William Leonard
We’ve got some of the best minds on regional, state level city, and national-level growth on the stage here when it comes to startups and tech. So, I would love for just to go down the line and have you all briefly introduce yourselves and then we’ll dive into to the questions.
Jamal Lewis
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jamal Lewis, I am the Economic Opportunity Manager for a Public Private Partnership called Partnership for Inclusive Innovation. We are housed under Georgia Tech, and excited to be with you here today.
Bryan Bean
Bryan Bean with Pinnacle Financial Partners, also known as Pinnacle Bank. I am the head of Corporate Banking for Pinnacle which covers financial sponsors, how we interact with publicly traded companies and large corporates, overseeing our investments as an LP and funds like valor, or we’re very proud LP. That’s, that’s what I spend my time doing. Nice to be here.
Donald Beamer
Donnie Beamer, and I serve as the City of Atlanta Senior Technology Advisor. It’s a new role that was created to help grow the venture ecosystem here in the city. So we’ve been doing it about 11 months, internally facing, we want to make sure that the city operates more efficiently, right, we wanted to be safe, we wanted to be efficient, and transparent. And so the thing is, for those tools to be optimal, we want them to be built here. So we want to enable everyone in the city to be a founder, and the ones that are here to be successful. So that’s my role. I was a founder who once built an artificially intelligent robotic bartender. And so this is before AI was a fad. And I mean, the same fears were present. Right? How does..
Bryan Bean
You already won the day with that, I mean.
Donald Beamer
It was it was a fun job. And, but that fear of how will this technology make me obsolete as a bartender, we may get into it on the panel as well. And have been here as an investor, been in corporate. So I see my friend from Cox here. I work there before joining the mayor’s office. So excited to share my perspective.
David Evans
Good afternoon, my name is David Evans. I am in the weird phase of being between Act Two and Act Three. So I would say semi-retire, but I do need to find something to do next. But most recently, I was CEO of a company called Passport of Charlotte, where we were a mobility management platform, working with cities, through the lens of the usage of digital pay parking, enforcement payments, etc. Prior to that, I was the CFO for Cardlytics. Cardlytics sucks on, I think today. I did that for about seven years. Before that, I was in investment banking for about 12 years, focused on technology, vertically integrated software, payments, etc. So one way through one way or another, either as an engineer, a banker, or an operator executive, I’ve always been around technology. And for whatever reason, I’ve always found myself in awe of all of these founders who come up with these ideas out of thin air, and I come in for the ride, if you will. So it’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.
William Leonard
Yeah, thank you for your time. I’ll kick it off to Bryan don’t pass that mic yet. Bryan, from your vantage point of being at Pinnacle, you know, a regional bank, and in fostering an ecosystem of startups and technology where you’re collaborating with state venture funds, like Valor, and Accelerators. What emerging tech trends have you seen in the region that get you in the Pinnacle team excited?
Bryan Bean
Yeah, so maybe a small amount of background, I won’t give you too much of a story on us. But we are a startup we started 23 years ago. Today, we are a $48 billion bank. We operate in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, DC Baltimore. We have a Southeastern focus 35th largest bank in the country. And so very focused in the southeast, very entrepreneurial, to grow from zero to 48 billion of assets. Most of that accepting about 10 billion of that was an acquisition. But the rest of it is organic growth. In the past eight years, we have been eight times the size we were eight years ago. So high growth, high entrepreneurial, very much invested in the southeast. So kind of lay that as the framework. You know, I think we’re super excited about the southeast certainly receiving more than our fair share of investment of the momentum in the I would say in the US growth of business climate generally. But certainly in tech, you know, you Think about all businesses today, you know, to call tech a sector is probably not a good description, because we just had Home Depot sitting up here talking about how they do tech, you know, we’re a bank technology is very important to a bank. So every company has to have a technology strategy and how they use technology to do business. And so Nashville where I sit is a huge healthcare space. Well, technology and healthcare are usually said in the same sentence very often. So the trends, I think, the influx of institutional capital to the southeast, is certainly the most amount that’s coming to the southeast as compared to other parts of our country. Out on the West Coast, Northeast, and Midwest, the South is getting more than our fair share. The population growth and the talent and capability that’s moving here that has that, that training background and expertise is, you know, another really exciting trend. I think I’m gonna segue a little bit to a couple of other my friends on the stage, but not to steal their thunder, our legal regulatory government, sort of infrastructure to support business growth, tech growth, and job growth, is unlike anything else in the country. So for pinnacle, we feel very fortunate to have the southeastern focus focused on growth companies, small business, and fostering that because, you know, we, you know, whether it’s the right place, right time, or what things are moving in that direction for us. So it’s an exciting time to be a bank in the southeast that’s growing.
William Leonard
Jamal, I’ll come to you next to get the state perspective of Georgia has seen tremendous tech growth over the last 5, 10, 15 years or so. How are you in the team at PIN ensuring that the benefits of this growth are distributed to the state and not only, the Metropolitan hubs, but going to impact change across the entire state of Georgia?
Donald Beamer
So, just a little bit of background, I’m an economic developer, by trade and marketing as well. So first, kudos to the city for being a great model, and an example for, you know, inclusive innovation and equity and diversity. But what we actually do at the partnership is considered tech-based economic development. So we have a more community-based approach, where traditional economic development tends to be top-down. And so what we’re looking to do is figure out communities that we can work with right across the state. And now even across the southeast, we can help to develop leaders, creating talent, right, so getting opportunities for the next generation of innovators to be exposed to innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology opportunities earlier, and then connecting them to those pathways. So if you want to be an entrepreneur, in the space, you know, a lot of communities across the southeast don’t have access and opportunity. So how can we help stabilize that equip the leaders in the communities with that, and I think you’ll see, you know, from the work that we’ve done, we’ve done this industry agnostic. So we have healthcare projects, we have education projects, inclusive entrepreneurship projects that we are working on. And we really when I say community up, we’re not taking a model as a blueprint. But we’re working with communities specifically to see what is your strength. What is your workforce training for? What industry do you have here, let’s figure out how we can implement innovation around that.
William Leonard
I’ll go over to Donnie now, the city of Atlanta is seeing tremendous tailwinds. And you in the mayor’s team have just done a tremendous job of enacting change and bringing technology to the forefront of what Atlanta is becoming known for. What are some of the initiatives that you all are most excited about that you all believe will drive tech growth here now and in the future of the city?
Donald Beamer
So, one of the things I’m most excited about, he talked about things not being fair. And that’s part of life, right? And we’re getting more than our fair share. And it’s about time we’re on the right side of something being unfair. So I’m excited about the attention on the South for so many years. You’ve heard this narrative that, it’s hard to raise money because there weren’t valleys in town, or you all are supporting that by being an LP to make it possible for companies not to have to move to LA San Fran, or New York to try to find investors. So we thank you for choosing Atlanta. There’s great value great builders here. You talked about pathways. So we are trying to ensure that from diapers to degrees you have all of the resources here. So the programming we have is in place to ensure you have both the resources that is talent, capital, and customers to build your venture, and then a off ramp wherever you want to pursue it. We’re in tech. Right. And so you talked about, sort of, there’s this tension here in Georgia around rural versus Metro. And, you know, black and white and all these things. And we are trying to include all parties in the prosperity that comes from tech. I think what we can benefit from is seeing some other cities that haven’t, I haven’t done it right, or thoughtfully, where most times the people from the area get gentrified out. And that’s one thing we want to make sure we get, right. So spending a lot of time promoting inclusion and participation by everyone. And, you know, one of the things I’m most also excited about, Have you all heard of the Georgia game, Grant, Georgia AI, and manufacturing? So it’s a $65 million grant that’s come to Georgia Tech, and from other institutions to pursue innovations using AI in manufacturing. And so of course, the innovations that technology comes from Atlanta, but it’s deployed in the other parts of Georgia, which helps increase the collaboration across the cross the interstate borders, interstate borders. And one of the things that they’re building is robots AI, to help process chickens. And so if you can imagine, like, it’s not a sexy job, nobody wants to go and work to break down chickens. But if you looked at Georgia as a nation, as a state, it is considered a centered country, it would be the sixth largest producer of chicken in the world. And so it’s a really important industry. And after COVID, many people didn’t want to do that job, because COVID was running rampant in the plants. And so we wanted to find ways to increase productivity. So a lot of the fear around machines taking jobs, it’s going to first take jobs that people don’t want, right? And that’s what we’re trying to promote. And also equipping people to understand how to use it. So they’re not displaced, and they have something better to do. Now that the machines are here.
William Leonard
That’s a lot of chicken.
Donald Beamer
There’s a lot of chicken.
William Leonard
Yeah, we have some good chicken back there. But zooming out to you, David, as the former CFO of Cardlytics and CEO of Passport. How do you see the broader economic landscape being impacted by a lot of the burgeoning tech startups here in the South and vice versa?
David Evans
Yes, I’d say my last job focused on cities and municipalities. And we sold to cities and municipalities. And I would echo the same same comments made earlier of where Atlanta is, as part of that journey. You know, the fact that there now is this Office of Innovation, and the need for a city to be able to benefit from what is already in place, which is a very differentiated diversified economy, to be able to layer in a broad set of technology, technological skills, and a lot of other different industries and innovation offices that are willing to be at the forefront of that previously, we were very focused on, you know, how to make cities more livable, equitable, and accessible. But I think there’s also that opportunity to layer in that Office of Innovation at the state and local levels, to be able to leverage the technology and the business that exists here in the city to be able to make the city better and to make the city operate in any way that satisfies its mandate to create livable, equitable, accessible communities. And so certainly, from an outlook perspective, I think, I love Atlanta, I grew up not too far from where I live. I live in Charlotte now with Charlotte as well. But Atlanta sits in a very fortuitous position to be able to accelerate the agenda around digital adoption and AI and the other and the like.
William Leonard
I appreciate that. And last, as we wrap up here, in a very rapid-fire 32nd type of response fashion, I want to go down the line and get one bold prediction for tech growth, whether it be city, state, regional, or national level, I’ll start with you, Jamal.
Donald Beamer
I’m excited. So I sit on the Georgia digital connectivity committee, and we’ve been tasked with creating a digital equity plan for the state. And so one thing is that’s happening is there’s a lot of money going coming down the pipeline from the federal government for digital broadband infrastructure. So the idea is that we can’t just build it out. But we also have to teach people how to use it, teach communities teach founders, you know, just all populations. And so I think what we’ll see is as Atlanta continues, and Nashville and Charlotte in places begin to Excel into global ecosystems, that there’s an opportunity and a need for communities small to midsize communities to fill the void that’s going to be created based on these cities elevating and so we really want to see more public and civic innovation, more entrepreneurship and things that will grow. And I think over the across the state, you’ll start to see more of that over the next three to five years.
Bryan Bean
Bold prediction, I don’t know if this is that bold. I think it’s an observation that I think will accelerate the technology of climate and how you know where innovation and growth is happening is certainly a lot in the south a number of reasons for that, but may give some examples. So many of your largest utility-grade solar project solar farms are in the south, you have many here in Georgia, and you’ve seen them. So generating power in a more climate-friendly way, whether it’s solar, wind, or other ways, is one example. There is one of the largest I’ll Stay on Solar, one of the largest solar panel, manufacturing plants was announced in the state of Alabama, by First Solar. So they’re going to build these solar panels, one of the real bottlenecks in that industry is they couldn’t get solar panels out of China fast enough. One of the largest investments in the state of Tennessee is the Ford battery plant, which is in kind of the middle of nowhere, Tennessee, it’s a $5 billion investment in a town that I’m going to exaggerate this, but had like 10,000 people or something like that. So, you know, I think that there’s this realization that the South has the ingredients on the table to bake a great cake, in that space, we’ve got a workforce, we’ve got the demographics that fit the ability to fill that workforce, in terms of available labor, and we have available land to do things like big plants, big solar farms, those sorts of things. I mentioned earlier, the tax and regulatory and sort of government environment that is very inviting and, and wants to build that growth. So I think the Climate Technology, in particular, I think you’ll continue to see the south be a leader there.
Donald Beamer
10th year in a row, the best way to do business in Georgia, right? And so he talked about it those ingredients, we want to live up to the potential and connect the dots have all those, those pieces. So we want Atlanta, big, bold prediction, 10 years from now, it’d be the place, if you talk to 10 of your founders, six of them are going to say I need to go to Atlanta, right? That’s where I need to be to scale. And I think we already have, particularly in a B2B context, this great diversity of industry. So whatever you need to sell, you can sell it here, we just need to shift the mindset of the people. It’s awesome. The people that were just on stage, you need those types of advocates, allies in-house, to move the needle to help you get to the right people. So that’s something we’re working on from inside out. We’re doing it as the city as well. So that’s part of the reason I’m here to be your advocate to sell to the city. And we’re working with some companies that Lisa sent our way. So excited to share some more of that later, If we have time.
David Evans
Bold predictions, I would echo Lisa’s points earlier ’23, and ’24 will be one of the better vintages for venture investment. The next year or two will continue to be a tough environment for all the founders out there. I’d leave you with the quote of survive to thrive and 25. If you can look in the rearview mirror and show that you were able to execute through a difficult environment, you’re likely to, benefit from set endeavor. And, from an industry perspective, kind of eaten up all things AI, I think there will be some that don’t make it it’s a lot like it feels a lot like 99,000. But the internet was very real. And so you know, where do you see the near-term types of successes take place, it’s likely those areas that require acceleration and efficiencies. And so where are those sectors that have the most friction, such that can be sped up so people can move a little bit faster and do better work? So, all the things that we’ve already talked about, I’m excited to see it come to fruition.
William Leonard
Survive to thrive in 25, I like that! You can take that. I like that, Gentleman. Thank you for your insights.
Donald Beamer
One quick thing. How many of you flew into Hartsfield to attend this? And on the way in Did you see Lisa at the airport Did you see her? You saw that, you saw that? So we’ve featured many of our founders, our unicorns are investors that play such an important role in the tech ecosystem here because we want to celebrate what we have to offer and change the way that people think about Atlanta and the South. So on your way out, if you didn’t see or see if you can find the Atlanta Tech Hub Campaign, we’ll be in the airport through March.
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