ATDC 2013 Startup Showcase and Graduation
Today I was proud to be part of the ATDC Startup Showcase and our graduation from this fine institution. ATDC is one of the longest standing startup traditions in the southeast and a pillar of support for building new companies and encouraging disruptive change.
In order to graduate from ATDC, member companies must hit certain milestones, either in terms of revenue or in terms of VC capital raised. In the case of AccelerEyes, revenues over $1mm led to our graduation today.
There were 4 other awesome startups graduating today as well, 2 in healthcare IT, one in energy analytics, and one in entertainment devices. We are proud to be differentiated from the 4 other graduates by being the only wholly-employee-owned business in the lineup.
At the graduation, Bill Nussey gave the speech. He shared the following take-home messages:
- Manage to the Dunbar number. The size of the human brain is correlated with the optimal work group or community size. Typically for humans, the number “150” is used. When organizations grow larger than this, there is a breakdown that starts to occur. Trust is no longer automatic. The company starts to feel as if it is losing its soul. This is something growing companies need to pay attention to.
- Get out of the office a few days a month. Initial assumptions will be wrong. It’s tough to discover things that will take you to the next level when you are in the grind of operations. Don’t forget to step back.
- Have relentless and unapologetic passion. As you grow, there will be dogma and resistance against the passion by others. If the critics and the VCs has all the answers, they’d be starting their own companies. There are no universal answers.
Today was a great celebration with many of those people that have contributed to our journey. I’m very grateful for our time at ATDC. It was a transformative period for our company and for me personally.
What did you enjoy about today’s ATDC Startup Showcase?