StartupNorth

Category: Nova Scotia

  • The Rise of Fashion E-Commerce and Man’s Escape from the Mall

    [Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Thomas Rankin. It is subset of his original post, which is a collection of thoughts and research compiled during some of the earliest exploration into the Dash Hudson business model. ]

    The Set-up

    E-commerce is on a rocketship, with clothing retailers and brands using technology to create new ways to engage with customers online. In fact, clothing and accessories is the fastest growing segment of e-commerce. A study done by Emarketer projects that online sales of clothing and accessories will continue to grow year over year at a rate faster than even the electronics and books segment, with sales reaching $73 billion by 2016.

    Don’t Forget the Dudes

    Despite the trope of women as fashion-obsessed shopaholics, men also have a desire to buy things they know they’ll look good in. However, most department stores and shopping malls are designed with the female shopper in mind, leaving men to fewer clothing options, particularly for those who are sartorially-inclined. This void, combined with growing presence of internet and mobile technology in fashion e-commerce, creates a perfect storm of opportunity for online brands and retailers that offer affordable, convenient, and fashionable options for men. According to research from Rakuten Linkshare, 83% of men surveyed prefer to shop online. Not only are men flocking to online retailers to get their new threads, but according to Chris Ventry, the general manager of Gilt Groupe’s GiltMan, men are out-shopping women by 20-30% in all areas of online shopping.

    Where the Boys Are: Men’s E-Commerce Companies

    A number of men’s e-commerce companies are cashing in on men’s interest in buying fashionable and trendy clothes online. Companies such as Frank & Oak, Bombfell and Trunk Club are at the forefront of offering a curated subscription service that makes shopping efficient for guys. Subscription commerce has proven popular with men who wish to avoid the complex decision making involved with shopping. Other online-exclusive fashion companies like Bonobos, Jack Threads, and Mr. Porter offer quality men’s fashion at various prices. Bonobos is for the guy who likes the crusts cut off his peanut butter sandwich, Jack Threads for the guy who likes crusty dive bars and Mr. Porter for the socialite upper crust. J.Crew is a well-known traditional unisex offline retailer that offers an expansive online selection for men. H&M, Uniqlo and Zara compete for the disposable fashion market at a lower pricepoint. Streetwear companies like Superdry, Saturdays Surf NYC, Need Supply Co., Union Made Goods, and Stussy offer casual and weekend wear for dudes that take their looks seriously. For the slightly avant garde, it’s all about the Nordic brands: Matinique, Norse Projects and Selected Homme are doing some of the best work in men’s fashion today.

    Beautiful Matinique people from Mantinique 2010 catalog.
    Beautiful people  from Mantinique 2010 catalog.

    Just Show me the Good Stuff

    Clearly the world has changed, as there are a growing number of fashion options for men. So many that it is easy for guys to get overwhelmed, like a child lost at Nordstrom. According to research from Rakuten LinkShare, 48% of young male shoppers between the ages of 18-25 are overwhelmed by the plethora of choices with online shopping. Refinement of those options is a serious challenge. A survey conducted by Dash Hudson indicated that more than 60% of guys aged 18-24 want social validation and recommendations before buying. This contrasts with women, where over 75% want to discover content on their own. Guys readily admit that they need help looking good, and want guidance on what to buy. For the sartorially interested male, the growth in popularity of social commerce sites has been a mixed blessing. Pinterest launched in 2010, giving consumers the ability to take part in a taste-based community that curates photos of fashion, food, architecture, hairstyles and many other things. Now social shopping companies like Wanelo, Fancy, Svpply, and Fab are making it easier for fashion-conscious shoppers to curate their style, draw inspiration from other users, and connect to their favourite stores and brands. A review of Alexa data shows that each of these shopping sites is much more likely to be frequented by female shoppers, something that is evidenced in their communities and user experiences.

    Mind the Gaps in the Market

    Despite the growth of men’s fashion e-commerce, there remains a great deal of room for innovation. Although social shopping companies like Wanelo and Pinterest allow users to curate their style, the plethora of available products can be overwhelming for the male shopper. Our research at Dash Hudson indicates that over 80% of men come to a shopping platform with the intent to buy as opposed to create content. The prevalence of dead and broken links in social shopping sites often interrupts the demonstrated intent. I am Jack’s complete frustration.

    Oops

     

    So close.

    New social marketplaces must solve the problem of enabling the customer to search great content and then convert intent into purchase. This is especially important in the case of the need and immediacy-driven male shopper.

    The Future of E-Commerce Is In Your Hands – Literally

    The trend of men shopping online will continue to grow with mobile shopping becoming the newest way to efficiently discover and purchase clothing. Mobile technology can capitalize on men’s desire to shop on the go, making the fashion e-commerce experience more efficient than ever. According to Forrester, mobile currently accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of all retail transactions. Yet for most online retailers, the big story is that mobile commerce is increasing at a rate of up to 185 percent. For men’s retailers who have caught the mobile wave (ahem, Jack Threads) this is great news. The DDB Lifestyle Survey in 2013 indicated, of men aged 18-34, 30% use shopping apps on their phone and 24% typically shop for and buy items on their smartphones. In the age of the digital urban lifestyle, convenience wins.

    Final Thoughts

    Experiences need to become tailored to how men shop by getting the best, most validated clothing in front of the shopper for their final purchasing decision. As more social shopping experiences become tailored for men, and as better retail products are built for mobile devices, male shoppers will start to feel the warmth of a market that finally understands them. At the end of the day, it’s all about being the coolest version of yourself. Finally, guys are being given the tools that make it fun and easy for this to happen.

  • Build launches in Atlantic Canada

    Wall art on the Build Ventures/Volta wall

    Patrick Keefe is announcing his new fund today called Build Ventures, a $50m early and mid stage fund based in Halifax.

    The guy is a Harvard MBA, an Oxford grad, former Atlas Ventures principal, Boston Consulting Group executive and he built over a dozen Starbucks coffee franchises which he then sold back to Starbucks corporate. When you meet Patrick and dig in to his background you start wonder where the hell this guy came from.

    What’s even better is that Build is the in-house fund at Volta, a new startup crash pad in Halifax that currently houses 10 startups. The fund has taken up residence at Volta and has been a key part of getting it started.

    The fund has just launched so it hasn’t announced any investments yet, but we are excited to see which deals they do first.

    Volta and Build are two big leaps for the startup community in Atlantic Canada and when you consider it alongside what has been happening in New Brunswick with Launch36 and Startup Week, as well as a recent string of big exits, it seems like things are accelerating incredibly quickly.

    The next major event is the Atlantic Venture Forum in June which is being keynoted by Paul Singh.

  • DemoCamp Halifax 3 – David Crow edition

    logoGreat news. Democamp is going back to its roots (it is happening at a bar this time) and Milan has lined up David Crow to speak. He will be in town because he is working with The Next Phase on some stuff so it seemed like a great time to put him to work.

    David is the co-founder of StartupNorth, founder of DemoCamp, co-founder of Nakama (ask him about this one… a wee bit ahead of its time), co-founder of Influitive and is currently in residence at OMERS Ventures. He has a better pulse on the Canadian Venture and Startup community than anyone else. He’s also a father to two of the sweetest little girls you will ever meet.

    This Democamp is going to be kept small and 100% focused on great demos from high potential startups. It will be a lot of fun. Think of it less as a conference and more like a chance to hang out with some friends. We are calling it Mini because we are getting rid of the frills but I promise the startups and their demos will be as BIG as ever.

    The event is free for Entrepreneurs and Students. We could use a few sponsors to cover costs, so please get in touch with Milan if you can help out. These sponsorships are a great value because they are just meant to keep the event out of the red.

    You can register on Eventbrite.

  • What you need to know about starting a startup in Atlantic Canada

    Building a product and growing a startup is a different experience no matter where you live. In many ways every startup experience is completely unique and totally predictable all at the same time. The goals, struggles, opportunities and outcomes are each different and geography is one other thing that can be thrown in the mix.

    Building a startup in Atlantic Canada IS different, for better and for worse, than Toronto, Austin, San Francisco or anywhere else.

    IF you want to build a competitive, scalable, high-potential startup in Atlantic Canada then here are some of the most basic things I think every entrepreneur here needs to learn:

    Get your butt on a plane

    It is hard to understate this. Your customers aren’t here. Your partners aren’t here. Your investors might not be here. It is the nature of the place and you need to accept it.

    Get on a plane and go see the people who are going to make your business, and you personally, successful. Every startup has different needs but it is best to err on the side of caution. If you are building an enterprise tech startup then you need to be in San Francisco. If you are building a media company then you had better be ready to spend time in New York. If you are selling to brands then I hope you like Atlanta and Minneapolis.

    If you are fundraising then this is even more important. I’ve seen entrepreneurs lose a financing round because of a single bad phone call. It sucks but body language and a few dinner tables can make all the difference. Get out there, the world wants to meet you.

    Government support doesn’t matter to the customer or your competitors

    There are some really great programs available to support tech startups around here. Non-dilutive and relatively flexible IRAP, ACOA and other agencies really can be a great option. The fact is though that you are competing against world class startups who aren’t waiting for an application to get approved and who don’t need their SR&ED credits to make their next hire. Your competitors are moving at a lightening pace and you can’t afford to sit around.

    You should be moving so quickly that you can hardly manage to get an application in for a project before you find yourself completing it. Government financing should be strictly secondary to acceleration capital which is going to help speed your execution.

    You don’t need to compromise

    Startups in Atlantic Canada should not compromise on anything. We don’t have to so we shouldn’t. We have been telling entrepreneurs not to put up with bad terms from local angel groups but the issue runs even more deeply than that. Focus on attracting the best investors and don’t put up with bad deals.

    There is a tendency to confuse “we are different” with “we deserve different” here and while it’s ok to BE different we don’t deserve anything less than the best.

    The talent pool is world class so you should hire world class

    I have hired in a lot of talent rich places and I can say without exception that we have some phenomenal talent in Atlantic Canada. Like recruiting anywhere it can be gruelling. I got lucky: I hired Ben Yoskovitz. I didn’t hire him as a recruiter but he does it in his sleep and it has helped us scale without compromise.

    Be picky and only hire those developers, designers, product owners and anyone else who you could drop in to a room in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo or Taipei and not have to worry about how awesome they will be. They are right here in your backyard to start looking and never hire less than awesome again. 

    … and finally

    You are expected to take on the world

    We do not need more me-toos and I’m not talking about lifestyle businesses here. Choosing to live and work in Atlantic Canada is not the easy road and it was never meant to be. We have built many world class companies here and we expect no less from you and your startup.

    Making a dent in the universe is not only doable, it’s what you should be striving for. We should be leading the country and globally as a place that punches far above its weight. There is no reason to hold back, because the alternative isn’t a lot of fun.

    Do not compromise on the size of your vision or the ferociousness of your execution. You should be audacious in your dreams because building a startup in Atlantic Canada is not about being in Atlantic Canada it is about being FROM Atlantic Canada, and that is a big difference.

    These are just a few thoughts, but many of you have built startups here and in other places. What’s your experience and what are your tips for the next generation of startups we are seeing emerge now?

  • If not an Angel Network, then what?

    back black swan shotDavid posted a pretty in-depth piece on the First Angel Network this week. This followed an awesome discussion on TechVibes about angel groups over the weekend. The structure and funding model for First Angel Network were a pretty big surprise to me when I moved to Halifax 3 years ago.

    Frankly it is pretty easy for us to write a post like David’s because the facts really speak for themselves: Millions of dollars from government sources are flowing in to finance what appears to be the exclusive personal gain of two individuals.

    $3000 + 8% is just not acceptable and what makes it even worse is that the 8% does not contribute to the growth or sustainability of the angel group in any way. ACOA and other agencies are the ones paying to maintain the group while the cream is skimmed off the top.

    My guess is that the First Angel Network will tell you that their model is normal and that it is on par with what is happening elsewhere. Simply put: it isn’t. It is artificially sustained, it is egregious and the model needs to be wiped out.

    Shortly after David’s post went live I had a call with one of the most active angel investors in Atlantic Canada. He’s someone I admire and who always seems to be a step or two ahead of my own thinking. When he speaks I try to listen (which means I have to stop talking. . .).

    He doesn’t have much love for a model which skims off the top either, but he’s pragmatic too.

    His question to me was: If not First Angel Network, then how do we keep money moving?

    Angel groups are not an easy thing: There are large groups of willing but relatively unsophisticated investors out there. They have to be marketed to, rounded up, fed a decent meal (usually) and encouraged to focus while a startup pitches to them for an hour or so total. Not easy and it certainly doesn’t have obvious economics for the organizer. It is a tough model no matter which way you slice it. The question is valid and it is something we need to think about a lot.

    The world of tech startups is, or should be at least, different in many ways however. I believe it HAS to be different.

    Sophisticated tech angel investors are accessible and they are ready to do deals almost anywhere. Value-add investors will, by definition, be accessible to the network and available to look at deals. We have a significant opportunity here in Atlantic Canada as well because we have some of the best angels in the country living and working here.

    The landscape is changing for seed investing in tech and I think we need to find new models which make more sense for a typical startup today.

    1. There are many individuals investing regularly in extremely early stage opportunities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
    2. There is far more information available to entrepreneurs about financing structures and models than there ever has been before
    3. 10s of Thousands of investors are accesible via AngelList and other sources
    4. The ecosystem is larger than just these few provinces– we are easily connected in to what is happening in other communities.
    5. Legal and other fees should be minimal. Startups should be able to get a round closed for $5k with a max of $10 for a complicated and priced round.
    6. Early stage capital IS flowing in this part of the country from more formal funds such as OMERS, Rho, Real, Version One Ventures and others.
    7. There is a new fund coming online here which will be leading deals and syndicating with outside investors.

    Alternatives will emerge once there is a void to fill and I believe that capital will still flow to great opportunities, while we may have to watch some less awesome ones whither.

    There is a loose syndicate of angels emerging in this part of the country and from what I have seen they are all extremely high quality. It is a group made up of exited founders, successful investors and quality operators. THAT is who should be seeing deals and they do far more than 4 deals a year– dozens are getting done.

    In the end the challenge we have is not simply to tear down the old. The challenge is to take responsibility for building something that matters in the future and that will create more startups through a better model. I believe that First Angel Network’s model needs to change to become less predatory and more focused on creating value in the ecosystem, otherwise we need a new alternative to replace it.

    That is our job here and that is what will really make a difference.

    Right now we have the beginnings of an alternative:

    These are all founder-friendly and accessible routes to getting access to early stage capital. None of them take 8%.

    It’s not perfect, but we will get there.

  • Atlantic Canadian Founders Deserve Better Than FAN (First Angel Network)

    CC-BY-NC-ND-20 Photo by Stephen Poff
    AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by Stephen Poff

    Recently, I have had the pleasure of travelling to the East Coast and working with founders. I have seen the amazing companies and the founders across the region. Moncton, Halifax, Saint John, St. John’s and Charlottetown (among the varied cities). There are amazing companies like LeadSift (disclosure: I work for OMERS Ventures who is an investor in LeadSift), GoInstant, Verafin, Clarity.fm, Lymbix (disclosure: I sit on the Board of Directors), Introhive, InNetwork, Compilr and others.

    The region is bristling with great founders, great ideas and a lot of untapped talent. It also holds some amazing secrets like Toon Nagtegaal (LinkedIn) who runs a (also ACOA funded) program for startups that I have been lucky enough to be invited to co-teach (disclosure: this is a paid consulting gig). There are amazing people and companies across the Atlantic Region. It’s only a matter of time until there is another HUGE exit.

    However, the region also is a small community that has it’s own culture and politics. Those small town politics have allowed nepotism and crony capitalism to seep in and it has allowed terrible deal structures to be put upon unsuspecting founders and companies. This pisses me off!

    When we started StartupNorth we promised ourselves we would always stick up for founders and startups when it mattered. We continue to  support, educate and connect startups and founders with other founders, with capital, with new ideas and educational resources. We need to identify the BULLSHIT that is being allow to pass in Atlantic Canada as supporting entrepreneurs so that the amazing investors that are there don’t have to compete with a backwards and ill-conceived entity.

    First Angel Netowrk

    Who? I’m talking about First Angel Network (FAN). Why? Here is an example of the full deal they present to entrepreneurs:

    1. Startups apply to pitch the non-profit FAN which is funded and supported by ACOA and others.
      • Most of this funding goes to pay salaries as well as to cover travel expenses.
    2. If a startup is selected to pitch FAN, the startup must agree to pay $3000 to the non-profit  FAN.
    3. Startups MUST also sign a “Consulting Agreement” with a for-profit consulting company owned by Ross Finlay and Brian Lowe.
      • You can NOT pitch the non-profit UNLESS you sign the consulting agreement with the for-profit company.
    4. Startups then pitch the non-profit and if successful get a deal done
    5. If a deal is done, the consulting agreement gives the for-profit shell company and FAN organizers 8% of the total proceeds of the transaction
      • 4% in stock directly to Ross Finlay and Brian Lowe (not the consulting company, directly to the individuals)
      • 4% in cash to the consulting company

    This is so wrong! On so many different levels. This is worse than pay to pitch.

    Crony Capitalism

    The thing that pisses me off the most is that the most nefarious part of the process, the consulting company and payouts to individuals, is not listed on the FAN Funding Process page. We have individuals who collect a salary that is partially (if not completely) funded by a government agency (ACOA). First Angel Network Association received at least $1,123,411.00 in funding between 2006-2011 (nothing reported for 2012). That is an average of $224,682.20/year in funding, and that is just what we could source publicly.

    Getting paid by a government agency to source your own deals. Seriously, if you thought management fees were high, what about tax dollars going towards salaries of investors. They are using federal funding to source their own deals and cover expenses and salaries. Something is wrong here. Then they charge entrepreneurs for the privilege of their investment. Which someone already paid them to source. The cost of this capital is incredibly expensive to entrepreneurs taking this investment and to the region.

    Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs and startups deserve better than this.

    Do Not Pay to Pitch

    Startups should not pay angels or angel networks to pitch. Jason Calacanis wrote the definitive piece on why startups should not pay angel investors to pitch.

    “It’s low-class, inappropriate and predatory for a rich person to ask an entrepreneur to PAY THEM for 15 minutes of their time. Seriously, what is the cost to the party hearing the pitch? If you answered “nothing” or “the cost of two cups of coffee” you win the prize!”

    Jason eloquently describes why this doesn’t work. It is a imbalance between cash poor startups and rich investors. The imbalance is made worst by. We have been running Founders & Funder$ events. There is no imbalance. Everyone pays the same. Founders. Funders. We try to curate the audience to ensure that only founders actively raising money attend. We also invite a limited number of funders that are actively doing deals (criteria change based on angel investor versus institutional investors). We want everyone to be on equal footing.

    And there are a lot of startups and founders that will argue that Jonas, Jevon and I have strong track records (well at least Jonas & Jevon do) and even stronger networks:

    “Now, before you go saying “Jason is connected and he has access to angels” remember that I hustled my way into this industry from nothing. I networked at free conferences and figured out a way to get on the radar of uber-angels like Ted Leonsis, Fred Wilson and Mark Cuban. They paid attention to me because I had good ideas. If my ideas had sucked, they would have ignored me. Period.”

    Our goal has been to help connect and educate founders and startups. We continue to believe that it is not government agencies, or venture capitalists, or angel networks that will build the next generation of successful Canadian companies. It is the founders and the employees of these startups. It’s the big ideas and the big execution that result from the efforts of dedicated people. They are the ones who deserve a great deal, not some middle man.

    What can you do?

    1. Do not pay to pitch. Avoid groups like First Angel Network like the plague.
    2. Tell the people who fund FAN and other angel groups who have a pay to pitch model that you believe they should cut off funding.
    3. If you know an angel investor within an angel networks that make you pay to pitch like FAN, tell them what a bad deal they are getting and offer to connect them to great founders.
    4. Help fellow entrepreneurs by making introductions to qualified angels directly
    5. Explain to your peers that an investment by networks which make you pay to pitch, such as FAN, can only be considered as a means of last resort, and taking this money will affect your future funding opportunities negatively.
    6. List your startup on AngelList, our StartupIndex, Techvibes index and other places to get exposure FOR FREE to great investors

    Atlantic Canada is generating some of the highest returns in the country right now for angel investors. The community is small but very focused on big outcomes and it is really showing. I think it’s time to cut ties with this old model and to start giving the founders in Atlantic Canada a deal worth taking.

  • How a Canadian startup took investment from a european incubator

    This is a guest post by Patrick Hankinson, the CEO/Founder of Compilr.com a Halifax based startup building an online IDE which has almost 100,000 users. Patrick is also a co-founder of Tether.com.

    In early 2011, I met an entrepreneur and angel investor from London, at a Starbucks in my small province. He literally just took the red-eye from London, I could tell by his blood shot eyes. He wanted to know what I was working on and I explained what I was working on an “online IDE for programmers”. I could tell immediately he didn’t know what an IDE was…

    Talk about a pivotal experience. I was a programmer turned marketer, yet I still used very technical terms to describe what I was working on. The angel investor looked at me with a blank stare; he didn’t understand exactly what I was working on.

    After another couple of minutes of questions, I explained and tweaked my value proposition. He finally understood what I was working, but exclaimed that I definitely need to work on my non-technical elevator pitch. Naively, I responded I’ll never need to pitch to non-technical people.

    Now, I know that a non-technical pitch is critical. You may end up with non-technical investors like doctors, who will want to brag to their friends what they are investing in. You don’t want to put your doctor in a situation where they can’t explain exactly what you’re product does, killing viral potential. This is sometimes the case, because the investor is more in love with the team than the product.

    After this, he explained an incubator from London was putting a session together in New York. The incubator was called Seedcamp. I’ve never heard of them before, I looked at them online, saw they had invested in a several companies and were considered a European Incubator. They definitely didn’t have any credentials like Y-Combinator or Techstars. In fact, the only acquisition that I saw, to date had beenMobclix.

    I decided to apply to Seedcamp anyway since it New York was literally a 2 hour flight away (I had never visited New York, gave me an excuse). Plus it was at Google’s office in New York. Our product, Compilr, was definitely potentially a product to someday be acquired by a company like Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Facebook, and the list goes on. Any visibility I could get at this stage was definitely worth it.

    Compilr was accepted to present in New York to the Seedcamp list of mentors. We presented at Google’s office in front of 100 mentors or so. Presenting in front of 100 people was definitely not on my bucket list, but I got through it. It actually has helped in a lot ways. I’m definitely not worried presenting in front of 100s of people as much as I thought.

    The day after, Compilr was invited to pitch to some of Seedcamp’s core investors. The room had maybe 15 people but I was more nervous than the day before. In all honesty, I thought I blew it because I was being asked a ton of questions. I answered them all, but Carlos, one of the main guys from Seedcamp had asked a question and I got sidetracked with an answer, when someone basically said “Well, ok thanks for your time, we’ll be in touch.” I still feel like a total d-bag because I didn’t answer his question…

    At this stage I became defensive in my mind, even though I hadn’t received a yes or no to their investment. In reality, I didn’t care if I received Seedcamp’s investment or not. Personally, I was funding the company out of my own pocket, almost $150,000 a year, their small investment would only really marginally accelerate my company. I was hoping to get visibility in front of the right potential acquirers.

    A few weeks later, I was in total shock when Seedcamp told me they were willing toinvest in Compilr. Even though, I personally felt like I blew the follow up meeting in New York. When I told several of my advisors, most of them were eager for me to take the funds. While some opposed to the idea, stating the same facts I alluded to earlier, onlyone successful exit, etc…

    Our team decided to go ahead and take small investment from Seedcamp to use towards accelerating our business. Our end goal was that Seedcamp would present our company to potential acquirers like Facebook, Google to hopefully stimulate an exit, producing a positive ROI for them.

  • DFAIT Technology Growth Initiative Business Bootcamps

    Departement of Foreign Affairs and International TradeDFAIT is sponsoring the Technology Growth Initiative (TGI) Business Bootcamps Spring 2011 to help Canadian companies go-to-market in specific US markets (Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Diego, San Francisco/Silicon Valley and others). The program provides startups with access to webinars, a one day bootcamp session and direct connections with VCs and local entrepreneurs to share experiences and find funding.

    The one day bootcamps are being help in April and May 2011 from Halifax to London. The bootcamps are interesting, they provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch and get feedback from trusted experts (yeah right I think I served as an “expert” in 2009 ;-). But it is a great opportunity to get a different set of eyes on your pitch. And it plays to the old adage, “how do you know when an entrepreneur is dead? he stops pitching”.

    Registration for One Day Business Bootcamp

    • Halifax: April 27th, 2011 – Cleantech and ICT
    • Quebec City: April 28th, 2011 – ICT
    • London: April 29th, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences
    • Toronto: May 2nd, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences
    • Ottawa: May 3rd, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences

    There is also the upcoming April 6th, 2011 11:30EST seminar with Mike Grandinetti (he’s also a TechStars mentor) focusing on “Lean and Mean Startups”.

    April 6th: 11:30 EST (Upcoming Webinar – Soon)

    1. Lean and Mean Start-ups – Presented by: Mike Grandinetti, Managing Director, Southboro Capital, Boston.
    2. So you think you are ready? – 10 things you need to know before presentation day – A candid talk on presentations gone horribly wrong and how you avoid that – Presented by: Coby Schneider – Miller Thomson & Others.

    These are great opportunities to learn about expanding into specific US markets. The DFAIT team brings key players to local markets and makes it easy to establish relationships that allow companies to grow. There are lots of opportunity to criticize some of the efforts, but the team at DFAIT have run this program for the past few years with varied success. It’s worth the time of startups actively looking to expand their customer base (this means that you’re beyond seed stage, you probably have customers, you have a product, you’re looking for a scalable business model) to explore how DFAIT can help.

    The event is co-hosted by our sponsors and friends at KPMG are corporate partners helping DFAIT and startups. There are a lot of cross-border issues concerning corporate structure, financing, taxation and other where KPMG can leverage their experience to help early and growth stage companies.

  • StartupDrinks – YYZ, YUL, YYT, YQM, YYC, YHZ, YFC, YSJ

    StartupDrinks LogoFriendly neighbourhood reminder that tomorrow, June 30, 2010, is StartupDrinks (well tonight in Saskatoon & Regina). On June 30, 2010 you can join entrepretreneurs in:

    Jevon is going to be hanging out in Halifax. Ray is going to be in Montreal. Jonas, Bryan and I are planning on being at Grace O’Malleys (aka Granuaile), 14 Duncan St, Toronto, ON.

    It’s a great opportunity to get out of the office. To be social. To connect with others that are struggling building companies like you. What will we be talking about? We’ll be talking about “How to grow your traffic from 1k to 35k on $0” and other things. What do you want to talk about?

    Here’s

  • 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.