Included on “future looks deep” from Startup Atlanta and Invest Atlanta

Startup Atlanta highlighted some bright stars for the future include AirWatch, Kabbage, MailChimp, Scoutmob, Sideqik, Silverpop at their recent Startup Stories event.

For those that do not live in the South, they often do not realize how strong the ecosystem is and the huge number of companies that have been founded and grown across the region. The City of Atlanta has been actively working to change that perception and has been active in the formation of Invest Atlanta and Startup Atlanta. Atlanta was once only known as the headquarters for Coca-Cola, Delta, and Home Depot. Now, Atlanta is known as one of the fastest growing technology hubs in the country.

Startup Atlanta serves growth-focused entrepreneurs in the Atlanta region who are focused on scaling their business. “New and young companies are the primary source of job creation in the American economy. Not only that, but these firms also contribute to economic dynamism by injecting competition into markets and spurring innovation.” Kauffman Foundation September, 2014

Invest Atlanta tracks the economic development of the city and provides a provide a number of services that encourage startups including 1) Cheap or no down payment office space 2) Investor connections 3) Small business loans.

On August 21st the two organizations held their Startup Stories event featuring a panel with the highly successful John Yates, Reggie Bradford, Sig Mosely, and Charles Brewer. These men have not only created and sold great companies in Atlanta, but they have also been instrumental in helping many of the entrepreneurs of other companies grow. Having worked for Reggie and consider him and his family friends, it’s always great to showcase his experience and approach. I really enjoy his consistent focus and drive for long term success and why that’s part of Atlanta entrepreneurs.

This event showcased some of Atlanta’s achievements in the technology ecosystem

• $4.7 billion in investments from venture capitalists and federal grantsInvest Atlanta
• 52% growth in patent registrations – an all time high for Atlanta
• 27% growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees
• 7% growth in innovation jobs
• startup successes including Manhattan Associates, EarthLink/Mindspring, N2Broadband, Scientific Atlanta, Internet Security Systems, Firethorn, SecureWorks, Vitrue and Pardot.

The shock for me was that they highlighted our startup, Sideqik, as one of the bright stars for the future, alongside AirWatch, Kabbage, MailChimp, Scoutmob, and Silverpop. Startup Atlanta listed hundreds of Atlanta startups but chose to highlight/bold Sideqik with these 5 other companies on the infographics and oversized posters.

It really speaks to the power of our team. What Jeremy and I started together at Flashpoint has taken a little while to gain momentum. It’s great to see the city and groups like these taking notice of the hard work from the team and the impact it’s having with customers. Very very honored to be part of this group and helping to grow jobs in Atlanta and in the region.

Click here to see the infographic on the history and future of Atlanta technology.

Kurt Uhlir

Kurt is a globally-recognized 10x marketer, operator, and speaker. He has built and run early-stage companies as well as those over $1B in annual revenue, assembled teams across six continents, been part of the small team leading an IPO ($880M), and participated in dozens of acquisitions. His unique experience being inside hundreds of high-growth companies with the opportunity to analyze, scale, make changes of leadership, and oversee operations has labeled him “the king of scaling companies”. This has enabled him to advise thousands of leaders, from startup founders to the President of the United States.