David Cummings on Startups

Four Takeaways from the Atlanta TechCrunch Meetup

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David Cummings

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Tonight over 800 people turned out for the TechCrunch meetup at the The Fabulous Fox Theatre. While there were some sound difficulties, overall the event was a big hit with a ton of networking, pitching, and excitement around startups. After talking with a number of entrepreneurs and people in the local community, I left with four takeaways:

  1. Atlantans love the city and truly want to put our region on the map for tech startups and entrepreneurship
  2. Startups and entrepreneurship are slowly making progress towards mainstream adoption as a viable career path
  3. Pitches need to highlight some progress and execution as most ideas tonight sounded far-fetched
  4. Human relationships matter even more in the age of pervasive technology, and the entrepreneurs that get the most value from the writers and editors are the ones that connect on a personal level

TechCrunch has such a broad reach that it helps bring people together that don’t normally attend the startup events in town, and that’s a good thing. I look forward to future events.

What else? What are some other takeaways from the Atlanta TechCrunch meetup?

Comments

3 responses to “Four Takeaways from the Atlanta TechCrunch Meetup”

  1. TDG Avatar
    TDG

    David –
    I’ve been a long time reader and am sorry that I could not make it down to the event (had a ticket!). Thanks for the recap, would you mind it if I connected with you over email?

    Reply
  2. Trish Nicolas, Catalyst | Coach Avatar
    Trish Nicolas, Catalyst | Coach

    One key takeaway? If you want attendees to pay attention to on-stage happenings – or at least be able to see and hear the presentations – make sure you have seating. There were some neat companies pitching but the circumstances did not provide them the attention they deserved.

    Reply
  3. Lisa Calhoun (@lisa_calhoun) Avatar
    Lisa Calhoun (@lisa_calhoun)

    I loved this post, because it showed me the perspective shift so telling in tech successes. My team offered early to staff the reg tables and be there for this event. Three of our team was there with Tech Crunch from 3 pm to 9 pm–the full Monty so to speak. Yes, they experienced a noisy environment where people shouted to be heard, and the people pitching had a “tough time.” Yet consider that “glass half empty” perspective against David’s half-full … There are always salty circumstances we wish we didn’t have–but champions swim through the sharks and come up with big bright conchs in their hands. Great perspective on an evening from everyone–thanks for the post and the comments. Truth comes from the chorus. Let’s keep Tech Crunch–and Pando–ever more engaged in our ecosystem. We have generous helpings of stories worth telling. Even if we have to shout.

    Reply

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