My last post generated a lot of great discussion about the good, bad and ugly in the Atlanta startup ecosystem. Thanks for everyone who sent me updates directly, via twitter and right here in the comments on my post. I also appreciated the one or two not so pleasant emails I received. You don’t have to agree with my perspectives on things — and that’s OK. Sorry that I pissed some of you off. My original intent was to provide some discussion in the community in a way to create a dialog that allows us to move forward. I think I’ve done that. It’s now up to you guys, the community, to take it from here.
Before I finally end my blogging about the startup ecosystem in Atlanta, I figured I’d depart with one last post on a more positive note. I want to highlight 2 great companies that I think are under-funded and currently dismissed (no fault to the founders or their businesses). I’ll speak specifically about each below, but both are great companies with great prospects. Will they be billion dollar businesses? Who the hell knows? However, they’ve got a lot of early traction, good people and deserve the community and investor support in Atlanta. As a disclaimer, I’m somehow involved in both companies – not financially by any means – but as a friend/advisor/cheerleader/customer/partner. Regardless of my involvement, I think these 2 companies serve as the great hope for companies being created in Atlanta.
Loopfuse
Loopfuse was started by Roy Russo and Tom Elrod a year or so ago. They had been thinking about it when they were still at Red Hat (after the acquisition of JBoss) and I’ll never forget the night I met with them to talk about starting the company and what their plans were. My advice: “quit your day job”. Like a lot of first-time entrepreneurs with good paying jobs and families – that was not something that was as easy as it sounded. But they did it. And, they struggled through building out the business – and they’ve really built something great. Not only a great product, but a great set of satisfied customers paying them real dollars every month. And some big customers. Appcelerator is a (tiny) customer too – and we put them through the ringer and they made the product better for us and we’re happy.
These guys tipify what local, first-time, startup entrepreneurs go through. They don’t have MBAs and they’ve never been CEO of anything. But they’re passionate, stubborn and just-fine-thank-you if they have to prove it to the world. And they’re doing it one day, one customer at a time.
Loopfuse makes a lead marketing product and it kicks butt. Every person with an online website / business in the world should be using this software if you care about turning those web site visitors into satisfied, life-long customers. You can think of Loopfuse as a Web2.0 version of Eloqua that doesn’t suck and that you can actually afford.
Tom and I worked together at Vocalocity. He and I co-authored JBoss Remoting together and worked on some of JMX for JBoss. Tom later left Vocalocity to join JBoss full-time as a lead developer. Roy joined Tom at JBoss and was the lead for JBoss portal. They’re tech guys and now they’re full-time entrepreneurs building something with real value.
Here’s the thing. These guys will eventually raise money – and my bet it will be before next spring. However, my 2nd bet is that they’ll raise money from the west coast if they don’t raise regional money this Fall. I don’t have any particular insight on this — this is just my opinion. They’ve got a lot of people who they’re helping – companies that have raised a lot of money out here. And, they’re really helping them making their businesses better. If the local investor scene doesn’t jump on this, they’ll be another Appcelerator quick. This is a great opportunity to really get in and help these guys out. I know they’ve been busting their butts working day-and-night to keep up with the business. They barely have any time to talk with anyone about investment because they’re busy running their company. Watch out Atlanta, if you don’t get smart and fund these guys now – you may lose your chance soon.
Skyblox
Dave Payne started Skyblox around a year or so ago. Dave’s an ex-Earthlink guy that worked in the local wifi group in business development. I met Dave through Andrew Zuercher who works for us at Appcelerator. Dave also knows a lot of the same people in Atlanta so we instantly hit it off. Skyblox is a really bold concept. Local marketing is the next big thing if you’ve been stuck under a rock. It’s where the big boys – Google, Microsoft, etc – are going. And Skyblox is dead in the middle of this with their Wi-Fi access point lead to local marketing and content. Think Web2.0 meets City Search + Yelp + Yahoo Local.
We worked with Dave to help him launch Skyblox in Atlanta. I think Dave thought he’d only get a handful of places in the highlands and some other local neigborhoods in Atlanta when they launched. Boy was he wrong – they got a lot of neighborhood’s signed up and from everything I’m seeing and hearing, they can’t sign them up fast enough. And, they haven’t even started their multi-city launch yet – but I think they’re seeing a lot of demand and success just right here in Atlanta.
This is another set of folks that are heads down and kicking butt. They’re making it through blood, sweat and tears. And, like Loopfuse, they’ll definitely get some attention outside of town if the local scene doesn’t wise up, quick. These guys have a big idea and it’s certainly not without concerns and likely capital intensive. But, if they can quickly replicate what they’ve done in Atlanta across the remaining major cities in the U.S., they’ll quickly lock up the entire local content/search/marketing marketplace.
So, in summary, here ya go Atlanta. Let’s see what we can make of these two great companies. They’re bootstrapping it, they have revenue and customers. They’re big, bold business models that will require sufficient capital to get to the next stage. And, if the bet is right, they’ll have a nice ROI. Best of luck to you. If you’d like any helping getting in contact with them, please email at jhaynie [at] gmail [dot] com.
Last thought: if I didn’t mention your company, don’t get upset. there’s lots of other companies. I’m just highlighting two i know about well.
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