David Cummings on Startups

Blog

Atlanta’s AirWatch to be Acquired by VMware for $1.5 Billion
Earlier today the big news broke that Atlanta’s AirWatch is going to be acquired by VMware for over $1.5 billion. AirWatch is the consumate Atlanta success story. Business software? Check. Security technology? Check. Limited outside capital to get to scale before raising institutional capital? Check. AirWatch has all the ingredients.

Here are some of the awesome Atlanta benefits of the AirWatch story:
- Created 1,000 jobs in Atlanta
- Delivered another success story on the international stage
- Minted many more tech millionaires in the city
- Established a strong reputation for mobility-related software
Unfortunately, AirWatch won’t be the next anchor technology company for the region but it will leave a lasting legacy for the city. New entrepreneurs and investors will emerge and 1,000+ people will have felt what it’s like to be a part of something that succeeds in a big way.

Congratulations to AirWatch on building a large software company in Atlanta.

What else? What are your thoughts on the impending VMware acquisition of AirWatch?
January 22, 2014
One Investment to Return the Fund

Hunter Walk has an interesting post up titled Why I Don’t Ask “Is This a Billion Dollar Business?” Before I Invest. In the post, he highlights an important element that I believe most entrepreneurs fail to understand when looking to raise money from VCs: VCs want to believe that they can return the value of the entire fund on a single investment.

Most of the time, when asking entrepreneurs what VCs want, you get the standard response that VCs want to make money. Yes, they want to make money, as do all investors, but they don’t want to make a 20% or 50% return on capital. The goal is to make an investment that generates a 10x or 20x return. Assuming the capital invested was less than 10% of the fund, a 10x or 20x outcome will return the entire fund.

This goal is especially true with smaller funds, which are more and more common. For larger funds, a standard minimum bar is to have an investment return at least 10% of the committed capital (see Ask Prospective Investors About the Ideal Exit). So, if it’s a $200 million fund, the VCs representing the fund would want an exit that returns at least $20 million in cash to the limited partners.

Overall, VC and entrepreneur exit goals often don’t align — remember to set expectations before taking money.

What else? What are some other thoughts around VC expectations being different from entrepreneur expectations?

January 21, 2014
Identifying a Problem and Finding a Solution From Another Industry

In yesterday’s post on 10 Free Business Ideas from Idealab’s IdeaDay, the last idea, Opti-Park, came after identifying a problem in one area and finding a solution for it from a completely unrelated area. Bill Gross, the founder of Idealab, commented that Idealab has 40,000 square feet of office space in the Old Town part of Pasadena. According to building code, they can double the size of their own facility to 80,000 feet, but to do that they are also required to add four parking spots per 1,000 square feet of space. Only, land is expensive, super expensive and there’s no room.

Naturally, the ideal solution would be to squeeze more parking spaces out of the existing parking deck and surrounding parking lots. Unfortunately, no good solution had emerged until a fortuitous trip to NYC. There, Bill encountered a building using the new intelligent elevator system whereby a passenger keys in their desired floor from the elevator lobby, waits for a designated elevator, and rides the highlighted elevator to a specific floor. Inside the elevator, there aren’t any floor selection buttons — everything is controlled from the elevator lobbies. The end result is shorter elevator trips and a much more efficient use of resources.

After experiencing the intelligent elevators, the idea came to Bill to do the same thing for parking lots and parking decks. Imagine pulling up to a parking lot gate, a computer instantly calculating the dimensions of your car, and issuing a slip of paper to park in a designated spot (e.g. D4). Upon receiving the slip of paper, the driver knows exactly where to go and doesn’t drive around aimlessly until they encounter the first open spot, which may or may not fit their car. Of course, the big benefit is striping the lines of the parking deck for a variety of car sizes such that it can hold several more cars (in Bill’s example he cites one lot being able to hold 23% more cars). Eventually, the lot can be designed to not have any painted stripes but rather have LED lights that can change dynamically to maximize parking efficiency — so many amazing opportunities.

Overall, the takeaway is to keep a list of problems encountered in a Google Spreadsheet so that when solutions emerge in different areas, it becomes more automatic to apply them to other opportunities.

What else? What are your thoughts on identifying a problem and finding a solution from another industry? Do you have any examples of this?

January 20, 2014
10 Free Business Ideas from Idealab IdeaDay
Idealab, the most famous tech startup incubator in the world, just released a 90 minute video from their IdeaDay event last week. The goal with IdeaDay is to share 10 business ideas they’re excited about in the hopes that potential entrepreneurs, team members, and investors come forward to partner with Idealab in some way on them. Of course, the ideas are free and people can take them and run with them on their own as well.

Here are the 10 free business ideas from Idealab’s IdeaDay:
1. Too Many Pictures – With digital pictures stored in so many places there’s a growing need to wrangle them all in a manner that’s more maintainable (e.g. photos on Facebook, Picassa, Instragram, Dropbox, etc)
2. ActionMail – Interface with email in a more manageable manner through features like pulling questions out of email text and prompting for answers, prioritizing inbound email based on whether or not you’ve already emailed the person, etc
3. Deliver.it – An Uber for delivering common, convenience store-like items where the items are already in the vehicle (as opposed to someone having to go pull a specific order, all the items are in the vehicle ready for delivery)
4. LifeChanger – Wearable technology, similar to Fitbit, that would be used track eating, smoking, etc with the goal of changing and/or improving behavior
5. Product Search – Moving beyond standard shopping comparison engines, the idea is to have a guided product search that takes into account more structured search criteria
6. DashCam – Bring the popularity of Russian car dashboard cameras to North America for the purpose of saving money on insurance, providing more context-sensitive information, etc
7. Luv.it – Provide a list of places, hotels, restaurants, etc that you love and get a list of ones you might not know about based on what other people love (recommendation engine to find other stuff you’d love but don’t know about, as different from Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc)
8. Dashboard.biz – Real-time business dashboard with the most important, actionable metrics pulled from other cloud-based systems
9. CloudShare – Cross cloud file storage searching (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, etc) for personal files as well as coworker files so that if a coworker has a file that you want, the software prompts them to share the file only if a match was found (as opposed to the standard practice of emailing a company mailing list and interrupting everyone to see if they have a file)
10. Optipark – System for real-time assigning of parking spots based on the size of the car whereby the parking lot is stripped with a variety of parking spot sizes such that 10-20% more cars fit in the same area (think of using a touch screen to say the type of car you have and it telling you a specific spot to use as it knows all spots in use and not in use — future idea would be to use LED lights to dynamically stripe the parking lines for maximum efficiency)
Watch the IdeaDay video to get a more detailed explanation of each idea as well as visuals. Overall, I think it’s a very cool idea that Idealab is open sourcing ideas as a way of recruiting people to get involved. Well done!

What else? What are your thoughts on these 10 free business ideas? Which one is your favorite?
January 19, 2014
Walkthrough of a Standard Floor at the Atlanta Tech Village
With our 4th floor complete at the Atlanta Tech Village, we can now visually highlight many of the elements and explain some of the thinking behind them. The 4th floor is our first finished floor and we’ve already identified a dozen smaller items we’ll be changing for the exact replica 3rd and 5th floors, but we’re pleased with how everything came together. Also, with tenants moving in, we’ll also have tons of feedback over the next few weeks that we’ll take into account for the other floors.

Here’s a walkthrough of the main elements.

Elevator Lobby
- Reclaimed hemlock wood from New Hampshire surrounding a 70″ TV that displays a directory of startups on the floor as well as community-related news
- Large glass doors with key card access into kitchen and common areas
Kitchen
- Large, single kitchen for the entire floor to promote serendipitous interaction
- Pantry stocked with light snacks and refrigerator stocked with drinks
Medium-Sized Conference Rooms
- Three medium-sized conference rooms immediately adjacent to the kitchen
- LED backlit dry erase panel across the length of the back wall of each room
- Self-service room scheduling as well as ad hoc availability
Phone Rooms
- Seven shared phones rooms and eight private phone rooms per floor
- Perfect for personal calls, conference calls, and web meetings
- Self-service room scheduling as well as ad hoc availability
Large Conference Room
- One large conference room around the corner from the kitchen
- 70″ LED TV on the wall with Google Chromecast to wirelessly project a laptop screen
- Extensive back wall with dry erase paint
- Self-service room scheduling as well as ad hoc availability
Coworking Area
- 20 desks plus soft seating directly next to the kitchen
- Large walls with dry erase paint
Library / Game Room
- Two rooms: a soft seating room with sofas, coffee table, etc and a shared desk room
- No talking when others are in the room working
- Video game system
- 50″ LED TV per room
- Large amounts of glass that also act as dry erase boards
Private Rooms
- Five private rooms with 2-6 desks per room
- Large amounts of glass that also act as dry erase boards
- Individual key card access
Private Suites
- 12 private suites with two rooms per suite containing 6-12 desks
- 50″ LED TV per room with Google Chromecast
- Large amounts of glass that also act as dry erase boards
- Large dry erase wall on the interior hallway
- Individual key card access
Private Corner Suites
- Four corner suites with 5-6 rooms per suite containing 16-21 desks
- 70″ LED TV in the main area with Google Chromecast
- Large amounts of glass that also act as dry erase boards
- Large dry erase wall on the entry hallway
- Individual key card access
Another important feature is that there’s a locked connecting door between each suite that can be opened if two adjacent suites are rented by the same company, similar to adjoining hotel rooms.

In addition to the amenities described above, the building also has a shared conference center, classroom, community center, over-sized board room, video production room, and gym coming in March. Oh, and an Octane Coffee with a great outdoor patio.

Want to see it in person? Sign up for our weekly tour.

Overall, the idea is to have a variety of shared and private spaces that promote collaboration and serendipitous interactions while allowing startups to scale and contract as necessary.

What else? What are some thoughts on the standard floor at the Atlanta Tech Village?
January 18, 2014
$11.5M Renovation Budget to Build the Ultimate Atlanta Tech Village
When Urvaksh asked me in early December 2012 about the renovation budget for the 103,000 sq ft Atlanta Tech Village, I naively said $4.5 million. At the time, my thinking was that we’d spend $60/sq ft to do 40,000 sq ft of cool startup space and then spend $2M for common space renovations (atrium, lobbies, bathrooms, etc). After going through the design process, refining the vision, and getting price quotes, it was clear that it would be significantly more expensive to achieve the desired outcome.

During the beta opening of the Village, we also realized that there was more demand than expected for entrepreneur space in the community and that our existing traditional tenants didn’t like the new building demographic. As a result, we decided to work out all the existing tenants and move forward with a full building renovation in stages over the course of 12 months, instead of the previous goal of doing it over five years.

Now, with our first full floor renovation complete, and all the hard costs, soft costs, and unexpected costs identified, it’s clear that we’re looking at a $11.5M renovation and fully loaded costs for the office space running $90/sq ft. Here’s the list of major expenses, several of which we didn’t factor in originally:
- Architect’s fees
- Construction costs
- Building modernization – new mechanical, new elevators, etc
- Furniture – 600+ desks, chairs, etc
- Building-wide wireless network – 100+ high-end access points
- Security system
- Audio / visual equipment for conference center
- 150+ 50″ LED TVs
After seeing the completed 4th floor, it’s totally worth it. Our goal is to build the ultimate community to start and grow successful tech companies, and doing it with a 20-year horizon is absolutely the best approach.

What else? What are your thoughts on spending more money to deliver the best facility?
January 17, 2014
Custom Work to Win SaaS Deals
As a follow-up to Balancing Desire for Full Paying Customers with the Need for Discounting, I was asked about doing custom work to win a deal. For example, statements like “I’m very interested in your product but it has to do X before I’d buy it” are common from prospects. For Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), this is even more interesting because SaaS should be a true multi-tenant architecture where everyone uses the same product.

Here are a few thoughts on custom work to win SaaS deals:
- Never give something without asking for something in return (e.g. sure, we’ll do 5% off our product in exchange for a case study)
- Always debate if the custom work request is going to be applicable to 80% of the desired customers (e.g. custom work is OK if it really is going to be used by everyone else)
- When evaluating a custom work request, get a letter of intent that the prospect will buy the product before implementing the new feature (e.g. the prospect has to show some level of commitment before engineering resources are applied)
Custom work and product enhancements often come up in a sales cycle, regardless of product type. The key is to have a gameplan and evaluate it on a case-by-case basis.

What else? What are some other thoughts on custom work to win SaaS deals?
January 16, 2014
The Cold Start Problem for Products
Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur about his Software-as-a-Service company and he was excited that this new company didn’t suffer from the cold start problem he had previously. Not having heard this term before, I asked him to explain it to me. The cold start problem is when someone tries out a new product, like an accounting system, and there’s little real work they can do until significant integration is done (chart of accounts, import data, etc). Other products, like Rigor’s web performance management system, don’t have a cold start problem because you can turn it on and start getting value right away.

Here are a few ideas to consider if you have a cold start problem:
- Include high quality demo or test data so that users can experience something of meaning without doing a big integration
- Consider having client implementation coordinators on-board new customers to ensure that clients get real value as soon as possible
- Implement a wizard that walks the user through getting started in a way that they get small wins and have a clear picture of next steps
Some products inherently have a cold start problem and that’s normal. Knowing that it’s a challenge, it’s best addressed in a sustainable, strategic manner.

What else? What are your thoughts on the cold start problem for products?
January 15, 2014
Balancing the Desire for Full Paying Customers with the Need for Discounting
One of the challenges that arises when working to achieve product / market fit is around charging full price to a new customer vs offering a discount to get a customer that wasn’t going to pay retail. Of course, in an ideal world every customer would pay retail and be a reference. In reality, the personalities and budgets of the people making the buying decisions come into play and there are desirable accounts where a special arrangement is required.

Here are a few thoughts on the balance between full paying customers and discount customers:
- At the earliest stage, any customer is better than no customer, but the key is that they have to pay something to have some skin in the game (the corollary is that they have to actually use the product as well on a regular basis and not just pay for it)
- As the product matures and new features are introduced, sometimes it’s required to offer a discount to the first few customers that need the new feature so as to have a willing guinea to work out any kinks (this is especially true when moving up market to more complex customers)
- Develop a written discount policy so that there’s clarity throughout the organization and the sales reps are more autonomous
As the startup grows and matures the desire to discount should decrease and the number of reference customers should increase. As with anything there’s a balance to be had and it takes time to find out what makes sense. Do whatever it takes to get oxygen for the product and then slowly introduce more standards around pricing.

What else? What are some other thoughts on balancing the desire for full paying customers with the need for discounting?
January 14, 2014
Automatic Product Pulse With Google Spreadsheets
Github, the largest source code hosting and collaboration platform, has a great built-in tool call Github Pulse. Github Pulse highlights key aspects of a project like number of authors, commits, pull requests, open issues, closed issues, and more in a designated time frame (e.g. 1 month). The same way Github Pulse provides an automatic dashboard of a project, startups would do well to build an automated pulse of their product usage using the Google Spreadsheets API.

Here’s how an automatic product pulse with Google Spreadsheets would work:
- Blank Google Spreadsheet with columns for each piece of relevant data and a new row for each day of data
- Nightly cron job to insert a new row of data based on the previous day’s data in one or more sheets
- Example columns: New accounts, deleted accounts, new account revenue, deleted account revenue, new users, deleted users, active users, user logins, # module A created, # module A updated, # module A used, # module B created, # module B updated, # module B used, etc (where each number represents the amount for that one 24 hour period)
- Charts and graphs would automatically update based on data
Overall, the idea is to spend a few engineering cycles to build a system that automatically sends data on a regular basis to a cloud-based spreadsheet so that everyone in the company can see the most important information at a moment’s notice. Taking it one step further, the product pulse could then be displayed on a large LED TV, much like a LED Scoreboard, so that the most important product metrics are always top of mind.

What else? What are your thoughts on an automatic product pulse with Google Spreadsheets?
January 13, 2014