
The Digital Footprint
The Digital Footprint is for leaders in healthcare, public health and education who are looking to use technology to solve problems. We interview entrepreneurs and innovators who are solving the most challenging problems facing these industries.
In each episode, you’ll learn about the colossal tasks involved with bringing a new digital product to life.
The Digital Footprint
Fostering Community and Startup Success with Jacey Cadet of Atlanta Ventures
In recent years, Atlanta has increasingly gained national recognition for its growing startup scene and vibrant tech community. A dense mix of Fortune 500 companies, excellent colleges and universities, a relatively low cost of living, and more have created a perfect recipe for innovation.
Always at the heart of the hustle and bustle is Jacey Cadet, VP of Marketing and Community at Atlanta Ventures, a venture capital firm with a mission to serve entrepreneurs. With a portfolio packed with success stories such as Calendly, Salesloft, Terminus and more, Atlanta Ventures clearly knows a thing or two about navigating the myriad challenges that founders face.
Jacey has built her career around creating community, empowering entrepreneurs, and helping new businesses get off the ground. Let's just say Jacey stays busy; she also serves as President of the Board for Community Bucket and runs Pitch Practice weekly at Atlanta Tech Village.
In this episode, we speak with Jacey about how the Atlanta startup community has changed since COVID, what she sees as the key ingredients for startup success, and more.
Guest-at-a-Glance
💡 Name: Jacey Cadet
💡 What she does: Jacey is the VP of marketing and community at Atlanta Ventures
💡 Company: Atlanta Ventures
💡 Noteworthy: Jacey is an extreme extrovert with a passion for people, skilled in high-level strategy and operational minutia. As a self-starter who thinks outside the box, she is organized, outgoing, and reliable. In addition, Jacey is an experienced designer and marketer with expertise in brand strategy, employee engagement, and development across all media. Jacey is also president of the board of directors at Community Bucket and leads Pitch Practice at ATV.
💡 Where to find Jacey: LinkedIn | Website
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E661389B_21 - TT - Digital Footprint - Jacey Cadet
[00:00:00] Jacey Cadet: Ultimately, focus on a big market with a real, like, solving a tough problem. That usually means that whenever that product gets in there, it gets stuck. Right? 'Cause if it's tough to solve and you solve it, that's really, you just get in there and can't get out.
[00:00:49] Richard Simms: Hello and welcome to the Digital Footprint. I'm Richard Sims and this podcast is brought to you by Tyrannosaurus Tech, an award-winning technology partner dedicated to designing and developing high-impact software products. Today I'm happy to be sitting down with Jacey Cadet, VP of Marketing and Community at Atlanta Ventures.
[00:01:09] And, before I go further, part of our conversation before recording has been that you got married about six months ago. And I forgot to ask if I'm pronouncing your new last name correctly?
[00:01:20] Jacey Cadet: Got it. Yes.
[00:01:21] Richard Simms: Okay.
[00:01:22] Jacey Cadet: Yes.
[00:01:23] Richard Simms: It occurred to me in that exact moment that I meant to ask before we started. But, yeah, very excited to have you on, Jacey.
[00:01:29] Thanks for being a guest on the show.
[00:01:30] Jacey Cadet: Yeah, I'm super stoked to be here. So, thank you.
[00:01:34] Richard Simms: Awesome. Awesome. So, I've been looking forward to this conversation because I've known you for a long time, probably eight years or so.
[00:01:41] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. I would say, yeah.
[00:01:42] Richard Simms: And I think you have a ton of perspective on tech trends, the startup scene, especially here in Atlanta. And you're also an expert on all things community, which I think is super important.
[00:01:55] You know, whether you're talking about sense of community on a team or in an industry, or even in a city or neighborhood. I think it's a super cool thing to have kind of invested in, in your career. So, I want to hit on that as a recurring theme of sorts in our conversation today if that's cool with you.
[00:02:13] Jacey Cadet: Yeah, absolutely. I'm in. All about community
[00:02:17] Richard Simms: Good deal. Cool. Well, let's get into it. So, to kick things off, can you just briefly introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Atlanta Ventures?
[00:02:25] Jacey Cadet: Sure. Yeah. So, again, my name is Jacey Cadet, I am the VP of Marketing and Community, as you said, for Atlanta Ventures, and we are focused on many things, but really three things kind of boil to the top when it comes to Atlanta Ventures, we wanna start, grow and scale companies. So, what that looks like is we have start, being starting companies we co-found out of what's called our studio and essentially we have billions ideas. Billions is relative.
[00:02:56] We have tons of ideas, and we're looking for folks to co-found with. They come in, um, we build a company together. We, of course, also invest in companies. I can kind of get into the stats as to what they are, but we, you know, precede early-stage companies.
[00:03:11] And then, of course, everything that I do and most of the partners as well, we just want people who are founders or who wanna be founders or thinking about founders to be supported. So, whether that's blogs, resources, tools, free, anything, teaching, going on campuses to different colleges, we just wanna help entrepreneurs be better, whether they're part of our portfolio or not.
[00:03:35] We're trying to be a resource and build that community of, specifically in Atlanta. Obviously, we are located here, but in the Southeast and the beyond, we just wanna be helpful. So, that's Atlanta Ventures in a very quick nutshell.
[00:03:48] Richard Simms: Yeah, I love it. And we'll unpack a little bit more. Everything you're saying, you know, of course, makes sense based on my awareness of Atlanta Ventures and everything you all put out there. And I think that's exactly right. You all have tons of resources, events, you know, I think podcasts of your, of your own.
[00:04:06] So, although you all are in a very different space than we are with this podcast, I think we kind of share that goal of just giving people insights into starting something new, the highs, the lows, the pain points, the, uh, wins when you can get 'em, all that good stuff. So, I love it. I think it's a great service to the scene here in Atlanta.
[00:04:28] So, you all have a lot going on. Tell us more about your role specifically. I'm sure you wear a ton of hats, but, like, what's your priority day-to-day?
[00:04:37] Jacey Cadet: Yeah, day-to-day is relative, just so we're clear. I do wear quite a bit of hats. Um, so, I'm in charge of all things, AV Marketing, right? Whether that comes from hosting, um, you know, our emails, our social media, we have a team of interns, which is fabulous. If anyone is looking for tips, "Hire an intern." Like, I'll say it there, "Hire an intern if you can. They're great."
[00:04:57] We have great, over the years have had a good team there, but email, social, any kind of curating of content, that's all, falls under kind of me. It doesn't mean I write always 'cause we have amazing guest, uh, writers and, of course, content curators on our team. And then, I'm in charge of most events, all, whether it be digital or in-person 'cause ultimately, during COVID, people were apart, so we're doing a lot of digital.
[00:05:22] But we believe in bringing people together and just sharing stories, telling stories about either entrepreneurs who have done it before or are doing it and learning and you wanna kind of, like, connect via events. That's all the things that I lead.
[00:05:35] And then because we have the studio, right, I said we want to build companies. I do marketing for a lot of our companies. So, all of our companies in our studio. So, yeah, pre them graduating. 'Cause, of course, we wanna get them to a point where they can graduate and bring on their own finance, bring on their own go-to-market, bring, bring on their own sales, et cetera, marketing is one of them. So, because I have a design background, I do all branding and marketing for them as they launch, as well.
[00:06:05] Richard Simms: Very cool. I hadn't really thought about that, you're assisting those companies in that capacity too. So, okay, very cool. Yeah, I'm sure you're never short of, uh, to dos day-by-day. So, going back to what you were mentioning, I do kind of understand the distinction within Atlanta Ventures, but I'm just curious to expand on it.
[00:06:26] So, you all obviously might have early-stage startups come to you, you know, like pitch what they're doing, the potential, they see the opportunity. And, of course, if you think it's a good fit, for whatever reason, you might invest in them and then proceed with offering them other types of mentorship and support.
[00:06:46] I'm curious, like, on that one, you know, like what, what stage companies are coming in at and then more for the studio, the way you described it, is it folks there at Atlanta Ventures have, you know, ideas, like particular problems or industries that they feel excited about. And they're looking for someone who could come in and kind of be, you know, the execution under their guidance or for the studio or people coming in with their own ideas, or it's a both?
[00:07:16] So, lot of questions there.
[00:07:17] Jacey Cadet: Great. Great questions. I'll start, I'll start with that one first because it's, you've said it recently, so it's both. However, we have found that we tend to find right, this isn't, nothing is set in stone, never, never saying always. Right? So, we tend to have an idea, and we have hundreds of them, uh, David Cummings, who is the founder of Atlanta Ventures and The Village and so many other companies, has tons of ideas.
[00:07:44] We have a list, right? And so, we are, we're looking for particular type of people, right? Someone who's driven who's maybe done it before. Who's, even if it's failed, right, they just know, someone who's grit, who is resilient. Right? We are looking for them to come in.
[00:07:59] Usually, we start them, we bring them in as an entrepreneur in residence, we do customer discovery, product market fit. We do all of that work together. And then we launch together, we co-found. And so, that usually tends to be the idea. Like, we have something in the back of our head. We have, we meet someone, you know, we meet John who's really good at sales, and maybe we have an idea that is a sales problem that could be solved.
[00:08:25] And so, we marry the person and the idea together and launch. It doesn't mean that they couldn't have their idea. We're super open, right? The, the vision is that it doesn't exist. The company pre-studio doesn't exist. So, whether it's our idea or theirs, if we think it's a big market, a really tough problem to solve, 'cause we want to build billion dollar companies, we're, we're, we're going to solve really hard problems in large markets.
[00:08:51] And so, if those things align, that's great. If they already have an idea and a company started, that's where it would transition over to the other side where it's our investing. And those, we are not industry specific. We obviously have things that we're looking for, as you said.
[00:09:09] Like, we, we have healthcare, we have B2C, B2B, we have marketing sales enablement, IoT robotics, real estate hospitality, just marketplaces, everything. We're, we're very open. What we're looking for is right, "Do you have paying customers? Is it, are you as far as what you're raising, right?" Usually, it's pre, pre-seed, like very early.
[00:09:32] We're writing checks for 250 up to 2 million, perhaps. We'll, of course, do follow-ons after that, but that's where that initial connection with someone who already has a company comes in.
[00:09:44] Richard Simms: Very cool. I'm sure that's a fun mix. And I think that the studio model is interesting and I think that, clearly, across Atlanta Ventures you've got some heavy hitters with a lot of experience and a lot of perspectives. So, it makes sense that at the end of the day, they've got a lot of ideas and you can't pursue them all on your own.
[00:10:05] So, like you said, marrying the right skill set and like person who's kind of at the right stage in their career to wear that founder hat.
[00:10:13] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. And, and I'll say here, what we have recently found is there's actually, and whoever's listening, right, like you have a very specific demographic for this, maybe they're already founders, but what we found is there's probably a lot of people out there that would be an excellent founder. Maybe they're in corporate, they've been in sales, they've been in a very, like, leadership-driven role.
[00:10:35] Right? And they, they haven't thought about entrepreneurship. And so, one thing we're really focused on is making entrepreneurship cool. Right? I, you're obviously one, an entrepreneur yourself and so. But bringing that kind of lighting, opening up the idea that they could be a founder, right, that they could do this. Because they probably had experience leading teams or building products, whether that's in, say at Microsoft, right?
[00:11:00] There's tons of people who could be really good founders and they just haven't thought about it. Or if you're out of Georgia tech and you're on the Amazon path, you're on the Facebook path. But there's other options. So, that's one thing we're really excited about is we have great ideas, and we're just excited to marry them with founders, future founders.
[00:11:19] Richard Simms: That makes sense. And I think just making it more accessible and kind of giving people enough support that they feel a little more confident. 'Cause scary and, you
[00:11:29] Jacey Cadet: Yeah.
[00:11:30] Richard Simms: chances of success are still not guaranteed, but when you've got a good seasoned team offering you that support, I mean, that's a good kick in the pants to take the leap.
[00:11:39] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. And, again, I'll say again from the studio perspective you get, when you join with us, you get a salary and insurance, which for some people with families or, you know, like, whether you're 21 or 31 or 41, right, that piece of mind, that instant team and that, again, insurance and a paycheck is such a, it's like a relief to, for us to be able to provide that to someone, who is maybe not willing to take the leap because they need childcare or they need to make a living.
[00:12:14] And they can't spend all their waking hours on building a product, but if they had income coming in, providing for their family or themselves, right? So, that's a super, I mean, bias, of course, but wonderful benefit of the studio.
[00:12:30] Richard Simms: Well, of course, and I think being honest, I don't think I really knew you all did that or maybe I just hadn't thought about it in a while, but that is huge. I mean, starting something is, of course, always risky, but like, even just for me, personally, it's like where I was when I've started business, granted like services businesses is that relatively quickly can, you know, start to generate cash flow and go all that good stuff a little different than a product company.
[00:12:56] But, you know, I was younger, not married, no kids. So, I think kind of lessening that barrier of entry is, is pretty awesome. And just cutting out some of that anxiety can help people, like, think a little more clearly.
[00:13:10] Jacey Cadet: Exactly.
[00:13:11] Richard Simms: You know?
[00:13:12] Well, cool. So, changing gears a little bit, you know, as I mentioned earlier, seems like a lot of your focus and your career has been on building community.
[00:13:21] And that's like a lot of how I think about you when I think about you, in a very good way. So, not just with the Atlanta Ventures, but community bucket, which I'll ask you about a little bit more later. And then, I know you're running pitch practice at ATV, obviously a bunch of other events associated with Atlanta Ventures.
[00:13:39] So, you went to school for design, right? And it's good to know you're still, like, flexing those muscles with some of the work with Atlanta Ventures, but I'm also just curious, like, how kind of that community element came in, right, versus being more just purely focused on design at your computer each day, right? Like, was that a conscious decision? Uh, is it just kind of a trend and you ended up gravitating towards that type of work? Like, how did that happen?
[00:14:06] Jacey Cadet: So great question, is a very specific, there was a rhyme and a reason, I can share the story. Hopefully, I can go quickly. I was working at design firm, doing, it was a marketing firm, doing design, and I had gone to SCAD. This was amazing. It was so, I was like, Ooh, SCAD." Right? And I was, I'm super fortunate, I'm super blessed to have gone.
[00:14:26] And I was, did not like being behind a computer. I was, this was terrible. And so, I was doing some soul searching, and I read a book called Good to Great, right? And, in there, they talk about the hedgehog concept, and I'll preface it. It's like when the hedgehog stops, rolls around, goes at a ball, it will always survive.
[00:14:46] Right? And so, it's these three things. Stop, stop rolling a ball and go around. And those three things equated to when you find the thing that you could be the best at, could make money at, and could find joy at. Those three things combined, you can survive. And so, I was looking at this, I would, I had started doing community bucket.
[00:15:06] I was so enthralled and it was bringing me a lot of joy. And as I started thinking through I had, I was like, "I need to do a community, whatever it is." And this job had popped up. I transitioned, I was a community manager, uh, for a season at a co-working space. And it was just, I was like, "This is it, this is what I have to do. I have to do, I can get paid to do community, to build it, to invest in it, to talk about it, to sing about it."
[00:15:31] And so, I obviously get super impassioned about it because I realize I was like, "Yeah, I could be good at it. I'm, I'm pretty decent at it. I really enjoy it, brings me a lot of joy, and I could get paid." So, very intentionally made the switch to focus on all things community from there on. Now, it hasn't always been in my title, but yes, that is, it was intentional.
[00:15:58] Richard Simms: Very cool. And I, I think that's when I met you, I think, when you were acting as community manager and you obviously made an impression on me 'cause we've stayed in touch since then. So, I think you were, you were very good at it, so it works. And, yeah, I think, like, just knowing you and your personality, as much as being purely a designer is incredibly valuable and cool.
[00:16:20] It's like, it would be, it's hard for me to see you kind of sitting so laser-focused just on technical implementation all day. Like, you're obviously a people person, so you need to use that other part of your brain. I like that. So, one, another thing I wanted to ask you about, you, of course, have invested a ton in just generally the Atlanta tech and startup scene.
[00:16:43] And it's like, I feel like I have in a lot of ways, and you've probably invested like 20 X that. So, this might be like kind of a tired topic, but, you know, when it comes to community, it's obviously been impactful. So, it's like COVID the last few years, we even touched on this before we started recording.
[00:17:02] It's like, how do you think it's affected the tech and startup community in Atlanta? Just curious, like what you think the lay of the land is these days and how things have shifted?
[00:17:13] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. Great question. I think it's different now than when we were in shutdown, right? In it, it's obviously things are different now, but in it, I, I felt like, thankfully, there was a good, strong community that could support each other. Right? One thing that we really wanted to do was still be a presence.
[00:17:30] I'm not saying we were the only ones 'cause there were so many people that were a part of it, but hosting events, continuing to bring people together virtually, what, whether it was in person or not, right? And as we continue to, to do that, that's been something that I think has been true of a lot of different people in this space.
[00:17:49] Um, just because people need people. That's a reality, right? Whether you were apart or together, we noticed that and that is still true today. And so, when we talk about post-COVID, post, not being able to be together and now being able to be together again and maybe a little bit different way. I do think there's certain trends that are still happening.
[00:18:09] One thing that we've, I've seen, uh, if you're familiar, I dunno if you've heard, but ATL Unlocked is this amazing initiative that the Metro Atlanta Chamber, ATV, Rise, Tech Alpha, there's five different partners that have been involved. And that has been an opportunity for the tech scene specifically to go to all these incubators, uh, spaces, hubs, whatever their kind of space is called and just bring people together.
[00:18:34] Right? So, there's opening awareness of that, et cetera. So, there's a lot of overlap that I've seen in the past. We, the ATL Unlocked initiative started, spread about two months now that there's been this like touring spaces. So, that has been great and opened up community that wouldn't have seen each other.
[00:18:51] Right? And that, I don't necessarily mean that rise, rose out of COVID, however, it was like very apparent that there was disconnect and I think that's changing, which is awesome. And then, of course, from the work perspective, right? So, COVID made it easy to work from home. That's a reality, right? For most companies, most, especially in tech, right?
[00:19:12] I'm not thinking essential workers, which were of, so thankful to have the people that were out there working. But for the tech perspective, tech-enabled softwares and companies, they were able to work from home. And what we've seen is remote-first is definitely a trend. There will be that. And still, there are people that wanna be together.
[00:19:32] You guys have been back in the office for a long time. I know you were home for a bit. I think we talked during homeness, but that won't change. I think people wanna come together. We're, we're actually building a product that's focused on bringing people together, called Zenia. It's, like, focused on the offsite because that is a reality, right?
[00:19:52] You're gonna be spending, there's probably gonna be an office budget and there's probably gonna be an invest in your teammate's budget because you know, you saw what, it happened during COVID and what you needed, right? What, this new shift and what could work? And, again, I think a lot of people are back in a very different schedule, different way because that can happen.
[00:20:16] We just want community. So, it's more of a blessing that we can invest in community as opposed to, "Here's another voluntold event." Or, "Here's another lunch hour." It's like, "Hey, we're doing a lunch hour once a month or a happy hour or a lunch once a month. And this is gonna be epic 'cause it's bringing us all together."
[00:20:37] Richard Simms: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:38] Jacey Cadet: It's a long, winded answer, but.
[00:20:39] Richard Simms: No. I mean, I'm right there with you. And you're right. It's like, we are like many companies kind of in that hybrid mindset now. Like, I don't think, for us at least, there's any going back, nor do we want to, and the team has thrived. But, so, you know, otherwise I would be more like, "Well, maybe we." But, again, to your point, like most tech folks can adapt pretty quickly in that scenario.
[00:21:04] But, exactly, I do think for us, it's driven a little more focus on like, "Okay, so what, what, like, outings do we want to do together? You know, in what instances do we want to get together and like really have a dedicated brainstorm or like workshop out of the paradigm of our usual day-to-day? Like, I, I'm with you, obviously.
[00:21:26] I think it all just looks different. And I think that that's the case at the various, like, startup hubs and events in town. And, admittedly, I just don't get out like I used to, unfortunately. It's kind of been like a, you know, wonderful but perfect storm of COVID plus having little kids, it's like, you know, all that combined, like, I'm not as tuned in to some of that as I used to be. But I sense that, yeah, that stuff is, has come back, is coming back, but it looks different, and whether it will ever be the same, I don't know.
[00:21:58] And whether that's good or bad, I don't know.
[00:22:00] Jacey Cadet: I think it's okay. I think it's like the new way, the new way of working, obviously, things will, it, things always kind of even out. Right? And so, yes.
[00:22:10] Richard Simms: Yeah, I agree. And I mean, Atlanta's a big town with a lot of stuff going on and people are hungry, and it's human nature. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. Like, at a minimum, there's gonna be a balance. People want to get out and about. You know, especially in, like, entrepreneurial space, so much of it is about getting that support and meeting people and kind of building a support network.
[00:22:30] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. Especially with so, solo founders, right? Especially if you're early, like you're just starting out, you know it's lonely, right? As, and again, similar to COVID, but like, we desire, we, as a human population, are made for a community. And so, why would that not be true for a solo founder who is looking for a community in some way?
[00:22:50] Right? So, I think that is even more, that is more true after COVID because we experience such deep disconnection that now people are seeking it and hopefully, whether it be Atlanta Ventures, Atlanta, in general, are providing spaces to do that. I think there's a lot of people in the tech scene right now who are providing that, which is super inspiring.
[00:23:15] Richard Simms: Well, definitely and kudos to you 'cause I feel like even in the early, worst parts of COVID, you were very like immediately on the ball of, like, shifting things online and staying really on top of it. I mean, a lot of folks, me included to a degree, like, fell a little bit idle in that time 'cause it was easy to, but you all have kept it up for sure.
[00:23:36] So, pivoting back to your role at Atlanta Ventures for a bit. So, you all have a great track record. I think anyone familiar or, like, looked at the portfolio on the site, it's super impressive. So, I think you have a good sense of, you know, the landscape, obviously. You've seen a lot of startups rise and fall over the years, of
[00:23:54] Jacey Cadet: Oh, yeah.
[00:23:54] Richard Simms: So, big question is, like, based on your insights from Atlanta ventures and elsewhere, like, what do you think are the most important ingredients for success for a startup? Like, is it the team? Is it perseverance? Is it picking the right market? And I know there's no simple answer, but, like, where does your gut go, based on your experience?
[00:24:14] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. Great. I think it's not just one thing. So, you're right about that. I'll speak to you maybe a little bit about what we look for, and then, hopefully, that would trickle down. But, specifically, if you're, if you're looking to build a startup, right, that's high-growth, venture-backed, right, if you want to build, make money, right, make a successful company 'cause there's a lot of companies out there that are amazing and wonderful and thriving that are not necessarily venture-backed, right? So, that's what I'll speak to, in this particular thing, is that, I mean, ultimately focus on a big market with a real, like, solving a tough problem.
[00:24:51] That usually means that whenever that product gets in there, it gets stuck. Right? 'Cause if it's tough to solve and you solve it, that's really, you just get in there and can't get out, hence continue to be a customer. Solving real tough problems and then focus on getting paying customers.
[00:25:06] That's really early on, what makes you successful is, your mom probably loves your product, that's wonderful. Is she paying for it? Is she authentic? Right? So, finding customers that are not inside your network really proves authentic demand. And then, of course, the market, right? Is the market big? We do think, you know, like land and expand, start niche and go, right?
[00:25:28] Because you, but, like, even that niche market, how big is it? Is it worth, are you going to be able to sell and make a billion-dollar company? Right. Again, this is for a venture-backed startup. But those are the things that we've seen success in, right? Like, we've seen that, like, you focus on the customer, you solve a really tough, tough problem when you focus on a big market, that's some good ingredients for success.
[00:25:51] Richard Simms: For sure. That all makes sense. And you're, you're definitely, uh, speaking my language, 'cause I think a lot of that, like, of course you have to, you know, validate that not only your folks, like, say they're interested, will they really pay, how sticky is it? I mean, it's kind of the whole like vitamin versus an aspirin thing.
[00:26:10] And there are great vitamins out there, but generally, like, I would feel a lot more confident in something that solves a very specific pain point, you know? So, that's great. That's all great advice. So, a lot is changing right now with inflation, market volatility. It's crazy. What do you think the next couple of years look like for venture-backed startups?
[00:26:34] What, what will be the biggest challenges for founders to overcome? You know, in the next couple years?
[00:26:40] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. I think, you know, when we talk about this, when we think through, when we look at the market, like last year was very different than this year. I think, ultimately, you can't control the market, right? You can't control specifically. Maybe there's things, maybe that we can do as a universe. Sure.
[00:26:55] But you can't really control it. It's gonna go up. It's gonna go down. It's gonna go up. It's gonna go down. And ultimately, we try to encourage people to like, it's gonna come back. It's gonna average out, right? It tends to be trending up, over the last 100, 200 years. Right? And so, really there's, there's things that you can control and there's things that you can't.
[00:27:16] So, when I talk about this, I usually say, "Hey, focus on the things you can control." Which is the big problem, the customers, the market, right? So, if you're spending time, say if you want to raise or you're out there working on that, and you're not talking to customers, know there's a time and a place, right? If you raise, it's gonna help you scale, et cetera.
[00:27:36] But if there's, if you're not focused on the right things that you can control, then you're not continuing that snowball effect for your company. And so, bottom line, your valuation might change, right? Last year to this year, it probably did. And you could have been super successful or not. Right? And, and it could have dropped, right? is something that we often can't control. So, we tend to encourage them to focus on what you can control, which would be that customer, that market and the problem.
[00:28:08] Richard Simms: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that's good advice, for sure. Is, it can cause a lot of, at least unproductive worry to be stressed about, these big forces that, you know, clearly no one knows exactly what's happening.
[00:28:22] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. That's the thing. Like, it's anxiety-inducing when you could just build a baller company or a baller product. And what if you didn't have to raise? Again, I'm not saying like, we, we love investing, but if your customers pay for your, pay for your product, great, have do that.
[00:28:39] Richard Simms: Right, right. So, yeah, that's all good input. So, I feel like for Atlanta Ventures, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is like a probably oversimplification, but, you know, I sense that you all are not necessarily for the studio, but otherwise, like pretty focused on, you know, revenue, like getting real, paying customers, et cetera.
[00:29:04] Like, some of the early stage business fundamentals, which of course I appreciate, as compared to, you know, really just investing in like an idea purely, or like a visionary founder type. So, like, I could be wrong, I assume that the current dynamics don't, like, dramatically change you all's evaluation perspective when you consider investments.
[00:29:27] But I guess, what I'm getting to in an unnecessarily long way is like, with Atlanta Ventures or even just more broadly, it's like, what do you think raising money at that stage looks like now, compared to, like, a year ago, for example?
[00:29:41] Jacey Cadet: Sure. You may incur a little bit of just people thinking about valuations differently. And you may, again, depending on who you're raising from, right, and what your product is and how much revenue you have and how much you don't have, right, I think it's gonna be different for different sectors, right?
[00:29:59] Like, healthcare verse marketplace, verse whatever. Right? So, the industry might change and the VC perspective might change. What I do encourage, right, so, in a roundabout way, right, like, how people are raising is, I think sometimes people think, "Oh, I'm gonna go out and raise in, with one call, with one send, here's my deck raising me."
[00:30:23] Right? So, I think that, one thing that I would encourage in this season, specifically, right, but all seasons, it doesn't matter if you're in the, old season, the new season, right, valuations are high or low, what would really help is thinking about investing and raising as a marriage, not, say, a one-night stand, right?
[00:30:45] Because you're in it for the long haul. And so, looping investors in early, no matter what, right? No matter if you're, um, evaluations are high or low because what, what happens is you build rapport and it's, it's more about, you know, perhaps you send an email and say, "Hey, I'm working on this problem. I, specifically, I'd like your insight on this." Right?
[00:31:06] It's not like, you know maybe you're gonna be raising in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months. But no one's gonna write you a check that day. Right? It's just, that's not, it's a marriage. Right? You got a court, you gotta date. And so, now more than ever, right? Especially, again, the market's gonna go up and down, but I think it's about connecting and building rapport and relationships with the people that you want to be in a marriage with. Right? And so, we, I, I encourage them, anyone who's looking to raise to be thinking ahead of the time, like, "Who is it that you want on your team? Who is it that's in that industry?" So, if someone doesn't invest in robotics, it's probably not a good fit, which is totally fine.
[00:31:52] Right? So, find the people in that industry, in your niche, in that specific space and go early and make it a relationship, not just a, "Hey, I need money." 'Cause, again, from our perspective, right, maybe others are super responsive and love that. We are about building community, right? We wanna work with good people who we want to work with.
[00:32:16] And so, starting a relationship as opposed to a very like transactional is what I always encourage people to think about and get out ahead of time in their cording of investors.
[00:32:32] Richard Simms: For sure. And, yeah, I'm sure that you all do a lot of kind of helping people understand the realities that, like, it just like everything in startups that appears to be some kind of overnight success story is like, you know, when folks raise money, it's typically a very time intensive, long haul to get there.
[00:32:54] It's like, obviously not, oh, you had three meetings or four meetings and you picked who was your prince. It's like, you gotta really have a serious, dedicated effort, oftentimes for, you know, six months, a year, like you said. So, yeah, I, I'm sure now, even more so, you need to kind of have that long game mentality.
[00:33:15] So.
[00:33:16] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. And you said it, I mean, you said it perfectly. Like, the overnight success is usually 10 years, right? Like, when we start our, out of our studio, we want to know, "Are people committed for, like, five to seven years?" Because that's, maybe you know, Richard, like you've been at Tyrannosaurus Tech for 8?
[00:33:33] Richard Simms: Six years. Six and a half years.
[00:33:34] Jacey Cadet: Right. And you weren't just, "Oh, cool. Instant success." Right? Like, it takes very, a lot of work, and that's the reality of an overnight success.
[00:33:45] Richard Simms: For sure, for sure. And I definitely embrace the, like, you know, it's really about just consistency and like small wins every
[00:33:54] Jacey Cadet: Mm-hmm.
[00:33:55] Richard Simms: is really like what yields success in time, you know, it's like accruing interest or something. It doesn't seem like much, but if it's compounding...
[00:34:03] Jacey Cadet: Right. Yeah. And hopefully, you're building your tribe, your community around you to celebrate those wins. And when, we have a Slack channel for our entrepreneurs, and the other day one of the CEOs had said they had a great day, super great day. Right? And that was super high, but they've also been in super lows.
[00:34:21] Right? And so, this is kind of reminder where, "Hey, I, I'm in a high, I had a great day. Here's a reminder. There will be lows and highs. I'm here to tell you. Like, I'm in it with you for the, in the lows because it happens." And, again, why I'm such a fan of community and why I'm such a fan of being supportive and helping, whether they're in our portfolio or not.
[00:34:43] Right? Because anyone, I'm here to help anyone. Right? If they're not investible by us, it doesn't mean they're not a fantastic company. And so, that's something to remind, remember when we're cultivating our community and the, the events we do, the blogs we share, the people we meet, et cetera.
[00:35:01] Richard Simms: Mm-hmm. For sure, for sure. And I definitely think, you know, whether you're talking about Atlanta or the Southeast or whatever it is, it's obviously not a zero-sum game. It's like the more there are successful exits in our area, you know, or just great companies built that carry on indefinitely, like, it does help everyone, for sure.
[00:35:22] Jacey Cadet: Exactly. Yes.
[00:35:24] Richard Simms: Very cool. So, a lot of the time I've spent with you over the last few years has been with community bucket. You've obviously been super crucial within that organization. I think you're president of the board of directors currently. It's a great group. Can you just speak a little bit more about what community bucket is 'cause I've referenced it a few time.
[00:35:45] What you all do? What's the mission? Um, I'd love to get that out there.
[00:35:49] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Sure. So, community bucket cultivates genuine connection through volunteerism, right? So, we serve together and then we hang out, we call it service made social. You do good, and you have fun. So, we're made for forward-thinking, twenties and thirties, young professionals, shall we say, that's where we've found, specifically in Atlanta, a demographic that wants to connect and wants to give back.
[00:36:13] And then, we, so that's one of our, you know, target customers at first startup talk. And then, of course, we focus on grassroot, community organizations. So, nonprofits all over the space. You could just be a community group as well, who need volunteers, we bring them together. And then we, at the end, wrap it up with a social event, whether it be a brewery, a pizza night, a picnic in the park, yoga, some kind of social that will bring it all together.
[00:36:40] And, ultimately, create lasting relationships and community that is, you know, cultivated and, and grown out of serving together.
[00:36:50] Richard Simms: For sure. Well, it's a great organization. I've really enjoyed it. And exactly like you're saying, it's like going to volunteer is always great, great thing to do, but you all make it very fun. And I think, you know, everyone has their own motivations too. It's like, I always found I met good people, not that it was, you know, the end, goal, but like good people to have in my network, people that were doing cool things. Like, it was definitely, made it an all-around like very compelling package, you know?
[00:37:19] So, definitely encouraged that. And, you know, at the end, I'll, I'll make sure to give you an opportunity to say like, where to, where to follow or reach out or donate or whatever you wanna do. But, you also run Pitch Practice at ATV, which I think is super cool. That's been going on for a long time. I imagine a lot of folks out there are not familiar with it, but could really benefit.
[00:37:37] So, can you give a quick rundown on, uh, what that's about?
[00:37:40] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. So, it's a free, open-to-the-public meetup that meets at Atlanta Tech Village every Friday at one o'clock. Sometimes I tweet that we're not meeting, but in general, every Friday. And the vision is that anyone who needs to pitch anything, here's the thing, we're always pitching something. If you're in an elevator, if you're at a pitch presentation, if you're at a company sales kickoff event, you're pitching something.
[00:38:05] And we tend to think that we sound amazing and usually we do, right? However, sometimes it's really good to have a sounding board or if you're launching a new product to a new customer segment, right? There's always something that we can do to practice. And so, this has been a space, but, uh, it's been eight years, nine years since Pitch Practice has been in existence, and I've been running it for two and a half now.
[00:38:29] And the vision is to create a, provide a safe space for people to just practice. We usually focus on 30 seconds 'cause if you can say it in 30, you can say it in 20 minutes, four minutes. If you can say it in 20 minutes, I don't know if you're gonna always get it back, back down, but if you wanna practice anything, you can come.
[00:38:47] So, that wasn't a 30-second pitch, I realized, but I wanted to get it all in. So.
[00:38:53] Richard Simms: No, I think that's great. I love it. And, um, yeah, I think that's a super valuable resource and like learning to just get it concise and easy to understand is huge. So, I think you've had, like, a really interesting, cool career trajectory with the stuff you're involved in. Obviously, like Atlanta Ventures, Community Bucket, elsewhere.
[00:39:15] If you think back and had to name, like, maybe a couple of wins that have been most meaningful to you, like what really stands out that you either are proud of, or just got a lot of fulfillment out of, I'd love to hear?
[00:39:30] Jacey Cadet: Sure. Yeah. I think, probably, that I've met so many people. I know it's, it's like, I'm like, this is such a win. Like, I was, I was able to meet the right people at the right time. I, I met Jesse, right? So, he had, he is the, one of the founders of Community Bucket, as well. And so, I just, in passing, met him, and instantly it was like, "Yes, we should."
[00:39:51] I'm like, "I'm doing this, we should do this together." And have, since. And then, of course, like, I met David through a connection of a connection of a connection, right? It was all like, I met this, I met this and I've been at Atlanta Ventures in some form. Right? 'Cause I've been at a lot of different roles as I've been here, um, for six and a half years now.
[00:40:10] And so, just the people that I have met. Again, and those are two examples, but that's a big win for me, 'cause I felt, you know, in those two examples, it was highlighting my hedgehog, right? Where I was able to just come in and do me, be autonomous in the things that I do. And that has afforded me so many more opportunities, so many more connections and I'm just super thankful to be able to brush shoulders, connect with people in all other spaces and, yeah, I, I'd say that's like a big win, I would say.
[00:40:45] Richard Simms: For sure. Yeah, I'm sure you've learned a ton and I know that you get to collaborate directly with some really sharp, you know, seasoned folks. So, I think it's awesome. And I know that, just from knowing you it's like you build a network without any, like, agenda, right? Like, which I think is always important.
[00:41:05] And I've tried to kind of have that same attitude where you just meet people, have good intentions, you're not necessarily looking for anything in return. But in time it, it comes to mean something, um, just having that good network to support you and guide you. So, I love it. So, my last question for you, and this can be within the context of raising, you know, doing something venture-backed or not, but just what advice would you give to someone in the early stages of pursuing a new digital product?
[00:41:34] So, someone tech, product focused, what, what would you tell 'em?
[00:41:38] Jacey Cadet: I probably sound like a broken record, but focus on the customer.
[00:41:43] Richard Simms: Yep.
[00:41:43] Jacey Cadet: It, it's, I think we, we think that we built such an amazing product it's for us, or it's, again, our mom said it was amazing. I do recommend people read the Mom Test, if no one has, it's an excellent book and it talks about not leading the witness and asking intentional questions.
[00:42:00] But I do think businesses that are focused on the customer, specifically in tech, because we can build tech all day. I'm sure you have an amazing team of developers could whip up an amazing product, but if no one's gonna use it or pay for it, then it doesn't matter. So, talk to them, spend time with them pre even building. We have seen a lot of products and maybe this is something you've encouraged or encountered as well, is someone wants, "Oh, build this for me, Richard."
[00:42:29] And you're like, "Who's going to use it? What's this, is this for you and you only?" And so. I, I digress customer always, just talk with them. They'll give you the product that you need.
[00:42:43] Richard Simms: Yeah. I love it. And I'm right there with you. And I think that, you know, you're right. We do a surprising amount of, like, pulling people back.
[00:42:52] Jacey Cadet: Mm-hmm.
[00:42:52] Richard Simms: From the point where they think they're ready to build something and it's either encouraging more customer discovery or, you know, other means of just validating the concept.
[00:43:02] But then, in a lot of instances, it's two, it's like, "Does this really need to be a web app at this stage?" Like, "Could, could this just be a landing page with a subscribe?" You know, like there's, there's so many creative ways and so many cheap or free tools at our disposal these days that, yeah, like anything you can do to better understand the customer, understand the market.
[00:43:25] At a low cost, low effort.
[00:43:27] I mean, we'll save you a fortune of pain and headaches and money down the road.
[00:43:33] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. I, I think we've talked about that before, specifically. 'Cause you're, you know, you're an amazing product builder. However, oftentimes, how do you balance building a product with something maybe you're like, "This doesn't need to be a product." How can we, and I've always appreciated your vision and your leadership and guidance on that.
[00:43:52] 'Cause the hope of course, is that they get to a place where you could build that baller.
[00:43:56] Richard Simms: Mm-hmm
[00:43:57] Jacey Cadet: Not must have product, with your guidance kind of early on. That's something I've, I, I've heard and, and always do think that you guys do well.
[00:44:06] Richard Simms: For sure. And everyone wants to create something that succeeds. So, same. We wanna make sure whatever we're building, it's like, "Does this add up? What's the real potential here?" Awesome. I love it. I've really enjoyed it. I think we're about out of time. Seems like we're, we're at a good stopping point.
[00:44:23] So, thank you so much, Jacey, always love catching up with you. So, before we sign off, where can listeners go to connect with you and learn more about Atlanta Ventures or Community Bucket and what can they do to show support?
[00:44:34] Jacey Cadet: Yeah. Sure. Thank you. I'm always willing to connect online, LinkedIn, Jacey Cadet. You can follow me. You don't have to be friends, you can just connect. Of course, atlantaventures.com, got tools, blogs, resources, podcasts. We do have two. And I appreciate the production here very well, 'cause I do know what it takes to, to make it happen.
[00:44:54] And then, communitybucket.com, community like a pale bucket.com. And all our socials are there, et cetera. You can follow us. We'll take it. Pitchpractice.co is another one. You can RSVP or just show up. Come on, we'd love to be, you to be in any of those communities.
[00:45:13] Richard Simms: I love it. Well, thanks again. It's been great having you on the Digital Footprint, and we'll catch up soon. Thanks, Jacey.
[00:45:19] Jacey Cadet: Thank you. Bye.