StartupNorth

Tag: waveaccounting

  • The Pending Talent Wars

     

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    Did you know that accelerators are heading for a shake out? We’ve talked a lot incubators, accelerators and cyclotrons. And the proliferation of the accelerator model is generally positive, it started me thinking about a possibility for slightly different model. One that Kevin Swan posted an insightful comment on the talent shortage for Canadian startups. I don’t think I’m the first to propose this, but it starts to make sense. Incubators/accelerators don’t need to only hasten the formation, creation and ideation of companies. They are fertile grounds to accelerate people. And it’s not just incubators and accelerators, companies participate in HackDays to find talent.

    Need proof?

    Vuru acquired by Wave Accounting

    Vuru founders Cameron Howieson and Yoseph West reached out to the Wave Accounting team for advice on building a free, web-based financial services tool. Over time, the two companies traded notes as Wave took on a an informal advisory role, and that led to a sense that Vuru’s talent and direction were something that would be well suited to the Wave Accounting mission. — Darrell Ethrington, Aug 21, 2012 in BetaKit

    Vuru was a 2 cofounder team in the FounderFuel (full disclosure: I am mentor in FounderFuel and I now employed by Wave Accounting investor OMERS Ventures). They were building a “investment tracking tools aimed at managing personal finance, which is not something Wave currently offer[ed]”. It was a great fit, a team that had the entrepreneurial culture to make a difference at Wave and a product that filled a known product roadmap gap.

    Algo Anyhere acquired by 500px

    Ok, before Zach Aysan slaps me for being totally incorrect. AlgoAnywhere was not in an incubator or accelerator program. But they had raised a seed round and were building very interesting technology.

    The 500px founders met Algo Anywhere at their Pixel Hack Day last year, and were impressed by what the team brought to the table. Algo Anywhere’s tech was originally intended to be sold on an SaaS basis, providing companies with the data crunching power of sophisticated recommendation algorithms, without the need for those to be developed in-house or hosted on a company’s own servers – Darrell Ethrington, July 9, 2012 in BetaKit

    The interesting point here isn’t about incubators or accelerators. It’s about founders of early-stage companies looking for relationships and gaps in the market left by other players.

    Pulpfingers acquired by 500px

    It seems that 500px has been strategically acquiring companies. It looks like both Pulpfingers and Algo Anywhere were part of the PixelHackDay (see photo from TechCrunch). Which gives 500px access to see designers, developers working in their domain space. It’s a great way to round out the product roadmap, Pulpfingers was a iOS discovery application. And they aren’t alone. Hootsuite acquired Seesmic and Swift.

    Built to Last versus Built to Flip

    I’m not arguing that founders should be looking to build companies to flip. There is lots of conversation about building lasting value. I’m arguing that companies that have raised capital to scale are looking for alternative methods to acquire talent. Get access to the API, build a meaningful service, acquire shared customers and go forward, it’s Biz Dev 2.0 (as Caterina described back in 2006). What’s new to the game for Canada (well Canadian startups) is that for the first time since RIM we are starting to have web startups that are reaching scale and are able to acquire talent, teams and companies. The goal isn’t to look for a acqui-hire or a manquisition, but to look at where working with an existing company or API gives you immediate access to distribution or monetization that you might have to work harder to build on your own.

    I’m betting that companies like Wave Accounting, 500px, Influitive, Hootsuite, Shopify,Freshbooks, Top Hat Monocle, Wattpad, Upverter, Chango, Fixmo, Desire2Learn, Lightspeed are all actively looking for teams that are building on their APIs or filling product gaps (it becomes a buy versus build decision).

    If I was a developer or looking to get into an incubator program, I’d start looking at the hackathons and APIs that are aligned with my vision where I could accelerate customer adoption.

    Events

    APIs and Developer Starting Points

    Find an API (be it local or otherwise) that aligns with your vertical, figure out if you can solve one of your immediate challenges (like distribution and customer acquisition). Maybe strike up a conversation with the product teams at shop. But build something that delights customers and users! Go! Now!

    Who has something built on one of the above APIs?

  • CIX Top 20 – 2012

    CIX Top 20 Canada's Hottest Innovative Companies

    We’ve written about CIX Top 20 Follow @CIXCommunity in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. So you’ll be shocked to find that I’m writing about it again in 2012.

    What is CIX?

    “The CIX Top 20 is an elite index of the most forward-looking companies in the Canadian innovation ecosystem, and connects the key players driving technology-based business both in Canada and beyond.”

    Who should apply?

    “The CIX Top 20 is open to any Canadian company working in Digital Media or Information and Communication Technology with annual revenues under $10 million.”

    Why do you care?

    These are some of the leading companies in Canada. Don’t believe me, past participants include:

    Alright, there probably is a correlation between the success of these companies and their CIX submission and attendance. But CIX is an amazing opportunity for Canadian startups to generate attention, drive awareness with investors and media, get input and feedback in a safe environment and start to build connections.

    “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky

    Nothing is foregone conclusion, as in past performance is not an indicator of future success. But you can’t win if you don’t apply (follow the directions on the bottom of the page).

  • Go big and stay home

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    Wattpad announced today a $17.3MM raise from Khosla Ventures, Golden Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures and Jerry Yang. This is huge.

    “It has been recognized as highly significant due to having two top-tier US funds investing at this level in a Canadian-based consumer internet company.”

    We are seeing Canadian entrepreneurs build companies and demonstrate global traction. The changes to foreign investment related to Section 116 changes in the Tax Act, have allowed Canadian companies to go big and stay home.  The changes to Section 116, coupled with the desire of Canadian entrepreneurs to go big and stay home. Evidenced by Wattpad’s big raise, Wave Accounting’s $12MM series B from Social+Capital, Hootsuite’s $20MM round from OMERS (sure they’re not foreign capital but its a big round), Shopify’s $22MM ($7M series A + $15M series B from Bessemer), Beyond The Rack’s $36MM raise, Fixmo’s $23.4MM Series C from KPCB, Achievers’ $24.5MM Series C from Sequoia, and others. There are startups and there is capital. It’s possible to build a growth company in Canada and raise foreign capital. The game has changed for Canadian VCs, geography limitations can help these funds identify early but it potentially will relegate many to second tier status if they can not enable their startups beyond their geographies.

    The great thing in talking with many of these entrepreneurs is that they want to build successful companies in Canada. Allen Lau, CEO of Wattpad, mentioned that his desire was to grow a large successful company in Toronto. He is not looking to move the company. The same is true of my conversations with Kirk Simpson at Wave Accounting, Tobi at Shopify, Mike at Freshbooks, etc. There are a lot of reasons to want to be way from the tensions and pulls the exist in the Bay Area. Canadian startups have access to great talent. While there is some pull between the different startups, many of these companies aren’t competing with each other for employees or mindshare. Just check out Shopify’s recruiting video and tell me why you wouldn’t choose to work for Harley and Tobi instead of a financial institution or a government organization.

    It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur in Canada. It’s a great time to work for a startup. You should check out the opportunities on the StartupNorth job board.

  • The Startup Backoffice

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    Scalabiity Inc

    StartupNorth contributor Ray Luk (LinkedIn, @rayluk) announced the launch of Scalability Inc. (@scalabilityinc). It’s a great service that provides backoffice services including bookkeeping, accounting, government filings, payroll, record keeping, and human resources. It’s the combination of tools and the people with the expertise to help with timing that can make a huge difference. Ray seems to have nailed a need in the marketplace with Scalability Inc.

    It’s great to see startups building these unsexy tools, and sharing their experiences. It’s particularly interesting to see how many Canadian startups are playing in the unsexy backoffice space. Scalability Inc., Wave Accounting (announced $12MM from Social+Capital), TribeHR ($1MM from David Skok at Matrix Partners), Shopify ($22MM from Bessemer), Dayforce (acquired by Ceridian), it seems like Canadians like critical business apps.

    @StartupCFO backoffice talk on oct 4 2011 at Founderfuel

    What are the must have tools that you are using in your startup’s back office?

    Sales & Inventory

    Analytics & Business Intelligence

    CRM

    Human Resources

    Accounting & Payroll & Expenses

    Invoicing

    Payments

    Legals

    Bookkeepers & Accountants

    What are you using in the back office? Who are the consultants and providers that we’ve missed?

     

  • What makes a startup “disruptive”?

    Editor’s note: This is a cross post from Mark Evans Tech written by Mark Evans of ME Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @markevans or MarkEvansTech.com. This post was originally published in April 17, 2012 on MarkEvansTech.com.

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    I had coffee recently with a VC who talked about how “disruptive technology” was a key part of his firm’s investment approach.

    On the surface, it makes sense. After all, “disruptive” is impressive because it sounds like something that could make a difference and, in the process, attract a lot of users and be worth a lot of money.

    But after thinking about it, I began to wonder what “disruptive” really means and, in particular, what makes a startup truly disruptive. Is it a product that leaps ahead of the competition in a major way? Is it a product that solves a problem or a need in a new or different way? Is it a product that’s easier to use or less expensive than what exists?

    • Is Wave Accounting, for example, disruptive because it launched a free online accounting service into a market in which most players were offering a fee-based service?
    • Is 500px disruptive because its elegant and service displays photographs so beautifully.
    • Is Engagio disruptive because it offers a “social inbox” at a time when people are getting messages from multiple sources.

    In many respects, “disruptive” can be defined in many ways. This makes it an alluring but, arguably, difficult creature to discover and identify. For one investor, disruptive may be one thing but it entirely different from another investor.

    The problem with “disruptive” is it’s a sexy term for entrepreneurs and investors to throw around. Suggesting your product is “disruptive” is easy to do and get away with because it can be difficult to argue otherwise because “disruptive” is so slippery. How many times have you heard an entrepreneur proclaim their technology is “disruptive”?

    The reality is we love “disruptive” because it’s elusive, multi-faceted and difficult to pinpoint until a startup enjoys success. Then, everyone can confidently say: “I know Instagram/Pinterest/Path, etc. was disruptive when I first saw it”.

    So, how do you define “disruptive”?

    Editor’s note: This is a cross post from Mark Evans Tech written by Mark Evans of ME Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @markevans or MarkEvansTech.com. This post was originally published in April 17, 2012 on MarkEvansTech.com.

  • Who Will Be Canada’s Hot Startups in 2012?

    Editor’s note: This is a cross post from Mark Evans Tech written by Mark Evans of ME Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @markevans or MarkEvansTech.com. This post was originally published in January 3, 2012 on MarkEvansTech.com.

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    The flurry of high-tech deals last year saw a bunch of promising startups snapped up – Zite, Rypple, PostRank, PushLife, Tungle and Five Mobile to name a few.

    The encouraging part of the Canadian landscape is the growing number of high-quality startups being created and, thankfully, funded. It means that rather than having M&A activity “hollow” things out, there are more startups ready to step into the spotlight.

    So, who are the Canadian startups that warrant our attention in 2012?

    Who’s going to grow in a major way, attract a significant number of users and customers, launch exciting initiatives, or be acquired. Granted, it’s a subjective list but it is an interesting way to speculate on companies that will capture the spotlight this year. If you leave a comment, I’ll update the list.

    To get the ball rolling, here are some of my choices for the “Hot Startup” list:

    • ScribbleLive, the world’s leading real-time content creation and publishing company whose clients include Reuters, AP and FA.
    • WineAlign, which cracked the 100,000 unique visitor mark for the first time in December
    • 500px, one of the leading places to display and share beautiful photography
    • Pressly, whose technology is helping publishers create mobile Web sites that embrace the “swipe and read” functionality of apps
    • QuickMobile, one of the leading event and conference mobile application developers
    • Atomic Reach, which makes it easier for brand to discover, publish and market content
    • Wave Accounting, which recently raised $5-million to drive growth of its free online accounting service
    • Keek, which offers a video-based social network
    • Fixmo, a mobile security company that recently raised $23-million
    • TribeHR, which develops human resources service for small and medium businesses
    • GoInstant, which is creating technology that lets people co-browse a Web site at the same time.

    Note: ScribbleLive and Atomic Reach are digital marketing clients of my company, ME Consulting.
    Editor’s note: This is a cross post from Mark Evans Tech written by Mark Evans of ME Consulting. Follow him on Twitter @markevans or MarkEvansTech.com. This post was originally published in January 3, 2012 on MarkEvansTech.com.

  • Wave Accounting closes $5MM from CRV & OMERS

    Wave AccountingLooks like US VCs are continuing to look at deals in Canada. Wave Accounting announced a $5MM Series A led by Charles River Ventures (CRV) with follow on participation from OMERS Ventures. It is great to see Devdutt Yellurkar (LinkedIn) looking north of the border. Devdutt has an amazing track record at CRV and previously at Rho Ventures, Sterling Commerce and Yantra Corporation. Guessing based on the press release that Devdutt will join Peter Carrescia (LinkedIn, @pcarrescia) from OMERS Ventures on the Wave Accounting board.

    Great news for startups, we’ve now seen Matrix Partners (TribeHR), Union Square Ventures (Kik & Wattpad), CRV (Wave Accounting), Bessemer (Shopify), Freestyle/Greylock/Embracardo (GoInstant) and one other Sand Hill Road firm all make active early investments in Canada. This doesn’t include the Canadians that have raised during stays in the Valley during YCombinator and 500Startups – Vidyard, Upverter (True Ventures), BackType (True Ventures), Kiip (True Ventures), Rewardli (500Startups) and others.

    This is great for Canadian entrepreneurs.

  • WaveAccounting raises from INKEF Capital

    WaveAccountingOur friends at WaveAccounting announced yesterday that they had raised a $1.5MM seed investment from INKEF Captial. We’re big fans of WaveAccounting, in fact, it’s what we use to manage the receipts and books for StartupNorth. It means that others see the huge potential with this application. And we’re happy that our accounting provider continues to grow and demonstrate traction. I like stability 😉

    Wave also announced the addition of 2 new senior managers: Scott Zandbergen (LinkedIn) formerly of Sage Software and Stephen Dixon (LinkedIn, @sdixonhalloween) formerly of Deloitte & Touche. Looks like to great additions to the senior management team.

    This is the first investment from Peter Carrescia (LinkedIn, @pcarrescia) who is one of the two new Managing Directors at the INKEF Capital fund which is a ~$200MM fund from OMERS and ABP pension funds. This is really interesting for a variety of reasons. It means that INKEF is now capable of actively deploying funds, they have set up the necessary funding vehicles and mechanisms to be live. This is fantastic news. It also means that John Ruffolo (LinkedIn, @ruffoloj) has hired a team and is actively seeking out Canadian deals. This is great news to for entrepreneurs. John and Peter are well respected and very entrepreneur friendly, this is a plus for entrepreneurs. And simply additional growth capital is a good thing.

    Congratulations Kirk, Jame, and the WaveAccounting team.