StartupNorth

Category: Site News

  • Canada's greatest startup city?

    We are looking for writers who are in love with their hometown, or adopted hometown.

    You are running a startup or heavily involved in your local tech and startup community and you are convinced that your town is the best place in Canada to be starting a company.

    We want profiles of the best cities, towns and communities based on criteria such as

    • Cost of Living
    • Existing community of startups
    • Previously successful individuals
    • Availability of talent
    • Angel investment activity
    • Government assistance availability

    But hey, you know why your hometown is the best place in Canada to get off your butt and start a tech company, so get in touch and we’ll send you a quick email with some criteria for your post.

    Just think of the fame of being a guest writer on StartupNorth!

  • Canadian Startups on Read/Write Web

    Heri Rakotomalala, of MontrealTechWatch wrote a fantastic post on Read/Write Web which profiles canadian web startups!

    MontrealTechWatch is quickly becoming my favorite canadian startup blog (besides Startupnorth of course!). I won’t recap the article here, head over to R/W Web and read it for yourself.

  • Yes, of course, we are on Facebook

    I took a few minutes to create a Facebook group for Startupnorth today.

    Join in and use the space to talk about Canadian Startups, running a company in Canada, and anything else related to startup life.

    Update: Wow, 90 members already. There is no doubt that there is a great community forming in the canadian startup scene. Keep it coming!

  • Reflections on MESH 2007

    MESH Logo The MESH gang pulled it off. There were some interesting sessions this year. Jim Buckmeister of Craigslist gave us the inside scoop including the number of pages served per kilowatt hour and why Craigslist will be sticking with their simple design. Austin Hill of Akoha is focusing on social entrepreneurship these days and we are eagerly awaiting Akoha?s launch. Ted Murphy of PayPerPost who Mike Arrington called ?the most evil man in the room? faced off with Mike for the first time in person. Christine Herron of First Round Capital discussed porn affiliate programs and got everyone?s attention. Will Pate our Community Evangelist Extraordinaire shared his Theory of Awesomeness. Rick Segal of JLA Ventures provided an interesting breakdown on the natural evolution of startups. But the best sessions were held in the hallways; next year, rather than pay $400 for a ticket, you might just want to hang in the lobby.

    At MESH there were 15 minutes of fame sessions that gave promising startups an opportunity to strut their stuff. We are going to be checking in with the featured startups at 15 days, 15 weeks, and 15 months to monitor their progress ? so stay tuned!

    Wild Apricot ? membership management web service.
    Contact: Dmitry Buterin, Chief Apricot

    SneakerPlay ? invite only social network for urban youth into street culture.
    Contact: Robleh Jama, Co-Founder

    ConceptShare ? online collaboration for creative professionals.
    Contact: Scott Brooks, Co-Founder

    Demofuse ? easily create and maintain website tours.
    Contact: Greg Thomson, Founder

    Octopz ? online collaboration for creative professionals.
    Contact: Barry Fogarty, Co-Founder

    Five Limes – user submitted eco-friendly products and services.
    Contact: Chris Sukornyk, Founder

    Throughout the conference a recurring thought went something like this: MESH is a once a year event. Nice as it was, it does not compare to what is really driving Toronto these days: the TorCamp Community. I am not sure what I would do without our DemoCamps, OpenCoffees, Skype Swarm, and OtherCamps. What I do know is that I am thankful, very thankful. We have a great community that is building something week in and week out. So the very first Startup North Golden Compass goes to? drum roll? the TorCamp Community.

    Golden Compass

  • The TVG is dead, Long Live Ventures

    The rumors are true, The Toronto Venture Group is no more.

    The TVG, like the Toronto Angel Group (which is probably dead too, more on this soon), is one of the many often-flirted with, rarely treaded on groups that court Canadian Startups to get on stage, or to send their business plans around. The effect on the startup was feeling more like they were being asked to take their pants off in the waiting room before going in to the Doctor’s office. More often than not, it was some sort of witch doctor behind the door anyway, and you would have kept your pants on if only you had known.

    That leaves us with a slew of angel groups who are all still asking Startups to take their pants off well in advance of a typical show-all timeframe for a real relationship.

    Do these groups actually work? One telling aspect is that many of them claim to model themselves after Silicon Valley groups. The problem is, there is no evidence (and conversations tell me otherwise) that these groups actually do many deals themselves. The world of Angel, Venture or other investment is about relationships. When you, as a startup, start to meet Angels and VCs, your focus should be completely on building a relationship with them, the deal can flow from that.

    There are always exceptions to the rule, I know that b5media was funded out of a TVG event in Toronto pretty quickly. I don’t know of any others though.

    Like I do our friends in the Den, I tend to question the value of these groups, especially the ones that charge upwards of 3000$ to the entrepreneur for participation (like First Angel Network), but it’s also important to recognize that the members of these groups can been keen, hungry and able investors. The trick is to pick them out of the pack and focus on dealing with the individual directly. Your $250,000 deal doesn’t need 4 weeks worth of legals holding it up when a simple note and issuance of shares could do the trick.

    The obituary after the jump. Who wants to sing the requiem?

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  • Sunday Startup Roundup – May 20 2007

    clubpenguinlogo.pngIt was a good week for Canadian startups, especially Club Penguin, who are in talks with Sony for at least 500 million. Not bad for a company from Kelowna, B.C. and that is less than 2 years old. Making millions and living in Kelowna — I don’t want to hear these guys complaining about startup life.

    Ourfaves was also profiled on techcrunch. Ourfaves is sort of like a beefed up Pursudo and not quite Yelp. Google still seems to beat them all.

    It appears that Mesh is a sell out show again this year. Despite a slip up in my Startup’s Guide to Mesh post where I called it a “small time conference”, I am a Mesh-booster now.

    Sean Wise posts about why some deals don’t get done on the Dragon’s den. He cites the following as reasons that the Dragon’s don’t invest in one business or another:

    1. Valuing what you have too much.
    2. Not offering the Dragons a significant equity position.
    3. Asking for too much cash
    4. Not having sales
    5. Not wanting to run the business.

    Those reasons are on par with a “it’s not you, it’s me” during a highschool breakup phonecall. Rather than pretending there is some formula, and one startup fits the formula and one doesn’t, why not just admit it’s all their gut and remind ourselves She just ain’t that in to you.

    Oh, and we missed it a few weeks ago, but Communicopia won a Webby award for Nothing but Nets. That is cooool.

    I am sure I have missed a whole slew of things — so please send in or comment below with whatever you’ve got to share.

  • The Startup's Guide to Mesh

    So, you are going to make the trip to the Mesh Conference in Toronto? Well, let’s take a look at it from a web startup’s point of view and see what we should, and shouldn’t, be doing.

    First off, how far along are you? If you are just in the idea stage, I suggest you get some screenshots done at the very least. You’ll want to have a laptop with you that you can whip open and start pouring the kool-aid with about your amazing product X.

    For the sanity of everyone else there, don’t try to be coy about your startup. If someone asks you a question, you should answer it right away. Do not humm and haw. If you don’t like their question, tell them straight up that you don’t want to, or can’t, answer that question. It saves them from thinking “what’s going on here” and it saves you 10 seconds of a racing heartbeat.

    Are you looking for funding? If so, figure out how much and who you want it from. Don’t waste too much time in the actual sessions, there are always smart people around to talk to.

    Please, take as good as you give. If you burst in to a conversation, or start a conversation with a pitch, nobody is going to listen to you. You will be that guy.
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  • No Better Time than Now

    mothermeasuring.gifEvery couple of weeks I get asked by someone if I think they should take the leap and really dedicate themselves to their idea. Is it a good time of year? Are they the right age? Do they have enough of a cushion?

    My advice is that there usually isn’t a good reason to quit a comfortable full time job to focus on a startup, and that you should be able to run a startup on the side until you know if it will fly or not.

    The bad thing about that advice is that I really don’t have a clue if it is good advice or not. I have been one of the lucky few who has always been working on a startup with my own great-to-good-to-mild-to-terrible levels of success.

    Statistically, most people take the leap and attempt a startup in their mid to late 30s. I’m not sure why that is, I suspect it is a big group of people who have been making nice salaries since their late 20s, have the house well on it’s way to being paid for, and have the college fund tucked away for the kids.

    When is the best time to attempt your first startup? I am going to take a leap and say that High School is actually the best time. There is absolutely zero risk, but there is generally absolutely zero capital as well. While you are in the teenage years induced haze you can be at your most creative, but you also have a low probability of completely executing on something, unless you are above average (which I expect you are).
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  • Off to a great start, thanks!

    startupnorth.png StartupNorth has gotten off to a great start. We are only just over 2 weeks old but already up to 300 visitors a day and about 80 (give or take) RSS subscribers according to FeedBurner.

    While these numbers are still tiny in the grand scheme of things, they are a respectable amount of growth in 2 weeks and I think it shows that there is a need out there for a place to talk about being an entrepreneur in Canada.

    startupnorth2.pngWe are going to focus on getting more west-coast content. As one of the most active startup regions in the country, BC really needs some coverage. We have also started to hunt for great startups in Atlantic Canada and I think we’ll all be surprised at the quality of the ideas coming from the east.

    So, keep the startups coming in and don’t hesitate to ask about contributing to the site. As the site’s popularity grows, we will all benefit from having a healthy community and we will try to find ways to make things less one-to-many and more about helping people connect.

  • Why I won't be on The Dragon's Den

    The Dragon’s Den on CBC is taking applications for startups who want to get funded on national TV.

    It probably seems like an OK idea to begin with. You fill out an application, show up in front of some cameras and pitch your company to a bunch of high-end angel investors that you would never have a chance to pitch to otherwise.

    In fact, for the startup community as a whole, The Dragon’s Den should be a good thing. It draws attention to the idea of starting your own business, makes it a little sexy and the show is balanced enough to show the failures along with the successes.

    It really is good entertainment, I’ll be watching every episode this coming season. If they want to really up the entertainment value, they should make Sean Wise the host — he would be much better than Dianne Buckner. Not that I mind Dianne.

    Would I take my startup on The Dragon’s Den? Not a chance in hell, and for a few reasons.

    The first reason is that you are being lumped in with a swath of absolutely ridiculous businesses, why let yourself be tainted by the Bikini Weenie or that umpire guy.

    The second reason is that you are giving up all control of the portrayal of your business. I don’t know about you, but when I go in to a “dragon’s den” to do a presentation, I take some comfort in knowing that I have control over how my business idea is communicated. By pitching on national television, you are letting an editor decide how your business should look, sound and feel. No deal!

    The third, and biggest, reason I wouldn’t think of going on the Dragon’s Den is because there is absolutely no incentive for the “Dragon’s” to make a good deal with me or my startup. Why? Because they aren’t there to make good investments. Judging by the tiny size of their investments, my guess is that the CBC offers them indemnity from loss up to a certain amount (the investments can go bad, and the CBC will compensate them).

    That may not be the case, but it doesn’t matter much anyway, because the real investment that the four investors are making is in themselves. If they lose 400k on investments on the show, that is still 400k well invested in raising their own national profile. The payoffs of being a TV star can, at times, be lucrative. Especially as these four behave a bit like their are thinking semi-retirement.

    So, you won’t see me there, but I’ll be glued to the TV!