StartupNorth

Oh wait, it is!

NASA and the European Space Agency are hosting a hackathon in 75 cities around the world. It includes Canadian events in Toronto Follow @SpaceApps_TO and Winnipeg.

“The International Space Apps Challenge is a technology development event during which citizens from around the world work together to solve challenges relevant to improving life on Earth and life in space.”

The Toronto event is focusing on 24 of the challenges provided by NASA (the full list of challenges is 50 large). The challenges provide a diverse set of skills and participation. Skills include software, hardware, strategy, and design. There are a number of challenges that include the interpretation of economic data and others that involve air traffic control.

Tonight’s finale: As the @NHL season begins, I see the lights of Toronto, home of my favourite team – Go @MapleLeafs http://t.co/b31toywx

January 19, 2013 7:28 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Cmdr_Hadfield

Chris Hadfield

With the amazing photos that Commander Hadfield Follow @Cmdr_Hadfield is publishing on Twitter. Hopefully there is a renewed interest in the Canadian space industry. (We did build the Canadarm…) And the commericalization of space exploration with the X PRIZE and SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. It’s an amazing chance to participate in a grassroots exploration of space technologies and data.

List of Challenges in Toronto Space Apps Challenge

ESA 3D Printing Contest

Create an open source 3D model of space hardware that can be generated by a 3D printer.

My Space Cal

Combine the past and future time schedules of satellites into a common calendar that the world can easily access.

Wish You Were Here

Develop a compelling representation of weather on Mars.

Tour of the Moon

Enable humans worldwide to take an interactive tour of the Moon.

The Blue Marble

Rethink space-based Earth imagery and make it more accessible to a broad audience of space enthusiasts.

Solar Flare

Visualize invisible (to the human eye) phenomena that can affect so many vital terrestrial activities.

Seeing Water From Space

Create a visualization of Chile water resources, showing how they have changed over time relative to changes in climate.

SCISTARTER Citizen Science

Help humans understand and analyze microbial communities and compare with microbes on the International Space Station.

Renewable Energy Explorer

Create an app that integrates wind, solar, and geothermal energy data to show where combining them would have the greatest potential.

Incentives Tied to Utility Rates

Help consumers find relevant incentives, tax rebates, and savings for their energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts.

Earth Day Challenge

Explore the history of Earth Day using environmental data since 1970.

Aligning the Stars

Match and align the stars in Aurora imagery taken by Astronauts on the International Space Station.

“Catch a Meteor” Tracker

Create an app that would allow observers of a meteor shower to trace the location, color and size of the shooting star.

Database of Near Earth Objects

Create a platform to enables citizen astronomers to register, submit findings, and help rank the findings of other citizen astronomers.

CubeSats for Asteroid Exploration

Create a CubeSat design for a mission to astroids near Earth.

Deployable Greenhouse

Develop a deployable greenhouse that could be used on a space mission to the Moon or Mars.

Hitch a Ride to Mars

Design a CubeSat for an upcoming Mars mission.

My Virtual Mentor

Expand the online presence for the NASA GIRLS program to mobile and/or tablet platforms.

“No Delays” Air Traffic Management

Create a visualization that increases understanding of the problems of our current air traffic control system.

Space Station Benefits to Humanity

Develop a tool to improve the understanding of the incredible benefits that International Space Station is delivering back to Earth.

Spot the Station

Extend the functionality of the Spot the Station site that allows you to share your sightings of the International Space Station with others.

Syncing NASA’s Open Source Projects

Create an application that mirrors changes to NASA’s github presence.

NASA’s Impact on the Economy

Share the story of NASA’s economic impact in a new and compelling way.

Adopt-a-Spacecraft: Voyager 1

Humanize the Voyager mission through the creation of a data visualization, app, or even a physical object.

It’s an amazing time to be interested in space exploration. Plan on exploring at the ROM on April 19-21, 2013.

David Crow

David Crow focused on product design, customer development and go-to-market implementation on $0. He is available as a consultant. He is a mentor at UW VeloCity, Jolt and FounderFuel. Follow him on Twitter @davidcrow or at DavidCrow.ca

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I’m guilty. I’ve been pandering to my alma mater, the University of Waterloo. I love Waterloo and UWaterloo startups. There is so much to love. There are Vidyard, Thalmic Labs, TribeHR, Desire2Learn, PostRank (acquired by Google), . There is even a Waterloo mafia in Toronto with Upverter, Top Hat Monocle, SocialDeck (acquired by Google), PushLife (acquired by Google), Xtreme Labs (Amar, Sunny, Farhan are all UWaterloo 1998 grads along with Social+Capital‘s Chamath) and others.

But have you seen the awesomesauce that is originating at the University of Toronto:

• Bumptop acquired by Google, founded by UofT CS Masters student Anand Agarawala
• Sysomos acquired by Marketwire, founded by UofT CS prof Nick Koudas and Nilesh Bansal (UofT CS PhD candidate)
• BackType acquired by Twitter, founded by Christopher Golda and Michael Montano, both UofT Electrical Engineering Grads
• CognoVision acquired by Intel, founded by Shahzad Malik (UofT CS PhD)
• ScribbleLive cofounder Jonathan Keebler is a UofT CS grad
• Rypple acquired by Salesforce, founded by Daniel Debow (JD/MBA UofT) and George Babu (Engineering, MBA and JD)
• Canopy Labs founded by Wojciech Gryc a UofT grad
• Wattpad founded by Allen Lau (UofT Engineering) and Ivan Yuen (UofT MBA + UWaterloo Engineering)
• DNNresearch Inc. acquired by Google was founded by UofT prof Geoffrey Hinton and 2 graduate students

There are a number of spots on the UofT campus to find high potential growth startups and engineers. You can look at Creative Destruction Lab in the Rotman School of Business. You can look to the Entrepreneurship Hatchery in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

You can also attend the Computer Science Department’s Research In Action Showcase on April 17, 2013.

Add your events to our calendar.

David Crow

David Crow focused on product design, customer development and go-to-market implementation on $0. He is available as a consultant. He is a mentor at UW VeloCity, Jolt and FounderFuel. Follow him on Twitter @davidcrow or at DavidCrow.ca

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I am sick of hearing there is no money for #startups in Canada. BULLSHIT! It might be there is no money for YOUR startup in Canada.

January 30, 2013 12:35 pm via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@davidcrow

David Crow

Mark Evans (LinkedIn) wrote a blog post about my tweet. The blog post captures much of my sentiment and frustration around entrepreneurs. I commented about entrepreneurs learning about how to build a successful, high growth emerging technology companies. And there are lots of ways to learn what is considered a successful company. And a great way to learn is to learn from others that have been in the trenches. Debbie Landa (LinkedIn) and her team at Dealmaker Media have done most of the hard work for you.

They have brought together a great event. Attending the event won’t bring you investment. It won’t make you a successful company. But it might increase the odds. They are bringing together an amazing set of entrepreneurs. And they are bringing them to Toronto and Montreal to share their experiences, stories about what worked and didn’t work for their companies.

Local Events Matter

You can and should get your ass on plane and head to New York City and San Francisco to attend events. But you don’t always have to. There are advantages to attending these events locally.

1. Local connections can help you see The First Rule of Real Estate - you can find and connect with local talent. Whether that is for funding, moral support, hiring, etc. There will be people you do not know yet. Easy way to find them out.
2. Travel costs are less for regional travel. If you live in Ottawa or Montreal or Halifax, you can make it to Toronto or Montreal by plane, train or automobile for a lot less than travelling elsewhere.
3. Travel time is lessened. You can spend a day.

This all assumes that the event is providing amazing content that you would travel to consume.

World Class Content

The content that Debbie and team have assembled is unbelievable. If you don’t know who these people are, my advice is take a little bit of time and use the GOOG. These are entrepreneurs that have seen the ups and downs, the ins and outs of successful businesses.

Every single person is worthy of a keynote presentation at a larger conference. This is not a vanity presentation. They are on stage sharing information about their specific expertises in building successful businesses. It’s not Mark Organ talking about random things, which is fun, but Mark Organ talking about leveraging disruptive technology in fund raising. Holy crap! You want to learn how Mark used AngelList, LinkedIn and other tools to raise 2 of the most impressive rounds of capital in Canada…quickly.

Every single person speaking, every one, will be providing expertise about what they did to build a successful company.  Here is the list of presenters in Toronto:

• Brant Cooper LinkedIn Follow @brantcooper
• Mike Beltzner LinkedIn Follow @beltzner
• Kate Rutter LinkedIn Follow @katerutter
• Laura Fitton LinkedIn Follow @pistachio
• Danielle Morrill LinkedIn Follow @daniellemorrill
• Scott Kveton LinkedIn Follow @kveton
• Dan Martell LinkedIn Follow @danmartell
• Michael Litt LinkedIn Follow @michaellitt
• Mark Organ LinkedIn Follow @markorgan

You want more details, check out my first post. Do your homework. But this is an amazing opportunity.  The lineup is different in Montreal. It includes 2 of my close friends, but they are 2 of the best people in helping startups become successful. Mark MacLeod Follow @startupcfo and Alistair Croll Follow @acroll. Unbelievably kind and intelligent people, who beyond that know WTF it is startups need to do to become successful. They like the others are the best of the best.

Our Commitment to Successful Companies

There are initiatives like Startup Visa Canada and the Upside Foundation that we strongly support. And we’re committed to helping provide education to entrepreneurs to help them to build successful companies.

We’ve committed to provide a limited number of $100 discounts. I am not going to tell you how many. If you are building a successful startup, and you want to hear the tactics and advice of other entrepreneurs that have been massively successful in building their startups, sign up now and save $100 before the discount expires.

• GrowTalks Montreal – February 19, 2013 – Register use promo code: startupnorth
• GrowTalks Toronto – February 21, 2013 – Register use promo code: startupnorth

David Crow

David Crow focused on product design, customer development and go-to-market implementation on $0. He is available as a consultant. He is a mentor at UW VeloCity, Jolt and FounderFuel. Follow him on Twitter @davidcrow or at DavidCrow.ca

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