I attended a portion of Start Atlanta as a mentor and enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the three teams I met. I will admit to being taken aback at the elementary nature of many of the questions I got, but the only bad question is one not asked. I think through the ATDC and other local resources we can provide the educational power to help these teams succeed. My most interesting visit was with a company that had maybe a dozen people packed into a room. The vast majority of these were coders. When I was introduced to the group and pointed out that coding is not my expertise, 9 heads dipped straight back down to their screens without further ado. I did, however, have an engaging brainstorming session with non-coders in another room.

Next week we can anticipate a great program at Startup Riot and get the chance to see another parade of interesting companies. The winners there will get some face time with potential investors. And, next week also brings the deadline for applications to the GRA/TAG Business Launch competition, which has a $200,000 prize package for its winner.

But, while these events are happening here in Atlanta, note a 500 Startups-related post on yesterday’s TechCrunch. On the heels of the news of the Start Fund at YCombinator in Palo Alto, Dave McClure’s 500 Startups in Mountain View now is providing entry funding into its incubator program. The median is said to be $50,000 per team. And, the number of teams will be substantial.

So, while we have one $200K prize and some quality face time to offer, our brethren in the Valley have adopted the shotgun principle and are spreading enough money to all comers to give them a fighting chance. They have created bona fide assembly lines for startups. Henry Ford would be proud. (Almost all these startup types wear black, so Ford might be doubly pleased by that.)

This is not a post about Valley envy. But, think about what could be accomplished by pulling $10M from an admittedly tight state budget and using it to fund at least 50 startups, many of them leveraged off Georgia Tech, Emory, SCAD, and other local pools of IP, creativity, and talent. We have the natural conduit to administer this in the ATDC; we could find 50 companies deserving of $150K or so; and I bet our success rate would be pretty high. The cost per job might be significantly less than the incentives required to bring a major manufacturing plant to the state.

Some of our neighboring states already have funds of this nature with which they are successfully luring companies. But, no one in the South has really grasped the assembly line concept that is working so well in California. Who can pick up that concept and run with it? Someone should.

Back to the title of my post, obviously the money is missing, but the second key is the concept. Just two things…