We Should Be Building Empires
We don’t build a lot of empires around here. Empires are big, they grow fast, and they use momentum to determine where to apply resources. Empires don’t respond, they set the new rules. Carnegie. Rockefeller. Gates. Zuckerberg. Lutke. McDerment. Baker. We’ve had empires come and go, but we haven’t built the sort that stick around […]
Should you pay to pitch an angel group? What the data says
We have seen a pretty amazing wealth of information about financing models and structures come to light in the last 10 years. It wasn’t that long ago that VC and Angel financing were dark arts which few entrepreneurs understood. We have always worked hard to demystify startup financing on StartupNorth and have done a long series of articles which was focused […]
The only model that matters: Founders First
There are a lot of models that people throw around for how to build a strong startup community. There are a handful of types of players in each community, so there are many permutations of “who gets what” and how resources are moved around. It gets complicated, fast. So there is a model that I […]
Going Paperless On A Small Scale
Earlier this week, I linked to the Paperless 2013 website, a vendor-sponsored initiative that encourages businesses to cut paper, ostensibly for environmental reasons. The products featured by the sponsor vendors – Google Drive, HelloFax, Manilla, HelloSign, Expensify, Xero and Fujitsu ScanSnap – can certainly assist with this, although I run a completely paperless office using […]
Canadian VCs are being cut loose, and that’s a good thing
Mark MacLeod just wrote a post about Canadian VC that cuts to the chase If there are any clouds on the horizon, they relate to the disappearance of the US / Canadian border when it comes to VC. When I first entered the startup World, you had no choice but to raise seed and series […]
Canada’s Next Five Years
1997-2012: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. 2012-2020: Optimism, Opportunity, Execution. I’ve been bullish for a while now, it’s no secret. It was 5 years ago that I was writing off VC in Canada and explaining how startups needed to step up to create an environment to bring them back. And like a bowl of Sea Monkeys, the […]
Ladies Learning to Code is Not About Women
There is this small but fierce not-for-profit called Ladies Learning to Code. It has pretty straightforward but profound ambitions: “designed to help girls see technology in a whole new light – as a medium for self-expression, and as a means for changing the world.” (Girls Learning to Code camp). I started my first tech company […]
Joining the Board of the Empire Club of Canada!
I’m so very pleased to announce that I have been elected to the Board of the Empire Club of Canada, effective September, 2011! In case you’re unfamiliar with the Empire Club, it’s: “One of Canada’s oldest and largest speakers’ forums with a membership comprised of some of Canada’s most influential leaders from the professions, business, […]
Coradiant acquired by BMC software
On the heels of yesterday’s acquisition of Tungle, BMC Software has announced today that they have acquired Montreal’s Coradiant, which was co-founded by Year One Labs partner Alistair Croll. We are happy that Montreal has managed to win something in the last few days. The price is currently undisclosed, but the back of the napkin calculation tells […]
Startup Festival coming to Montreal – Why it’s important
I know that David just posted about the upcoming Startup Festival, but I thought I would add my own thoughts: I have definitely been getting the feeling that the whole “startup conference” format is getting a little stale. The same formats in the same cities with most of the same speakers. The real benefit of […]
