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 […]
Startup Reality: Survive or Die Quickly
The simple and painful reality for startups in this economy goes like this: Survive until things pick up, or die quickly and start over. Mark Peter Davis at DFJ Gotham makes this point in his recent post, The State of Venture: The Ugly, The Bad And The Good. In this new economic environment, access to […]
Tuesday, Dec. 9th: Next Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast
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 […]
What Do SaaS Companies Have to Prepare for 2009?
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 […]
Startup Valuations, Business Models and Social Leverage
Howard Lindzon recently spoke at the Startup Empire event about why it’s not a good time to start a company. Thankfully and importantly, his presentation was very practical in nature, answering specific questions that many startup entrepreneurs should be asking right now. Howard touched on three things that are critical: startup valuations business models social […]
Startups Need More Practical Guidance Not Fluff
I’ve argued before that startups need mentorship more than anything – practical, hands-on help from more experienced entrepreneurs, investors, executives, etc. That’s even more true now, given the tough times many startups will face. First time startup entrepreneurs in particular, who might not have gone through the last crash, are not adequately prepared to handle […]
How-To Price Your Software Product
Deciding on pricing for a software product is never easy. There are a lot of variables and unknowns. There are certainly no guarantees. But there are some fundamental things to look at when deciding on how to price your software product. Frequency. One of the first major decisions you have to make is on frequency. […]
Startup Camp Needs More Startups to Present
In this tough economic climate raising capital is going to be even harder. It was already hard (for most people), and venture capitalists or holding the purse strings tighter than ever. With that in mind, it’s the perfect time to improve your pitch. A bad pitch will kill you each and every time; and it’s […]
Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast Update
We’ve decided to move the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast to every 2 months. You can see an update at Montreal Tech Watch. This will make it a bit easier to organize (even though it’s already fairly easy to do so) and allow for increased attendance. With two months separating each event it should encourage more […]
Standout Jobs Re-Launches Product, Web Site and Business Model
I’m very pleased to announce that Standout Jobs has launched a new version of its product, a new website and our business model. There’s a whole ton of new stuff in fact, and this is just the beginning of many changes to come. After launching Standout Jobs in late January 2008 we’ve spent the last […]
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