Hey.
Welcome to ATL Grind.
I’m Andrew (your host) who’ll be showing you the best events, news, jobs, and more in Atlanta’s business world. Let’s get started.
100 days. That's how long until the FIFA World Cup kicks off in this city. South Downtown is getting a facelift, restaurants are racing to open, and the whole metro is gearing up. Let's make sure you're locked in on what matters this week.
Future Festival Atlanta (Mar 25) | Wednesday @ City Winery, Ponce City Market
One-day innovation conference from Trend Hunter exploring how to build in the era of AI super agents. Keynotes from world-class futurists. Dynamic, industry-spanning sessions. Ideal for founders and execs who want to stay ahead of what's next. Read more here.
Atlanta Technology Leaders Rountable (Mar 19) | Thursday @ Atlanta Tech Village, Buckhead
Monthly mixer for ATL's top tech professionals. 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Consistent crowd of CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and senior technical leaders. If you're building in tech, these are the people you want in your network. Read more here.
Super South: Summit for Sustainable Innovation (Mar 30 – Apr 1) | Monday - Wednesday @ Atlanta
Keynotes, workshops, and an interactive expo connecting corporate leaders, early-stage founders, investors, and policymakers across sustainability, CleanTech, and the circular economy. 500+ attendees last year. Bigger this year. Read more here.
Usman Jamal, Founder & CEO of Reflex
When Usman’s grandmother called 911, first responders took 17 minutes. It was too late to save her.
That moment changed everything for Usman Jamal. At Georgia Tech, he started researching first response times and became fixated on a single question: what if you could get life-saving equipment to someone before paramedics arrive?
The answer became Reflex, a drones-as-first-responders company building toward sub-5-minute emergency delivery of AEDs, EPI pens, and other critical medical supplies. Reflex is also working on healthcare logistics, moving blood samples and organs between hospitals and clinics.
Staggering math: Reducing average first response times by even one minute could save an estimated 150,000 lives per year.
He’s currently working with fire departments and healthcare systems, running demos, pitching city leaders, and navigating what he describes as a "very long sales cycle" with government and institutional buyers.
Reflex is bootstrapped. No VC yet. Usman wants to hit specific milestones before taking on outside capital.
In the meantime, he works full-time as a software engineer at NCR, which provides financial stability, technical credibility, and career insurance while he builds Reflex on the side. He's also running Anomaly Promotional, a creative merchandise and brand experience company he launched last year after working at a print shop in high school. Year one exceeded expectations, with several big clients already on board.
His 5-year outlook: Drone aviation regulations ease up, commercial applications explode, and Reflex is positioned to be the infrastructure layer for emergency response nationwide.
Casa Balam
The Backstory: Chef Luis Damian started as a dishwasher, worked his way to executive chef, and now owns several Atlanta staples including Oaxaca and El Valle. Damian is a decade-long Decatur resident who built this restaurant specifically for the neighborhood.
Interiors by Maria Dominguez transport you to Mexico City: hand-painted textured walls, pendant lights, semi-circle leather booths, high ceilings.
What to Order: The smoked ceviche Ahumado arrives in a dramatic cloud of smoke. The tacos de pescado feature crispy flounder with house-made corn tortillas (they process all their own corn in-house). Wagyu flat iron steak, bone marrow tacos, and pan-seared scallops with chipotle butternut squash round out the mains.
The Tab: Expect $50-$80 per person with drinks. Walk-ins welcome at lunch, reservations smart for weekend dinner. Brunch available Sundays.
Huper Raises $1.5M to Build an AI "Digital Chief of Staff"
Management inefficiency costs the global economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity every year, according to Gallup.
Atlanta-based Huper is built to attack that problem. The company just raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round from Nadia Partners (NY), Link Ventures (MA), and Jim Brown of Long Ridge Equity Partners.
What it does: Huper acts as an AI-powered "digital chief of staff" that continuously aggregates information across email, messaging platforms, CRM systems, and other workplace tools. It gives executives real-time visibility into how work is actually happening inside their organizations.
The team: Co-founders Michael Anton (formerly Kudelski Security, First Data Corporation) and Andrew Howard (formerly Kudelski Security, Georgia Tech, PwC), alongside Aidan Kehoe (formerly SKOUT Cybersecurity, Oxford Global) in New York. All investors had existing relationships with the founding team.
Currently in invite-only alpha.
Read more here.
27 Maddox Drive NE - $4,995,000
Includes: 5 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, 5,271 square feet on 0.28 acres. New construction completed in 2025 by Stainback Hess Studios. Custom Kingdom Works cabinetry, four fireplaces (including one on the covered rear loggia overlooking the pool and one poolside on the lower-level patio). Scullery, butler's pantry, elevator, 10-foot ceilings on every level. Walk to Piedmont Park, the BeltLine, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Colony Square, and Ansley Golf Club. Listed by Compass.
A rare new build in one of Atlanta's most historic neighborhoods, voted one of the 10 greatest places to live in America by the American Planning Association.
Check it out here.
5 other headlines to snack on:
Cumulus Media, Atlanta's second-largest radio company (394 stations, 84 markets), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 5 to eliminate $600 million in debt. Second time in a decade. Stock was trading under 8 cents per share. Read more here.
Wayfair opens its second-ever brick-and-mortar store on March 31 at The District at Howell Mill. 150,000 square feet. 19 departments. Grand opening celebration April 17–19. Read more here.
MARTA Reach, the agency's new on-demand transit service, officially launched March 7 across 12 zones in Atlanta. Rides within 30 minutes, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Part of the NextGen Bus Network. Read more here.
Coca-Cola is bringing Mr. Pibb back to Georgia stores after rebranding Pibb Xtra back to the original 1972 name. Nostalgia play hitting Walmart, Dollar General, Five Below, and more. Read more here.
Atlanta among five cities in the running to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention. Read more here.
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See you next Tuesday.
Andrew