By Alexandra Reid
As a regular weekly feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Business2Community, Financial Post, VentureBeat, eMarketer, and TechVibes.
‘Looking big’ is not an effective B2B marketing message
It’s not rare to see B2B companies sucked into the distorted reality that they must market themselves as larger companies to woo their prospect bases. The traditional logic is that if you are selling to larger companies, you should act larger in an effort to appeal to them. Author Brian Jameson explains that B2B marketing is not a boxing match where fighters fall into weight classes.
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We covered lots of new and interesting subjects on our blog last month. Contributor Caroline Kealey discussed the importance of measurement for communications people. Terry Lavineway shared important information on business incentives in the federal budget. David French further explored the world of patents and explained how get value for your money. Our Francis Moran covered recent developments in Waterloo and shared counsel on the importance of having a good startup team, while Alexandra Reid examined the importance of social media images and interviewed startup champion Victoria Lennox on Startup Canada’s cross country tour and launch, happening this week in Ottawa. Plus, we had our regular monthly check-ins with startups Genevolve, Screenreach and NanoScale.
These topics merely scratch the surface of our coverage last month. If you missed any of our posts, here is a handy roundup.
April 3: Getting ready for the big show by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
April 12: Learning how to deal with the unexpected by Francis Moran and Alexandra Reid
April 25: Do you know how to dance with angels? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
And on a related note…
In addition to our series, our associates and guest bloggers were also busy writing on a great range of topics. Here are our other posts from April, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
April 19: What’s going on in Waterloo? by Francis Moran
April 24: There is no magic recipe for a successful company, only good cooks by Francis Moran
April 16: Innovation and the budget by Denzil Doyle
April 23: Tales from the trenches: New associate joins our team by Jeff Campbell
April 17: Social media strategy: Why meeting in the ‘real world’ matters by Alexandra Reid
April 2: Making measurement work for communications professionals by Caroline Kealey
April 5: How to municipimp your municipality by Alexandra Reid
April 18: What an entrepreneur can learn from a literary conference by Leo Valiquette
April 30: From whiteboard to customers: a perspective from the startup world by Jesse Rodgers
April 9: Are we getting value for all the money we’re spending on patents? by David French
April 4: There were other business-related incentive tidbits in the federal budget by Terry Lavineway
April 26: Victoria Lennox: Startup champion by Alexandra Reid
April 13: The importance of developing a social media image strategy by Alexandra Reid
By Alexandra Reid
As a regular weekly feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are TechCrunch, Fast Company, Forbes, ReadWriteWeb and MarketingProfs.
Why startups should pay attention to skyrocketing patent prices
As large companies increasingly look to protect their revenue streams through IP risk mitigation, startups with strong patent holdings will become increasingly valuable because they provide an opportunity to remove dual potential threats to the potential acquirer’s revenue stream — as a competitor and as a patent threat. Author Leonid Kravets explains that startups that are able to position themselves as part of an acquirer’s IP risk-mitigation strategy make themselves more attractive targets for acquisition.
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By David French
“How can we find out whether we’re getting value for all the money we’re spending on patents within the company?”
This is a question I’ve heard before, and it’s a tough one to answer.
Corporations today are spending money on intellectual property. This includes not only patents but also trademarks and copyrights and occasionally industrial designs. All these items should be addressed in the modern high technology environmental. But a difficulty exists, particularly with respect to patents, in determining whether money invested in patents is money well spent.
There is a story going around that companies should have a large portfolio of patents in order to protect them in case they are sued by a competitor. The theory is that if you are sued then you will counter-sue, relying on one or more patents in the patent portfolio. But there is a fallacy involved in this scenario.
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March was an exciting month, full of changes and new developments.
In the commercialization ecosystem, all eyes were on the federal and Ontario budgets, which shook up government investment and spending in Canadian business and innovation. In social media, the Stop Kony 2012 campaign went viral, spurring fervent debates between its supporters and critics all around the globe. Facebook also unveiled its new brand pages, leaving many businesses scrambling to update their pages and understand the new format on deadline. We covered all of these subjects and more last month on this blog. If you missed any of our posts, here is a handy roundup.
March 22: What an IP co-ordinator should know, confidentially speaking By David French
March 14: Looking for that sweet spot to get market traction by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
March 01: Yikes … we forgot the demo! by Peter Hanschke
And on a related note…
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As a regular weekly feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Business2Community, Financial Post, VentureBeat, eMarketer, and TechVibes. 
