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As an aspiring (Atlanta) entrepreneur, I have given up on fundraising, and plan to go completely with bootstrapping off of revenue. Does Atlanta have capital f

As an aspiring (Atlanta) entrepreneur, I have given up on fundraising, and plan to go completely with bootstrapping off of revenue. Does Atlanta have capital for investing? I have no clue. I've never met one VC or Angel, and wouldn't know the first thing about trying to. Once I finally realized that fact, it made the decision pretty easy. Stop going to local meetups looking for unicorns, and just stay home and get to work.

PStamatiou 17y ago
Seriously you've never meet a VC/Angel in Atlanta? I see them everywhere, at the Open Coffees, at the ATL Web Entrepreneurs meetings, Meet the VC events, Startup Riots, etc etc. They are readily available. You just need to get out there. ;-)
- SMDouchebag 17y ago
  Well said by SMD!
rjurney 17y ago
You really need to join the community and attend some events. While there isn't much early stage angel investment going on right now, there is a rich network available to support you in your endeavor. You can learn a lot from others, so please connect with the community. Its no replacement for hard work, but attending events can really help you benefit from the experience of others. http://academicvc.com/2009/05/entrepreneurial-atlanta-2/ http://academicvc.com/2009/05/entrepreneurial-atlanta-2/ Angels are more valuable for the experience and contacts they will share with you than money they might invest.
- MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
  I've found that I don't really need "support" except in some very specific areas. And, while there are things I need to learn, there are a lot more things I need to "do". Time spent talking is time spent not working. Note: I've attended several community events over the past few years, and even presented a couple times at BarCamp. I've just found that it really hasn't helped me grow my business. The people I need to spend more time with are my customers, not fellow hackers.
  - rjurney 17y ago
    I enjoy hanging with fellow hackers, but where I really benefit is from learning from people who have already bootstrapped businesses to success. I also have found that when I'm into a new area - I often don't know what kind of help I need - how could I? Talking with other, more experienced entrepreneurs often creates breakthroughs I would not otherwise have had. It doesn't have to be a huge time investment.
  - mikeschinkel 17y ago
    It's not only other hackers that are beneficial to meet. It's potential employees and potential customers. For example, there were many non-hackers at ProductCamp (which I was unfortunately too sick to attend.) Did you go to that? BTW, what type of business are you running and how do you define your target customers?
    - MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
      I run 2 businesses at the moment, at opposite ends of the spectrum: One is a campaign management website for Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games. Think "Basecamp for D&D" It's at http://www.obsidianportal.com http://www.obsidianportal.com Customers here are tabletop RPG folks. I'm very active in that community and have made all sorts of connections. Again, my most valuable contacts are not other startup people, but in fact just members of the RPG community. My second startup that I'm spinning up right now is an online marketplace where people can find and buy plants from specialty nurseries. This one is called DoLeaf, and we're currently in closed beta. We'll jump to public beta as soon as we can recruit some initial sellers. So, to that end, I need to network with small nursery owners. You can be guaranteed they're not coming to things like AWE or Barcamp. Don't get me wrong: I like hanging out with fellow hackers and entrepreneurs. We understand each other and speak the same language. Talking with nursery owners is a very eye-opening experience at how little I actually know about their world. However, my fellow hackers aren't going to come to DoLeaf and sell plants, so the time I spend with them isn't the most productive in terms of furthering my business. Since I've only got a few hours of free time after my day job is done, I need to spend it as wisely as possible. It's a pretty simple calculation.

PStamatiou 17y ago

Seriously you've never meet a VC/Angel in Atlanta? I see them everywhere, at the Open Coffees, at the ATL Web Entrepreneurs meetings, Meet the VC events, Startup Riots, etc etc. They are readily available. You just need to get out there. ;-)

SMDouchebag 17y ago
Well said by SMD!

rjurney 17y ago

You really need to join the community and attend some events. While there isn't much early stage angel investment going on right now, there is a rich network available to support you in your endeavor. You can learn a lot from others, so please connect with the community. Its no replacement for hard work, but attending events can really help you benefit from the experience of others. http://academicvc.com/2009/05/entrepreneurial-atlanta-2/ http://academicvc.com/2009/05/entrepreneurial-atlanta-2/ Angels are more valuable for the experience and contacts they will share with you than money they might invest.

MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
I've found that I don't really need "support" except in some very specific areas. And, while there are things I need to learn, there are a lot more things I need to "do". Time spent talking is time spent not working. Note: I've attended several community events over the past few years, and even presented a couple times at BarCamp. I've just found that it really hasn't helped me grow my business. The people I need to spend more time with are my customers, not fellow hackers.
- rjurney 17y ago
  I enjoy hanging with fellow hackers, but where I really benefit is from learning from people who have already bootstrapped businesses to success. I also have found that when I'm into a new area - I often don't know what kind of help I need - how could I? Talking with other, more experienced entrepreneurs often creates breakthroughs I would not otherwise have had. It doesn't have to be a huge time investment.
- mikeschinkel 17y ago
  It's not only other hackers that are beneficial to meet. It's potential employees and potential customers. For example, there were many non-hackers at ProductCamp (which I was unfortunately too sick to attend.) Did you go to that? BTW, what type of business are you running and how do you define your target customers?
  - MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
    I run 2 businesses at the moment, at opposite ends of the spectrum: One is a campaign management website for Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games. Think "Basecamp for D&D" It's at http://www.obsidianportal.com http://www.obsidianportal.com Customers here are tabletop RPG folks. I'm very active in that community and have made all sorts of connections. Again, my most valuable contacts are not other startup people, but in fact just members of the RPG community. My second startup that I'm spinning up right now is an online marketplace where people can find and buy plants from specialty nurseries. This one is called DoLeaf, and we're currently in closed beta. We'll jump to public beta as soon as we can recruit some initial sellers. So, to that end, I need to network with small nursery owners. You can be guaranteed they're not coming to things like AWE or Barcamp. Don't get me wrong: I like hanging out with fellow hackers and entrepreneurs. We understand each other and speak the same language. Talking with nursery owners is a very eye-opening experience at how little I actually know about their world. However, my fellow hackers aren't going to come to DoLeaf and sell plants, so the time I spend with them isn't the most productive in terms of furthering my business. Since I've only got a few hours of free time after my day job is done, I need to spend it as wisely as possible. It's a pretty simple calculation.