StartupLounge was Transformational for Atlanta

October 19, 2013

We are experiencing a renaissance of startup growth in Atlanta. It’s on fire. There are so many new faces in the community. Startup events are exploding too. When we started AccelerEyes in 2007, there were hardly any regular (i.e. more than annual) events worth attending. Then Scott Burkett and Mike Blake started hosting StartupLounge events. […]

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Startup Idea Case Study: Server Cooling

October 17, 2013

This afternoon three would-be entrepreneurs from Virginia dropped by our office to discuss their startup idea. They have background in fluid mechanics and have an invention that uses liquid to wisk away heat from servers. Their key improvement over previous technologies is that the cooling system is powered by the heat of the server itself, […]

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Finding Talent as a Small Employer

October 16, 2013

I recently ran across this Business Insider article on how a small employer can find great talent. Small employers can offer better opportunities for many job seekers than BigCos. We have spent considerable time recruiting this year and continue to do so. I’ve written about that extensively on this blog. The article makes two interesting points that […]

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Two Gems from Scoutmob’s @Tavani

October 13, 2013

Last week I attended a Startup Grind meetup where Michael Tavani shared his stories of building Scoutmob. I walked away from the presentation with two gems of note. Gem #1 – Delighting Customers The first gem is how Michael focused on delighting customers. I love the word “delight.” There are so many things you can […]

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Starting Right and Following Through

October 11, 2013

I mentioned yesterday that I gave skimboarding on the beach a try. As I was working on it, I began to realize that success in skimboarding relies on two basic principles:  1) you have to start right by hitting the board in stride, and 2) you have to follow-through. Golf is the same way. You […]

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Relatable Startup Role Models

October 10, 2013

Last weekend, I was on the beach with family. One of the kids was skimboarding, and as I watched I didn’t have a desire to give it a try. Then an adult in the family started to give it a try, and I suddenly became interested. If an adult can try it, so can I. […]

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Startup Founders Should Answer the Phone

October 5, 2013

At the start of a new business, it is hugely beneficial for startup founders to answer the phone when it rings. I’ve written before about our use of Ringcentral to handle incoming calls. Ringcentral automatically routes incoming calls to the appropriate cell phones in the organization. This provides maximum flexibility for us. Ringcentral has a […]

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Fourth Step to Implement EOS: Scorecard

October 4, 2013

Continuing with the series on implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), today I share the 4th of 7 steps. The 4th step is called, “Scorecards.” We have begun to introduce scorecards into our business. Traction begins the section on Scorecards with the following quote: The concept of managing through a Scorecard has been around for a […]

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Quarterly Offsite Planning Meetings

October 2, 2013

In August, I wrote how we have implemented the Third EOS Step:  Meeting Rhythm. Today we held our first EOS Quarterly Meeting. We rented space offsite for the management team to review Q3 and make plans for Q4. The ability to get away from familiar environments was good to throw us into reset mode for […]

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Tonight’s Atlanta Startup Village #12 Recap

September 30, 2013

Tonight’s Atlanta Startup Village was awesome. With hundreds of high-energy people all buzzing about, the Village staff had problems getting everyone to leave! I’m hoarse from talking so much. Here’s a recap of tonight’s companies: DentalPost Started in 2005 as a hobby The founder is a registered dental hygienist and still sees patients one day […]

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