Personally, I liked quite a few of the projects that came out of Atlanta Startup Weekend 2.  Not only was my idea one of them (GivingTi.me), but I also participated (very tangentially) in another one (Twitpay).  During the wrap up session I gave some thoughts to another one that I think has a chance to have some legs on it (Jumbis).  CloseBuy.me also has an opportunity but the other two (Seed Stage Records and Reepli) are open questions for me.  If Reepli gets bought on eBay that would be pretty cool and quite possibly the first Startup Weekend project to have a liquidity event.  That could be spun to be a badge of honor of sorts both for the founders and for Atlanta.

Okay, so some real thoughts on the weekend.  This weekend was remarkably different than last year.  Not only was last year all about one project (Skribit - which by the way is still alive and well and also adorns the left side of this site in a fancy little pop up, lightbox overlay dealio) but I witnessed a lot of people having open arguments and massive disagreements in terms of strategy in regards to the project.

This year Startup Weekend was intended to have multiple projects being run concurrently.  I’m not sure how many actually had full teams after the voting on Friday but very quickly a handful of the teams imploded.  Various reasons for this but others who were directly involved are in a better position to discuss what happened since I only heard about them after the fact.

We had some sixteen people working on GivingTi.me when Saturday rolled around (we picked up some folks whose projects had imploded on Friday evening).  It’s been proposed that the attraction of folks to this project may have been due to the fact that I already had grant money lined up for the project (thanks to the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt).  Yeah, that probably had something to do with it but I think everyone on the project really wanted to work on something that could create a positive impact not only in Atlanta but beyond.  GivineTi.me has the opportunity to do just that.

And why do I think this was the motivation of folks working on this project?  Well, a lot of the folks have said that they want to continue working on the project and some have even approached me about what I’m planning next.  Also, not one of the folks from the weekend asked me about stock, options, or anything else.  I’m not sure where GivingTi.me will land - either as a 501(c)3 (not for-profit) or as a regular company.  If it does end up being the latter, I’ve committed to making sure that all the folks from the weekend get some shares of non-voting, common stock.  When I mentioned this during the weekend, not one person asked anything about details (why non-voting or the percentage or anything else).  That tells me these folks wanted to do this because it was something they truly believed in and not for some kind of compensation.

Another indication of believing the vision comes in the fact that over the weekend I didn’t hear one disagreement between any of my team members.  That’s right, not one.  Even given the vast differences in the experience levels within the development team and the business development/marketing team no one ever got irate or upset at anyone else.  Well, that’s a lie.  Actually on Friday it did happen with one person but once we really got underway, it was smooth sailing.  And why was that?  Was it some leadership of myself or others?  Was it sheer force of will?  Nope.  It wasn’t any of those things.  I think what it amounts to is that the folks who were attracted to this project realized that this was about helping others and thus their work on the project, and interactions with others on the project, should be about helping others.

In the end, we built a fantastic site that I could never have built by myself.  Sure there are still some issues with the site but we’ll get them ironed out.  Regardless, I consider the weekend a success because a bunch of folks got together and started GivingTi.me down the right path and along the way they helped teach one another some great things and made some good friends.  Personally, I’d start a company and work with any one of them.  And if that isn’t a good outcome for Atlanta Startup Weekend, then I don’t know what is.

297 E. Broad St.
Athens, Georgia 30601

If you’re an entrepreneur, angel investor, or VC you’re welcome to join us. If you’re not one of those three things, you’re welcome to stay away from this get together.

Feel free to RSVP below. Or don’t and just show up. Whatever.

After the event I’m heading over to UGA to speak to an entrepreneurship class.  I’ve been told I can bring along people too.  That class runs from 2pm until 4:45pm so if you want to come afterwards, you can just follow me along to UGA.

Also, do you find keeping up with these local events tough? If so, I’ve started an announcements only mailing list that you can subscribe to. Just send an email to atlstartups-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and you’ll get the announcements. I plan to keep the list postings to about one every few days at most but in no case more than one a day. Or you can just keep coming here to read the latest event scoop.

3261 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30305

If you’re an entrepreneur, angel investor, or VC you’re welcome to join us. If you’re not one of those three things, you’re welcome to stay away from this get together.

Feel free to RSVP below or on the Upcoming event. Or don’t and just show up. Whatever.

Also, do you find keeping up with these local events tough? If so, I’ve started an announcements only mailing list that you can subscribe to. Just send an email to atlstartups-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and you’ll get the announcements. I plan to keep the list postings to about one every few days at most but in no case more than one a day. Or you can just keep coming here to read the latest event scoop.

For 2009, we’re shooting for 70 presenting companies and we’re capping attendance at somewhere between 300 and 350 people.  Also note that last year we had over 90 applications to present and over 330 applications to attend.  Clearly, we had to say no to a bunch of applications in both groups.

So if you’re interested in attending, I urge you to apply early to attend or present as appropriate.  Preference will be given to those who get their applications in early.

If you’re an entrepreneur, angel investor, or VC you’re welcome to join us. If you’re not one of those three things, you’re welcome to stay away from this get together.

Feel free to RSVP below or on the Upcoming event. Or don’t and just show up. Whatever.

Also, do you find keeping up with these local events tough?  If so, I’ve started an announcements only mailing list that you can subscribe to.  Just send an email to atlstartups-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and you’ll get the announcements.  I plan to keep the list postings to about one every few days at most but in no case more than one a day.  Or you can just keep coming here to read the latest event scoop.

We’re still dealing with a shortage of gasoline in Atlanta (and other places).  When the shortage was at its worst there were maybe 20% of the gas stations that had fuel of some kind (most ran dry of regular first and then people started buying up the grade scale as supplies ran out).  A lot of people were reporting where gas was, and wasn’t, on Twitter.  When the shortage was at the worst point people were waiting in lines for as long as an hour or two to get rationed gasoline.  For many, this was like reliving the 1973 oil embargo and the lines that people sat in back then.

A lot of supplies have now recovered and about half of the local gas stations seem to have fuel based on my unscientific guess while driving around.  A lot are still totally dry.  But even with a lot of stations still without gasoline, the lines have disappeared.  It has probably been 3 or 4 days since I’ve seen a line for a gas pump.  In fact, I’ve seen some stations with gas and no one is at any of the pumps.

So what does this all mean?  To me, it means that we have too many gas stations.  If the number of gas stations that are currently serving fuel were not sufficient to fulfill demand, there would be lines.  Since there aren’t lines, that means there is a sufficient amount of fuel, and more importantly, enough available distribution locations for the current level of consumption.

So your immediate response should be - well, if that really were true then market forces should cause gas stations that aren’t necessary to not do well financially and then shut down.  I agree, if we were dealing with businesses that sold only one product - gasoline.

In fact, “gas” stations sell a lot more than just gasoline.  They sell food, drinks, and a bunch of other products and services.  Most (All?) of which provide greater profit margins than gasoline sales.  So really “gas” stations are really convenient stores that happen to sell gasoline as a way of getting customers in the door.

They’ve all realized that they can’t make enough money to cover costs on one commodity product (gasoline) and so have decided to sell other commodity products (candy bars, drinks, etc.) that have higher profit margins in the hopes of having a self sustaining business.

So Why Should I Care About Gas Stations?

Note: I’m assuming you read this post because you’re either an entrepreneur or someone interested in startups.  If you aren’t, the rest of this post may not be too interesting for you.

Gas stations and the market issues around them mirror what often happens in startups.  A new industry or niche launches and there is a rush of time and money poured into the field.  The industry becomes commoditized.

So why do companies in the same space get funded over and over again leading to product/service commoditization?  Well, a lot of investors, honestly, are lemmings.  Money keeps getting poured into sectors that are “hot” while very valid and exciting advances in technology are under funded because a lack of excitement or understanding on the part of investors.

But really, this isn’t the investors’ fault.  The fault lays at the feet of the entrepreneur.  If there weren’t as many companies vying to be the eBay/Amazon/PayPal/Google/Microsoft/whatever of this new industry/niche, there wouldn’t be so many companies that investors could fund.  As entrepreneurs, we are the ones that start the lemmings in their run towards the cliff.

So What Can I Do?

So think about the startup that you’re at or that you want to start.  Are you really doing something that is unique?  Be honest - if not to others, at least to yourself.  Are you entering an already crowded field with the hopes of doing what everyone else is doing and then try to sell some lottery tickets and candy bars along with it?  If so, you’re just trying to provide a commodity product/service with add-ons that are also (or will become) commodities.  That’s a very difficult situation to succeed in.  Besides, if your initial thought was to go into an industry to make it big (gasoline sales) but you diversified (candy bar sales) to keep it going, do you really think you’ll succeed wildly or just limp along for years to come?  More importantly, are you going to enjoy that business?

If you’re going to launch a startup you need to think about two things.  First, are you launching a startup into a field that is already well served or even over served (partially or fully commoditized)?  In other words, are you going to set up a gas station where no more gas stations are needed or are only marginally needed?  If so, doing the same thing and selling some candy bars isn’t going to lead you to the success you seek.

Second, look around and see if there is another underlying problem/issue that you can solve instead.  Success is much easier to attain when you create a novel solution to a universal problem that no one else realizes is fixable.  Sometime people don’t even realize they have a problem until you present the solution.  Sure you may have a harder time raising money or educating potential users as to why they care but in the end, you’ll deliver a new worthwhile solution to a market that you’ve created.  Selling a unique solution to others who are selling commodity products/services doesn’t make you a commodity as well.  It actually makes you smarter than the commodity players.

Of the companies I’ve heard about recently (locally or not), the most interesting ones are attacking a problem that no one else is doing anything about.  They still have a lot of challenges in terms of market education and adoption as well as fundraising, but I’m way more excited about their prospects than another company doing the same old thing with some candy bars thrown into the mix.

We’re going to mix it up for the upcoming Open Coffee and head up to Roswell.  It’ll be September 23, 2008 from 2pm until 5pm.  Keith McGreggor’s wife is a co-owner of a shop up there and has agreed to let us hang out.  Before you ask, yes there is free WiFi.  I’ve also heard (mainly from Keith on Twitter) that the cookies are fantastic.  I’ll be the judge of that.  :-)

The address of the shop is: KellyKakes/Party Chic, 953 Canton Street, Roswell, GA 30075.  If you’re an entrepreneur, angel investor, or VC you’re welcome to join us. If you’re not one of those three things, you’re welcome to stay away from this get together.

Feel free to RSVP below or on the Upcoming event. Or don’t and just show up. Whatever.

If you’re interested in attending, make sure you register on their Facebook event (yes, that means you have to have a Facebook account).