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$869.2B in Federal Contracts — How to land one for your startup

January 9, 2020 By Andrew Smith

While I don’t agree with all of the authors points, statistics and statements, the general sentiment expressed in the article below, that relationship building is important to achieve success and to build trust in the government space makes this article worth the read.  – Andrew Smith, GTPAC

Only 10% of what you see on SAM.gov is actually available for you to bid.  This is because most businesses already have relationships with procurement officers before the opportunity goes online.

I didn’t know this as an entrepreneur.  I pushed my business through this never-ending cycle of bidding on government applications with no results.  I would apply to every opportunity that seemed to match my business services, only to be disheartened by an unresponsive agent.  So I blamed it on the system, saying, “the government is slow.”

But there’s no denying how our country spends more than the amount of Sweden’s economy on contracts in one year.  The sheer volume requires efficiency.

I figured I must’ve been doing something wrong.  So, I met a business advisor who specializes in government procurements at the Small Business Administration.  She helped me see my simple mistake: I wasn’t building relationships with government procurement officers.

She showed me how to identify and approach a list of ideal government buyers (IGBs).  I’d like to share that guidance to help you increase your odds at landing a federal contract for your business.

Continue reading the article at:  Medium.com (The Startup)

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: business development, relationship building, start-up

The Army will need traditional vendors’ help putting startup tech to use

March 20, 2019 By Andrew Smith

The Pentagon is increasingly embracing the startup community as means to expand its technological arsenal, but traditional defense contractors could still be the ones putting most of those new tools into practice, according to top military brass.

In August, the Army stood up the Futures Command, a four-star unit charged with overseeing the service’s decade long modernization effort. With a 500-person staff and an annual budget of $100 million, the group will work to build state-of-the-art weaponry, vehicles and communications networks.

Central to that mission is working with the small companies on the bleeding edge of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and other emerging technologies, said Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, director of the Army’s Futures and Concepts Center and deputy commander of the Futures Command.

“We want to be part of this ecosystem, and so we are embedding ourselves into it,” Wesley said recently at SXSW, speaking just a few blocks from the Austin-based startup incubator where Army Futures set up shop. “[The startup community] is the group we most need to be engaging with.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/03/army-will-need-traditional-vendors-help-putting-startup-tech-use/155428/

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: AI, Army, emerging technology, Futures Command, start-up, technology, virtual reality

Why a founders’ agreement is important for every small business

February 28, 2019 By Andrew Smith

If you’re an entrepreneur with that golden, once-in-a-lifetime idea, it can feel impossible to hit the brakes. The name of the game is momentum — slow down, and you’ll miss that window of opportunity, right?

But sometimes you just have to press pause, take a deep breath, and make sure you’re not missing anything big before moving forward. All of those legal documents and agreements you’ll need to draw up are a good example: if you speed on past them, you might regret it down the line.

In other words, you should focus on building a solid foundation before taking the next step with your business. And if you’re planning to run your business with co-founders, then a founders’ agreement is pretty much the perfect place to start.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fundera.com/blog/founders-agreement

Filed Under: Contracting Tips Tagged With: founders' agreement, start-up

Georgia Tech names new leadership for ATDC

November 6, 2018 By Andrew Smith

John Avery is the new director of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

The Georgia Institute of Technology has named John Avery as its next director of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

Avery, a serial entrepreneur who was involved in four startups, assumes his position Nov. 6. Most recently, he was engineering group manager of Panasonic Automotive Systems’ Panasonic Innovation Center at the Georgia Tech campus.

A unit of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2), Georgia Tech’s outreach and economic development arm, ATDC works with more than 800 technology startup entrepreneurs each year across Georgia. Founded in 1981, ATDC has become one of the most successful, longest-running, and largest university-based startup incubators in the country.

The announcement follows a comprehensive, four-month national search for a new leader at ATDC following the departure of Jen Bonnett, who left in June 2018 to become the Savannah Economic Development Authority’s vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship.

In taking the permanent appointment, Avery will lead a team of 26 full- and part-time staff and advisors who run ATDC’s various initiatives, including its financial, health, and retail technology verticals, support statewide activities such as the ATDC @ program, and coach technology entrepreneurs in Georgia.

Avery will report to Chris Downing, EI2 vice president and director.

“John is an outstanding leader and successful entrepreneur who understands the startup journey and commercialization process, with vast relationships in the startup and business communities,” Downing said. “We’re pleased to welcome him to EI2and see him bring ATDC, one of the nation’s premiere technology incubators, to even greater success in its mission of helping entrepreneurs build great companies here in Georgia.”

At Panasonic, Avery oversaw the innovation center’s development projects in next-generation automotive systems including, infotainment, bio-sensing, machine vision, deep learning, and heads-up displays.

A tech startup veteran with broad experience in data and wireless voice technologies, Avery was co-founder and chief technology officer of Convergence Corp., a maker of software that connects wireless devices to the Internet. Amazon acquired the company in 1999. Following that acquisition, he joined Amazon as engineering manager.

In 2001, Avery became an early employee of Mobliss, a mobile applications and messaging solutions company in the entertainment space. He later became the company’s chief technology officer. Japan’s Index Corp., a developer of mobile phone content and information and other media services such as video on demand,acquired Mobliss in 2004 for $15 million.

He holds six patents and owns Onboard Now, a developer of software for embedded devices such as smart phones, Web-enabled cameras, and industrial controls.

Avery, who sits on the board of the Midtown Alliance, is a familiar presence at ATDC, having served as a mentor to its startups since July of 2018.

“I am deeply honored to join ATDC and lead this amazing team,” Avery said. “ATDC’s work has resulted in the creation of great, disruptive Georgia companies in health, financial services, hardware, and numerous other sectors. I look forward to continuing ATDC’s momentum of success and legacy of impact.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Georgia Tech.

About Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2)

Comprised of a dozen programs, including the Advanced Technology Development Center, Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development. Through its philosophy of innovation-led economic development, EI2serves all of Georgia through a variety of services and programs designed to create, accelerate, and growGeorgia’s tech-based economy. For more information, please visit, innovate.gatech.edu.

About the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC)

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become one of the longest running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate startup companies raising more than $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. To learn more, visit atdc.org.

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/11/05/georgia-tech-names-new-director-for-advanced.html 

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: ATDC, economic development, EI2, Georgia Tech, innovation, outreach, start-up

ATDC taking applications for fall 2017 venture showcase road trip

October 11, 2017 By Andrew Smith

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the state of Georgia’s technology incubator, is now accepting applications from high-growth technology startups for its upcoming Dec. 4, 2017 Venture Showcase Roadtrip to New York City.

The application period is open from Oct. 2 through 5 p.m. on Oct. 20, and any Georgia-headquartered technology company raising a Series A round or higher is eligible.  The 10 selected companies will be notified Oct. 27 after the selection committee has reviewed all applicants.

The Venture Showcase Roadtrip is co-hosted by Morris, Manning & Martin, Silicon Valley Bank, Venture Atlanta, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and Aprio.

Those interested in applying should send a one-page executive summary to ATDC Assistant Director Jane McCracken at jane@atdc.org.

The initiative is an offshoot of the ATDC’s Investor Connect program, and allows funders — from angels to venture capitalists and other later-stage investors — to network with the highly vetted, market disruptive companies in ATDC’s Signature and Accelerate portfolios.

David Thomas headshot
David Thomas, founder and CEO of Evident, an ATDC Signature portfolio company.

“The Venture Showcase Roadtrip introduces investors to a carefully curated group of companies to foster meaningful and targeted conversations and connections, as well as give the venture firms a sense of the caliber of technology startups in Georgia,” McCracken said. “Our inaugural roadtrip to the West Coast earlier this year is a perfect example of the kinds of connections we facilitate.”

In that trip to San Francisco, 11 Georgia companies met with a group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Evident, an ATDC Signature portfolio company, met with New Enterprise Associates (NEA). That initial connection resulted in NEA becoming the lead investor in Evident’s recent $8.8 million Series A round.

“The San Francisco trip was an important milestone for our company. The ATDC name got us in front of an extremely selective and highly sought after group of venture capitalists eager to meet quality, disruptive companies,” said David Thomas, Evident’s founder and CEO. “It facilitated a critically important series of initial meetings that ultimately led to our successful Series A.”

ABOUT ATDC:

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a program of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the state of Georgia’s technology startup incubator. Founded in 1980 by the Georgia General Assembly which funds it each year, ATDC’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs in Georgia to help them learn, launch, scale, and succeed in the creation of viable, disruptive technology companies. Since its founding, ATDC has grown to become one of the longest running and most successful university-affiliated incubators in the United States, with its graduate startup companies raising $3 billion in investment financing and generating more than $12 billion in revenue in the state of Georgia. To learn more, visit atdc.org.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: ATDC, information technology, start-up

GSA looks to help startups navigate big contracts

October 9, 2017 By Andrew Smith

The General Services Administration has posted a guide to help new technology startups navigate the agency’s sprawling multiple awards schedule contracts.

The Multiple Award Schedule Roadmap, said the GSA’s MAS Program Management Office, is part of the agency’s response to feedback from emerging, small and start-up businesses that getting onto MAS contracts such as IT Schedule 70 can be complicated and time-consuming.

The effort, according to a Sept. 21 blog post, was rolled out under the agency’s “Making It Easier” initiative.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/09/26/gsa-startup-guide-rockwell.aspx

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, Making It Easier, MAS, multiple award schedule, start-up

Start-up firm provides solar panels for new Atlanta stadium

August 4, 2017 By Andrew Smith

On a sunny afternoon, Norman “Finn” Findley stands beneath a canopy of shiny solar paQuotation: “It blows people’s minds. It still blows my mind a little bit.”nels that covers a parking lot adjacent to what will be Atlanta’s new football stadium.

“It blows people’s minds,” Findley said, explaining to two visitors how his company’s QuadPod Solar Canopy system will work. “It still blows my mind a little bit.”

Findley is CEO of the startup Quest Renewables, and this project is one of their most expansive undertakings to date. It comprises two sets of canopies that measure about 130 feet by 250 feet each.

Solar canopies are high ground-clearance structures designed for solar panels, but they also function as carports by providing shade for vehicles parked beneath them.

Quest Renewables’ technology allows for about 90 percent of the canopy construction to take place on the ground. Then, cranes hoist the solar panels up in the air to mount them atop the company’s specially engineered trusses and members.

The total system will produce 617.5 kilowatts of power for each hour of sunlight. When fully operational, the system will generate enough electricity to power nine home games per season.

For Findley, this show-and-tell at the stadium is all in a day’s work. This particular day will be filled with meetings. Some are planned — there’s the staff meeting, a new employee orientation, and an investor call — but others come up unexpectedly, such as an impromptu meeting with another investor who is touring the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the startup incubator that’s home to Quest Renewables’ operations.

“This is an angel investor,” said Frank Tighe, ATDC’s lead entrepreneur-in-residence and advisor to Quest Renewables’ leadership team, making the introduction between Findley and the visitor. “He wanted to know a little bit about ATDC, and I wanted to take him around to meet some of the companies.”

Straight away, Findley goes into presentation mode, giving his 30-second “elevator pitch” to the visitor, explaining as succinctly as possible what his company does and how it creates value for its customers.

“We manufacture racking systems that hold solar panels up off the ground for solar commercial installations at lower cost and in a shorter time frame,” Findley said, before going into a deeper conversation with the investor.

Planned or unplanned, these opportunities are all part of the pattern in the life of a startup CEO, said Findley, a former Coca-Cola executive who left the beverage giant in 2016 to focus on Quest Renewables full time.

And while each new day is different, Findley pointed out, he begins and ends each one the same way.

“It’s get the kids up and out the door for carpool to school and get out to the gym,” the married father of two said. “Then it’s work and then to get out in time to go home and put the kids to bed.”

Rows of solar panels elevated on a canopy above the concrete ground
Quest Renewables makes systems that hold solar panels up off the ground, allowing for parking beneath. The total system being installed here will produce 617.5 kilowatts of power for each hour of sunlight. Photo credit: Rob Felt.
A Strong Team

 

Although Findley has always had an entrepreneurial mindset, he joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1996 and held several managerial positions in sales and marketing.

Going the corporate route before venturing into the startup world was part of a long-term career strategy.

“I’ll take risks, but only calculated risks,” Findley said. “And for me, the corporate life made sense 20 years ago, while I was taking some risks on the side through investing in some startups.”

Over time, his entrepreneurial interest would grow, and in 2013, a friend introduced him to Joseph Goodman, who at the time was a senior research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech’s applied research and development organization.

“Our mutual friend encouraged us to meet, and we met once a month to see how things were going with his research,” Findley said, explaining that their matchmaking friend thought his commercialization experience at Coke could be beneficial to Goodman. “Joseph said he thought there might be a business in his research, but he couldn’t be certain. As we spent time together and I saw how things were going, I got to understand the size of the business opportunity.”

The year after that initial meeting, Findley, along with Beau Baldock and Will Arnold, founded Quest Renewables, licensing a patent from Georgia Tech based on research that Goodman and others at the Institute had conducted.

On Quest Renewables’ team, Goodman is chief technology officer, Baldock is senior vice president of supply chain, and Arnold is senior vice president of operations.

“I went to Babson College to get my MBA in entrepreneurship, and what they tell you is, the three most important things to have are a strong team, a strong team, and a strong team,” Findley said. “If you have a great idea but a weak team, you won’t be able to execute on that idea.”

As the founding team members began to build the company, they went through Georgia Tech’s VentureLab, the Institute’s startup and incubation support program for Tech faculty and students who want to create companies based on their research.

After graduating from VentureLab, Quest Renewables was accepted into ATDC’s Signature portfolio. ATDC, a sister incubation program to VentureLab, works with entrepreneurs across Georgia (no Georgia Tech affiliation required) who have a proven business model and customers, and are most likely to succeed long term in the marketplace.

Left: a man views diagrams on a computer screen. Right: a meeting is conducted around a conference table.
Left: James Keane, a system specialist at Quest Renewables, reviews the schematics for a solar canopy design. Right: Norman “Finn” Findley (far right) holds one of his weekly Monday meetings with members of his staff to go over projects and other ongoing company initiatives. Photo credit: Rob Felt.
In the Energy Space

The Georgia Tech research that got Findley’s attention led to a foundation design and support structure that takes up less physical space and uses less than half the steel found in traditional solar canopy construction. Because of the design and the weight it can support, the canopy can hold more solar panels than other canopies without having to expand the support structure’s footprint.

The goal behind the initial research and development was to see if there was a way to increase cost efficiencies in the non-­photovoltaic part of solar panel installations, Findley said. That meant focusing on the labor, support structure, and electrical costs. The U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative funded the original research.

Quotation: "I'll take risks, but only calculated risks."

The design is a modular space frame, which makes it easier to construct and allows crews to erect the canopies in half the time it takes to build competing structures.

“We’re extremely efficient from the standpoint that we can put them up faster, we can put more of them up per acre — so we can generate more power over a given parking lot — and we can put them up generally at a lower cost to the customer,” Findley said.

Since the solar canopy structures are elevated, they create functional parking lots in addition to energy.

“We can build on surface parking lots and elevated parking decks, which allows us to produce the energy close to where the power is needed, which puts less stress on the electrical grid because you don’t have to produce it in south Georgia, for example, and then try to pipe it all the way up here,” Findley said.

While the energy industry doesn’t track the solar canopy sector specifically, the solar energy business is growing and accounted for 39 percent of all new electric capacity that was added to the U.S. electric grid in 2016, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a trade group based in Washington, D.C. The industry attracted $23 billion in investments in 2016, up from about $18.3 billion in 2015, according to SEIA/GTM Research’s U.S. Solar Market Report and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Under Findley’s leadership, Quest Renewables tripled its revenue between 2014 and 2015, repeating that feat again in 2016. The company projects it will quadruple revenue in 2017.

The company remains linked to Georgia Tech through its work with T. Russell Gentry, an associate professor, structural engineer, and building materials researcher in the School of Architecture.

Partnering with Gentry, Quest Renewables presents challenges to his students, who are tasked with coming up with ways to improve the canopy’s efficiency.

“The question we asked them is, do you see where we could be better and more efficient in our use of materials,” said James Keane, Quest Renewables’ system specialist and a 2013 Georgia Tech graduate with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

“We’re asking them whether there is a more optimal size for these components or whether they should somehow be designed differently.”

The technology has garnered the company some national attention. In the spring of 2016, then-U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz visited Georgia Tech, noting the Institute’s role as a leader in developing innovative energy solutions in the Southeast and meeting with a select group of ATDC companies in the energy space, including Quest Renewables.

That same year, the Georgia Research Alliance, which seeds and funds startup companies in the state, announced it was making an investment in Quest Renewables via its GRA Venture Fund, which was established to finance high-potential companies spinning out of Georgia’s universities.

Lauren Terris running on campus with Norman “Finn” Findley
Lauren Terris, operations manager at Quest Renewables, runs with Norman “Finn” Findley, the company’s CEO. The two regularly run on and around the Georgia Tech campus while discussing corporate strategies and initiatives. Photo credit: Rob Felt.
Big-Picture Perspective

The stadium initiative is the largest to date for Quest Renewables, though the company has other projects in its portfolio, including a canopy array at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, and projects in other states including Maryland, Oregon, California, and Maine.

One recently completed project is with Standard Solar, a Rockville, Maryland-based company that specializes in the development and financing of solar electric systems.

The company hired Quest Renewables to design and put together a canopy for a Rockville-area parking deck.

Parking decks are more challenging than surface lots for solar canopy projects, said C.J. Colavito, Standard Solar’s director of engineering.

That’s because the canopy has to be integrated within and anchored to an existing structure and requires a customized engineering approach, he said.

“There are a number of things Quest does well where they are able to add value where other providers have struggled,” Colavito said, adding that his firm is working on another project with Quest Renewables, scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2017. “One of the things Quest does better than anybody else is, they have a system that’s capable of having very long spans between connections. You get a lot more density at lower costs than other systems because of their proprietary truss system while maintaining the canopy’s structural integrity.”

Accolades such as this come with a hiccup that most startups would love to have: demand for services — so much so that the company is scaling back its growth. Findley wants each customer to have a quality experience.

“We created such a compelling product that we have demand that exceeds our ability to deliver a quality customer experience, so we’ve been ratcheting back our growth to make sure that every customer we work with is delighted,” he said.

This approach, he said, fits in with the company’s long-term goal regarding its place and impact on the industry.

“The inspiration for our company comes from a very big-picture perspective. The idea that we could lower the cost of solar and be able to produce it near where the demand is located while still using existing spaces like parking lots rather than covering up natural green fields with solar panels is what drives what we do,” Findley said. “What we would really like is that in 10 years, for people to say that we really made solar and renewable energy to be preferential to fossil fuels.”

Source: http://www.rh.gatech.edu/features/its-gonna-be-bright-sunshiny-day

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: ATDC, Georgia Research Alliance, Georgia Tech, start-up

Defense Intelligence Agency’s ‘Shark Tank’ helps startups pitch spy apps

May 5, 2017 By Andrew Smith

The Setting: A high-tech military facility just outside of Washington, DC — the headquarters of the Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA.   Anshuman Roy, the president and founder of Rhombus, a data analytics company, is in a large open space outfitted with computers, whiteboards, and cameras.  It looks a bit like a young hacker space of the sort that began popping up in San Francisco in 2007 and, before that, in Europe.

Roy stands in front of a digital projection of a map of Syria. Green and red areas show where his proprietary neural network has determined that unrest or violence is likely imminent. Analysts at DIA can use the tool to look at “precursors to instability,” he explains to a small audience.

The analysts can refine the results by adding or subtracting variables — local economic factors, ethnic and religious makeup, even fresh water availability or food price inflation. This, he explains, is a huge improvement over previous models that relied on just four variables computed by humans. Rhombus’s cloud-based neural net can draw in much more information to help analysts make better predictions.

“It doesn’t give directions. It suggests to help override cognitive bias,” he says.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2017/04/defense-intelligence-agencys-shark-tank-startups-pitch-spy-apps/137320

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: apps, DIA, innovation, shark tank, start-up, technology

Georgia Tech announces new way to ‘engage’ technology startups

January 13, 2017 By Andrew Smith

A new mentorship-driven accelerator and venture fund targeting high-tech startups is coming to Atlanta.

The national program, called Engage, launched Jan. 12th through a joint announcement from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and the CEOs of 10 leading global corporations.

Georgia Tech's Tech Square will be home to a new accelerator and venture fund called Engage.
Georgia Tech’s Tech Square will be home to a new accelerator and venture fund called Engage.

The Engage accelerator is open to startups across the country, with a focus placed on mentoring and market access strategies. Applications will be available in early 2017, with programming scheduled to begin in the spring. Up to 48 startups could go through the program in the first three years.

The program will be supported through a venture fund, and 10 corporations have committed $15 million to date. In addition, the corporations will actively support the accelerator through mentoring, education, and collaboration.

Engage will offer programming and other services through a contract with the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), which was established at Georgia Tech by Georgia lawmakers in 1980 to launch and build technology companies.

The primary objective of the mentoring is to help startups with their go-to-market strategy. Engage will also help the startups connect with the resources and right people in the large companies.

G.P. "Bud" Peterson is the eleventh president of Georgia Tech.
G.P. “Bud” Peterson is the eleventh president of Georgia Tech.

“Georgia Tech is committed to continue working with both large corporations and startups to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast,” said Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson. “By engaging the business community to maximize our collective strengths, we can attract and grow new companies, foster economic development, and retain talent in Georgia.”

Georgia Tech is recognized as a national leader in promoting entrepreneurial opportunities and economic development. Tech Square, for example, is home to more than a dozen corporate innovation centers. Engage will provide additional commercialization opportunities for Georgia Tech students, faculty, and research.

Engage is a key initiative of the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), a coalition that includes the mayor of Atlanta, leading CEOs, and university presidents. The ACP focuses on critical issues facing the city; one of its key priorities is furthering Atlanta’s development as a leading technology hub with increased access to funding for startups. In addition to getting direct support from the founding companies, Engage entrepreneurs will be connected to more than 30 companies that are ACP members.

“Atlanta is the Southeast’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship capital, with the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country,” Reed said.  “We must take advantage of these unique assets to further stimulate our growing ecosystem of start-ups and growth-stage companies, connecting them to capital, talent and mentorship. This new venture fund and accelerator program will offer an unmatched opportunity for entrepreneurs in Atlanta and the region, and I am confident its success will lead to greater interest and investment in our emerging technology companies.”

The 10 founding companies contributing capital, expertise, time, and resources in support of Engage include AT&T, Chick-fil-A, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation Inc., Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Invesco Ltd., The Home Depot, and UPS. Executives from these firms – many of which are Fortune 500 companies – will serve as mentors to the companies receiving financial support from Engage.

What makes Engage unique is the interaction of these global companies with the startup ecosystem to help entrepreneurs build companies that will transform their markets. Rather than filling the specific needs of a single large company, Engage startups will benefit from the combined perspective of the founding companies.

“The robust level of participation from the city’s leading corporations will help ensure Engage’s success by providing a world-class incubation program for high-potential start-ups,” said Martin L. Flanagan, president and CEO of Invesco and a member of the Atlanta Committee for Progress.

Each of the founding companies committed $1.5 million to a venture fund that has been formed to make equity and equity-related investments into companies admitted to Engage. The fund will be managed by Tech Square Ventures.

“By combining mentoring from executives of Atlanta’s top companies and experienced entrepreneurs with programming from ATDC, Engage will give entrepreneurs unparalleled market access and connectivity to help them bring their ideas to market,” said Blake Patton, managing partner of Tech Square Ventures.

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: ATDC, Engage, Georgia Tech, innovation, start-up, Tech Square, venture fund

In February: ‘Startup Bootcamp’ for Savannah-area founders of technology-based startups

January 9, 2017 By Andrew Smith

atdcApplications are now open for the 2017 Boot Camp class which is scheduled for February 2017 – March 2017

See upcoming schedule and application for the 2017 bootcamp and apply here.

Startup Boot Camp is available to Savannah-area founders of technology and product based startups. The program is based on the lean startup model and is designed to lead entrepreneurs through the concept to launch of their product.

The interactive program will help entrepreneurs identify and vet their target customers, articulate their value proposition, make financial projections, and prepare them for seeking investment. Participants will also have access to Georgia Tech’s ATDC mentors during the class, which will provide both guidance and connections to resources.  Check out the past participants to hear their stories.

The courses are designed to be a combination of classroom-style training and workshops to educate and move you forward on your journey. The 12 workshops encompass ATDC’s Entrepreneurs’ Education Series, which prepares entrepreneurs for ascent and learn best practices through interactive classes and workshops. An experienced entrepreneur and ATDC mentor will teach each workshop. The Savannah workshops will be taught by mentors from Savannah and Atlanta.  At the end of the bootcamp, participants will pitch at a demo day attended by the public and showcase their company or ideas.  The winner of the pitch event will receive $10,000 cash prize from SEDA.

2017 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE 

February 6:  Customer Discovery Part 1:.  Identify your target customers and value proposition

February 13:  Customer Discover Part 2.  Validate target customers.

February 21:  Business Model Canvas Part 1:  How to reach and acquire customers (channels).

February 28:  Business Model Canvas Part 2 – Complete product roadmap and business model.

March 7: Financial Literacy (open to all ATDC members)

March 14:  Executive Summary

March 21:  Elevator Pitch

March 28:  Investor Pitch Preparation

April (TBD):  SAV Startup Demo day and Bootcamp Graduate pitches

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: advanced energy technology, ATDC, bootcamp, SEDA, start-up, technology, training

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Contracting News

Final rule, formal training on CMMC could hit this summer

COFC: “Rule of two” must be analyzed before “any” acquisition

DOD’s cybersecurity certification requirements to appear in DHS contracts

Congressional Research Service publishes updated report on SBA’s 8(a) program

Congressional Research Service publishes new report on SBA’s HUBZone program

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Contracting Tips

Non-compete clauses in government contracting: a case study in enforceability

NDAA for fiscal year 2021 includes numerous provisions impacting government contractors

Beware of the automated email response

Complying with the government’s restrictions on foreign telecommunications equipment

Construction claims in the COVID era: lessons learned and best practices

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GTPAC News

DLA hosting event March 10th with special emphasis on Women-Owned Small Businesses

Navy Office of Small Business Programs holding three events in March

SBA hosting conversations with contracting officers forum Feb. 25th

USACE seeks vaccination center construction support

GTPAC updates cybersecurity resource page to include CMMC guidance

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Georgia Tech News

Collective worm and robot “blobs” protect individuals, swarm together

The Partnership for Inclusive Innovation is now accepting applications for pilot programs

Georgia Tech will help manage DOE’s Savannah River National Laboratory

Dr. Abdallah testifies on U.S. competitiveness, research, STEM pipeline at Congressional hearing

Georgia Tech’s Technology Square Phase III to include George Tower

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