So I was teaching a class for Paul Steffes in ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) last week. One of the things I love about being on staff at a university is that I can drop in to a graduate class, teach to very smart people for ninety minutes, then leave. As I proved a couple of years ago when I was teaching in the College of Management, … [Read more...]
GT Edison Fund is official!
November 9, 2007 by
Some of you have known about this for a while... but we finally have all the correct sign-offs and can publicize the GT Edison Fund! … [Read more...]
BarCamp Atlanta sign-up
September 6, 2007 by
On the off chance that anyone is reading this who (1) lives in Atlanta, and (2) doesn't already read some of the other local blogs that have mentioned it (Jeff, Lance), BarCamp Atlanta is filling up fast!Space-limited to 100 attendees; after opening registration this week, we only have 31 seats left. If you're committed to coming, read more … [Read more...]
BarCamp Atlanta
August 3, 2007 by
After a lot of talking and a few false starts, we're going to hold the first Atlanta BarCamp in October!(No, it has nothing to do with drinking. The "BarCamp" name is a complement to "FooCamp". If you don't get the joke, this post is probably not for you.)From the wiki, "BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and … [Read more...]
Overcapitalization
June 29, 2007 by
So I'm at the DLA Piper Venture Pipeline event last week, and Howard Schwartz from their D.C. office is talking. And he mentions a word that I haven't heard in Atlanta for a while: "Overcapitalization."He goes on to point out that there are a lot of very large successful funds trying to put a lot money to work. And since venture capital is a … [Read more...]
Failure Is an Option
June 21, 2007 by
So I was on a panel at the America's Competitiveness Forum last week, and found myself sitting next to Diego Ibanez of Incubadora Octantis, a technology incubator in Santiago, Chile.He did a great job explaining what Octantis is doing... an especially impressive job when you realize that English is not his native language! Even if I weren't the … [Read more...]
Spelling Counts
June 8, 2007 by
So I'm reviewing business plans this morning, and I'm struck one more time by the number of typos and inconsistencies that I find.When I teach my classes on entrepreneurship, I always have at least one student protest my statement that "Spelling counts." Especially when they're not native English speakers. "It doesn't affect the meaning! And it … [Read more...]
Painkillers
June 4, 2007 by
Kevin Fong of Mayfield used to sayWe divide business plans into three categories: candy, vitamins, and painkillers. We throw away the candy. We look at vitamins. We really like painkillers. We especially like addictive painkillers!I've been thinking of this lately as I've been reviewing some business plans of companies looking for investment. … [Read more...]
I can’t resist a challenge…
May 25, 2007 by
On his blog a couple of weeks ago, Jeff Haynie wrote: … [Read more...]
