With all the talk of Canadian brain drain to the United States and the lack of a strong tech startup ecosystem in Canada, it's great to hear about companies like San Francisco-born A Thinking Ape moving the opposite way.
Founded by three twenty-something Canadians who met in the Bay Area, A Thinking Ape relocated to Vancouver in January with the blessing of their three Silicon Valley Angels. A Thinking Ape is "creating the future of social gaming experiences online" and their first title is the popular Kingdoms at War massively multiplayer online game.
Co-founders Kenshi Arasaki, Wilkins Chung, and Eric Diep are excellent examples of what happens when you don't make it easy for talented entrepreneurs to move to a country, start new businesses, and ultimately create jobs.
Arasaki and Chung originally arrived in the Bay Area to work together on Y Combinator-funded Chatterous and met Diep along the way - it's amazing how Canadians always seem to find their fellow countrymen when working abroad.
While Diep's claim to fame is creating the first Facebook App (Quizzes), his recent hassles in trying to remain in the United States are well documented. He was profiled in a video called GeeksOnaPlane: A Tale of Two Erics along with Eric Ries talking about the Startup Founders' Movement.
So what's next for Vancouver's newest social gaming company?
A Thinking Ape is working with Mochi Media and their new social gaming platform that will allow them to build social features into Kingdoms at War and future gaming properties.
Arasaki sees Vancouver as the ideal place to start-up in the social gaming space. He believes that while Vancouver is deep in engineering and programming talent, the convergence of games and social platforms has yet to heat up competition locally for that talent.
And, of course, they're very eager to take advantage of all the government programs that Canada has to offer.
If you're passionate about creating amazing software and working on a team of like-minded visionaries at an early stage startup, A Thinking Ape is currently hiring Engineers.
A Thinking Ape, creators of the popular Kingdoms at War massively multiplayer online game, is a company of young technology entrepreneurs based in... [more]
As a professional in the technology or social media space, chances are that you are an independent contractor or are considered a small business owner.
A new online business solution is now available to those of you whose most dreaded job is accounting and bookkeeping: Wave Accounting.
Kirk Simpson is the President and Co-Founder of Wave Accounting:
There are 1.8 million small business owners in Canada with less than five employees. We’ve designed an accounting tool that will help them understand and take control of their financial management in an easy and straightforward way. Wave Accounting is specifically designed for the business owner and not for an accountant or bookkeeper. We want to encourage business owners to give up their spreadsheets and really take charge of their business.
Unlike many desktop applications, Wave Accounting is web-based. As a result, Wave Accounting offers the benefit of being able to enter data from anywhere and at any time from any computer. An added feature allows multiple users to collaborate on the same account, entering figures and conferring on reports.
For a free 30-day test drive of Wave Accounting please visit their site at www.waveaccounting.com.
Wave Accounting is aimed at small business owners who hate doing accounting. It’s been designed to be easy and to give business owners a view of... [more]
In the past, Chris Taylor has been mistakenly referred to as Chris Anderson, which although is not a cardinal sin (he suffers fools gladly), it does make the conversation a little bit more awkward for him to relate some of his rich experiences.
After all, not many people can claim to have rubbed shoulders with Seth Godin, or have crushed goals and grapes (in that order) with Gary Vaynerchuk, that too, in personal, private face-to-face interviews. And that's only a start.
As the President and Co-Founder of Toronto's Goose Educational Media, Chris has managed to funnel his love for business literature into building up a company, and a personal brand, that's dedicated to helping businesses accelerate their personal development and tweak business processes towards higher grades of efficiency.
He ploughs through some of the leading business and personal development books released on the market, gleans the core messages from them, and then works on them to turn them into actionable insights for businesses to adopt. Using this knowledge, and his site, he then offers consultancy services to businesses that want to push themselves towards more efficient operational activities.
I recently got in touch with Chris - long enough for me to fire 5 questions at him.
As the President and Co-Founder of Goose EMI, you regularly generate synopses of influential business books, and interview key players and thought leaders in the business and marketing disciplines - how has being in regular contact with these influential figures shaped your worldview?
Speaking and working with some of the big name authors of our time is inspiring, but not in the way I'd originally assumed it would be. Getting to spend some time with these people reminds me constantly how we're all human - we all have fears, concerns and aspirations. The people who rise to the top are those who are crystal clear in their objectives and push through the fear. Since starting "The Goose", I've seen countless examples of Zig Ziglar's quote, "You can have anything in life if you help enough people get what they want." Success truly goes to those who are passionate enough about their cause to help others around them whenever they can. I strive to live that philosophy every day.
Are there any sources of inspiration or key figures who have significantly influenced both your personal and professional lives? How?
Seth Godin has been a hero of mine since I read Tribes 2 years ago. His approach to life is one that I aspire to emulate as much and as often as I can. One of the biggest things I picked up from him during our time together in January {link to interview} was the fact that he spends a solid portion of his day not doing; not responding or developing. Instead, he consciously chooses to disengage from his work and look at it with perspective and an inquisitive mind. His work, as a result, is always poignant and built with laser focus. I have a lot of respect for that ability and willingness to constantly look for ways to improve the effectiveness of his message.
You attended the Art of Marketing conference a few weeks ago, were you introduced to any new insight and thought-processes that were new to you, but were logical and actionable enough to stick with you immediately? How do you plan to proceed with them?
As with all the workshops I attend, books I read and authors I speak with, I find the sheer volume of potentially useful information can be enough to put us in a state of "analysis paralysis". My #1 tip to everyone (myself included) is to takeone message from each encounter and find a way to make it actionable today. It's the small, 1% changes that, over time, can completely rework the way we interact with the world around us. Think about it - if you were to make one small behavioral or attitudinal change every week, you could effectively reinvent the way you interact with the world over the course of a year. I went on that mission in 2008 and it's held me in good stead.
Are there any companies you can cite that have implemented your business insights successfully and rewired their processes for the better?
I get emails regularly from Goose readers who have found ways to increase their enjoyment, performance or confidence in their jobs and lives due to our free weekly articles. It's an honor to be able to take material from leading thinkers, make it actionable (and bite sized) and then hear of real world success from people who have taking the initiative to change their habits.
On your website, you retrace the inspiration that led you to start Goose EMI - what are your future plans for it? Where do you see your business going in the next 3-5 years? Beyond that?
My goal with the Goose has always been to make actionable the core messages from leading business and personal development books. There are some great books out there, but not all of us have time to read them. If I can distill an actionable takeaway that impacts those who might not otherwise have had a chance to find it themselves, I'm satisfied.
I do want to explore new mediums moving into the future. We recently launched the "From the Horse's Mouth" author interview series, where we're travelling around North America and video-interviewing leading authors. I'd like to continue to grow and expand that program. These are some very smart people, and their books - however great - are mere snapshots of their ideas. I'd like to create something less static and more fluid moving forward.
We're also (very soon) introducing a program that will allow team leaders to quickly and easily share (and make actionable) the messages from the Goose articles with their team members. We're calling it InFlight Leadership - employee engagement on the fly, and it will provide people who want to be strong leaders with the tools to do so.
Goose EMI is a company dedicated to simplifying and making actionable the core messages from leading business and personal development books. [more]
Who really provides the best deal in Canada? When it comes to wireless the debate, in public at least, has been going on for years. Rogers Wireless recently called themseves the MOST relieable network. Telus filed a complaint. Now Rogers is just reliable. Did anything really change. Probably not. You still get the same service and the same rates, right?
However, consumers have always wanted to know where can they get the biggest bang for their buck.
With a little help from some friends, Techvibes has been able to source out how much the average customer pays on Rogers, Bell and Telus. According to the latest data, these are the three biggest wireless carriers in Canada.
Tired of being mis-led through their advertising? Want the truth? Let's get down to the real numbers....
Rogers Wireless:
The average Rogers Wireless customer spent $63.23 a month on wireless services in the fourth quarter of 2009. The average post-paid customer spent $73.42 a month versus just $16.39 per month for pre-paid customers. During the same period, the company had 8,494,000 wireless customers which consisted of 1,515,000 pre-paid customers and 6,979,000 post paid customers.
Bell Mobility:
The average Bell Mobility customer spent $51.08 a month on wireless services in the fourth quarter of 2009. During the same period, the company had 6,833,000 wireless customers which consisted of 1,792,000 pre-paid customers and 5,041,000 post paid customers. The average post-paid customer spent $62.47 a month versus just $18.45 per month for pre-paid customers.
Telus Mobility:
The latest numbers Techvibes was able to obtain were from the first quarter of 2009.
The average customer paid $62.73. This resulted in an average decrease in what a Telus cellphone customer spent in 2008 from 2007 of 83¢. That's a -1.3% "growth" in all of 2008 in the amount of money Telus was able to extract from its wireless customers. The reason? KOODO (their discount carrier) apparently took a lot of Telus business.
Telus Wireless had 6,129,000 customers. 4,922,000 post-paid while 1,270,000 pre-paid. The average Telus Wireless customer used 411 minutes per month and spent 15¢ per minute.
How much did you end up paying and which carrier do you use? Do you think there is a benefit or using a pre-paid plan versus a having a contract? We were unable to obtain numbers from other carriers such as Solo, Fido or even WIND. If you use these carries please tell us about your experience.
A special thank you to Rizwan Kheraj for directing us to this data.
Technology is a key enabler for TELUS and our customers, providing advantage and differentiation in the marketplace. By managing the life cycle of... [more]
Bell Canada, Canada's national leader in communications, provides connectivity to residential and business customers through wired and wireless... [more]
We are a diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are engaged in wireless voice and data communications services through Wireless,... [more]
Every year, millions of North American callers jam phone lines of telethon switchboards to contribute to worthy causes. Some enjoy the personal interaction over the phone, but most of us - especially younger generations - would rather not wait on the line.
With this in mind, the upcoming University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s annual telethon on Sunday, March 28th on CTV is offering its viewers the opportunity to donate using their iPhone and a mobile barcode payment system developed by Vancouver's Mobio Identity Systems.
For the first time in history, viewers will be able to make a real-time donation right off of the TV screen using Mobio. During the 10-hour telethon, a customized Mobio barcode will be displayed on screen to allow iPhone users to scan and donate instantly.
A telethon viewer points their iPhone at the Mobio barcode on the TV screen to activate the system, they enter the payment amount on their screen, press a button and that’s it. The donation is processed and confirmation receipt is emailed instantly back to the viewer.
If donors are unable to watch the telethon, they can visit the Ottawa Hearts or Mobio website and scan the barcode anytime. In addition, barcodes will be distributed in local publications as well as over Twitter, Facebook and email for “anytime” donations before, during and after the event. As an example of the technology, Mobio has provided us with a customized barcode (right) that will allow Techvibes readers to instantly donate to Ottawa Hearts.
It's great to see a little innovation injected into the traditional telethon space as a way to engage younger audiences and appeal to Gen X and Y.
Mobio Identity Systems, Inc. is a Canadian Corporation located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company started its operations in 2007. The... [more]
Mitch Joel, journalist, publicist, president of Twist Image - a digital marketing agency - and author of the book Six Pixels of Separation, elaborates on the need for marketers to embrace the paradigm-shift afforded by social media tools.
Joel contends that marketing will never be the same again, and that not only do marketers need to learn to experiment with social media tools as channels through which to ply their trade, but to also enrich and augment their traditional methods through them.
Social media has connected people in ways that they couldn’t have dreamed of before. This presents a huge opportunity for marketers to apply their existing tactics towards a whole new avenue of communication, starting real, meaningful conversations with real people who are willing to be engaged – but only if you make the effort to meet them on their terms.
According to Joel, what marketers need to do is invest a little time and energy into developing their social media presence, and also be prepared to take risks. If they choose to enter the social media sphere, there’s no going back. Indeed, Joel contends that there really is no choice here; in order to keep going forward with their marketing efforts, marketers are necessarily going to need to forget about going back.
And in order to forget about going back, they’re going to need to take a leaf (and a risk) from Hernan Cortes – and burn their boats.
Abandon the tactics of the past, and embrace the strategies of the future.
itbusiness.ca's Brian Jackson recently chatted with Joel and his interview is available online here.
This past Saturday, Edmonton was host to it's inaugural TEDx event at the Trans Alta Barns (photos here) Mack Male and myself were on hand to live blog the event. TEDx is a program that enables local communities such as schools, businesses, libraries, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own independent, TED-like events (click here for more information on TED).
The crowd was treated to a world-class line-up of speakers that shared their passions on a range of topics from open source genomics to mobile disaster response. Speakers talked on the theme of “Cultivating the Creative Economy”, and though limited to a strict 18 minute time slot as per TED rules, all made great use of the time and were truly inspiring.
The event was sold out and many more followed the live stream or on twitter, pushing the hashtag #tedxyeg to the number one trending topic in Canada on Twitter. To watch videos of the event stay tuned to the TEDx Edmonton website.
Speakers from the event were:
Tim Antoniuk Industrial design professor, dedicated to creative-economic-emergence Tim Antoniuk is an Associate Professor in the Industrial Design Program at the University of Alberta. Before coming to the University, Antoniuk co-founded Hothouse, a furniture design, retail and manufacturing company that sold its own line of products to over 750 international companies. Over the past decade, Tim’s design collaborations have won awards such as The Apple/National Post Design Effectiveness Award and an award in the furniture category of the Annual ID Design Competition. Tim has gone on to become a regular presenter/exhibitor at international design conferences and exhibitions on ideas that surround sustainable desire, morphing products and the emergence of a new economy and creative class (‘creative-economic-emergence’). Currently the principal investigator on a major research project with Droog/Renny Ramakers and a collection of designers/researchers from across Canada and Holland, the Luxury of the North project is exploring how Northern Canadian influences could positively influence the future of (sustainable) luxury products.
Cameron Herold has been coaching, speaking to, or helping entrepreneurs build companies on five continents. He launched BackPocket COO to coach & mentor young, fun, entrepreneurial, growth companies and help make their dreams happen. He is one of the country’s most innovative business leaders and was a leading force behind one of the most successful businesses of the decade, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. As Chief Operating Officer of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? he helped to build a presence in 46 states, 9 provinces, and 4 countries while being ranked the “2nd Best Company to Work for in Canada” by Canadian Business Magazine and “the #1 Company in BC to Work for” twice by BC Business Magazine. Cameron helped the leading edge company grow from $2 million to $105 million in revenue in six years with no debt or outside shareholders, an awesome achievement by any standard. Cameron will be speaking at TEDx Edmonton on the topic of “Raising Kids to be Entrepreneurs”.
Andrew Hessel Genomic scientist and champion of open source biology Originally based in Edmonton, Andrew Hessel is a genomic scientist and consultant in DNA technologies. He is a strong supporter of open source biology for accelerating innovation and as a counterbalance to proprietary biotechnology. He is the founding director and CEO of the Pink Army Cooperative, the world’s first cooperative (open source) biotechnology company that is working to make personalized, affordable medicines for breast cancer. Andrew is also co-chair of the Bioinformatics and Biotechnology program at Singularity University, an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to prepare leaders for accelerating technological change. Working with leading academic and commercial groups, he has traveled the globe for more than 15 years in his exploration of digital biology, the successor to recombinant DNA technology which is transforming DNA into an easy-to-use programming language for biological systems. Andrew’s work is empowering a new generation of young researchers to tackle big biology-related problems like sustainable fuel production, environmental cleanup, superbugs and cancer. Andrew was featured as a speaker at TEDxSiliconValley in 2009.
Theresa Howland Western Canadian head of Canada’s 100% green electricity provider Bullfrog Power is Canada’s 100% green electricity provider. As Vice President, Western Region of Bullfrog Power, Theresa Howland is responsible for leading the company’s operations in Western Canada. Theresa has held progressively more senior positions in marketing and product development since joining the deregulated electricity industry in 1996. Prior to joining Bullfrog Power, Theresa oversaw business development activities for leading wind power developer, Vision Quest Windelectric, an independently operated division of TransAlta. From 2004 to 2005, Theresa served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, and from 2002 to 2006, served as a Director. In this capacity, Theresa led and participated in cross-functional industry teams to develop strategies and policy recommendations to support wind energy growth in Canada. Earlier in her career, Theresa spearheaded a successful green power program for a major utility. Theresa received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary.
Shafraaz Kaba Local architect passionate about urban design, art and architecture Shafraaz Kaba is an architect and partner in the firm Manasc Isaac Architects Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta. He has also worked in design studios in London, England and Gilgit, Pakistan. Shafraaz is the founder of Media, Art and Design Exposed (M.A.D.E.) in Edmonton, a society which creates public programs that bring design, art and architecture to the public. In 2006, Shafraaz was named Vice-Chair of the Edmonton Design Committee, an urban design review panel for the City of Edmonton. Recently, Shafraaz has been involved with Edmonton’s Public Art Masterplan and is the Chair of the 2010 Banff Session committee, which will bring world-renowned architects to Banff to discuss current matters in design this April. In 2009, Shafraaz was recognized as one of Avenue Edmonton’s 40 Under 40 for his professional accomplishments and contributions to the community.
Shawna Pandya Entrepreneur working on new start-up leveraging smartphones for disaster response at NASA-Ames An Edmonton-grown export and currently based in Silicon Valley, Shawna Pandya is passionate about technology, innovation and social development. She is co-founder of CiviGuard Technologies, a start-up based at NASA-Ames in Silicon Valley that leverages smartphones for disaster response. As CMO for CiviGuard, Shawna handles the formation of new alliances, partnerships and the development of CiviTriage, a smartphone-based patient-triage-and-tracking system. In addition to medicine (University of Alberta), Shawna also holds backgrounds in entrepreneurship/innovation (Singularity University), space studies (MSc Space Studies, International Space University), and Neuroscience (BSc Hons, University of Alberta). Her published works include papers on telemedicine for the developing world, on neuroArm, the world’s first intra-operative, MR-compatible image-guided robotic arm for neurosurgery and a book chapter on space technology spin-offs for medical benefit. In her spare time, Shawna has launched Space Without Borders, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to leveraging space technologies for global development.
Grant Skinner is an internationally recognized leader in the field of rich interactive experiences. His body of work spans experimental interaction, applications, games, websites, installations, embedded devices, and mobile, with a recent focus on projects that span multiple environments. Grant fuses his experience with design, user experience, development, and business with a driving creativity to produce projects that push the boundaries of interactive technologies. While building his company gskinner.com into a leading interactive production shop, Grant has worked with a wide range of high calibre clients including AOL, BBC, Salesforce, Nissan, Adobe, GE, Atlantic Records, Comcast, EA, CNN, and DirectTV.
Sean Stewart Influential pioneer who defined the alternate reality entertainment genre worldwide Sean Stewart is an award-winning science fiction novelist, a groundbreaking figure in transmedia storytelling, and the most experienced and influential writer of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) in the world. Currently based in California, Sean has founded four genre defining companies including 42 Entertainment and Fourth Wall Studios. After graduating with honors from the University of Alberta, Sean published a line of critically acclaimed science fiction novels, including the World Fantasy Award-winning Galveston. In 2001, he was the lead writer for The Beast, the project for Spielberg’s A.I. that invented the ARG genre and was named Entertainment Weekly’s #1 website of the year. He was lead writer on the I Love Bees campaign for Microsoft’s Halo 2 for XBOX, still considered the biggest ARG in history, as well as Year Zero, the groundbreaking transmedia collaboration with rock ‘n roll legend Nine Inch Nails. He was also writer on The Dark Knight ARG (Warner Bros), Vanishing Point (launch campaign for Microsoft Vista), and Dead Man’s Tale (campaign for Pirates of the Caribbean 2). In publishing, he has continued to push the envelope of the traditional novel with the transmedia Cathy’s Book, a New York Times and international bestseller currently published in twenty countries and a dozen languages around the world.
Krystle Dos Santos is an award-winning soul and jazz singer-songwriter. As one of URB music magazine’s “next 1,000 artists to watch,” in 2009, Krystle is a fresh face on the Canadian music scene. Her unique blend of dance beats, funky grooves and soft jazzy soul have inspired comparisons to Sade, Joss Stone and Jill Scott. Released in July 2008, Dos Santos’ self-titled debut CD was awarded Urban Recording of the Year at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards. Currently, Krystle is working on creating a new sound, dubbed “electro-soul”; combining electronic, urban beats, live instrumentation, soul vocals and an indie-pop vibe. Recently, Dos Santos has performed and collaborated with various Alberta artists including Dragon Fli Empire, members of Souljah Fyah, House DJ, Marzetti, and Politic Live. Her single “Shake Ya Body”, appeared on an episode of ABC’s Samantha Who? and has been released to commercial and campus radio. She is currently working on her sophomore concept album due out in summer 2010 to prepare for upcoming summer tours in Eastern and Central Canada as well as Music and Arts Festivals across the country.
Many of you may have heard of Billy Reid. If not, you may have seen one of his videos online. This was one of them. And it continues to be one of my favourites:
Now, Billy has been tapped to be the spokesperson for the Doritos viral video campaign - Doritos Viralocity. So I took the opportunity to ask him some questions about the campaign and about the importance of video.
Why was it important for Doritos to create this campaign?
Doritos is one of those brands that is constantly looking for new ways to market their products and offer campaigns to Canadians that are groundbreaking. They aren't afraid to take risks and connect with their audience through new and innovative ideas. Holding a user-generated video contest is very forward thinking, so it fits their history.
Why did you decide to work with Doritos?
There are a few reasons. First off, this is a Canada-only contest, so (being Canadian) I'm excited to be a part of that. I also liked that Doritos is allowing the internet audience to decide what video should come out on top. Too many contest winners are chosen by faceless corporate heads when it should be in the hands of Canadians.
Why is video so important for brands wanting to increase their market share?
People are spending a lot more time online than ever, and video content is obviously very popular. If brands can create interesting video content, people are more likely to spread the video to their friends, family etc. Doritos has obviously tapped into this and is very forward thinking that way.
For more information on Billy Reid or the Doritos contest click on the links.
Taking a cue from Tourism Queensland's "Best Job" contest, Flight Centre has teamed up with other Canadian companies in creating their own "Best Travel Job Ever" contest. 
With up to $50,000 in prizes being offered, Fight Centre is searching for people who are passionate about travelling and who want to share this passion of theirs with the world.
Gregg Tilston is Flight Centre's Social Media Manager:
We are incredibly excited about the potential for this contest. Travellers love to talk about their adventures and it will provide a fantastic opportunity for anyone who’s ever dreamed of getting paid to do something they love. We believe BestTravelJobEver.com is a great combination of social media and travel, and we expect some very creative entries over the next several weeks.
For information on this cool contest just visit www.BestTravelJobEver.com.
What are you waiting for?
1 Discount Travel Specialist. Over 1200 shops worldwide. [more]
