2007 was a pretty darn good year for ATDC. And while New Years is well past we are going to toot our own horn and share some of our achievements. Before diving into that it is important to share our vision as well. ATDC is striving to be the world’s best science and technology incubator producing successful graduate companies and making Georgia a leader in technology entrepreneurship.
By the numbers 2007 was a record year for ATDC. We assisted (provided direction or outreach programming) to 275 companies. That’s about a 45% jump over our previous high in 2006. Moreover, 180 companies applied to join ATDC in 2007, another record, eclipsing the previous mark set in the dot com boom back in 2000 by about 20%. Thirteen promising companies joined the incubator and a six healthy companies graduated. We have a goal of 50% of all seed/early stage funding in Georgia coming to our companies in fiscal 2008 (which ends June 2008). We are currently sitting at 46%.
From a programming perspective 2007 was also one of notable achievement. We did a bit of market research to find out how we can better help entrepreneurs and are working to implement some of their suggestions. The ATDC Annual Showcase with its Billion Dollar Celebration theme was a smashing success. Peachseedz launched last year.
ATDC aggressively expanded its outreach in 2007 to reach more entrepreneurs. We developed the CapVenture curriculum and launched the five week program which received rave reviews from participating companies. We formed a partnership with TAG to create the TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs Society to provide monthly education and create a peer learning environment via the roundtable series. And for the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition we reviewed all the business plans and coached the finalists for their presentations. We also were able to help make BarCamp Atlanta a reality, led the effort to bring Startup Weekend to town, and provide a regular home to to the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs and Atlanta Ruby on Rails organizations.
Put this all together and you have to reach the conclusion that In 2007 ATDC took the right steps to continue to be recognized as a world class incubator and the hub of entrepreneurial activity in Georgia. 2008 is the year of the rat. At ATDC we intend to be industrious and hard working as we continue to drive toward our vision.