| I live in Atlanta and work with startups here. Compared to where it was a few years ago it is doing a lot better. With that being said it still isn't there yet. All of the points that the author made are valid ones. The plusses of being in Atlanta:
1. Costs are generally lower.
2. There are some good resources for startups if you know where to look.
3. We have had a few successful exits in this town and we are getting a better tech startup buzz.
4. You have a major airport hub and can get to anywhere in the country quickly and inexpensively.
5. We are beginning to get more traction with setting up hackathons and tech focused groups in the town.
6. There are a few quality companies that have recently come out of flashpoint. Opportunities for growth:
1. Atlanta Has not traditionally been a tech focused town. Finance, Marketing, Retail and Media have been it's dominate industries. IT has been more of a support function of those industries.
2. Atlanta investors are not as savvy as investors from tech hubs like Austin, the Valley and New York which makes it more difficult to raise money locally (a lot of startups have gone to one of those cities to raise money).
3. The resources in Atlanta do not seem to be as focused on creating tech centered startups as they could be. If you look at the programs offered at the ATDC etc. they tend to be focused on business development, product development, operations (legal things etc.) and marketing. Many of the startup events are filled with non-technical people with no money looking for co-founders for their latest social/gaming/store based app.
4. The community feels like it needs to gel and circle around the quality startups in town to drive a culture of quality....there are some low quality (me too) startups in town with non-technical founders and no money who have received way too much press/buzz that predictably have or will fail. Many of the opportunities for growth are not unique to Atlanta. This is probably also indicative of the small number of companies in Crunchbase that are out of Atlanta. The trajectory is going in the right direction, and if we can reach the critical mass it could be great....so in a way Atlanta is still a startup of startups. |