Holiday Update

StartupNorth has now been around for 8 months or so, which I have to admit is longer than it feels. We have been working hard to do good things for Canadian Startups, and it seems like more and more cool stuff is happening every week. We have been lucky to have seen startups from the very beginning right through to their first round of funding, we also had a blast putting on StartupCamp Toronto and we’ve been fortunate enough to help get StartupCamp Montreal started, and hopefully a few others soon.

We have also had a chance to talk with dozens of Angel Investors and smart VCs who “get” what it’s like to be a startup. They all want to help startups and want to know how. It’s great to see their open minded approach and their excitement for Canadian Startups.

Postings will be slow for another few days at least and then we will be back to a normal schedule. We are incredibly excited about the rest of January, which will see a few big announcements from us about some things we have been working on. These projects are going to be a direct benefit to startups, and I am barely managing to keep myself from blurting out the good news.

If you want to drop us a line about anything at all, you can contact us through the form on our about page, or you can post a comment here.

WalkingSpree.com inks pilot deal with Calgary hospital

WalkingSpree.com, a Calgary, Alberta based startup run by MeshEast editor Lisa has just signed a deal to run a pilot project in a major hospital

” . . .selected patients under the care of local Calgary West Central PCN family doctors will be given USB Pocket Pedometers from WalkingSpree.com to track and automatically upload their walking data to the WalkingSpree website. The patients can add other activities such as swimming or cycling to get a full picture of the calories burned. Patients can also track calories consumed with the online food and nutrition tracker to balance their daily “energy in-energy out” equation, thereby assisting with weight loss and weight-loss maintenance. These patients will receive support from WalkingSpree’s online Fitness and Nutritional Coaches.”

WalkingSpree provides a USB pedometer which can upload data to the WalkingSpree website, which provides coaching and tracking features. It seems to be a lot like NikePlus, but with more value added features (and I assume upsell opportunities).

Nice work on getting this pilot together, I am looking forward to hearing the results.

Angel financing – What angels look for in a company: Execution strategy (Part 6 of 6)

The previous topics I have covered in this six part article series have largely spoken about where your company is today:

These areas collectively form the basis of what you are pitching and why you feel your company is a good investment candidate. To round out your investment pitch you now need to provide details on what is the company’s execution strategy to take the company forward. Namely, investors are putting money into the company at a valuation based on the progress the company has made to date and its potential for the future. They will want to know how the new money coming in will be used to grow the company and increase the company’s value.

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