges and gives a glimpse of your personality.
These tips are primarily for entrepreneurs that are presenting their business plans to investors, but many of these concepts apply for other Q&A scenarios – sales presentations, partner presentations, etc.
Answer the Question. Seems obvious, but too many entrepreneurs ramble and try to use Q&A as a way to extend their presentation and squeeze in more information
Be Concise. Try to answer the question in 1-2 sentences. Give them a short, concise answer that stands on its own. If they want more information, they will ask for it. Make sure you immediately give them an answer and then you can give them supporting information if needed. Don’t start with a bunch of background information that leads up to the answer.
Don’t ramble. If someone asks a question and has a puzzled look on their face, don’t just ramble until they cry "mercy". Ask them "Did that answer your question?”.
Practice. Sit down with your team and write up 30 questions that might be asked. You know your business and the holes and risks, so you know what questions you will get. Then prepare tight answers for these questions and practice delivering them. If you do this, you will be prepared for 90% of the questions you will receive.
Don’t be defensive. Too many entrepreneurs make Q&A into an argument because they feel they have to defend their business. Be confident, but flexible. They are going to ask some challenging questions that poke holes in your business. Address them without being stubborn.
Know your audience. Do your homework on who will be in the audience. Know their career, their education, the deals they have done. This will help you understand why they asked certain questions as well as how to answer them. It will also help you build a relationship with them. And you will impress them at how prepared you are when you toss out something like… “I know you recently did a deal with XYZ so you understand that…”
Stroke their ego. You might have some people in the audience that want to ask a tough question just to prove how smart they are. Give them the stroking they need by acknowledging their expertise. “You have a lot of experience in this field, so you already know…”
Don’t start a statement with “honestly”. This makes it seem that you have been lying to them the entire time, but this next statement is going to finally be truthful.
Don’t say “good question”. If you tell one person “good question” and you don’t say it to the next person that asked a question, you offend them because you didn’t think their question was good enough to be labeled as a “good question”
Take notes. You probably have some smart people in the room and you can learn something from each question they ask. At least pretend that you are listening and want their feedback… take notes. This shows that you are coachable, and open-minded and that you value their opinion.
Don’t be a know-it-all. It is OK if you don’t have the answer to every question. In fact, it is quite refreshing to hear an entrepreneur say “I’m not sure about XYZ, but I’ll look into it and get back with you.” It shows they are human and willing to learn.
