OffCoarse

I attended the first Social Media Club meeting last night. I have to say, the free sticker, and the free beer was great. The conversation was stimulating and I believe everyone was there for the same unspoken reason. We all want to know how to use this medium better and more effectively for our own benefit.
Will I go again. Yes.

Should you go. Yes.

Reasons: A free beer, chips and salsa (hey starving entrepreneurs, free food) and good conversation about a topic I care about.

Meets every second Tuesday at 7pm at Manuels tavern on N. Highland and North ave.

Check it out

MechanixLoop had their national launch at C.A.R.S in Las Vegas. I really dont like the town so all we did was work. We did go out one night and have some fun, but it was a work trip. Here is a picture journey from the trip.
First day had to set up the booth.

Then we had to find out giant posterboad advertisement.

Then we had to work out asses off at the booth. The only time we left the Hotel was to take a picture of our hotel and the strip. These are the only pictures I took from outside the Hotel.

The we finished up after three days. I finally got to sit down and relax, and have myself a Guinness and a smoke.

Trips over, and back to work.

Once again I am heading to the Gauntlet to test out our pitch for MechanixLoop today. I am sure that it will be an interesting day and sure to see some great pitches, as well as some total flops. I say “Total Flops” as a badge of honor, because we all have had a total flop and it is best to get it out in an environment like this one. My flop was last time when I over used pastel colors, and text for a presentation only the Easter Bunny would have enjoyed.
For those of you who are not planning on going, or think you pitches don’t stink should reconsider. It is the events and practice of events like these which help you to hone down your skills to a very fine and masterful tool which you can then wield in your business worlds. Don’t worry the judges were not easy, nor very nice (trying to simulate a nasty investor, and they do it well). They were honest as they could be, and brutal on their comments, for good reason.

While the Atlanta scene of companies and entrepreneurs is growing, so I figured I should start to introduce some of them, because I think what they are doing is great. So I was meeting with Dean Roy today, the founder of Sharefam.com we were talking about our business, and what our plans were.

So Dean like myself went to Georgia (that means University of Georgia for all of those non Georgians, not to be confused with Georgia Tech) and graduated the same year. So we really graduated together except from different schools. He graduated from Terry school of business and myself from the school of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

So Sharefam is helping families to connect and share online. I would so use this if I had kids, or my family was online. We were in a pitch event not to long ago (Deans pitch is very good by the way), and someone made the comment about his company “this is such a great thing, because it’s just something families need.” -I can remember who, but they were important.

So check out Sharefam and see what is coming out of the Atlanta startup community.

So MechanxLoop now is bloging about the trials of the startup world and the journey. In an aptly named blog Mechanixloop’s Journey, it’s for us to write down what we see, and what happens to us over the journey of the launch. So if you care to check it out, its RSS is on this blog our you can jump over and read it there.

Such a great idea, and great event. I can’t say enough about Michael and the event. For those of you who are not familiar with BarCamp, it is an un-confrence. The idea is you get a bunch of people together one night and they put on a confrence, about what every they want. The attendies all have to give a presentation, and there are about 8 presentations going on all the time. So you can hear topics from space travel, to new development languages.

It was my first time, and not my last. Myself and some other GO5 members gave a speech on STARTAtlanta.org and what we are doing with it. It was well attended for posting the talk 3 min before we gave it. I also got to sit in on the talk by Lance on startup weekend, and its changing structure.

So if your in Atlanta, and want to get plugged into this community you should come to events such as this one. Good job to all presenters, and a big thanks to the sponsors who help put it on.

So Gang of 5 (GO5) which I have mentioned before is a grass roots movement to form a better startup community. I am here to propose more people start their own Gangs. I will help you set it up, and get it going. However we have found there needs to be one central person who gets it going and keeps it alive.

The best way to set one up is find 5 other entrepreneurs, give them the pitch and say “So how does that Sound?”. Now find a place to meet, every week, at the same time, and your in business. The first meeting will be like a first date, with everyone getting to know each other, and feeling each other out. Soon the weekly event will be looked forward to and a huge part of your success.

When choosing members, please try to be diverse. Don’t choose all developers, or all bis dev types. Mix it up for the betterment of the group.

You meet each week, give your elevator pitch, then move on to the next person. Once everyone is done, you go back and bring up problems, and find out how last weeks solutions worked out.
Here are the rules we have set up for our GO5.

1. 8 people max, 5 is a great number but once you add in who can and can not attend due to meetings we find 8 will still give you 5 people at every meeting.
2. Must be a closed group. Your gang is your gang, and spots in it are voted on by the gang. Topics stay at the table and are not discussed out side due to their sensitive nature. NO DROP INS unless invited.
3. You have to commit to the gang. You are the owner of your seat at the  weekly GO5 meeting, if you can not attend for a time period, or can not attend regularly you should give up your spot. Reason being is that by not participating you are holding the group back, and depriving someone else of the experience.
4. Each meeting starts with everyone giving their elevator pitch, then flows into problems and solutions discussions. Basic premise is to hone your skills and solve your problems.

That is about all the rules we have. However we do vote on lots of things, such as new members to the Gang and other things which would require votes.

Please contact me if you have questions on anything related to getting your own GO5 started. Oh by the way, we plan on integrating a part of STARTAtlatna.org into helping connect people to form more GO5’s. So look forward to that as well.

So last weekend was the first ever Startup Weekend Nashville, and I am proud to say I went. I couldn’t stay for the whole event, sad to say. The event was very well, organized. I only have one disapointment, no body saw the value of “Drunk Dial Blocker” my 30 second idea turned pitch. However i was excited to see many games, and good ideas come out of the weekend. Good job guys.

So this post is not a new revolution in information but rather a helpful hint on one way to get things done. A Lot better, cheaper, faster and quicker. Redoundant but true!

So this is how it came about. My company is going to a trade show in Vegas in November. That’s right a month away, and we had to get some marketing pieces designed on a budget asap. So I was told about 99designs.com and checked it out. I LOVE IT.

Here’s the deal. You can post any project you want, logo design, web page design, print design, etc. Then people from all over the world take on the project and show you the results. You then get to say, to 10 different people, change this, add that, for a week. Then you pick the winner of the projects.

My billboard panel cost us $179 total, with stock photos, and putting on the contest. The winner, has been super easy to deal with, and doing everything I asked. Now keep in mind you still have to print this out, but it saved me tons of time, and money. So check it out next time.

If you are following the startup community right now, you can’t help but notice the “firestorm” of startup events. Which are all apply named Startup________. I attended Startup Gauntlet on Wednesday night. It was a great event. I made a couple huge mistakes, but that is the point. Make the mistakes in front of people who will tell you to your face what you did wrong so you don’t do it when it counts. This is a community event for the community. This is the latest event in Atlanta for Startups, and is a great idea.

Someone asked me the other day why there is so much activity right now around Startup’s in Atlanta. My response was simple, “We are entrepreneurs, which means we solve problems. So right now we are solving our own problem.” The whole effort is being spear headed by Sanjay and Scott who have spent the most time putting on events for the community at large, and have made some serious head way for local Startups. Smaller events are now popping up every day due to the momentum Sanjay and Scott created. STARTAtlanta, Demo Days, Startup Gauntlet, Startup Drinks are just a few. I think all the events are great great, and soon  STARTAtlana will have a calendar to help the community keep up with all of the events.

So what will come of the so called “Firestorm”? Will it just be a flash in the pan, and leave us frustrated and burned out? I hope not, and I really dont think so. We know Atlanta is not the valley, and not trying to be the valley. However we are creating a new culture for us, one we can shape and grow. Growth is the key, we are growing, and more so every day. At local events you will see new people and new companies you didnt know existed. The excitement right now is catching on and I am very excited to start seeing companies comming out and haveing some solid sucess stories, which will then just put more fule on the fire.