If you haven’t heard, Scott is leaving StartupLounge. Actually, he is leaving whether you have heard or not (what a strange idiom).
If you are already in the Atlanta startup community, you know what Scott has meant and continues to mean to entrepreneurs as a beacon of leadership. Only Scott knows for sure what he plans to do, but I’ll bet anyone an order of pommes frites at 5 Seasons Brewing Company that he’s not going away. In fact, he’s not even leaving StartupLounge – only kicking himself upstairs to founder emeritus.
In a way, Scott’s experiences now are such that his capacity to teach has actually outgrown StartupLounge. What he says on the podcast is not nearly as germaine and poignant as what he is doing in his day job. StartupLounge’s loss is, in actuality, the gain of any observant entrepreneur or investor.
Scott is in the process of (re)building StarPound. And, I might add, doing a job that I can best describe as spectacular. A company that was effectively left for dead, and was a laughing stock (though not openly because the key founders and investors are so powerful) as recently as 18 months ago, is poised to become a technology powerhouse in Atlanta that redefines their entire industry and will compel one of their larger competitors to buy them or be put out of business in 5 years. This not a fluke. StarPound had something like 5 chief executives before Scott took the job. Only under Scott’s leadership did StarPound become a viable company. Suddenly, the laughter has stopped…
Have you ever read Good to Great? There is your Level 5 Leader.
If Scott is able to finish the job, and StarPound reaches its logical potential, Scott is going to be one of the most important tech executives in the Southeast. Yep, I said it. He’ll be in the same group with guys like Tom Noonan, and Marc Fleury, and Bert Ellis, and Mitch Free. I am waxing poetic here not only to give a shout out to my best friend – like a brother, really; but also to remind the reader that in his leadership at StarPound, he is teaching us all the lessons for which he previously used StartupLounge as his platform. Lessons on leadership. Sacrifice (a lot of that), focus, being curious, being intolerant of mediocrity, on bootstrapping, on raising capital. I think that, in a way, he’s outgrown StartupLounge. What better platform than showing you how to do what he does with a real live company? It’s kind of like Iron Chef – Startup Atlanta.
Here is a fascinating fantasy – can you imagine Scott with $50 MM in the bank? You can bet he’s not retiring to Lake Oconee. Folks – it could happen, and I think the probability is at least as strong as a coin-flip. If it doesn’t work out, it won’t be his fault, I can promise you. And he won’t be moving to California.
Josh Watts is taking over the microphone and the web site as StartupLounge’s new Director of Operations. The show won’t be the same, but it will be good. Bank it. StartupLounge will do different things as well and have a different voice, but we’ll still be relevant. Bank that while you’re at it. (grab me one of the green lollipops)
I’m enormously excited to see where this new partnership leads us.
So even if Scott isn’t screaming into the microphone for awhile, and he’s not throwing people under the bus (in public anyhow), he is still a tremendously valuable teacher. He’ll continue to be engaged as much as he’s able. Watch StarPound and watch Scott. And learn. StartupLounge can’t wait to have him on as a guest.
And after he makes that bundle we’ll hit him up for some sponsorship dollars.