Behind The Scenes Look At Mesh '09

Mesh, Canada's largest web conference, will be held in Toronto on April 7th and 8th. Mesh '09 would feature speakers such as Gabe Rivera (founder of Techmeme), Jessica Jackley (co-founder of Kiva.org), Jason Calacanis (founder of Mahalo), Paul Kedrosky (leading US-based investor), Jonathan Martin (Politico.com) and even an appearance by David Miller (Mayor of Toronto). The conference is sold-out every year well in advance, so be sure to grab your tickets early. A full day of interactive workshops called meshU on web application development would be held on April 6th separately. Techvibes is a media sponsor of Mesh and would be covering the event.

Here's a video of the organizers of Mesh '09 talking about the upcoming conference:

BlackBerry Partners Fund Invests $3.2 million In Xobni

The BlackBerry Partners Fund (BPF), a $150 million venture capital fund aimed at encouraging development of software for the BlackBerry, is investing $3.2 million (of a $10 million second round) in Xobni, a San Francisco-based email enhancement startup. Rick Segal, whose Toronto-based firm JLA Ventures is a partner in the BPF, alongwith RBC Ventures and others, blogged about the investment today. Excerpt:

Adam's (Xobni co-founder) brilliance in exploiting Outlook can't truly be appreciated until you dive in and see the code. Just off the charts smart. When doing my due diligence, I reached into the Redmond gang and no less than three times was given the "I can't figure out how the $%#! they are doing this, it's really amazing" commentary. Top tier respect coming right from Microsoft and a text book perfect play on the value add strategy. Well done.

BusinessWeek covered the announcement as well, noting that even Bill Gates is said to be a fan of the Xobni application - praising it in a speech last year.

One Day Left To Apply For TechStars Startup Incubator Program

If you have a web startup idea and a team which can execute it to some extent, you still have just over a day left to apply for TechStars. The application deadline for this summer is tomorrow, March 21st at midnight.

TechStars is a Boston and Boulder based startup incubator program, where teams of budding entrepreneurs are given upto $18,000 in return for a 6% equity in the venture. The program runs over the summer and involves teams living/working in either Boston or Boulder and racing to develop their demos by the end of the summer, when they get a chance to present it to angel investors and venture capitalists. You will, of course, own your company and have complete freedom to relocate wherever you want after that. Most startups which have gone through TechStars over the past few years it has been in existence have gone on to raise additional funding / been acquired / or become self-sustaining. Examples include Socialthing (acquired by AOL), Intense Debate (acquired by Automattic), BrightKite and FiltrBox.

The key benefit of going to TechStars to build your startup is the connections. From the people running the program (well-known investors like Brad Feld), to the mentors they bring on, and other such opportunities mean that you would have a far greater chance succeeding with TechStars than without it. The program has had founders from Sweden, India and other places, but none from Canada as yet. Hopefully that will change this year!

Get your application in before the deadline. The form is very straightforward and contains some basic questions - shouldn't take more than an hour to fill. Any questions ? Try tweeting Andrew Hyde, their Community Director over at http://twitter.com/andrewhyde

Good luck with your application! :)

Silicon Valley Executive Twitters Through Home Break-In

David Prager, COO of Revision3, a Silicon Valley-based company, had an apparent home break-in recently. No, he didn't call the cops as soon as he saw someone breaking in. Instead, he "tweeted" about it and made sure his Twitter followers stayed updated on what exactly the intruder was doing, and how he was feeling and the like. He even setup a live video stream on Ustream to broadcast the home invasion live. How nice of him!

MaRS Market Snapshot: The Business of Social Networking

MaRS Centre in Toronto just released a report on "The Business of Social Networking", addressing questions like how big is the online social network market and contains some interesting numbers and analysis of the business models of such networks. Check it out:

US VC Looking For Canadian Investments

GrandBanks Capital, a Boston-based venture capital firm, is actively looking for Canadian investments (in Ontario and Quebec) and recently sent out an open letter to Canadian entrepreneurs and investors (published below). Canadian investments have worked for them in the past which is why they are interested over here, and rumour has it that even pretty recently they closed a deal in Toronto. Interested Ontario/Quebec-based entrepreneurs - go ahead and give Charley Lax (Managing Partner, GrandBanks Capital) a call (his phone number is in the document below). Quote from the letter:

Yeah, we like cigars, but we like Canadian entrepreneurs better!

Inside Look At Google's Canadian Offices

Google, Inc. has an interesting presence in Canada, with research and development based in Waterloo and a recently opened Canadian headquarters which focuses on business development located in the uber-cool Yonge-Dundas area of Toronto. And according to Montreal Tech Watch, Google also has a token office in Montreal. Nothing in the West so far. Check out some pictures:

Toronto office pictures (courtesy Torontoist)

Mesh 2009 Schedule Now Available

Mesh is the largest annual Web conference in Canada, and will be taking place in Toronto on April 7th and 8th. A full day of interactive workshops called the meshU would be held a day before the actual conference, on April 6th, featuring speakers such as Ryan Singer (37signals), Ilya Grigorik (AideRSS) and Daniel Debow (Rypple). The full schedule of both events recently went live.

Mesh '09 would feature speakers such as Gabe Rivera (founder of Techmeme), Jessica Jackley (co-founder of Kiva.org), Jason Calacanis (founder of Mahalo), Paul Kedrosky (leading US-based investor), Jonathan Martin (Politico.com) and even an appearance by David Miller (Mayor of Toronto). The conference is sold-out every year well in advance, so be sure to grab your tickets early. Here is the full schedule (click on the post link for a better view and zoom in):

meshU schedule (April 6th)

Mesh conference schedule (April 7th and 8th)

Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference Begins Today

The 10th Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference (CUTC) begins in Toronto today at the Hilton. CUTC is the largest student-run conference in Canada, and over the next two days, it will bring together tech students and various industry leaders who will share their insights on upcoming technologies. Various interactive workshops, panel discussions and tech exhibitions will be held as well. Seminar topics include:

Canadian Council of Technicians & Technologists
Topic: The Top 5 Technology Sector in 2010 - National Technology Week

University of Waterloo
Topic: Nanotechnology - Amphiphilic Polymers that Self-Assemble into Different Types of Microstructure

Queen's University
Topic: Organic User Interface - Designing Computers in Any Way, Shape or Form

Raytheon
Topic: Air Traffic Control - From Past to Present

Corner Office Leads
Topic: Seven Lessons for Technology Entrepreneurs - Building Your Own Technology Business

Indigo Books and Music Inc.
Topic: Shortcovers.com - Find Your Next Great Read, Right in Your Pocket

Recruit My Friends
Topic: Entrepreneurship - Start Up & Sneek-peek at: My Dream Closet

The keynote speakers at the conference are Eugene Roman (CIO, Open Text), Dan Debow (Co-CEO, Rypple) and George Roter (Co-CEO, Engineers Without Borders). The conference is sponsored by RIM, IBM and the University of Waterloo, among others. Techvibes is a media sponsor of CUTC and will be covering the event.

Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference from March 12th - 13th

Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference (CUTC) returns next week to Toronto for its 10th edition. Started by some University of Waterloo students, it is now the largest student-run conference in the country.

CUTC '09 is taking place from March 12th - 13th at the Hilton, and would feature keynotes from executives from OpenText, Rypple and Engineers Without Borders. In addition, there would be various panel discussions, interactive workshops and exhibitions focused on upcoming technologies. A design competition called "TechTeam" would be held as well where teams of delegates would develop and present innovative solutions to real world case-study style problems.

It is a great opportunity for students to network with potential employers and learn / grow further in their profession. Several universities/departments are subsidizing the registration fees of $100 for their students (check CUTC's website at www.cutc.ca for details). Techvibes is a media sponsor of CUTC and would be covering the event as well.