StartupNorth

Category: StartupEmpire

  • StartupEmpire – Pitch coaching

    Last week I was at the StartupEmpire conference. Thanks to Jevon, David, Rick and everybody else who helped in putting the conference together. It was a great demonstration of how the local tech community can come together to help entrepreneurs.

    One session of particular interest was the ‘insta-pitch’ session. In this, 5 companies came up on stage to give a 2-4 minute pitch. They then received candid feedback from a panel of VCs on what was good / not good about their pitches. First off, kudos to the companies that took this opportunity to do their pitch and be willing to receive the panel’s feedback in a public forum. However, as was mentioned by the panel, the pitches all needed work. Being able to successfully secure funding is an important factor in the success of a startup and this all starts off with being able to pitch well.

    So, in the spirit of interactivity, lets try something out. E-mail me your pitches in the form of a powerpoint presentation. I’ll select and post some of the good ones to show examples of good pitches. For the non-so-good ones, I’ll give some suggestions for improvement and post the before / after.

    A few guidelines:

    Keep it to 6 slides of content.

    If you are in stealth mode, feel free to doctor the name of the company / facts but just let me know this is not real.

    Craft the pitch as an initial pitch (i.e. one you would give to an angel group selection committee or use to get a meeting with a VC). Your goal is to give a brief overview of all important aspects of your company & build interest and excitement that people will want to spend the time to learn more about the opportunity in a more detailed follow on meeting.

    The standard no-harm rule applies.

    craig (at) mapleleafangels.com

  • Wish you were there… StartupEmpire Roundups

    StartupEmpireStartupEmpire rocked! Here are some roundups in case you couldn’t make it: Flow Ventures takeaways, BlogTO learned why now is a great time to start a tech company, Joey Devilla has excellent summaries of Don Dodge, Hugh MacLeod, David Cohen, Rick Segal, and Howard Lindzon’s keynotes. Listen to Ken Seto’s recordings of StartupEmpire keynote presentations. And here is Don Dodge’s pre-conference interview on CBC Radio.

  • StartupEmpire: Thanks, that was fun.


    Well, it’s over. StartupEmpire was, by most measures, a success. Almost 300 people in total come by to either the conference and/or the after party and we didn’t lose our shirts in the process.

    I would be lying if I told you that putting StartupEmpire together was easy or even fun (despite the title of this post!). It wasn’t. We struggled with the format, got it wrong, and then had to re-iterate the whole thing in the final stretch. Taking a conference from 2 days to 1 day, and changing venue basically doubles the work.

    We stubbornly pushed forward with the conference for a few reasons, but the biggest one was because of what we saw by the time everyone had piled in to those just-a-little-too-small chairs on the dance floor of This Is London at 9am. The crowd everything I had hoped it would be, a mishmash of students, entrepreneurs, angels and VCs.

    A few people pointed out to me how this wasn’t the typical conference crowd, most people were taking notes like they were going to be tested on it, and the buzz during the breaks was unmistakable.

    There are some people I want to thank, personally, for what they did to help make StartupEmpire happen:

    Michele Perras put up with David and I and kept the rudder of the ship on course. Michele can run the entire operational side of a businessnes, but she is completely unique in that her abilities as an organizer/operator aren’t even her greatest strength: She is one of the most creative and biggest thinkers I know. When I dove in to minutia, she pulled me out.

    Jonas, who has written this blog with me for the last year and a half has been incredibly busy with his own startup these days. When I called him and said “I need your help”, I wasn’t sure he would even have time to step up for the all-hands-on-deck call, but he did. He swooped in and took over contract negotiations, managed a few pages of TODOs and logistics and was there with me unfolding chairs and carrying in stage boards on the night before the conference.

    David Crow, who couldn’t print name badges if his life depended on it, but who still takes the job every time. I’m not sure how Dave and I get ourselves in to these messes, but they usually work out. Dave is one of those guys who does what he says he will every time and comes back with more ideas.

    Rick Segal who stepped up with the idea for StartupSchool and said “let me run with it”. Rick took some of the most dry content of the day (legal, term sheets, etc) and made them a conversation.

    Howard Lindzon who said “do it” back in August when I mentioned the idea of a conference and put his name up to help lead the way.

    Robert Montgomery who helped me navigate a few mishaps and provided support when we needed it.

    The Student Volunteers. Wow, this was one of the most hard working and impressive group of folks we could have hoped for. They took the iniative as soon as they got there and filled in gaps we had left. From creating an ad-hoc system of responsibilities to a make-shift coat check, they handled it all and left me in awe. I’d hire these folks in a heartbeat. A few of them are involved with the upcoming Impact Conference, which looks fantastic.

    The Veterans, those in the crowd who have raised money, knew how to pitch and frankly just didn’t need some of the early-stage content that was on stage. It made me so proud to see some of the tech community’s most seasoned entrepreneurs who get it and were there not for who or what was on stage, but so that they could meet and help the other folks in the audience who are just getting started.

    Our sponsors, who got on board for this event before they knew what would happen with it, and who stuck around when things were changing daily. These companies and organizations are some of the few who truly believe in the tech community and who have proven they are ready to stick by it. When everyone is talking recession and doom and gloom, it is easy to run away and keep your money. Microsoft, HighRoad, Gowlings, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JLA, OCE all have my gratitude. I dreaded making some of those phone calls two weeks before the event, but they all said the same thing: The community needs this, we want to see it happen.

    Finally, all of you who bought tickets and believed we’d pull it off. I hope you weren’t dissapointed. I met some incredible people through the day and can’t wait to find out more about what you have up your sleeve.

    Most of all, I am thankful to my wife Laurel, who did nothing but support me as I was going between making this conference happen and bringing Firestoker in to one of its most exciting periods yet. At times it was 2+ full time jobs.

    Startups in Canada are not dead, investment in Canada is not dead, smart ideas and innovative companies are not gone. We are just getting started, that is something I believe more than anything right now.

  • Congratulations to the 10 Winners of the StartupEmpire Contest

    Thank you to everyone who submitted entries to the StartupEmpire giveaway. The quality of the writing and thinking was excellent and it was inspirational hearing so many people wanting to further their entrepreneurial careers. Our hats off to all of you.

    While our selection criteria was by no means perfect, we did consider things like the quality of the writing, the uniqueness of the product, whether the person was applying based on need or because they forgot to buy tickets in advance 🙂 and whether they met the submission deadline.

    We only had 10 tickets to giveaway unfortunately so Raymond Luk and I had to make some tough choices. The good news for anyone who wasn’t selected is that there have never been more entrepreneurial events happening across Canada. We hope to meet all of the companies at one of these events at some point in the future.

    So here is the list of winners (in alphabetical order):

    Congratulations everyone. We’ll see you all at the conference in a few days.

    I would like to thank Raymond Luk & Flow Ventures for helping me organize and sponsor this contest.  Flow Ventures is active in the Canadian Startup scene and participating in the Canadian angel investing community.  Both my companies Akoha and Standout Jobs do work with Raymond and his firm.  They are great partners for startups.

    We also want to thank Angelsoft for the contribution of a number of OpenDeal coupons to allow companies to submit their fundraising needs to their network of angel investors.   We will be announcing the winners of the AngelSoft packages at the conference.   I’m now using Angelsoft at three of the venture funds/angel networks I’m a member of.  They have over 400 angel & VC funds using the software with almost 14,000 investors.  This is a great resource for entrepreneurs looking to raise funding and we are thankfull for their support of this contest.

  • Network after hours at StartupEmpire

    microsoftbizspark

    Jevon nailed it.

    The most important part of any conference is in how you meet other people who are attending, and this is a great chance to get a head start on that.

    StartupEmpire sold out last Monday. We’ve been working with my gang at Microsoft BizSpark to build an additional opportunty for people to come together, meet the people attending, the people building new startups, and get a head chance to network your faces off.

    Purchase a BizSpark After 6pm Ticket to gain access for dinner and drinks with attendees, speakers, sponsors and others in the community. The tickets are $10 each and include access to the networking event and 2 drinks tickets.

  • Want to meet fellow StartupEmpire attendees?

    We have teamed up with EventVue.com to provide a place to attendees of StartupEmpire to connect and share with eachother.

    If you have a ticket for StartupEmpire you should have recieved an invitation right now to log in to the event site where you can fill out your own profile. Be sure to add your blog and twitter accounts, as EventVue will bring them in so other attendees can see what you have to say.

    The most important part of any conference is in how you meet other people who are attending, and this is a great chance to get a head start on that. I have heard a lot of feedback from people that having tools to help them arrange meetings in advance of an event has been really useful.

    Specifically I know that a lot of people made good use of the Arrange Meeting tool at CIX last year.

    Just over 50% of attendees have signed up on EventVue so far, and we are hoping to get that number up so that it will be more valuable to everyone.

  • All you need is a blog to market your product? You’re so wrong.

    We can’t wait to get started with the StartupEmpire conference on November 13 in Toronto, so we thought we’d pass the time by talking to a Canadian startup entrepreneur who has managed to grow his business from a two-man shop to 27 employees – and counting.

    Mike McDerment, the CEO of Toronto-based FreshBooks, has agreed to talk about some of the things he learned as an entrepreneur since starting his online invoicing and time-tracking service that has so far attracted more than 500,000 users in 100 countries.

    In part 1 of this 5 part video series, Mike talks about blogs and marketing. His take:

    Do you agree or disagree with Mike? Watch the video and discuss with him and other entrepreneurs at the StartupEmpire conference.

    I would like to thank our sponsors who have been understanding and who have helped out in many ways.

    PriceWaterhouseCoopers

    Ontario Centers of Excellence,

    Gowlings

    and JLA Ventures.
    Visit www.startupempire.ca for more information on the conference and to register.

  • StartupEmpire is sold out

    The only opportunity to get a ticket now is to put your entry in to Austin’s giveaway.

  • 10 Free Entrepreneur Packages for Startup Empire – A Contest

    Guest post by Austin Hill, CEO of Akoha & Founder of Brudder Ventures.

    I’m really pleased to be speaking at Startup Empire on November 13th in Toronto.   I’m going to be running a hands on workshop for entrepreneurs entitled “Slow down &  Speed Up – Managing A Startup in Turbulent Times”.

    In my workshop I’ll be sharing some strategies & tools for the following aspects of your business,

    • Avoiding the wall – Raising Cash and Extending Runways in a Economic Downturn .
    • Risk Reduction Roadmap Planning, linking financing, scenario planning & risk reduction.
    • Performing Honest Assessments of your Market, Team & Capabilities to Win.
    • Who is investing now in Canada?

    Jevon McDonald & David Crow have put together a great line up of speakers and sponsors.

    The organizers have recently dropped the price to a very affordable price of $69 for the entire day conference.

    At the same time I know many entrepreneurs who watching budgets & may not feel they can afford to attend (travel & conference fees) so we are announcing a quick contest for entrepreneurs interested in joining us at the conference.

    FlowVentures, AngelSoft and Brudder Ventures StartupEmpire Contest

    In the spirit of creating great opportunities for entrepreneurs I have partnered with my friend Raymond Luk from FlowVentures and the team from AngelSoft to sponsor 10 entrepreneurs to get the following packages.

    • A free pass to StartupEmpire.
    • A copy of Guy Kawasaki’s brand new book Reality Check which I recently read and is a great collection of essays & practical advice on many of the aspects of running a startup.
    • A copy of Randy Komisar’s “The Monk and the Riddle” one of my favourite startup books which is a quick read about startups & finding meaning as an entrepreneur written during the last tech collapse.
    • A $100 credit towards any travel costs you incur to attend (To help out of town attendees get to Toronto.  If you win & are in Toronto we’ll ask you to donate your travel subsidy to one of the other winners who are travelling farther)
    • Angelsoft has donated a number of discounted and free applications to their OpenDeals program where you can submit your company to be viewed by over 10,000 angel groups.  These will be given to startups that apply and qualify as companies looking for funding ($100-$250 in value).

    The contest is open to any entrepreneur, startup or aspiring entrepreneur who working building a technology startup.

    To enter the contest all you need to do is send an email to startupempire [@] brudderventures.com answering the following 3 questions.   Submissions must include your contact information, URL & Company contact details (if applicable) and should not exceed 1 page per answer.

    1. If you are a startup tell us about your company, size, market, product and what stage you are at in your growth. (If you are not part of a formed startup but) If you are an entrepreneur, programmer or aspiring entrepreneur tell us about your background, your plans as an entrepreneur.  Tell us what you’ve done to advance your entrepreneurial aspirations.
    2. Why do you want to attend Startup Empire – what do you want to accomplish there?
    3. What are the 3 questions that you would want answered by any of the speakers @ StartupEmpire?

    All entries should be received by this Saturday November 8th.

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  • Microsoft BizSpark – Software and Support for Startups

    Microsoft is launching a new program focused on helping Startups get up and running. The program is called BizSpark and according to Microsoft, the biggest benefits are

  • Software. Receive fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. There is no upfront cost to enroll.
  • Support. Get connected to Network Partners around the world — incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters — that are equally involved and vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship who will provide a wide range of support resources
  • Visibility. Achieve global visibility to an audience of potential investors, clients and partners

    • Basically, you enroll and are given access to a almost all the nessecary server and development software you need. The server licenses are even prouduction grade, so you can deploy (from what I can tell) cheaply. You are getting a high end MSDN subscription and a lot more, all for free.

    My first few startups were Microsoft-based. Believe me, things have changed. We used to have to scrape together $6000, $12000 or $18000 to pay for MSDN subscriptions. That was always incredibly painful. Microsoft eventually announced a program (PowerISV) that brought down the cost, but was still really weak on support. BizSpark eliminates almost all the licensing/software costs involved in being a Microsoft Based startup.

    I am not going to get in to any religious wars here. 90% of the startups I see (at the early stage) these days are Open Source based. The reasons for going Open Source are obvious for many of them, but for others it is not such a simple decision. For those building software focused on businesses, Microsoft brings some very big opportunities to the table, especially with the Azure Services Platform.

    The other thing that tells me that Microsoft is starting to finally “get it” is that they don’t care if you are a 100% Microsoft based startup, or if you are Open Source based and just need to connect to Microsoft tools. The program is open to everyone.

    If you are coming to StartupEmpire, Microsoft is going to be throwing the after-party to celebrate startups and the new BizSpark program. There will be Microsoft execs on hand to answer your questions and to explain the program.

    In case you are wondering, no: this is not a pay-to-play post. Nobody from Microsoft asked me to write it. I believe this program stands on its own.