MaRS Entrepreneurship 101 Series: Week 3 and 4

Entrepreneurship 101 is a free program offered by the MaRS Centre in Toronto - designed to teach budding entrepreneurs the ins and outs of getting started with a business. Over the course of the program they cover topics ranging from how to write a business plan to protecting your intellectual property and get various prominent speakers to share their experiences as well. The program runs from Sept to April and classes are held 5:30pm to 6:30pm on Wednesdays at the MaRS Centre. Here are the full-length videos of those classes (posted weekly):

Week 3:

Week 4:

ExtremeU Pitch Day On Nov 12th

It was an exciting summer for Toronto's start-up community with the inaugural ExtremeU start-up program in town. Started by Extreme Venture Partners, the program involved participant companies working to launch a product in 12 weeks. On Nov 12th, ExtremeU will be presenting this first graduating class at a special "Pitch Day". Farhan Thawar, the "Dean of Studies" at ExtremeU, mentioned:

This summer, we launched the first accelerator program in Canada on June 22th.  We tasked our teams to go-big or go-home and launch an exciting online service in only 12 weeks.  We gave them lots of:

  • help ($5k + $5k per founder, free office space, free internet access, etc.)
  • mentorship (a world-class speaker every week, networking socials, etc.)
  • iterations to get things right (weekly builds & demos, frequent pushes to production, agile development practices from Xtreme Labs, etc.)

Some very exciting start-ups have come out of this program, and I'll be profiling them in the days leading up to the pitch day.

MaRS Entrepreneurship 101 Series: Week 1

MaRS Centre in Toronto runs a free entrepreneurship program from Sept to April called "Entrepreneurship 101" designed to teach those in the local scientific community the ins and outs of getting started with a business. Over the course of the program they cover topics ranging from how to write a business plan to protecting your intellectual property and get various prominent speakers to share their experiences as well. Classes are held 5:30pm to 6:30pm on Wednesdays, at the MaRS Centre (located in downtown Toronto).

If you are in town, this is a great opportunity to learn. It is also completely free to attend - all you gotta do is sign up and show up and by the end of it, you'd be fairly well acquainted with the tools and knowledge you need to start your own hi-tech business, which is what the government and the folks behind MaRS Center want at the end of the day. MaRS is also making available full recordings of each of its classes online, which Techvibes would be posting on a weekly basis so you can still learn from the program if distance is an issue.

Here is Week 1's video:

Marketcircle: Part I, The Start-up Story

NOTE: This is Part 1 of 2 of Techvibes' in-depth look at Marketcircle. Part 1 is about the start-up and its founder's story; Part 2 will be about their award-winning products and strategy.

Earlier this year I came across a Toronto-based start-up called Marketcircle which had won the "Best of Show" award at the MacWorld Expo for its Daylite Touch iPhone application. Now that doesn't happen too often - a local start-up winning big on the international stage, so I just had to visit them in their office located on the outskirts of Toronto in Markham, Ontario and find out what was going on there.

I caught up with Marketcircle's Founder and CEO, Alykhan Jetha (AJ), who shared his remarkable start-up journey and where Marketcircle got to be over the years - and its a story of incredible resourcefulness, sheer grit and sticking to your ideals, which I think other local entrepreneurs can take a lot of inspiration from.

AJ's software journey started back in the early '90s, when he was developing on the NeXT and by '97, was into consulting. He had figured out that what he really wanted to do was "to start his own business", and by the summer of '99, he started realizing on that dream. Marketcircle was born, and the initial idea which AJ and his team were working on was of a "negotiation engine" for e-commerce. They tried to raise funding, and through sheer resourcefulness went from one lead to the other...from Toronto to Los Angeles, and finally ended up pitching one of the most prestigious venture capital firms out there, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), in Silicon Valley. The timing was a little off though, since by the time they got to DFJ, the dot com bust was already on the horizon and venture funding didn't materialize for them. This is when most folks would hang up their boots - having given up on the software venture dreams. Well, AJ wasn't one of them.

He went back to the drawing board and focused on a niche for Marketcircle - on helping small businesses grow through innovative software products. And not only that, he decided to focus on developing products only on the Mac - since, well, he loved the Mac and wanted to support it as he believed that just one dominant operating system couldn't be all that good for humanity in general. Marketcircle had also raised some $$ from family / friends and was running in the red in the early days - but AJ was keen on returning that cash back to the investors. Notice the key values and aspirations here for AJ - from his belief in the Mac, to maintaining integrity and "doing the right thing" with early investors, to developing software products which a certain set of customers would find value in.

And that's what sets Marketcircle apart. They launched their flagship product for small business productivity called Daylite in 2002 and by 2004 it was already being sold in about 49 countries. Note the word "sold"...they actually charged for their software and have been able to make a real, sustainable business out of it instead of just giving away the product for free unlike many other typical web/software start-ups. Over the years, they've been able to grow from an idea to a real office with over a couple of dozen people working together to develop applications which are used, appreciated, and more importantly, bought, worldwide.

There is a lot to learn from AJ and Marketcircle's story here for other budding, especially local, entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, he recommends the book "Rules for Revolutionaries" (by Guy Kawasaki) and had the following piece of advice for those looking to start their own venture:

You can't wait too long to prove your idea is good enough - you have to get the product out there and see if the market is accepting and take it from there..

In Part 2 of this in-depth look at Marketcircle, I'll go over their key products (Daylite and Billings) and try and analyze how does this Toronto-based software start-up compete on a global scale. Stay tuned..

b5media Names Former Kaboose Founder as New Vice President of Sales

b5media announced today that Eric Yuzpe has been named their new VP of Sales. Eric previously co-founded Kaboose - a family-focused media company, which some folks in Toronto's start-up scene might remember for its $2.25 million acquisition of Toronto-based photo-sharing site Bubbleshare. Kaboose rose to being amongst the top 5 online family-focused destinations in North America and is used by over 5 millions kids and parents today and not surprisingly, recently got acquired by Disney. From the press release:

At b5media, Yuzpe will utilize his proven expertise to lead the sales of b5media’s online advertising programs and significantly grow their customer base as the company continues to focus efforts on creating a strong portfolio of online lifestyle and entertainment brands. Increasing interest in deeply integrated conversational campaigns has prompted b5media to expand with new services and strategies for advertisers to effectively market their brands.

"b5media is currently moving into an exciting growth phase," said Elaine Kunda, b5media president and chief executive officer. "Having the right leadership team in place will be critically important in order to capitalize on potential that has yet to be fully realized at b5media. Eric’s knowledge and track record as a successful online advertising sales executive will be incredibly beneficial for the company. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have Eric join us ."

"I have known of b5media for quite some time and always felt there was tremendous potential to grow the company as a leading online publisher in the lifestyles and entertainment space” said Yuzpe. “After meeting with Elaine and starting to work with the leadership team, I’m even more confident that this is an amazing team to be a part of and an incredible opportunity for myself and the company."

Elaine herself took over the helm at b5media from Jeremy Wright back in July, where she came from running ZipLocal previously. Getting Eric Yuzpe on board the b5media team seems like nothing short of a coup d'etat for Elaine and b5media. Congrats and best wishes to b5media....personally I'm looking forward to interviewing Elaine on where b5media is headed. Stay tuned!

Canadians Want Their Kindle, And They Want It Now

Amazon.com launched the Kindle internationally yesterday, in over a 100 countries, but skipped a few, including Canada (see our story from yesterday: Amazon Skips Canada In Its Global Kindle Launch). The web is abuzz with speculation on why that happened...mostly to do with issues with wireless carriers here, but no specific reasons have been offered by Amazon as yet on why Canada was omitted.

And that has Canadians up in arms. Check out some reactions on Twitter (from "kindle+canada" Twitter search link):

Wall Street Journal offered some theories on this (WSJ: No Kindle For Canada, So Far):

What could be causing the delay with Canada? Indigo Books & Music, Canada’s largest book reseller, has a thriving digital business called ShortCovers, which lets people buy and read e-books on a variety of devices, including the iPhone, regular computers and dedicated e-readers, like one made by Sony.

For some markets, there may be issues with local censorship laws (such as China) or even incompatible cellphone technology standards (like South Korea). But those aren’t likely the problem in Canada, where the international Kindle’s wireless provider AT&T already has negotiated local data roaming agreements for handsets, including Apple’s iPhone.

The issue may have more to do with the complexities of securing the rights to sell digtial books...

..It’s also possible that Amazon is working on a native Canadian version of the Kindle. The new “U.S. and International” Kindle has to be purchased through Amazon’s U.S. store, and then imported to the buyers’ home countries...Amazon also charges $1.99 every time you download a book outside of the U.S. A local edition of the Kindle, either in Canada or the UK, could alleviate some of those problems — for those willing to wait.

More coverage from some Canadian media outlets:

Amazon Skips Canada In Its Global Kindle Launch

Its been a looong wait for wannabe Kindle-rs in Canada, and looks like it is not over yet.

Amazon.com announced today that the Kindle is now on sale in over 100 countries, and can be pre-ordered for US$279 at  http://www.amazon.com/kindle and will begin shipping on Oct 19th.

Great news, if you are located in Cayman Islands or say, Bulgaria, but not if you are in Canada. If you try to order it, you will see a message like the following:

Here is the Amazon press release:

Now for the first time, Kindle is available to customers around the world.  Kindle wirelessly downloads books, magazines, newspapers and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution 6-inch electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper..

The Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore) offers international customers over 200,000 English-language books, including New Releases and New York Times Bestsellers, which are typically priced less than physical editions. 

Over 85 top U.S. and international newspapers and magazines are also available in the Kindle Store for single purchase or subscription. Many international newspapers are available in the Kindle Store for the first time, including La Stampa (Italy), El País (Spain), El Universal (Mexico), O Globo (Brazil), The Daily Telegraph (UK), joining top papers such as The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Le Monde (France), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) and The Washington Post.  Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle. 

Customers around the world can now enjoy the same features that have helped make Kindle the #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com, including:

  • Slim and Trim: At just over a third of an inch thin (0.36 inches) and weighing just over 10 ounces, Kindle is pencil thin and lighter than a typical paperback.
  • 3G Wireless:  Readers living in or traveling to Kindle’s wireless coverage areas can wirelessly shop the Kindle Store, download books in less than 60 seconds, automatically receive newspaper and magazine subscriptions, and receive personal documents—all without a PC, Wi-Fi hot spot, or syncing.  Customers who are not in the coverage area can quickly transfer content to Kindle over USB. 
  • Reads Like Real Paper: Kindle’s 6-inch electronic ink display reads like printed words on paper because the screen works using real ink and doesn’t use a backlight, eliminating the eyestrain and glare associated with other electronic displays.
  • Stores Up To 1,500 Books: Kindle’s 2 GB of memory holds up to 1,500 books and Kindle books are automatically backed up by Amazon so customers can re-download titles in their library.
  • Read For Weeks On A Single Charge: Kindle’s electronic paper display sips battery power so users can read for over two weeks with wireless turned off and up to four days on a single charge with wireless on.

Wonder why Canada was left out of the global Kindle launch... will keep you posted.

The Minority Report Future Is Almost Here: BumpTop Multi-Touch

Toronto-based Bump Technologies Inc, better know by their product name - BumpTop - recently announced multi-touch gesture support for their desktop enhancement software (Read TechCrunch's review here). It requires a touch capable machine running Windows 7 - while I don't have that yet...I'd try dropping by Bump's office and getting a first-hand experience and reviewing it in detail (Or lets just say I can't wait to try this thing out! :P).

BumpTop has taken multi-touch gestures beyond simply moving or selecting things on a screen to actually using it to organize your desktop - from visually stacking files and folders and "moving" around on your desktop by zoom/pan, to even cropping images. Check out their demo video:

What Separates 37signals And Twitter ?

There has been a flurry of news recently about Twitter raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation from new investors including T. Rowe Price and Insight Venture Partners, alongwith from existing investors Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners. Not too surprising, given Twitter's amazing growth and popularity.

That sparked a post though from the normally witty and engaging 37signals, where they announced that they had raised a $1 from "Institutionalized Venture Partners" for 0.000000001% of the company, thus making 37signals worth a $100 billion. Would have been funny if it wasn't for the weird fact that 37signals developed the software platform known as Ruby on Rails which made web application development a breeze, and while they stuck to developing niche small-business focused web applications themselves'...and which actually generated some revenue - someone (Twitter, in this instance..) came along, used Ruby on Rails and executed on a simplistic idea without really a business model and is suddenly now worth a $1 billion!

Throughout the years, the folks behind 37signals have been powerful advocates of charging for your software products (instead of just giving them away for free..) and have generally had a lot of right things to say to entrepreneurs, from how to develop your web applications to how to market and sell them. They've been good role models and provided possibly the best web application framework out there currently - Ruby on Rails - to the world for free and made it open source. They even got funded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon himself. This is what they wrote at the time (in '06):

Over the past two and a half years we’ve accomplished a lot on our own. We’ve released 5 products (Basecamp, Backpack, Campfire, Tadalist, and Writeboard) which over 500,000 people have signed up for so far, wrote Getting Real which has sold nearly 20,000 copies in less than six months, changed the web development world by writing and open sourcing the Ruby on Rails framework, presented at conferences around the world, and more. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do without outside help. But we think we can do even better with the right kind of help. And we’re picky.

Since we launched Basecamp we’ve been contacted by nearly 30 different VC firms. We’ve never been interested in the typical traditional VC deal. With a few exceptions, all the VCs could offer us was cash and connections. We’re fine on both of those fronts. We don’t need their money to run the business and our little black book is full. We’re looking for something else.

..It will be great learning from Jeff as we build 37signals into one the great companies of the next 20 years.

Been 3 yrs since that post, and during this time the web has been buzzing with companies like Facebook and Twitter and their sky high valuations and the enormous wealth they will generate for their stakeholders. Where is 37signals and their "big idea" in all this - given all that they had going for them ? Is it a case of not being in the right place ? (37signals is based in Chicago..) Is the killer instinct when it comes to consumer web start-ups exclusive to the Valley ?