Allyson Eman With Venture Atlanta

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Alison Eman with Venture Atlanta. Welcome.

Speaker3: Thanks, Lee.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to get caught up for the two people out there who aren’t familiar with Venture Atlanta. Can you talk a little bit about mission purpose and how you’re serving folks?

Speaker3: Absolutely. So we are the largest venture capital conference, really, on the East Coast that connects tech companies to capital. So we’re here to help companies grow and help them get funding.

Lee Kantor: And how long has Venture Land been around?

Speaker3: 17 years. And I’ve been running it the whole time.

Lee Kantor: The whole time. So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved with this initiative?

Speaker3: Yeah. You know, the funny thing is, I never had any thought that I would run a venture capital conference for for a living, so I was actually in banking, again, not what I was looking to do in college. Thought I was going to go into journalism or television production and ended up in banking, then ended up running a the marketing for a mortgage company. Took that company from eight employees to 800 employees, 30 offices nationwide. And then during the lovely mortgage and banking crisis. Lost my job there and, you know, really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but knew I wanted to do something totally different. And you know, when they say sometimes things fall in your lap. Well, this kind of fell in my lap. I had a friend who worked at Normalcy Partners, and she kind of did the phone call one day of, hey was standing at the water cooler, and they’re looking for an executive director at the time. I’m now the CEO, but an executive director to run this new venture capital conference that they want to bring to town. And and, you know, my initial reaction was, I have no experience in tech, no experience in venture capital. And I’m not really sure I’m the right person for this, but I put my name in the hat. And, you know, the interesting thing was, is I kind of kind of got some backstory that that most of the people that, that they interviewed did have that experience, had worked for nonprofits, had, you know, some background in venture capital and tech, but it was the marketing expertise and the passion that I had and the energy that they felt like I brought to the interview that that helped me land the job. So obviously, you know, when they interviewed me, they showed me a logo and said, this is what we want you to build, and that’s what I have. So it’s something I’m super proud of. And, you know, I know it’s been instrumental in helping, you know, companies raise almost $8 billion and see almost $18 billion in exits. So really, really proud of of what has been accomplished.

Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for anyone else in the association world that may be is hiring a new executive? What can you glean from, you know, coming from a not a traditional kind of background when it comes to association management and things like that, but still able to achieve a great deal in that space. Any advice or do’s and don’ts when it comes to launching or rebooting an association.

Speaker3: Yeah. You know, I would say just because the person you’re interviewing doesn’t check all the boxes doesn’t mean they’re not the right person. I mean, I didn’t remotely check all the boxes, but, you know, they dug deep and learned more about me. And, you know, I remember Alan Mosley saying, I don’t care that you don’t know a lot about venture capital. You can learn that. We can teach you. So, you know, is the person that you’re talking to or how can the association grow? Or how can this person bring expertise, you know, through other through their other skill sets that could help, you know? So again, I don’t think it has to be, you know, a person who has the exact skill set to to mean that they’ll be successful.

Lee Kantor: And is there anything like tactically you did to help kind of give venture into the escape velocity? It needed to, you know, last 17 years and make the impact that it has.

Speaker3: Uh, I, you know, I definitely pride myself on execution and, you know, really putting myself in the, in the role of if I was an attendee, which I’m always saying, what? What is the experience that I want? So every single decision that I do, I’m always putting that hat on, you know, what would the attendee want to be? How can I how can I ensure that I execute this in the best way possible? So, I mean, I, I kind of go all in every single year. And, you know, the funny thing is, is that, you know, my, my friends and my family are all like, oh, it’s like an old hat for you. Now it’s not, you know, it’s not all that. It’s a new event every single year with different things, with different people, with different problems, with different challenges. And you’ve got to, you know, adapt every year. But, you know, I my biggest thing is that I is I don’t go, uh, you know, same same old, same old, like not at all. Venture is never same old, same old.

Lee Kantor: Well, speaking of which, what, uh, can you share a little bit about this year’s event? What? For anybody who hasn’t attended or for people who have attended many times, what is going to happen at Venture Atlanta this year. Maybe that’s different or special.

Speaker3: Yeah. So you know what’s so exciting is Venture Atlanta when it started was was really a day and a half. It was a day and a half. There was maybe a dinner that kicked off things the night before the conference and, um, maybe another, you know, dinner that happened. Well, oh my goodness. Like, if you look on our website, we’ve got things happening on Sunday this year, two days before the conference, you know, partnering with Avon South and partnering partnering with Dell for startups on a pitch competition that they’re doing. And on Monday, there’s a slew of activities for founders, for investors, for people that are coming into town to build connections. And then the conference first kicks off on Tuesday. And we’ve got, you know, as always, new and exciting additional programing. You know, we always look at at, you know, how can we serve our our community in the best way. And one of the things we’re doing this year is actually bringing some executive sessions to the conference where we’re actually going to put, you know, 25 or so founders in a in a small setting, in a small room with executives that are teaching them, you know, things about about, um, top ten things to look at, you know, um, what I wish I had the names of the, of the sessions in front of me, but basically all learnings from their experiences in, in growing companies in what they saw and how to execute and really tactical hands on things that will help these founders grow and build their companies. And also, you know, again, we just continue to to bring great to bring great keynote speakers. Our keynote speaker this year is Dawn Staley, who is the USC, uh, women’s basketball national championship head coach. So really looking at leadership, looking at performance, looking at, you know, challenges. And you know, we always want people to walk away with Venture Atlanta not only making great connections but learning.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned when you’re kind of curating the event, you’re trying to look and empathetically as the attendee. So if you were giving advice to an attendee, how would you recommend they attack this multi-day event with so many different things to take part in? How would you kind of go about kind of wringing out the most value from it if you were an attendee?

Speaker3: Yeah, absolutely. So we actually send out an email in advance of, you know, kind of like a know before you go type thing. So we send out a link to the whole attendee list, you know, obviously not with contact information, but name company title. So, you know, participant type. So you could know if it’s an entrepreneur and investor or whomever. And we also send out a link to our digital conference book. So you can really look at what companies are going to be there, what sponsors are going to be there, what speakers are going to be there. You know, we’ve had the schedule published for months. So I tell people, do your homework. You know, if there are certain people that you want to meet, we’re handing everything over to you. Um, we’ve got a mobile app that’s opening next week so people can set up meetings. We’ve got we’ve got over 100 meeting tables that will be at the conference for people to connect with each other and, you know, additional opening, open meeting, um, areas. So, you know, everything is not going to come to you, you know, yes, you’re going to run into people sitting at lunch or in the hallway or, I mean, it could be in line at the bathroom or whatever the case may be. But, you know, if you’re a founder, know what? Know what activities are available to you as a founder? We sent out an email yesterday just highlighting, you know, just a little highlight of the schedule to the founders. I mean, that email got, I think, a 75% open rate and everyone’s signing up for events like crazy. So, you know, we’re we’re handing everything to you. You just gotta you gotta do a little homework too. You gotta actually look at the schedule. You gotta maybe open the mobile app and download it. And I think people that that truly have a deep understanding for who’s there and what’s happening have a great experience.

Lee Kantor: Now. Is there any stories you can share over the 17 years of maybe the most, um, rewarding or inspirational kind of connections that were made or, or deals that were done or people or relationships that were created through the event.

Speaker3: Yeah, there’s, you know, there’s so many there’s so many fun ones. Um, there’s a there’s a couple good ones that I really like. One is, um, there’s a company called, uh, that was called car 360. Uh, Bruno Francois was the, uh, CEO, and he pitched at our event one year, and the next year I think they were looking for, you know, someone to come in as their CEO and they, you know, found John Hanger in as an attendee and he ended up, you know, taking over car 360. Well, then another year we had Ernie Garcia, who’s the CEO of Carvana. He was one of our keynotes. And I remember Bruno texting me saying, you know, can we please, you know, come to the conference. And I was like, oh, we’re sold out. You know, Mark Cuban’s the keynote. It’s packed standing room only. And he was like, we just really want to see Ernie Garcia. We want to talk to him. And I was like, you know, I don’t I can’t have you, you know, like, guarantee you could talk to him. Well, he and his wife kind of kind of stalked him at the bathroom, like stood outside the bathroom and waited for him to come out. And they kind of grabbed him and were like, hey, let us show you our technology, and Ernie Garcia ended up buying the company. So that little that little move. Um, and I remember one day they called me and they were like, hey, we want to take you to lunch. We want to thank you. Like, you know, look what you did for us.

Speaker3: And it was just so cool, like, such a such a fun story. And, you know, another one of our companies, um, same thing. It was, you know, entrepreneurs tend to wait till the last minute. Another one where it’s like, please, can I have a ticket? You know, and I was like, you know, again, oh, we’re sold out. We’re really full. And please, please, Allison, you know, so so, you know, somehow I always end up bending. And he came to the conference and he ended up sitting at a lunch or something next to a fund that ultimately gave them $25 million that he was raising. So he was like, oh my God, thank you, and sent me a gift. And again, my, my, my premise here is not about people thanking me, but it’s just about, you know, it just was was some great stories we have. You know, I went to an event in North Carolina in December. I felt like everywhere I turned, someone was like, I met this fund at Venture Atlanta who’s now on my cap table, who’s now one of my investors or, you know, the CEO roundtable sessions. Someone told me that after sitting through those, they ended up, um, the guy that they that was leading the session ended up becoming one of his investors and sits on his board now. So, you know, there’s just been some incredible, um, stories over the years. And, you know, I know there’s hundreds and hundreds of them, but but those are just a few.

Lee Kantor: Now, how have you seen the ecosystem evolve in these 17 years? You know, at one point, I’m sure when it started, this was like a hey, this is a crazy idea. Let’s see what happens. And now, 17 years later, it seems like the whole region is embracing this. And there’s a lot more collaboration. So is are you seeing that as well as the southeast kind of now the hub and it’s evolved well beyond Atlanta.

Speaker3: Oh yeah. For sure. So you know, when it started, we were we were a 3 or 400 person conference just focused on Georgia, you know, and our our goal that first year was really to bring capital outside capital to Georgia. We only had a handful of funds here. And we didn’t have things like Atlanta Tech Village and the Russell Center and Tech Alpharetta and you know, all of those type of things. We had Atdc, you know, incredible organization, but we didn’t have all the others that were in the sprawling markets across the city, you know, even things in Augusta and Columbus and, um, other markets. So, you know, not only has the ecosystem in Atlanta evolved incredibly, so has, you know, there have been incredible growth in the Carolinas, in Tennessee, in Florida, in in Austin. And so, you know, we sat and looked at, you know, what made sense and what made sense was for us to kind of we’ve said before that we’re kind of the Super Bowl where, you know, it’s there’s there’s regional events all over the place and certainly some massive conferences around the country. But, you know, Venture Atlanta really is the largest. And, um, you know, we’ve looked at these other organizations like in Tampa Bay, in, uh, New Orleans, in Austin with Capital Factory in, you know, the National Entrepreneurship Center, the, you know, Innovate Charlotte up in Charlotte and really talk to other groups about partnering with them.

Speaker3: And, you know, this year we really saw some incredible partnerships where these organizations were reaching out to me saying, you know, how do we get involved? How can we get our companies front and center or a group out of Birmingham that we’re working with this year? And they’re actually coming to Atlanta and, you know, building a clean tech accelerator with Cox Enterprises. So, you know, there’s there’s so much exciting stuff going on. Also for us, you know, we’ve also seen some great partnerships with corporates. So you know this year I think we have the most corporates we’ve had in a long time. But you know Georgia Pacific and Southern Company and Home Depot, chick fil A Cox um, you know Goldman Sachs, Invesco, um I’m sure I’m missing I’m missing Wellstar Dell. Uh, you know, so, uh, Wells Fargo, you know, a lot of those are new, uh, you know, new partnerships for us. So we’re excited. You know, we’re thrilled to have Dell this year and Wells Fargo and Chick fil A like, those are, you know, three big new sponsors for us.

Lee Kantor: And so it seems like it’s very it’s getting to the point where it’s very collaborative and everybody is kind of trying to work together and, you know, kind of be complementary in terms of helping each other grow each other’s kind of market, but using the best practices of what each of you are learning.

Speaker3: Yeah, absolutely. I you know, I kind of always say we play nice in the sandbox, like, I mean, I will we promote other people’s events all the time. We work. We have a wonderful relationship with the Florida Venture Conference, you know, and the Florida Venture Forum and with, you know, seed up in North Carolina and with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center up in Nashville. Um, and that’s super important to us and super important to me. And, you know, we help each other out with tickets and we help each other out with with marketing. And, you know, we’ve sat on panels for each other and done different things. And it only it only helps us and helps our companies if we work together.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Speaker3: So, you know, at this point, uh, you know, the last several weeks, several years we’ve sold out of, you know, about ten days before the conference. So there’s still time, but we do still have tickets left at this point, and tickets are still at their lowest price. So, you know, founders can still get a ticket for $350 and, uh, investors and service providers for 850. But all those prices. Pricing goes up on Monday and, you know, everyone starts scrambling and oh my God, I didn’t know. And you know, obviously we’ve had this pricing set for months. So uh, everything’s on our website, full schedules on our website. Uh, you know, at this point we’re not looking for sponsors, we’re not looking for companies to present. But, um, you know, we selected 87 companies that will be front and center at Venture Atlanta this year. There’s hundreds more entrepreneurs that will be in attendance. So should be a lot of fun.

Lee Kantor: And if they want to learn more, they can go to Venture Atlanta.

Speaker3: Org yes.org.com.

Lee Kantor: All right. Well Allison thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Speaker3: Thank you Lee. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.