StartupNorth

Author: David Crow

  • StartupSquare Montreal and MTL NewTech

    Montreal is a happening place. There’s StartupDrinks. There’s the launch of a new seed fund, Founder Fuel. The announcement of another StartupCamp. There comes two new players: StartupSquare and MontrealNewTech.

    StartupSquare

    StartupSquare Montreal

    StartupSquare is hosting their kick off event on April 13, 2010. The group is made up students at McGill University, Concordia University, HEC Montreal, and other local universities. The goal of the group is to help promote entrepreneurship and commercialization to create growth companies. It is roughly modeled on Aalto Entrepreneurship Society which was started by StartupSquare co-organizer Riku Seppala.

    Montreal New Tech

    Montreal New Tech

    Montreal New Tech is headed by Felipe Coimbra aka TwtFelipe who got some coverage this week by Mark Suster around US immigration policy and the Founder Visa. MTLNewTech is a great example of the evolution of community. It has taken the best part of DemoCamp, Web Innovators Group, TECHCocktail and other events over the past formative years. And it has evolved to help enable, educate and connect local tech entrepreneurs, i.e., it’s Felipe doing the things that help him with 63 Squares and YowTrip!

    It is great to see entrepreneurs take responsibility for ensuring that the events and activities they need and want are created. Make sure you check out both of these groups, they are doing great things.

  • CrowdReel Launches

    CrowdReel launched in Toronto. CrowdReel is a web service that combs through Twitter’s real-time feed for photo data and URIs including Twitpic, Yfrog and Tweetphoto  to build a real-time feed and trending of photo-only data. There are real-time news and trending services like Thoora, OneRiot, PostRank, and others. CrowdReel is built by Toronto Rails shop Nulayer Inc.  

    Introducing a new way to experience Twitter pics: Facebook meets Twitpic with Crowdreel

    Crowdreel delivers real-­time access to images posted on Twitter and lets you search, share and add context to pictures in your existing Twitter network

    Toronto – Crowdreel offers an unprecedented glimpse into the Twitterverse, allowing users to browse tweeted images in real-­?time and immediately see pictures posted by the people they follow.

    Nearly half a million images are uploaded through Twitter everyday. The problem is this content is lost in a sea of hard-­to-­navigate links. Crowdreel makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for and uncovers content you might have missed out on in your feed.

    This new service offers the ability to browse trending topics, popular retweets and content your followers are sharing – all without missing a tweet. The result is an enhanced, Facebook-­?like experience, putting what users want to see first.

  • Network Hippo

    Congratulations to Scott Annan and the Network Hippo team for their great demo at Demo Spring 2010. Scott Lake wrote about the performance on StartupOttawa, and I’d agree it’s worth taking the 5 minutes and 24 seconds to watch a great demo.

    Funding Details

    Self-funded

    Competitors

    No direct competitors. Secondary competitors include Gist, Plaxo, Xobni, Highrise, and Batchbook.

    Product Description

    Network Hippo is the smartest way to manage your network. We help individuals and businesses manage and stay connected to people across social, professional, and business networks. Network Hippo aggregates and organizes contact information intelligently from email and social networking sites and has proactive, addictive tools to engage your network. Close more deals, crowdsource your next product design, or change the world: Network Hippo and your network make it possible.

    Market Opportunity

    Jack Myer’s Media Business report forecasts spending in social marketing to grow from $800 million to $3.2 billion by 2012. AMR projects CRM revenue of $22 billion in 2012 (up from $14 billion in 2007) and Gartner predicts 80% of the immediate growth to come from “social application vendors.”

  • StickerYou launches

    Laptop Stickers

    Toronto based StickerYou launched today. They are a provider of customized stickers. The interesting part is the ability to create customized stickers that are not limited to traditional diecuts of square or round. There are other providers that offer similar services but not in a self-service capacity and at a much higher fee than the StickerYou offering.

    StickerYou (www.stickeryou.com), is excited to announce the public launch today of an innovative and flexible online service for designing and creating high-quality stickers. StickerYou’s platform offers the ultimate in customization, letting users create their own 8.5” x 10.5” sheets of removable, vinyl stickers, combining uploaded personal images and art from StickerYou’s library of thousands of images.

    The first-of-its-kind technology used for StickerYou’s die-cut Sticker Maker means stickers are cut along the outline of the image, and are not limited to a standard square, circle or a particular size. StickerYou believes its breakthrough technology will disrupt the $1 billion sticker industry.

    StickerYou launches with several brand partnerships, including PEANUTS®, Mr. Men and Little Miss™ and Star Trek, with the LEGO® brand, Showtime’s Dexter and additional brands to follow. By partnering with StickerYou, these brands can extend their uniquely shaped iconic images to audiences both online and offline. StickerYou will continue to partner with more brands and artists in the coming months, to expand the library of art available to StickerYou customers.

    Through its unique Sticker Maker widget, StickerYou is also giving brand and affiliate partners the opportunity to embed the StickerYou Sticker Maker on their own Web sites.

    “We are excited to be partnering with StickerYou to provide fans with the power to create online customized die-cut stickers of their favorite PEANUTS characters with ease,” said Helen Bransfield, Executive Director at United Media, the licensing and syndication company for PEANUTS.

    Andrew Witkin, StickerYou’s president and chief executive said, “StickerYou saw a huge opportunity to revolutionize people’s ability to create personalized stickers. We give consumers the right to pick the size, shape and images that they want. The end result is the perfect sticker.”

    “StickerYou is addressing a market that features an insatiable desire for stickers—from decorating laptops to styling skateboards; from creating bumper stickers to personalizing scrapbooks; or just stickering your logo,” Witkin said. “For consumers, marketers, artists, brands and teams, StickerYou’s ability to create and order as little as one to a few hundred customized stickers is a powerful proposition.”

  • StartupCampMontreal – May 6, 2010

    It’s time againg for a road trip to Montreal. Phil Telio and his crew of supporters (John Stokes, Austin Hill and Sylvain Carle) are hosting another must attend startup event in Montreal. The event is shaping up to have 2 components:

    1. Participant-driven Conference – starting at 1pm
    2. Keynote & Pitches – starting at 6pm

    Unconference

    The participant-driven event, aka the “unconference”, is one of the best parts. The idea is that the schedule is determined by the attendees. There will be technologists, lawyers, funders, marketers, designers and others. The question is what do you want to talk about? NoSQL technologies. Mobile implications for social gaming mechanics. Legals of fund raising in Canada without Section 116. I’ve heard that Dave McClure is planning on doing “an exercise in entrepreneurial improv theatre”. I first saw Half-Baked dot com at ETech’07. It’s an incredibly fun engaging way to learn how to quickly build companies, business models and pitches without the constraints usually imposed by making it your own business.

    Keynote & Pitches

    The evening event is essential cocktails and pitches. Highlighting the event is Dave McClure’s keynote.

    Dave McClure Dave McClure has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years as a software developer, entrepreneur, startup advisor, angel investor, blogger, & internet marketing nerd.  Dave currently runs a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund, and also manages the fbFund REV social incubator.  His passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he has been an advisor or investor in more than 40 companies including: Mint.com (acquired by Intuit), SlideShare, Mashery, TeachStreet, KISSmetrics, Simply Hired, Twilio, Bit.ly, UserVoice, and CreditKarma, among others.

    Following the keynote there will 5 pitch/presentation/demo spots. Traditionally StartupCampMontreal presentations have been very pitch focused. I think there is an opportunity for a presenter to really rock this venue. Thing about this as a chance to build demand and generate excitement about your startup. It’s a chance to get feedback about a part of your business. Whether that is your fund raising pitch, your product demo, or other. I’d start by looking at TechCrunch50, Demo, and others for inspiration. You want to win the giveway. Trust me you want to win the giveaway.

    Giveaway

    Geeks on a PlaneThe StartupCampMontreal organizers are giving away a ticket for Geeks on a Plane Asia. What the hell is geeks on a plane? It sounds like a bad movie that stars Samuel Jackson. Playing the role of Samuel Jackson is Dave McClure.  The goal of Geeks on a Plane is a great one. It’s to get you out of your comfort zone. To force entrpreneurs to travel to meet investors, customers, entrepreneurs in other countries, and gain insight and connections that can be used to further your business. It’s a great event in the safety of the company of other geeks like you.

    • Meet startups, geeks, & investors in cities around the world.
    • Learn about trends in internet, mobile, and other tech platforms.
    • Gain insight into local markets, demographics, business models.
    • Meet cool people, new ventures, have fun on planes, trains, buses.

    I’m an entreprenur and this sounds AWESOME! How do I win? You need to apply to present at StartupCampMontreal6. One of the presenting companies will be selected to get some mentoring from Dave McClure and a ticket to travel with Geeks on a Plane.

  • SxSW fallout – you should attend MeshU

    There’s been a lot of bitching about the state of SxSWi and why it sucks!

    “Too many people, not enough tech.”

    Jay Baer provides the best observations about what is working, what is broken, and some general themes from the event.

    1. There is more than one SxSW
    2. Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better
    3. The Conference isn’t that Good
    4. The Periphery Exceeds the Core

    The great news is that there are fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurs in Toronto (and across Canada, but we’ll come back to that). There are a number of small focused events. MeshU and Mesh are firecode limited at MaRS to 450 attendees. They are excellent opportunities to connect with entrepreneurs, designers, developers, marketers and funders. The event is tight and there are multiple tracks, however, the core keeps getting stronger every year. The core speakers are fantastic.

    MeshU is a one day event. Perfect. My attention span can’t handle 5 days (never mind the 5 nights). It is happening Monday, May 17, 2010 which is right before Mesh Conference and OCE Discovery. MeshU is the supporting event to these 2 larger events. The supporting role has allowed it to focus on delivering great value.

    Education-based aka the strong core

    MeshU, May 17, 2010, Toronto, ON
    MeshU, Toronto, ON May 17, 2010

    The mesh team has always put on a great set of events, however in 2010 they have added one speaker that will justify the entire price of the ticket for me. Sean Ellis runs Startup-Marketing.com and 12in6 Inc.

    12in6 specializes in helping startups unlock their full growth potential.  Our metrics, survey and experiment driven approach has evolved over 15 years of taking startups to market as VP marketing, interim VP marketing and as an outside advisor/consultant.  The first five startups our principal (Sean Ellis) helped take to market were:

    1. Uproar (IPO)
    2. LogMeIn (IPO)
    3. Xobni (Khosla Ventures – rapid user and revenue growth)
    4. Eventbrite (Sequoia Ventures – rapid user and revenue growth)
    5. Dropbox (Sequoia Ventures – rapid user and revenue growth)

    5 projects that include 2 IPOs, and fuding from Khosla and Sequoia Ventures. Startups that have opportunity to learn about the Customer Development methodology from one of the best executors. This session will justify the price of the MeshU ticket for most startups.

    There are other fantastic speakers including Aza Raskin from Mozilla Labs, Joe Stump from Digg, and Meredith Noble from Usability Matters.

  • Mantella Venture Partners Launches

    Mantella VP & Basecamp Labs

    Mantella Venture Partners launched today. It’s a $20MM early stage technology fund based in Toronto.

    “Unlike most venture funds that are supported by institutional investors, this one is backed by Mantella Corporation, a family owned commercial and residential real estate developer who has been entrenched in the GTA market since 1946. The fund is also focused on the concept of ‘hands-on capital’, ensuring that early-stage entrepreneurs get the hands-on support they need at every stage of a company’s creation and growth to help facilitate”

    The main investment partners are Robin Axon and Duncan Hill. Robin is ex-Ventures West and Ducan was an EiR at Ventures West and previously had founded Think Dynamics (acquired by IBM back in 2003). They also run Basecamp Partners/Labs where they have been incubating PushLife, Chango and a couple of other startups.

    It’s interesting to see an emerging breed of Canadian incubators and small funds like Mantella VP, Extreme VP/Xtreme Labs, Bootup Labs, Flow Ventures, Montreal Startup, Wesley Clover, LeadtoWin, and others. All of these have very different models and motivations. But they exhibit the need many startups have in both getting to Product/Market Fit and then the business development and go-to-market efforts. Both of these efforts require capital, and it’s great to see VCs that traditionally don’t get their hands dirty with operational details down in the weeds.

    Full press release below.

    TORONTO—March 2, 2010—Mantella Venture Partners announced today the formation and launch of a $20M investment fund to support early stage technology ventures in Ontario. Mantella Venture Partners is a collaboration between Basecamp Labs, a private early stage technology accelerator, and Mantella Corporation, an established family-owned commercial and residential real estate developer in the Greater Toronto Area.

    Mantella Venture Partners will invest in entrepreneurs who are building early stage mobile and Internet software companies, helping them to get their ideas from conception to market. Through the Basecamp Labs accelerator, Mantella Venture Partners will provide hands-on support at every stage of a company’s creation and growth – from business development and marketing to financing and team development – to help facilitate early market traction.

    Mantella Venture Partners is managed by Robin Axon and Duncan Hill, the founding partners of Basecamp Labs, experienced venture investors and company creators who have been involved in multiple successful venture exits to companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Siemens.

    “For the past few years, we’ve seen a steady decline in Canadian venture capital deal flow, the number of VC-backed firms, and the average investment size,” says Axon.  “In fact, according to a recent CVCA report on the industry, investment levels in 2009 were the lowest they’ve been in 13 years.”

    “But innovation is still thriving,” says Hill. “With the venture market in such a state of flux, the timing could not be better for the launch of a new fund that is focused on both early-stage investing and providing the hands-on support entrepreneurs need to ensure market success.”

    The existing Basecamp Labs portfolio includes two companies: Chango, an ad buying platform for direct response advertisers; and Pushlife, a mobile entertainment platform for mobile operators.

    “The value of combining capital with guidance and support from a team with extensive experience building companies, can be seen in the progress of our first portfolio companies,” says Robert Mantella, president and CEO of Mantella Corporation. “Robin and Duncan are experienced investors and entrepreneurs who are passionate about technology and know what it takes for a start-up to succeed. Together we can breathe new life into a changing venture industry.”

    Duncan Hill was the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Think Dynamics, a developer of data centre automation software that was acquired by IBM in May 2003. He spent two years at IBM driving strategy for early enterprise cloud computing. Most recently, Hill served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Ventures West; was an independent director for RapidMind (acq. by Intel August ’09); and was executive advisor to Opalis (acq. by Microsoft December ’09). He currently serves on the Chango board of directors and on executive advisory boards at Pushlife, ServiceMesh, Cirba, Embotics, and the Velocity program at the University of Waterloo.

    Prior to founding Basecamp Labs with Duncan Hill, Robin Axon was a partner at Ventures West on the IT and communications team. Before that, Axon was at MD Robotics (formerly Spar Aerospace) and the Canadian Space Agency, where he helped to prepare the Canadarm2 for installation onto the International Space Station. Axon has served on the boards of a number of technology companies including: QuickPlay Media, RapidMind (acq. by Intel August ’09), AudienceView, Fortiva (acq. by Proofpoint ‘08), Chantry Networks (acq. by Seimens ‘03), Belair Networks and Instrumar.

    About Mantella Venture Partners
    Mantella Venture Partners is a $20M early stage investment fund with a hands-on approach to building technology companies in high growth markets.  The fund invests in founders focused on creating market-altering mobile and Internet software businesses, and surrounds them with an ecosystem of passionate, experienced operators that drive early market engagement into sustainable business success. Mantella Venture Partners will invest up to $500k at inception with the ability to support subsequent rounds as required. It is managed by Robin Axon and Duncan Hill, experienced venture investors and company creators who’ve been involved in multiple successful venture exits to companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Siemens. Additional information is available at http://mantellavp.com/.

  • Q&A with RedFlagDeals

    I had the opportunity to ask Derek and Ryan of Clear Sky Media a few questions about the YPG acquisition.

    When did YPG approach you to buy RedFlagDeals.com/Clear Sky Media?

    Derek: We had spoken with YPG over the years about syndicating/sharing data, but things really started to gain momentum in the fall.  Clear Sky Media had traditionally been very focused on national and online offers, but we all recognized the opportunity with local deals and coupons and helping consumers make better buying decisions more broadly. Things moved very swiftly from there and we completed the deal in early February.  YPG is serious about expanding their online presence and they have a scale that will allow us to broaden our reach nationally and at the same time tackle the local space that would have been impossible for us otherwise.

    What is the plan for RedFlagDeals.com and other properties in the YPG portfolio?

    Ryan: As Derek mentioned, the deal makes a lot of sense for both parties.  Local is an area we had always been interested in, but as successful as we had been, we were nowhere near the scale to properly address it.  YPG has over 1000 sales people and direct relationships with about 385,000 businesses in Canada.  Now that we have the scale and the resources, we’re staying on to see how big we can make this.

    It was only four and a half years ago that it was just Derek and I working in a 200sqft office above an Internet café.  It’s very exciting.

    Derek: Beyond local, we’re also looking at what we can do in the shopping search space with PriceCanada.com and we’ll continue to invest heavily and accelerate the growth of RedFlagDeals.com and Scarlett Lounge – more to come!

    What are you going to do next?

    Derek: In the short term there’s a lot of work to do.  We’re keeping our downtown Toronto office and our entire team, but we’ll be expanding rapidly.  Longer term, I think we have an opportunity here to create something that is much greater than the sum of its parts.  No one has really figured out local search and shopping yet.  It’s a challenge, but it’s one that we’re now in a place to take on directly.

    What is one thing would you tell other startups about the acquisition process?

    Derek: Even though this was, in many ways, a very streamlined acquisition, it was very time consuming and sometimes very frustrating.  There is a lot of back and forth on seemingly minor items, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Having lawyers and accountants that you trust who have worked through it before is huge.

    What is one thing you would do differently?

    Derek: Because of the timeline we were working on, it might not have been possible in our specific case, but before the Letter Of Intent was signed, I would have had a more detailed discussion about what exactly the due diligence required and what we would need to do to close.  In our case, we had a short period for all of this and in hindsight, I would have given ourselves more time.

    Ryan: The timeline also meant that the initial transition has been a bit bumpy.  If we had had more time, I would have liked to have had our accounting, HR, and PR processes in line.  All things considered, it’s gone well, but we could have saved ourselves time and headaches with a better fleshed out transition plan.

    Final thoughts?

    Ryan: We’re really proud to have been involved in the Canadian startup scene over the past 5 years.  It’s not always easy being a Canadian startup; really, it’s a pain in the ass a lot of the time, but you can be successful in Canada.  In the areas where Canada is behind the US, there are opportunities.  Plus, you have one of the most supportive communities I’ve seen anywhere rooting for you.  It’s been awesome.  Thanks everyone!

  • RedFlagDeals acquired

    RedFlagDeals.com acquired by YPG

    Congratulations to everyone at ClearSky Media & RedFlagDeals!

    The team at RedFlagDeals announced this morning that they have been acquired by the Yellow Pages Group.

    Just as our community has blossomed, so has Canadian ecommerce. It’s my belief that Canadian retailers are ready to take the next step that bridges online shopping and in-store shopping. We want to be involved in that evolution, but it requires us to take a step forward as well. That’s why I’m happy to announce that RedFlagDeals.com has found a partner that understands what we do, what we want to achieve, and can help us do that. RedFlagDeals.com has been purchased by a company that has been working to connect retailers and consumers for over one hundred years: Yellow Pages Group.

    Like us, Yellow Pages Group is focused on helping Canadians make smarter buying decisions every day. YPG has relationships with over 385,000 businesses in Canada. With their reach and resources we’ll be able to share coupons and deals on a scale that would have been impossible in any other situation. Rather than watching ecommerce develop from the sidelines, we will now be able to actively help it evolve while passing on the values that RedFlagDeals.com has always had: respecting consumers and helping them save money while doing it!

    Derek, Ryan, Kaitlyn and the entire team have been participants and strong supporters of the community in Toronto. They have been participating since the very beginning (yes, Derek & Ryan were attendees at the first DemoCamp). They have built a true online media business in Canada, driving traffic, advertising and engagement among their users. comScore has listed them #4 in reach in 2009 for Canadian startups. They are the real deal.

    My prediction is that 2010 is the year of acquisitions in Canada. We’ll start to see a larger number startups across Canada getting acquired by both Canadian and US companies. I hope 2010 will bring more stories like RedFlagDeals.

  • New Coworking Space in Toronto – Camaraderie

    Coworking in Toronto

    Rachel and Wayne have done it. Out of the ashes of the Indoor Playground, they have found a space and announced that they are opening Camaraderie. This is fantastic news for Toronto startups, freelancers, independents and others that need shared office space in the downtown core. It’s located at  102 Adelaide St E, 2nd Floor [Maps: Bing, Google]. The space has a free preview from February 15-28, 2010. And then memberships details are as follows:

    • memberships will be $300/mo for unlimited use during business hours
    • we’ll work out keys later, but for now the space will be open 9:00am-6:00pm (or later)
    • free wifi, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate every day

    Pictures

    The Building - 102 Adelaide St E, Toronto, ONBoard RoomKitchen AreaOpen Workspace

    Full details about the space and the neighbourhood.

    Congratulations Rachel and Wayne. We’re looking forward to Toronto rejoining the likes of Montreal and Vancouver with a real coworking space again.