By Leo Valiquette
Now we’ve got it, let’s put it to good use.
Last night was the official launch of TheCodeFactory, a private business accelerator/incubator intended to help fill the gap between a great idea and a commercial product gaining traction in the marketplace. It’s the cherished baby of business consultant Ian Graham and its launch attracted plenty of interest from the local business community, including remarks from Denny Doyle, the “Don Cherry of Ottawa’s tech sector,” Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, and Scott Lake, founding partner of both Jaded Pixel and Shopify and blogger on Startup Ottawa.
First up, I’ll freely admit inmedia‘s support of TheCodeFactory and my role as PR flack for its launch. But my personal interest and support for this project goes right back to my previous incarnation as editor of the OBJ and my favourite hot-button topics. We need to foster a culture of true entrepreneurship in this town defined by people who want to build a successful company versus those in search of a paycheque who are just trying to give themselves a job. Problem is, having that mindset is only half the battle. You need the means to get from the idea stage to the cash-flow stage. Plenty of great ideas with talented, committed people behind them wither and die thanks to a lack of support for the earliest stages of the start-up lifecycle.
That’s where TheCodeFactory comes in.
What Ian is offering up is a combination of office space for start-ups looking for a desk without all the administrative and costly aggravation of setting up their own office. That’s the fourth floor. What’s truly unique is what’s on the second floor. There he offers co-working space with the relaxed atmosphere of a coffee bar (with full connectivity, of course) where entrepreneurs at every stage and code warriors from local schools can network, collaborate, troubleshoot and refine their ideas, even connect for potential employment opportunities.
It’s this unique community approach, the emphasis on creating a “vital, vibrant, ecosystem” that truly sets TheCodeFactory apart from other venues that fit into the business accelerator category. And Ottawa couldn’t need it more. We’ve seen a host of anchor tech tenants of one stripe or another downsize, pull up stakes or get bought out over the past while. There’s plenty of volatility and uncertainty our there, the perfect breeding ground for startups as people decide it’s time take hold of their destiny and go into business for themselves. It’s been referred to as the “supernova effect,” as experienced and savvy individuals disperse their knowledge and expertise throughout the tech community like seeds cast to the winds.
In this environment, TheCodeFactory is just the kind of place we need for those seeds to sprout into new ventures or for that kind of experience to be made available to others. As Scott said in his remarks last night, it’s “a place for innovation to grow.”
By Leo Valiquette
Small is the new big.
These words came from Jerry Everett, director of sales and founder of six-year-old conference services firm onconference Inc. Everett was part of a panel of speakers reflecting on six years of entrepreneurship in Ottawa at an OCRI event this week with the catchy title of “Blood on the Tracks.”
Small is the new big wasn’t the overarching theme of the event, but it certainly struck a chord with this nascent PR practitioner. Everett’s point was that consumers (and I’ll use that as the broad term for anyone on the receiving end of a service or product) have had enough with the kinds of customer-service experiences typical of large, monolithic organizations. They are ready and willing for a more customized personal approach typically found only with a smaller company. Peronalized service will increasingly become a key differentiator in the years to come.
We’ve heard this before, of course. A business strategy that focuses primarily on your product or service’s features likely has a short shelf life. New features and fancy bells and whistles come along all the time. It’s difficult to maintain an edge over the competition for long. As for price, well, somebody is always going to find a way to do something cheaper, be it with outsourcing, tightening up the supply chain, or simply focusing on volume over margins.
Service, on the other hand, falls into a whole other category where the emphasis is on behaviour and the relationships built with customers. When customers feel that their concerns and needs are being taken seriously and made a priority, they’re much more likely to become repeat customers.
At inmedia, our mantra is “global reach” with “high-touch local service.” How? By maintaining a laser focus on our client niche and the range of services we offer to them. By having a small, veteran team of counsellors who work together on each account to ensure continuity for the client regardless of who’s in the office. By holding ourselves accountable for the results of our media outreach efforts on behalf of our clients. Small is the new big has been a guiding principal for inmedia from day one.
Wake up call
But the emphasis of the event was much more specific to Ottawa. In an already-sour venture-capital climate, the question was asked, why has Ottawa fared so much worse in recent years than other tech centres across the country?
Panellist Debbie Weinstein, of tech-centric law firm Labarge Weinstein, spoke largely of the retooling of the Ottawa tech sector, from its heavy emphasis during the boom on telecom and semiconductors to emerging sectors such as clean and green, represented by firms such as Plasco, Iogen and Menova.
That may be part of it, but other tech veterans on the panel, namely David Vicary and Rainer Paduch, were somewhat more blunt: Most of the VC cash these days is coming from U.S. VCs and U.S. VCs will back a B-grade technology if there is an A-grade team behind it. The problem with Ottawa, is that the reality (or at least the perception, which often carries more weight than reality) is that we have A-grade technology but B-grade management talent.
(Then, of course, there was the argument from Everett of whether or not a company should even focus on VC capital for growth rather than bootstrapping, but that’s a topic all its own.)
Mr. Paduch emphasized the fact that as Canadians, we’re just too timid. We’re not ballsy enough compared to our American cousins.
Perhaps that’s partly to blame for the fact that we have this habit of hiding in a lab and engineering the hell out of a product before we even validate the need for it with potential customers. There’s too much upfront development cost and far too little initial marketing effort. We need to do a better job of getting out and selling an idea and gauging the market’s interest before putting all the money, time and effort into building the product.
“Entrepreneurship is part of the American dream. In Canada, an entrepreneurial economy is almost shunned,” Brian Hurley said in his opening remarks.
So why is Canada, and especially Ottawa, languishing when the experts say there is plenty of investment capital out there? What keeps us from building more anchor companies for the local tech sector that don’t end up a branch plant? Maybe the answer is only as far away as the nearest mirror.
By Leo Valiquette
Print is dead.
That was the sentiment floating around when I returned to school to study journalism in 1997. The internet will be king, was the thought of the day, and that was still years before the pervasive, bandwidth-sucking web services we take for granted today.
But here we are and print still lives, though it is taking a back seat to the avenues for “citizen journalism” presented by the blogosphere and Youtube, as well as RSS feeds and other means of getting the latest news anywhere at anytime in the palm of your hand.
Nontheless, a media executive in a prime position to sing print’s funeral dirge still believes it has a future, even if it is likely to be somewhat diminished compared to the past. That man is Paul Miller (pictured), CEO of Tech Insights – a division of United Business Media that operates the prestigious tech journal EE Times. His team was in town recently to meet with local marcomm professionals and, among other things, explain how their company is incorporating the operations of local reverse-engineering firm Semiconductor Insights into its range of services.
Miller discussed the premature claims about the death of print in the broader context of the death of traditional media as the prime source of news and information. We live in a chaotic time, he said, in which companies with marketing dollars to spend don’t know what to do. Should they focus their spending on Google AdWords? Should they try to stimulate interest in their company’s technology and their own subject matter expertise in the blogosphere? Is there still value to be had through traditional media, be it in print, online, or both?
His take was that, despite all the sound and fury surrounding the funnels of community discourse now available online, there will always be a need for trusted sources of information with a track record of accuracy and impartiality. And for a company to adequately generate the right kind of buzz about itself, it can’t depend on any one avenue.
As we agreed in a chat after the event, it’s difficult to vet much of the content and the sources of that content in the blogosphere, never mind ensure what kind of audience is being reached through that avenue. As for Google AdWords, well, it can be a powerful tool. In the past week I’ve heard two different CEOs say how most of their new business now comes from Google hits. But once you have drawn that traffic to your website, what will visitors find? Are they greeted with concise and impactful information? Can they easily find what they need to have a clear understanding of your value proposition?
In other words, have you generated the right content to sell yourself with what visitors find on your website? And that brings me back to the start of this piece – the often exaggerated death of print. Print may diminish in importance, but the need to generate clean, accurate and compelling content will not, no matter which side of the PR-journalism fence you’re on. In this age of internet chaos, the need for expert storytellers as part of a well-rounded public relations and marketing strategy is greater than ever.
By Leo Valiquette
All right, picking up from where I left off last time:
7) Be prepared: When you engage the media, questions can come from all directions. Even when you are taking a media call on a particular milestone, such as a new product launch, expect the unexpected. That doesn’t mean you should readily view the journalist with suspicion and expect to be ambushed with inappropriate questions. Perhaps the journalist is looking to follow up on old news, such as whether the company is still on track to reach profitability by a certain date, or if those hiring plans you mentioned a year ago worked out, what your future growth plans are, etc. When arranging an interview time, confirm what the journalist would like to discuss. For more reading on what materials to have ready for the media, see Providing the media with the tools they need to cover your company.
8) Keep it simple, stupid: That doesn’t mean talk to the journalist like he or she is an idiot. If they want something dumbed down, they’ll ask and you should accommodate. Better to take the time and demonstrate patience with questions that require something be explained in terms a 10-year-old would understand than risk a miscommunication. In the age of Google, retractions and correction notices do little to yank back errors that may be damaging to your company, or at least confusing for busy readers who want their information delivered in clear and obvious terms.
9) Good stories have drama, conflict and resolution: Journalists looking to tell a good story hate to hear that everything is perfect and peachy keen. That doesn’t mean they’re looking for trouble where there isn’t any, they just know the skies can’t be sunny and clear all the time. Don’t be afraid to be frank about challenges your business has faced. Instead, take it as an opportunity to talk about how you’ve persevered and overcome, the lessons you’ve learned, or at least, how you intend to overcome if the bio-waste is still flying from the fan. Remember what I said last time in Point #3? What you’ve learned in the School of Hard Knocks can help paint you as a seasoned and capable executive. It also makes for compelling reading that can imbed you in readers’ minds far better than a write up about your latest product’s bells and whistles.
10) Don’t hide: Sometimes, what you don’t want the world to know gets out at the most inconvenient times. Perhaps it’s bad news, or just news you’re not ready to share. It’s often better to set the record straight than ignore a journalist with a scoop that’s been obtained through avenues beyond your control. The journalist may have already scraped up enough information to run with a story before they even pick up the phone to call you. Don’t throw away the chance to tell your side of the story and clear up any possible misinformation, or negotiate an exclusive with the journalist that allows you to embargo the news, if that’s appropriate. Dodging the media is often perceived as a sign that you have something to hide, which only adds fuel to the fire.
On the other hand, don’t feel pressured to give that interview before you’re certain about what it is you want to say. Take the call, garner exactly what it is the journalist is looking for, and arrange for the interview to take place at a more suitable time. But appreciate and respect the fact that the journalist likely has a deadline and an editor breathing down his or her neck.
In conclusion:
It should be self-evident by now that there’s often room to negotiate the terms of engagement with the media. Ethical journalists are after the truth with fair and balanced coverage of the news, events, and organizations relevant to their publication. But how that coverage is obtained, how you agree to be the subject of public scrutiny and consumption, is up to you. The simple rule of thumb is don’t say anything to a journalist you don’t want to see in print. If you want to err on the side of caution, you could always give the media the cold shoulder. Of course, do that and you cut yourself off from the most effective means of generating awareness of your value proposition to potential partners, investors and customers. The media can be a powerful means to promote your business and the subject-matter expertise of your management team that you can’t afford to ignore.
Also of interest: No sandwich required
By Leo Valiquette
My years as a business journalist have taught me a thing or two about what it takes to get the media’s attention … and what to do once you have it. There’s a process of engagement for which you should be prepared, but that doesn’t mean you should view it as a confrontation. It doesn’t mean war, as Bugs would say, but rather, opportunity. Here are 10 things to keep in mind, which I have divided into two postings.
1) It’s not about your agenda: If you’re a Microsoft or a Google, it’s easy to dictate the terms of engagement to the media. If you’re not, it’s a different playbook altogether. You have to offer journalists what they need when they need it, which takes research.
2) Sometimes, it’s spelled out for you: As my colleagues have discussed here before, many publications, especially niche players like trade or industry papers, plan out specific coverage of an industry, sector, trend or area of business development months in advance. It could be content for a section of a few pages, or to fill an entire issue. These “editorial calendars” can provide insight to when and how a particular publication may be interested in your story, or in your perspectives on the state of your industry. See Evaluating editorial calendar opportunities and When and how to inquire about editorial calendar opportunities.
3) Be flexible: Often, the best way to get exposed through the media is to be a source of comment on a particular area that impacts on your business. The journalist is looking for subject-matter experts for a story he or she already has in mind. I’ve dealt with companies looking for media coverage that wanted a corporate profile and wouldn’t settle for anything else. Rather than work with me to fill a particular need I had, they declined and gave up the chance for any exposure through the newspaper.
4) You can get whatever you want, if you’re willing to pay for it: No, that doesn’t mean that if you buy an advertisement you will get a story. Strike such blasphemous thoughts from your brain! if you insist on your message being told your way, subject to your approval, the journalist’s answer will most likely be “Our sales and marketing department would be happy to hear from you. Here’s the number. Bye, bye.” If what you want is an ad, then buy an ad.
5) A profile presented as an objective, impartial news story is not an oxymoron: If a journalist does decide to write specifically about your company, you have to understand that he or she, and their editor, will maintain control over the final product. At best, you can push for the right to double check facts and figures that the journalist will include in the story and verify any direct quotes from yourself or your staff that the journalist intends to include. For this to be a well-rounded news article and not a promotional piece, don’t expect you will be the only source, and that leads to the next point…
6) Do the right people know who you are? When a journalist writes about your company, what it does, where it’s going and the likelihood of it actually getting there, he or she needs sources. Sure, you may be tickled by the prospects for your brave new enterprise, but yours may not be the most objective opinion. The journalist will be looking for the third-party perspective of analysts who follow your industry and can provide a frank assessment of your prospects. So it pays to put yourself on the radar of the analysts who carry weight with the media and sell them on your company. Other sources could include your investors and even competitors. And don’t overlook the value of testimonials from happy customers.
To be continued…
