We’re working on ironing out the Atlanta Tech Village mission, vision, and core values to be a guiding force for the next 20+ years. Each item builds on itself with mission being the next five years, vision the next 20 years, and core values forever. Thinking about the next 20+ years seems strange, but it’s absolutely the right thing to do to make a huge impact.
Mission
Be the #1 hub for tech companies and startups in the Southeast
Vision
Make Atlanta one of the top 10 tech and startup cities in the country
Core Values
- Be nice
- Dream big
- Pay it forward
- Work hard, play hard
Note: we’re debating between “dream big” and “dream bigger” as one of our core values (more info from Johnson on it).
What else? What are your thoughts on the Atlanta Tech Village’s mission, vision, and core values?
David Cummings on Startups 
Quick note on Dream Big vs. Dream Bigger (regardless of witty semantics)..
Not every business can be ‘that’ big. At least, not every business is IPO-worthy or world-changing. And that’s perfectly OK. Sometimes, however, the mantra of dreaming big can crush otherwise successful, niche brands. So in a way, dreaming big (or bigger) could be harmful.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t necessarily about doing something big, making a lot of money, or anything like that. It’s about creating value for yourself and others, and running your own shop. The jobs, money, and everything else are just awesome bi-products, not necessarily a direct reflection of success.
You could do worse than copying the original Mindspring core values. Charles won’t mind. 🙂
I think it’s the perfect balance between idealistic and realistic, aspirational and achievable. You have put in motion a renewed spirit of community, accessibility and enthusiasm for any person or company vested in the start-up community. And we look forward to seeing and experiencing its revolutionary and evolutionary impact.
The mission of being the “#1 hub” came across as ambiguous and difficult to quantify.
How about…
The Atlanta Tech Village’s mission is to foster growth, networking, and revolutionize the way technology companies and start-ups collaborate in our region.
All the best with this venture David – I hope you are wildly successful.
Two core value possibilities:
Conversations are more important than policies
Place trust over suspicion
These are the same criteria I’ve struggled with as well for my company. My mission, vision, and core values are far from perfect. However, it is easier to reflect and comment on others than it is my own. That being said in reference to your Mission, “hub” needs to be defined as it is somewhat amorphous. Then you are defining two markets “tech companies” and “startups”. Again, “tech companies” is extremely broad and hard to define, where “startups” is a little easier to define specifically. You know the criteria and it should be defined specifically; not necessarily in the statement itself, but you do need to have it defined somewhere. Then “Southeast” needs to be clearly defined; how do you define “Southeast”? What are the borders? Name the states. FL, GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, TN, but does it extend to LA, KY, VA or even WV. I’m just asking you to be specific; again this would not be in the statement but should be specified elsewhere. As you know if you can measure it, you can’t manage it.
As for the Vision, isn’t Atlanta already in the top 10 tech and startup cities in the country? By whose rating will you judge?
I think your core values are fine.