David Cummings on Startups

Atlanta $100k Startup Challenge

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David Cummings

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After reflecting on Startup Riot this morning, and discussing it at lunch with a friend today, I realized there was an attribute most startups were seriously lacking: revenue. I don’t mean revenue like a few hundred or a few thousand per month, but rather, at least $100,000 in revenue. Yes, this isn’t a goal of Sanjay’s when putting on the event, since it is designed to be inclusive of all startups that meet the requirements.

After going through the list of 50 startups again, my educated guess has a total of four, possibly five, of the 50 startups yesterday having trailing twelve months revenue of at least $100k. Why $100k? $100k isn’t enough to be profitable in most cases, but it does provide a foundation and paint a picture for how to build a much larger business.

Here’s my challenge for Atlanta: let’s double the number of startups that present at next year’s Startup Riot that have $100k in revenue.

Can we do it?

Comments

4 responses to “Atlanta $100k Startup Challenge”

  1. Zach Bailey Avatar
    Zach Bailey

    Great challenge! I love the thought behind it, especially the fact that it pushes startups in the direction of validating their ideas with customers rather than investor “play money” – the lean startup/customer development process.

    However, speaking about startup riot specifically, do you think there could be a bit of a selection bias going on? The overwhelming vibe I got was that Startup Riot was intended for small seed stage companies. Mobilization Labs felt very large/far along by comparison to the point where I remarked to some of my coworkers afterward that maybe next year we should consider sponsoring the event instead of presenting there. However, I very much still consider us to be a “startup” and we still face many of the same struggles.

    Are there really just that few startups in atlanta that are in that phase of their lifecycle? What happens to them? Hmm…

    Reply
    1. davidcummings Avatar
      davidcummings

      I think as a startup eco-system we don’t have a good distribution of companies in the different startup stages (concept, seed, early, and growth) as we are too heavily weighted in the concept stage and under $100k revenue stage.

      I think having companies like Mobilization Labs, and other early stage/growth stage companies present at Startup Riot will help the community by providing more exposure and tangible examples for the concept stage entrepreneurs to be inspired.

      Reply
  2. Paul Freet Avatar
    Paul Freet

    If you’re been around more than a year and don’t have a $100k run rate, you’re either a charity or a hobby. I agree. This is a great metric.

    Reply
    1. davidcummings Avatar
      davidcummings

      Thanks Paul. In my experience it has taken 18 – 24 months to get to a $100k run rate but I agree with your sentiment — it’s a charity or a hobby or you need to change ideas (iterate!).

      Reply

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