Showing posts with label atlanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atlanta. Show all posts

Monday, February 23, 2009

Re-post Shotput Ventures

Duke alumnus David Cummings sent me some additional wording for Shotput Ventures

-Howie

Web Entrepreneurs -- Build and launch a company over the summer with Shotput Ventures!

Do you have a brilliant idea for a web services product or business but just need the support it takes to get your company off the ground?  Do you have the enthusiasm and tenacity it takes to see your idea through from the initial prototype phase to its successful completion? Atlanta-based Shotput Ventures is an organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs launch promising start-ups that have the potential to become thriving web services companies.  Shotput Ventures provides seed capital during the planning and development stages, in addition to three months of intensive mentoring from several accomplished entrepreneurs. By putting emphasis on identifying and cultivating talented individuals with visionary ideas, Shotput seeks to transform passion into success by helping entrepreneurs launch promising start-ups that have the potential to become thriving web services companies.

Interested entrepreneurs with innovative ideas are encouraged to apply for our summer immersion program, which will run from late May until early August.  Applications are due March 27th, and selected teams will undergo a round of interviews before the final eight participant groups are notified on April 17th.   Visit our website at www.shotputventures.com or email David Cummings Duke '02 (info@shotputventures.com) for more information.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

SEVC Conference in Atlanta

The Southeast Venture Conference today announces the second round of companies selected to present at the upcoming conference scheduled for March 11-12th, 2009 at the Intercontinental Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia. A total of 40 showcase companies from the southeast and mid-atlantic regions will be presenting to an audience representing over $60 billion in private equity capital.

The 40 presenting companies range from late stage pre-IPO firms to earlier stage high growth firms from a variety of technology industries. These showcase companies represent the drivers of the region’s technology economy and have collectively raised over half a billion in venture capital to date.

The second round of SEVC presenting companies include: 
Presenting companies from Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington DC are all represented at SEVC 2009.
 
Showcase companies will present to a national audience of venture capitalists, private equity investors, angel investors, investment bankers and senior technology executives.  Currently, there is over $60 billion in investment capital represented by attending investors. 
 
The first round of previously announced presenting companies included: 

In addition to showcasing some of the most promising emerging technology firms in the southeast and mid-atlantic regions, the SEVC will feature dozens of prominent speakers such as venture capitalist heavyweight Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes Magazine; Chip Perry, president and CEO of AutoTrader.com; Governor Robert Ehrlich, Jr. of Maryland and Robin Weiss, SVP of NYSE Euronext to name a few.
 
The SEVC is the premier event for entrepreneurs to connect with investment capital in the southeast, which boasts the highest venture capital backed return of any region in the US.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Apply for Shotput Ventures for the summer

Duke alumnus, David Cummings, contacted me about Shotput Ventures, which hopes to launch startups during the summer.  Below is more information.

David has two successful comanies, Hannon Hill, and Pardot.  

-Howie


Shotput Ventures, a technology startup accelerator fund, will launch a three-month program this summer to give entrepreneurs a shot at converting passion into profit.

The group, which includes MFG.com’s Mitch Free, will invest up to $250,000 in eight to 10 potential companies. The deals will be small -- $5,000 per team and $5,000 per founder -- and focused on what the eight partners know well: capital-light, Web companies.

The concept is to help people with ideas, who might not have access to a small amount of money needed to get the idea off the ground, Shotput partner and architect David Cummings said.

“You have an idea and you can put 110 percent into it for three months, build something [and] prove it,” he said. “After three months you’ll have something tangible, you’ll have some beta customers.”

Cummings likens the selection process to applying to grad school.

“We are really trying to understand the person, what they want to do, why they want to do it,” he said. “The talent, and the ambition is much more important than already having something done.”

During the summer, the entrepreneurs will get mentoring from Shotput partners and access to veteran entrepreneurs, bankers and investors at weekly dinners. For the final exam, the class must pitch to the money men -- VCs and angels.

Cummings expects about a third of the class to walk away with institutional money and another third to bootstrap their way forward.

Investing in companies is riskier business, investing in mere ideas can be financial suicide. Shotput hopes to burn some of the risk by betting only on those sectors its partners are familiar with -- social networking applications, business-to-business marketplaces, e-commerce and marketing automation.

“If we don’t understand the idea or the space,” Cummings said, “we’re not going to [invest in it.]”

Making the right deals defines the success of any venture fund, said Mike Blake, managing director at valuation firm Adams Capital and co-founder of StartupLounge.

“It’s really tough to overcome a mediocre deal,” he said

For its effort and money, Shotput will get 5 percent to 10 percent in common stock in its portfolio companies.

“If we get five-times our money back,” Cummings said, “we’ll have done extremely well.”

Shotput Ventures addresses an unmet need for seed stage capital, said Greg Foster, partner at Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners. Foster, however, suggested it might be difficult for Shotput to make a significant return given the relatively small stakes.

“It’s also more difficult for common shareholders to achiever a higher return multiple on their investment,” he said. “The [portfolio] company would have to be really successful to the degree that common shareholders receive a significant benefit.”

Regardless, Atlanta’s tech investors will be watching the Shotput model. By helping transform ideas into companies, Shotput creates future investment opportunities for the guys higher up the food-chain.

That, in the end, could be the legacy of the Shotput boys.
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