ATLANTA – May 15, 2012 – Venture Atlanta, Georgia’s premiere event connecting technology innovation and investment capital, today issued a call for presenters at its annual investor event to be held October 17-18, 2012 at the Georgia Aquarium. As the region’s largest venture conference, presenting companies and event attendees will have the opportunity to network with both regional and national VCs and angel investors.

During its 11-year tenure, Venture Atlanta and its earlier iterations have matched hundreds of companies with over $900 million in capital by creating an invaluable conference for entrepreneurs. This year, the event looks to break $1 billion in investments. By coupling national investor exposure and excellent mentoring from community executives, Georgia companies are given an unparalleled opportunity to increase funding dollars. Past presenters have labeled the mentoring aspect of the event vital in honing their message and a key benefit of the conference.

“Venture Atlanta’s coaching sessions helped us, as a presenting company, put our best foot forward,” said Mike Stashak, vice president of marketing of Wahoo Fitness. “Venture Atlanta helps put Georgia companies like us on the map. We had the opportunity to really connect with the Atlanta investment and entrepreneurial communities AND the national investment community. Not only could we present to our peers, but we also had the opportunity to meet outside influencers and investors from across the country.”

According to past presenters, the Venture Atlanta conference provides Atlanta with a vehicle to outshine other top investment cities, and gives Georgia entrepreneurs, and those looking for a place to call home, a boost through in-person contact with investors rather than simple phone introductions and other less effective means. “Georgia companies have the opportunity to shake hands with high profile investors from areas such as Boston, Silicon Valley and North Carolina,” said Michael Zeto, CEO and founding partner of Proximus Mobility. “This event gives investors the confidence and much needed face time with entrepreneurs, because really, investors are making an investment in the people as much as the technology.”

Venture Atlanta will select 40 presenters from the following industry segments:

• Communication technology
• Consumer products
• Financial technology
• Health IT
• Information security
• Mobile

The two-day conference will highlight Georgia’s entrepreneurial companies and showcase innovation in the local community in both the early and later stages. Presenting companies will have the opportunity to present their business plan on stage in front of a large audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, local executives, entrepreneurs and event sponsors. All companies looking to raise capital are encouraged to apply. There are no fees to apply and presenting companies attend Venture Atlanta free of charge.

“As a Georgia entrepreneur, make sure you get involved with Venture Atlanta even if you just attend the conference,” continued Proximus Mobility’s Zeto. “Venture Atlanta is the Southeast’s best networking event in that the organization brings together national investors and local entrepreneurs of all stages. If you are nominated to present, regardless of stage, if you take the opportunity seriously – it will open countless doors for you.”

All companies seeking to present must submit a two-page executive summary by August 15, 2012. For more information, visit www.ventureatlanta.org. Be sure to check out extended Venture Atlanta coverage in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on September 28 for information regarding 2012 presenters, conference history and other exclusive information.

The annual event serves as a graduation ceremony for ATDC companies and this year most of the graduating class healthcare-related companies – from 3D scanning technology for the hearing aid sector to mobile technology for the doctor’s wait room to a company developing therapeutics for inflammations. The 2012 graduating class include:

Preparis

SimpleC

Digital Assent

Celtaxsys

BioAutomaton Systems Inc.

Asankya (acquired by EMC Corporation)

Axion Biosystems

3DM Systems

Honors for Venture Atlanta Companies

In other updates, congratulations to Andrew Ibbotson, CEO of Digital Assent for being named the “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the recent TiECON Southeast conference held in Atlanta. Congratulations also go out to Rob Frohwein, CEO of Kabbage who was named a Top 10 Innovator by Bank Technology News.

Finally, a big kudos to Wahoo Fitness for beating out 2,500 other applicants and winning an international award for its BlueHR heart rate belt which turns an iPhone into a training computer. The “Best of 2012 – Innovationspreis IT” Award presented by Initiative Mittelstand, under the auspices of the Federal Commissioner for IT in Germany and IBM Germany GmbH.

A fantastic way to go into summer and also time to get your executive summaries ready if you want to apply to present at Venture Atlanta 2012.

Jared Malan, co-founder of We&Co.

“As a transplant in Atlanta, I didn’t have the support of a strong community for the first time in my life,” said Malan, co-founder and ‘Thanker-in-Chief’ at We&Co. “The first places that I began to feel a sense of community were the places I loved to visit.”

And so We&Co was born. Malan realized that servers, baristas, bartenders, stylists and other service professionals played a meaningful role in his life and could play a similar role for others.

“This relationship between patron and service professional is important, but unlike the relationship between friends and family that are found on Facebook, or between colleagues that are found on LinkedIn, patrons and service professionals had no place to connect online,” notes Malan.

TJ Muehleman, Co-founder and chief web monkey at We&Co.

Last fall, Malan teamed up with TJ Muehleman, co-founder and Chief Web Monkey, to create We&Co, a platform for connecting patrons with outstanding service professionals.

Both Malan and Muehleman have worked in the service industry and understand how difficult it can be when excellent customer service goes unrecognized. Through We&Co, service professionals are now able to see the positive impact they have on their patrons’ lives and use that positive social reputation to help build their careers.

The company’s concept of giving consumers a way to recognize and thank their service professionals naturally builds a sense of community among its users. It also bridges a gap. On the one hand, consumers, through their expressions of ‘thanks,’ help We&Co identify an army of top service professionals. On the other, this army of services professionals can now be accessed by brands to drive deeper consumer engagement.

The company has four main functions:

1. To enable consumers to recognize and connect with their favorite service providers.
2. To provide service professionals a LinkedIn-like profile, enabling these professionals to be recognized for their good work.
3. To give business owners tools to incentivize and manage top service professionals.
4. To help brands identify and recruit top service talent to effectively reach consumers.

“The coolest thing has started to organically happen using We&Co,” explained 30 year-old Kyle Coleman, a project manager at Atlanta-based Kabbage and one of We&Co’s top ‘thankers’. “When I ask service professionals for their names, they’ll innately ask me for mine. Now, when I walk into my ‘regular spots’ they actually welcome me by my name!”

Coleman continues to explain that this personal service and interaction makes her tip more, want to learn more about the service professional and continue her patronage of that business.

We&Co profile screenshot

We&Co places screenshot

The personal connections that We&Co enables through their platform is not only good for the service provider, it can also be good for his or her store’s top line. According to Bain & Company’s report, “Putting Social Media to Work,” customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20 to 40 percent more money with those companies than those who do not.  The report findings also indicate that socially engaged customers demonstrate a deeper emotional commitment to the companies, granting them an average 33 points higher Net Promoter score (NPS), a common measure of customer loyalty.

As social networking continues to grow, companies and businesses will be at a loss if they’re not in the game, especially when it comes to social good initiatives. And this is good news for companies like We&Co.

“A strong social impact doesn’t make a company, but is a component of a great company,” said Malan. “The best people want to work for a company that makes the world a better place and customers want to pay for services that help them in their life without negatively impacting others’.”

The company plans to grow through marketing partnerships with businesses and service professionals. According to We&Co, its users have thanked service professionals in all 50 states and across 67 countries. They are finalizing a $500,000 raise, which is being led by Doug Curling of New Kent Capital.

Doug Curling, managing principal at New Kent Capital

“We&Co are good folks with a big idea,” said Curling.  “We’re excited to be a part of their team and to help them build and grow. We like what they’re doing — a lot — and see a ton of upside.”

While the company and its business model is unique in the industry, Malan sees the real challenge to be gaining consumer mindshare in today’s cluttered social space.

“It’s getting someone to spend a little less time on Facebook and more time getting to know the people he or she relies on,” notes Malan.

May 2012 Newsletter

• SPARKS: WE&CO. CROWD-SOURCED KLOUT FOR SERVICE PROFESSIONALS
• MONEY BIN: SHARING ABOUT SHARECARE
• NOTEWORTHY: SOCIAL MEDIA STARTUPS DIVERSITY IS THE WORD

Atlanta Social Media Lions

Vitrue’s eponymous social relationship management (SRM) platform provides tools to maximize community engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus – enabling big brands to publish content on both a local and global level. Founded in 2006, Vitrue has gone through a number of pivots but has found market traction and success by focusing on Facebook and Twitter. The company is led by another former WebMD executive Reggie Bradford and currently serves prominent brands such as McDonald’s, P&G brands, Intel, Hyundai and AT&T.

According to a February report from the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA), digital marketers worldwide are investing a greater portion of their total marketing budgets online this year. And with U.S. ad spend in social networks forecasted to be at $3.93 billion by eMarketer in 2012, BLiNQ Media is poised to capture a significant portion of this.

The BLiNQ Ad Management Platform is used by agencies and media buyers to optimize and buy advertising campaigns on Facebook on their clients’ behalf.  The company lists some of the biggest names in the agency and brand categories including Havas, R/GA, Moxie Interactive, Starcom, AT&T, Turner and McDonald’s as customers or partners.

The company has been busy the last 15 months. Since naming a former Vitrue employee as its chief technology officer early last year, it expanded its footprint to include offices in Boston and Chicago and established a London office to serve its European clientele. It also acquired a number of companies in 2011. Looxii, a Twitter analytics company founded in 2009 was the most recent acquisition.

Acquisitions seem to be a recurring theme among social media technology companies in Atlanta.

Email marketing and marketing automation powerhouse Silverpop recently purchased PlacePunch, a location-based marketing solution provider that works with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Users can design rewards programs, or integrate new elements into existing loyalty programs.

Former PlacePunch founder Adam Steinberg, now of Silverpop, predicts online marketers will shift from “a silo approach to a holistic approach” with regard to location-based rewards programs. PlacePunch can power consumer programs that include proximity-based offers, sweepstakes, and other offers.

New Kids on the Block

The newest social media startups to enter the Atlanta market fall into three broad categories. They are either niched to specific user groups or are online communities organized around a specific topic or purpose.

Small Business Niche

These first two companies target small businesses and while restaurants are not the exclusive focus of either, both are looking to capture a portion of the 420,000 or so restaurants in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Soket, a finalist in last year’s GRA/TAG Business Launch contest, provides a social media command center for small businesses – particularly those with local clientele. Restaurants and retailers, for example, may be active on social media, but likely do not have a full-time employee managing multiple social channels. Users monitor social chatter and manage event promotions through Soket.

We&Co also serves small businesses. The smartphone app helps users recognize great service at retail businesses on the go. Designed for patrons, employees and retail businesses, We&Co enhances casual relationships consumers have with their barista, mechanic, and stylist, etc. But there is more to this company’s deceptively simple business model. read more

Sport and Health Communities Reign Supreme

A number of online communities for sports enthusiasts have emerged in the last nine months. SportsCrunch, a Flashpoint at Georgia Tech cohort, can be likened to LinkedIn for athletes, fans, and coaches – a place for connecting, replaying and reliving favorite personal sports moments. Backed by former IBM Internet Security Systems CTO and Endgames CEO Chris Rouland, the community is still in private beta.

Team Fenom, another sports community, wants to become the destination for women’s sports content and build community around fans of women’s sports. Founded by sisters Antonia and Charlotte Newman, the company is part of the StartupChicks Accelerator program. The community is scheduled for a beta launch in mid-May.

Sharecare is WebMD founder Jeff Arnold’s latest venture and is a consumer health and wellness community with an interactive Q&A twist. Launched in 2010, the website is the result of a partnership between Arnold and Emmy–award winning host, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and media powerhouses Harpo Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Discovery Communications. While its DNA does not read ‘startup,’ the format is 100% social.

Social Media for Social Good

And finally, Beremedy is an example of how social media can be used to galvanize volunteers for social good. Through its Facebook page and Twitter wall, Blake Canterbury and his team relay messages of need to its community of fans and followers. Many of these receive almost immediate responses.

The requests vary from beds for children of a previously homeless family to water for Haiti survivors. Sidestepping traditional methods, Beremedy has found a way to connect those in need with those that can help. “Usually within five minutes every single need we’ve ever posted has been met,” states Canterbury.

Unlike HopeMob, founded by Atlanta-resident Shaun King who relocated to the West Coast to start his venture, Canterbury has no plans to move even as it works toward expanding its geographic reach.

What other companies are innovating and executing within the social media category?  Who are we missing?

May 2012 Newsletter

• SPARKS: WE&CO. CROWD-SOURCED KLOUT FOR SERVICE PROFESSIONALS
• MONEY BIN: SHARING ABOUT SHARECARE
• NOTEWORTHY: SOCIAL MEDIA STARTUPS DIVERSITY IS THE WORD

“Right after food, water and shelter, people need to feel a sense of belonging and love. Social media is capable of delivering these experience. The scale of this opportunity for innovation is almost unfathomable. What we see with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. is just the very beginning. This is the challenge and opportunity for social media startups: figure out how to deliver experience of belonging and love online.”

— Merrick Furst, Director of Flashpoint at Georgia Tech

NOTEWORTHY

SOCIAL MEDIA STARTUPS – DIVERSITY IS THE WORD

The call to innovate within the social media arena is strong among Atlanta’s entrepreneurs.  Of the pool of companies looking to build the next Facebook, two have emerged as the undisputed leaders. Ironically, both have built robust businesses by helping other businesses better leverage the industry’s 800 lb gorilla Facebook. read more

SPARKS

WE&CO: CROWD-SOURCED KLOUT FOR SERVICE PROFESSIONALS

Getting settled and establishing a routine in a new city can be challenging. This is especially so if you are flying solo and trying to get to know a whole new set of people and places. While some may consider such a situation overwhelming, it is this exact scenario that inspired Jared Malan to develop We&Co, an Atlanta-based social networking website for connecting people with outstanding service providers. read more

MONEY BIN

SHARING ABOUT SHARECARE

Sharecare is WebMD founder Jeff Arnold’s latest venture in the consumer health arena. Along with co-founder Dr. Mehmet Oz of the popular Dr. Oz Show, (airs on Atlanta’s Fox affiliate WAGA-TV at 4 PM daily), Arnold launched the site in 2010 with marquis media partners that any startup would kill to have. read more

 OVERHEARD

“A strong social impact doesn’t make a company, but is a component of a great company.” –  Jared Malan, co-founder of We&Co.

Jeff Arnold, co-founder of Sharecare

Venture Atlanta caught up with Arnold and following is the transcript to the interview conducted over email.

VA: How did Sharecare come to be?

JA: An introduction with Dr. Mehmet Oz by Oprah, as Dr. Oz was thinking through his website to accompany his show launch, was what led to Sharecare’s launch in October 2010. We both wanted to impact health and create a site where consumers could find reliable information online, from multiple trusted perspectives, to allow them the best opportunity to make informed decisions about their health.

We also wanted to ensure consumers could connect with healthcare professionals and take immediate action and make the changes necessary to live their healthiest lives. We take consumers from information to action to support, which are the three most important facets to facilitating change, but we do so in a way that personalizes health for our members.

VA: Who does Sharecare serve?

JA: We serve those consumers who are interested in living their healthiest lives. We refer to ourselves as the “humble host” of healthcare, opening up the opportunity for our members to connect with healthcare experts across all disciplines.

We currently work with more than 200 major partners such as RealAge, American Red Cross, AARP and Mt. Sinai. We provide our consumers the ability to ask questions that are answered by multiple experts and connect with members of a community who can weigh-in with their experiences and personal advice. It’s a collaborative environment and that’s the future of healthcare.

VA: How does Sharecare work?

JA: The strategy is to move consumers from information to action to support. The action piece involves measurable evidence-based programs like “Dr. Oz’s Transformation Nation,” developed in partnership with Weight Watchers, which launched in September 2011 and has over one million participants.

We understand that it doesn’t matter how good the technology is if you don’t build the relationship because you won’t get compliance and without compliance you won’t get results and without results, people won’t use you as a resource. If Sharecare doesn’t connect with the consumer, we’re not going to drive engagement, and if we don’t drive engagement, we’re not going to get results, and we want to drive results.

VA: What do you think is the future for social entrepreneurship and companies like yours?

JA: With the increasing relevance of social networking, the future is promising. We know that social networking accounts for about one out of every six minutes a consumer spends online according to comScore and numbers are expected to rise.

What we are building is a social network specific to health, utilizing a community-approach to healthcare, with multiple, trusted answers for each question and facilitating a quality connection between health-seeker and healthcare provider. We have seen our numbers grow substantially, with page views being over 100 million a month in the first quarter of 2012 and we expect to continue to show strong reach.

VA: Who are your competitors and how do you stay ahead?

JA:  I don’t consider other healthcare sites competitors — sites like Healthwise and Livestrong are on Sharecare, and frankly, WebMD should be too. We want all boats to rise with the tide to empower the healthcare provider with the tools they need to best meet the needs of the health-seeker. The goal is to enable the individual healthcare provider to connect directly with consumers and allow our consumers the benefit of multiple perspectives in a social environment.

VA: How many users does Sharecare have?

JA:We are averaging about 15 mm visits each month across the Sharecare platform.

VA: How are your web metrics compared to similar communities?

Average Time Spent
Per visit: 9 minutes
Peer average: 3 minutes

Average Page Views
Per visit: 5.3 pages
Peer average: 4 pages

VA: How do you market and promote Sharecare?

JA: We work with our hundreds of leading partners to promote the site and introduce relevant content and programs to healthcare seekers. In addition, our founding partners are leading media brands including Harpo, Discovery, and Hearst, which gives us the reach to create more impact in moving people to take action.

Our partnership with The Dr. Oz Show helps us create amazingly engaging and life-changing programs that compel users to join Sharecare. These strong relationships are the cornerstone of our marketing practice.

VA: Any additional information that you’d like to share?

JA: We will be launching new healthcare provider services on our platform that will enable increased access and communication for both the consumer and the provider. We are providing new functionality to provide healthcare providers with innovative tools to enhance their practices, such as digital business cards and geo-targeted lead generation programs. In addition, consumers will have the ability to book appointments online and further engage with the physician in more meaningful ways.

Screenshot of Sharecare Platform

May 2012 Newsletter

• SPARKS: WE&CO. CROWD-SOURCED KLOUT FOR SERVICE PROFESSIONALS
• MONEY BIN: SHARING ABOUT SHARECARE
• NOTEWORTHY: SOCIAL MEDIA STARTUPS DIVERSITY IS THE WORD

Greg Peters, Founder and CEO of News Distribution Network

Venture Atlanta 2010 presenting company News Distribution Network is an online video news distribution network serving content owners, news sites and brands that buy pre-roll, post-roll or in-stream advertising. According to a Form D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in mid-March, the company  successfully closed on a $2.5 million round.

Led by Greg Peters, former CEO and president of Internap, the company lists media companies The Associated Press, Reuters, CBS, ABC, BBC, Comcast (E Entertainment), TV Guide, TMZ, Hearst, Cox, Gatehouse Media, Raycom and Meredith among its partners.

L-R: David Hartnett, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and David Moeller, CodeGuard

Less than a year after bursting into the Atlanta startup scene by not only winning a place on the prestigious TechCrunch Disrupt stage, closing a $500,000 seed round led by Imlay Investments and winning the popular vote at CapVenture and Venture Atlanta, CodeGuard closed on a $1.3 million round in March.

Led by newcomer David Moeller, the company provides website monitoring, backup and remediation to small businesses.

Telemedicine technology provider REACH Health, Inc., secured a $4 million Series B funding round in April. The company will use funds raised to grow the number of hospitals in its customer base and extend the footprint of its  multidisciplinary telemedicine platform, REACH Access™ to provide patients with the best access to specialized care.

Council Capital, BIP Opportunities Fund LP, and C&B Capital led the round. All three also participated in the company’s series A financing.

Innovolt, provider of patented power protection technology closed on a $3.9 million round of funding in April. The company licenses its technology to companies in sectors such a consumer electronics, medical technology, cable and satellite. Its technology protects electronic products from power surges and other harmful disruptions, thereby increasing product lifespan and reliability.

The company is led by former investment banker James Mitropoulus who was a founding investor. Mitropoulus joined the company as CFO in 2008 and was named the CEO in 2010.

The company got its start in the Georgia Tech VentureLab program which provides assistance to the university’s faculty, research staff and students who want to launch startups based on their academic research. In the words of Roberto Casas, associate director of the Georgia Tech VentureLab program, “Innovolt is another success story of this one-stop technology commercialization program at Georgia Tech.”

Know a company that ought to be a part of this round up? Send us a tip at editor@ventureatlanta.org

While most of Atlanta will be at the Dogwood, the Norcross or some other spring festival, approximately 150 developers, marketers and designers will spend 54 hours building what they hope will be the next Instagram or Tumblr. Yes, the frenetic chaos that is Startup Weekend Atlanta is back. While the event, which begins April 20 at 6PM, is sold out, event organizers are still seeking volunteers. Click here for more details.

Entrepreneur magazine columnist, startup strategist and author of Power of Unpopular will be in Atlanta on Wednesday, April 25 for a book signing and happy hour at the BarrelHouse in Midtown.

Erika is no stranger to the Atlanta startup scene and has written about our community and TripLingo in her monthly Entrepreneur column.

It is free to attend but registration is required. Click here to register.

The Technology Association of Georgia’s Entrepreneur Society is hosting Venture Atlanta at its next monthly meeting. Members of the Venture Atlanta selection committee will discuss selection criteria and the benefits of presenting at Venture Atlanta. Coaches and previous presenting companies will also be on hand to share their experiences and answer questions.

Capacity is limited so if you’re interested, register here now.

STARTUP SPRING FLING And it appears that the startup community will be experiencing its first block party. StartupSpringFling is the brainchild of veteran entrepreneur, investor and owner of 151 Locust Ed Rieker. The block party is scheduled for Friday, May 4, 2012 at Avondale Estates in Decatur. According to the website, attendees are encouraged to beat the Friday Rush Hour by showing up at 4:30 PM when the beer garden opens.

The highlight of the event is a dunking tank and organizers are seeking suggestions on who you would like to dunk. Submit your suggestions here. Rumor has it the Father of Atlanta Angel Investing is a dunkee. Curious? Purchase tickets here.  Proceeds will be donated to charity.

Do you have a startup event? Send details to editor@ventureatlanta.org

But this is a common misconception. Members of the BoD are elected by the company’s shareholders and since the entrepreneur usually owns majority of the company’s shares, especially in the case of early stage startups, the fear of losing control of the board is moot.

Why Have a BoD?

1. Members of your BoD ideally should bridge gaps in business or category expertise that exist in your executive team.  For instance, if you are boot-strapping, having local serial entrepreneur and veteran boot-strapper David Cummings on your board is a big plus. If marketing and strategic alliances are big components of your execution strategy, it would behoove you to seek someone who has domain expertise in both of these disciplines in your industry.

2. Having a board member with a strong network that you can tap into can be vital to gaining traction and growing your startup. Adding someone with a Tom Noonan-like profile  to your board if you have an information security startup will not only give you access to a large but close-knit network, it will also give your company instant credibility.

3. It is helpful to have a member of the board who is experienced in the financial and/or legal events faced by startups including fundraising, and mergers and acquisitions. This individual can help navigate the intricacies of these events and provide insights during the fundraising process.

4. Finally, entrepreneurs should build boards that not only provide value as outlined in points 1 through 3, they should also consider directors who can offer a different perspective. If diversity of race and gender is important to the audience that the startup is focused on, entrepreneurs should definitely take those into consideration when selecting their BoD.

Board Composition

Experts recommend that there be an odd number of directors to avoid ties when issues have to be put to a vote. Entrepreneurs can start out with just three members: an internal team member, an external member and themselves. But it is common to have boards that are comprised of five directors.

For startups that have raised venture capital, it is customary for the investors to require a board seat or two. Specifics are negotiated during the fundraising process. A venture-backed startup usually has five directors and the following composition is typical:

• The entrepreneur/CEO (usually the only employee/director)

• One or more directors selected from among the investors

• One or more outside directors with suitable experience as outlined above

The chairman of the board is not always the entrepreneur, especially if he/she is a rookie CEO or entrepreneur. Instead, this role is usually held by the director with the most experience in serving as a startup director.

Chairmanship is not usually a position of power. Rather he/she has the responsibility of coordinating the resources that will move the the company forward, meeting shareholders’ communications expectations and ensuring directors and the company meet their fiduciary responsibilities. The chair and the CEO work closely with the directors to establish meeting agendas.

We will discuss BoD management techniques in a future post.

But in the meantime, how do you select your BoD? Do you have  tips that you would like to share? Drop us a line in the comments section below.