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April Roundup: Rewarded, ravenous and grammatically confused

By inmedia

In case you missed them, here’s a roundup of our blog posts from April.

Francis
April 2: Whaddya mean it’s a brave new (social media) world?
April 7: Entrepreneurs hunger for education
April 9: inmedia clients go 2 for 2 at OCRI awards
April 15: Four legs good, two legs bad
April 22: Linguistics prof slags ‘The Elements of Style’

Leo
April 3: In the flesh

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Entrepreneurs hunger for education

By Francis Moran

If last night’s standing-room-only three hours of drinking-from-a-firehose delivery of hard-core business education was anything to go on, Ottawa’s entrepreneurs are hungry to learn from experienced veterans just how to manage, finance and market their companies.

Entrepreneur’s Edge, or e2, is a professional-development program that the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation has offered for four years. In an inspired cross between effective promotion and community outreach, program manager Peter Fillmore decided to offer a stripped-down version of the five-day curriculum. That gave rise to last night’s staging at TheCodeFactory of e2-Lite, an intensely concentrated introduction to the joys and perils of founding and managing a technology startup.

More than 50 people took up every available seat in the room, and all but a very few stayed right through to the end of a trio of presentations by Jim Roche, Rick O’Connor and Rick Norland. While the condensed nature of the content meant that bits of it were somewhat fractured and the presentation slides were densely packed, the staying power of the audience was testament to both the quality of the material being delivered and the ready appetite for it.

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March roundup: Mercer, the Pope and the seductive call of Twitter

By inmedia

In case you missed them, here’s a roundup of our blog posts from March.

Francis
March 3: Rick Mercer plays ringette
March 6: ‘Angry phone calls are your friend.’
March 10: Twitter: My first impressions

Leo
March 5: Be bold. Be nimble. Be heard.
March 12: Give’em what they want, not what they need
March 26: A tech company built to last in small town Ontario

Danny
March 19: The Pope and PR ethics

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A tech company built to last in small town Ontario

By Leo Valiquette

Ross Video is not as well known as some companies in the Ottawa area. And yet, it employs 300 staff between its operations in Ottawa and the small community of Iroquois about an hour south, and has enjoyed average annual revenue growth of 20 per cent since 1991.

Ross Video makes a variety of video-production equipment used for broadcast and live events.  Its products ship all over the world, with customers that range from major television networks, Scotiabank Place and the Vatican to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The company’s success has earned it some kudos. It won an OCRI Technology Company of the Year award in 2005, a Gemini Award for Technology in 2007 and an OCRI Product of the Year award in 2008. Still, it doesn’t command the immediate name recognition as other names in the Ottawa tech sector. Perhaps that’s due in part to the fact that the Ross Video name lacks the infamy associated with some of those other names.

As an Iroquois boy myself, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony as second-generation chairman and CEO David Ross talked about the company’s obvious staying power at this morning’s OCRI Technology Executive Breakfast.

For anyone who knows it, Iroquois is a quiet village on the shores of the St. Lawrence River with fewer than 1,500 residents. It greatest claim to fame was its wholesale relocation to higher ground during the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s. This humble setting is the hometown of a success story that has more than a few lessons to teach to the Ottawa technology community about what it takes to build a global player.

The company was founded by David’s father, John, in 1974 with seed money earned from the sale of his prized Second World War twin-seat training airplane and a bank loan for a grand total of $8,000.

John Ross founded the company with two guiding objectives:

  • Have a family-owned business
  • Maintain control of his own destiny indefinitely

The emphasis has always been on building a company to last, rather than one to sell, which, as David stressed, is a tougher road that requires a far different mindset. It’s not enough to think a fiscal quarter or a year ahead, but a decade ahead. It is this emphasis on private control without diluting ownership through external investment, and the long-term business strategy this demanded, that has helped build a company well prepared for any economic downturn.

Among Dave’s best practices to build an enduring company:

  • For its first 18 years, Ross Video sold only video-production switches and was hammered by recessions in the ’80s and ’90s. This taught the value of diversifying the product line to help make the company more resilient to downturns. One way was to develop more economical and stripped-down versions of its products. The Lamborghini model may sell well when times are good, but the Kia version will still sell well when times are tougher.
  • But . . . don’t wait until a recession has struck to design the Kia model. When times are good, re-invest profits in research and product development. About two-thirds of Ross Video’s product line has been introduced within the past three years.
  • Make sure your products touch on as many edges as possible with common markets, customers, materials, manufacturing processes and so forth. This drives a lean and efficient operation.
  • Diversify the customer base, both by market and geography.
  • Don’t sit on a pile of cash. Again, invest in new product development and diversification. “If the downturn is long term, the cash will eventually evaporate and only postpone layoffs.”
  • Spread your technology bets. For example, don’t bet the company on some new emerging technology at the expense of older legacy products that still have a solid market. Again, diversify.
  • Partner. Partner on marketing, sales channels, product development, manufacturing — whatever it is where your company is strong and another is not and vice versa. Ross Video has built a partner channel with more than 20 other smaller companies in its space that, for the most part, are in some fashion a competitor. And yet, these partnerships are beneficial on both ends.
  • Consider carefully where there is the most benefit from outsourcing a process versus keeping it in house. Ross Video still prefers to keep its manufacturing inside the company and has taken advantage of new technologies to improve the cost efficiency of these operations.
  • Take advantage of government funding, such as through IRAP or the SR&ED program.
  • Customer service is critical, especially if you are second or third in your market. “People buy from people they like.”
  • By the same token, “People work for people they like.” Treat staff with respect, invest in them and have regular celebratory events.
  • Manage growth. Don’t be greedy and look to grow too fast. Ross Video has walked away from more opportunities than it has pursued.

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February roundup: Lessons learned from dragons, knights and Octomom

By inmedia

In case you missed them, here’s a recap of our blog posts from February.

Francis
Feb. 2: The start-up Scotts of Ottawa take it on the road
Feb. 19: Two inmedia clients among OCRI awards finalists
Feb. 25: We’re now Twits!

Leo
Feb. 5: Having skin in the game
Feb. 6: Straight from the dragon’s mouth
Feb. 13: Positive PR on a personal level
Feb. 24: How stale is your contact list?
Feb. 26: Inside Sir Terry’s start-up engine

Danny
Feb. 18: Media train, but don’t overdo it!
Feb. 27: The importance of what lies behind a headline

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