David Cummings on Startups

Category: Community

  • Atlanta Tech Village 2 Year Anniversary

    Yesterday marked the two year anniversary of buying the Atlanta Tech Village. When David Lightburn and I showed up at the building post closing, we were promptly handed a huge bag with 50 keys and told “good luck” by the previous manager. Then, as would be expected, on our first day working in the Village, the power went out in the whole building and the 5th floor bathrooms overflowed into the hallways. Tenants were furious with us and were just getting started.

    Now, we have a gorgeous renovation (2nd floor, 4th floor) and a thriving community of 200+ entrepreneurs and 700+ Villagers. I’ve had the chance to answer these frequently asked questions hundreds of times and I still enjoy telling the founding story from August 30, 2012, a full six weeks before selling Pardot.

    So, with two years under our belt, I’m just as excited and optimistic about that future as I was then, only more so now based on our progress. Atlanta will be a top 10 startup city in the next 10 years – mark my words.

  • Notes on the ShopVisible Exit

    Atlanta-based ShopVisible announced yesterday that they are being acquired by Epicor (public filings but privately held) in their press release Epicor to Acquire Industry Leading Cloud Digital Commerce and Order Management Solution Provider – ShopVisible. Epicor has 4,600 employees and is owned by private equity firm Apax Partners. ShopVisible is a specialized ecommerce Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company led by Sean Cook and Josh Lloyd.

    Here are a few details on ShopVisible:

    • Started in 2006 in South Florida and relocated to Atlanta (source)
    • Domain name registered January 26, 2006 (source)
    • 41 employees on LinkedIn (source)
    • Raised $823,000 in equity in 2009 (source)
    • 2013 Venture Atlanta presenting company (source)

    While the purchase price wasn’t disclosed, with 41 employees, I’m sure the deal was lucrative. Congratulations to the whole ShopVisible team on the exit.

    What else? What are some other notes on the ShopVisible exit?

  • Atlanta Startup Village #23

    Tomorrow night is Atlanta Startup Village #23 at the Atlanta Tech Village. With over 500 people already signed up, it’s the largest monthly gathering of entrepreneurs in the Southeast. Here are the presenting startups:

    • Terminus – Display advertising for B2B lead generation and nurturing
    • ROAR App – Social engagement app centered around events
    • Predikto – Predictive analytics for industrial equipment
    • RenterUp – Rental management software for residential landlords
    • Reveal Estate – Simplifying the home buying process
    • Groundfloor – Real estate microlending (think LendingClub for real estate loans)

    Atlanta Startup Village is free and open to the public. Come join us and learn more about six new startups.

  • Construction Lessons Learned from the Atlanta Tech Village

    Now that construction is finished at the Atlanta Tech Village, it’s a great time to reflect on some of the construction lessons learned. As our team didn’t have any prior commercial construction experience, we learned a ton and made a number of mistakes. Many entrepreneurs will have an analogous experience when doing a customized build-out of a traditional office.

    Here are a few construction lessons learned from the Atlanta Tech Village:

    • Make sure it’s clear that the budget includes both hard costs (like actual construction costs) and soft costs (like architect fees) —  we went way over budget due to not understanding this and communicating that our budget was for hard and soft costs
    • Allocate a significant portion of the budget to furniture (quality commercial furniture is more expensive than expected) and technology equipment (routers, access points, ethernet ports, etc)
    • General contractors aggressively bid for the primary work and make much more profit off of change orders, so work hard to get the plans right the first time (we made way too many change orders as we didn’t know what we didn’t know)
    • Never renovate the building during the day while having it occupied at the same time (construction noise was louder than expected and had to be moved to nights and weekends, which was a significant premium)
    • High density seating environments, as is popular with tech companies, requires a complete overhaul of the heating and air systems to support the increased number of people, which adds significant cost
    • Older buildings often have deferred maintenance, which results in unexpected expenses during a renovation (we had to replace the main water pipes and elevators)

    Renovating the Atlanta Tech Village was a great learning experience and I’m pleased with how everything turned out. I have a greater appreciation for commercial real estate developers and the process.

    What else? What are some other construction lessons learned from the Atlanta Tech Village renovation?

  • Atlanta Tech Village Stats

    It’s official! Construction is done at the Atlanta Tech Village (see our press release). While we have a few punch list items left, all the primary work is done. After 15 months of nonstop construction, we have one of the coolest tech startup buildings I’ve ever seen. Here are some stats about the Tech Village:

    • 103,000 square feet total in the building
    • 10,000 square feet of event and meeting space
    • 50 coworking desks
    • 63 private offices
    • 44 multi-room suites
    • 4 kitchens
    • 2 nap rooms
    • 2 game rooms
    • 1 rooftop patio
    • 200+ companies
    • 700+ people

    Here are some of the top Village startups:

    The stats are only a part of the Atlanta Tech Village. Our real value lies in the community of passionate people building great companies. I’m incredibly proud of the Atlanta Tech Village and can’t wait to see the impact over the next 20 years.

  • Community Building Adds Value to Entrepreneurs

    Two years ago I gave a talk about the Pardot experience to a group of entrepreneurs in Atlanta. After the event, an entrepreneur approached me saying he was looking for his next opportunity. Immediately, I put him in touch with another entrepreneur that was looking for a co-founder with his skillset, and they hit it off. Now, they have one of the fastest growing startups in town and are doing great. Community building pays off in more ways than expected.

    Here are a few ways that community building adds value to entrepreneurs beyond the primary benefit of helping the region:

    • Recruiting – We’ve hired a number of team members where the relationship originated at a community event, and if you add in referrals from those employees, the number gets even bigger.
    • Lead Generation – One of the earliest Hannon Hill customers was Silverpop, and that relationship started when I approached their CEO after he spoke at an entrepreneur event. On the other side, we’ve signed a number of customers over the years based on relationships that started while helping grow the community.
    • Investment – The best investor relationships start well in advance of trying to raise money. I know one entrepreneur that attributes his ability to easily raise money to the fact that he had already built rapport through his community building with his lead investor before he had even started a company.

    Entrepreneurs that pay it forward receive significantly more value that they give out. Entrepreneurs would do well to get involved in community building and make a difference.

    What else? What are some other ways community building adds value to entrepreneurs?

  • 3 Ideas to Grow the Atlanta Startup Community

    Earlier today I was talking with a few civic leaders in Atlanta on the topic of how to grow the region’s startup community. We discussed several of the current trends, including the rise of entrepreneurship centers around town (e.g. the Atlanta Tech Village), more focus on creative space by local commercial real estate firms, and general excitement around entrepreneurship. I then offered up three ideas to grow the Atlanta startup community:

    1. Entrepreneur Education – Run programs from the Kauffman Foundation and others on a regular basis in different parts of the city. These programs would be much more in-depth and hands-on for entrepreneurs to learn new business skills and build relationships with other entrepreneurs and mentors in town.
    2. Connect Local Businesses and Startups – Most mid-to-large companies in the area don’t have a good understanding of the technology innovation taking place in their own city. The idea is to run regular programs where curated groups of startups present in front of local companies (cash from customers is always the best type of cash for startups).
    3. Elevate Successes to the National Stage –  While there are a number of great entrepreneurial success stories, very few are known nationally — southern charm makes for a humble city. More showcasing of success stories will result in more credibility and interest from investors.

    So, there you have it: educate the entrepreneurs, make it easy for businesses to buy local tech, and get the megaphone out for the success stories. Atlanta has all the ingredients to be a top 10 tech startup city and is on the way to realizing its potential.

    What else? What are some other ideas to grow the Atlanta startup community?

  • 10 Atlanta Tech Village Frequently Asked Questions

    Earlier today I gave a tour of the Atlanta Tech Village to a group of CMOs from large companies in Atlanta. Naturally, the CMOs asked a number of great questions as we walked around the community. After finishing the tour, I realized I needed to write down the most frequently asked questions. Here we go:

    1. Is there an equity component to being a member of the Village?
      No, we want to keep the model simple and attract the best entrepreneurs possible. An equity component would discourage previously successful entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurs that already have a successful startup (we stay away from the word incubator for this reason).
    2. Do entrepreneurs have to sign a lease?
      No, the model is to pre-pay per desk per month with a 30-day notice to cancel. Everything is furnished and turn-key so that entrepreneurs can show up with a laptop and be immediately productive.
    3. Is there a period of time entrepreneurs are allowed to stay before being asked to leave?
      No, right now entrepreneurs can stay as long as they continue meeting the core values. This might change in the future but we don’t have any plans.
    4. What’s the turnover like on an annual basis?
      We haven’t been open long enough to know what the churn will be but we’re guessing 20% per year (so, with 200 startups, 40 startups will come and go each year).
    5. Are back office services provided as part of the model?
      No, we believe back office services like accounting, payroll, and others are best provided by experts that specialize in the area. There are a number of great service providers locally and online that have extensive startup experience.
    6. How does having free beer on tap for Villagers work?
      Great! Seriously, we haven’t had any issues so far, and as long as we don’t sell it, we don’t need a liquor license.
    7. Have you had to kick out any Villagers yet?
      Yes, we’ve had to kick out a few Villagers for not meeting our core values. Luckily, it’s been a very small number.
    8. What are some of the biggest success stories at the Village?
      We’ve had a number of success stories so far including BitPay, Yik Yak, Insightpool, and SalesLoft.
    9. What’s the goal of the Tech Village for the next 10 years?
      Our goal is to help make Atlanta a top 10 city for tech startups and to create 10,000 new jobs in Metro Atlanta by way of startups that come through the Village.
    10. How does the Tech Village bring entrepreneurs together?
      We put on a number of events and programs like Startup Chowdown, Atlanta Startup Village, monthly roundtables, happy hours, workshops, panels, and more. Bringing together like-minded people so that they can help each other out is one of the most important aspects of the Tech Village.

    I’ve had the opportunity to answer these questions hundreds of time and they never get old. I love sharing the Atlanta Tech Village story and lessons learned.

    What else? What are some other frequently asked questions about the Atlanta Tech Village?

  • 2,000th Blog Post

    Back in January of 2007 I took the blogging plunge and put up a quick Inaugural Blog Post on WordPress. I started out strong posting several times in the first few weeks, but then gave up on it. Then, 18 months later, on July 20, 2009, I wrote Rethink PowerPoint Presentations with BBP, and that was the start of writing a post every day.

    My inspiration for doing a post per day came from AVC.com. After seeing Fred Wilson’s content pop up on a regular basis, and reading his About page, I thought to myself “I want to do that!” Well, I started the daily post and haven’t looked back.

    Writing one short blog post per day is such a great way to share ideas, document best practices, and get feedback from smart people. Now, it’s been over five years of writing daily and today marks my 2,000th post. Thank you to everyone for your help and here’s to 2,000 more posts.

  • Atlanta’s Contact At Once selling for $65 Million

    Urvaksh broke the news last week that Atlanta’s Contact At Once is going to be bought for $65 million by LivePerson. Contact At Once (CAO) makes web-based chat software and tailors it to industries like car dealerships and apartment complexes. Online chat programs, like LivePerson, have been around for decades. CAO took a standard idea and built a business from the ground-up to service specific verticals, which continues the trend of vertical-specific Software-as-a-Service applications as the next wave.

    Here are a few interesting notes about Contact At Once:

    • Started in 2005
    • 2009 revenue of $2.2 million and 34 employees (per the Inc. 500 page)
    • 2012 revenue of $12.3 million and 86 employees in 2012 (per the Inc. 500 page)
    • Raised $3 million from Fulcrum Equity Partners in 2012 (went seven years without raising money and got to a $10 million+ run rate)
    • 127 employees on LinkedIn today (November 2014)
    • Using the 2012 revenue and employee count, CAO is likely in the ~$20 million revenue range based on having 50% more employees now

    Contact At Once is a great success story that shows you can take a straightforward idea, build a great business, and do it with limited capital. Congratulations to the team!

    What else? What are some more thoughts on Contact At Once?