David Cummings on Startups

Category: Community

  • Atlanta’s Online Marketing Software Cluster

    One of the themes we’ve heard over the past few years in the Atlanta technology community is that we should focus on our existing clusters like Internet security and logistics as we have a wealth of existing expertise and investors ready to go. Well, I’d like to start creating more dialogue around our online marketing software cluster. Didn’t know we already had a cluster? Take a look at these existing Atlanta companies that do over $100 million in combined annual revenue:

    The next time someone mentions clusters in Atlanta, I’d bring up the largest cluster that no one talks about: online marketing software. In fact, I’d bet it is one of our faster growing clusters as well.

  • Shotput Ventures 2010

    We’re excited to start talking about Shotput Ventures 2010. After reviewing last year we decided to make a few tweaks for our next class of companies. Here are some of the changes:

    • Investing $6,000 per co-founder (like TechStars) instead of $5,000 per team and $5,000 per co-founder (like Y Combinator) due to our great low cost of living
    • Having the max number of co-founders per team be three instead of four as we found the four person teams weren’t as productive
    • Smaller program with 5 – 6 companies so that we can devote more attention to each team
    • Formal partnership with the ATDC (more info to come soon)
    • Published company ideas and markets we’re interested in

    Take a look at our program timeline, FAQ, and apply online once we open up applications.

  • Atlanta $100k Startup Challenge

    After reflecting on Startup Riot this morning, and discussing it at lunch with a friend today, I realized there was an attribute most startups were seriously lacking: revenue. I don’t mean revenue like a few hundred or a few thousand per month, but rather, at least $100,000 in revenue. Yes, this isn’t a goal of Sanjay’s when putting on the event, since it is designed to be inclusive of all startups that meet the requirements.

    After going through the list of 50 startups again, my educated guess has a total of four, possibly five, of the 50 startups yesterday having trailing twelve months revenue of at least $100k. Why $100k? $100k isn’t enough to be profitable in most cases, but it does provide a foundation and paint a picture for how to build a much larger business.

    Here’s my challenge for Atlanta: let’s double the number of startups that present at next year’s Startup Riot that have $100k in revenue.

    Can we do it?

  • Startup Riot 2010 – Another Success

    Today I had the opportunity to attend the third annual Startup Riot at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Shotput Ventures partner Sanjay Parekh puts on the annual event which drew over 400 attendees and provided a platform for 50 startups (yes, 50 startups!) to give a three minute pitch with four slides.

    To learn more about the startups that presented, please take a look some of the blog posts:

    I’d highly recommend the event and I’m looking forward to attending again next year.

  • 5 Ways to Improve the Atlanta Startup Community

    Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a dinner, sponsored by a great VC firm in town, for the sole purpose of discussing the Atlanta technology startup community, including what’s working well and what can be improved. None of the solutions are effortless, nor are too many likely to happen soon, but the goal is to spread awareness of how we can improve things. Here are five ways to improve the Atlanta technology startup community:

    1. Allow the Georgia government pension funds to invest in the venture capital alternative asset class
    2. Convince Fortune 500 companies in the metro area to buy from local startups and acquire local startups
    3. Introduce several new local seed stage and early stage investment funds
    4. Encourage successful entrepreneurs to give back and reinvest in the community
    5. Increase the number of clusters and improve their recognition (e.g. online marketing, vertical e-commerce, lead generation, etc)

    There are many more but these were some of the main takeaways from the evening. The great news is that over the past five years the Atlanta startup community has really blossomed and has many different ways to get involved.

  • Iterate or Die: Life in a Startup Slides

    Following the TAG/ATDC presentation from yesterday, I had several requests for the slides. I just finished uploading them to SlideShare and have embeded it below:

    Thanks again to everyone that attended.

  • Public Speaking Thoughts

    This morning I had the opportunity to talk at the TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs group using the material from my Iterate or Die articles. I wanted to say thanks to TAG and ATDC for inviting me to speak as well as say thanks for everyone who attended. As for public speaking, I always enjoy the opportunity to speak in front of an audience and talk through something I feel strongly about, like the need to pivot and change directions in a startup. Here are a few things I try to do when given the opportunity to speak publicly:

    • Develop slides that tell a story with simple pictures and as few words as possible (see Beyond Bullet Points)
    • Respect the time of the event and leave a few minutes at the end for questions
    • Thank the people that invited me as well as the audience for attending
    • Emphasize a theme and takeaway message from the talk (ideally most people will take away one or two items from the talk)
    • Make my email address available for people to ask questions after the event has finished

    Of course, there’s nothing revolutionary here but I find that following these simple tactics results in a good outcome.

  • TAG/ATDC Talk: Iterate or Die

    This Thursday morning I’m giving a talk in Midtown Atlanta for the TAG/ATDC Entrepreneurs Series on my Iterate or Die articles on TechDrawl.com. Here are some of the items I cover:

    • How I funded development of our first product
    • How September 11, 2001 proved beneficial for us
    • Why I shelved our first product and found funding for our second product
    • What I learned that didn’t work in sales and marketing
    • What I learned that did work to develop a leadership position in a vertical

    Please join me for the event this Thursday morning at 7:30 by signing up online for the talk.

  • EO Accelerator in 2010

    With the new year upon us, it is a good time to get involved in an entrepreneurial peer-to-peer group. One that I’m involved with locally, and has chapters around the world, is then non-profit Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO). EO is for entrepreneurs with company revenues over $1 million US dollars. EO has another program designed for entrepreneurs with revenues under $1 million US dollars called EO Accelerator. The three main tenants of EO Accelerator are as follows:

    • Quarterly education events from a certified facilitator on topics like people, money, strategy, and sales (three years worth of content)
    • Monthly accountability group meetings to share experiences in a small group setting
    • Workshops with the local EO chapter

    I’d recommend all entrepreneurs look into programs like EO or EO Accelerator in their local city.

  • Is business networking worth it?

    Earlier today, I was talking with a friend of mine and he asked how my schedule looked for next week. I told him I had my EO Forum all Tuesday afternoon, the MIT Enterprise Forum business plan competition (I’m a judge) late Wednesday afternoon, and an EO Accelerator education event all day on Thursday. Of course, this isn’t a normal week for me, but he asked the obvious question: is all the business networking, community involvement, and time out of the office worth it?

    My answer was an emphatic yes. For me, I look at each of these types of events and organizations as learning experiences, which help me be a better entrepreneur. Yes, it is a selfish motivation, but I like to think I give in addition to receive. Let’s look at each of the three events for next week:

    • EO Forum — peer-to-peer experience sharing at it’s finest, this is my most valuable meeting each month, and lasts a full four hours
    • MIT Enterprise Forum business plan pitch — this is a great way for me to learn about four new companies by reading their PowerPoint decks, hearing their pitch, and offering feedback based on the many failures and successes I’ve had over the past decade (I started my company in 2000)
    • EO Accelerator education event — this is an all-day course, taught by a certified instructor, on one of the four education topics (sales, strategy, people, and finance), whereby I get to learn the material myself as well as interact with 10+ other entrepreneurs that are working hard at growing their business — what’s more fun than that?

    So, my recommendation is to find the right balance of work on the company, in the company, and in the community. Balance is the key, and it changes over time. Good luck!