First there is Full Throttle Development, a Raleigh based web design firm, that is running a “Small Business Stimulus Initiative” by giving away 10 free Basic Business Websites valued at $10,000 each, to assist small businesses with their online presence.  Details here.   CORRECTION:  10 websites at $1,000 each, for a total value of $10,000.

Heads up for the Inc. Magazine Newpreneur of the Year contest.  Apply with your early stage or idea stage startup and you may win a grant from $5,000 to $50,000.  Deadline is August 14th and details are here.

If your startup is Twitter based, check out this analysis done by ChubbyBrain, a NYC based initiative that tracks startup and investment data.  As controversial as the business model behind Twitter may be, VC’s to date have invested over $23M in Twitter related startups.  Details here.

Have a great weekend!

While we’ve seen other attempts to create marketplaces to trade traditionally illiquid assets, Nouveau is a bit of clever cross-border financial engineering that seeks to repurpose an existing, structured, well-regulated Canadian financial instrument to connect small companies to public capital - the Capital Pool Company - but instead of raising capital, say, to hire a team of geologists to dig for oil, they’ll be digging for new early stage technology companies to invest in. Rick says the team spent 80% of the time vetting the instrument and only 20% doing the deal, motivated by their frustrations in trying to organize an angel group in Windsor and getting tech deals done in reasonable time. Nouveau will be based in Windsor, targeting investments in both Michigan and Canada.

While it seems unusual to “take a company public before it goes public”, there’s clearly precedent (e.g. reverse mergers, although a CPC is just cash - a “clean shell”) and a demonstrated need for greater liquidity which seems to exist just over the border where over 40 companies have gone public on the TSX Venture Exchange since January. TSX SVP Ungad Chadda has described the CPC program as “public bootstrapping” for small companies - or in Nouveau’s case, a vehicle to help close the early stage funding gap for startups.

They’ve just lined up their founding directors, and hope to file with the exchange and raise $2M by the end of August (hiring a broker to sell shares to 200 investors in Phase 1), after which they intend to raise $18M more through the sale of public shares after making their first investment.

Angelsoft’s Ryan Pipkin and I believe this will be the first effectively public angel fund - anybody know otherwise?

TechColumbus Incubator located in Columbus, Ohio

The June issue of Entrepreneur’s Startups magazine included a “Round Up of Business Incubators.”  The story ranked the TechColumbus incubator as #5 of the nation’s Top 10 business incubators.  The magazine cited TechColumbus’ incubator with infusing $4.3 million into 32 companies in 2008 and helping attract a 10 percent increase in VC funding for its companies last year.

The 63,000-square-foot, award winning TechColumbus incubator currently provides business services, laboratory facilities, office space and coaching and mentoring to 25 startups involved in pursuits ranging from IT to medical device development, advanced materials and more.

Interior view inside the TechColumbus Incubator

Source: TechColumbus’ TechWeek newsletter 7-2-09

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The apparent reason for the picture requirement is that “This is NOT your typical Social Network with millions of members where logos and avatars are the norm and it’s okay to be anonymous.”  That’s a quote from an email Pat sent me.  I’m not sure how I make myself anonymous by putting my name and other identifying information next to a logo.  I think the picture requirement points to mistake #3.

My reasoning for using the blog logo was that many local people know me from my blog; its simply part of my online presence.  As a point of recognition, I think the logo is more important than my picture because the blog is about Startups, not about me.  (And if you must see my picture, go to the About page.)

Before I had a chance to respond, I found myself banned.  The Inside919 URL diverted me to http://inside919.ning.com/main/index/banned and I saw this message:

I sent a polite response to the Administrator (also Pat), but heard nothing back.  I quickly fixed the diversion to the “banned” URL by deleting the Inside919 cookie.  I could register again (I didn’t), even with a fake name and somebody else’s picture and Pat would never know.

So what’s wrong here?  I see at least three things that will be problematic for any online social community:

• Mistake #1:  you can’t build an online community on the back of someone else’s online community.  Although Ning is a platform for social networks, it is intended for small, specific, non-commercial networks.  If you get too big or too successful, you could threaten your host and find yourself without a platform.  There are plenty examples of this happening.  Marc Freedman (aka LinkDaddy) got booted from LinkedIn when he turned his DallasBlue group on LinkedIn into a business and it got too successful too fast.  And Robbie Allen, the local founder of StatSheet, found his StatTweets accounts suspended on Twitter.  When you own the store, you can kick people out.
• Mistake #2:  area codes are so 1980’s.  People that are connected online use mobile (smart) phones, and area codes just don’t matter anymore.  Basing your social community on a relic of the wireline past is a clear sign of not understanding your audience.
• Mistake #3:  in online communities you don’t need to set requirements (other than prohibiting profanities, etc).  Instead, the community will blossom from the benefits of compliance.  The more complete and meaningful your profile is, the more likely that other members want to interact with you.  If you contribute to the overall community, you will benefit individually.  For example, on LinkedIn, a complete and detailed profile (with a picture) will get more interest form recruiters.  On eBay, leaving buyer and seller feedback will create more credibility as a buyer or seller.

Inside919 will find more members, but with its flaws and with the increasing proliferation of online social communities, Inside919 and its other area code copies, will struggle.  To be successful in this space you need critical mass and for that you will need to give your customers what they want, not what you want.

I did decide to go with this post versus one on the state of the economy because I felt like it would be good to be positive this week at the mid-year point and I don’t really feel that way about the economy right now, so let’s look forward, to the world of social networking!  As they say in the article, “With 300 million folks on Facebook, and hundreds of millions more on other social sites, chances are your next big biz break or synchronistic connection is just a click away.”

Social Media 101: Breaking it down for the busy

NH Professional

weehuggers™ are bamboo, reusable cloth diapers that literally HUG your baby. The adorable (patent pending) design features velcro closures that are shaped like little hands! These diapers will make you smile and your kids will love them so much they may do a little dance! Parents can feel comfortable knowing they are made with organic cotton and ultra-soft, sustainable bamboo fabric - better for your baby, better for the environment and better for your wallet.

This is certainly the first diaper startup I’ve come across which makes it all the more fun. I don’t have kids myself but these looks like some pretty enjoyable diapers.

Mike isn’t new to running his own business either:

I’ve lived in the Metro Detroit for most of my life. Graduated from U of M. Up until about 4 months ago, I owned and operated a chain of fast casual Mexican restaurants called Baja Fresh. I’ve always had an interest in internet businesses, so I approached my sister about creating a line of cloth diapers to sell online. My sister Lisa, a stay at home mom and cloth diaper guru loved the idea. A year and half later, we’ve opened our doors for business.

Ironically, when we brainstormed the idea I was a single guy that had never changed a diaper in his life. Now, I’m married with a 10 week old knee deep in you know what! Nothing like on the job training!

Be sure to let any parents know about weehuggers and help support a local Michigan company!

Annual Event Puts the Spotlight on the Region’s “Hot” Technology Companies

HERNDON, Va. June 24, 2009 - A record-setting attendance of 486, Hawaiian attire, Margaritaville-style cuisine and the region’s best and brightest companies set the stage for the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s (NVTC) Hot Ticket Awards event. For the 8th year in a row, the event was held poolside at the home of NVTC’s President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg, honoring the companies that make-up the area’s “hot” and evolving technology community.

The judges for the 2009 Hot Ticket Awards included: Phil Bronner, Novak Biddle Venture Partners; Joseph Cormier, ManTech Corporation; Tien Wong, Opus8; Peter LaMontagne, Paradigm Solutions Michael Dering and Andrew Rosen.

Nominations were gathered for seven categories Hottest Buzz, Hottest Management Team, Hottest Bootstrap, Hottest Exit, Hottest Venture Capital, and new this year, Hottest Government Contractor and Hottest International Company. The finalists and winners in each category are as follows:

Hottest Buzz (sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank)

* Clarabridge **Winner**
* DigitalBridge Communications
* NetWitness Corporation
* Positive Energy

Hottest Management Team (AH&T Insurance)

* GlobalLogic, Inc. **Winner**
* Clarabridge
* Eloqua
* NetWitness Corporation

Hottest Bootstrap (sponsored by PNC Bank)

* Contact Solutions, Inc. **Winner**
* Coveros, Inc.
* Motionsoft, Inc.
* Three Pillar Software, Inc.

Hottest Emerging Government Contractor (sponsored by Welz & Weisel Communications)

* Guident Technologies **Winner**
* Agilex Technologies
* Citizant
* Platinum Solutions

Hottest International Company (sponsored by High Street Partners)

* Availink, Inc. **Winner**
* BroadSoft, Inc.
* Eloqua
* Netbiscuits, Inc.
* Telarix

Hottest Exit (sponsored by Apptis)

* Rosetta Stone **Winner**
* Athena Technologies (Rockwell Collins)
* CoGenesis
* SwapDrive

Hottest Venture Capital Deal (sponsored by BDO Seidman)

* Clear Standards **Winner**
* Clearspring
* GetWellNetwork
* GlobalLogic, Inc.

Additional sponsors of the 2009 NVTC Hot Ticket Awards included “Smoking Hot Sponsors” Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, P.C and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP and “Steaming Hot Sponsors” Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Harris Information Technology Services, Principal Financial Group and Vocus.

Jimdo

Since then, Jimdo and its website creator have been supported by partners like the Samwer brothers’ European Founders Fund (alando, jamba) and United Internet (GMX, web.de, 1&1) who have invested in the web startup. In February 2009, the 500,000th Jimdo site went online; now close to 1 million sites

From the beginning, Jimdo has focused on making its service available to as many people as possible, far beyond the borders of its native Germany. Fueled by a global outlook and strategically positioning itself in many markets, the company is laying the foundation for continued international expansion. Since its launch in early 2007, Jimdo has been available in multiple languages. Over the next two years, it has continued to add more languages. Reflecting Germany’s location at the crossroads of Europe, Jimdo offers fully-functioning versions and customer support in six Indo-European languages: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian. Additionally, Jimdo is also available in Chinese & Japanese.

Jimdo’s East Asian Expansion

How does a startup in northern Germany successfully launch so far away from its home base? Since July 2007, Jimdo has partnered with the agency Web2Asia to provide Chinese language translation, user support, and local community expertise. Jimdo made the news this year by entering the Japanese market in March of this year by collaborating with KDDI Web Communications, part of one of Japan’s largest telecommunications conglomerates. Not only is KDDI WebCom managing Jimdo presence in Japan, it is also adding Jimdo’s technology into its existing line of webhosting products.

Country Managers Offer International Perspectives

Making sure a service is being presented in a culturally consistent way in such different markets, ranging from Paris to Colombia to Silicon Valley takes across-the-board commitment. Each “language” has one dedicated manager, coordinating translation, user support, as well as marketing & PR. Through these culturally competent representatives, Jimdo is investing in long-term growth and continued relevancy — not just a one-off translation.

The SynergyStreetTRADE Online Barter Community is composed of people who trade products and services. Participants trade by placing a value on the item traded, which can later be withdrawn to trade for other things needed to grow a business.

If you attend today’s meeting, you’ll receive $50.00 toward your trade account so you can start trading right away. Here are the details.

Date: July 1st, TODAY
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm
Location:
Joseph-Beth Booksellers SouthPark Mall in the meeting room above Bronte Bistro
4345 Barclay Downs Drive, Charlotte, NC 28209
Price: $5.00 for guest members and first-time visitors, or free for SynergyStreetTRADE Preferred Members and Affiliate Marketing Associates
Contact: (704) 602-9800

Drinks, hors d’ oeuvres, dinner, are available from Bronte Bistro. Everyone is responsible for their own tab.

For more information and to register, log onto the Charlotte Entrepreneurs Organization’s Meetup Page.

Vitamins are a great supplement to your diet. They help you have more energy and a stronger body. They are good to have but if you don’t take them you’ll be OK. Aspirin is taken to relieve pain. If you have a headache you are ripping up your medicine cabinet to find the aspirin. So what is your business…Aspirin or Vitamin?

An aspirin business is one that solves a the customer’s pain. It is a must have not a nice to have. In my last post on the business planning process I discussed the need to do market research. Finding your customers’ pain point and targeting it is the reason behind market research.

Click Here to read the rest of the post…

San Antonio Startup Blog: Finding a Wilderness and Making it Flourish

Highlight:  “Ed found a desolate wilderness and made it flourish,” Orna says.Ed tells the story in his just-published autobiography, “Milk and Honey and High-Tech”. His influence can be split into two parts: his spell from 1979-1992 as the first Executive Director of the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research & Development (BIRD) Foundation, which provides funding for joint projects carried out by US and Israeli companies, and his activities since 1993 as a venture capitalist after he established Gemini.

In his book, Ed holds the reader with entertaining anecdotes involving high-powered executives, world-class scientists and one of Hollywood’s greatest actors; along the way he provides valuable insights into how to conduct business relationships and close deals.

Kentucky Startup Blog: Company profile: Starborn Solutions

Highlight:  Starborn Solutions is a startup founded by Randy Lynn.  Randy is an IBM guy who has built an impressive team and is taking on the challenge of e-medical records for the home health industry.  Randy spoke to me about his startup.

What is your company’s 30 second elevator pitch?

An average per day cost for a hospital stay is above $5,000. An average per visit cost for a home health visit is about $130. Whether it is privately or federally funded, home health will remain and will likely grow as a priority contributor to the complete health care team.

Texas Startup Blog: Is your VC well Connected?

Highlight:  Two years ago Yael Hochberg, Alexander Ljungqvist and Yang Lu wrote a paper called “Whom you know matters: Venture Capital Networks and Investment Performance.“  This may seem obvious, but their research is very interesting.  Erick Schonfeld’s piece today titled, “The Top 100 Networked Venture Capitalist” explores the paper’s findings. 

Detroit Startup Blog: Ignite Ann Arbor

Highlight:  If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

Colorado Startup Blog: Startup2Startup is Tuesday - don’t miss it

Highlight:  I’m really excited that Dave McClure is bringing the popular Silicon Valley event “Startup2Startup” to Boulder this Tuesday night. I’m moderating a discussion called the “Ultimate Platform Hotness Smackdown: iPhone, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and the native web”. We’ll be comparing and contrasting these platforms and others, for the relative benefit and interest from the startup perspective on a variety of platform topics (features, distribution, monetization, etc).

One of the most famous dreams of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, was to “make the desert bloom.” It’s a dream that Gemini founding Partner and Chairman Ed Mlavsky has figuratively realized in his contribution to Israel’s civilian high-tech industry, for which he is seen as one of the founding fathers. As Gemini Venture Partner Orna Berry points out, the sector barely existed when he arrived in Israel in 1979.

“Ed found a desolate wilderness and made it flourish,” Orna says.Ed tells the story in his just-published autobiography, “Milk and Honey and High-Tech”. His influence can be split into two parts: his spell from 1979-1992 as the first Executive Director of theIsrael-US Binational Industrial Research & Development (BIRD) Foundation, which provides funding for joint projects carried out by US and Israeli companies, and his activities since 1993 as a venture capitalist after he established Gemini.

In his book, Ed holds the reader with entertaining anecdotes involving high-powered executives, world-class scientists and one of Hollywood’s greatest actors; along the way he provides valuable insights into how to conduct business relationships and close deals.

“Milk and Honey and High-Tech” is available from Weill Publishers.
To buy a copy, please click here.

Starborn Solutions is a startup founded by Randy Lynn.  Randy is an IBM guy who has built an impressive team and is taking on the challenge of e-medical records for the home health industry.  Randy spoke to me about his startup.

What is your company’s 30 second elevator pitch?

An average per day cost for a hospital stay is above $5,000. An average per visit cost for a home health visit is about $130. Whether it is privately or federally funded, home health will remain and will likely grow as a priority contributor to the complete health care team.

Starborn, recognizing this trend, and cost savings in the delivery of health care has studied, analyzed and concluded that the software and services are as much as twenty years behind where they could be for home health. There are certain operating characteristics of home health that are challenges unlike any other health care setting, yet at the same time it is those characteristics that offer an opportunity to drive efficiency, and move the quality of care beyond what only a few years ago was even thought possible.

We need to implement applications that filter data so that it becomes information, that transform information into knowledge, and that ultimately provide clinicians with wisdom based on that knowledge exactly when they need it. The existing software and systems were conceived and built decades ago. Not only do the agencies need us, the patients need us;  now more than ever is there an opportunity to affect not only the bottom line, but the quality of life.

That is what drives us; the knowledge we can apply our technical skills to drive positive outcomes for the patient.

What has been your company’s funding & growth so far?

We are applying our software design and development experience, to the business domain of Home Health driving our software architecture and technical prototypes. The team is 9 strong right now, with the expectation to grow according to adoption of our product and processes in the home health industry. We are prototyping our first-generation products and services while developing customer relationships. Many have given advice, and the common thread is the importance of engaging your potential customers in the collaboration in design and validation of your product and services.

We have been approved for a Kentucky Enterprise Fund investment and  We have made numerous presentations to various investment groups. Times have changed for the technical startup  especially one built on software. Gone are the days of multi-million dollar budgets. It is our minds and ideas that are of the most value and the capital investment costs represent the time in exchange for our full-time effort. In that regard, we’re fortunate to be able to move our ideas forward with lower costs than other types of services or products, we could be and likely are, the traditional garage-startup (think Apple, Google and Microsoft).

What is the outlook for your business in the next eighteen months?

Starborn is focused on building customer relationships, building a technical prototype and then ultimately going through a BETA cycle with several customers. We cannot afford an extended development cycle and to that extent we’re focused on solving the most pressing need for home health. That is important; identifying the most pressing need and providing an economical solution. It is not enough to just be cost comparable, or even save a few dollars. You have to demonstrate substantial value – and when it comes to health care, you have to demonstrate an improvement in the quality of care.

What attracted you to entrepreneurship?

I believe in our product, I believe in our talent, and I believe in the future of home health. More importantly I love the idea that I can apply a passion of computers and software design and have a positive impact on a patient’s life.

So many business applications are just an abstract interface, a cog in a giant wheel. It’s difficult to recognize your value, assess your contributions to the world. It is a bit esoteric, but I think it is a characteristic of creative individuals to create not for the sake of making money, but for the sake of creation itself. It just so happens, that in this case our talent, passions and the market needs are aligned.

What have been the advantages and disadvantages of starting a high tech business in Kentucky?

One of our unique challenges is our distributed team. We have partners that live in Texas, Illinois, and Virginia complicating the design and prototyping ; but not an obstacle we cannot overcome. That is a unique challenge for our company that would exist regardless of the state we were incorporated in.

There is money in Kentucky, and there is talent; our challenge is embracing the risk/reward nature of entrepreneurship and connecting the two parties. It is more than a marketing campaign, it is more than an ordinance, legislation or an economic campaign; you cannot just create some innovation center, or business incubator. Some may remember the Silicon Central Conference started back in 2000. That conference is a classic example of the history of technology in Lexington and our efforts to not only garner local support, but advertise to the nation that we are building an innovators Mecca. We are building a culture that fosters, cultivates and expects innovation, and creativity. We have come a long way, and have a long way to go, but the first steps were taken many years ago.

1. Draper Fisher Jurvetson
2. Sequoia Capital
3. Accel Partners
4. Intel Capital
5. First Round Capital
6. Dag Ventures
7. New Enterprise Associates
8. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
9. Benchmark Capital
10. Ron Conway

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since then 100s of 5 minute talks have been given across the world. There are thriving Ignite communities in Seattle, Portland, Paris, NYC and now Ann Arbor.

We invite you to attend the first ever, Ignite Ann Arbor event.  You may learn a thing or two, or perhaps even make some good networking contacts.

To learn more about this event, head over to http://www.igniteannarbor.com

Please RSVP at: http://igniteannarbor.eventbrite.com (Space is limited!)
Twitter search term: #ignitea2

The panel is a really great one, and we’re lucky to have them in town. Dave McClure runs FF Angel (part of the Founders Fund) and we’ll be joined by Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC - he’s a fantastic and very active seed stage investor with more than 50 web 2.0 investments to date. Howard Lindzon (Wallstrip, StockTwits) is also joining us, as is Ryan McIntyre of the Foundry Group. Dave, Jeff, and Howard were all coming to town this week as mentors for TechStars so I’m thrilled that Dave decided tack on this great community event.

This isn’t just another panel discussion. While I think that will be interesting, the real beauty of Startup2Startup is the great job that Dave does of getting people involved in their own discussions. The panel sets the topic, and then each table is pre-arranged so that there is a mix of investors, rookie entrepreneurs, and experienced entrepreneurs. A moderator is appointed for each table whose job it is to make sure everyone gets involved in the conversation. The format of the dinner ensures that you’ll make some new connections and strengthen some existing ones. I’ve been to Startup2Startup in Silicon Valley and they’re always fantastic events.

As I write this, only 18 seats remain. Tickets run from $20-$60 depending on your level of experience and they include dinner. It’s a great deal you’re sure to have a good time. Grab one of those last few tickets right now, before they’re gone. See you Tuesday!