TechEntreprise: heri's posts

Last Drinks of the Summer, Canadian TechStars grads in Montreal

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:27:11 -0400

Lots of good people, tech entrepreneurs, developers, angel investors and the larget tech community yesterday at Helm to hear about TechStars.

Even hosted by MontrealStartup, with an initial event announced by Station-C

Stars of the day were Mark O'Sullivan and Todd Burry, the two founders of the Vanilla company. Also present was Tara Hunt (@missrogue), community instigator

More pictures here http://www.flickr.com/photos/montrealtechwatch/tags/msuvanilla/

Montreal Tech Watch » New central place for new technology companies in main downtown Montreal area

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:14:00 -0400

Unlike many in Montreal tech scene, who make much more noise than Ian Rae on starting incubators and the like, it seems actually Ian Rae got things starting off the ground, quietly. He now has a large space, in a University Street building. The office is of course Syntenic’s headquarters, with its staff setting up servers hardware and also Syntenic daily operations, but it also is home for several Montreal startups, a few funded by MSU, plus also companies where Ian is an active contributor, and also consulting companies providing key advice to startups.

TechEntreprise updates

Sat, 23 May 2009 14:21:22 -0400

New updates at TechEntreprise:

new homepage, with the colorful TE logo
tagline changed to "Network for Tech Entreprneneurs, Designers and Hackers"
focus on members and people
Projects&Startups now has a city when submitting, it plays better with geolocation this way
Forum (aka Q&A section) has now commentable answers. So instead of answering a question, you can commenting on an answer
Votes required for news and events to land on their respective homepage were tweaked. Less votes are needed, and it depends on overall website activity
"Suggested Users" feature, which takes from your profile settings

What do you think of those updates? (Also don't forget about getsatisfaction for any feedback)

MTW » Jacques Bernier, stirring up the tech landscape in Québec as Teralys’s CEO

Sat, 09 May 2009 15:12:03 -0400

Heading Teralys is Jacques Bernier, a serial technology entrepreneur, executive and investor in many technology companies. Jacques Bernier was approached by FTQ’s president back in early 2004 — he found the offer interesting but still had his heart in building technology companies. Moreover, at that time, the FTQ was interested in having a tech fund, but Jacques Bernier thought there wasn’t any seed funding in QC, and that the FTQ didn’t have the tools to execute what they were wishing for.

Montreal Tech Watch » $5 billion to end up in the hands of Canadian entrepreneurs, nothing less!

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:53:03 -0400

$5 billion to end up in the hands of Canadian entrepreneurs, as a result of Québec’s support of Venture Capital initiatives nothing less!

Now that the dust is starting to settle down around the recent Québec government budget announcements, the high tech community is wondering what concrete actions will come out of what is believed to be the most important “commitments” ever done by any provincial government to date towards fully supporting the build-out of the entrepreneur’s ecosystem.

Blitzweekeend

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:08:40 -0400

Design, Build, and Launch in one weekend Blitzweekend is an unique experience where designers, developers, and entrepreneurs are challenged to create a working product in 48 hours, beginning Friday 29th February at 5pm in 1111 rue St-Charles, Montreal, Canada. Find a solution to a current problem, meet and innovate with bright creatives, work in an environment built for rapid development, and get feedback from experienced entrepreneurs.

More on the $1.35B initiatives from Quebec for the Venture Capital industry « Chris Arsenault’s Blog

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:20:49 -0400

It feels good to hear more about these type of initiatives. In addition to the $825M fund of fund and the $500M later stage fund initiatives, announced earlier this week by the Quebec government (read more here) Quebec will be put in place 3 new seed funds for an additional aggregate amount of $125M… or more. Managers of these funds are still to be confirmed, via a committee put in place by the MDEIE.

Beyond the Rack - Luxury Brands at Exclusive Prices

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:33:09 -0400

Beyond the Rack is a private shopping club for men and women who want designer brands at prices up to 70% off retail. We work with major brands to hold limited-time sales that are open exclusively to our members. Each sale starts at a specific time (usually noon) and typically lasts only 48 hours. After the sales ends the merchandise is no longer available. Members are notified by email in advance of each upcoming sale according to their preferences.

Early-stage Venture Funded by MontrealStartup

» Porn Shops and Tech - Toronto’s Silicon Valley | StartupNorth

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:26:28 -0400

Startup activity in Canada stalling? VC investment dying?

Well folks, problem solved.

It’s hard to know what to say about efforts like this. I guess that where I believe physical clusters are a sign of success, government officials and universities believe that they are a precursor to success. To that end, more money is being spent building the new Silicon Valley North, this time it is smack in the middle of the porn shop and peepshow strip in Toronto.

Dinner with Guy Kawasaki | Quebec Valley

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:12:31 -0400

Dans le cadre de Capital Innovation 2009, nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter mercredi le 25 mars 2009 au dîner-conférence de Guy Kawasaki, fondateur et PDG de Garage Technology Ventures. M. Kawasaki présentera son expérience en tant que “Apple Fellow” chez Apple Computer, Inc. comme modèle de stratégie d’innovation pour les entreprises du Québec. Il s’agit d’une opportunité unique de rencontrer cet entrepreneur chevronné en compagnie de membres investisseurs d’Anges Québec.

StartupCFO: Venture Capital vs. debt - Can you compare them?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:11:31 -0400

Unprofitable and small companies cannot usually access debt. Certainly not in the same amounts as they can with equity.
Investors get in for one simple reason - to get out at a profit. Low valuations going in compensate for the risk that an investor may not get out for a long time if ever. Given the exit environment these days, it is very uncertain how investors will get their money + a return back.
Loss of IP: If you don't repay your debt, in the most extreme circumstance you can lose your whole business.

IP is the most important asset a startup has and any smart lender will demand it as security.

Widgets at TechEntreprise

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:48:32 -0400

TechEntreprise now has widgets! it allows you to get maximum impact for your events, groups and your user profile

Copy & Paste the small snippet of javascript code and insert it in your blog, a blog post, or any web page.

A Widget has handy links for people to sign up to the event, or see related events and related news