5 Questions... with Tim Smith
This week's 5 Questions personality is none other than Tim Smith. Tim is the CEO of GridCentric which finds its home in the Rogers Ventures space on Bloor Street East in Toronto.
Tim’s ten years of industrial experience prior to founding GridCentric include four development and product lead roles, five software start-ups, one Fortune 100 company, and one University -- in areas as diverse as real-time embedded systems, mobile gaming, and computational biology. Tim holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and an M.Sc. in Systems and Networking, both at the University of Toronto. His industry experience includes work in real-time embedded systems, satellite communications, file system design, mobile systems and applications, and scalable web services. In other words, Tim makes things happen!
What motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?
I get to work with a top-notch team of extremely bright, professional individuals. By all accounts, GridCentric is at least twelve months ahead of the competition, many of whom have been in business for twenty years or more. The fact that we have maintained technological leadership since inception is a testament to the excellence and ability to execute of our research and development team - they are smart and get things done.
Do you have any success start-up tips for people wanting to create a name for themselves in your industry?
Our industry (systems software) is unique in that the best technologies are those that are invisible to the user. The industry is driven largely by momentum, so an adage I would share with start-ups looking to be successful is: Large companies compete by making old things sound new (see many vendors' "Cloud Computing" strategies). Small companies must compete by making new things (specifically, the disruptive technology they are bringing to market) sound old.
For technology start-ups in general, my advice would be that ideas DO matter! Contrary to conventional start-up wisdom, brilliant execution cannot fix technology that is fundamentally broken. In my opinion, this makes technology start-ups harder to pull off because you need both a great idea and great execution.
In your opinion why is Toronto a hotbed for cool tech start-ups?
Toronto is one of the few big cities in North America where it is possible to live on a shoestring budget and still have a good time. This is important for start-up founders - to get rich you must first learn to enjoy being (almost) broke.
What's your favourite tech toy and social media site and why?
I've been a collector of tech toys for a while now. My Sony x505 has lost its position as favored toy since I got my iPhone. There's nothing like the freedom an iPhone and a good data plan afford you. Gerry Power, who besides being a friend and office-mate is CTO of Zoocasa, recently acquired an iPad from down south... I may have to join the cult when the 3G version is released up here.
I read Reddit and Hacker News on average at least an hour a day, usually in the morning and right after getting home from work. There's something about the psyche of Paul Graham fans/disciples that resonates with me.
Who would you say is one of Toronto's tech stars and why?
I think Greg Wilson at the University of Toronto deserves a lot of respect. He's been a major force in bringing together talent and companies, and his lectures at UofT have gone a long way in increasing the level of competence in UofT software engineering graduates. He's a superstar.
