By the way, all applications are due by this Friday April 10th. So far we have seen a very impressive applicant pool.

http://www.shotputventures.com

Some entrepreneurs like boring things such as families, low taxes, affordable housing.

BTW, where was Facebook founded? Wikipedia? Flickr? Netvibes? (Answers: Boston, San Diego, Vancouver, France)

But this isnt a pissing contest. Atlanta is nowhere on the map. People are trying to change that. Great. But as the earlier poster said, anyone with a real idea with a real shot at success needs to get to the Valley or NYC. Maybe that wont be the cast in the future but it is today.

S

The list of start-up successes in Atlanta is too long to mention here, but feel free to reach out to any of us and we’ll be glad to educate you.

This regional sparring accomplishes nothing. The economy is not going to be revived solely by entrepreneurs in the Valley. Wherever well-intentioned and well-conceived efforts like Shotput, Capital Factory, etc. are brought to life, something good is likely to result for the country as a whole. As Rodney King said? “Can we all get along?”

You mean besides Firethorn and JungleDisk, right? That’s just the two most recent successes I know of.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Teddy Roosevelt’s words.

It’s easy to be a critic. It’s not the critic that counts. Annon critic cowards count even less.

Even if you think the founders of shotput are not as talented as the founders of other incubators, if you even bother reading TechCrunch and are interested in startups then how could you possibly react negatively to new sources of seed funding popping up? Bitter much?

This was just started, but it will be kept current: http://twitter....m/startupgossip I suggest following it, and showing up to participate.

However, I’ve also long said I believe the entreprenuers in Atlanta will ultimately be the solution to most of these issue with the startup ecosystem. I very much respect and applaud the Shotput Ventures guys and can say first hand that they are the “real deal”. They are very active with the community, have the right connections and are very passionate entrepreneurs trying to help other young up and coming entrepreneurs. Actions and results are what separates the wheat from the chaff.

There’s been a lot of positive traction in Atlanta since I’ve left and I’m very proud to still call it home. We have a long way to go to put Atlanta on the map. However, it will be the success of Atlanta startups that will determine if we were successful or not.

We need social contracts between entrepreneurs that encourage us to give back to others behind us – to lend a helping and encouraging hand to the next generation of innovators. This is much more common in the valley than in Atlanta – and I’m glad to see Mitch Free, David Cummings, Dave Williams and the rest of the wonderful crew at Shotput doing this in Atlanta.

In these times, we should all wish them success.

[1] http://blog.jef...-to-fix-it.html

[2] http://blog.jef...al-economy.html

There may be talent here but the community of meaningful players is small. After all, why would a partner of a leading VC firm here in town need to “applaud” a concept like this? If there is viable start-ups in town wouldnt he jump in? A good idea is a good idea. Period. In my experience successful VC’s dont need to rely on small fries to filter out the real players. That is just a lame excuse.

However, 5–10% equity is steep compared to the 3% that AlphaLab takes for the same funding, in an area with a lower cost of living.

there are innovators, imitators, and idiots.

mitch falls somewhere between imitator and idiot. No talent, compared with the mentors of the other mentioned incubators.

A chickenhawk or chicken hawk is slang used in American and British gay culture to denote older males who prefer younger males for (sexual or business) partners, who may less often be called “chickens”[1], i.e., the prey of the chickenhawk.[2] Other variations include chicken queen[3] and chicken plucker.[2]

It is sometimes used as a disparaging vulgarity within the LGBT community, or seen as a slur against people in that community. The label can also be applied to a man who seeks partners with the look of someone young, regardless of their target’s age or experience running a startup Technology company.

Much less frequently, “chickenhawk” indicates a man who uses underage boys for his sexual pleasure. The usage was publicized by members of the controversial group NAMBLA in the 1994 documentary film Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys,[6] although Time magazine reported it in this sense in 1975.[3]

The use and significance of this term have been the subject of academic discussions [7][8] as well as popular reports in vile counterculture publications such as Hustler, Field and Stream, and Techcrunch.

Expertise: See MG Siegler.

That said, thank God your applauding Shotput Ventures. America was quite worried whether you’d approve or not.

Not.