I'm in mid-stage development for a startup in Atlanta.
It is not going well. There aren't many people here that are available, willing, and smart. I'm finding that the biggest advantage to the "startup hubs" is that there are more people nearby with a similar mentality. Be it employees, cofounders or investors. In Atlanta, there's hardly anybody whose brain is wired the same way mine is.
The solution for me is to move out to the west coast as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it out there for at least another year.
Yes, they're pretty bright. But the kids from Tech that I know, are doing one of 3 things:
1) Working at a job that pays and is stable (and this is what they want)
2) Working on their own startup
3) Working on a graduate degree, and not interested in things that make money.
Carpal, I'm new to the YC News circle, but the CTO of the Sunlight Foundation, a guy we're working with, is from Atlanta. He's worked on four startups there, so he has a wealth of experience and may be able to help out. His name is John Brothers, just tell him Andrew Lee sent you. He's about to move to DC (where we've been doing our stuff), but he can probably tell you about things that helped out in his region.
I'm in Atlanta and I'm pretty smart ;)
The problem is, that anybody bright and motivated enough to do a startup is already doing their own thing, and doesn't want to work for somebody else.
No, we don't know each other. But we have a lot in common.
I even had an idea a couple of years ago similar to your Wamily thing. I called it "Grupevine". Pretty much a "website in a box" for a group. Groups would associate with each other and a user could easily find and be a member of many groups.
There's a weekly meeting of other "smart people in Atlanta" called AtlHack that I go to. It's at Octane every Tuesday at around 8:30. You should come some time.
I'd like to hear more about your Wamily idea. You can hit me up at erik /at/ subwindow[dot]com
Are you participating in any of the local groups? I know the Ruby and Python groups are well attended, and the web entrepreneurs group gets good marks. There's also Barcamp and Startup Weekend coming up soon.
It is not going well. There aren't many people here that are available, willing, and smart. I'm finding that the biggest advantage to the "startup hubs" is that there are more people nearby with a similar mentality. Be it employees, cofounders or investors. In Atlanta, there's hardly anybody whose brain is wired the same way mine is.
The solution for me is to move out to the west coast as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make it out there for at least another year.