Filed under Marketing Dept, role models, startup
03 01.08
The start of a new year is often seen as both a time for reflection and for looking to the future.
On reflection I recognise two major movements in Montreal in 2007:
- The "self activation" of Montreal’s entrepreneurial community – primarily through Barcamps, Democamps and Tech Breakfasts.
- The closing of the gap between the franchopone and anglophone entrepreneurial communities.
As others have commented we have come a long way in a short amount of time and this progress is both exciting and encouraging for Montreal and also for Canada.
Looking forward, I implore Montreal’s new wave of entrepreneurs, angel investors and VC’s to work hard, work fast and work smart.
There are a few things that I would like us to try and keep in mind as we push on into 2008:
- We are not the first to face any given problem – but realising that it is a problem means that at least we now have an opportunity to do something about it.
- We will not achieve great success by working in a vacum:
- Life is a competitive process – decide if you are training to win the New York marathon or finish a sponsored 5K fun run. Both are worthy goals but each requires a different levels of commitment .
- Life is a collaborative process – helping other people achieve their goals does not necessarily hinder you achieving yours. Surround yourself with worthy training partners that will push and motivate you to do more.
- Make decisions ! Some people succeed, some people fail and some people drift along in between. Drifting is the worst option of the three (and it is an option you chose). Be prepared to fail at something so that you then have the time to succeed at something else.
- Time does not stand still so don’t be fooled into thinking that "quality of life" is a substitute for hard work – it is a product of it !
- And for those entrepreneurs trying to launch a new business in 2008 – please remember, if everyone says it looks like a dog and sounds like a dog …. but don’t seem to want to pat it … then perhaps its not a dog (and that’s not a good thing)!
On a final note, a city is only as good as its people make it.
When we talk about "Montreal" needing this or that we must remember is that is is individuals who must make decisions and individuals who must take actions in order to fulfill these needs – and its not "Montreal" who benefits from these individuals actions – its other individuals !
I know many individuals who have contributed to the successes of 2007, but I know many more who have already agreed to contribute more in 2008 – so to all of those individuals and any others that are so inspired to contribute – THIS IS YOUR YEAR !
Filed under Marketing Dept, startup
14 12.07
I hadn’t heard anyone talk about a “Stealth Start-Up” for a month or two but when someone recently used the term to describe the current stage of their internet based business (or should I say project) I once again chuckled.
“Why chuckle?” you ask.
Well – to want or need to operate in stealth mode means 1 of 3 things:
You haven’t quite worked out what your doing.
You think your idea is so amazingly great and original that if anyone heard about it they would immediately drop what they are doing and do the same.
Your project needs hype to have an impact and you don’t want to water down your marketing impact when you actually do launch.
So let’s analyze these possibilities to see if we can find where the chuckle comes from.
Reason One
Anyone who would give this reason thinks too little of themselves, or too much of who they are speaking to, to say that they are not actually doing anything solid at the moment.
Reason Two
Anyone who gives this reason fails to understand that there are 6 billion people in the world and that someone else, somewhere else, has the same idea and that one needs all the help and input possible in order to make sure that the execution and distribution of your product or service is better than that being delivered by someone else, somewhere else.
Reason Three
Anyone who gives this reason must think the whole of the world is constantly waiting and looking for the product or service they are delivering. If this was the case then I wouldn’t worry about watering down a marketing message!
Most products and services on the net these days have a shareware or open source version. People don’t pay for ideas – they pay for products or services – and these require execution. Execution can’t be done in a vacuum and thus I am hard pressed to find a situation where stealth mode is ever the best way to operate.
Can anyone enlighten us as to why stealth is best?
Filed under startup
09 11.07
The modern marathon runner can complete the 42.x Km (26.x miles ) in under 2:10hrs. That means that they are covering each and every 100m in about 18.5 seconds – and that is pretty damn quick! It actually feels like a sprint to me !
The new wave of internet entrepreneurs need to perform like marathon runner – particularly once they have received funding.
An entrepreneur needs to get out of the blocks as soon as the cash hits the bank and sprint (like a marathon runner) until they reach the refill station – enjoy the feeling as you take on board much needed nourishment – but keep sprinting (like a marathon runner) to the finish (stopping at other refill stations as necessary).
The old saying used to be “It’s a marathon not a sprint” but with the pace at which services, products and competitors are now evolving a marathon is a sprint !
Filed under Finance Dept, Founder Fuel, Seedcamp, Tech Stars, Y Combinator, startup
19 10.07
Y-Combinator’s Paul Graham has raised the hackles of a Brit or two recently by suggesting that startups would do better if they moved to Silicon Valley!
In as much as Silicon Valley has a greater density of all the aspects of a start-up hub – great human networks, a willingness to support innovation, a community appreciation of the lessons gained from failure, an acceptance of startups inherent risk/reward ratios and large amounts of seed capital – he is of course right….
…. but Mr.Graham is really talking philosophically, as the biggest problem in moving to Silicon Valley is US immigration !
The point he really means to drive home is that “the more of a startup hub a place is, the better startups will do there” and that the biggest startup hub in the world is Silicon Valley – thus – “go west young (wo)man”.
Whilst he makes a valid point conceptually, I believe that his extrapolation of this point to the nth degree fails to consider one major issue – access. Whilst a willingness to support innovation, a community appreciation of the lessons gained from failure, an acceptance of startups inherent risk/reward ratios and large amounts of seed capital are essential to a start-up hub, they are only of benefit to an entrepreneur after he/she has access to human networks.
What “founder fuel” programs like Y-Combinator, Tech Stars and Seedcamp offer are a bit of “feed capital”, but more importantly they provide a clear and simple path for entrepreneurs to access a great human network. Provided that a city genuinely has all the aspects of a good startup hub mentioned before then the benefit gained from going to a bigger startup hub will almost definitely be outweighed by the difficulties of (and importantly the time spent) trying to gain access to the network.
Given the immigration difficulties of moving to Canada as a young entrepreneur, I would like to tailor the following recommendations to Canadians.
If you are in a Canadian city that has, in volume, all the aspects of a start-up hub, and you have good access to a strong human network – then you don’t need to move to Silicon Valley to startup – go there (with the help of your network) to expand or when you want to sell !
(For a self-professed geek, Mr. Graham does a great job at creating PR – but more on that in another post.)