Great article in the Financial Post today by Karen Mazurkewich titled VC firms wake up to new tech deals which chronicles Rick Segal's transition from VC to mobile startup.
Rick Segal -- the entrepreneur -- has had a quick liftoff. Mr. Segal, who was with the BlackBerry Partners Fund until last July, kick-started his own technology startup, which he hopes to launch in a week.
The company, Fixmo, is really a package of six utility tools for the BlackBerry. Want your phone to automatically turn off when you enter a movie or meeting, and automatically turn on when it's over.
Fixmo's got a new application for that, as well as a new application that allows you to edit the original message when you reply or forward an email. Need to undelete an email? Fixmo's got that covered too. Whether the software takes off or not will quickly become apparent as soon as it becomes available to download off BlackBerry's App World site.
In the article Segal states that "Canada is the best place on the planet to start a business" and that the government programs available to entrepreneurs in Canada give us a competitive advantage. That's quite the vote of confidence.
In the case of Segal's startup up Fixmo, Toronto-based Extreme Venture Partners invested $250K of the $1.5 Million seed money rasied to date. Extreme Venture currently has 12 companies in its portfolio, including Bump Technologies and Assetize.
Extreme Venture Partners is focused on providing early stage venture capital. We recognize that sometimes all that is needed to propel a good idea... [more]
Canada certainly has some good programs and the government should be commended for doing its best to encourage entrepreneurism. But the best place to do business, really? Who are we kidding? If you are a consumer web start-up, as our company is, the synergy of people, capital and media afforded by the Valley is a significant advantage--as anyone who has spent time in both places will tell you. It is telling that Canadian companies like Plenty of Fish, Flickr, etc. often become successful despite any special advantages (e.g., access to capital, etc.) not because of them. It is no coincidence that the billion dollar companies, in the consumer web space anyway, are almost exclusively located within a few hundred miles of each other.
Canada has its advantages, but to claim it is the best place on the planet to do business I fear produces apathy rather than confidence.
Ali Davar, Worio
