ATLANTA – Georgia Tech Flashpoint, a new technology accelerator program run through the Georgia Institute of Technology, has selected its inaugural class of 18 teams invited to participate in the first cohort, which will run from September through December of 2011. It has also disclosed formation of the Flashpoint Investment Fund I.
Led by Imlay President Sig Mosley, the $1 million risk capital fund will support startups in the first two Georgia Tech Flashpoint cohorts. The program, the first public-private partnership of its design in the country, brings together resources from the university, private funding and startup leaders to accelerate innovation and growth.
The Georgia Tech Flashpoint accelerator is part of an ongoing effort to transform the Institute’s ability to positively influence society through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Georgia Tech Flashpoint brings together mentors and investors from across the country to share expertise and lessons learned with the entrepreneur teams. Mentors include prominent venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, Boston and New York, among others. The program culminates in two Demo Days, one in Atlanta and one in Silicon Valleythat hosted by 500Startups.
The inaugural class will kick-off with a meeting on September 7 with a keynote by Georgia State Senator Jason Carter, who serves on the Senate Science and Technology Committee.
Georgia Tech Flashpoint Philosophy – Startup Engineering
Georgia Tech Flashpoint is focused on de-mystifying the startup process by improving upon a repeatable process of scalable business model discovery by further developing the startup engineering principles that support real-world value creation.
“The teams selected have a great depth and diversity of skills, backgrounds, and focus. They share a passion to solve significant problems, the self-awareness to understand that their vision of what is needed and what is possible is not, at this stage, spot-on, the willingness to listen to advice, and the desire to go out and test hypotheses,” said Furst.
“We have already had the opportunity to meet with some of the teams, and it’s an impressive group of entrepreneurs trying to solve very big problems,” said Jeffrey Leavitt, Partner at DLA Piper, who’s firm is providing pro bono representation. “We look forward to working with these teams as they evolve their vision into offerings that meet a variety of market needs.”
“The Atlanta technology community is ripe with ideas ready to turn into the companies that will help build our economy of tomorrow,” said Allen Nance, one of the Georgia Tech Flashpoint mentors and president and founder of WhatCounts. “We are delighted to bring together some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the area to support this endeavor, and to help these teams learn from our collective experience.”
Entrepreneurs interested in participating in the second cohort, which will start in May of 2012, should watch for more information at flashpoint.gatech.edu/.
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