Venture Atlanta – Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur

 By John Yates

Venture Atlanta was held on October 12-13 in an outstanding venue — the Georgia Aquarium.  The event included an impressive group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and supporters of the Atlanta community.

The highlight of VA was Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop, sharing his business lessons as one of our most accomplished and successful entrepreneurs.  As a technology leader, Bill has done it all — he started his own software company out of college, joined a leading VC fund in Boston, served as CEO of a public IT services company, and is currently CEO of the leading on-demand digital marketing company, Silverpop.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Bill for over two decades.  I can confirm that he is one of our country’s most gifted and talented entrepreneurs — and a good friend.

Among the business life lessons that Bill shared were the following:

1.         Build a positive corporate culture that is based on shared principles and values and always do the right thing — even if it is doesn’t appear at first glance to improve the bottom line.

2.         Early in a company’s life cycle, prepare the business for the exit event.  Understand that there are stages to the exit process and be ready for them so that the ultimate sale or IPO is a smooth transition process.

3.         For entrepreneurs, seek investors and advisors who can guide you down the path from a visionary idea to a scalable operating business.

4.         When seeking capital, look for experienced entrepreneurs who are reinvesting in the community and know like minded investors.

5.         Grow and scale your business in Atlanta.  The city has everything you need for a successful technology business — engineering talent, senior management, experienced outside advisors and Board members, and large corporate citizens who can become your customers.

We are fortunate that Bill Nussey selected Atlanta for his home and look forward to grooming others to follow in his footsteps.

Thanks, Bill.