Just in time for the holidays, Instigator Blog has it’s very own line of clothes!
OK, that’s not entirely true…but check out these Instigator Pants a friend of mine, Alistair Croll, found at a store recently. He thought of me, snapped a picture and sent it along:
No surprise, these are top of the line pants…with articulated knees no less! I’m not much of an alpine climber mind you, but I’ve yet to find any pants with a cooler name.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
I want to wish everyone a happy holidays and a great New Year. I may be posting tidbits throughout the holidays, and then ramping it up again in January. 2009 is going to be an absolutely insane year.
Best wishes to you and yours. Have fun, be safe and keep instigating…
Having recently participated in Montreal Startup’s first workshop day for the companies it has invested in, I wanted to share some of the input I provided. The Montreal Startup guys asked me to sit on a panel with serial entrepreneur, Frederic Lalonde and equally-experienced entrepreneur (and ex-VC) Marc Gingras. The panel was moderated by Mark MacLeod, a kickass CFO and startup guy in his own right.
When I look back at the feedback I provided, and the notes I had taken, it really boiled down to 8 tips for running successful meetings with venture capitalists. We spent a lot of time talking about the overallprocess of raising venture capital - but I think where a lot of entrepreneurs fall down is in those first few meetings.
In this new economic environment, access to capital will become an increasingly important differentiator. If venture investing contracts substantially, a strong balance sheet will no longer simply be a means of staying with the pack, it will increasingly become a substantial advantage, enabling some companies to get way out in front of their competition.
Mark points out that companies with solid funding should be thinking big, albeit cautiously. As competition falters - either showing signs of weakness or dying completely - the companies with solid balance sheets and good funding can execute more aggressively. That means hiring top talent (because more of it will be available), executing more quickly and playing a louder, more dominant market role.
Ultimately, there aren’t many companies with huge amounts of funding and great balance sheets - especially amongst early startups. So what are the alternatives?
The next Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9th at 8am.
Remember: The location is Boccacinos on McGill St.
And, we have a great sponsor for this event as well! Google Montreal has stepped up to sponsor the breakfast.
Google has offered $8/person - which means each person attending will receive a ticket. That ticket is worth $8 when you pay. Anything you owe above $8 you will pay separately to the restaurant.
I want to thank Google Montreal for stepping up and sponsoring this event and showing their overall support for the growing Montreal tech entrepreneur community.
This will be the last event before 2009 — the next one will be in February. Remember, we’re now holding the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast every 2 months.
Here are the details:
Who should attend? Anyone that’s into the tech and entrepreneur scenes in Montreal. That includes entrepreneurs, startup employees, angel investors, venture investors, service providers, students, etc. Every event sees new people, and hopefully the connections made turn into real value in the long-term.
A whackload of trouble. (See, I answered my own question!)
As 2008 comes to an end you should be well on your way to planning 2009. And what a year it will be! The economy is in shambles, it’s getting harder to raise capital (and it was already hard!) and customers are freezing budgets. 2009 won’t be the prettiest year ever.
And SaaS (Software as a Service) vendors have to be very careful in their planning and rigorous in their execution of what will most likely be some very difficult plans. Companies will have to cut somewhere, and take a hard look at each employee, business strategies, pricing, etc. Basically: Look at everything.
