Tag: Groundbreakers 2018

We may be a long way from the world of Ready Player One, but VRGluv, a local startup, brings an interactive virtual-reality world slightly closer. They’re developing gloves with haptic feedback sensors, allowing users to “feel” the objects they see in VR games.

With more than 600 technology companies already calling Alpharetta home, the city actively fosters innovation. Growing from an advisory board of tech leaders in 2012, Tech Alpharetta has expanded into a full-service incubator through its Innovation Center.

Prototype Prime is a tech incubator focusing on startups’ early growth in Peachtree Corners. It boasts a Design and Development Lab stocked with 3D printers and electronics manufacturing equipment, audio recording space for podcasts, and regular educational events.

IgniteHQ, a coworking space just off Marietta Square, not only allows members access to communal areas but also conference rooms, mailing addresses, reserved spaces, and private offices.

Jeff Arnold founded WebMD because he thought health should have a homepage. Early on, he met Dawn Whaley, who was a pioneer in dotcom-era public relations. The two have worked together ever since, collaborating on the Convex Group, a media and internet investment organization that ultimately acquired HowStuffWorks in 2002.

Paul Judge has spent nearly 20 years developing, leading, and launching new tech companies in Atlanta. A graduate of Morehouse College and Georgia Tech, Judge holds a doctorate in network security, helping found and cofound companies like Luma, TechSquare Labs, and Pindrop Security.

For most of the 36-year-old Weather Channel’s existence, technology limited weather presentation to narration, archival footage, and basic graphics. The Weather Channel landed on augmented reality (AR) technology, the seamless blending of computer-generated imagery (CGI) with live content to better connect with its viewers.

John Yates, who had moved to Atlanta to practice law, realized that elements of the Silicon Valley ecosystem would benefit Atlanta’s nascent tech community and the Southeast as a whole. Yates has blazed a trail for Atlanta’s tech ecosystem for more than 30 years.

Jeff Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has been at the apex of fintech, where technology and finance intersect, for nearly 20 years. Time after time, his company has consolidated, organized, and demystified the trading of financial assets.

The annual Venture Atlanta conference is basically our city’s version of ABC’s Shark Tank, where fledgling entrepreneurs pitch their concepts to investors from across the nation. In fact, “Shark” Mark Cuban delivered last year’s closing keynote address.