The TAG Business Launch Competition finals event will be this Thursday, May 24, 2012 from 3:30 – 8:00 p.m.

In addition to pitches by the final four startups competing for $50,000 in cash, there will be a VC Panel discussion with VC’s from around the country. The event will also feature a cash bar and heavy hors d’ouvres throughout the evening.

I will be emceeing the Finals event (Billy Crystal and Ricky Gervais look out). If you’re in Atlanta, I recommend attending. To attend, here are more details and registration info.

Location: The Defoor Centre (1710 Defoor Ave NW, Atlanta, GA).

Technology Alliance of Georgia has announced the finalists in the TAG Business Launch Competition 2012.

This year, 65 companies applied to compete. Of those, 10 startups were selected to present in the semi-finals round, which I helped judge this past week.

Our Semi Finals judging team selected four companies to compete in the Finals Competition:

• Bright Light Systems, Inc.
• CollectorDash
• IdeaString
• SalesLoft

Congratulations to the four finalists. And to all companies who competed.

The four finalists now continue to compete for $50,000 in cash, and each will receive part of a Suite of Services package valued at over $400,000.

The Finals Competition event will be Thursday, May 24, 2012 at The Defoor Centre (1710 Defoor Ave NW, Atlanta, GA), from 3:30 – 8:00 p.m. There will be a VC Panel discussion with VC’s from around the country. The event will also feature a cash bar and heavy hors d’ouvres throughout the evening.

This is a really great event. If you’re interested in attending, here’s a link to take advantage of early bird pricing for the Finals Competition: https://www.123signup.com/event?id=sjrhy

This month, I’m a judge in the semi-finals round of the TAG Business Launch Competition 2012.

This will be my fifth year judging the competition and it’s one of my favorite weeks of the year. I love seeing the variety of startups in Georgia. And enjoy learning from the perspective of the other judges.

Over two days, each of the 10 semi-finals companies make a 15 minute pitch to the panel of judges, followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. At the end of each day, the judges discuss their views about each company and summarize feedback for the company about their plan and presentation.

At the end of the two days, judges deliberate and we select four companies to continue to the finals round.

Companies vie for a grand prize of $50,000 in cash and a share of more than $450,000 in professional services from various service providers.

About the TAG Business Launch Competition

The Business Launch Competition, now in its seventh year, facilitates connections within the entrepreneurial community by connecting young entrepreneurs with seasoned veterans and the investment community.

Ten companies have made it to the semi-finals round this month, including:

• SalesLoft
• CollectorDASH
• Bright Light Systems, Inc.
• viaCycle, Inc.
• Badgy
• IdeaString, LLC
• Pretty In My Pocket, LLC
• CubeVibe
• Merlin Mobility
• ArcPoint Solutions, LLC

Judges for 2012 include:

Preliminary Application Judges:

• Jeff McConnell, Whisper Communications
• Paul Freet, VentureLab at Georgia Tech
• Lawrence Guillory, Racemi
• Melanie Leeth, Imlay Investments
• Keith McGreggor, VentureLab at Georgia Tech
• Andy Piazza, Malloy Risk Services
• Adrian Sawczuk, Alvarez & Marsal
• Richard Spencer

Semi-Finals Judges

• Aaron deSouza, GrantThornton
• David Eckoff, Revolutionary Ventures
• Dave Gould, TechOperators
• Joe Gruca, HireIQ and 2010 Competition Winner
• Sami Jajeh, Arketi Group
• Michael Price, CEO Ventures
• Nina Sawczuk, ATDC
• Greg Smith, Greg Smith Consulting
• Martin Tilson, The Tilson Group
• Judi Vitale, VitaleCFO

Finals Judges

• Kevin Greene, Valhalla Partners
• Glenn McGonnigle, TechOperators
• Alex Benik, Battery Ventures
• Gamiel Gran, Sierra Ventures
• David Moeller, CodeGuard

"Home Tweet Home" pillows in lobby at Twitter HQ. (Photo by David Eckoff, April 2010)

Updated Mar 4, 2012 (Promoted to VP: Chloe Sladden, Elad Gil and Joel Lunenfeld; added Sergei Krupenin.)

Updated: Jan 4, 2011 (Out: Avi Bryant, Tech Lead, Ad Insight)

Updated: Nov. 17, 2011 (In: Karen Wickre)

Updated: Nov. 8, 2011 (In: Mindy Finn; Out: Sean Garrett; Correction: Steve Jenson)

I’ve curated what I intend to be the definitive list of Twitter employees on G+. See which Twitter employees are on G+ and add them to your circles.

I think it’s interesting to see how they are (or are not) using G+. And what they’re saying about it.

Me? I’ve been using Twitter since early 2007. I’m finding that the more I use G+, the less I’m using Twitter.

How about you? As you spend more time on G+, are you spending less time on Twitter? Is Google+ your new home?

Find this list interesting? Please share it and comment.

Want to add me to your circles on Google Plus? I’m at: http://gplus.to/davideckoff

Who did I miss who I should add? Anything that needs to be updated? Please let me know in the comments!

List begins after the jump…

Twitter Co-Founders and management team

-Jack Dorsey (Co-Founder and Chairman): currently non-plussed?
+Dick Costello / @dickc (CEO)
+Biz Stone / @biz (Co-Founder)
+Evan Williams / @ev (Co-Founder)
-Noah Glass (Co-founder): currently non-plussed?
-Adam Bain (President, Global Revenue): currently non-plussed?
+Ali Rowghani / @ROWGHANI (CFO)
+Kevin Thau / @kevinthau (Vice President, Business & Corporate Development)
+Katie Jacobs Stanton / @KatieS (Vice President)
+Sean Garrett (VP, Communications) Updated Nov 8, 2011: Head Of Communications Sean Garrett Leaves Twitter (TechCrunch, Alexia Tsotsis)
+michael abbott / @mabb0tt (VP Engineering) Update Oct 13, 2011: Exclusive: Twitter’s VP Engineering Mike Abbott Departs (Kara Swisher)
+Mazen Rawashdeh / @mazenrawashdeh (VP Technical Operations)
+Chloe Sladden @ChloeS (Director Vice President, Media Partnerships)
+Elad Gil @eladgil (Vice President, corporate strategy)
+Joel Lunenfeld @joell (Vice President, global sales strategy)
+Kristen C (Kristen Cordle, Executive assistant)

Product
+Satya Patel / @satyap (Director of Product Management)
+Sara Mustin (Product Manager)
+Kevin Weil / @kevinweil (Product Lead, Revenue)
+Ryan Sarver / @rsarver (Platform Team/API)
+Isaac Hepworth / @isaach (Partner Product Management)
+Brian Ellin / @brianellin (Product Management)
+Cara Meverden / @caramev (Product Manager)
+Cynthia Johanson / @cynk (Product manager)
+Ed Gutman / @eddie (Manager ad operations)
+Evelyn Gee / @evygee (Ad operations)
+Ben Finkel / @finkel (Founder and CEO of Fluther; acquired by Twitter in 2010.)
+Laura I. Gómez / @lauraigomez (Manager, Internationalization/Localization, Support)
+Del Harvey / @delbius (Director, Trust and Safety)
+Ravi Narasimhan /@RaviNarasimhan (Self Service Advertising)
+Sergei Krupenin /@krupenin (Business Product Manager)

** +Britt Selvitelle (User Experience)

(Update July 20, 2011: “Jack Dorsey Cleaning House At Twitter: 4 Key Product Guys Are Out“)

+Josh Elman (Product Manager) The only person I know who has done the social media trifecta in product management, at LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. And one of my fav people who I’ve worked with.
+Kevin Cheng (Product Manager, (#NewTwitter, now Trends and More)
+anamitra banerji (Product manager, monetization products)
+Jean-Paul Cozzatti (“ProductSynthesist”)

Engineering/Technology
-Abdur Chowdhury (Chief Scientist): currently non-plussed?
+michael abbott (VP Engineering)
+Mazen Rawashdeh / @mazenrawashdeh (VP Technical Operations)
+Othman Laraki / @othman (Director, Search & Geo)
+Avi Bryant / @avibryant (Tech Lead, Ad Insight. 12/2/2011: “Today is my last day at Twitter.”)
+Jonathan Reichhold / @jreichhold (Reliability Engineering Lead)
+Jake Mannix / @pbrane (Tech Lead, Relevance, User Search)
+Jason Stirman / @stirman (Engineering manager; now at Obvious Corp.)
+Sara Haider / @pandemona (Software Engineer)
+Dustin Diaz / @ded (Engineer)
+Larry Gadea / @lg (Software Engineer)
+Patrick Ewing / @hoverbird (Software Engineer)
+Chris Mitra / @chrismpls (Mobile Engineer)
+Jon Bettcher / @Pufferfish (Software Engineer)
+George Lee / @GeorgeJLee (Software Engineer)
+Marcel Molina / @noradio (Software Engineer)
+Mark Christian (Engineer)
+Alex Choi /@xc (Programmer)
+Kenneth Kufluk (Engineer)
+J.P. Cummins / @jcummins (Software developer with a taxi curse)
+Sean Cook / @theseancook (Mobile engineer)
+Ben Ward / @benward (Web developer)
+William Couch / @couch (Software engineer)
+Ben Ward / @BenWard (Web developer)
+Yoshimasa Niwa / @niw (Software engineer)
+Ning Liang / @ningliang (Data analyst, software engineer)
+Lennon Day-Reynolds / @rcoder (Software engineer)
+Ed Ceaser / @asdf (Software engineer) “google plus just gets shittier by the day”
+Glen Sanford / @9len (Software Engineer, Platform/API group)
+John Kalucki / @jkalucki (Systems architect)
+Matt Harris / @themattharris (Developer advocate)
+Nathan Agrin / @n8agrin (Webmaster)
+Arnaud Meunier / @mo (Software Engineer, partnership services / platform)
+Taylor Singletary / @episod (Platform API)
+Andrew Erickson / @ajerickson (Release engineer)
+David Chen / @chenosaurus (Frontend Software Engineer)
+Ben Cherry / @bcherry (Frontend Software Engineer)
+Rob Stenson / @blickwickle (Frontend Software Engineer)
+Jonathan Boulle (Operations engineer)
+Ed Marshall / @emarshal (Operations engineer)
+Nirav Sanghani / @iamnirav (Frontend Software Engineer)
+Justin Chen / @leftparen (Software engineer)
+Steven Liu (Software engineer)
+Andrew Lorek / @mrtall (Growth team technical lead; Frontend Software Engineer)
+Alan Liang (Software engineer)
+Argyris Zymnis (Software engineer)
+Matthew McEachen (Member of technical staff)
+john adams /@netik (Operations engineer, Twitter Security)
+P. Oscar Boykin / @posco (Data scientist)
+Steve Jenson (Software engineer) **Note: Robert Scoble’s report that Steve Jenson left Twitter was incorrect.

Business Development/Sales
+Kevin Thau (Vice President, Business & Corporate Development)
+Rita Garg / @ritagarg (Business Development, media)
+Ross Hoffman (Strategic Partnerships)
+Jessica Verrilli / @jess (Business Development)
+April Underwood / @aunder (Director of Web Business Development)
+Michael Brown / @mikeisbrown (Corporate Development)
+Jana Messerschmidt (Senior Director Business Development)
+Robin Sloan / @robinsloan (Media Partnerships)
+Doug Williams / @dougw (Business Development) Go Tar Heels!!
+Kelton Lynn / @keltonlynn (Mobile business development)
+Ali Jafari (Director, Sales Operations)
+Ginger Makela Riker / @gingerm (Account Manager)
+Karilyn Thibodeau / @karilynt (Sales support)
+ Mindy Finn @mindyfinn (Strategic Partnerships, politics, Washington, D.C.) Updated Nov 8, 2011: Twitter hires Finn in political push (Politico)

Marketing/Communications

+Karen Wickre (editorial director)
+Shane Steele (Director Sales Marketing)
+Seth Bindernagel / @binder (Product Marketing, Platform)
+Lynn Fox (Director of Communications)
+Carolyn Penner / @cpen (Communications)
+Francesca Helina (International Marketing)
+Jeremy Briggs (Video producer)
+jenna sampson (Communications Associate)

Creative/Design
+Doug Bowman / @stop (Creative Director)
+Bryan Haggerty / @bhaggs (Mobile Designer)
+Vitor Lourenço / @vl (Product Designer)
+Mark Otto / @mdo (Designer)
+Zhanna Shamis / @Zhanna (Designer)
+Coleen Baik (Designer)
+Karina van Schaardenburg (Design researcher)
+Mark Trammell / @trammell (Design researcher)
+Joshua Brewer (Designer)
+Andrei Herasimchuk / @Trenti (Designer)
+Richard Henry (Designer)
+Luke Andrews (Designer)

Legal
+Alexander Macgillivray (General Counsel)
+Chad Woodford / @chd (IP Legal Counsel)
+Bakari Brock / @Bakari (Lawyer) How ’bout them Dawgs?
+Timothy Yip (Legal Counsel)

HR/Recruiting/Communications

+Jackie Xu (Engineering recruiter)
+Olivia Watkins /@olivia (Technical sourcer)
+Ronner Cook (University Programs manager)
+nancy martinez (University Programs)
+Aaron Rothman / @rothmana (Recruiter)

Board of Directors
+Evan Williams / @ev
-Jack Dorsey
+Dick Costello / @dickc (CEO)
+Peter Fenton / @peterfenton “Google+ feels like OS/2 in a Mac and Windows world. I do care for many of the people behind, so dont hate me for saying it!” (link)
-Peter Currie
+David Rosenblatt
+Mike McCue / @mmccue

Update 9/16/2011: Fred Wilson And Bijan Sabet To Leave Twitter’s Board

+Fred Wilson / @fredwilson
+Bijan Sabet / @bijan

More news around the web:
Investors Were Kicked Off The Twitter Board “For The Good Of The Company” (TechCrunch 12/13/2011)

Who did I miss who I should add? Anything that needs to be updated? Please let me know in the comments!

** +Robert Scoble published “Big shake up at Twitter continues” August 20, 2011, showing 6 people no longer working at Twitter (two who I found on G+; Robert’s report that Steve Jenson left Twitter was incorrect and I’ve corrected that above.).

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Thanks to journalist Craig Kanalley for the inspiration for this post, with his posts “Googlers on Google+” and “List of Facebook employees on G+“.

Work at Twitter? THANK YOU for all you do! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Twitter during the past 5 years.

Update, April 22, 2011: Announced today, the finalists in GRA/TAG Business Launch competition are: AuditMyBooks, Soket, Pindrop Security (formerly Telineage) and Viscid Technology. Read the press release here.

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This month, I’m a judge in the semi-finals round of the GRA/TAG Business Launch 2011.

This will be my fourth year judging the competition and it’s one of my favorite weeks of the year. I love seeing the variety of startups in Georgia. And enjoy learning from the perspective of the other judges.

Over three days, each of the eleven semi-finals companies make a 20 minute pitch to the panel of judges, followed by a 20 minute Q&A session. At the end of each day, the judges discuss their views about each company and summarize feedback for the company about their plan and presentation.

At the end of the three days, judges deliberate and we select 3 to 4 companies to continue to the finals round.

The competition is designed to help a Georgia-based start up technology company launch its business, with the finalists receiving over $400,000 in cash and prizes. Entrants also have the opportunity to be mentored by a successful tech entrepreneur.

Eleven companies have made it to the semi-finals round this month, including:

• Arrivu
• AuditMyBooks
• Merin Mobility
• Nexpense
• Pave Systems
• Soket
• Soneter
• Telineage (info)
• Transaxcion
• TripLingo
• Viscid Technology

Judges for 2011 include:

Preliminary Application Judges:

• Mike Eckert, Chair of Application Screening Judges Team, Executive Chairman, Atlanta Technology Angels
• Adrian Sawczuk, Sr. Manager, Management Consulting, Accenture
• Lawrence Guillory, CEO, Racemi, Inc.
• Melanie Leeth, Vice President, Imlay Investments
• Jeff McConnell, CEO, Whisper Communications
• Richard Spencer, President, R.P. Spencer Company
• Lance Weatherby, ATDC

Semi-Finals Judges

• David Eckoff, Revolutionary Ventures
• Dave Gould, President/CEO, TechOperators
• Mark Greeff, Audit Partner, Grant Thornton
• Vasant Kamath, Director of Business Development, Cox Enterprises
• Jamie Kennedy, Vice President of Business Development, Cox Enterprises
• Sig Mosley, President, Imlay Investments
• Michael Price, CEO Ventures
• Martin Tilson, Managing Partner, The Tilson Group, LLC
• Judy Vitale, President, VitaleCFO

Finals Judges

• Bob Bozeman, General Partner, Angel Investors, LP – San Francisco, CA
• John Glushik, Investment Team, Intersouth Partners – Durham, NC
• Wayne Hunter, Managing Partner, Harbert Management Corporation – Birmingham, AL
• Allen Moseley, Partner, Noro-Moseley Partners – Atlanta, GA
• Tripp Rackley, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm – Atlanta, GA
• Ron Verni

In August of 1994, I was an accountant in a large computer company. Despite my best efforts, I disliked the mind-numbing repetition of the job. A mismatch for my creative and entrepreneurial skill set. I came home from work each night with a headache, born of disappointment, monotony and frustration.

But I had a plan. I was one week away from publishing the first issue of “Inside Carolina“, a magazine covering UNC sports. After six months of developing the idea, my dream to launch my first business was about to become a reality!

Until I received a last minute phone call from our photographer, a student intern. He said he was taking an assignment with the school yearbook, and he’d be unable to provide photos for our magazine.

I was stunned. Our plan was to launch the first issue with preseason coverage before the first football game. We were so close to launching. But you can’t have a sports magazine without photos. And time wasn’t on our side. North Carolina would be unlikely to move the start of the football season upon our request.

In that moment, I saw my first business circling the drain. I felt incredibly discouraged. With no obvious path to getting our first issue done before the season kickoff, I even thought about scrapping the project.

In short, I reached that moment of decision all people who tackle a new endeavor reach. Confronted by an obstacle, to either give up or forge ahead.

So what did I do? I strengthened my resolve.

And jotted across the top of a notepad: “How to Make This Work”. Ideas flowed.

At the top of the list: buy a 35mm camera and get photos of practices and games that week. Which I did.

Though I didn’t realize it at the time, that seemingly small decision would have a lasting impact on my life. It put me in a new direction, and led to a new destination.

We launched the first print issue of “Inside Carolina”. Soon after, we started publishing on the Web. Which led to our site becoming part of a new online sports network, Rivals.com. A year later, the sports network startup recruited me to lead its national roll out. Enabling me once and for all to leave the accounting field. Which led to me discovering that I have a passion for the intersection of media and technology, that I’ve followed to this day.

My point is, problems will happen. Don’t let them stop you.

When faced with even the greatest obstacle, the exciting thing to know is: one small change now can lead to a change in direction. Which over time can lead to a new destination.

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What do YOU think about and do when faced with a big obstacle? Share your approach with other readers in the comment section below.

Originally published November 2010

Inspired by Joe Stump’s, most excellent blog post “Your city sucks! (And so does mine)”, about tech hubs Seattle, Portland, Boulder and San Francisco, I decided to write a version for Atlanta and Seattle.

One of the things that I liked about Joe’s article: he calls it like he sees it. Unlike most recent articles I’ve read that cheerlead for cities, Joe writes about the good, the bad and the ugly. And his contrarian headline cracked me up.

So I contacted some of my favorite Atlanta entrepreneurs and business leaders to contribute to a list of pros and cons for the ATL. The only rule I gave them: keep it real.

Atlanta

Photo by blairsmith66

I moved from Seattle to Atlanta in 2006 to be an “intrapreneur” at Turner Broadcasting. Otherwise, Atlanta wasn’t on my radar.  A quick compare and contrast: Seattle has more scenic beauty. Atlanta has a lot more violent crime. Seattle has Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Atlanta has Ted Turner and Arthur Blank. Seattle is known for grunge and flannel. Atlanta is known for hip-hop and bling. The tech scene in Atlanta can sometimes be more old school – it’s not uncommon for me to see people in suits and ties at events where on the west coast I would see jeans and t-shirts. All my tech friends in Atlanta have embraced social media, but a surprising number of business people I meet are way behind the curve.  Certainly, the cost of living is far lower in Atlanta – a big advantage in starting a company. People in both cities are super nice. But it’s easier to make friends in Atlanta (Seattle is known for what has been referred to as “The Seattle Freeze“). Do I like Atlanta? Yes, a lot. But I really loved living in Seattle.

The following “pros and cons” for Atlanta, submitted by the contributors, don’t necessarily reflect my views; or the views of the contributors as a group. (But I think many of these are spot on…)

Pros:

• Atlanta is less of a city and more of a collection of neighborhoods pieced together. This is awesome for raising a family while still experiencing in-town life.
• Easy city to live in with a variety of lifestyles available (in city, suburbs, mountains).
• You get all four seasons (Spring and Fall are amazing). Just enough snow to make it fun. Palm Trees are for wimps.
• Winter ends in the first of March, and you get warm days throughout the Winter.
• Cheap housing. A family of four can live in a 4k sq. foot home in metro Atlanta for under $400k.
• Cheap commercial rents!
• Great restaurants. More good restaurants come here and stay open despite the tough economy.
• Vibrant music scene.
• The Atlanta airport is the largest and busiest in the world which means you can fly directly to most any location – no connections!
• Fantastic entertainment industry tax incentives have driven a ton of projects and companies to GA.
• Atlanta is a hotbed for Internet security companies, financial transaction services, energy and biotech startups, and a growing number of social games and digital media startups.
• Incubators like ATDC (Advanced Technology Development Center).
• World class universities. Georgia Tech and Emory are a mere 5 miles apart. There are over 250,000 college students in the metro area. GA Tech – produces many world-class, top-flight engineers.
• The city is young and growing. Many young professionals see Atlanta as a great place to begin their careers.
• There is a strong culture of collaboration and community around entrepreneurs. People lending time, expertise and contacts is the norm.
• The Atlanta social web community is very giving and caring. Lots of help, sharing, and collaboration. Easy to get ideas, feedback, and inputs when you throw out questions and ideas.
• A lot of local industry org’s, meetups, and groups.
• With diligent networking, you can gain access to almost any resource and any person in town.
• A city of transplants so there are people from all over the country in Atlanta.
• Diverse economy with 4th largest number of Fortune 500 corporate headquarters in the US and many high tech firms.
• A large representations of Google, Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle business units headquartered in Atlanta.
• AT&T Wireless, Turner Broadcasting, CNN, The Weather Channel headquartered in Atlanta… with numerous spinoffs.

Cons:

• Summer heat and humidity.
• Atlanta is landlocked – a 4 hour drive to closest ocean.
• Allergies. Don’t have them? You will.
• Violent crime much higher than national average.
• Traffic can be horrendous, especially for those who live outside the city but work downtown.
• Cycle? It’s not a matter of if you get hit by a car, but when. Not bike friendly.
• Growth has led to generic looking suburbs with big box retail and chain restaurants.
• Metro Atlanta is very spread out. Sometimes the different parts of the city feel very disconnected.
• The business community is diffuse – there are no true “hot spots” to see and be seen where entrepreneurs and vc’s cluster, (except perhaps StartupLounge and StartupRiot).
• For a city of of its size, Atlanta has very little early stage venture capital.
• There is little capital. No idiot can get his stupid idea funded. Smart people with good ideas can.
• Most wealthy people focus on real estate investing rather than venture/angel investing.
• There are few if any visionary business technology leaders. No Jobs, no Ellison, no Schmidt, no Zuck. The leaders in Atlanta are all service providers.
• There is a lack of proven executive-level venture building talent.
• A lot of wantrepreneurs who talk about startups but don’t start startups.
• No critical mass of startups within one field. ISS created that somewhat with multiple security spinoffs, but there are few other examples.
• Some people are very status conscious and materialistic.
• People wearing Bluetooth earpieces 24/7 are a common sight, more so than other cities. They look like d-bags.
• Commonly seen “fashion” on men: pleated khakis, tucked in shirt, cell phone holster on hip, anchorman haircut.
• Sometimes very cliquish.
• The city is quite segregated (mexicans, white, black, asian, etc are in certain areas and don’t often mix).
• Metro Atlanta might be a melting pot of differing political views, but come election day – not feeling the melting so much.
• An abundance of narrow-minded people (as compared with San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Boulder).
• City government and city schools are not very good.
• Older (more established) community is motivated by “appropriateness.” If seeking entrance into this community, then need to toe the party line.
• Passive/aggressive is the dominate social paradigm.

Seattle

Photo by jarnott

I lived in Seattle for seven years. From the dotcom boom, to the dotcom bust and beyond. A fantastic city to live in. Walked to work every day, with Elliott Bay and snow-capped mountains in the background. The rain never bothered me. A GORE-TEX jacket is all you need. You’ll never meet more people who are more polite and well-mannered. (There’s an old joke about a car approaching a crosswalk and a pedestrian on the sidewalk at the crosswalk. The car motions to the pedestrian: “after you…” The pedestrian motions to the car: “No, after you…” The car motions to the pedestrian: “No, no, after you…” This goes on for 15 minutes, each one trying to out-polite the other.) Tech scene is vibrant, with alumni of Microsoft, Amazon, RealNetworks, and others doing cool stuff. A true pioneering spirit exists.

Pros

• Quite possibly the most beautiful city in the country, with Elliott Bay, snowcapped mountains and a magnificent skyline.
• Spectacular summer: every day average temperature is 75 degrees and sunny with low humidity. Stays light til like 9:45pm.
• Lots of very smart people. Easy to have intelligent conversations.
• Entrepreneurs who have great exits tend to re-invest in the startup ecosystem.
• Incredible hiking, kayaking, cycling and other outdoor sports.
• The rain never stops anyone. Most people deal with it. People rarely complain about the weather.
• Great restaurants. (Gotta disagree with Joe Stump on this one. I miss El Gaucho, Etta’s, Marco’s Supperclub, and many more.)
• Fantastic seafood.
• Awesome off-leash dog parks.
• Casual attitude and dress.
• There’s nothing like a summer Sunday at Safeco Field for a Mariners game.
• Rarely snows in the winter.
• For the most part, open-minded, accepting people. You can be whoever you want to be, and people will generally accept you.
• Conservation-minded.
• Great live music scene.
• Relatively easy to get to Hawaii for vacation and SF for business.

Cons

• Many people who grow up in Seattle never leave, and many know each other from the University of Washington. Can be cliquish.
• Homeless problem.
• Higher cost of living than many cities (although lower than SF and NYC).
• Traffic (if you have to commute). I lived and worked downtown, so this wasn’t a problem for me.
• Seattle lost its NBA basketball team.
• Very short summer.
• “Seattle Freeze” (Yeah, I know Seattle natives hate hearing about this, but it’s real.)
• Earthquakes.
• Long flight to east coast for business.

Additional links:

Los Angeles
Chris Lea: The City of Lost Angels

Have you written a “Your city sucks! (And so does mine)” article for cities you’ve lived in? Let us know, and we’ll link to it here.

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What do YOU think? Are these right? Are they wrong? What are the pros and cons for YOUR city? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Thank you for contributing to the “pros and cons” for Atlanta (in alphabetical order):

• Selah Abrams, managing partner of Party Republik (Selah has one of the best attitudes of anyone I’ve done business with)
• Don Addington, Executive Vice President, ORTEC (and fellow Business Launch Competition judge)
• Michael Blake, Director of Valuation Services at Habif, Arogeti & Wynne and President of StartupLounge (Michael does what he does for all the right reasons)
• Greg Foster, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Chrysalis Ventures (and fellow Turner alumnus)
• Jackie Hutter, Chief IP Strategist, The Hutter Group, LLC (savvy IP strategist with great field vision)
• Chris Klaus, CEO of Kaneva (I could white-board business ideas with Chris for days at a time. And he’s like the Bruce Wayne of Atlanta)
• Rachel Orston, Co-Founder, CoThrive (Rachel beat me in a startup pitch competition last year. I have a long memory! She’s a fantastic business person and I’ve learned a lot about customer development from her.)
• David Rudolph, CEO, PlayOn Sports (David recruited me from Seattle to Atlanta. He’s far and away the best leader I’ve worked for in my career)
• Paul Sansone, CFO, Better World Books (Paul and I started at IBM on the same day way back when. Not only a smart business person, one of the funniest people I know.)
• Todd Schnick, INTREPID business blogger, marketer + political strategist (Super cool and genuine. Hang out with Todd and you’re sure to become an even better person.)
• Lance Weatherby (Lance works tirelessly with Atlanta entrepreneurs. One of the really good guys in town.)
• And me, David Eckoff

Everyone knows someone who has come up with a good idea and who has not acted upon that idea. Or started working on the idea… and not finished.

Perhaps you can even personally relate to that.

People come up with good ideas for new businesses all of the time. Unfortunately, many of those ideas are never acted upon and most are never brought to market.

This is tragic, because it’s not a matter or whether or not we can. In 2010, an average person of average intelligence can come up with a good idea and bring it to market – thanks to a democratization of the tools of production, distribution and sales.

But not everyone will.

Why do you suppose that is?

Lessons Learned

I’ve made it my focus over the past 20 years to turn ideas into products and businesses. Most recently launching Spitter.com, and working with other companies such as Rivals.com, RealNetworks, Turner Broadcasting, Ustream.tv, and Zazzle to bring their revolutionary ideas to market.

What have I learned that can shed some light on what makes the difference in going to market with your ideas?

There will be obstacles along the way. Distractions. Problems. Frustrations. Doubters. Skeptics.

The single greatest way to overcome those obstacles is something often overlooked in execution: having a big enough reason why.

Big Enough Reasons Why

Chris Klaus, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based Kaneva explains why this is so important.

“Part of the secret sauce of a successful startup, is finding a vision and mission that you and your team are passionate about,” Klaus told me. “Every startup has incredible challenges. The teams that are passionate about their mission will be determined to learn from their mistakes. They have the desire and energy to overcome these obstacles.”

Reasons why are the fuel that will get you to follow through.

Big enough reasons why can help get you through anything.

Pamela Slim, business coach and author of ‘Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Employee to Thriving Entrepreneur’ explains:

“Knowing why you are starting your business — how you will impact others, or even change the world — will fuel you through the inevitable periods of struggle as a first-stage entrepreneur,” Slim told me. “Your customers will feel the meaning and purpose behind your business, and your marketing position will be much stronger.”

What Do Most People Do Instead?

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas – often to the point of irrational exuberance. And being excited about our ideas, we often focus so much on “what” we are doing (the product) that we don’t define - or we lose sight of – “why” we are doing it.

And without big enough reasons why to motivate us through the hard times, we’re more likely to get stalled – when we really need to be putting in the extra effort.

“The difference between success and failure might be the difference between calling it a day at 7 pm or midnight,” David Payne, founder of Atlanta-based Scoutmob, told me. “Only a strong mission will cause you to feel good about working those hard extra few hours.”

A Powerful Approach to Getting Important Things Done

Start by answering these time-tested four questions:

1) What is your desired outcome?

Most people answer: “I don’t know”. Perhaps that explains why so many ideas are never acted on.

Think about what your desired outcome is, what do you really want? And write it down. Be as specific as possible. Set a specific date for that outcome.

2) Why do you want that outcome?

The power is in why. When you get enough reasons you can do just about anything, you can find the way.

A big enough reason why is where you get your drive to follow through.

A useful way to frame this question is to think about why you must do it (as opposed to why you should do it). Think about what matters most to you, what do you most value?

For example: so you want to make a million dollars? Why? Dig deeper. Ultimately, what do you value most?

3) How am I going to make it happen?

Think about – and write down – the most important actions you need to take to accomplish your desired outcome.

Bonus: take it one step further. You are more than your to-do list. Think about and write down the answer to these questions. What kind of person would you need to become to accomplish your outcome? What skills would you need? And become that kind of person. Develop those skills.

4) How will I know when I’m getting my outcome?

Sometimes we can be winning – and feel like we’re losing – because we’re not keeping score. How will you measure it? How will you know?

Not All Reasons Why Are Created Equal

I’m not here to tell you which reasons are the right reasons for you. The “big enough reason why” is unique to each person. (Although some reasons that are often cited by aspiring entrepreneurs are misguided at best – and really bad reasons at worst – and I’ve written about them here.)

But the reasons that drive you could make the difference between success and failure.

What Have You Learned?

So, what do you want to remember from this article?

Before you get started with your to-do list, be clear about what it is you really want and why you want it.

You’ve got to be clear about your outcome and your purpose. The “why” is what will get you to follow through on your decision.

And as you’re bringing your idea to market, remember that Purpose = Power.

What do YOU think? What gives you your drive to follow through and launch new businesses and products? I’d love to hear about your experiences, in the comment section here.

Coming Next Week: Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, Part 2: “Goals Alone Are Not Enough”

I recently interviewed serial entrepreneur Brian Moore. Brian founded: Constructware (acquired by Autodesk for $46 million); Compliance 360 (ranked as one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies by Inc. Magazine); and most recently iglued.com.

In this video Q&A conversation, Brian talks about: lessons learned starting new businesses; why he does what he does; the one thing you MUST do to build your business; motivating partners; and about his newest startup, iglued.com.

(Disclosure: I have been an advisor to iglued.)

I recently interviewed Sarah Lacy, BusinessWeek reporter, Tech Ticker host and author of the book “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and Rise of Web 2.0″ (scheduled for release tomorrow).

Sarah and I had an in-depth conversation about her new book, life in Silicon Valley, Twitter, her infamous SXSW interview, and much more.

You have a new book coming out, could you tell us more about it?

The book is called “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and Rise of Web 2.0″. While it’s about Silicon Valley, it’s really written for people outside Silicon Valley who heard all about the dotcom bubble, heard all about the bust and then heard nothing about Internet companies for a long time. Then out of no where we started hearing about MySpace, YouTube and Facebook, a lot of these modern Web 2.0 companies. And there were a lot of misunderstandings about what this wave of companies meant. There were a lot of stories saying it’s like 1999 again, but it couldn’t be farther than 1999 again…

I’ve covered start ups in Silicon Valley for about 10 years. Stayed in close contact with a lot of my sources after the bust. I had a front row seat as a lot of these companies were bubbling back up. When it started to become a big story and I felt like I was seeing it was being reported on so wrong over and over again and people didn’t really get it, I felt like I was in a unique position to be the person to help these guys tell their story.

So what are some of the things you and the entrepreneurs you write about see as different than 1999?

I think one of the biggest things is you look at who was the most important person in a Web 1.0 company vs. a Web 2.0 company? In the dotcom days, it was the business development guy. The Internet then was all about doing these big content deals or revenue sharing deals with all the old economy companies. And it was really common in San Francisco to see a lot of business school drop outs wearing blue shirts and khakis and hanging out at the champagne bar, called the Bubble Lounge, they order a bottle of Cristal and smoke cigars and being mini ‘Masters of the Universe’. None of that is happening now.

The most important person in a Web 2.0 company is the engineer. I think that it makes sense, because if you think about these companies the bulk of their content and the bulk of what makes these sites special is the community of users that are really providing what’s important on the site. If you look at Facebook or LinkedIn or something even more extreme like total user generated content like YouTube or blogs, you don’t need a bizdev guy because this isn’t a deal like AOL-Time Warner, we’ve got this big portal let’s go put some content on it. Obviously those plays didn’t work when we look back at it.

This is a phenomena that is driven up by the users. People at these companies just need to build the best design, the best user interfaces, the best networks to make sure scales to make sure it’s robust and intuitive and easy to use and beyond that get out of the user’s way.

On the topic of culture in Silicon Valley, you’ve got a chapter in the book called “F-ck the Sweater Vests”. Interesting title, tell us more what that’s about.

That’s Jay Adelson, the CEO of digg that’s his rallying cry. By sweater vests, he refers to old school business people venture capitalists, gate keepers. Jay started a networking company and he had a brutal experience during the bust. He got screwed over by a lot of people he trusted in the industry. That’s where “F-ck the Sweater Vest” came from. That sense is a large part of why these companies were built the way they were, using angel money, using cheaper or free open source software not having to go to the sweater vests until you had something so great that they had to do it on your terms.

For people who are not in Silicon Valley who are reading this book, what do you hope they take away from it?

I wrote the book for those people. I try to give a real flavor of Silicon Valley. The launch parties get a lot of attention. But this is really just a place where people who are nerds, people who love building stuff, people who can’t work for anyone else, who are just misfits and they feel this immediate sense of home and belonging and as bruising as the bust was, that’s why so many people didn’t leave.

There are a couple of scenes in the book of parties at people’s houses, not these big launch parties or company parties. These guys forge these deep relationships because of what they go through socially, what they go through emotionally, it’s something that’s very unique in the valley. Just being able to relate to each other. There’s this deep glue that holds these people together. So it’s not surprising that a lot of these guys back each other’s companies, even if they’re competing with each other, there’s some way in the Valley that work and friendship are able to co-exist.

There’s also a certain way of doing business in the Valley and I take people through raising a funding round in an easy to understand way, demystifying all the terms and technical jargon.

When you live and work in the Valley you see so many times at a movie theatre, two guys run into each other and they ask what they’re each doing. And maybe that chance meeting turns into an angel investor investing in his friend’s company. Or maybe that other friend ends up working on something and they end up being partners.

There are thousands and thousands of these throw away moments in Silicon Valley life that lead to why these companies wind up being hugely successful. It’s something you have to live here to experience. It’s the magic of Silicon Valley.

Well those are the upsides, what are some of the downsides of Silicon Valley?

It’s probably the personal toll that it takes on you. It’s a brutal, brutal life here. Even for me, and I’m not even starting a company, there’s this expectation, this macho thing in Silicon Valley that you’re going to work 48 hours each day, that you’re going to find a way to carve out another 24 hours and get stuff done.

Things move very fast here and you have to be on top of it. Not just if you’re starting a company but if you’re investing in one, if you’re writing about them, if you’re an attorney.

It’s an all consuming scene here and that can get very exhausting for people. It’s obliviously not a really healthy work life balance.

But also, these guys can go from being a nobody to being on the cover of business magazines in such a short period of time. It’s very hard when you’re a single guy to date in that situation. It’s hard to make friends with people in that situation. That’s why these guys cling to each other.

You go from someone who’s really shy and doesn’t necessarily want to go to a lot of parties or talk to a lot of people to not wanting to go to a lot of parties or talk to a lot of people because you get mobbed.

These guys become celebrities just as much as anyone in Hollywood. They don’t start out with that goal. Sometimes there’s the sense that ‘I didn’t want this.’

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Related Links:

Go2web2.0 (Orli Yakuel): An Interview with Sarah Lacy Regarding her New Book

The NEXT web: Once You’re Lucky, Twice Your Bloody Lucky!

CNET TV: Loaded: Once you’re lucky, twice you’re good

TechCrunch: 10 Signed Copies of Sarah Lacy’s “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good”

CenterNetworks: Sarah Lacy on Fox Business Explains What Web 2.0 Is and Why LinkedIn Is Hot

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Smoking hot Sarah Lacy has a smoking hot book ranked #1 on Amazon

AllFaceBook: Mark Zuckerberg, Sarah Lacy Interview Video