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Dave Payne

Dave Payne

Atlanta startup Awards winner

ATL's Finest Crowned As Inaugural Atlanta Startup Awards Winners

Over 150 of Atlanta’s startup ecosystem members gathered last Friday night for the inaugural Atlanta Startup Awards to find out who would take home the trophy in each of five company and three individual categories. Organized by Startup Atlanta, the Awards aim to celebrate the city’s most successful

Real founder lesson

Real Founder Lesson: Do This Before You Write A Line Of Code

I graduated college in 1994. One year later Netscape went public, kicking off the beginning of the consumer internet. Most technology innovation over the following decade was about infrastructure — making sure people had broadband to their homes, developing phones with real computing power and growing wireless connectivity. Fast forward to

Atlanta Startup Hubs: A Story Of Success, Support, and Celebration

Atlanta Startup Hubs: A Story Of Success, Support, and Celebration

This past week saw milestones from two major players in the Atlanta startup ecosystem. The Atlanta Tech Village, the 4th largest tech entrepreneurial hub in the country and the incubator of such startup success stories as BitPay, Salesloft, and Terminus (plus a whole lot more!), turned four on January 17.

Real Founder Lesson: Pursuing Passion, Persistence & Purpose

Real Founder Lesson: Pursuing Passion, Persistence & Purpose

Every so often I run across a startup podcast that has a bunch of lessons in it, so it’s difficult to choose just one. That happened with this podcast. Every few minutes I was taking down a new lesson, so I figured the best thing to do was to

Real Founder Lesson: How Best to Market Beats First to Market

Real Founder Lesson: How Best to Market Beats First to Market

Startups have lots of worries on a daily basis. Big worries that immediately to mind are (a) running out of money, (b) building the correct product and (c) hiring the right people. Another big, macro worry is how to think about competition, particularly how much to worry about getting your

Real Founder Lessons: Why Does a Focused Product Win?

Real Founder Lessons: Why Does a Focused Product Win?

Focus. Focus. Focus. This is one of the most common pieces of advice given to startup founders. As with most advice, it’s much easier to say than do…especially when it’s you in the situation and are faced with dozens of bright & shiny opportunities and death-defying

David Payne Founder Lessons

Real Founder Lessons: Three Pieces of Advice for Early-Stage Founders

My name is David Payne and I’ve been working on startups for the better part of twenty years in NYC, SF, London and (now) Atlanta. My best-known startup in Atlanta is Scoutmob, but my most recent project is Switchyards, a consumer-focused startup hub in downtown Atlanta. Both

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