The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is the big day of the year for motorsports fans – the storied Monaco Grand Prix early, then the Indy 500 (100^th running this year), and for the nightcap NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

This year all three races were unusually entertaining and blessed with good weather.  To feel like I accomplished something while overdosing on these events, I decided to draw five analogies to entrepreneurship:

1. Get your business to the finish line.  Startups can be exhilarating, but it’s darn nice to get your business to the checkered flag.  Something good can always happen to you if you’re still in the race when the finish is at hand.  Look at Vettel on far-overextended tires about to be chased down by Hamilton and Button with about 7 laps to go when Petrov’s injury crash brought out the red flag and allowed for tire changes.  A remote event preserved a victory for Vettel and his Red Bull team.   Then there was heartbreak at Indy when rookie driver J. R. Hildebrand was well in front but put a bit too much adrenalin into the very last turn before the finish and crashed into the wall.  Veteran Dan Wheldon sailed by for the win, and Hildebrand had enough momentum that his wreckage slid across in second.  Wheldon put himself right where he needed to be when the door opened.  And, finally, Little E had it all won at Charlotte when he ran out of gas on the last lap and let Kevin Harvick claim the prize.  (I know gas is really expensive, but…).
2. Your venture is no better than its weakest link.  One of Roger Penske’s drivers Will Power (always liked that name), was victim of a pit crew error on lap 24 when he was released before the left rear wheel was properly attached and proceeded to travel on its own down the pit lane.  There was a lap lost by the tire man on that corner of the car, and no chance of recovering.  As you know, most large companies have adopted practices of over-measuring front-line service delivery, to the point of annoyance, but as entrepreneurs we don’t have that ability.  We’ve always got to be ready to deal with that “loose nut” that keeps us from the goal.
3. On the other hand, talent at the top can make all the difference.  Formula 1 is a collection of automotive technology that exceeds any other motorsport, with bigger budgets and far more exotica.  Yet, the man in the cockpit still makes the difference.  Sebastian Vettel has won 5 of the 6 races this year, and his teammate Mark Webber, with presumably identical equipment, sits in 3^rd place in the driver standings.  Vettel continues to show he can get the victories in a sport where thousandths of a second can be the margin of success. 
4. In the worldwide market there is room for more than one gigantic motorsports venue.  We’ve grown accustomed to dominant tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, but there are big audiences out there for other big ideas as well.  Not all the racing fans have the same tastes, and there are countless classes, including motorcycles, that I haven’t even mentioned.  People still make a living and have fun at the venerable Dixie Speedway dirt track in Woodstock, GA.  (This one deserves a link for full appreciation.)  You can make a lot of money and build a great business without conquering all.
5. Run to win.  Since you’re choosing to be an entrepreneur, learn the joy of “running up front” and not being a back marker.  Auto racers will tell you that practice is a lot more fun, and more profitable.  Don’t content yourself to just be on the track and cruise around at the back.  It’s probably more dangerous there than at the front where the skill levels and motivations are higher.  So, go for it and put in place the team, the systems, and the attitude that gets you to the finish line first in whatever classification you've chosen to compete.

<photo of Monaco 1930 poster that you may have seen on the wall of the TechDrawl Cave at the ATDC>

Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com among many achievements in an illustrious career, is pictured above with yours truly.  Dr. Metcalfe is now a professor at the University of Texas and chaired the concluding panel of the CEO Summit.

This final post resulting from this event is about the availability of capital in Austin, and it’s a conversation not unlike many I’ve heard in Atlanta.  Most tech centers have a certain amount of “Valley Envy.” I’m going to pick interesting comments from several panels on that topic.

Metcalfe stated that the availability of truly qualified CEO’s is the limiting factor on deals getting done.  He said venture funds with which he has been associated could have deployed twice as much money if they could have found twice the number of CEO’s.

He said that the competition among the Bay Area, Boston, and NYC, is not a zero sum game.  One advantage the Bay does have is its network affect.  VCs there have a pool of “drop-in Ninjas” on marketing, operations, or whatever skill is needed at a particular stage in a company’s evolution.  They also have CEO bench strength and can rapidly shift gears from the $0-10M revenue leader to the $10-100M builder. 

Governor Rick Perry touted the Emerging Technology Fund, which to date has deployed $196M accompanied by $170M in matching grants.  That’s a big plus for the state.

Jen Grogono, CEO of uStudio, reported a $2M strategic raise that she described as serendipitous but one that required a highly creative terms sheet to align the interests of the partner with those of her company.  In particular, defining a “win” and potential exits in terms acceptable to her company was important in the context of being affiliated with a behemoth partner.   (I’ve been caught in a “rounding error” classification twice by taking strategic money, so I know where that can lead.)

Barry Evans, CEO of Calxeda, a heavy science play aimed at reducing server power costs, used a combination of strategic partner contributed IP, $1M from the aforementioned Emerging Technology Fund, then seed money, angels, and more recently a 2.5 year process to close $48M.  Patience and creativity there for sure.

Josh Baer, CEO of Other Inbox, bootstrapped his first company in college in 1996, the bootstrapped and sold two more, now with his latest has raised $4M from angels, 1/3 each from Austin, the Bay Area, and NYC.  With profitability achieved he’s contemplating where to raise a next round.  He noted in particular that what used to cost $5M to start dropped to $500K and may now be $150K and still headed down.

Josh Williams, CEO of Gowalla, founded his company in Dallas, launched at SXSW and then moved to Austin.  He said Austin creates plenty of talent that supports the Twitter class companies, however in his case he hires more than half his people from the Bay Area.  He did note that the Bay has more of an “all or nothing” mentality; failing at a startup in Austin doesn’t have such a cost-of-living penalty as in the Bay – one can enjoy a very pleasant existence here on relatively low wages in between startup gigs.

There were general comments about there being less friction in the Valley in getting deals done and underway, and mention was made of the commonly stated maxim that failure is not a stigma there, just experience.  A response to that for Austinites is play your part individually, don’t quit, and think creatively and not linearly (“the MFA is the new MBA”).  Austin was mentioned several times as having great Karma and a general willingness of entrepreneurs to help each other, which I have certainly found to be the case.

And, finally, Dr. Metcalfe at the end of the day was the first to bring up Dell, which was not mentioned prior and which was not represented in the room.  I’ve often written that Atlanta needs an anchor tenant like Dell to create a new ecosystem of startups, but in fact Dell has not had that effect in Austin.  It has generated considerable wealth but is more of a distribution company than a creator of technologies that lead to spinoffs. 

This is the second in a series of posts resulting from the Austin Technology Council’s CEO Summit, its first in ten years.  About 100 invitees gathered in the Four Seasons hotel for a packed day concluding with a reception.  Pictured above are two Georgia Tech graduates flanking Melissa Simpler, CEO of Affinegy, which has more than 7 Million users on its home networking platform.  On the left is Kyle Cox, Managing Director of Post Oak Ventures, and on the right is Stuart Rench, co-founder of Ihiji, an ATI company also addressing the home automation market.

The topic of today’s post is the session on building and recruiting from the startup talent pool in Austin.  I believe you will find their comments to be insightful for Austin but also for Atlanta and other tech centers.

Joel Trammel, CEO of CacheIQ, moderated a panel including:

Sarah Smith, Director of Online Operations for Facebook in Austin; Mark McClain, CEO of Sailpoint Technologies, an enterprise software company representing in this case the grizzled veterans of the software industry (like myself), and John Arrow, CEO of Mutual Mobile, the largest mobile consultancy in US.

Facebook has about 140 employees in Austin and is recruiting at all levels.  85% are under 30. SailPoint, on the other hand, is 85% over 30, looks for more experience with established connections, and mainly recruits by tapping networks built over the years in a series of companies. Mutual Mobile with 150 employees in the US and India is looking for 50 more but believes it has exhausted the mobile engineer pool in Austin.  80% of its hiring is out of state.

Austin itself is a powerful attractor versus the Bay Area with its lower cost of living and very different lifestyle.  (Arrow did mention that downtown Austin apartments are getting pricey, however.)  It’s also easy to give University of Texas alums an excuse to return to the city. 

On the topic of experience, Trammel made an interesting observation: are you getting 20 years experience or 1 year 20 times over?  There’s a big difference.

Arrow says he tries to find really smart, well rounded people with a desire to learn and trains them in mobile technologies.  He noted that a month in the mobile business is like a year in most others.

Smith looks for an entrepreneurial mindset and intellectual curiosity.  Excellent written and verbal communication skills are paramount.  Facebook has an extremely high bar and tolerates “no jerks.”  She does look for people, however, who do show confidence in the first interview and are therefore likely to perform in a culture where they can’t be micromanaged.

McClain, of course, thrives on hiring experience in the enterprise world.

There was a general discussion around the notion that all companies have similar benefits (although options in some may be realized more near term than in others) and that attracting talent boils down to culture.  Really engaging with people from the first interview and maintaining that engagement throughout their employment are critical. Employees need to be continually reminded that they are respected and valued.

These companies tend to rely heavily on their interviews to make hiring decisions, and some do not even do background checks.  One mentioned that ignoring a negative reference was a mistake made and not to be repeated.

I noted one question about compensation.  Given the lack of state income tax in Texas and other low COL factors, the prevailing wages can be less than in high cost areas like the Valley or NYC.  An exception, however, is that sales compensation seems to be more geared to national norms no matter where someone is located.

The net is that Austin looks to be an importer of talent for its tech industry for some time to come.  As you have seen from this panel, the range of skills needed covers the gamut from sizzling Consumer Internet sectors to traditional enterprise to mobile and even to semiconductor and other hard sciences. 

This is the first in a series of posts resulting from the Austin Technology Council’s CEO Summit, its first in ten years.  About 100 invitees gathered in the Four Seasons hotel for a full day of interesting discussions including brief addresses by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Texas Governor Rick Perry.  Today I’m going to focus on the keynote address.

(A side note here:  The Four Seasons is very posh hotel but requires meeting attendees to go to the registration desk to buy day passes for wifi access.  There’s the nonsmoking queen version for $9.99, suitable for email, surfing, and business downloads.  The smoking king is $14.99 and gives you enough bandwidth to stream movies and TV shows in case your meeting doesn’t hold your attention.  Even La Quinta hotels generally have free wifi.  At least the bathrooms did not have attendants looking for tips.)

The keynote by Dr. George Friedman, who founded the global intelligence firm Stratfor, highlighted the themes from his best-selling book The Next Decade.  He has a stimulating view of what we should consider to be our real “technology” challenges ahead.

We are nearing end of what he called the “European imperialist phase of technology” that began with the telegraph and steam power for ships that let European nations project themselves around the world.  He cited many current uses of relatively old technology.  For example, the automobile was basically created in the 1930’s, but design took over the industry in the 1950’s.  Although there have been countless technological innovations in the auto over the subsequent decades, we still drive cars or trucks that basically look and function like what we could have driven in the 30’s. 

Friedman posits that today universities invent science; government first applies it at tremendous cost; then entrepreneurs take it to consumers.

He says the single most important trend today is the decline in the birthright rate per woman.  A rate of 2.1 is necessary to maintain population, and many countries are already well below that.  The next 50 years will see the world population increase 50%, but in 100 years it will stabilize. In the interim there will be big declines in places like Europe.  He noted that in the US that in 20 years the average age of bearing a first child has risen from 23 to 31, giving us fewer children and less time for them to help out the family.  Our percentage of life in the workforce is decreasing as we spend more time in school and live longer in retirement.  He says our biggest economic problem is those aged 65-80 with degenerative disease, who cares for them, and who pays for that care.  In other words, we are creating a problem by living too long.  (In the abstract we might all buy that, but on a personal level none of us are likely to quit taking our meds.) In the event that this is not solved by Judgment Day tomorrow May 21 as proclaimed on billboards across Texas and California, Friedman calls for technologists to address three issues:

1. biomedical solutions for degenerative diseases
2. materials science and/or something other than binary computing to enable us to build machines to replace skills lost as our labor pool declines
3. new sources of energy, more particularly space based solar collection transmitted back to earth, which become feasible as costs to lift machinery into space become more reasonable

He says that the lower standards of living that will result from not solving these problems are politically unviable.  And, he says we can’t conserve our way of energy problems by greentech measures; the population will be too large, and the only solution is new sources of power.  (Keep driving that V8 SUV and enjoy it!)

Friedman is looking far beyond the Consumer Internet and the IPO of LinkedIn to his definition of technology as what is required to solve the major problems ahead of us.

<photo of Dr. Friedman from Random House>

In my many years of serving of public and private boards, I’ve often pondered the question of how a board member really gives first priority to representing the shareholders en masse.  Even in the largest public companies, a director’s own company may be a vendor or customer, in which case influence can be wielded or there can be aftershocks if a front-line relationship just goes sour.

I was once asked by my fellow board members of a public company to step in as interim CEO.  I was the only person handy with business development experience, and it was a relatively convenient time for me to take this on.  Needless the say the company was in some distress to cause the board to decide to replace the existing CEO and make some other radical moves.  My first day’s priority was to fire a few other officers in order to trim expenses.  As it happened the CFO was on vacation during all this, and upon his return one day later he was able to lobby the pure financial investors on the board to dump me and put him in the seat.  Money talked, and I walked.  That was probably my only lifetime experience as “CEO-for-a-Day” and was an event that had no big impact on me one way or the other.  That was some years ago, the CFO could not build the top line, no surprise, he’s gone, and the stock has since spiraled ever downward.  Who knows if I could have done any better, but I certainly felt that the most powerful board members, who had only financial experience, were just looking out for their own investments and giving no thought to the bigger picture.  A company with fast sinking revenue cannot be run just by the numbers.

Some years prior I was in a similar situation on the board of a bank where we felt the need to replace the CEO.  I was tapped for that role, even though my mind was uncluttered by any prior banking experience except at the board level.  The chairman and I went to the regional head of the OCC, our regulatory agency, and asked if I would be allowed to serve as CEO.  The exact answer we got from the woman in charge was:  “ I don’t give a shit as long as you keep your loan to deposit ratio below 80%.”  With that memorable pronouncement I became a banker.  That story played out better.  Revenue was also the problem there, and I was quickly able to double the size of the bank and allow it to become profitable.  And, in about 9 months I was able to find a real banker to take my place.  (I worried about deposits, but being naturally entrepreneur friendly, I relied heavily on other officers with bona fide credentials as lenders to make the tough calls on that side of the balance sheet.)   That bank had a happy outcome for investors when sold to a larger bank a few years later, and I think the record will show the board did the right thing through that entire process of leadership changes.

During the recent cram-down decade this issue of board roles was made even more difficult by the presence of institutional venture investors on boards of companies that ran out of money and had no bargaining power in new rounds of financing.  I sat on both sides of the table in many a situation like this, and the investors always gave more weight to their duties to their own limited partners than to the welfare of the company in question.  They did often come to the rescue, given that their alternative was normally a total loss, but the early round institutional investors who could not stay in a higher stakes game usually took it in the shorts in this process.  Generally key management was protected by new options or stock grants.  Bad circumstances were viewed as the culprit more so than bad management, and the investors usually wanted to keep dancing with the team in place. I think now we are returning to a era of ever-increasing valuations as startups progress through their life cycles, as we are seeing so vividly in Consumer Internet plays in the Valley.

It is often said that entrepreneurs and investors should do equal due diligence on each other.  It all eventually comes down to personal relationships when the choices are difficult.  Doing the right thing is important, but the hard part sometimes is figuring out what that is.

Here’s a newcomer’s look at the entrepreneurial support scene here in Austin. 

Last week I attended a Friday afternoon “Campfire” at Tech Ranch Austin.  About a year ago we ran the video above featuring co-founders Kevin Koym and Jonas Lamis, and I’m offering it up again because it tells their story so well.  Lamis has moved on to the Bay Area to focus on his own startup Piryx, and Koym is tending the Ranch.

The Campfire event is held every other Friday, open to all comers, and drew about 40 people on the day I attended.  My favorite expression of Koym’s is the headline “will be” entrepreneurs as opposed to “wannabes.”  Those are the people he is looking to identify and accelerate through the many services and connections provided by Tech Ranch.  The startup scene in any city is stimulating, but there’s a big difference between being part of the scene and actually starting something that has the potential to scale into a real business.

The format of the Campfire on this day was to group people in teams of 5-6 and have them talk about specific ways they could help each other.  It was a bit of a speed dating event, matching creatives with tech types, ideas with resources, and exposing concepts for peer review.  Some people were looking for a job with startup, or a consulting assignment, which is fine; others were clearly pretty far down the will-be path.  I thought it was a productive session, based on the many interesting people I met, and was a great introduction to Tech Ranch as a resource for entrepreneurs in this area.

Tech Ranch does a lot to help startups help each other.  It’s far more than co-working, but it has a bit of that flavor.  Koym is an experienced serial entrepreneur himself and is a good connector to money and other important resources.  His model is a bit like the “new ATDC” in Atlanta in its openness, and he’s looking for more space to accommodate demand.

I’ve written about the ATI before.  It has a much more formal admissions process and concentrates on selecting companies that can achieve forward financing.  Bart Bohn, Director of ATI’s IT and Wireless sector, has in particular been extremely helpful to me in opening doors relevant to projects on my plate, and in turn I’ve begun meeting with some of the ATI companies where my experience is germaine and I might be able to assist them in some way.  Yesterday, for example, I enjoyed getting to know two other Georgia Tech alums that have housed their company ihiji in the ATI.

Monday’s post was about an interesting perseverance story with Georgia connections that I discovered at the Venture Labs Investment Competition at the University of Texas.  Just prior to attending that I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Baer, serial entrepreneur, angel investor (many times over), and also an instructor at the McCombs School of Business at UT.   His current personal startup is OtherInBox, which helps organize your incoming email so that important things, like new posts from TechDrawl for example, stay close at hand.  And, he is the director of Capital Factory, which will run its annual YC-like program for 5 participating companies this summer.  Capital Factory has achieved national recognition and is another valuable Austin resource for entrepreneurs, although by no means limited to locals.

Thanks to all who have welcomed me to this city.  It’s certainly a vibrant scene here for tech startups in “Silicon Hill.”

The Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition was held last week May 4-7 in Austin.  Styled as the “Super Bowl of Investment Competition,” 38 university-connected teams from 12 countries vied for a $135K price package and the opportunity to open the NASDAQ OMX market on June 3.

I found one particularly compelling story of perseverance – V-Chain Solutions, representing Kennesaw State University in Georgia.  V-Chain provides what it calls the Materials Decision Support System, which combines BI and BPM techniques with supply chain management.  I would liken it to a consolidated dashboard that gives managers a comprehensive view across silos of information.

Part of the company’s handout was a very personal story of its founding and progress to date, and I am providing it here with permission, edited for brevity:

“The story of V-Chain Solutions begins with two supply chain professionals:  James Vinson (pictured above) and Tom Sweeney.

James Vinson, president and founder, began his career with the Georgia Army National Guard’s artillery unit in Springfield, GA.  James had an interest in logistics and the supply chain and quickly learned how those operations worked and didn’t work.  James concurrently worked for Sony Music Entertainment as a shop floor scheduler while serving in the National Guard.   He would eventually move to Motorola where he designed and developed an analytics tool to streamline supply chain operations there.  This tool would lead James to found V-Chain Solutions and would serve as the genesis for the V-Chain Materials Decision Support System (MDSS) Hybrid.

Tom Sweeney graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1994 with a degree in Logistics & Intermodal Transportation and began working for SSA in Savannah ,GA before relocating as an international consultant to the Manzanillo International Terminal Project, in Colon, Panama, in 1995.   His next move was to GE Polymerland to work on a new project to consolidate the logistics operations of GE Plastics with GE Polymerland.   He subsequently joined Menlo Worldwide logistics as a Logistics Manager at the Electrolux facility in Springfield, TN.  During that time he developed a logistics program with an embedded BI functionality to improve existing spreadsheet driven logistics operations.   

Although Tom was in the area of transportation and James was in shop floor scheduling, they recognized that the two domains had common issues; mainly that that they did not communicate enough with each other.  As a result decisions made in these areas were frequently in conflict with each other.

In 2002, James lost his father to a heart attack, which left him as the only male remaining in his family of 5 sisters and a mother.  It was at this time that James channeled all of his energies into making his work at Motorola successful.  James relocated from Atlanta to Chicago and eventually to California.  His responsibilities increased and he was tasked as an Oracle expert to implement solutions to connect a disjointed Motorola supply chain and make it seamless.

By 2004, James and Tom had been exposed to the operations of 5 large companies and their supply chain operations. Tom met James in Chicago, and they started down the path to building a company to address the supply chain issues companies were facing.  It all started at a Hooters restaurant near the Motorola facility, in Schaumburg, IL, where on the proverbial napkin, James and Tom sketched out their current view of supply chain operations and how it should operate. 

In 2005 James resigned from Motorola and Tom left Menlo Logistics to form V-Chain.  They left their companies with a mission to solve supply chain and logistics problems present in many companies. They spent the next three years studying the industry’s problems and gathering key players to produce the technology solution. 

James and Tom applied their life savings to this dream because they believed in what we were doing. Tom sold his house and cashed in his life insurance and his 401K.  Likewise, James cashed in his 401K, his bonus checks, and life insurance, and he maxed his credit cards.  They met with and recruited founding investors from various companies that James had worked with.   

In the midst of the economic downturn of 2008 the company was too early stage to attract funding from VC’s and was on the verge on collapsing.  James and Tom downsized the company to the point that they no longer had a place to live.  In fact, James spent a homeless 3 weeks in 2009 living in the camp sites on Mount Tamalpais in San Francisco and, later, when the weather got too bad, he was forced to move into a homeless shelter in San Rafael.  James eventually found a part time job with a moving company and later got an “affordable” apartment in a converted garage.  This is a stark testimony to the limits V-Chain’s founders are willing to go in order to achieve a goal.

As if things weren’t bad enough at the time, the bottom dropped out of James’ world.  James’ mother had been battling cancer for years and succumbed to the disease.  He realized now that neither of his parents would see the V-Chain dream manifest itself.  Twelve hours before his mother’s death, she told James to make V-Chain a success.  James wrote at the time:  “The death of my father gave me the courage to start my dreams, but it was the death of my mother that gave me the strength to succeed.”  That quote would later give James the inspiration he needed to move the company forward.

Four months later, the prototype was completed.    V-Chain began engaging companies like Celestica and Motorola to demonstrate the value of this tool and gained their interest in testing the product.  Today V-Chain has begun testing the V-Chain Hybrid prototype and is seeking funding to ramp up development, engage new customers and roll out a vision that has been a decade in the making.”

This is what I call being “all in”  -- and I certainly wish them well.

On Wednesday May 4 I attended an Android Developers meeting organized by C. Enrique Ortiz. Not that I have intentions of becoming a developer, but I thought this would provide additional insight into the mobile scene here in Austin and give me a look at some nifty new products.

Ringtail Design, a 9-person shop doing a lot of interesting work for DARPA, hosted the meeting.  They concern themselves with such problems as how to get a ton of data onto a tiny device worn by a field soldier and to enable that soldier to get the most critical life-saving data fast.  They also showed applications where Android data is ported to a Microsoft Light Table for analysis.  The company hosted this event because they are looking to hire a tenth expert.

Thomas Sloan gave an interesting overview of making Android phones talk to devices, in his particular case a garage door opener.  He actually hacked into that device, soldered a jumper across the “open” button, and wired it so that a server could activate it by supplying power.  Someone asked why wouldn’t it be easier to just push a button rather than enter a user name and password, but that wouldn’t be “cool” – not to mention that many other household items can be controlled similarly from one phone.  This falls into the category of GTD (“Getting Things Done”) products and is more of an experiment than an attempt at a commercial concept.  Thomas relied heavily on Balsamic Mockups for ease of development. 

Kyle Miller then talked about boozehound, an app where users can report special prices at liquor stores and restaurants and where those businesses can post their own deals.  He developed this in his spare time, and he has a very complicated system of awarding points for various actions.  It was so complicated in fact that I guessed anyone buying that much booze couldn’t figure it out anyway!  (If it were ScotchHound, I might try harder to grasp it!)

Dr. Michael Mayrath presented his company GYLO, an educational software developer that was started in 2008, grew to some success organically and then recently accepted its first angel investment.  The company has sold more than 15,000 apps for iOS and Android, including a statistics teaching product that combines content, tests, calculators, and flashcards and has proven its mettle in university settings.  GYLO is now working to develop e-tests for Cambridge University Press.  Mayrath, who has his Ph.D. from U Texas Austin and did post-doc studies at Harvard, certainly knows his field, and he talked about turning “products into platforms.”  He echoed other sentiments in the room that it’s hard to make a living on iTunes app sales alone.

Michael Kupka concluded with presentation showing an SMS tracking app for installation on a child’s phone.  It tracks all inbound and outbound texts, including content and location, and tracking voice is next on his list.  (Would have saved the CIA a lot of work if it had been installed on OBL’s phone.)  Needless to say, his four children have varying opinions about the merits of this app.  This too was a bit of an experiment with a goal of helping Kupka hone his Android skills, but he is selling apps in the Android Market.

A common theme in this session was each new version of the Android OS resulting in a lack of forward and/or backward compatibility for many apps and giving developers some challenges.  Maybe that’s one reason there are plenty of job openings for Android developers in Austin, and several consulting shops I discovered in the room also seemed to be thriving. 

<image from Fast Company>

(Editor’s Note: By request, this story from the archives of 2004 is being republished.  Maybe the Willie Nelson pot arrest from my previous post brought this up, or maybe I have a friend who got caught up in a similar experience.  It has no relevance to the mission of TechDrawl, and I doubt it’s a story Fred Wilson could tell.  But, you might find it entertaining.  You may not know some of the place names in Atlanta if you don’t live there, but you’ll get the idea.

And, how other many VCs do you know who have reached the status of "Inmate" on a jail's web site?)

John Flack, an notable Atlanta venture capitalist, provided this first-person story for our edification: 

Part 2 of a 3-Part Series

So I found myself being taken from my Buckhead home in handcuffs on a warm spring Friday night about 12:30 AM. Being entirely sober at the time, and not being particularly claustrophobic, I thought to myself that this would be just another experience in what a friend called a "full life." It was a first for me; I figured a couple of hours, fingerprints, and back home in bed. I had not committed a crime, but that wasn't the arresting officer's opinion at that moment.

My first stop was the Buckhead Zone (pictured above), which I thought was pretty convenient. Perhaps I could grab a late night snack at Eatzi's afterwards. After about thirty minutes more in the car watching my driver type the particulars of the "incident" into the onboard computer (looked like an antiquated DOS system to me, but I didn't want to offer any unsolicited advice), I was transferred to a genuine Paddy Wagon. The new driver did take some compassion on me as she removed the cuffs and shut me in the cage. Fortunately I was alone, but there was still that distinct aroma of porta-potty. Unfortunately the heater was running, turning the cage into a hot box out of Cool Hand Luke, and I was told we were going to make an intermediate stop on Howell Mill to pick up another "prisoner" on the way to the "Fulton County Jail" - prisoner?? jail?? the Fulton County Jail?? - not me!

After some delay we finally get in motion, the heat is controlled, and I'm just merrily bouncing around collecting deep bruises in this hard surface cage. I watch as the driver goes down Piedmont, catches the old expressway, turns around at Rhodes Hall, goes back up Piedmont, makes a U-turn in front of Rollins, takes the same route again, turns around at the Varsity this time, back up Piedmont, another U-turn at Rollins, then finally gets onto I-85 to transition to I-75 North. We cruise around awhile to no avail, never stopping to pick up anyone else, and I'm not sure exactly what territory we covered. Well, we're soon again at the Varsity, me still alone in the back and not having much communication with the driver through the thick security glass in a very small window.

We head west from the Varsity toward Georgia Tech, then to Howell Mill, at which point the driver starts making frequent stops asking "Do you know where the Fulton County Jail is?" Picture this - the driver of a van clearly marked "Atlanta Police" stopping in random parking lots asking where to find the jail. Who was she asking at this wee hour? Where else does a Paddy Wagon normally go? Trust me, I may have an arrest record, but I couldn't make this up.

At about 3:30 AM we arrive at the Visitors Entrance to the Fulton County Jail. Wrong. After a few laps around the neighborhoods, we get to the secure entrance. Our van pulls in, the garage door slams shut, I'm cuffed again and marched into "Intake." Intake is a cafeteria sized room with substations "Book-In," Pre-Trial," "Medical," and "ID." I'm one of about 100 people, and the sheriffs seem to be processing one about every thirty minutes or so. The "tower" guard in the center makes sure we stay in our hard plastic chairs and don't walk around. Occasional roll calls make sure we don't doze off, even if we could.

Asking questions like "What happens next?" or "How long will this take?" elicit very little response other than "We know where you are; get back in your seat."

Of course we were given wrist bands as we entered, mine blue. The happy drunk leaning on me and the "trustee" inmate both tell me: "Don't worry, blue is just a misdemeanor; you'll be out by Saturday night." Saturday night - Hell, I have a tee time Saturday morning.

I pass on the 4 AM meal - four pieces of white bread, one plastic wrapped cheese slice, and mystery meat, not quite Spamtastic. I do find a taker for my meal.

I'd like to have called home. After some pleading, the deputies turn on a phone bank so we can make collect local calls. (No cell phones allowed, just like any fine country club these days.) The phones have very short cords so we can't swing them as weapons, and all but the very tiny inmates are contorted trying to use these waist-high phones, about half of which don't work anyway.

Things pick up a little about 7 AM when there's a shift change. At least I think it's 7 AM; no clock is visible in the room and no one seems to have a watch. One feature of the shift change is that roll calls are now accompanied by loud whistles, since a few of my colleagues just have a hard time staying awake. Evidently many of the prisoners are being processed for court appearances at 10 AM this Saturday morning, and there is some new sense of urgency in the proceedings as more personnel man the workstations.

The morning drill sergeant, as I choose to refer to him, calls roll again and seats us more or less in order near the Book-In counters. I'm 14th. The do tell me that my dear wife has come to bail me out and that I've been moved up the list. The sergeant has an interesting way of relating to his inmates, or "dogs" as he calls us. (Somehow I don't think he is referring to UGA "dawgs.") He makes it clear that wearing pants with waistlines around the knees was a 2003 style but is no longer acceptable in 2004. The guards all pay attention to this and keep the dogs hitching up. My H. Stockton khakis and Bobby Jones golf sweater seem a bit out of fashion too but don't draw any comment. The sergeant has a curious turn of phrase "Do we have an understandment?" that he uses repeatedly as he explains the rules. I think to myself I'm really in a "stuckment" here.

Since there are no televisions and no reading materials in this uncomfortable setting, we must make do with people watching. Every once in a while a new prisoner is admitted to the room, ranging from those who look like street people to an attractive young lady brought in by the Georgia State Patrol on what must have been a DUI charge. At one point a worker rolls by a cart of the Saturday papers, and I'm looking forward to a bit of reading, but those are only for the guards who are busy not getting us booked.

The time passes very slowly. I memorize the names and numbers of all the bail bondsmen on the electronic scroll, in case I need one. "Free at Last" is my favorite brand. Somewhere around 10 AM, I'm guessing, I finally get booked, which is a pretty straightforward data entry procedure.

The kindly sergeant then puts me in front of the pre-trial counseling desk, where I'm told that I don't need to post bond and that my charge will likely be dismissed. However, this "recognizance bond" requires a criminal records search in all states and the federal files, and I'm set to wondering how many other John Flacks are out there. I've already had my credit butchered by one of them whose identity got crossed with mine.

But, I'm still missing one step in the process - the ID station - fingerprints and mug shot. Do I want the Nick Nolte (above) or Glen Campbell look, or should I maintain my guise as an upstanding citizen? I opt for the latter. Fingerprinting is mostly done by an electronic scan. The machine acquires two images of each digit and tries to match them up. About half of them match, and the others have to be overridden by a supervisor. I wonder what this accomplishes.

By now it is afternoon. I did eat the faux Spam and cheese that was offered mid-morning, and I have completed three calls to ascertain that my family is trying to help me get out. I've observed that those prisoners going to court are first put in cells in groups of ten and then shackled together as they are marched off to the courtroom. Some of them come back with plastic tubs to gather their possessions; they appear headed for long-term stays. Others are not seen again.

I make small talk with a couple of distinguished looking prisoners who seem pretty familiar with the process - they are wearing Cobb County Jail jumpsuits - one in for drugs, the other for assault - and they're experiencing "intake" so they can stand trial in Fulton County.

Suddenly a sheriff strides up and says: "Wake up sleepy head and come with me." I'm thinking that I'm getting out right then. We walk down two long, wide, brightly lit hallways. At the end I'm handed off to another deputy, who directs me to the afternoon faux Spam and cheese line. Why would I want this treat to go? I'm leaving.

Well, not quite yet.

I find myself in a cell with 16 others, all of us apparently on our way out, we think. We can see two other cells with about another 20 people in our little hallway. Picture the cell - about five hundred square feet, an open toilet, trash on the floor (mostly sandwich debris), nowhere to sit but a ten inch wide metal bench along the wall, and that fully occupied by my cell mates. It's hot too. I take off my golf sweater, comb my hair, and realize that everyone is laughing at my primping. That turns out to be a bit of an icebreaker, so I soon make a number of interesting acquaintances.

Most of my colleagues are in the drug trade. We carry on a very business like conversation about margins in their different products, supply chain management, packaging - all the usual stuff we talk about at the office. Some of the guys are nervous, some humorous, some bummed out, all eager to get away, but we just carry on.

A deputy comes by to tell us we'll all be treated humanely and released when our paperwork is ready. How long can this take?

A long time... For the next three hours, we sit. One of the dealers is exceptionally antsy and keeps trying to get the attention of a guard, but that certainly doesn't help. Another is rather good natured and keeps reassuring us we'll all be out in a few more hours. A few more hours? I thought I was already "out." Evidently this one gentleman has been in this room before, once for eleven hours.

Glory - a few minutes after 5 PM, my name is called first! My wife had earlier been called and told to pick me up at 1:30, has waited a couple of hours to no avail, and then gone home again. But, evidently having a family member nearby during the day had moved me way up the priority list. And, she made some interesting acquaintances of her own as she waited along with other inmates' relatives on hand.

So, I got marched out with seven other guys from the other two cells - into another cell! Here I have the opportunity to buy some stolen phone cards, but I decline. I also hear some sincere confessions of regret. One guy says he's going to confine his drug usage to fun times with women and quit hanging out with the guys who get him into trouble. I think he means what he says when he talks about the joys of doing dope for 8 straight hours with his girlfriend.

We watch through a window the young lady DUI get processed out, then I'm next. One more fingerprint check, then into the visitor waiting room, sunshine, a change machine, vending, freedom. I call my wife and start walking toward Bankhead Highway, enjoying every foot of distance between me and the Jail. (I'm not the only one doing this, by the way.) When my wife arrives, I learn of her day of going back and forth. On her mid-day visit the desk clerk had a little trouble locating my record and gave her a choice of me or two repeat offenders named Flack but of a different race. Fortunately she chose me.

My attorney subsequently tells me (a) I should never have been charged in the first place and (b) he had seen other cases where the inmate was "released on bail" only to wait five days for all the paperwork to clear. That put my miserable day in a bit more positive light.

So, that's my story. It is easy to see how one could be born into an environment that would result in frequent visits to such a facility. I'm sure some of my drug dealer acquaintances are already back. But, there are also plenty of remorseful people there who would rather not be incarcerated.

Some things in daily business life take on a new perspective after this experience. It's no big deal sitting in the middle seat at the back of a crowded plane stuck on a runway or waiting out a traffic jam. No food tastes bad. No bed is uncomfortable. And, I'm still wearing my khakis.