By Alexandra Reid
As usual, we covered a lot of ground last month on our blog. We wrote about the Startup Canada launch, introduced a new “born global” startup concept, discussed the future of accelerators, and explored how the Canadian university ‘innovation gap’ is more illusory than real. We championed the Montreal startup scene, envisioned what Ottawa should do to support entrepreneurship at home, and warned that VCs can sometimes be detrimental to young companies. These topics merely scratch the surface of our coverage.
In case you missed any of our posts, here’s a handy roundup:
May 2: Check your baggage at the door by Leo Valiquette
May 14: How to make better inventions: Part 1 by David French
May 22: How to make better inventions: Part 2 by David French
May 28: The ‘born global’ disruption by Tony Bailetti
May 29: Picking up the pieces from an R&D misadventure by 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 May, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
May 8: Anything they can do you can do better: Competing in social media by Alexandra Reid
May 9: How I learned to stop worrying and love a blank page by Leo Valiquette
May 23: The worst small business social media marketing advice I’ve ever heard by Alexandra Reid
May 31: Canadian university ‘innovation gap’ more illusory than real: Kurman by Francis Moran
May 3: Lessons in entrepreneurship from the Startup Canada launch by Alexandra Reid
May 24: Montreal startup scene continues to rock by Francis Moran
May 15: Managing client expectations throughout an outsourced social media marketing program by Alexandra Reid
May 7: Five old school mistakes creeping into digital and social media planning by Rob Woyzbun
May 30: The future of startup accelerators by Ben Yoskovitz
May 16: The root of all evil by Leo Valiquette
May 18: Dealing with children and sensitive information online by Alexandra Reid
May 1: Why startups should build social media communities before they launch by Alexandra Reid
May 11: Three interesting developments in modern journalism by Francis Moran
Image: marcie scudder
By Francis Moran
I was invited a couple of weeks ago to facilitate a group discussion on the marketing of university technology transfer offices at a forum organised by the Technology Transfer Partnerships. The forum was held in conjunction with the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery 2012 conference in Toronto. It was my first time at the OCE Discovery conference, and I was hugely impressed by the calibre of the presentations, the far-larger-than-expected scope of the exhibition and the superb opportunity for networking. It was a very busy two days.
The keynote speaker at the TTF forum, though, gave one of the more interesting and provocative sessions. Melba Kurman is a consultant, author and speaker who spends most of her time thinking about how universities can better commercialise their technology. I loved her presentation because it challenged and ultimately rejected the notion that Canadian universities are doing a much poorer job at commercialisation than their counterparts in the United States. As I have written before, I am utterly tired of the hackneyed tropes that Canadians don’t innovate as well as Americans, don’t take risks like Americans, and aren’t as successful as Americans. Kurman had me hooked at the very outset of her presentation when she suggested that an American lens is the wrong perspective through which to view what’s happening on Canadian campuses. Canada is doing its own thing, Kurman said, and doing it rather well.
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By Ben Yoskovitz
I’m not much of a prognosticator, but recently Sarah Needleman from the Wall Street Journal called me to ask my thoughts about startup accelerators. She had found a blog post I had written (How to maximize the value of mentors in startup accelerators), and wanted my input on a story she was writing.
Funnily enough, I had just finished speaking at the Michigan Lean Startup Conference about accelerators, using my experience at Year One Labs and my involvement with others since then, as a case study for the future. It was a great event; tons of fun.
Unfortunately, my comments didn’t make it into Sarah’s article. But that’s OK, it was fun to speak with Sarah just the same. Here’s the story: Startups crowd ‘accelerators.’
Since my comments aren’t in the story, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on accelerators in general, and where I see the future going.
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This is the sixth article in a continuing series chronicling the growth path of CommentAir Technologies, a startup based in Ottawa, Canada. CommentAir is developing a wireless technology fans can use at sports venues to receive the same real-time commentary as fans watching from their televisions, a wireless technology that also creates a platform for targeted consumer interaction. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
It’s been three months since we last touched base with CommentAir, a period in which the startup has gone through a near-death experience and continues to face an uncertain prognosis.
When we last spoke with Katie Hrycak, she and sibling co-founder Luke were eagerly awaiting the outcome of their research project with Algonquin College’s Applied Research and Innovation department, in which a team of students, faculty and an external engineering consultant were working with $50,000 in government funding to develop a prototype of CommentAir’s wireless earpiece.
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By Tony Bailetti
Most new technology firms first focus on the domestic market and then internationalize slowly, one stage at a time. They become global by emergence, not by design. Recent evidence suggests that the conventional phased approach to internationalization that is widely used to grow new firms is not working as well as it used to. Stage models of internationalization take too long, cost too much, and increase risks for both investors and customers.
Technology entrepreneurs, as well as the academics, educators, service providers, and policy makers who serve them, need to search for better approaches to launch and grow technology firms.
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Great articles roundup: Startup Canada, startup mistakes, billion-dollar companies, blogging, storytelling, and content marketing
May 25, 2012 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 the Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, ReadWriteStart, Business2Community, Social Media B2B, and CopyBlogger […]
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Montreal startup scene continues to rock
May 24, 2012 by Francis Moran
My day yesterday? Twelve straight hours of startups, speakers, schmoozing and social media as I took in both FounderFuel’s second demo day and The C100’s AccelerateMTL. With what I am sure was more than a wee bit of coordination, one event followed the other […]
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The worst small business social media marketing advice I’ve ever heard.
May 23, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
I read a blog post today that annoyed me, the content for which came from a presentation Gary Vaynerchuk gave to more than 600 small businesses and local chamber and association leaders at America’s Small Business Summit on Monday in Washington D.C. […]
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How to make better inventions: Part 2
May 22, 2012 by David French
Whether or not a prefiling patent novelty search establishes that the road is clear for you to attempt to obtain patent rights, there is tremendous value to be obtained by just carrying out the search. In my last […]
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Dealing with children and sensitive information online
May 18, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Joi Podgorny, who presented at Social Media Breakfast Ottawa yesterday, is an expert in dealing with children and other sensitive information online. In fact, she has nearly 5 million kids to watch over as the director of community engagement for National […]
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The root of all evil
May 16, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
Back in November, Peter Hanschke blogged about the need for the lean and mean startup to beware the million-dollar cheque. In that spirit, I have an anecdote to share which illustrates that the mere prospect of such a windfall can also do significant damage […]
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Managing client expectations throughout an outsourced social media marketing program
May 15, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Demonstrating a marketing program’s success is key to maintaining a happy client. Do good work and prove how it contributed to the client’s goals – seems like a simple enough equation. But managing client expectations throughout a social media marketing program […]
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How to make better inventions: Part 1
May 14, 2012 by David French
I recently had an extended discussion with someone which resulted in the conclusion that there is more to patenting than just getting patents. We started with a discussion of the business value of a patent and then addressed the business value of patenting. Here is […]
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