StartupNorth

Category: StartupCamp

  • StartupCamp Waterloo 3 Recap

    This is a guest post by Mic Berman, one of the instigators of StartupCamp Waterloo. Thanks Mic!

    We had great turn out and interesting crowd, lots of new startups first time demonstrating in a public forum. The event was sponsored by TechCapital, WatStart, CommuniTech and SunStartup – thanks to those folks for supporting the community.

    We tried something different and hosted a panel at the start made up of Iain Klugman , Larry Borsato, Ali Asaria, Melanie Baker, Sandra MacDonald, and Gary Will. The basic question was “why, why do a startup?” The answers varied from why not to do one to a very philosophical approach by Ali that centred around passion and drive.

    The start ups that got to present (based on audience voting and time available) were:

    Semacode (on StartupIndex) – Simon showed off his technology for the first time. A fully integrated viral marketing based service integrated into FaceBook as a great way to manage events and conduct mobile marketing campaigns. The issues that came up in discussion were privacy (how does the user control information that is captured in their barcode/name tag), which target market they should go after (i.e., advertising/marketing/event type companies or the end user/enterprise running the event). Simon has partnered with SuitedMedia Inc to help them sell the service.

    Navarra run by Avery Pennarun was a somewhat controversial concept for outsourcing development of your founder ideas. The concept being they would charge a flat rate to develop against particular specifications provided by the “business founder”. Avery figures lots of business people/founders with great ideas need a good development shop to develop out their ideas. Issues that came up were: “are you mad?”, “that will never work”, and ” how will you ensure specifications are crystal?”. Maybe they are on to something (as is typically the case when faced with great controversy)?

    Clutterme presented by Mark Molckovsky & Alex Curelea was a totally fun demo of a cool technology that enables you as a user to instantly create a webpage that effectively becomes your “cork board” online. Great job to whomever did their brand and logo, as it so clearly defines what they’re up to. Their key questions of the audience were “what’s your business model?, how will you make money?”, usability issues, and how to get the word out there. They’ve asked for community support on testing their beta about to be released in 2 to 3 weeks. Check them out 🙂

    UbietyLab – Developed by local Waterloo professor, Todd Veldhuizen, demonstrated some very powerful visualization technology that quite frankly the audience was very impressed by with folks throwing out many many applications for its use. Hence the professor’s problem. What market with what offering, considering “I’m really doing this in my spare time and not really as a business person?”

    AdvertisingShowdown.com – I’m sorry guys, I missed this one because I was in conversation at the time (oops). The just is a powerful new online advertising metrics application. You can check out the recording of the presentation on www.spaetzel.com

    Let’sCube (which is currently a Firefox plug-in you can download) is an instant sharing technology for cool sites you want to share with your friends and for which you can receive results as the owner of the site that’s being shared. Differences between StunbleUpon, Digg, Twittr, etc and their service is they aggregate your interests into your own let’s cube page – so it pulls for you and filters by your friends. Does it go both ways? Can you share and pull? That was the biggest issue posed by the audience and yes, it does. Lots of other ideas about how to leverage the Firefox plug in to test additional features.

    IndigoFire presented by Karim Shaehata is solving the problem of website registration and sharing among friends real, business and otherwise. His product is not yet live (powerpoint presentation). Solving the problem of how you create differentiation among your usage across community sites like Facebook, Flickr, etc. for the people you want to share with and the public at large. Good questions and may be interesting technology yet to come 🙂 Kareem’s basic question was what are the potential business models for which the audience offered several alternatives e.g., server side, small user charge, middleware approach, etc. and would you use it?

    The audience participation rocked, thanks everyone who came and asked and offered great questions, suggestions and comments. You can check out a recording of the event on spaetzel.com

  • StartupCamp Toronto 2 – What we expect from you

    Pitching is never easy, and every pitch is different, but there are a few basic pieces of information that every audience would like to hear, so I decided to throw together an outline of the critical components that your pitch should cover.

    This is not an outline of your entire pitch, but a starting point to help you make sure that you have the most important parts in there.

    This is based on the audience feedback from StartupCampToronto 1.

    Market Analysis

    The audience needs to have some context. The easiest way to answer the majority of the audience?s questions is to define as tightly as possible who you plan to sell to.

    Relevant data includes

    • Estimated Market Size
    • Rough demographic information
    • Geographic limitations or focus
    • An idea of how your market will grow and change during the time you are targeting them

    Marketing Plan

    How will you communicate with your customers? ?We will get written about in blogs? is a popular but ultimately bad answer.

    If you have done the ?Market Analysis? work and have an idea of who you will be selling to, then the best way to get a decent first marketing plan is to look at the ways in which you can communicate with that market.

    Sales

    Not everyone will need this, but if your customers go through any sort of ?purchasing process? (ie: Enterprise customers, or small businesses), then it is a good idea to demonstrate how you will handle that sales process. What are your points of contact?

    How will you find a lead, test it and then follow through on communicating with them? Think about showing how you go from cold leads to getting the sales rolling in.

    Product Development Vision

    A lot of startups get so caught up in demoing what they have built so far that they forget to get people excited about what?s coming next. Telling people your vision for the product says a lot, but more than anything it shows that you aren?t going to sit still. People have trouble getting excited about a startup that has built something great but might not do much of interest going forward.

    • How will your product change?
    • How will the market change?
    • How will the product address that change?

    Don?t be that guy

    Occasionally there is a really smart group of people who have the product nailed, but are weak on the marketing and biz dev side of the startup. If you fit that profile, the audience is going to be hard on you about this, so you have to prepare to be as open as possible to the advice you will get.

    What you don?t want to do is to become defensive and start relying on the product as your savior in each case ?it will sell itself?, etc.

    Don?t be ?that guy? who won?t admit his shortcomings. Knowing your weaknesses is a critical part of being a great entrepreneur. So get real about where you fall down and get ready to be grilled about it.

    Relax

    Relax. Startupcamp could be the opportunity of a lifetime for your startup. Mentors, investors and other entrepreneurs (who may be your most valuable connection) are all there to help you build something great. So relax, you are among friends.

    Our Sponsors

  • StartupCamp Toronto 2 – Voting Season

    Applications are in, which means voting season has arrived! 12 startups have applied to pitch, so check them out, they look like a great bunch! If you have a ticket, you’ll shortly receive an email invitation to vote for 5 of the following startups to pitch at StartupCamp. If you don’t have a ticket, you can try to sway voters’ opinions in the comments!

    RaceDV
    RaceDV provides custom video coverage of motorsport events to the regular track day enthusiast through proprietary technology starting with in-car video and web.

    Chide.It
    Chide.it is a web tool that allows anyone to solicit constructive feedback from friends and the community anonymously.

    Alertle
    ?I just found your feed reader, and I think it?s revolutionary! I used Google Reader a long time ago, but I signed up to Alertle right after the demo.?

    LoyaltyMatch
    Social commerce trading platform for converting frequent flier points/miles to cash.

    BrainPark
    Brainpark is a white-label solution for the enterprise. We help individuals learn from the collective intelligence of their organization. Think twitter meets delicious with a social recommendation system. We are in development and enter closed alpha testing phase in April 2008.

    Natural Semantic Modules
    Natural language based engine for web self-service and social networking markets.

    Thriftopia
    Thriftopia is a social enterprise providing green technology disposal services. Current customers include STAPLES Business Depot, Casino Rama, and The Simcoe County District School Board. The company plans to expand through selling franchise collection centers.

    Level Social
    Enabling businesses to better leverage the social web.

    Celltrigen Inc
    postbyME is a LBS mobile social networking mobile community for browsing & posting user generated multimedia news & events with geo tags.

    SocialDeck
    SocialDeck is a social gaming company that is working to bridge the gap between the mobile and web spaces. Our product is a platform that enables multi-player gaming in a device independent manner: mobile to mobile, mobile to web, and web to web.

    AskKinjo
    AskKinjo uniquely integrates advertisements with location-based services. Our mobile information offers free, ubiquitous, off-deck relevant content, in audio.

    MyVine
    MyVine (soon to be rebranded to mywebvine.com) is an application that is used to create and manage a referral program for a business.

    Our Sponsors

  • StartupCamp Toronto 2 – Last release of tickets

    startupcamplogo_small1.pngWe have put more Entrepreneur and Guru tickets up for grabs for StartupCampToronto 2.

    It is looking like a great night and it is your chance to hear from some new startups and we also have Leila Boujnane lined up to speak.

    The format for StartupCamp is simple: 5 Startups will have 5 minutes each to pitch themselves. The audience will then have twice as much time to grill them on everything from their marketing plan to the product itself.

    The 5 startups will be selected in advance.

    If you want to get feedback on your business plan, then fill out the form available here by Sunday, April 13th.

    The event will be held on Tuesday April 29th at The Carlu in Toronto. We are putting on this StartupCamp during CIX, which is a new conference with a focus on connecting VC ready startups and VCs.

    Because of the limited venue size and the nature of the event, these tickets are ONLY available to individuals with a startup of their own or “gurus” who are able to contribute from expertise in some domain. See the ticket descriptions for details. Tickets may be revoked when we look over the list. Sorry, but we have to do this.

    Our Sponsors

  • Presenting companies announced for CIX 2008

    If you are going to have a beauty contest (or not), the contestants may as well be good looking, and CIX seems to have delivered. I have to admit that I didn’t even think the list would turn out this well. There is a cross section of everything from startups to companies looking for follow-on rounds.

    There has been some debate recently about the value of events like CIX, and I have to admit, I have not been easy on similar events in the past, but I have to say that I think it is time to move on. If you think CIX is all about a bunch of companies getting up and presenting, then you are wrong. I think of CIX more like a DEMO or Techcrunch 50 for the Canadian community, and that is something we need.

    More than that, a lot has changed in the Canadian Startup community in the last year, and this is a chance to start putting more names to faces, and for more shy startups to start coming out of the shadows. It is also a chance for the Venture Capital community to pull back the curtains and start connecting more closely with the community.

    We are using the CIX space to put on a second StartupCamp. So if you didn’t get a chance to get your name out there at CIX itself, make sure you put your name in the hat for StartupCamp.

    The list of presenting companies was released today, you saw it here first!:

  • Reminder: CIX and StartupCamp Deadlines

    Time is running short to apply to pitch at CIX, and also to get help with your pitch at StartupCamp.

    The deadline to apply to CIX is April 4th, you can apply here. It is worth noting that the pricing structure has changed based on feedback and it is now half the price it used to be for startups who present.

    StartupCamp Toronto 2 is happening at the same time as CIX, and you can apply to present here, you have until Sunday April 13th for that one.


    We’d like to thank our first confirmed sponsor as well, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, as well as service providers who have purchased tickets: Mike Middleton (Q1Capital Partners) and Frances Fast (Q1Capital Partners), and Daniel Shapiro (Microsoft)

  • StartupCamp Montreal 2 – May 15th, 2008

    startupcamp_eve2.jpg

    StartupCamp Montreal 2 has been announced. It is taking place May 15th and will be at the SAT again. I am a little sad that I will have to miss it because of another conference, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun!

    Make sure you sign up, and if you are a startup, you should consider presenting. StartupCamps are one of the few places you can get no-holds-barred feedback on your business plan. If you are interested in presenting, add yourself to the wiki.

    Date : May 15th, 2008
    Time : 6pm to 10pm EST
    Location : SAT РSoci̩t̩ des arts technologiques

    They are really stepping it up for this event as well and will provide a bunch of help and support for the startups that are chosen to present.

    1) The top five startups selected to present at the event will have the opportunity to participate in a one-day pre-event workshop session. The goal being to have ?pitch? experts help the companies prepare ahead of the event. The workshop will be hosted by Austin Hill, John Stokes, Vincent Guyaux, and 2 other VC / marketing experts.

    2) Presenting companies will have 8 minutes to present, with 10 minutes of follow-up questions from the event Gurus and the audience.

    3) We will have ambassadors on hand prior to the event and during the event to help with match making and networking.

  • CIX – Canadian Venture Capital Meetup

    cix.pngBack in June, StartupNorth was one of the first places to break the story of the death of the Toronto Venture Group. Every year the TVG had an event called the “Venture Forum”, which died when the TVG was shut down.

    It didn’t take long for the gap to get filled in however, and soon enough the CIX was announced. The premise is largely the same: Companies are pre-selected to pitch a room full of VCs who will presumably think about funding some of them. You need to apply to present, and then your company will be vetted by a selection committee. The cost to attend and present (if you are chosen) is about $1,000 in total, or $495 if you are just attending.

    Is CIX worth attending?

    This conversation got kicked off today on David Crow’s blog after David posted about CIX, Ali Asaria, the guy behind Well.ca, suggested that $500-$1,000 was actually a lot of money for a startup, no matter what stage they are at.

    It is true, $1,000 is a lot of cash, but the truth is: it isn’t too much. The question here isn’t about money, it is about value. Will you get anything out of 2 days in a conference full of other people who are trying to make this ship sail in Canada? I think you will. The thing is: It is completely up to you. You can find the agenda for the two days here.

    To make the best of this event you need to come at it with the right frame of mind: Make as many connections as possible, tell as many people as possible about your startup as you can, and finally, get as much advice as possible.

    In the run up to CIX we will have a few posts about kicking butt at CIX, for both the VCs and the Entrepreneurs.

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    StartupCamp

    There is also StartupCamp, which we are putting on for free during CIX. We decided to do this because it will give a chance for the startups presenting at StartupCamp to get exposure to a crowd that doesn’t always come out to these events.

    Where companies that present at CIX will be somewhat established and will have already figured out their pitch, StartupCamp is for companies who are still trying to work out the details of their business plan.

    You can fill out this form to apply to pitch at StartupCamp. We’d love to have some unknown but awesome startups to show off!

    You can register for CIX here.

  • StartupCamp Toronto 2 – Tuesday, April 29th

    startupcamplogo_small1.pngStartupCamp Waterloo 2 was another big success, and we had a blast at StartupCamp Montreal, so we thought it was time we had another StartupCamp here in Toronto.

    The format for StartupCamp is simple: 5 Startups will have 5 minutes each to pitch themselves. The audience will then have twice as much time to grill them on everything from their marketing plan to the product itself.

    The 5 startups will be selected in advance.

    The event will be held on Tuesday April 29th at The Carlu in Toronto. We are putting on this StartupCamp during CIX, which is a new conference with a focus on connecting VC ready startups and VCs.

    The first run of tickets are available here. We will post more information as things come together.

    Sponsors

    Our kickoff sponsor is the Canadian Innovation Exchange.  If you are interested in sponsorship options, please get in touch.

    cix.png

  • StartupCamp Waterloo 2 – Tuesday February 26th

    startupcamplogo.pngJust a reminder that next week on Tuesday February the 26th is StartupCamp Waterloo. We will announce the next StartupCamp Toronto there and hopefully a few other things as well.

    Austin Hill will be kicking things off and I expect that the pitches will be as much fun as last time. The thing I really liked about StartupCampWaterloo (and what we tried to achieve in Toronto) was how laid back things were and how “green” the pitches were.

    I can’t wait to hang out and meet some more aspiring Waterloo startups.