Category: Community

Over the past 18 months I’ve been approached by dozens of people that wanted information or to partner on tech entrepreneurship space. Last week I talked about 5 Tips for Building an Entrepreneurship Center. Early on at the Atlanta Tech Village we received great input from startups by opening up our building pre-renovation and using that feedback to influence our master plan.

Here are some ideas regarding physical spaces in an entrepreneurship center:

• Co-working – A small amount is ideal. At first we thought we’d have a significant amount of co-working space only to quickly find that once startups got past a couple people they wanted to have their own sense of identity and dedicated space. 5-10% of the total space for co-working has worked for us.
• 4-person offices – Maximize the number of 4-person offices. This size space has the most demand and is flexible in that a two-person company can rent a private room (e.g. pay for all four desks) or an 8-person company can rent two rooms.
• 2-6 room suites – Suites are great for companies that have 8-25+ people but most startup communities don’t need too many as the eco-systems are still fairly immature. As a company grows past 20 or 30 people there are a number of traditional commercial real estate options. At the Village, we converted several of our two-room suites into individual four and six person offices due to the demand for smaller space.
• Phone rooms – Places for private conversations and conference calls are in high demand for companies that employ sales people and more phone-oriented team members. We have one for every 30-40 people.
• Conference rooms – Shared meeting space is heavily used and we’ve found that one meeting room for every 30-40 people works well.
• Event center – A large meeting space is critical for bringing the community together, both within the facility and the greater area. Our event center has proved to be even more successful than expected.

The ideal mix of physical space at an entrepreneurship center is a function of the needs of the community. Co-working generally draws more 1-2 person startups whereas 4-person offices generally draws 3-8 person startups. An entrepreneurship center should have a number of different resources in the facility and look to foster serendipitous interactions.

What else? What are some more thoughts on physical spaces in an entrepreneurship center?

Earlier today I was talking with an entrepreneur that’s working on building a tech entrepreneurship center in his city. We talked about many of the lessons learned so far with the Atlanta Tech Village and drilled into several topics. At the end of the conversation I realized it would be good to summarize some of the best practices to share with others.

Here are five tips for building an entrepreneurship center:

1. Community – Internal community is the most important thing, even more important than the real estate. The community needs to be curated, cultivated, and crafted.
2. Values – Similar to the community piece, the entrepreneurship center needs to have strong core values that members adhere to and believe in. Things get terribly difficult with all the shared resources and amenities, so alignment of values is a must.
3. Scale – The center needs to be large enough to support at least two full-time staff members and at least 50 companies (I think the sweet spot is 20,000 – 40,000 feet unless there’s tremendous demand in the community).
4. Funding – Most startups need capital, so it’s important to address the funding piece of the equation, either with an associated fund or with strong third-party capital sources.
5. Events – A high quality event center is critical to bring the greater community together for speakers, panels, workshops, educational programs, networking sessions, and more.

Building an entrepreneurship center isn’t easy, but it’s very rewarding. Ultimately, for the entrepreneurship center to be a winner, it needs to increase the chance of success for the entrepreneurs. Success stories are what matters.

What else? What are some other tips for building an entrepreneurship center?

Yesterday I was talking to an entrepreneur that’s in the process of moving from Silicon Valley to Atlanta. After seven years in the Valley, and multiple startups, he’s ready to launch his next one in Atlanta due to one of our strong clusters. At the Atlanta Tech Village there are several software engineers that worked in Silicon Valley for years before moving to Atlanta. It’s not a critical mass yet, but I’ve talked to enough entrepreneurs and engineers to understand the main drivers.

Here are a few reasons entrepreneurs and engineers move from Silicon Valley to Atlanta:

• Family – Having a family member in the area or growing up in the area is the most common reason people move from Silicon Valley to Atlanta.
• Lifestyle – After renting for many years, there’s a desire to own a house with more space in a nice neighborhood, and Atlanta real estate is considerably more affordable (even less expensive than the national average)
• More Varied Interests – In Atlanta, the general focus is not on tech startups and people have a wider variety of interests and backgrounds (see Startups for Grownups).

There’s a small flow of entrepreneurs and engineers moving from Silicon Valley to Atlanta, and as the Atlanta brand and reputation grows, look for the numbers to grow.

What else? What are some other reasons entrepreneurs and engineers move from Silicon Valley to Atlanta?

In addition to spontaneous pitches, I’ve received a number of requests about how to get more involved in the startup community. Before talking about specific organizations, events, and programs, I start by asking a series of questions related to areas of interest and where they’d like to add value. Here are a few of the questions:

• What size and stage startup is most interesting to you? Idea stage? Seed stage? Early stage? Growth stage? Many senior executives say they want to help startups with at least $5 million in revenue, to which I reply that we’re working hard to grow more but that there aren’t very many.
• What markets and verticals do you have experience in? As an example health IT is different from marketing automation which is different from mobile device management.
• What technologies are exciting to you? Internet of things? Big data? Cloud computing?
• How specifically do you want to help? As an advisor? Mentor? Investor?
• What do you want in return? Cash? Equity? A job? Personal satisfaction from helping an entrepreneur?

After getting a solid understanding of what the person’s looking for and how they want to engage, it’s easy to point them in the right direction.

What else? What are some other questions to ask someone looking to engage in the startup community?

When I moved to Atlanta in 2002 I didn’t know anyone in the startup community. Whenever I’d read about a local tech startup in the Atlanta Business Chronicle I’d send the entrepreneur an email, explain my business, and ask them to lunch. Most of the time nothing came of it but a few times it worked out and I had the chance to meet several entrepreneurs in town. My first real intro to a number of people in the startup community came by way of the Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA). I was trying to raise money for Hannon Hill and met with several local venture firms as well as ATA. Through ATA I was introduced to the ATDC, angel investors, and other entrepreneurs in the community. While I didn’t raise any money, it was good to get more connected in the community. The main downside was that it took a year of effort and I was eager to meet more people at a faster pace.

Now, with the Atlanta Tech Village, Atlanta Startup Village Meetup, and Startup Chowdown, entrepreneurs that want to get plugged into the community can meet dozens of entrepreneurs within a week. When entrepreneurs need help, high quality introductions are faster and stronger. Here are some of the most common networking requests:

• Potential sales and customer discovery prospects
• Candidates for job openings
• Introductions to potential investors
• Connections to entrepreneurs and advisors with relevant experience

Stronger, denser startup communities result in faster, better introductions that help improve the chance of success. As much as entrepreneurs want to go it alone, quality introductions can make all the difference.

What else? What are some more thoughts on startup communities and help through introductions?

Whenever I give a tour of the Atlanta Tech Village, the most common question I receive is “where are you going to do the next one?” Quickly, I explain that we’re a “one and done” and that we’re not building more. The Village is designed to be a showpiece for Atlanta and the tech community, so the quality of fixtures and furnishings as well as the amenities are much higher-end than expected. My follow-up response is that I believe we’ll see several tech entrepreneurship centers emerge around town over the next 24 months and that other commercial real estate developers will take note of this specialty model.

By making the Village a showpiece, it taps into something I hadn’t expected: Atlanta pride. It’s only natural to want to be proud of your city and community. With a massive tech entrepreneurship center filled with hundreds of startups, Atlantans have something to point to that highlights the emerging tech startup scene. When the physical space, amazing community, and success stories like Bitpay are combined, it represents a complete picture of progress.

The Atlanta Tech Village serves as a showpiece for tech entrepreneurship centers everywhere and a source of pride for Atlantans. Once we have even more success stories, the pride will also grow.

What else? What are some other thoughts on the Atlanta Tech Village and community pride?