Five Years of “Not the Valley”

If you’ve seen me during business hours in the last five years, it’s likely that I was wearing a button like this one on my shirt or jacket. And if you asked me about it, it’s likely that I gave you one… I’ve given away over 1000 at this point. … [Read more...]

My Talks at Dragon Con 2014

My annual post in response to the people asking me "What are you talking about at Dragon Con this year?" … [Read more...]

Innovation U 2.0

In 2002, the Southern Growth Policies Board published Innovation U., which I've used frequently in discussing EI2's mission. Even though the SGPB has evaporated, one of the authors decided the time was right to update their work with "Innovation U 2.0." … [Read more...]

Snowjam ’82 and the Birth of an Entrepreneur

So it's 60°F outside and it's hard to believe that Snowjam 2014 started barely 100 hours ago. It was a bad time for Atlanta, and I am grateful for all the kind generous people who worked tirelessly to help their neighbors and complete strangers. This is a wonderful city. There are lots of stories out there about what happened and why it got so … [Read more...]

Top Ten Technologies for 2014

To kick off the new year, I prepared a list of the Top Ten Technologies for our friends at the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The limitations of smearing ink on dead trees forced the newspaper to cut the list down to five. But electrons are cheap. Just for completeness, here's my original Top Ten, with special attention to how they'll impact … [Read more...]

Repurposing Tollbooths

So, in a slightly delayed fulfillment of a 2010 campaign promise, Gov. Nathan Deal removed the tolls on Georgia Highway 400 a few weeks ago. With three traffic lanes zipping by on the left, that leaves seven empty lanes barricaded off in each direction. What to do? Here's my vote: … [Read more...]

Happy Birthday, Tech Square!

I've been travelling a bit lately, visiting innovation communities in Austin, Portland, and Saõ Paulo. I've also had a chance to compare notes with venture capitalists and angel investors from all over the U.S. at the Venture Atlanta conference held last week, and with city planners in my role as a team leader for the Atlanta co(lab) conference in … [Read more...]

My Thoughts on (co)lab

On Sunday and Monday, Leadership Atlanta hosted the first (co)lab event... pitched as a "Collaborative Leadership Summit" that would help Atlanta connect, communicate, and collaborate on issues vital to Atlanta. It was a very well-produced event, with extraordinary speakers. If you weren't there, I recommend you peruse the Twitter stream (hashtag … [Read more...]

My Talks at DragonCon 2013

My annual post in response to the people asking me "What are you talking about at DragonCon this year?" … [Read more...]

Startups for Grownups

Last month, Sarah Lacy of Pando Daily posted an article titled "Memo to non-Valley, non-NYC ecosystems: No one you want cares about the cost of living." Read the whole thing. But here's her thesis: … [Read more...]