StartupNorth

Category: British Columbia

  • Indochino goes big, raises $4m in capital

    We first covered Indochino when they launched back in 2007. To say I was excited would be an understatement and anyone who knows me knows I have been advertising their stuff to anyone who will listen since then. The news has finally landed that they have closed a $4million round led by Madrona Ventures.

    Indochino is also one of the original Boris Wertz Deals™ and was further backed by Wertz’ Burda Digital relationship.

    More than anything we have seen Kyle and the team remain true to their vision over the years and while I am sure they have hit their share of bumps along the way, they have never wavered in their dedication to their concept.

  • Social Intranet Summit Vancouver

    One of my favorite startups in the last few years has been ThoughtFarmer. Every few weeks I check in on them and think “Microsoft hasn’t bought them yet?”. ThoughtFarmer’s social intranet is easily the most polished out-of-the-box experiences in the Social Business Software world right now. They have decided to put on a conference in Vancouver, which is coming up very soon. There are a few spots left and we were able to get a discount code that will give you $100 off, even this close to the event.

    Conference speakers include Dion Hinchcliffe, Enterprise 2.0 blogger for ZDNet and Senior Vice President for my old company Dachis Group; Stewart Mader, noted wiki expert ; Andy Jankowski, Director of Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF) North America; Bert Sandie, Director of Technical Excellence at EA; and Dan Pontefract, Senior Director and Head of Learning at TELUS.

    You can see the full speaker list on the conference website.

    **Receive a $100 discount using STARTUPNORTH as the promo code**

    Oh, and check out this hilarious video to promote their newest addons for ThoughtFarmer. It is an example of low cost but effective product education and marketing by a bootstrapped startup. Steve Ballmer makes an appearance as well.

  • Open House at Bootup Labs

    Bootup LabsJevon, Jonas and I are all heading to Vancouver for Grow Conference happening Aug 19-21, 2010. But I’m hear in Vancouver hanging out at Bootup Labs.

    Bootup Labs is holding open office hours this week. Basically if you’re a startup and you’re in Vancouver and you want need some touchdown space, you should visit Bootup Labs.

    Bootup Labs
    163 West Hastings Street
    Vancouver, BC

    David Crow at Bootup Labs
    Hanging out in the middle of Bootup Labs

    This is a fantastic place. There is a fantastic vibe. There seems to be real evolution and growth of Bootup Labs since the dark days. I’ve been hanging out the past day or so with:

    There are a lot of companies, entrepreneurs and things to like happening at Bootup. I am really impressed with a few things.

    1. The space – it is gorgeous. It’s the right mix of location and finish. The offices are safe, comfortable, and interactive. There’s a great mix of open working areas, private meeting rooms, a kitchen and private offices with sliding doors. The natural light. And it’s nice but not posh. As companies demonstrate traction, there is incentive to find different space, for example Dimerocker has moved out. Having Mozilla and Strutta as “anchor tenants” also reduces the risk to Bootup Labs. It also means that there’s a lot of fun interesting people flowing through.
    2. The location – it is right on the edge of Gastown. There is a great mix of restaurants and other things going on. I had breakfast at the Medina Cafe just around the corner from the office (best breakfast I’ve ever had). There’s the Fluevog store. It’s a great neighbourhood that has come a long way since I first visited Bryght in 2005.
    3. The companies – all of these companies and the entrepreneurs working there are pushing really hard and demonstrating traction. There are exits, see Layerboom acquired by Joyent. And there are a lot of good things happening.

    My recommendation is that if you’re in Vancouver you come hang out at Bootup Labs with us. Ping me @davidcrow or @startupnorth or just drop by 163 West Hastings St in Vancouver. I’ll be here until August 20.

  • Twitter acquires Smallthought (the dabbleDB people)

    Twitter announced today that they are acquiring Smallthought, the company behind DabbleDB and Trendly.

    About 4 years ago, Avi Bryant landed at Democamp 5 and blew us all away. Not only did he show off one of the sexiest apps we had seen yet, his demo set the bar for everyone that came after.

    This does not seem to be a large acquisition by any stretch, and neither side is playing it up as such, but it is a well deserved kudos to Avi and the team for what they have built.

    It is hard to argue: For Canada: it sucks. More of our top talent going south and disappearing from the Canadian scene.

    Those days are over however, with the C100 and an increasingly healthy startup community here in Canada, there will be many opportunities for the Avi’s of our community to contribute back, and perhaps return some day better than ever.

  • Grow – A Conference – Aug 19-21, 2010

    Grow 2010
    Our friends at C100 and Bootup are bringing Dealmaker Media to Vancouver for a great event in August. If you don’t know Dealmaker, you should. It’s run by a Canadian, Debbie Landa. They produce 2 of the most valuable events for startups in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles – check out Under the Radar for a list of events and companies.

    Dealmaker MediaThey are producing an event, Grow 2010, in Vancouver on August 19-21, 2010.

    The event is a 3 day event with an invite-only Day 1 to connect Canadian founders with the best and brightest from Silicon Valley and across CAnada. Days 2 & 3 feature great speakers and the opportunity to build unique lasting relationships.

     If you’re an entrepreneur and you missed MeshU in Toronto (and it’s really too bad, this was one of my favourite events of the past 2 years), you should attend Grow 2010. Buy your ticket today and it’s $185, if you miss the super early bird (or as I like to call it the just getting in from a late night), you can grab an early bird ticket for only $230. This is unbelievable! Add in an approximately $700 flight it’s possible to do this for less than $1500. It’s worth the opportunity to meet the companies, build the connections, and help grow your company.

    We’ll be coordinating shared hotel rooms for entrepreneurs from Toronto, Montreal, Waterloo, Ottawa, Halifax and anywhere. If you’re not local to Vancouver we’ll help you find a shared room to manage your costs. Add a comment if you are attending and we’ll try to help you find a roommate.

  • Bootup 2.0 – Now with less Boris

    We kept pretty mum about the recent mess at Bootup Labs that culminated with a Techcrunch piece and a “I’m Sorry” post from Danny Robinson, one of Bootup’s founders.

    I was ready to get some nails and start sealing the coffin of Bootup. The whole scenario has been a huge credibility killer for Bootup and I am sure it has been tough on the community in Vancouver.

    Before I started hammering away at those nails however, I decided to reach out to Boris Wertz. Boris Wertz is a bit of a sage and I figured he would have a sense of what was going on. It was then that I found out that Boris W would be joining the board of Bootup and would be helping to back it.

    Danny Robinson posted yesterday that the other Boris, one of the original founders, would be leaving Bootup. I’m not going to speculate on what caused this, but it does seem like everyone at Bootup have committed to doing whatever it takes to get this thing back on the rails.

    So here is my endorsement for the new Bootup. Vancouver needs Bootup as much as Bootup needs Vancouver, and with these recent changes I hope that the Vancouver community can get behind Bootup 2.0 as well. I expect that it will take a while, and Bootup will suffer greatly for it, but time will hopefully heal all wounds.

    Vancouver is truly one of the best cities in the world, and I know that the startup community there will continue to live up to that reputation. It is a unique place, with a unique startup community and set apart in Canada. Vancouver is a lynchpin of change and I hope a city that leads the charge in rebuilding the definition of what it means to be a startup in Canada.

  • We have maple syrup and beer

    I was reading Anil Dash’s New York City is the Future of the Web post over the weekend, and there is a great list of startups (and funders) based in NYC. The list is pretty impressive starting with the money folks including Union Square Ventures and Fred Wilson to Founders Collective and Chris Dixon. The startups Foursquare, Hunch, Etsy, Kickstarter, and 20×200. I was starting to think that the grass might be greener in NYC. But I was reminded of the great things going on in Canada when I was redirected to the 2009 Canadian New Media Awards finalists.

    cnma-finalists-announced

    There is a great list of companies that are finalists for the CNMA. You can round this list out with the great list of companies announced as part of the CIX Top 20.  There are a lot of great Canadian startups that continue to execute, find customers, and raise their profiles internationally.

    These companies show the breadth of solution and corporate development of the Canadian startups. The startups are spread across the country, but entrepreneurs in Canada are building great things. Feeling good about the state of startups, hoping that Canadian funding scene continues to evolve, and that these companies continue to have the opportunities to change the world.

  • Backbone Magazine’s Top 20 Web 2.0

    Backbone Magazine announced their “PICK 20 round of Canada’s leading Web 2.0 pioneers” that includes 4 companies form our list of web startups to watch, it’s a great list of Canadian technology companies and startups.

    The List

    1. FreshBooks, Toronto
    2. Myca Health, Quebec City
    3. CoveritLive, Toronto
    4. Viigo, Toronto
    5. Radian6, Fredericton
    6. Filemobile, Toronto
    7. BoardSuite, Toronto
    8. NowPublic, Vancouver
    9. Tungle, Montreal
    10. HootSuite, Vancouver
    11. ThoughtFarmer, Vancouver
    12. AfterCAD Online, Vancouver
    13. TeamPages, Vancouver
    14. The Manufacturing Innovation Network, Kitchener
    15. Well.ca, Guelph
    16. Clarity Accounting, Vancouver
    17. Voices.com, London
    18. Taglocity, Vancouver
    19. PollStream, Toronto
    20. Pixton, Vancouver

    The majority of the startups on the PICK20 list are in Vancouver (8) and Toronto (5). It’s a great list of Canadian startups.

  • New Ventures BC Competition is now open

    new ventures bc competitionNew Ventures BC is a competition for BC startups that has been running since 2003. The competition is open to new companies that have “not yet secured significant financing from “outside investors” (ie. investors other than friends, family, and company founders)”. The competition costs $100 to enter and is open to B.C.-based privately held companies (full eligibility requirements).

    Registration for the 2009 New Ventures BC Competition is now open! Competition deadline is April 20th, 11:59pm.

    REGISTER NOW

    The new 2009 prize structure includes:

    • $120,000 British Columbia Innovation Council First-prize package
    • $63,000 British Columbia Innovation Council Second-prize package
    • $37,000 British Columbia Innovation Council Third-prize package
    • BC Hydro Sustainability $40,000 prize
    • BC Bioenergy Network $20,000 prize
    • British Columbia Innovation Council Economic Impact $20,000 prize

    If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur with a new technology business idea, join us!

    For details and to register for the competition, visit http://www.newventuresbc.com or call 604-725-5740.

    Competition deadline is April 20th.

    The questions and evaluation criteria are very interesting set of metrics for any startup looking to raise money. The questions are not all encompassing, but they are an extremely complete list of the types of discussion that is required during the initial fund raising. Check out Round 2: Feasability Test and Round 3: Venture Plan of the Contest Rules for details about what your business plan should cover.

    1. Product/Service: Describe your product or service and the nature of the technology.
    2. Technology Development: Describe the development stage of your product/service.
    3. Team: Describe your company’s strengths and weaknesses. List the credentials of your technical and management teams, and if applicable, advisors and board of directors. If you don’t have a team, describe the key positions and critical skill sets that you need to add.
    4. Business Plan Status: What research has been conducted, what remains to be done, and how and when you anticipate doing so. What key sources are included to document and support your plan?

  • Yaletown Ventures closes $65M

    It might be the end of the world as we know it for venture capitalists. But Vancouver VC, Yaletown Venture Partners, announced their $100M Second Fund with $65M closing today. The fund is focused on early-stage investing in clean tech and IT in Western Canada.

    "The support that Yaletown has earned for its first two funds in extremely challenging market conditions, from institutional and technology industry insiders alike, is a strong endorsement of this team and its investment strategy," said Haig Farris, retired co-founder of Ventures West and one of Canada’s most respected angel investors.

    This quote by the retired cofounder of Ventures West says it all. A strong investment team with a strong thesis can raise money in down times. This is true of entrepreneurs and startups. Good ideas, good businesses and great execution make it easier for startups to raise money even in tough times.

    Yaletown has done a number of IT investments including: