In startupland there’s always been talk of startup success begetting more startup success. The idea is that successful startups expose hundreds, if not thousands, of employees to what it’s like in a startup. Then, after a big exit, a number of newly wealthy employees become the next generation of angel investors and entrepreneurs. Ideally, the cycle repeats itself and each subsequent generation is more successful than the last.
While it sounds nice and makes logical sense, the time horizons are often incredibly long with 7-10 years for the first success. Assuming another 7-10 years for the next round of successes, this process can take decades to play out. Building a substantial startup community requires a long time horizon.
Thankfully, we’re seeing it play out right in front of us in Atlanta. Just last week FullStory announced a $103M raise at a $1.8 billion valuation. FullStory’s founder/CEO is Scott Voigt who ran marketing for Silverpop before Silverpop was acquired by IBM for ~$300M.
The week before Flock Safety announced a $150M raise at a valuation over $1 billion. Flock Safety’s founder/CEO is Garrett Langley who worked at Experience before it was acquired by Cox Enterprises for more than $200M.
Being part of a winning team and seeing success first-hand makes it more attainable and doable.
Startup success begets greater startup success, just look at Atlanta.
David Cummings on Startups 
I appreciate the shout out, David.
Semi-interesting footnote to your post. I really fell in love with high-growth companies working for Tripp Rackley back in the late 90s at nFront. (related: fun read, nFront’s S-1 from 1999 https://sec.report/Document/0000950144-99-008134/)
Experience, perhaps where Garrett caught the start-up bug, was also a Rackley endeavor.