When I spoke recently with an investor in a medium-sized city in the Southeast, I asked him about his tech ecosystem. He thinks his city is moving in the right direction, but it keeps running into a couple of major barriers:

• Nontechnical founders – He comes across excellent founders regularly, but they can’t build a technical product. They struggle to find technical co-founders. If they don’t give up, they hire a development shop. His portfolio companies haven’t had great results with outside development shops, even when they have strong founders.
• Funding – The community has wealthy individuals and families. Their wealth derives from legacy industries that have historically been economic drivers in the city (not so much anymore). Founders struggle to raise funding because people who have the means to invest don’t understand tech start‑ups. It’s gotten better, but they’ve got a long way to go. They’re actively organizing a network of angel investors so people can educate one another.

I was happy to hear that this investor is working hard to help tech start-ups succeed in his city. Our conversation reinforced something I’ve thought for a long time. The South has talented founders, but to succeed they need support. Funding is a big piece. So is community to help them connect more easily and form well-rounded founding teams. I’m looking forward to working with this investor and others across the South to help founders reach their full potential!

Atlanta start-ups have been on a tear lately. Calendly raised $350 million at a $3 billion valuation, Rigor was acquired by Splunk, SalesLoft was valued at over $1 billion, and CallRail raised $56 million . . . all in the last few months. I spoke with a fellow investor about these wins. The founders’ styles and the companies’ circumstances are different, but we agreed there’s one thing they have in common that contributed heavily to their success: culture.

Each of these founders focused on culture early. They were intentional about the environment they wanted for their team. They took the time to think deeply about their core values, mission, etc. And they took it even further, making sure the decisions they made as they grew the company (including hiring) aligned with their values and mission. The results speak for themselves.

Some founders pay no attention to company culture. Big mistake. I’ve noticed two things that happen when they don’t:

• By any means necessary – Without clear values, sometimes people take the gray route in tough situations. Individual decisions may not be shady or bad, but over time they compound. People stray further and further from operating in an ethical way. One day you wake up and you have a company that achieves its goals by any means necessary. It’s Game of Thrones inside the company.
• Unmotivated team – Why you want to do something is usually clear to the founding team (or it should be). But as the team grows, everyone won’t understand the why if communicating it isn’t a priority. When people don’t understand why they’re doing something, they don’t work as hard. You can’t blame them. It makes sense. It’s hard to get someone to run through a wall if they don’t see any purpose or benefit to it. Next thing you know, you have an unmotivated team giving 50%.

Not making company culture a high priority produces lots of other perils. These are just two that I’m familiar with because of my own shortcomings as a founder. Take it from me, you don’t want to experience either of them. Once they set in, it’s hard to reverse them.

Congrats to Calendly, Rigor, Salesloft, and CallRail. They’re testaments to the idea that culture matters. Founders, take note: culture is a big part of success. Act like it.

Over the last few days, we’ve heard about the GameStop Reddit WallStreetBets saga playing out in the stock market. If you’re not familiar with it, you may want to read up on it. It will likely be remembered as a major historical event. The story centers around a Reddit community called WallStreetBets.

I’ve been a fan and user of digital communities since high school, and I’ve shared my thoughts about them in one of my daily posts. Some of these communities have helped me accelerate my learning and navigate unfamiliar situations, including my transition to corporate America and a new city.

What we’re witnessing is how powerful digital communities can be. Let me be clear: I’m not taking a position on current events. What I’m saying is that the fact that a group of ordinary people online can organize a call to action so big that it shakes Wall Street is a testament to the impact digital communities can (and will) have on our lives.

Love them or hate them, the people have spoken and digital communities are here to stay!

I hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone!

Yesterday was a unique Christmas, to say the least. Many people couldn’t get together with friends and family the way they usually do. There was a silver lining, though. I assume because they couldn’t do “Christmas as usual,” lots more people reached out to me than normally do at Christmas. I had some great phone conversations and FaceTime calls that I really enjoyed.

Christmas may be over, but we’re still in the holiday season. If you think about someone, reach out. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the gesture. Who doesn’t like being reminded that someone cares about them and is thinking of them? You never know: you might just make their day!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy holiday!

I recently shared my thoughts on the value that investors offer aside from investing capital and the importance of founders building relationships with investors early. You want those relationships to be healthy, which I believe includes their being bidirectional. I discussed this in more depth with a founder and was asked how someone new to entrepreneurship can add value to a relationship with an experienced investor. It was a great question.

Founders often have deep knowledge in their space. They’re on the front lines, so they can spot trends and challenges before others are aware of them. They may notice that an early company is gaining traction before that becomes apparent to anyone outside the space. While it might not seem like it, all this industry knowledge can be valuable. Sharing it is a great way to add value to your relationships with investors.

Founders are constantly learning. (To build their company, they must.) Investors are too. They’re learning about new problems that they can help great founders solve. Helping investors (or anyone for that matter) learn about your space quickly can be a great way to build a bidirectional relationship.

I few months ago I rejoined Discord. (I tested the platform years ago, but it didn’t resonate with me then.) Discord allows users with different interests to create communities on the platform. It offers a variety of features and ways for users to interact, but I mainly use the chatting. I was looking to get better at one of my hobbies by connecting with people I could learn from. I read about a private Discord server (i.e., community) and decided to check it out.

I got invited to the server and found what I was looking for and more. I was a novice among experts in this community. I was surprised by the amount of knowledge and information that was flowing freely. People were transparent and highly engaged in the conversations. Some even collaborated and pooled resources to solve really big problems, sharing their findings with the community. I now check it every day.

My experience got me wondering how many others were finding community through Discord. I dug a little and learned that Discord raised $100 million this summer at a $3.5 billion valuation. At the time, it was said to have 100 million active users (monthly, I’m assuming). The company was recently rumored to have 120 million monthly active users and to be finalizing another round of funding at a $7 billion valuation. I think it’s safe to assume that people are finding community there and investors are taking notice.

I shared my musings on rethinking and creating community the other day. I believe community is a big opportunity for 2021. Discord’s traction demonstrates that people are looking for community. The growth of this sector may change, but I think people will continue to seek new solutions to this problem.

Over the last decade, there’s been a tremendous amount of progress toward creating a sense of community in the tech scene. Physical spaces, accelerators, and programs provide it in many cities. I watched this evolution in Atlanta and personally benefited from it. Being part of this community changed the course of my founder journey and opened my eyes to lots of things.

Today, I connected with a founder who’s trying to build community in a nontech industry. He moved to Atlanta a few years ago. When he looked for people in his industry, he found that he couldn’t easily connect with people or find a space where they could work and learn from one another. I immediately understood his problem and his vision for solving it. He’s trying to create a community for people like him.

This entrepreneur is on to something, and I’m rooting for him. After our conversation, I realized there’s a larger opportunity to solve this problem in various sectors. The pandemic has changed and will probably continue to change how we work. And in so doing, it’s allowing us—in fact, compelling us—to rethink how we create community. After quarantining for months, people are actively looking for ways to be apart of a community in new and different ways.

In industries in which community existed, now’s the time to rethink it and shape the future of the sector. In industries lacking community even before the pandemic, now is a great time to fill that gap. I see a massive entrepreneurial opportunity to create value for others by creating community. That will mean different things in different sectors. I’ll be excited to see the various ways founders solve this problem and bring people together!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a safe and healthy holiday!

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