STIRR Runs First Founders’ Table Event in Calgary

Cam on May 16th, 2008 · Filed under Associations, Calgary, Edmonton, Events · 1 Comment

STIRR Canada ran its first Founders’ Table event last night in Calgary and it was great to be able to attend and join in.  The goal of the Founders’ Table events is to bring founders of newer tech startups together in an intimate social setting with people who have gone through the startup process before, and are potentially looking to advise and invest.  The hope is that newer founders, and pre-startup innovators, will be able to connect with and learn from the more seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.

The event was kept fairly small and was invite-only.  This was done so that quality “up and coming” founders would be able to get the most benefit. The seating at the tables was pre-arranged so that people would interact with others that they might not have met before.  Most of the attendees came from Calgary, however there were about five or six people from Edmonton who were invited down.

The first part of the evening featured Garrett Camp, the co-founder of one of Calgary’s most successful startups, StumbleUpon.  The first few minutes of Garrett’s talk was about how StumbleUpon came about and grew.  One of the most interesting things that came out of that talk was that his first angel connection actually contacted him because he was a frequent user and loved the idea.

After Garrett’s brief talk, he opened the floor to questions from the attendees.  Perhaps the question that most people wanted to have answered was: “Would he have been able to take StumbleUpon to where it was had he not moved to the Valley?”  Garrett figured he would have been able to but “it would have been much harder, and required more travel back and forth from the Valley.”  Ultimately he felt as though the connections and mentoring that he was able to get from Silicon Valley were vital to the success that StumbleUpon has had.  This is one of the biggest reasons that Pat Lor, Claudia Moore and the STIRR Team have worked so hard to bring STIRR to Canada.  They hope that the connections, mentoring and startup experiences that exist in Canada will be able to be shared with the next flock of startups.

After the talk, dinner was served and it gave a chance for everyone to interact.  It was great to be able to hear some of the people who had run successful startups talk about what had taken them there.  Also for those who would potentially become investors they were able to learn more about both the founder and their idea, and it gave the newer founders a chance to find out what investors were really looking for.  Each table had a STIRR organizer facilitating the conversation so that everyone was able to discuss some of the topics that they were interested in.

Overall the event was great.  STIRR has done a fantastic job in the Valley and it is great to see it here in Canada.  Hopefully the event will continue to grow and the format will be expanded to other cities.  It was really awesome to see the conversations that were being had, and the relationships that were being developed.  STIRR Canada will be running more Founders’ Table events, as well as larger Tech Mixers. If you think that you should be invited, contact them and let them know why; likely you will find yourself at a future STIRR event.

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Widget Master - Sitemasher

Rob on May 16th, 2008 · Filed under Paid Job Posts, Vancouver · No Comments

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Electronic Arts Coming to Yaletown

Rob on May 16th, 2008 · Filed under Gaming, Vancouver · 1 Comment

Big news out of Techvibes’ Yaletown neighborhood - Electronic Arts (EA) is coming to the ‘hood. Apparently EA’s lack of a Yaletown address has been hurting their recruiting efforts in the gaming space.

They couldn’t find any suitable location close to the Yaletown epicenter (read Blenz), so they’re building on it. Two floors are being surgically attached to the roof of the heritage building that houses Yaletown Brewing Company (map) and Blenz. Great location choice with the new Yaletown Skytrain station one block away and a flagship Earls going in the old Mavi Jeans location across the street. Yaletown will now have the highest density of cookie-cutter restaurants in Vancouver - Earls, Cactus Club, Milestone’s and Browns all within a one-block radius.

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Sxipping Out On Investors?

Rob on May 16th, 2008 · Filed under Vancouver, Venture Capital · 1 Comment

In this week’s Business in Vancouver, Curt Cherewayko reports that tech entrepreneur Dick Hardt has been named as a defendant in a statement of claim that alleges he made misrepresentations during a pitch to investors who eventually invested US$370,000 into Hardt’s Sxip Identity Corp.

According to the claim, plaintiffs Caliber Management Ltd., Polygon Financial 05 LLC, Ron Stevens and Danny Robinson advanced money to Sxip Identity (in the form of convertible bridge notes) after Hardt approached them last Summer to fund the sale of some Sxip assets. The claim alleges that Hardt told the plaintiffs that he was in negotiations to sell Sxip Identity to Google, Microsoft or another notable tech company.

When Hardt’s attempts to sell Sxip Identity failed, he told the plaintiffs that Sxip Identity was insolvent and that their notes has little or no value. This is where things get messy. The plaintiffs allege that Hardt failed to disclose that there were two separate Sxip entities (Sxip Identity and Sxip Network - he is CEO and President of both) and that only Sxip Identity would be a party to the notes.

Sxip Identity is indeed insolvent with a March 2008 balance sheet indicating that they owed Sxip Networks $4.7 Million and Hardt personally $275K. Sxip Identity’s total assets at the time were just under $1 Million.

The Plaintiffs allege that because of this “related creditor” debt, Hardt and the company has already redirected to themselves any value that Sxip Identity had. The plaintiffs claim an order for restitution and rescission for the money they advance to Hardt, as well as damages. According to BIV, Hardt is examining his options.

Vancouver’s tech entrepreneur community is small and everyone knows each other, so it should be interesting to see how this story unfolds.

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Start-Up Career Fair Next Week

Rob on May 15th, 2008 · Filed under Events, Facebook, Tech Jobs, Vancouver · No Comments

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Vancouver Start-up Index - May 2008

Greg on May 15th, 2008 · Filed under Start-up Index, Vancouver · 9 Comments

The index ranks Vancouver area tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.

If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.

Rank + /- Name Alexa Compete Average
1 MetroLyrics 568 329 449
2 Suite101 2,721 539 1,630
3 NowPublic 8,644 8,563 8,604
4 everystockphoto 47,631 91,613 69,622
5 1 DabbleDB 80,337 88,481 84,409
6 N MyYogaOnline 93,364 91,393 92,379
7 13 MovieSet 161,191 61,803 111,497
8 3 Yotophoto 65,763 160,044 112,904
9 N MyTripJournal 146,587 81,933 114,260
10 2 CounterPath 53,685 181,979 117,832
11 4 Techvibes 104,530 141,915 123,223
12 7 Eqo 25,989 263,531 144,760
13 3 Babe vs. Babe 182,424 187,815 185,120
14 5 Strutta 291,916 101,499 196,708
15 6 Bryght 163,183 236,997 200,090
16 5 Project Opus 218,532 211,261 214,897
17 5 Scribblewiki 141,648 393,595 267,622
18 5 Protagonize 158,958 390,120 274,539
19 N Calgoo 298,698 384,543 341,621
20 5 Qumana 256,479 470,231 363,355
21 7 Rouxbe 283,129 468,732 375,931
22 5 Ubertor 341,605 427,749 384,677
23 7 GiveMeaning 431,549 462,368 446,959
24 6 LingQ 261,794 700,728 481,261
25 Thoughtfarmer 557,693 420,318 489,006
26 2 Fit Brains 479,624 514,623 497,124
27 6 Gimme20 412,546 670,541 541,544
28 10 Lypp 390,159 702,203 546,181
29 7 Sxip 512,058 679,694 595,876
30 3 HerFabLife 856,919 453,514 655,217
31 6 Kinzin 817,991 515,774 666,883
32 4 AdHack 1,210,070 224,824 717,447
33 10 Widerfunnel 500,895 947,975 724,435
34 8 Vintage Pixels 1,174,831 442,339 808,585
35 1 SomethingSimpler 800,410 884,305 842,358
36 2 Audiobaba 808,174 926,957 867,566
37 N ChompChompDead 1,077,970 742,783 910,377
38 6 Sitemasher 1,208,841 653,734 931,288
39 10 Smart Love 1,191,668 734,921 963,295
40 9 Taglocity 2,371,382 955,863 1,663,623
41 10 MyThankYou 339,047 - 339,047
42 Mployr 738,427 - 738,427
43 5 Scrapboy 870,265 - 870,265
44 12 People Vancouver 889,890 - 889,890
45 6 MyRealPlace 988,870 - 988,870
46 13 FanYard 996,341 - 996,341
47 12 Jiibe 1,099,783 - 1,099,783
48 7 Vacant Ready 1,162,439 - 1,162,439
49 9 MailChannels 1,480,642 - 1,480,642
50 4 NetHooks 1,488,630 - 1,488,630
51 3 StrangeLoop Networks 1,505,746 - 1,505,746
52 9 QuickMobile 1,656,861 - 1,656,861
53 8 Mixx Maker 2,853,318 - 2,853,318
54 4 xMedia Jobs 3,200,190 - 3,200,190
55 8 LiveVote 3,387,980 - 3,387,980
56 4 Wurldtech 3,427,514 - 3,427,514
57 4 Industry Blender 7,312,871 - 7,312,871
58 N Booksprouts 7,448,753 - 7,448,753
59 N That’s Cool 9,023,456 - 9,023,456
60 9 Gnomz Software 9,294,915 - 9,294,915
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Victoria Start-up Index - May 2008

Greg on May 15th, 2008 · Filed under Start-up Index, Victoria · No Comments

The index ranks Victoria area tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.

If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.

Rank + /- Name Alexa Compete Average
1 AbeBooks 6,327 2,608 4,468
2 Neverblue Ads 15,726 20,801 18,264
3 Terapeak 28,940 45,490 37,215
4 Enquisite 120,907 115,669 118,288
5 YubNub 68,747 199,837 134,292
6 2 Mixpo 300,628 239,999 270,314
7 1 Oprius Software 131,689 464,625 298,157
8 1 TeamPages 370,632 227,425 299,029
9 3 Indochino 507,483 255,121 381,302
10 1 Data Unison 427,038 408,398 417,718
11 2 Udutu 678,284 544,310 611,297
12 3 YikeSite 734,819 682,602 708,711
13 2 DailySplice 1,418,887 954,598 1,186,743
14 4 Apricado 2,693,706 262,387 1,478,047
15 1 Zumer 2,504,321 - 2,504,321
16 Utilium 2,509,195 - 2,509,195
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Portland Start-up Index - May 2008

Greg on May 15th, 2008 · Filed under Portland, Start-up Index · 1 Comment

The index ranks Portland area tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.

If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.

Rank + /- Name Alexa Compete Average
1 AboutUs 1,350 1,839 1,595
2 Discogs 1,255 6,681 3,968
3 Kongregate 1,933 8,096 5,015
4 COLOURlovers 14,075 17,977 16,026
5 N Frappr 22,936 17,678 20,307
6 1 Splashcast 74,144 45,041 59,593
7 1 Earth Class Mail 71,206 50,834 61,020
8 Jive Software 64,002 58,813 61,408
9 Sandy 75,520 57,890 66,705
10 5 MyOpenID 88,732 53,985 71,359
11 Gone Raw 90,018 58,454 74,236
12 N Platial 130,444 28,321 79,383
13 1 eROI 103,318 68,194 85,756
14 1 NetworthIQ 179,464 154,257 166,861
15 1 Stikkit 130,944 306,582 218,763
16 5 Grabbit 205,479 296,210 250,845
17 Attensa 307,317 213,493 260,405
18 3 GadgetTrak 231,637 300,643 266,140
19 1 Active Reload 257,235 277,764 267,500
20 1 Art Face Off 429,458 209,220 319,339
21 5 Walker Tracker 331,800 328,544 330,172
22 4 Rocketbook 455,038 307,570 381,304
23 Iovation 376,404 426,928 401,666
24 6 ChoiceA 278,958 582,478 430,718
25 3 Pibb 403,123 460,927 432,025
26 1 Lunarr 289,165 717,194 503,180
27 3 UrbanDrinks 327,864 767,742 547,803
28 1 Iterasi 601,835 635,836 618,836
29 FreeRange 755,875 491,291 623,583
30 KnitMap 1,196,832 255,763 726,298
31 3 WeoGeo 700,442 785,953 743,198
32 1 GoLife Mobile 967,495 559,805 763,650
33 1 Goboz 1,197,001 869,614 1,033,308
34 5 Picktastic 1,167,223 966,301 1,066,762
35 3 fmyi 1,492,874 843,211 1,168,043
36 1 GoSeeTell 1,793,149 645,441 1,219,295
37 1 MomHub 1,856,999 822,756 1,339,878
38 5 Imindi 1,941,048 775,926 1,358,487
39 4 VocalNation.net 1,900,133 995,655 1,447,894
40 2 Kryptiq 2,271,064 677,513 1,474,289
41 2 Cendix 2,045,748 940,709 1,493,229
42 2 Lightfleet 3,317,555 673,283 1,995,419
43 6 Kumquat 5,155,173 958,028 3,056,601
44 4 Pheedo 65,706 - 65,706
45 5 Jama Software 1,095,322 - 1,095,322
46 8 Workplace2go 1,530,761 - 1,530,761
47 6 Avnera 2,772,999 - 2,772,999
48 3 Box Populi 3,339,406 - 3,339,406
49 1 IDP Solutions 5,155,173 - 5,155,173
50 4 Collaborative Software Initiative 7,982,752 - 7,982,752
51 3 Techchex 7,986,912 - 7,986,912
52 1 YourList 8,571,721 -
53 6 Worldwide Nest 16,731,863 -
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Alberta Start-up Index - May 2008

Greg on May 15th, 2008 · Filed under Calgary, Edmonton, Start-up Index · 1 Comment

The index ranks Alberta tech start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page. This month, there may be some large shifts due to an overhaul of Alexa’s traffic sources.

If you have any suggestions for companies to add to the index, please post them in the comments for this post.

Rank + /- Name Alexa Compete Average
1 Nexopia 4,241 51,223 27,732
2 Shopster 44,599 47,882 46,241
3 Shoptoit.ca 85,714 72,792 79,253
4 Cambrian House 74,429 100,029 87,229
5 1 Immersive Media 97,160 155,552 126,356
6 1 Splice 135,535 171,743 153,639
7 Headplay 276,738 356,824 316,781
8 Userful 328,061 310,370 319,216
9 Active Conversion 306,020 547,236 426,628
10 Podcast Spot 574,669 335,315 454,992
11 Zigtag 560,386 471,656 516,021
12 Mob4Hire 827,254 310,344 568,799
13 N Coolite 441,107 745,965 593,536
14 2 Crypkey 666,929 794,703 730,816
15 2 MoboVivo 895,954 711,255 803,605
16 2 Jet Stream Media 1,625,046 740,228 1,182,637
17 N Smibs 1,912,110 663,182 1,287,646
18 2 Loa PowerTools 1,804,543 890,868 1,347,706
19 4 KnowledgeWhere 3,019,397 899,254