Village News

Atlanta Startup Village #11 Recap

August 26, 2013

Wow, it's that time again already! Tonight we had a sweet lineup of Atlanta startups who knocked the socks off of the audience. Big thanks to Clint and Lawrence from Cushman & Wakefield for sponsoring the beer!Without further ado, here's the recap:Transcripts HQEugene, as a former journalist, witnessed the problem of "communication inefficiency." He showed us an example of Sarah Palin in an interview to illustrate how hard it can be to express what you're really trying to say. But this happens to everyone, not just her, and It happens in interviews, at conferences, etc. TranscriptsHQ takes what someone is saying and turning it into what they mean to say. Users of the service can transform audio content into the exact text, a summarization of the audio, and even a very concise, bulleted overview of the content. Pretty amazing!

Be Nice.

August 22, 2013

Be nice. It's one of our four core values at the Village and the one we list first. But somewhere along the way our culture (or is it our industry?) has occasionally translated being nice into being a pushover or someone without a competitive edge. On behalf of our Atlanta tech community, I would like to emphatically disagree.Call it our good ole southern roots, but to us, being nice is about generally being a good person. It's about having integrity, being respectful of others, offering mentorship or advice when possible, and supporting the community as a whole. Not a single one of those things translates into not working your ass off, pushing hard for success, maintaining a competitive edge, and having a drive to beat all competition. Being nice means acknowledging that any success in the Atlanta community helps us individually AND collectively. Who wouldn't want to do business with a company that has that mindset?We lead with the value of "be nice" at the Village not because we all want to hold hands and sing kumbaya (that brings back some childhood memories), but because we are all working hard, in close quarters, running in the same direction to similar goals. It means we celebrate successes and failures of our counterparts because we can all acknowledge that we have either been there or will be at some point.So to the startup community, I say– being nice does not translate into weakness but strength, and a confidence in what you have to offer. Drive hard towards your dreams with everything you got, search for that competitive edge, be laser focused, and know that the Village is cheering you on every step of the way. Isn’t that nice of us?

Now in the Village - Atlanta Ventures Accelerator

August 20, 2013

It is an exciting time for the Village and for Atlanta! We are proud to be receiving applications and moving forward with our in house Atlanta Ventures Accelerator. Below is an excerpt from Village Managing Director, Johnson Cook's blog in which he gives some great insight and background into the creation of AVA. Does the world need another accelerator? This was the question we kept asking ourselves as we considered whether or not to do this. The answer: The “world” definitely has too many accelerators. However, I’m not concerned with the world… I’m concerned with Atlanta. Atlanta does not have too many accelerators. Atlanta has far too few accelerators, incubators, investors, and startup support organizations.

What's Hot in the World of Startups: Infographic

August 14, 2013

Who doesn't love infographics? Take a look at what's hot in the world of startups- some of these may surprise you.

Kids Code Camp at the Village

August 11, 2013

Meet some of our youngest Villagers who attended a kids coding bootcamp put on by Tech Talent South this summer. These kids are impressive (and smart, and adorable). Check out some of their awesome work! You are never too young or too old to learn how to code at Atlanta Tech Village. Be inspired!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PBkvwxLW4

How Fast is our Wifi?

August 7, 2013

Being a tech hub, we often get the obvious question- "So how fast is your internet?" Well, it’s pretty darn fast.Working closely with Ripple (our official in house IT provider) and an incredible sponsorship with Cbeyond, we have some of the fastest wifi in all of the Southeast, clocking in with a maximum possible WiFi speed of 900mbps! Of course, those resources are shared so most folks, most of the time, will see speeds around 300mbps. Still pretty awesome!Ready to geek out? Here’s how we do it: We have 1.4 Gbps of fiber optic internet bandwidth from 2 major internet service providers (ISPs). Once inside the building we have Cat6 Ethernet and top of the line Meraki gear end to end: firewall, gigabit switches on every floor and enough dual-band, multi-radio access points to provide VoIP-quality WiFi throughout the building.This means that Atlanta Tech Villagers will enjoy a super fast, low latency internet connection all the time, even when there are 300+ people in the event space (also enjoying super fast, low latency bandwidth) and 25+ folks streaming music over WiFi at the coffee shop.So how fast is our internet? Pretty darn fast. Next up? World domination.

Better Buildings Challenge? We Accept!

August 5, 2013

Last year, the buildings in which we work and live used roughly 40% of the energy in the U.S. economy at a cost of over $400 billion. In 2011, President Obama announced the Better Buildings Initiative to make commercial buildings 20% more energy efficient by 2020 and accelerate private sector investment in energy efficiency. Atlanta is proud to be one of the first cities, along with Seattle and Los Angeles, to partner with this program.The Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge aims to support President Obama’s goal of helping businesses save billions annually in energy costs, enabling them to grow, invest in new technology, and create American jobs.“The Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge is a great demonstration of what can be accomplished when businesses and government unite around a single goal,” said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. “The program’s expansion to Buckhead solidifies Atlanta’s position as a sustainability leader, and demonstrates the strength of our commitment to energy efficiency.”Atlanta Tech Village is approaching a $7.5 million dollar renovation this fall and has committed to this program through a variety of efficiency improvements (e.g. new lighting, greater insulation, more efficient heating and cooling) and some of our own items like our new Electric Vehicle charging station in our parking deck. Our commitment to improving the environment helps our city become an even better place to live and work. Better Buildings Challenge? Atlanta Tech Village accepts!

Special Speaker Friday - David Salyers from Chick-Fil-A

July 31, 2013

Whether or not you like chicken, Chick-fil-A is a billion dollar corporation built almost completely on culture. They are an impressive company based right here in Atlanta and David Salyers, Vice President of Marketing with Chick-fil-A and author of Remarkable, is joining us for Startup Chowdown this Friday! David is a gifted speaker who will be sharing with us Chick-fil-A's “Be Remarkable” mission, and how businesses can be remarkable in their own way to make an improvement in their business activity and their values.

Atlanta Startup Village #10 Recap

July 29, 2013

Hooray, Atlanta Startup Village is back again! This month, we had a cool lineup of folks, from ice cream to spinning phones and everything in between. Here's a recap of tonight's presenters:DynoForms:Mobile forms made easy. DynoForms simplifies the process of filling out paper forms, via an easy to use web app and mobile app. This was one of the greatest product demos we've seen at ASV. David created a form, deployed it to the mobile app, completed it and took action on it all under 4 minutes, in front of our eyes. The app allows you to capture photos, bar codes, etc., and the data can all be exported to Excel. Can scale from 1 user to unlimited numbers of users. $10/mo/user.M8Safe:The Carfax of the dating world. Online dating profiles, and dating in general, can be questionable, people can lie about drugs or diseases from their past. With M8Safe, you can get your labs done to ensure you're drug, disease, and crime free, and become "certified" M8Safe. Display that on your online dating profile. Sets you apart from the rest of the crowd in the dating pool. $20/year.Egos Ventures:With the wildly popular Cycloramic app, Egos Ventures brought the first 360 degree self-rotating camera app to the market. It launched in December of 2012 and was named New York Times' brightest idea of 2012. They are developing new kinds of levitating, remotely-controlled camera apps. Crazy and cool!Frozen Pints:Did we say beer ice cream? Yes, we did! The Frozen Pints crew was on hand with samples of their tasty and innovative craft beer ice cream, and boy was it tasty. They bring great beer flavors and delicious ice cream flavors together. The co-founders develop the flavor combinations themselves, and then work with a local ice cream company to make the product. They are in the metro-Atlanta area right now and are expanding distribution to other cities in Georgia. They are developing some mobile carts to bring the beer ice cream anywhere people need it. $6/pint, 1-year shelf life.Moocdom:Making sense of the MOOC universe, Moocdom brings all of the various online course offerings to your fingertips, in an easily searchable web app. The cool thing is, you can search by skillset, not just by class name. Through Moocdom, you can find and take courses, and as you build your programs of study, it will suggest other courses you might be interested in taking. In addition, you can actually earn course credit that is transferable to thousands of colleges, and even earn a complete degree-- FOR FREE. Moocdom is revolutionizing the educational experience through the use of online education.We will see you next month, on Monday August 26th, for the next installment! Please note that through the end of the year, the event will start at 6:30 and end at 8:00.

Scrappy

July 25, 2013

In the startup world you often hear the word scrappy. We start out with lots of ideas, little funding, learning as we go. Scrappy means we are bootstrapping. We are determined to see things through and to give our ideas a voice and a product. Scrappy takes bravery and some willingness to dig in, get dirty and fight for our idea/product/vision. At the Village, scrappy applies to us and to our members. So we asked them, what does scrappy mean to you?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0zQ37VODI0

Meeting Before Membership

July 23, 2013

We often talk about our core values (be nice, dream big, pay it forward, work hard/play hard), creating a positive corporate culture, and building relationships at Atlanta Tech Village. Coworking and high density space means we are a tight knit community so it becomes paramount that each member is a good culture fit.The question then becomes, how do we determine a good culture fit? While it’s not a perfect science, it is fairly simple- we meet you in person before membership is extended.

A Video Tour of our 2nd Floor

July 17, 2013

Want an inside look at startup life at Atlanta Tech Village? Meet Oscar Martinez who will take you on a tour of suite 200- one of our very first coworking areas.WARNING: Ping pong tables, scooters, and free beer may cause sharp pains of discomfort usually identified as "the green monster." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdHPNuqEXNM

Spotlight on Innovation: Atlanta Startup Village #95 Welcomes Four Dynamic Tech Startups