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Everyone has their own opinion and here is where you can read what they are. These are blog posts, not necessarily endorsed by anyone – except the team member who wrote them!

Nouveau fonds pour le démarrage d’entreprises en technologie

Filed under Austin Hill, Events, Marketing Dept, Press, Reseau Anges Quebec, angel investing, role models

11 03.08

Le fonds bénéficiera de l’appui d’une vingtaine d’anges financiers et d’entrepreneurs montréalais qui ont réussi dans le domaine.

MONTREAL, Québec, 10 mars 2008 – Montreal Start Up, un spécialiste du capital de démarrage, dont la mission est d’appuyer les entrepreneurs montréalais qui bâtissent les succès de demain, a aujourd’hui annoncé le lancement d’un premier fonds de capital de risque de $3 millions, le Fonds-Soutien Montréal s.e.c. Parmi les investisseurs, on dénombre une vingtaine d’entrepreneurs et investisseurs montréalais qui ont connu du succès en affaires et l’appui considérable d’Investissement Québec.

Depuis 2005, près de $3 milliards de nouveaux capitaux ont été injectés dans l’industrie du capital de risque québécois; cependant, très peu de ressources sont allouées au financement et mentorat des jeunes entreprises. Le résultat final est que très peu de compagnies sont prêtes à recevoir du capital de risque et la plupart de ces nouveaux fonds ne sont toujours pas investis.

Démarrage Montréal investira temps et argent exclusivement auprès des jeunes entreprises. Elle mettra l’expertise que ses investisseurs ont accumulé en technologies de l’information, communications et medias au service des entrepreneurs qui bâtissent les succès de demain sur Internet, dans le sans-fil ou en multimédia.

“Bien que le Québec ne manque pas de capital de risque, Montreal Start Up se démarque en intervenant exclusivement à la phase de démarrage des entreprises. C’est une période où l’entrepreneur a autant besoin de conseillers de confiance que d’argent”, dit René Bousquet, associé chez Trio Capital et investisseur dans le fonds. “L’encadrement et l’appui financier initial du fonds permettront aux entrepreneurs de lancer leur compagnie et de valider son potentiel commercial. Ils seront ainsi en meilleure position pour obtenir du financement des fonds de capitaux de risque traditionnels.”

Austin Hill, un entrepreneur et ange financier qui siège sur le comité d’investissement de Démarrage Montréal, ajoute “Le logiciel libre, l’informatique sur demande et les outils de développement modernes font que beaucoup de jeunes entreprises sont capables de démontrer la viabilité de leur offre de service à partir d’un investissement initial modeste ».

“Si l’on veut collaborer étroitement avec des entreprises en démarrage, il est important de bien comprendre leur réalité” a dit John Stokes, associé principal chez Montreal Start Up, “Notre équipe de gestion et notre comité consultatif sont composés d’entrepreneurs chevronnés. C’est cette expérience que nous désirons mettre au service des entrepreneurs afin de les aider à bâtir la prochaine génération de compagnies montréalaises qui rayonneront mondialement. »

Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer, de Vantage Point Venture Partners et membre du conseil d’administration de Démarrage Montréal explique l’importance de la structure du fonds : « Dans les pôles technologiques les plus innovants, une partie importante du financement et du mentorat provient d’entrepreneurs devenus anges financiers suite à leur réussite en affaires. Historiquement, cette culture de réinvestissement a été faible à Montréal; la ville n’a donc pas profité des bienfaits qu’un pont entre les générations pouvait offrir. Cependant, le fait que des entrepreneurs appuient ce fonds de Démarrage Montréal montre que la culture d’investissement de notre ville évolue ».

Démarrage Montréal entend former des partenariats avec d’autres intervenants du milieu, tels les anges financiers, afin de former des consortium d’investissement et pour accompagner les jeunes compagnies jusqu’à ce qu’elles puissent être financées par les autres fonds de capitaux de risque québécois, créant ainsi des opportunités pour les capitaux non investis.

Les associés et conseillers de Montreal Start Up ont fondé ou occupé des rôles clés chez Terrascale, Microcell, Télésystème, AskMen.com, Génération Flash, RadialPoint, Canoë.ca, BCE, Nortel FremantleMedia, Rogers et Hewlett Packard entre autres. Les associés sont John Stokes, Alan MacIntosh, Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Austin Hill et Daniel Drouet.

À propos de Montreal Start Up
Fondé en 2007, Montreal Start Up est un spécialiste du capital de démarrage dont la mission est d’appuyer les entrepreneurs montréalais lors du lancement de leurs entreprises. Les investissements privilégieront les services innovants à base de logiciel dans les secteurs d’Internet, du sans-fil et du multimédia.

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New seed capital fund for Montreal’s technology entrepreneurs

Filed under Austin Hill, Marketing Dept, Press, Reseau Anges Quebec, angel investing, startup

11 03.08

Fund aims to capitalize on the committed support of twenty of Montreal’s most successful entrepreneur and angel investors.

MONTREAL, Quebec, March 10, 2008 – Montreal Start Up, a venture investor dedicated to supporting Montreal based entrepreneurs in their quest to create and build successful companies, today announced the closing of its $3 million venture capital fund, Fonds Soutien Montreal s.e.c, the first of a number of funds it plans to establish. Participating in the fund are twenty of Montreal most successful entrepreneurs and investors, complemented by strong support from institutional investor, Investissement Quebec.

Whilst almost $3 billion of new capital commitments have poured into Quebec’s venture capital industry since 2005, the limited availability of funding and mentoring for seed stage opportunities has led to a drought of venture ready companies; as such, much of this capital remains un-invested.

Montreal Start Up will focus on deploying seed and advisory capital into early stage opportunities. By leveraging its capital with its investor base’s experience in building successful information technology, communications and media companies, it will be able to nurture ambitious internet, wireless and multi-media entrepreneurs in their quest to become venture ready.

“Whilst Quebec is not short of venture capital, Montreal Start Up is distinct in that it focuses exclusively on funding very early stage startups. This is the stage when entrepreneur’s financial needs are often smaller than their needs for strategic input or operational support.” said Rene Bousquet, a Partner at Trio Capital and an investor in the Fund. “By providing enough funds to allow a company to launch its offering and show initial signs of success, the company will be much better positioned to raise capital from more traditional VC’s.”

Austin Hill, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who sits on Montreal Start Up’s investment committee added, “With the availability of open source software, utility based computing and simplified software development tools, many start-ups do not require substantial venture funding to prove their ability to gain market traction.”

These recent innovations in the startup environment, coupled with the energy coming from within the local Montreal technology community have created an opportunity on which Montreal Startup intends to capitalize.

“Working so closely with start up companies it is essential that Montreal Start Up embodies the entrepreneurial spirit.” commented John Stokes, managing partner, Montreal Start Up. “With a management team and advisory board full of battle hardened entrepreneurs we understand the risks associated with starting businesses, but intend to harness our collective experiences to create Montreal’s next generation of globally successful companies.”

Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Entrepreneur in Residence at Vantage Point Venture Partners and Montreal Start Up board member explained the precedent being set by the fund’s structure, “In the world’s most vibrant start-up hubs a significant amount of funding and mentoring comes from successful entrepreneurs turned angel investors.” he stated. “Montreal has traditionally lacked this culture of reinvestment and thus not benefited from this valuable bridge between aspiring startup entrepreneurs and some of the city’s most successful technology executives; the structure of Montreal Start Up’s entrepreneur backed venture fund provides a visible sign that the investment culture of our city is evolving”.

In addition to working with those individuals who have invested directly into the Fund, Montreal Start Up has committed itself to forming partnerships with other members of Canada’s venture eco-system:
• Co-Investment Partnerships; Its professional investment team will actively structure investment consortiums that will include angels and early stage investors.
• Venture Partnerships: Seed and advisory capital will be deployed to nurture companies for other venture capital funds operating in Quebec and thereby create opportunities to unlock and deploy the provinces un-invested capital.

Composed of former operational executives with entrepreneurial experience, Montreal Start Up’s partners and advisory board have held top roles at companies including Terrascale, Telesystem, AskMen.com, Generation Flash, Fox Interactive Media, Microcell, RadialPoint, Canoe.ca, BCE, Nortel, FremantleMedia, Rogers and Hewlett Packard. The firm’s general partners are John Stokes, Alan MacIntosh, Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer, Austin Hill and Daniel Drouet.

About Montreal Start Up
Founded in 2007, Montreal Start Up is a venture investor committed to supporting Montreal based entrepreneurs and their companies during their start-up phase, with the investment focus being on companies developing innovative software based services in the Internet, wireless and multi-media sectors.

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The long or short of pitching angel investors

Filed under Reseau Anges Quebec, Standout Jobs, angel investing, cozimo, startup, xtranormal

16 02.08

Standout Jobs, Cozimo and Xtranormal have recently been pitching their businesses at DEMO. These pitches were all well received by the audience – and one of the key reasons for that is that they were prepared specifically  for that audience. In other words, to deliver a good pitch it is essential to understand the motivation and objectives of your audience.

Knowing your audience is also important when it comes to pitching potential investors. Some time ago Brad Feld published a list of questions that a pitch to a VC should address. We have developed a set of questions that we think are more applicable to pitching angel investors:

  • Set the scene – Explain why the space your business operates in is interesting to you and should be interesting to an investor.
  • What is your vision for the business? How will you be perceived?
  • What is the need you are trying to fulfill? Who specifically has this need? What is the intensity of demand? ( ie are potential customers/users willing to invest time or money to satiate the need?)
  • How many potential customers/users have this need ? (ie How big is the market?)
  • What is your offering? How does it fulfill the need of your potential customers/users? What stage is it at (idea, beta, in production)?
  • What are you competing against? What differentiates your offering from others and why does it matter to your users / customers?
  • How do you generate revenue?
  • What is your strategy for attracting and retaining customers / users?
  • What relevant experience or insight does your team have for executing this strategy?                       
  • In addition to money, what other resources are you lacking right now? (e.g. key hires, key relationships, etc)
  • How will this investment fit in with the overall financial plan of the company? (e.g.Enough funds until profitability (no further investment anticipated) or Interim financing round (how long will this funding last))
  • What business milestones will this investment enable you to reach? Why are these milestones significant? What key perfomance indicators can you use to track progress towards the milestones?
  • Are there any other material matters ? e.g. Outstanding debts, important contracts, specific timing requirements for an investment etc.

Whilst some of these questions might appear to invite broad sweeping answers – that is not the idea. Be tight, be concise and debate each question thoroughly before you answer it.

We will continue to refine these questions based on feedback from entrepreneurs, Reseau Anges Quebec and NAOQ.

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Reseau Anges Quebec

Filed under Reseau Anges Quebec, angel investing

11 02.08

At MSU we regard Angels and Entrepreneurs as the "twin engines" of start-up as both aide in getting a business of the ground.

It was therefore encouraging for Quebec entrepreneurs to hear about the recent launch of Quebec’ latest angel investor network, Reseau Anges Quebec.

So what do we think defines an Angel Investor?

 "Angels" are a specific type of Venture Capitalist. They are generally individuals in the community who invest in local businesses. They are generally less formal and less public in their approach to investing.

An "Angel" differs from other venture capitalists in the size of investment (usually under $250,000) and the fact that they are directly involved as an advisor. "Angels" typically do not invest in several ventures at the same time. Rather, they dedicate their resources and time to helping one or two companies grow.

An "Angel" generally wants and is able to provide more than money. Usually a successful business person in his/her own right, the "Angel" can offer advice and expertise. 

“Angels” often have contacts in the financial and business community. They will also usually have some experience within the company’s industrial sector, but will invest in a field in which they have not specifically worked if they feel their business experience can supplement the strengths of the management team.

An "Angel" is generally a "doer"( i.e. an entrepreneur who has little time for bureaucracy) and someone who invests in the potential of the company. "Angels" want to be part of a new venture, to be involved in the thrill of helping another business succeed; something they have most likely experienced with their own company at some point in the past.

When someone gets a reputation for being an active angel investor it doesn’t take long for them to start receiving requests for finance. I have been asked to invest in numerous companies and in a number of cases the approach has sounded something like this; " You have some money and I need money quickly and I hear angel investors aren’t as greedy as VC’s, they don’t ask for as much inormation and can move quicker – so will you invest?"

Just in case you don’t see the problems with this approach I suggest that you remember the following when approaching angel investors:

  • Angel Investors are …. investors … who still want a good return on their capital. They typically invest before VC’s and as such probably expect at least as high a % return as a VC.
  • Angel investors can often move quicker than VC’s … but it does not come across well if you approach an Angels when you are in a hurry. An Angel will still want to due diligence of some sort and will probably want to take some time to get to know you personally. This should never be done with the thought of a clock ticking over your heads.
  • Angel investors have more flexible time horizon’s than VC’s. In general, it is more important for a VC to be able to see an exit possibility within 4-7 years than it is for an angel, as angels don’t have a contractually finite period of time by when the need to return capital to their investors.
  • If you’re going to take money from an angel investor it’s much better to get it from someone who can really help your business grow – the fact that you see value in their input should always be communicated to the angel investor. If you feel that you’re just kissing someone’s but when you say this – your probably better to find a different angel investor.

If you’re an entrepreneur keep an eye out for what happening with Reseau Anges Quebec over the next few months, as they need YOU in order to be successful.

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