I was recently a guest on David Cohen’s radio show, talking about entrepreneurship.

We talked about the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make (and how to avoid them); execution of ideas; product development advice from Google’s Marissa Mayer; the launch of real-time sports news service Spitter.com; taking on giants in the marketplace; the right time to start a new company; how to rewire the circuitry in your brain to master new skills; and more.

Listen online now (embedded media player, after the jump):

Four companies to compete for over $250,000 in cash and services

Last week, I was a judge in the the semi-finals of the 2010 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition, with some very impressive startups presenting in the competition.

Today, the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) announced the finalists for the 2010 GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition:

• Khu.sh, an intelligent music application company
• SolidFire, a cloud computing company
• Toomah, a company that automates the interviewing process
• Transaction Tree, a “green” company

The winner of the competition will receive $50,000 in cash and over $200,000 in business and professional services will be split among the finalists.

“We are very pleased with semi final judges’ selection of Khu.sh, SolidFire, Toomah and Transaction Tree as the finalists,” Tino Mantella, president of the Technology Association of Georgia said. “We are proud of the talent that has been displayed so far in the competition, and feel the selection further demonstrates the caliber and diversity of highly capable young companies in Atlanta.”

The winner of the competition will be announced during the June 2, 2010 awards ceremony held at IBM’s Hillside Building at 8:00 a.m. Registration for the awards ceremony is open to the public.

The TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition is designed to help a local startup technology company launch its business and has become one of largest competitions of its kind in the U.S. The competition is GRA/TAG’s way of rewarding high-tech entrepreneurship and assuring a deserving Georgia startup company is primed for success.

The initial applications were screened by experts at the Atlanta Technology Development Center (ATDC), with the most promising applicants assigned a mentor from the entrepreneurial community.

The semi finalist companies presented over a three day period last week to leaders in the community including Don Addington, ORTEC; Mark Braunstein, Georgia Tech; Ed Croft, Croft & Bender; Aaron DeSouza, Grant Thornton LLP; David Eckoff, Revolutionary Ventures; Dave Gould, TechOperators; Sami Jajeh, Arketi Group; Paul Judge, Barracuda; Sig Mosley, Imlay Investments, Inc.; Gordon Rogers, Atlanta Technology Angels; Martin Tilson, Martin R. Tilson and Associates; and Judi Vitale, AcuityCFO to determine their eligibility to present to the panel of final judges which includes venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and seasoned executives.

The 2010 final judges panel includes: Tom Crotty, Managing Director, Battery Ventures Boston; Stephen Fleming, Vice Provost, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology; John Glushik, General Partner, Intersouth Partners; Boris Jerkunica, Chairman, Atlanta Silverbacks; Hooks K. Johnston,General Partner, Valhalla Partners; Mark Koulogeorge, Managing General Partner, MK Capital; Mark Morel, Chairman & CEO, Whoop, Inc.; Alan Taetle, General Partner, Noro Moseley Partners.

More information:
http://www.tagonline.org/businesslaunch.php

I’m looking forward to once again being a semi-finals judge for the GRA/TAG Business Launch 2010, with company presentations this week.

This competition, designed to help a Georgia-based start up technology company launch its business, has one of the largest prizes in the country: $100,000 $50,000 cash plus $200,000 in kind services. The competition also offers entrants the opportunity to be mentored by a successful high tech entrepreneur.

I heard some outstanding presentations in 2008 and 2009 competitions. With a great roster of companies on schedule for the 2010 companies, it should be a great week.

Judges for 2010 include:

Semi Final Judges

Don Addington, ORTEC
Mark Braunstein, Georgia Tech
Ed Croft, Croft & Bender
Jim Denny
Aaron DeSouza, Grant Thornton LLP
David Eckoff, Revolutionary Ventures
Dave Gould, TechOperators
Sami Jajeh, Arketi Group
Paul Judge
Sig Mosley, Imlay Investments, Inc.
Gordon Rogers, Atlanta Technology Angels
Martin Tilson, Martin R. Tilson, Jr.Judi Vitale, AcuityCFO

Finals Judges

Tom Crotty, Managing Director, Battery Ventures Boston
John Glushik, General Partner, Intersouth Partners
Boris Jerkunica, Chairman, Atlanta Silverbacks
Hooks K. Johnston,General Partner, Valhalla Partners
Mark Koulogeorge, Managing General Partner, MK Capital
Mark Morel, Chairman & CEO, Whoop, Inc.
Alan Taetle, General Partner, Noro Moseley Partners

If you’re in Atlanta, don’t miss “IgniteATL 2” on Monday April 19.

I was the first speaker at the first IgniteATL last September – and this is one of my favorite events. Why? The format of Ignite is part of what makes it special: each speaker presents for 5 minutes – with slides auto-advancing every 20 seconds. So it’s fast-paced. And there’s a lot of variety in topics presented.

I believe you’ll find the event educational and entertaining.

Here’s a video about the upcoming “IgniteATL 2″, with event producer Patrick Nickles (produced by Daniel Roberts of Atlanta-based Friendly Human Productions, who I highly recommend for video production).

Ignite Atlanta from blake on Vimeo.

And here’s video of my favorite presentation from the first IgniteATL this past September: Jonathan Baker of Monday Night Brewery presents on the topic of Mondays and Beer and how they interact.

A really nice one-minute video profile with me after Spitter.com won “audience favorite” at the Startup Atlanta #onstage competition.

Startup Atlanta #Onstage: David Eckoff of Spitter
Uploaded by friendlyhuman. – Watch the latest news videos.

And bravo to Daniel Robers of friendlyhuman who did a GREAT job filming & producing this video segment. HIGHLY recommend his video production services.

This week, I had a chance to interview Sean Johnson, one of my favorite up and coming sports media entrepreneurs, and founder of 27pitches.com.

Sean talks about how he got started, lessons learned, his distribution deals with NFL.com, his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, the importance of social media, and more.

(3 seconds of audio static at the very start… let it play and video will start. We’re not CNN yet… but we’re working on it!)

“It’s in the process of talking about the small things, the ordinary… that people bond.”

Dom Sagolla (@dom) provides a fascinating insider view of how Twitter went from idea to product in his article, “How Twitter was Born“.

Dom’s article got me thinking back to when I first started using Twitter two years ago. 

I quickly saw that Twitter had potential to be special. The value I saw: Twitter enabled people to bond with each other, to develop even stronger and more powerful connections.

A Show About Nothing

People ask me all the time: what’s the point of Twitter? Why should I care about what people are saying? My reply:

“Remember the TV show Seinfeld? It was a show about what? A show about nothing. Those characters talked. A lot. About nothing. And those characters bonded with each other! It’s in the process of talking about the small things, the ordinary, and not the big things, that people bond.” 

And that’s what’s happening on Twitter. It is the most powerful tool I’ve seen for creating bonds between people.

A Moment of Recognition

I’m super enthusiastic about being asked to be a semi-finals judge again for the GRA/TAG Business Launch 2009. 

This competition, designed to help a Georgia-based start up technology company launch its business, has one of the largest prizes in the country: $100,000 cash plus $200,000 in kind services. The competition also offers entrants the opportunity to be mentored by a successful high tech entrepreneur.

I heard some outstanding presentations at last year’s competition. Will YOUR company win the competition this year? Could be! 

If you’re a Georgia-based tech start up, interested in competing, be aware of the due dates (coming up soon). And you’ll want to see the TAG website for terms and conditions, how to apply, FAQ, etc. 

What’s your take? What else can be done to make Atlanta – and Georgia – even better for technology start ups?

Bonus: Kick-off event presentation by ATDC venture catalyst Lance Weatherby: 

I find myself using Twitter much more for communication and collaboration – and using e-mail, IM and blogs less.

But I am facing what I’d like to call the “Twitter Dilemma”: what is the maximum number of people you can reasonably follow on Twitter?

On one hand, a lot of people I know say 100-200, and anything beyond that and they aren’t able to really follow what’s happening. Interestingly, Dunbar’s Number suggests that the max is around 150.

On the other hand, I look at people like Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble and Jeff Pulver who follow many thousands of people. The mere fact they follow so many people… seems to attract even more people who in turn follow them, further building their popularity.

But does this really need to be an either or proposition? Can you have your Twitter cake and eat it too?

What I really want from Twitter is to be able to “follow” several hundred people (that I check now and then as I have time) – and have a way to segment the people I’m following with a subset of “favorite people I’m following” (close friends, family and people who always have something compelling to say), a subset that I don’t want to miss anything they Tweet.

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How do YOU deal with the “Twitter Dilemma”? Post your ideas in the comments section.

If you’re using Twitter in an interesting way, I’d like to follow you! Get in touch here.