- RT @startupcfo: What Startups Are Really Like http://bit.ly/lYxnz #ycombinator #startups #reality #
- Waterloo students launch inPulse BlackBerry watch http://bit.ly/inpulse hope to escape fate similar to Microsoft SPOT http://bit.ly/msftspot #
- New job posted: SENIOR C/C++ SOFTWARE ENGINEERS (Toronto) / SecureKey Technologies Inc. / Toront.. http://bit.ly/nQYuQ #
- New job posted: Software Sales Specialist / ThoughtFarmer / Vancouver, BC, Canada http://bit.ly/4EOgaM #
- The Y Combinator Startup School 2009 Summary http://bit.ly/4Eh7fJ #startupschool #notes #
- New job posted: Marketing Manager / gShift Labs / Barrie, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/3DgYJG #
- New job posted: Inside Sales Professional / gShift Labs / Barrie, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/1ImyF #
- Telus is getting the iphone: http://bit.ly/4AGG9S #
- RT @vcsangels: StatusNet (Of Identi.ca Fame) Raises $875,000 To Become The WordPress Of Microblogging http://bit.ly/2E8qBf congrats @inovia #
- RT @bootuplabs: @pkedrosky in YVR on Nov. 19 to network & share stories on entrepreneurship and investing. Details http://tr.im/DfRm #
- RT @sunstartup: RT @tweetmeme Women Get More VC Funding When They Ask For It : News, Advice, Case Studies for Startups http://retwt.me/1zYiu #
- Toronto based Varicent secures $35M http://bit.ly/3x0ylg RBC & Edgestone participating in follow on funding #toronto #startups #
- RT @nextMEDIAnow: Stay on top of Canadian innovation at CIX on Dec 2, 2009 w/@dondodge: Space is limited: http://tinyurl.com/5vo587 #toronto #
- RT @startupcfo: Top 50 most valuable internet startups http://bit.ly/13eAIP < Canadians include #8 WebKinz & #17 Oanda #
- RT @jacquimurphy: Registration for eweek is open: http://www.entrepreneurweek.ca — some great speakers and sessions this year (November 16-22) #
- RT @startupcfo: StartupCFO Group is hiring a startup accountant http://is.gd/4GkT1 please RT #
- MontrealStartup is looking for feedback http://bit.ly/1uyrYk #
- New job posted: Accountant / StartupCFO Group / Montreal, QC, Canada http://bit.ly/1CgpZ6 #
- New job posted: BumpTop Desktop Engineer / BumpTop / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/fwriE #
- New job posted: Developer – Intermediate / Trajectory Inc. / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/WOoUQ #
- The best job posting yet on jobs.startupnorth.ca: http://bit.ly/1gysAr #
- Startup Tip of the Week: They joke about ramen noodles, but they do not know the taste. #
- New job posted: Senior Front-End Web Developer / WiderFunnel.com / Vancouver, BC, Canada http://bit.ly/Jngxh #
- GlobeCampus launches a Test Prep section powered by Toronto startup JumboTests – http://bit.ly/Ma6B1 #
- RT @rogerchabra: GrowthWorks & Seamark to merge and become Matrix Asset Management: http://bit.ly/2aNAk3 #
- RT @rogerchabra: GrowthWorks & Seamark to merge and become Matrix Asset Management – http://bit.ly/2OC68E #
- New job posted: Viral Marketing Specialist / co-founder / SquareCup.com / Ottawa, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/FYNRr #
- Bright lights, big names – http://bit.ly/1MudRe #
- CEO of Hunch @cdixon on "The most important question to ask before taking seed money" http://bit.ly/2pqBN2 #incubators #
- Stanford Technology Ventures Program http://bit.ly/3wHdyM & http://bit.ly/u4vQA #startupschool #
- Fund-raising by doing pre-sales http://bit.ly/4pdszs $220k in pre-orders. Interesting stuff. What would you pre-pay for? #startups #
- Startup School highlights compiled by @alexalee flash http://bit.ly/4anG90 or m4v http://bit.ly/17ceLY #startupschool #ycombinator #
- Don't just roll the dice by @neildavidson e-book on pricing software http://bit.ly/2A12z1 founder of @redgate & http://bit.ly/14nmpJ #
- September numbers remain weak, though investor sentiment seems to be improving. Read the latest Q1 Capital report – http://bit.ly/1xG8X7 #
- Should Tech Startups Chase Enterprise Dollars? http://bit.ly/2eOvVG #
- New job posted: Software Developer / We-Create Inc. / Waterloo, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/1zxN0Q #
- New job posted: Software Developer / BackType Inc / San Francisco, CA ($500 Referral Reward) http://bit.ly/f2Olo #
Month: October 2009
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Weekend Reading
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Impact National Conference & Impact Ventures
Impact Entrepreneurship Group
started life as a student group designed to help promote entrepreneurship as a career path. It was started by Kunal Gupta, now the founder & CEO of Polar Mobile. It started as a conference for students, “a one-day event in Kitchener, Ontario attracting 150 delegates”. It is still primarily a conference/event machine for student entrepreneurs. However, with the creation of Impact Consulting and now Impact Ventures (see below) this is changing very quickly.
The next
Impact National Conference is happening November 20-21, 2009 at the Westin Harbour Castle on Queens Quay in Toronto. The conference features some interesting speakers including some familiar faces: Andy Nulman, Sunjay Nath, Ali Asaria, Jordan Banks, Saul Colt, Austin Hill, Mike McDerment and others. It looks to be a great conference with a great list of speakers in Toronto.
What is most interesting to me is the announcement of the Impact 2010 Programs, including Impact Ventures.
Many talented youth with innovative ideas steer away from an entrepreneurial path due to the numerous challenges, including funding and guidance, which they inevitably face; Impact Ventures was created to remove these obstacles. Impact Ventures strives to provide youth entrepreneurs with the seed funding, advisory services, workspace tools, and strategic resources they need at the crucial idea stage to create a successful business. Based on the successful Y Combinator model used in Silicon Valley to bring the next generation of ideas to life, Impact Ventures will help propel new startups to achieve their business objectives.
The selection process consists of an application form and an interview; there is no business plan required. During the pilot, three to four ventures showing the most opportunity for growth and long term sustainability will be chosen for the first batch. This three-month program will bring these budding entrepreneurs to Waterloo, the technology hub of Canada, to present them with all the components each entrepreneur needs to help build their venture.
Components for each selected Venture:
- $15,000 in seed funding for an average of 6% stake in the company
- Mentors available for hands-on help as well as advise
- Advisory services including Legal, Accounting, Banking and more
- Office Space in Waterloo to create an environment of collaboration
- Themed weeks where experts related to starting a business will provide their insights and advice
- Consultants to help a new company fill gaps in its initial organization
Impact Ventures is dedicated to the implementation of the entrepreneurial spirit amongst Canadian youth and values the independence of each entrepreneur. We are not interested in controlling the direction of the company as we trust in the entrepreneurs to make the best decision for their company. We believe in a non-regimented and friendly atmosphere where you are allowed to develop your startup with little interference, numerous resources and advice when you need it. Impact Ventures is set to revolutionize the startup industry by giving entrepreneurs an excellent spring board that will launch them to their success.
I’ve been talking with members of team creating Impact Ventures including Taimur Mohammad and Ray Cao since my post "Incubators, accelerators and ignition” back in April 2009. It looks like the Impact team has taken up the challenge and will be using their network of advisors, past members to help guide and mentor new companies. It also looks like they’ll be providing funding and consulting services to help kick start these early ventures. There is a Waterloo residency requirement, which potential a detractor for many students actually enables students in the VeloCity program a formalized incubation phase beyond their residence. For many non-University of Waterloo students this provides students access to the ridiculous support network available in Waterloo (I’m looking at you TechCapital and Communitech and BarCampWaterloo). This is something that is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
- Register for Impact National Conference happening Nov 20-21.
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Maple Leaf Angels and RIC Centre Partner to Create a Maple Leaf Angels West chapter
Maple Leaf Angels and the RIC Centre are excited to announce a new partnership initiative.
Maple Leaf Angels is Ontario’s largest and most active angel investor groups having invested close to $6m in financings since its launch in 2007. Maple Leaf Angel’s membership base is largely in the core of Toronto and the partnership with the RIC Centre allows Maple Leaf Angels to establish a chapter to serve the western part of the GTA.
“In order to ensure that we have a large pool of investors who are looking to make deals, we were looking for a way to effectively tap into the Mississauga/Burlington/Oakville areas” says Rob Koturbash, managing director of Maple Leaf Angels. “The RIC Centre is an ideal partner as it allows Maple Leaf Angels to integrate with the start-up ecosystem they have fostered through their early-stage company mentoring and advisory services”.
The RIC Centre is based in Mississauga and is one of the Ontario government’s 12 regional innovation networks. The RIC Centre offers advisory, mentoring, networking, and industry outreach programs to help companies commercialize ideas in the aerospace, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and emerging technology fields. RIC is currently active with more than 60 companies.
“We are excited to team up with the Maple Leaf Angels” says Pam Banks, Commercialization Director of the RIC Centre. “We feel this partnership offers an excellent opportunity for some of our promising clients, who are looking for funding, to have access to Maple Leaf Angels. We are also looking forward to being able to leverage the experience and networks of angels that want to get actively involved with helping and supporting their investee companies”.
The first Maple Leaf Angels – West chapter meeting will be held on November 19th and is open to all current or potential angel investors. The meetings will be held at the RIC Centre and will provide a convenient location for angel investors in the western GTA to access Maple Leaf Angels’ deal flow and leverage the due diligence expertise of the existing 40+ members to help evaluate deals. Maple Leaf Angels has provided its members access to early round investments in some of Canada’s leading start-up companies such as Well.ca, Homestars, Regen Energy and Streamlogics (acquired by Thomson Reuters).
craig at mapleleafangels.com
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StartupNorth Jobs
The hours at a startup might be long and the pay might just cover a six inch sub, but there is nothing more rewarding than being part of a team out to change the world.
We’ve added a job board on StartupNorth to help Canadian entrepreneurs find great people to bring on.
Since launching a couple weeks back we’ve had 26 postings, 2667 views, 129 applications, and 16 referrals.
Companies looking to grow their team include: FreshBooks, Well.ca, Tungle, LearnHub, Fixmo, ThoughtFarmer, iNovia, and Xtreme, obviously some amazing opportunities.
It is free to search and post, so head on over and check out: StartupNorth Jobs at http://jobs.StartupNorth.ca
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StartupDrinks – Oct 28, 2009
" Strong communities are better than weak governments." – Legatum Prosperity Index
Announcing the arrival of Startup Drinks 4! We’re continuing to keep the spirit of the startup community alive, one pint at a time on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 to be held at Finn McCools, 70 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E1R2.
It’s a simple concept: a grassroots effort to make sure startup folks get in touch and stay in touch.
Toronto
- Wednesday, October 28, 2009 starts at 6pm
- Fionn MacCool’s, 70 The Esplanade [map]
- Register
Montreal
Ottawa
- Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 5:30pm
- Venue: Fox & Feather Pub , Upstairs, Fox 2 room, 283 Elgin Street [map]
- Register
Waterloo
- Tuesday, November 3, 2009 starts at 6pm
- McMullan’s on King, 56 King Street North [map]
Remember, it’s about hanging out with other entrepreneurs and startups. Come out, be social and earn some social capital.
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Weekend Reading
- New job posted: VP Marketing / Tungle / Montreal, QC, Canada http://bit.ly/gZOzM #
- RT @sgblank: See why "The Best Marketers Are Engineers" http://bit.ly/oE1Ws #technical #marketing #
- who is @lemonadeventure? Toronto based incubator? http://bit.ly/3BK3s4 n and http://bit.ly/3kIWq4 anyone have experience? #
- RT @MikeMcDerment: My panel for SXSW was chosen as one first panels confirmed: http://bit.ly/897lE << congrats Mike #
- Get a free copy of Canadian Intellectual Property Law For Dummies – http://www.canadian-ip.com courtesy of Miltons IP #
- RT @startupcfo: Kids down. Nightshift begins << ditto, tylenol administered, kids sleeping, work begins #
- in case you missed it… StartupCamp Montreal 5 webcast edition – http://bit.ly/1dzs6N #
- RT @byosko: Are you hiring for your startup? Then build a magnet: http://bit.ly/4nNV7I #humancapital #talent #
- New job posted: Software Build and Test Manager / Well.ca / Guelph, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/33IJbX #
- New job posted: Senior Designer / LearnHub / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/AtCdv #
- RT @markrmcqueen: If the "VC model is broken" and delivers poor returns, why do limited partners want to start investing in tech directly? #
- RT @rogerchabra: Congrats to my friends at Extreme and Inovia…RT @peHUB NEWS Chango Raises Series A http://bit.ly/oVKds #
- this must be the best Canadian company mascot ever created – http://bit.ly/43ge2R #
- RT @microsoftcanada Couldn't make it to #CanWin? We're blogging all day. First up, MS Canada president @ericgales http://tinyurl.com/yha7f6w #
- RT @robroc: GenC: Kids who are "tech-dependent, not tech-savvy," who "don't need to have creative talent to be creative." http://is.gd/4uoAp #
- Register for "How to Build a Web App Business" workshop with Freshbooks founder @MikeMcDerment – Vancouver, Nov. 25 http://bit.ly/3C3sf3 #
- RT @danmacdonald100: InNOVAcorp Invests in Clean Technology Venture Fund http://bit.ly/2kjExy #
- New job posted: Business Intern / Rick Segal Co / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/1vHbrD #
- Startup tip of the week: Most people are full of shit and your guess is as good as theirs. #
- New job posted: Mobile UI Expert / Fixmo / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/bDq0M #
- New job posted: Code Jockey / Fixmo / Toronto, ON, Canada http://bit.ly/2rcCKE #
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Early exits (without VC funding)
The National Angel Capital Organization had their annual summit last week in Toronto. The summit is a gathering of angel investors and angel group managers from across Canada to discuss best practices and current trends in angel investing. Two main themes in this year’s conference were co-investment and early exits. I’ll cover co-investment in another post. In this post I’ll talk about early exits as presented in talks by Dave McClure and Basil Peters.
The basic premise that both Dave and Basil spoke about was that for certain types of businesses, you no longer need (or want) to get traditional venture capital investment. For many software and Internet start-ups, you can get a product to market with minimal capital. This makes it possible for a company to realize an exit and provide payback to investors in a few years. This can start a cycle of wealth creation that will fund future companies/start-ups and contribute to a strong start-up ecosystem.
The following factors contribute to an environment that is supportive of early exits:
- Entrepreneurs in the Internet/software space can productize their ideas with minimal capital (i.e. several hundred thousand dollars) thanks to advances in development tools, cloud based computing, etc.
- Friends, family, founders and angel investor rounds can provide the necessary capital to get a company from start-up to market (i.e. Maple Leaf Angels typically does deals in the $200k-$400k range).
- Established companies in this space (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, etc) are very acquisitive. Innovation is harder to realize in a large corporation than a start-up. As such, large companies look to start-ups to prove out a new idea/technology and then acquire the start-up. Large companies are good at taking this start-up and applying their sales, marketing, operational expertise and growing it into a several hundred million dollar operating unit. In other words, large companies use M&A as a form of R&D investment to help find the products that will help fuel their top line revenue growth.
The model above works when M&A exits are in the sub $50 million dollar range because:
- Typical valuations for a first round of angel investment are in the $1m to $3m range. As such, a strong return can be realized assuming there are no more or only a couple of subsequent financing rounds with minimal dilution.
- Smaller value acquisitions are more frequent, easier for the acquiring company to do, and there are more acquiring companies that can be in the market for acquisitions. Large acquisitions in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars may get the press, but they are infrequent and require higher levels of due diligence/approval by the acquiring corporation.
- Given this math, you can see how angels can realize exits of 3x-10x based on a sub $50 million dollar acquisition at an early stage in the company’s life.
Injecting Venture capital investment into this scenario is not conducive to early exits because:
- VC investments at the series A round are several million dollars in size and have post money valuations in the low 8 figure range.
- A VC fund of several hundred million dollars needs to have series A winners be 10x+ to meet their overall fund return objective of 20% per annum.
- Given this math, a return based on a sub $50m acquisition will not be enough. VCs need to have the company hold out to grow in its life to support a > $100m acquisition (or IPO) which as was stated does not happen as frequently and will take more time. Basil Peter’s states that an angel only backed venture will be likely to exit in 2-5 years whereas a VC backed venture will take 10-12 years.
So what does this all mean? Since most of the readership of this blog is in the software/web space, there is no better time to be an entrepreneur in this space to have the framework in place to start, build, fund, and exit a successful venture.
Even in the US, where you can argue it is easier for start-ups to get Venture Capital funding, angel investors fund more than 27 times more start-ups than VCs. As Basil’s blog states, it is erroneous for entrepreneurs to think VCs are the main source of funding. Successful companies can be started and profitably exited with just friends, family and angel rounds. Understanding your strategy for funding and exiting should be a key part of your business plan as angels are becoming more and more sophisticated and increasingly want earlier exits of their investments. Understanding the investment return expectations of any investor (be it angels or VCs) is critically important as it has a strong bearing size of exit they will be willing to accept and what this means in terms of timeframe to exit.
craig at mapleleafangels.com
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Weekend Reading
- RT @rhh: Stinkup today on angel groups that charge for pitches. It's lame, greedy & self-indulgent http://bit.ly/qH2Sk http://bit.ly/WFrJZ #
- RT @danmartell: Startups 101: The Complete Mint Presentation http://ow.ly/tPH4 << #mustread and watch (Video) for #entrepreneurs #
- RT @firstround: NothingToSay: Office Hours, Entrepreneurs and Angels in Toronto on 10/15/2009 http://frc.vc/8j #
- Happy Columbus day #
- Room for 10 more Toronto startups with @davemclure to talk & drink @reply or email David at davidcrow.ca for dets 8pm dowmtown #
- RT @davidcrow: RT @techvibes: Bootup Labs opens January 2010 Cohort http://su.pr/1xrPge #
- RT @rogerchabra: Peerset (portfolio co.) Says Forget Demographics, Advertise by Interest: http://bit.ly/HmB8V #ReadWriteWeb #
- RT @mjcleaver: "The Canadian experience suggests…formal adoption of unbundling is insufficient to achieve competition" http://bit.ly/REYvn #
- RT @propelict: Greater Moncton Entrepreneurship Expo : http://bit.ly/1xOGzp #newbrunswick #
- RT @startupcfo: RT @Redeye Blog: Company Math vs VC Math http://bit.ly/1XXhWb #
- Well.ca tops RedCanary hot startup survey – http://bit.ly/2wqZTa #
- want to get into the spirit of Halloween early? there's an app for that – http://bit.ly/3CFTro @endloopinc #
- RT @startupnorth: New blog post: Compared to others http://bit.ly/s397F << my latest blog post on StartupNorth #
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Compared to others
“With the proper level of ambition, talent, and opportunity, even a small, islolated company can turn the world into its market” – Michael Cusumano, Dealing with the Venture Capital Crisis
I’m reading Michael Cusumano’s Dealing with the Venture Capital Crisis in the October 2009 issue of Communications of the ACM, I’m struck by the idea that our geographical proximity to the US, advanced economy, good universities and strong intellectual property rights might be the spawning ground for new ventures, sources of wealth, social welfare and employment. The article proposed 4 markets that meet these requirements including:
- Israel
Estimated 2009 Population: 7.4 million
2008 Venture: 483 investments totaling US$2.08B, $780M from local VCs (Cdn$2.54B/Cdn$904.84M) (IVA)
Investment-to-GDP: 0.0125/0.0045 - Finland
Estimated 2009 Population: 5.3 million
2008 Venture: 406 investments totaling 360M euros (Cdn$620.55M) (FVCA)
Investment-to-GDP: 0.0032 - Ireland
Estimated 2009 Population: 4.9 million
2008 Venture: 160 investments totaling 243M euros (Cdn$418.87M) (IVCA)
Investment-to-GDP: 0.0022 - New Zealand
Estimated 2009 Population: 4.3 million
2008 Venture: 52 investments totaling NZ$66.1M (Cdn$46.81M) (NZVCA)
Investment-to-GDP: 0.0004
Well these are great numbers, how does this compare to Canada?
- Canada
Estimated 2009 Population: 33.8 million
2008 Venture: 371 investments totaling Cdn$1.3B (CVCA)
Investment-to-GDP: 0.001
When compared to the US and Israel, Canada looks like a poor third cousin. What is the appropriate measure here? Investment as a percentage of GDP? Well we fall somewhere between New Zealand and Ireland. Maybe things aren’t as bad as we’d like to think. We have more venture money than New Zealand. We’re closer to a larger market. Maybe we should start to look at the positive factors and exploit the constraints to build opportunities.
- Advanced economies
- Sophisticated customers
- Good universities
- Strong intellectual property rights
- Favorable tax laws
- Vibrant entrepreneurial cultures
What’s an entrepreneur to do?
In my opinion, there are only 2 items on the above list that are directly impacted and influenced by entrepreneurs: Sophisticated customers; and Vibrant entrepreneurial cultures. Sure, the net result of a more positive entrepreneurial environment is a advanced economy that produces good universities. We can lobby politicians for strong intellectual property rights (and consumer freedoms) and favorable tax laws. But there are advocacy groups like the National Angel Capital Organization and the Canadian Venture Capital Association that more directly benefit and are better funded to act on the behalf of entrepreneurial financing. This is not some that necessarily deserve any additional attention than you currently dedicate to the political process. I’m arguing the entrepreneurs should build companies and leave this to the pundits, advocates, policy wonks and politicians.
Sophisticated customers
For entrepreneurs,we need to work on helping develop sophisticated customers. Often these customers are located near where the entrepreneur is building their product or service offering. However, this is not a requirement. Entrepreneur should look for sophisticated customers around the globe. Including customers in your product design and development process is key to creating products that meet customer needs and to develop more sophisticated customers. Steve Blank and Eric Reis have proposed the Customer Development Manifesto and Lean Startup as ways for founders to engage customers in the earliest work. All startups should read these posts.
Vibrant entrepreneurial cultures
Isn’t this what we’re trying to do? Read our thoughts on:
- Because Startups Need Each Other
- How Startups will save Venture Capital in Canada
- I love my city, and so should you
Part of the reason that we are luck enough to have Dave McClure in Toronto (and he had a great time). First Round Capital had office hours with Chris Fralic and Phin Barnes. We continue to see folks from Atlas Ventures, General Catalyst, and Microsoft (Don Dodge presented at StartupEmpire and will be presenting at CIX). This is a result of your participation. Canadian cities have a lot of buzz and attention based on the things that are going on.
It’s cumulative!
It is the force of a thousands of butterflies flapping their wings. All of the blogging, twittering, attending conferences, showing up to events, participating online. It’s about the DemoCamps, Launch Parties, StartupDrinks, Social Media Breakfasts, Third Tuesdays, Founders & Funders, NEWTECH, SproutUps, Meshes, and everything else. It is a cumulative effect. It doesn’t take a lot of extra effort, but it adds up to the rest of the world paying attention to the noise.
We have great spokespersons like Saul Colt, Mathew Ingram, Mike Lee, Michael McDerment, Leila Boujnane, Brian Sharwood, Sarah Prevette, Pema Hagen, Bryan Watson, Anand Agarawala and others running around the world telling their stories of being a startup and the reasons they are doing it in Toronto. In Vancouver there’s Robert Scales, Kris Krug, Boris Mann, BootupLabs, Boris Wertz, Andre Charland, amd others. In Montreal it’s Austin Hill, Heri Rakotomalala, John Stokes, George Favvas, Ben Yoskovitz, Fred Ngo, Pinny Gniwisch, Ray Luk and others. Let’s not forget Social Media Breakfast, StartupOttawa, Scott Lake, Allan Isfan, Jacqui Murphy, and everyone that I’ve missed (it’s on purpose, because I don’t like you any more and I hate your startups).
But it is up to us to make noise. It’s up to us to build successful companies. It’s up to us to make Canada a better place for startups. No one is going to walk in and make it easier. We all have to participate and build a vibrant entrepreneurial culture. We need to talk about entrepreneurship as a career path. We need to talk to politicians about policy decisions.
So the first rule of being an entrepreneur is to reach out. Invite a friend. Make a connection. Tell a customer. Most of all, do the things that make the ecosystem better for you.
- Israel
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Rogers Ventures
So what’s the story with Rogers Ventures?
Mic Berman announced StartupCampWaterloo(Serious Edition) happening on October 20, 2009 in Waterloo, ON. Jesse Rodgers provided a little more detail about the event on the BarCampWaterloo Google Group:
“Rogers Ventures has started an early stage/seed round investment group. They are looking to make several investments before the end of this year and they have a strong commitment to fund and support entrepreneurs or post doc researchers who have great ideas and/or innovative technology.
If are looking for funding and would like to pitch the Rogers’ team (Mike Lee, Nyla Ahmad or Jason Zan) and a few other local funders such as Tech Capital.”
We’ve worked with Mike Lee to host DemoCamp Toronto 21 & 22 (an Evening with Yossi Vardi). Rogers Ventures has already demonstrated their ability and willingness to engage with the community. Rogers Ventures continues to reach out and engage with entrepreneurs across the country.
Press Release
Rogers Ventures publically launches on October 15, 2009. Here are the details provided by the consultants and public relations individuals helping Rogers Ventures engage the development community.
What is Rogers Ventures?
Rogers Ventures is a new source of early stage seed level investment for technology start-ups. We find great talent with powerful ideas and we invest in their business success. We invest our money, leverage, experience and other strategic contributions to get our portfolio companies on the path of accelerated development and market growth. Another part of the Rogers Ventures’ mandate is supporting the innovation ecosystem by providing direct funding to community programs that help create innovation momentum in this country.
Is Rogers Ventures a venture capital firm?
We operate a venture-style funding mechanism (we approve investments on a case-by-case basis) but that’s where the similarities end. Our long-term objective is to develop a portfolio of high potential companies that capture the value created through wireline and wireless broadband networks.
Why was Rogers Ventures created?
We’re living at a time when technology innovation, new online services and shifts in consumer behaviour are being adopted faster than any other time in history. We want to be part of this innovation and the opportunity presenting themselves but realize that we cannot achieve success, as effectively, on our own. Rogers Ventures is our way of looking beyond the walls of Rogers for outside talent and ideas to fund. We believe that this will broaden our innovation horizons and keep us closer to the forefront of next-generation technology.
How will Rogers Ventures support the high-tech community?
While we see a significant amount of energy and activity within the Canadian innovation landscape, we feel that there are opportunities for support for the Canadian ecosystem to accelerate momentum. We have been working to identify community-level programs or initiatives that require support – either money, a space large enough to hold events, someone to pay for pizza, participation in mentorship, contribution as a speaker, whatever – and we try to make that support happen. We know that our effort is not the total solution. We are contributing our part to build the necessary momentum and are committed to engage.
Who runs Rogers Ventures?
Melinda Rogers, senior vice-president, strategy and development with Rogers Communications, is the executive in charge of Rogers Ventures. On a day-to-day basis, the portfolio is run by Mike Lee, vice-president with Rogers Ventures, and Nyla Ahmad, vice-president, Rogers Ventures Operations.
What are Rogers Ventures portfolio companies?
There are currently three companies within the Rogers Ventures portfolio: Zoocasa, a vertical search product focused on real estate; Thoora, a next generation news discovery service; and GridCentric, a solution for grid computing. We don’t discuss publically investment levels.
Is Rogers Ventures a part of Rogers Communications?
Rogers Ventures falls within Rogers’ corporate strategy and development group and it is legally part of Rogers Communications Inc. However, it operates as a separate entity on a day-to-day basis.
Additional Team Details
So who are Mike Lee, Nyla Ahmad and Jason Zan and others. We can start to piece together the players from web searches, management profiles of their portfolio companies, and social media tools.
“Mike Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.
Michael (Mike) Lee is Chief Strategy Officer for Rogers Communications Inc. Mike is responsible for strategy development, new venture development, and strategic partner management for the Rogers Communications’ group of companies which include Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless and Rogers Media. Previously, he held the role of Vice President, Strategy and Development for Rogers Cable.” Cable Congress 2009
“Nyla Ahmad, Senior Director, Strategic Partners for Rogers Communications Inc.
Nyla Ahmad is responsible for overseeing and managing key cross-company relationships. This includes managing the Rogers Yahoo! strategic alliance across the entire Rogers group of companies. Previously within Rogers, Ms. Ahmad held roles within Rogers Cable and the Internet division of Rogers Media. As Senior Director of Electronic Channels for Rogers Cable Communications Inc. she was responsible for the product development, online services strategy and customer experience for Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet. As Vice President of Excite Canada, she oversaw the development of consumer online content and services across broadband, narrowband and wireless platforms.” 3rd Annual C-COR Global IP Summit – Executive Interviews
“Jason Zan, Co-founder and adviser
Jason was a Sr. Director of Business Development at Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RG), the largest wireless carrier in Canada. Prior to that Jason was Director of Venture Investments at Rogers where he was responsible for managing the company’s private equity investment portfolio. Jason has a HBA from Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, Canada.” Tokia > About Management
The team at Rogers also includes for former PlanetEye CEO Butch Langlois, who announced in Jun3 2009 that he was joining Rogers Ventures. Butch has a strong histo
ry with Rogers serving as VP, Finance and Corporate Development in the old Rogers New Media group.
The team has a very strong Rogers flavour. It will be interesting to see if they are able to break free from the corporate culture that tends to lead to “The Innovator’s Dilemma” to identify opportunities. Their current investments in Zoocasa, Thoora and GridCentric show a desire to commercialize research efforts, both Thoora and GridCentric are commercialized out of the University of Toronto projects and teams. Rogers Ventures seems to be making an effort to move beyond their traditional boundaries.