Man I love Atlanta

We just finished 48in48 in NYC, and it was a blast. I’ll be posting a recap shortly (similar to the 48in48 Atlanta recap,) but if you’re super eager to see how it went, you can check out the hashtag.

But this post is about Atlanta. I love many cities, with London and Chicago being at the top, but Atlanta is the place for me. When we were in the process of selling Engauge in 2013, I was asked by a potential acquirer what the percent chance was that I would consider moving to New York post-acquisition. I replied, much to my colleagues’ chagrin, “Zero percent.” The guy (who was from New York) was a little taken aback and made sure I understood the question. 

“We would make it well worth your while, and you’d only have to be there for a few years and then you could move back to Atlanta. There must be some chance you’d consider that. Literally, tell us what it would take and I bet we could make it happen in this deal.” Knowing that my hesitation would put our chances of doing a deal with this company in jeopardy, I still replied, “Nope, sorry. No offense to New York, or anywhere else, but I’m not moving my family out of Atlanta. Atlanta is my home and there’s nothing you could offer that would entice me to leave.” As you can imagine, that company pulled out of the process shortly after that :)

I thought I’d share two things I saw recently about the history of Atlanta for other fans like me. The first is a video created by the Atlanta Regional Commsion. Check it out:

The Journey from Atlanta Regional Commission on Vimeo.

The second is a fantastic puzzle map of Atlanta in 1892. It’s a Kickstarter that I supported and soon it will be available on Amazon. I can’t wait to get it!

4 Comments

  1. Daniel Roberts on November 7, 2016 at 4:52 pm

    Haha. I got the puzzle map as well. The historical update emails have been worth the cost alone.



  2. Shane Weaver on November 8, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    Jeff – great piece! I often don’t realize how much I love our city until I travel to other places. I really enjoyed the video too.

    Here are two of my favorite books about Atlanta that you may find interesting.

    Go ATL!

    Peachtree Creek – a Georgia Tech grad spends his weekends over a 15-year period canoeing down Peachtree Creek and documenting every leg of his journey.

    https://www.amazon.com/Peachtree-Creek-Unnatural-Atlantas-Watershed/dp/0820329290

    The Bonfire – This book goes beyond what the title implies by going deep on the origins of Atlanta’s entrepreneurial spirit prior to the Civil War.

    https://www.amazon.com/Bonfire-Siege-Burning-Atlanta/dp/1586488198



  3. Jeff Hilimire on November 9, 2016 at 7:19 am

    Awesome, I just ordered both! The one I read, which is epic though HUGE, is Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn – https://amzn.to/2eCZIdO



  4. Shane Weaver on November 9, 2016 at 8:22 pm

    Ok – just ordered it. Sounds like a great read!



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