Atlanta entrepreneurs will fund next big Web idea

Credit is tight. Banks are failing. Wall Street and Washington are feuding as illicit lovers often do, and real people are losing their jobs every day.

It sounds like the worst of times to be coming out of some graduate class at Tech or a garage in Alpharetta with the next MySpace or Twitter.

MY OPINION: THOMAS OLIVER
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Where would the financing come from? Mom and Dad have been great, but they’re struggling now, too.

Yet, there are sparks flickering in the darkness.

A small group of young Atlanta entrepreneurs have come together to fund the next Web-based big idea.

Shotput Ventures is a “technology startup accelerator” fund formed by a who’s who of Atlanta’s brightest technology stars.

The fund is offering eight to 10 small groups $15,000 to $25,000 to flesh out their Web-based idea over the next three months.

Then, on “demo” day, the groups will present their projects to venture capitalists, who will decide which group or groups are worth additional funding.

Chances are that two, maybe three, will get funding for the next stage, says Jeff Hilimire, 33, a Shotput partner who last year sold his SpunLogic Internet design firm to Engauge.

Another two to three groups will continue on their own, Hilimire says. The others will dissolve.

John Yates, a prominent lawyer in the local venture capital scene, says Shotput is providing what Atlanta hasn’t had: sufficient financing for those initial-stage to very early stage projects.

“The amount of money isn’t a lot but it requires someone to put it up,” said Yates of the Morris, Manning & Martin law firm.

Yates says it’s usually the 40- to 50-year-olds who give back to the technology community, so he is particularly pleased to see the 30-year-olds giving back.

Even though Shotput will take a 5 to 10 percent equity position in the projects it initially funds, Yates says its $200,000 to $250,000 is “high-risk capital.”

That’s why he characterizes what Shotput is doing as giving back.

In addition to Hilimire, Shotput’s partners include: David Cummings of the Hannon Hill Corp.; Sanjay Parekh of Startup Riot; Allen Graber of HyperMart, which was sold to Go2Net; Suleman Ali, who started Esgut, which sold last year; Wayt King, who co-founded N2 Broadband, which was purchased for $120 million in 2005; Dave Wright, who founded Jungle Disk, which was acquired a year later by Rackspace; Dave Williams of BLiNQ Media, and Mitch Free, who founded MFG.com and 3Datum and has been named to just about everybody’s entrepreneur of the year list.

Applications are due Friday. The partners will select the eight to 10 teams by April 17. Demo day is Aug. 6, when a spark could catch fire.