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Welcome to SL #33! We sat down and had a blast with Glenn McGonnigle, one of the founding partners of Atlanta’s newest venture capital fund – Tech Operators (founded by Glenn, Tom Noonan, David Gould, and Said Mohammadioun). We discussed a variety of things, including the details of the new fund, the landscape in the Southeast, and what types of plants Mike grows in his backyard for “medicinal purposes”.

The bus is back and ready to rumble with Mike at the wheel – this time, he plows headfirst into entrepreneurs who seem to think that circumventing AngelLounge and trying to get us to champion their deal is a good idea.  FAIL!  Mike also segues into a nice monologue on the angel perspective of the current economic downtrend.  Some great listener emails, a musical tribute to the $700B government bailout, and a sprinkling of StartupLounge humor round out another great show. Enjoy!

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Welcome to SL #30! Catalyst Magazine recently hosted a panel on “Raising Capital” at The Vinings Club here in Atlanta. The panel featured Greg Foster (Noro-Moseley Partners), Brian Patrick Cork (Brian Cork Human Capital), and Braxton Jarratt (CEO, ClearLeap). Catalyst asked StartupLounge to moderate the panel, which we were more than happy to do. We were angling for a “dual moderator” format, where Scott and Mike could take pot shots at each other all night, but sadly, with only a 45 minute session, we decided that one moderator would be a better format (in the interest of time). Sadly, the crowd got stuck with Scott moderating.

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Welcome to SL #29! We recently sat down with Alan Taetle of Noro-Moseley Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in the Southeast.   Joining him was Greg Foster, who recently joined Noro after driving the corporate venture arm of Turner Broadcasting. If you want to know what drives Noro, and these two investors in particular, you’ll want to tune in. We also talked about a smattering of other things, including Appcelerator’s departure from Atlanta and spreadsheet jockeys.

Another group of pathetic entrepreneurs get tossed under the bus … firmly. Some great listener emails and a sprinkling of StartupLounge humor round out another great show. Enjoy!

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Welcome to SL #26! Traditional venture capital firms tend to get the bulk of the publicity, but corporate America has long played a big role in funding early stage companies. In fact, 20% of all early stage capital comes from strategic investors like UPS, Intel, IBM, Turner Broadcasting, and others. Contrary to popular belief, UPS isn’t interested only in logistics deals, but rather anything that could affect their industry. Join us for a great conversation with Alan Koenning, who runs United Parcel Service’s Strategic Enterprise Fund.

Of course, a good batch of your emails, a quick bus ride (powered by a steroid-laden Mike Blake rant), and a dash of humor round out another great show. Enjoy!

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My cohort Mike Blake took to the stage recently at the Technology Association of Georgia’s Entrepreneur Society and delivered one of the best presentations I’ve seen in a long time. The topic was “Early Stage Capital in Georgia”. And of course, the tape was rolling, and a slidecast of the presentation can be viewed/listened to by clicking on the slide image below. In my opinion, this is easily one of the most informative things we’ve ever published here.
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