Takin’ VC Money (Money, Cash IPOs) – A Startup Rap from Cardinal’s Cory Smith

Today at Grow, Cory Smith performed his latest rap, “Takin’ VC Money (Money Cash IPOs)” just after lunch. This latest song from Smith comes after his previous hits, One More Thing and Developers which have over 40,000 listens. After One More Thing appeared on TechCrunch, Smith was flown down to perform at the iOS Intelligence Party at WWDC 2011.

“These songs have been a really fun way to combine my two favourite things, music and startups.” says Smith, lead mobile developer. “I’m lucky that my co-founders at Cardinal don’t mind me rapping all day.”

Takin' VC Money (Money Cash IPO's) by Smixx

Lyrics:

this song is dedicated

to all the startups out there

staying caffeinated

pulling all nighters

and trying to launch something amazing

maybe we can meet up with Ashton Kutcher

see if we agree on some plans for the future

have a drink with Fred Wilson

see if we can sign a deal

or you think Seqouia's gonna find another 40 mil

It'd be great to secure some investment ends

straight from seeds to 10x dividends

Never complacent, you say exit?  we say yes

now we're in the basement

working with Node.js

While half these other rappers

chase broads

and sip on hennesey

we're tailing our logs

and drinking 5 hour energy!

3 AM whiteboards and lightbulb moments

this is our time

right now so we should own it

I long for delivering

and its prod we get it in

and we have no problem with the thought of pivoting

we know what our vision is

and we don't want to waste it

we remain driven so we

continue to chase it

might as well send an note to mashable and techcrunch

maybe get an article

that posted by the next lunch

time to get the word out

we're ready for beta

limited at first so our servers

don't crater

yeah we've got swag

but its the bad stuff from conferences

you better skip the bag

I'll just carry my accomplishments

hooked up with Dealmaker

and now we're live at GROW Conf

prepping for a great night

and hanging at the GROW launch

and tonight you know we'll brush shoulders // we will brush shoulders

with some angels

not charlies kind

but the ones with the bank rolls

that believe in our team

and also see our market fit

excited by our dream

and they need to be a part of it

if you haven't heard of us yet

we can flip you our deck

we'll trade a cheque for convertible debt

I said...if you haven't heard of us yet

we'll trade a cheque for convertible debt

How Ford Canada is nailing social strategy

Buying a car isn’t something you do every day. In fact, it isn’t even something you do every year. How does a brand create positive talk around its products knowing it could be years before fans actually take the plunge and buy a car? Here are some examples you can follow of how Ford Canada is growing their social presence:

Grow your network outside of your industry. "Who are the biggest influencers in your industry?" We here this all the time. It makes sense to follow the top influencers in your industry, but that can only take you so far. For Ford, branching out of automotive means getting in touch with mommy bloggers, saying hello to those who preach green and letting the technology industry know what they are up to.

Build deep relationships. If the product you are selling is $2, the bonds you create with your community can be pretty loose. If the product you are selling is thousands of dollars, your community will want a deeper connection with you. Broadcasting quick and fun messages across multiple messages is fine, but over a period of time, you'll want to arm some of your follows with in depth knowledge about your product. Spending the time and money to focus on a few people outside the company who can become brand champions is invaluable.

Be kind, not nice. “TGIF! Hope u r having an awesome afternoon! LOL.” This might work for brands of wine coolers and nail polish companies, but not for selling cars. Cut the fluff and put research and thought into how you are reaching out to potential fans. If people put hours of thought into what car they will buy, they will expect more than just a couple of "have a great day" messages. What can you do for your community that they will really appreciate?

Show off your geekiest employees. Who are the people that are actually making the magic happen? As someone in marketing, I can guarantee you it isn’t my department. Get the builders/doers in front of the camera and talking to your customers. They will do a far better job of explaining why they’ve done something. Also, their enthusiasm and passion will stick with customers longer than some long winded marketing speak. In addition to this, Ford does a great job of showing what those employees built. If you want to test drive a car for a week and blog about your experience, all you need to do is ask.

Build technology to enable the latest trend, not to be the latest trend. No matter how cool a technology is, once debuted, the writing is on the wall for its demise. Instead of trying to stay abreast of everything new, try to build a platform where people can the app or tool of the moment.

Please note: I know all of this because Ford Canada sponsored me to go to BlogHer in San Diego last week. I got to experience the strategy first hand.

Calgary's Tagle named Microsoft Bizspark Startup of the Day

Tagle, the Calgary startup that simplifies document management with fast search and intuitive drag and drop functionality, has some great news this week. Mark Rosenberger, the companies CEO and founder, let us know of two things that happened on the same day.

First, Tagle launched their commercial release of the latest Tagle oil and gas offering – The Tagle Roughneck Module. The oil and gas offering aims to effortlessly manage inspection reports, drawings, safety procedures, checklists and all of that other oil and gas stuff you need to get the job done.

Second, Tagle was yesterday's Microsoft Bizspark's Startup of the Day! Check out the interview and you'll get 15% your first year's subscription to Tagle. Congratulations, Mark and the rest of the Tagle team.

AccelerateAB - don't forget to buy your ticket

A quick reminder to TechVibes readers to purchase tickets to AccelerateAB. If you buy tickets before June 30th, you'll be entered to win a $100 iTunes giftcard! A great incentive to remember to not wait until the last minute to buy your tickets.

Check out the overview of the event, or buy tickets. We'll follow up next week with a guide to the event's sessions.

Calgary’s Wmode announced as one of OnMobile’ Top 100

Wmode, a mobile and connected device expert based in Calgary, announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnMobile Top 100 winners. Inclusion in the OnMobile 100 signifies leadership amongst its peers and game-changing approaches and technologies that are likely to disrupt existing markets and entrenched players. Wmode was specially selected by the AlwaysOn editorial team and industry experts spanning the globe based on a set of five criteria: innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.

Wmode and the OnMobile Top 100 companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s OnMobile event on tomorrow at The Fox Theatre in Redwood City, CA.

Timeraisers Calgary - know your way around the web?

Timeraisers Calgary, the annual event where you bid volunteer hours instead of cash for art, is all set for June 16th. They've lined up some beautiful art and a number of non-profit organizations looking for volunteers. While Timeraisers isn't a Technology event, non-profits in Calgary need more web developers, web designers, online marketers and digital strategists.

Bid volunteer hours on art, have a drink or two and hang out with friends at Timeraisers. If you complete your hours, you'll have a new piece of art to show for it. In addition, you'll be making contacts from various walks of life all over Calgary. Volunteering is a great way to promote your skills, business and personality within the community.

Check out the Timeraiser's social media contest - a trip for two anywhere West Jest flies, courtesy of West Jet. While you're at it, check out the list of agencies you could be volunteering at!

Digital Alberta Award Winners announced

The Digital Alberta Awards were held last night at Hotel Arts in Calgary. The event underwent a major overhaul this year and all of Digital Alberta's work seems to have paid off. Attendees say the event showcased some of the great technology and people we have happening in Alberta.

RED - The Agency and Suitcase Interactive took home two awards each. Smart Technologies took home three awards. Lindsay MacDonald won the Student Digital Award for her University of Calgary work on A Delicate Agreement. Winners ranged from government projects, to long time Calgary startups Poynt (pictured right) and Chaordix, to small, but equally impressive startups like TouchMetric.

If you missed out on the awards, don't forget to check out upcoming events in Alberta, including MESHwest tomorrow.

photo by: lajacksonfries

AccelerateAB announces keynote speaker Howard Lindzon

AccelerateAB is just over a month away and today they announced its keynote speaker. The conference promises to offer Alberta tech entrepreneurs relevant and practical advice on how to take their companies to the next level and promises to be a day of learning and networking for Calgary.

Today's announcement of speakers includes keynote speaker Howard Lindzon, Founder of StockTwits. Other speakers and panellists include:

Art Wong, CEO, IronKey (C100)
Boris Wertz, Founder, GrowLab & CEO, WMedia Ventures (C100)
Anthony Lee, General Partner, Altos Ventures (C100)
Mark Macleod, General Partner, Real Ventures
Robert Simon, Partner, Ariva Partners (C100)
Derek Ball, CEO, Tynt
Brian Wong, Founder, Kiip (C100)
Danny Robinson, CEO, BCIC (C100)
Shawn Abbott, Partner, iNovia (A100)
Stephen Kenney, Professor, MRU & serial entrepreneur (A100)
Brad Zumwalt, Founder, Veer (A100)
Patrick Lor, President Fotolia & former Director at iStockphoto.com (A100)
Stephen King, Former CEO, Mob4Hire, CMO Intuit Canada, Serial entrepreneur (A100)
David Quail, co-founder Attassa (C100)
Duleepa Wijayawardhana, Founder Empire Avenue

Along with listening to the speakers, you will also have a chance to meet with leading industry advisors including accounting firms, law firms and recruiters.

AccelerateAB is on July 13th - grab a ticket for $20 before they sell out.

QRZap brings QR codes to your business

If you think QR Codes are cool, but have no idea how they work, QRZap might be just what you are looking for. Designed to make it easy for any business to use, QRZap helps you set up QR codes to market your business.

To make QR codes easy to understand, QRZap describes them as a hyperlink, like the ones you see on webpages. The QR code is a physical hyperlink that directs users where ever you’d like after they scan the code. This means you can link to anything, from anywhere. You can put them on billboards, marketing pamphlets, business cards and t-shirts.

If you go the trouble of printing your QR code on your marketing materials, you won’t want to update the QR code every time you update where you are sending people. To avoid this, when people scan the code, QRZap sends you to what it calls a QR Space. This space allows you to completely customize where you are sending people. You can update your QR Space when ever you like.

You can sign up for free and immediately get to work building a QR Space. If you’re interested in using QRZap for your business, they offer business accounts as well. It looks like the business accounts offer more services, plus customizable solutions. QRZap is developed by Calgary’s Fenture Solutions.

Digital Alberta Awards announce finalists

The Digital Alberta Awards Event is coming up fast on June 6th at Hotel Arts. If you haven't booked your ticket, you'll want to do right away.

Today, they've just announced the finalists for all 17 categories. At the event, they'll announce the winners of each. The Digital Alberta Awards have undergone a major overhaul since last year, with an impressive list of judges from all over Canada. We're excited to see how the evening shapes up.