David Cummings is the force behind many things in Atlanta.
The Tallahassee, Florida-native moved to Atlanta in 2002 because a client of his first company was in the city. He then went on to start Pardot, a marketing automation startup he sold in 2012 for $95.5 million, according to TechCrunch. That year, he turned around and bought a building in Buckhead that would later become Atlanta Tech Village, a hub for startup founders.
Through his investment firm Atlanta Ventures, Cummings has also funded many startups in Atlanta that have gone on to grow rapidly.
He invested $350,000 in a budding scheduling startup in 2014, Calendly. Tope Awotona, CEO and founder of Calendly, said Cummings “saw Calendly’s full potential way back then and he took a risk on me.”
“That made the difference,” he said during an event in January.
Cummings’ funding was the only investment Calendly needed to grow, until Awotona raised $350 million in 2021 that valued his company at more than $3 billion.
Now, Cummings and his business partner Jon Birdsong are taking their entrepreneurial and investment prowess and applying it to 53 buildings in 10 city blocks in South Downtown. They are the new owners of a large real estate portfolio previously owned by German company Newport, which they plan to turn into “Startup City.”
Cummings spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his journey from founder to investor to developer. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Q: You came to Atlanta in the early 2000s. What made you decide to stay and build Pardot, and then after you sold that, invest and really build up this tech ecosystem?
A: Well, the experiences I had building that first company in Atlanta, the one that I moved down from college to work inside of our customer’s office, it was a great experience just in terms of the quality of life and hiring great people.
The growing tech startup community was much, much smaller back then. But there [were] lots of people that are passionate about it, and lots of desire to see it grow and thrive. And then the idea for the second company, the Pardot marketing software, came from the first company.
And then the experience from growing those two businesses … helped inform me that there was an opportunity to have even more community and to have shared office space and lots more continuing education and speaker series and advisors and mentors. That combination of office space plus community is where I had the idea for the Atlanta Tech Village.
So, the idea from the Tech Village of, ‘Hey, let’s get a bunch of people that work together to help each other,’ was obviously the kernel of the idea [for Startup City]. Well, let’s take it from one building in one part of town, the financial district, and let’s do it as an entire neighborhood with 53 buildings and 10 city blocks in downtown Atlanta.
I love this idea that the South Downtown buildings that we bought [are] Atlanta’s founding neighborhood — that’s literally where Atlanta was founded. And so now we have the founding neighborhood for founders.
We’ve got tons and tons of buildings and what we’re going to do is have themed startup spaces in the different buildings.
Q: You’re making those like micro communities within the larger Startup City.
A: Yes. And then one of the big outcomes of that is having all of the economies of scale, right? So if you’re an investor who comes to Atlanta to look at startups, you can go to one neighborhood and meet with 10 startups in one day and walk to all the buildings, and you don’t have to get in a car, you don’t have to go anywhere else. And so it makes your use of time a lot more productive.
Or if you’re a company that’s wanting to buy some new technology — say you’re a hospital, a health care system — you can come to Startup City and meet with five different entrepreneurs that are working on health care startups, all at once.
Q: If you had to name one most important thing for South Downtown to be successful in the short term, what would you say that is?
A: The most successful in the short term would be delivering a great ... walking, dining, and enjoying experience for the World Cup.
We know that while it’ll be hundreds of thousands of visitors to Atlanta, there will also be a lot of Atlantans that want to come be a part of the World Cup experience, even if they don’t actually go to the game ... We want to draft off of that as a way to get tens of thousands of people during that six week period of time to come see phase 1 of the Startup City.
Q: You’re eyeing this growth, and we have seen as Atlanta has grown and changed, there’s also been a lot of displacement and gentrification. How do you plan to grow and revitalize into Startup City, but do it in an inclusive and equitable way?
A: Where our buildings are, there’s three housing buildings that are adjacent to our buildings. All three of those are condo buildings, so all of the units in those buildings are owned by the people who live in them. So, any appreciation in value of the neighborhood will accrue to the people that live there already.
Q: It’s not pushing people out, but what about property taxes, the increase in valuations and increasing property taxes and can’t keep up with that?
A: That’s a great question. That’s something that’s outside of our control.
Q: Now, over the past 22 years, you’ve gone from founder to founding more companies to now also being an investor. And now you’re in this developer role. What’s that transition been like from founder to investor and then to developer?
A: It’s been tons of fun, lots of learning, tons of new people, which makes it really exciting. And at the end of the day, whether it’s a software company or a co-working space or a neighborhood, it’s really all about community, bringing people together with shared interests.
David Cummings
Age: 44
Education: B.S. in economics from Duke University
Family: Married with four children
Resides: Atlanta, in Chastain Park
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