The 2010 ATDC Startup Showcase is a premier event celebrating 30 years of the ATDC’s dedication to growing technology companies in Georgia. Further, ATDC member companies who have attained rigorous growth milestones are selected each year to graduate from the startup incubator. The Class of 2010 is:
Join us Monday, May 24th to celebrate the successes of our graduating companies and 30 years of ATDC service to the Georgia entrepreneurial community at the 2010 Startup Showcase. More than 1000 technology leaders, university leaders, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs are expected to be present at the event to see ATDC emerging technology company members and graduate members exhibit their innovative technologies.
ATDC company, Zooz Mobile, was featured on CNN’s Edge of Discovery program last week. Titled “The Hot New Musical Instrument: Your Smartphone”, the article highlights the growing trend of using smartphones to make music and engage music fans.
The application, Zoozbeat, was created at Georgia Tech and uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to create different sounds based on how the user moves the phone. A recent release of the app allows for more social sharing of musical creations. The video features interviews with founder, Gil Weinberg, lead engineer, Mark Godfrey, and rapper, Street Lotto, all here at ATDC in Midtown.
How do you launch a technology business with little or no money? Come to the Bootstrapping Startup Circle and learn how. Share your ideas. Hear from folks who have done it.
We’re going to meet every Wednesday morning at 9:30 in the ATDC boardroom. This is on the first floor of Centergy next to the ATDC Entrepreneur Resource Center.
Our first meeting will be next Wednesday, September 30. Bring your ideas and we will see you there!
Savannah ATDC member company Balaya announced today that it will launch its flagship product, Tick-it, with The Savannah Morning News. The Savannah Morning News licensed Tick-it to expand their online brand and provide their customers with a way to link local news and information from SavannahNow directly to computer desktops. The deal will enable Balaya to gain exposure to the more than 400,000 unique visitors access the newspaper’s digital network.
Tick-it is a personalized communications hub that organizes web content and group conversations into private, secure information channels delivered directly to computer desktops. Tick-it is a persistent communications application that enables publishers and media outlets reach readers first with content and information. Running like a news ticker across the desktop or accessed via mobile phone, Tick-it blends the best elements of social networking, email, and RSS technology to deliver stronger brand engagement and create new revenue streams.
Congratulations to Balaya on finding a great partner like The Savannah Morning News to launch Tick-it.
This is a reprint of a post from the VentureLab blog – December 2008.
When building a startup idea, it is critical to think through your business model. How do you trade your widget or service for cash? There are some good ones, and there are some bad ones.
Having spent some time with Startup Gauntlet, Pitch Camp and Startup Riot, I’ve had the chance to see some really terrific business ideas. And some remarkably bad ones too.
Here are a few models to avoid:
Spaghetti: “We have five ways of making money.” If one model is good, isn’t five better? This is like a football team with three quarterbacks, they really have none. Don’t throw spaghetti against the wall to see if one of them will stick. Pick the most compelling model and focus on that.
Field of Dreams: “If we build it, surely they will come.” One of the worst things to ever happen to entrepreneurship was the horribly, horribly misleading quote – “If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” Uh, no, they won’t.
Boil the Ocean: It’s good to think big, but don’t think too big. You need to prove you can be successful with a few customers and then scale.
China: “If we can only get 1% of the Chinese market for our widget, we will be a billion dollar company.” Sure you will. Where do I sign up? Pick a small market and a way to dominate it. If you can’t find a way to do that, redefine your market. Whatever market you go after, you must be a leader.
Venn Diagram: “We will build A. People want to buy B. We think they might overlap.” Maybe. Probably not.
Bill Clinton: The man from Hope. Hope is not a strategy.
Do you have any other favorites? Send them to me and I will add them to the list.
Coming soon to a blog near you – some really good business models.
Who will be there? Stephen Fleming, the new Vice Provost of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and many of ATDC’s staff will be on hand to discuss the new ATDC.
What’s the agenda?
While there will be a short introduction, the majority of this event will be us listening to you! Our goal is to hear your suggestions for how ATDC can best help Atlanta startup entrepreneurs see the most success.
Why should you come?
If you are running a technology startup in Georgia, you should definitely plan to attend this event because this is your opportunity to provide your ideas, thoughts, and feedback as to how we can best help you build a successful company.
How do you register and find more details?
In anticipation of the demand and to ensure as many can attend as possible this event will be run twice on August 20th. Feel free to register for whichever session best meets your schedule as Stephen Fleming and most of the ATDC staff will be on hand for each event. Click here for Open Forum 1 (3:00 to 5:00 p.m.) Click here for Open Forum 2 (7:00 to 9:00 p.m.)
Special thanks to Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs for allowing us to take over their next meetup! We’re holding Open Forum 2 during AWE’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Thanks!
Over on my personal blog I just wrapped up a series of posts on the stages of a technology startup. The purpose of the series was to offer a framework to explain the operational stages of a startup to entrepreneurs. Like any framework it generalizes the complex and removes precision. I thought it would be a good idea to summarize them here. You should hit the links if you are interested in learning more or adding your thoughts.
Key element is product development. Business focus is researching potential market opportunity to refine the business model. Product is raw but customers are using it. Perhaps a full-time person. More if some type of funding or revenue is garnered.
Key element is market development. Proving that customers are willing to use and pay for your stuff. Business focus is sales and marketing. Whole product is complete. Team is growing, there are employees. Revenues exceed $500k.
The key element is scale. Business focus is accelerating market adoption. Whole product is being extended to address new markets. More then 30 employees. More then $1 million in revenue.
Preparis has developed the first subscription-based workforce preparedness platform designed to protect businesses and their employees from terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics, workplace violence, and other 21st century threats. They recently launched their ACTION Platform. It is a turnkey SaaS solution that delivers online analytics, certifications, training, information, and notifications, information and response instructions to over 200 potential threats. Accessible via a company’s intranet, the Internet and mobile devices worldwide, the ACTION Platform enables global executives, management teams, and all employees to make it through crisis events at a moment’s notice.
Preparis has an interesting back story. The company emerged out of CEO Armistead Whitney's experience in New York City on September 11.
We are pleased to have Preparis to be part of ATDC and look forward to working with them.
When venture capitalists or angels are considering investing in a company, they ask many questions. Their questions usually are focused around understanding the four basic risk startups face.
Management Risk: Investors are trying to understand if you and your team are the right people for this opportunity. Key questions:
Do you have deep experience in the industry you are entering?
Do you have previous startup experience?
Will you listen to advice from your board?
Technology/Product Risk: Investors are looking to see if you have a good product that will give your company a competitive advantage. Key questions:
Is there any intellectual property around the technology, such as patents?
Is it difficult for your competition to replicate your product?
Does the technology actually work? Is it defensible?
Market Risk: Investors want to know if you are attacking a lucrative market and have a good go-to-market strategy. Key questions:
How big is the market?
Is the market growing?
Are you solving a major pain in the market?
Is your go-to-market strategy reasonable?
Funding Risk: Investors need to believe you can execute your plan with the amount you are raising. Key questions:
Is this too much or too little of a raise?
Is your use of funds strategy realistic?
How long is your runway?
Will you have to raise another round in the near future?
Before you hit the fund raising trail, ask your self these (and other) tough questions. If you don’t have good answers, find things you can do to mitigate concerns investors will have. Anything you can do to reduce these risks will increase your chances of successfully raising capital.
Please join us in welcoming Cardlytics to the ATDC community! Cardlytics – "next generation rewards" – delivers a new solution enabling merchants to access one of the most trusted and used, yet least penetrated channels – online banking. Merchants can offer solutions not simply based on what your profile says, but actually where you shop and how much you spend. Cardlytics patent pending technology allows merchants to maximize this channel while staying in full compliance with the banking laws and regulations. Merchants can provide offers to retain existing customers, as well as precisely target and incent competitors' customers to switch. For consumers, it's great because there is no need to print or redeem coupons. The savings are automatically posted to your account once the pertinent transaction is made.
The team at Cardlytics are experienced entrepreneurs and bankers and we are looking forward to seeing the company grow!