Thoughts on Startup Riot 2011

Today’s Startup Riot 2011 in Atlanta was definitely the best one yet. Now in its fourth year, this year’s event had a better venue (The Tabernacle), better internet access, better swag, and, most importantly, great startups. Here are a few quick thoughts on the event:

• Several startups focused on social proof by showing slides with logos of existing customers or prospects in their pipeline
• Most startups were looking to raise angel rounds of $250k – $500k
• Most startups were pre-revenue and a fair number were pre-product launch
• The table areas to meet the startups were packed throughout the day — a great sign that attendees were spending time with the companies
• 90% of the startups were from Atlanta but at least one was from South Carolina, Boston, Germany, and Australia
• One presenter said, when trying to build up the credibility of his management, that someone said his team was too good to do a startup (which is ridiculous to me)

Overall it was a great event. Well done Sanjay!

What else? What other thoughts did you have about Startup Riot 2011?