By Francis Moran
Outside of my annual summer vacation, one of the things I most look forward to when the weather turns hot is the International Startup Festival, returning to Montreal from July 10 to 13 for a third great year. I chatted this week with Phil Telio, the festival’s maestro, to get a preview of what the startup entrepreneurs, investors, support community members and general hangers-on (like me) can expect from this year’s edition.
I started by asking Telio why the festival was such a success. “You tell me,” he declared, before itemizing factors like “economic development is super important to any community,” and “there’s a real hunger for startups” to be part of that development. Mainly, though, the festival is “fun and playful. I think people appreciate that it’s not a stuffy investors’ conference where people are all wearing suits and ties.”
“And it’s Montreal in the summer!”
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By Leo Valiquette
Last month’s lineup featured great posts on how established companies should innovate, a startup CEO’s tips for wooing investors, the risks of discounting your product and the need for philanthropy to be a natural part of doing business. And of course, there was plenty of sage advice on what it takes to make marketing work.
In case you missed any of it, here is a handy recap of our posts, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
April 18: In search of that Entrepreneurial Spark, by Maurice Smith
April 23: What have you done for someone else lately?, by Leo Valiquette
April 11: Want more business from your website? Here are 6 things your customers need to see, by Tim Peter
April 24: A startup CEO’s tips for wooing investors, by John Hill and Leo Valiquette
April 25: The folly (or possibly the wisdom) of discounting, by Francis Moran
April 10: Best of: The saddest marketing story I’ve ever heard, by Francis Moran
April 17: My top travel tips, by Francis Moran
April 8: When is it time to say, ‘Our CEO’s got to go?’by Denzil Doyle
April 16: The imperatives of leaders, leadership and leading, by Bob Bailly
April 29: In it until everyone crosses the finish line, by Leo Valiquette
April 15: What an entrepreneur can learn from a literary conference: Part III, by Leo Valiquette
April 4: Trademark hygiene: A cautionary tale, by David French
April 30:Patent harvesting versus mandated innovation, by David French
April 3: ‘You can’t cross a canyon in two leaps’, by Francis Moran
April 2: Best of: Just the facts … no, these facts, by Leo Valiquette
April 9: What an entrepreneur can learn from a literary conference: Part II, by Leo Valiquette
Image: April 2013 Calendar Printable
This is the 12th article in a continuing series chronicling the growth path of Screach, a startup based in Newcastle upon Tyne in England’s North East. Screach is an interactive digital media platform that allows users to create real-time, two-way interactive experiences between a smart device (through the Screach app) and any content, on any screen or just within the mobile device itself. We invite your feedback.
By John Hill and Leo Valiquette
Investment. It’s big news in the startup world. Sites such as TechCrunch and The Next Web are full of stories about how much a company has raised and what it wants to do with it. But if you’re set on putting together a round for your business, you’ve got to think about more than just passing around the tin.
There are mountains of articles out there about what investors are looking for, and how to have those conversations, so have a look around and get an idea of how to go about it the right way.
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This is the 11th article in a continuing series chronicling the growth path of Screach, a startup based in Newcastle upon Tyne in England’s North East. Screach is an interactive digital media platform that allows users to create real-time, two-way interactive experiences between a smart device (through the Screach app) and any content, on any screen or just within the mobile device itself. We invite your feedback.
By Leo Valiquette and John Hill
Growing a startup is all about establishing and managing relationships. There are the relationships that open doors and create opportunity. And then there are the more pedestrian ones involved with the day-to-day processes that get product to customers.
Relationships in both categories gave the Screach team plenty of reason to lose sleep over the past couple of months. The first was a pitch opportunity for CEO Paul Rawlings that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. The second was the potentially disruptive hiccup presented by the Chinese New Year.
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This is the 10th article in a continuing monthly series chronicling the growth path of Screach, a startup based in Newcastle upon Tyne in England’s North East. Screach is an interactive digital media platform that allows users to create real-time, two-way interactive experiences between a smart device (through the Screach app) and any content, on any screen or just within the mobile device itself. We invite your feedback.
By Leo Valiquette and John Hill
They say the world is more connected than it’s ever been. You can push software to a global audience with the tap of a key, and serve customers worldwide from a desk in your living room.
Of course, the trade-off is that it’s loud out there. You’re immediately competing with the world, and you’ve got to be disciplined, dedicated or clever to be heard. So how do you go about building a market in a new country when you haven’t got millions of dollars to throw at it?
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