Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

How to Recognize a Good Boss by Marty Zwilling

2011-11-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

Below is an article about how to recognize a good boss. All of these are good traits and abilities that people can develop. The real exceptional leaders are the ones who know how to extract higher levels of performance. The true leader can be charming and the worlds nicest person but also must have the ability to be nice while instilling a sense of fear that failure is far more painful than the effort to required to be #1.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

How to Recognize a Great Boss, or Even Be One

Everyone can recognize a great manager a mile away, so why is it so hard to find one? We all remember a few that are “legends in their own mind”, but that doesn’t do it. In fact, the clue here is that the view in your mind is the only one that matters, rather than the other way around.
Almost every one of us in business can remember that one special manager in their career who exemplifies the norm, who commanded our respect, and treated us like a friend, even in the toughest of personal or business crises.
I’ve asked many peers for the traits or attributes they saw in that person, and most will list the following positive functional traits of a good manager:

Leadership. Shows outstanding skills in guiding team members towards attainment of the organization’s goals and the right decisions at the right point of time. As Drucker said, "management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
Plan and delegate. Possesses foresight and skills to understand the relevant capabilities of team members, and then scheduling tasks and delegating to the right people to get tasks done within deadlines. You are a guide, not a commander.
Domain expert. Demonstrates complete knowledge of his field and confident about that knowledge, with the common sense to make quick productive decisions, and ability to think outside the box.
Set clear expectations. Employees should always know what is expected of them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to set deliverable milestones for each employee over a set period of time. Then review the performance vs. the roadmap or deliverable at least six months prior to a performance review and discuss ways to improve.
Positive recognition. Immediately recognize team members, publicly or privately, when they complete something successfully or show initiative. Congratulate them on a job well done. Most employees are not motivated by money alone. Good managers know that employees want regular recognition that their job is being done well.

In my view, these are all “necessary” attributes, but are not “sufficient” to put you in that ‘great’ category. Most people recognize that it takes more to be ‘great,’ but the attributes are a bit more esoteric, and harder to quantify. Here are a few:

Active listener. Shows traits such as listening with feedback, optimistic attitude, motivating ability, and a concern for people. Listening to what is said as well as what is not said is of the utmost importance. It is demoralizing to an employee to be speaking to a supervisor and be interrupted for a phone call. All interruptions should be avoided.
Shows empathy. This refers to the ability to "walk in another person's shoes", and to have insight into the thoughts, and the emotional reactions of individuals faced with change. Empathy requires that you suspend judgment of another's actions or reactions, while you try to understand them, and treat them with sensitivity, respect, and kindness.
Always honest. Simply put, today’s managers live in glass houses. Everything that a manager does is seen by his employees. If a manager says one thing and does another, employees see it. Managers must be straightforward in all words and actions. A manager must “walk the talk.” That also means recognizing weaknesses, and admitting mistakes.
Sense of humor. People of all ages and cultures respond to humor. The majority of people are able to be amused at something funny, and see an irony. One of the most frequently cited attractions in great personal relationships is a sense of humor.
Keep your cool. A great manager is an effective communicator and a composed individual, with a proven tolerance for ambiguity. He/she never loses their cool, and is able to correct the team members without emotional body language or statements.

Whole books are written on this subject, but hopefully you get the picture. Great managers must do the technical job well – and they also must do the people job very well. Now that you understand these things, I’m not sure why it is so hard to find a great manager. I guess an even harder question I should ask is why is it so hard to be one?

Marty Zwilling

Interesting Article from ComboApp (via techvibes)

2011-05-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

Vancouver's ComboApp reveals results of extensive mobile app developers' survey

Thanks to techvibes for the article but quite interesting to see what is on the minds of the local developers. Obviously Apple has a big head start but Android could take over as the dominant play. The other interesting piece is that most developers are willing to develop on the HTML-5 platform that Blackberry is using for its tablet. (Tim)

Vancouver-based marketing firm ComboApp has revealed the detailed results of a thorough study aimed at delving into the minds of today's mobile app developers.
When asked which platforms developers are most vested in, 39 percent answered Android, followed closely by iOS at 36 percent. Symbian and Windows drew virtually no interest, while Mac OS eked out BlackBerry OS by two percent.

When asked, "Is it profitable for you to place ad banners within your applications?" more than 40 percent responded with "I have not attempted to utilize this business model." Yet most who have used it found success, with roughly two-thirds saying it is either their primary or secondary source of income.

For the rest of the article, please see http://www.techvibes.com/blog/vancouvers-comboapp-reveals-results-of-extensive-mobile-app-developers-survey-2011-05-09.

Demand For goodPeople is on the rise in Vancouver

2011-04-11T18:36:00.001-07:00

I tweeted this through one of my many Twitter Services and I managed to get this posted on the Blog - by accident but what the heck. I might as well stretch out the rest of the tough.

"TS Demand for good finance professionals is on the rise in Vancouver. I am looking for a Manager with great MD&A writing skills"

Over the last several month in Vancouver, the labour market has been tightening up and the finance people are now starting to get the sale pull. The usual cycle in the Tech Sector is sales first, followed by engineers and them finance and operations staff. We have seen some solid activity on the front two and finance is catching up as of late Q1 2011. That's good news for the economy.

While many are predicting a different kind of market for the future, and I don't disagree entirely, what we are seeing is a new approach to technology acquisition that looks like it can perpetuate itself for some time to come.

In Vancouver, the gaming industry has shifted from a "work for a big studio" to build your own gaming application on Face Book. As a result, the bigger studios are shedding folks who are not missing a beat and launching more small and private ventures. Instead of contracting for a biggie, these people are contracting for themselves and financing their products through a variety of channels from the Apple Store to Face Book.

All good news.

How to Get IT Help

2011-04-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

COO Magazine?

2011-04-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

So where can I get my subscription to COO Magazine?

No matter what you do, there is a high probability that there is a web site or magazine dedicated to your profession unless you are a COO. A few issues ago, The Harvard Business Review noted the same thing. So why is it that a such an important role in growing organizations gets so little attention? And if there were a COO website or magazine, what would it look like?

Drawing on the quarter century of resources in our proprietary data base, Corporate Recruiters looked at over 150 position descriptions and resumes to find out.

One factor that came to the surface was the sheer uniqueness of the job description. Often the ‘heir apparent’ in a company, (but not always) the COO needs to have a skill set that balances that of the CEO. Often, in a manufacturing or electronics focused company, this person would have an engineering background. So should COO Magazine resemble a technical journal? Not so fast.

Services companies tend to have former project managers and development managers in the COO role. Software companies were most diverse of all, including individuals from both of the above categories as well as sales operations, channel management and finance.

There is one trend that seems to be moving across the board. With the increased focus on corporate governance and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, many companies are seeking COO’s with backgrounds and qualifications in finance. Many recently anointed COO’s have come from the camp of the CFO’s.

Will this bring an increase in financial oversight and a decrease in the traditional role of merging vision and strategy with structure and execution? It’s too early to draw conclusions, but we may see smaller companies with larger executive teams where the new role of COO takes on some of the large portfolio of responsibilities traditionally owned by the CFO.

One thing is likely never to change, however. It has been said that entrepreneurs look for best actions, while COO’s focus on best practices – a dichotomy that will lead to interesting boardroom discussions well into the future.

By Tim Swanson, Corporate Recruiters Ltd. He can be contacted at tim@corporate.bc.ca

Wind Enegy is Cost Effective!

2011-02-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

It is no secret that I am a windy guy. Just ask anyone who stands behind me in an elevator but today's article is not about biogas - mine or otherwise.

I always love to hear a story where wind energy is winning the game. Last year we noted that Texas maxed out the transmission grid with wind power. It doesn't get much better than that and you have to pitch one to Spain for their ante in the claim to the clean energy throne. Their claim comes with an outstanding day on January 6th, 2011 where ecogeek reports that renewable energy made up a record-breaking 75 percent of Spain's electricity on that day!

Also, I am pleased to say that wind is now competing with the dirty power industry on cost effectiveness. According to ecogeek, in regions of Brazil, Mexico, Sweden and the U.S., wind power now costs $68/MWh and coal power costs $67/MWh. Recent agreements has wind power being contracted as low as 5 to 6 cents per kwh which is competitive even to natural gas.

So now I am really looking forward to stepping out of the elevator and taking a nice deep breath of fresh air and you should too. Just remember to do it infront of me rather than behind!

Tim Swanson,
Cleantech Recruiter at Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

The Tech Job Market is Hot

2011-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Originally I typed "The Job Market is Heating Up." But that is just not the case. It is hot and that is great news for our economy (and as a recruiter, I like it too).

Plain and simple - no indexes or moving averages - just plain vanilla stats.

In Sept 2009 there were 550 vacant tech jobs.
During the Olympics there were 750 vacant tech jobs.
One year after the the Olympics there are 1100 tech vacancies out there.

Simply put. We are 50% better since the Olympic and 100% better since the the fall of 2009.

If you want to see more evidence, check out these articles from the Vancouver Sun.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/aerospace+sector+needs+more+workers+industry+leader+says/4299710/story.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Labour+pains/4284461/story.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Local+employers+grapple+with+global+economy/4201059/story.html

If you are experience tech labour pains, please let me know because we have a solution for you - Call me @ 604-687-5993 x116.

Tim Swanson
Corporate Recruiters

Top Financing Deals in 2010 for BC's Tech Sector

2011-02-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

This was a popular list from last year where the deal size wasn't exactly glowing and compared to 2009, 2010 looks to have been a pretty good year. Looking at the top 20 deals from each of 2009 & 2010 have some interesting comparisons but before we break out the champagne, a couple of deals are still pending but size of the deals are nice to see. For example, Westport's $100 million public offering announced in November is still pending but, hey, $100 million is a nice lead in to the list.

Top 10 for BC in 2010

1. Westport Innovations Inc. $106,000,000

2. OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ 51,000,000

3. I-Pulse Inc.                                   $ 46,500,000
4. WEX Pharmaceuticals Inc.            $ 35,500,000
5. CellFor Inc.                                  $ 21,200,000
6. D-Wave Systems Inc.                   $ 17,000,000

7. Delta-Q Technologies Corp. $ 17,000,000

8. Celator Pharmaceuticals Corp. $ 15,900,000

9. NGRAIN (Canada) Corporation $ 12,250,000

10. Allon Therapeutics Inc. $ 10,100,000

11. Vivonet Incorporated $ 8,800,000

12. Response Biomedical Corp. $ 8,000,000

You may notice that there are 12 deals listed. This is because the one at the top may not count because it is still pending. Also, I-Pulse, which looks real exciting, was financed by a resources company in BC (Ivanhoe), so they may or may not add to our booming tech community in terms of jobs.

In comparison to 2009.....well there's not much of a comparison. The number speak for themselves:

1. Plutonic Power $70,000,000
2. Burcon Nutrascience $16,900,000
3. Tantalus $14,400,000
4. Oncogenex $10,500,000
5. General Fusion $10,000,000
6. Zeugma $9,000,000
7. Tranzeo Wireless $6,900,000
8. Redlan Technologies $5,180,000
10. Pakit $5,000,000

There is some real dough out there and the trickle down is noticeable. It is no longer a buyers’ market for employers. The demand for tech talent is up - demand has doubled over the last 18 months.

The TSX also agrees that the tough times are more behind us than in front of us.

Tim Swanson
Corporate Recruiters

A Vision for Education in the 21st Century

2011-01-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

The Premier’s Technology Council (PTC) has released a special report outlining a vision for education in the 21st century. The report considers what skills and attributes will enable students to succeed in a knowledge-based society and how our education system could be transformed to address the rapidly changing globe.

http://www.gov.bc.ca/premier/attachments/PTC_vision%20for_education.pdf

Premier’s Technology Council

A Vision for Education in the 21st Century

Over the past fifteen years computers and other personal devices have combined with the Internet and wireless capabilities to create a situation where finding information is the matter of clicking a button, regardless of where you are. The net result is an increasingly complex, interconnected, global society. Ensuring that everyone remains fully functional in this complex world will be critical for British Columbia’s future. Education systems around the globe are transforming themselves to address the new of information and BC’s education system needs to transform also.

The Premier’s Technology Council (PTC) has developed a vision (attached) of what such a system should look like and how it should educate our students. It is critical that they are trained for the world that that they must live in tomorrow, not the world that existed twenty years ago. At one time information was a scarce resource. Information is now ubiquitous and there is almost too much of it. The most critical information related skills are no longer how to find it, but how to synthesize it, sift it, assess it and most importantly, use it. This then shifts the role of the educators; they are no longer required to be the student’s primary source of information. In this new world, educators must instead guide students as they learn to apply their skills to the information that is so readily available.

The skills of the 21st century will still be rooted in literacy and numeracy. Built on that will be the ability to think critically about the information available. Creativity and innovation will be needed to generate new ideas and concepts. Students will have to understand how to use the technology available and how to interpret and use the various forms of digital media available. They will also have to understand how to use what is available to communicate and collaborate with others. Intellectual collaboration is no longer bound by the walls of a room or the slow pace of words on a page. Our students must learn how to tackle problems with teams of people across the country and around the globe.

The PTC vision describes an education system driven by individualised learning. Parents will have an opportunity to be more involved and the role of the teacher will become more complex, shifting from lecturer to guide. It is a vision where the students are challenged to examine content in more depth. Some may lament this shift and argue that if students are not memorizing facts, then you aren’t teaching them anything. The reality is that the world has changed. Online information sources like Wikipedia combine with Google and other search engines to create repositories of information that were unheard of ten years ago. The children of today already use them. It is critical that we teach them to use what is there today and what will be there in the future.

The PTC is advocating this transformation because the world is changing and we need to respond. Other education leaders around the globe (jurisdictions like Finland and Singapore) are also making this shift. If we in BC want to remain competitive in a knowledge based world and transition to the knowledge-based society of the future, then we need a system that helps people to achieve their goals and be contributing members of a 21st century society.

Turning Plastic Back into Oil! Great for the Planet.

2010-11-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Plastic to back to fuel is a good thing.
Tim Swanson

How come there's suddenly more oregano in my diet?

2010-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well chances are that if you have noticed your significant other putting a more oregano in your food, chances are that he or she have been reading Live Science.

Alexander Hristov of Penn State commented that a recent study has demonstrated that oregano is a fantastic supplement for dairy cows. Skipping the science and cutting straight to the results, after studying various different natural additives to the cows diets, they found that oregano helped cut methane emissions by up to 40%. This is good because cows contribute roughly 37% of the human-made methane contributing to global warming. The side benefit is that the reduced amount of methane production resulted in a sizable gain in milk production. Less energy expanded making methane was probably transferred to milk production. All great stuff.

So when you go home tonight and find out that you are having a fresh oregano salad and pesto linguine, you might notice that the house will smell fresher as a result :-).

Tim Swanson
Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

So How was Q2, 2010

2010-06-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

To be honest, the pace of Q2 was pretty steady for us and personally I had enough to keep me out of trouble until this week.

Let's do a quick recap:

Employment vacancies up a lot:

In traditional tecnology the job vacancies have been on a steady rise this year and we are close to 85% of the prerecession numbers. On T-net, we are between 870 - 900 vacancies compared with the early 600's at the beginning of the year - that's up by about 35% - 40%. For me, anything close to 1000 is back to the good ole days of 2006 - 2007.

In life sciences, the job vacancies are stil fairly thin at 34 vacancies. When it was profitable to have a biotech recriting practice in BC, the rule of thumb I had was about one tenth of the T-net. So employment-wise, biotech is lagging behind tech considerably.

Financing up by a lot over last year:

Tech fincing for Q2 (courtesy of TechFinance.ca) has some serious numbers to report and up moderatley over last year. Just a mere 10% comparing Q2's for 2010 & 2009. However, the year to date numkbers are pretty nifty. It is premature to anounce the quarter results but we are on pace to exceed $250 million in investments compared to under $150 million for 2009 and $250 million in 2008. It is not quite the good old days but I'l be happy if the pace of investment is sustained at the current level. Aftr last year, let's not be too greedy.

So far we're having a pretty good year!

Big Money in Automotive Cleantech - Lots to talk about

2010-06-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since we have had a look at what's going on with Automotive Cleantech and it looks like a good time for an update.

First the Big Money -

Tesla and Fisker are both making progress in spending more money. I hesitate to say progress because that is all relative to your point of view. First of all, Fisker just announced $189 million in new financing which brings their "start-up investment" to $300 million of private funding. This is in addition to the low interest loan from the Department of Energy of $530 million. Part of this agreement with turn the lights back on in an old GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware. Tesla seems a bit behind Fisker in the financing front but has a deal with Toyota to resurrect an Toyota-GM joint venture plant in California. A agreement that comes with a $40 million investment has the ring of a first tranche of a lot more to come. They also have close to $500 million in DOE loan promises. So between these two companies, we have $1.5 - $2.0 billion to provide very flashy rides and a couple of thound jobs in California and Delaware.

Back up here in Canada, Azure Dynamics is moving right along and somewhat less than a billion in start-up costs (by a few decimal places). I am excited to say that Azure has sold 177 hybrid electric vehicles in Q2 2010. That is some good news for these folks and I like it because these vehicles will retire a lot more GOG's that the Fisker / Tesla initiatives which are resverved for the luxury/high-performance market rather that the mileage intensive industrial and transportation markets.

Right on the heels of Fisker and Tesla is Vancouver's own Rapid Electric Vehicles who have a MOU with Mike Volker's GreenAngel fund which will raise up to $5 million. REV's approach is to target the fleet market with electric conversion kits. In line with Azure, if successful, these folks will also retire a biger whack of GOG's than the Tesla/Fisker folks will and in a much shorter time frame.

Good luck guys and keep up the good work!

Head Hunters by Ivar

2010-05-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

Recruiting in Social Networks - One More Time

2010-05-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this yet.... It's kinda fun!

Really Affordable Fuel Cell Car?!?!

2010-05-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Wow! Is this every bucking a trend! Or perhaps we are just seeing the last gasp of a billion dollars worth of investment initertia. I am torn between whether this truly a breakthrough or John Sculley's Newton and Steve Jobs is just around the corner with the mercy bullet. If it can actually happen - well halleluya! In similar news, GM & Hawaii are looking at a hydrogen infrastructure for the island paradise.

For me, I am looking to electric cars where gas is the back-up system. Simply, with a minor investment of $21.99 for a Kill-a-Watt electricity monitor and $15.99 for a 32ft. Noma Extension Cord from Canadian Tire and even grandma can have a for-profit electric car filling station. Tea and crumpets with Granny while they Li-ion's recharge - life doesn't get much better than that!

Toyota Introducing $50k Fuel Cell Car in 2015

Written by Megan Treacy on 07/05/10

Last year, Toyota re-committed to producing a hydrogen fuel cell car by 2015 and it looks like they're keeping their promise, and making it cheaper. The automaker says it has slashed the cost of producing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by 90 percent, allowing them to introduce a fuel cell sedan in 2015 with a price tag of $50,000.

Toyota says that they hope to cut the cost by an additional 50 percent in the next few years so that they can produce this so-called affordable mid-sized fuel cell car that would offer the same range as a conventional car. They've cut costs by using one-third the platinum traditionally used in fuel cells (10 grams instead of 30 grams) and by reducing the cost of a polymer electrolyte in the cell. The additional savings will come from scaling up production.

If you think $50,000 is still a lot of money, I agree with you, but it's far less than the exorbitant prices that fuel cell cars have been projected to cost (think up to seven figures). If the costs keep coming down and if fueling stations start popping up, hydrogen vehicles could finally have a chance at making it.

via Wired

Head Hunters by Ivar

2010-05-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

EcoGeek - Underwater Kites to Generate Power

2010-05-12T22:10:00.001-07:00

I love innovative stuff and the best place to get it delivered to you is definately ecogeek.

There is something about underwater propeller driven turbine power that seem cool and obvious but there are some difficulties. Anyone who has a boat knows that you need some zincs to "stop" the corrosion on your propellers. Also, a test turbine in the Hudson River in New York had the blades broken off due to the water pressure. Long and short, anything you do underwater is ten time harder because it needs to be tens time stronger and ten times more expensive. Anyways, it looks damn cool in the picture below. Good luck guys!

Written by Philip Proefrock on 10/05/10

Minesto, a spin-off from Swedish automaker Saab, is developing what it calls it's "Deep Green" technology, underwater kites tethered to the ocean floor that could produce continuous energy from tidal flows. A single Deep Green turbine could produce up to 500 kilowatts of electricity. And tides are much more regular than winds, so that the energy produced would be less erratic and variable.

The kites have a 12m (almost 40 ft) wingspan. The kites would remain at least 20m (66 feet) below the surface, to prevent conflicts with ocean navigation and minimize visual impact. Tidal flow as low as 1.6 meters/second can be used to create the lift necessary to move the kite.

Since the underwater kite is anchored to the ocean floor, it is able to move at much faster speeds, which makes the turbine more effective, as it traverses back and forth in order to generate electricity. Although wind-based deepwater offshore power systems are difficult to install and operate, Deep Green tidal kites would be well suited for instalation in deeper waters. Furthermore, the underwater kites are much lighter and easier to install than the equipment needed for other deepwater generation systems. Deepwater generating systems have the additional expense and technical hurdles of transmitting the power over a greater distance. But the higher efficiency and more consistent generation offered by Deep Green could offset those drawbacks.

The company indicates the Deep Green system offers an operating cost of 0.06-0.14 Euros/kWh, as compared to 0.15-0.30 Euros/kWh for other tidal systems, and 0.10-0.12 Euros/kWh for offshore wind systems.

A scale model of Deep Green will be tested in Northern Ireland next year as the next stage of development for this system.
via: Slashdot

EcoGeek - Brains for the Earth

Head Hunters by Ivar

2010-05-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Electric Minivan? Finally a New Car My Wife Will Let Me Buy!

2010-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Some cool Canadian connections on this one: First, All of the Chrysler Mini vans are made in Windsor, so this is good news for the Ontario Manufacturing sector. Second, Chrysler will use A123 batteries in their cars. So what is the second connection?

The lithium-ion battery was largely developed right here in BC by the team out at Moli Energy in Maple Ridge! And during one of my deep dive executive search research projects for a local fuelcell company, I found out the A123 guy had spent a fair bit of time poaching some folks to show them how to get some stuff done. Creativity is always something that impressed me with apparent MIT scholarships for some kids making the trip out with their parents. Nice.

Anyways, read on about my next car - A brand new electric mini van. Gee, I sure hope they come with wood panneling!

Shortly after Chrysler Group LLC announced plans to engineer and produce a pure electric vehicle using the Fiat 500 platform, a spokesman said the automaker would soon release details for the development of an electric minivan.

"The minivan is one of the vehicles being investigated for electrification," said Nick Cappa, spokesman for Chrysler engineering.

Word of the electric minivan was welcomed by Rick Laporte, president of CAW Local 444, which represents unionized workers at the Windsor Assembly Plant where all Chrysler's minivans are made.

"I fully support the electric program and feel it is long overdue," said Laporte. "It would be nice to be the first electric minivan in the market not to mention the extra production at WAP. "I assume this project will create work for our members at the assembly plant and should also create work in the parts industry, as well. So any new jobs that this project would create would be a positive for our community."

With the help of a grant of up to US$48 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, Chrysler will begin manufacturing the Fiat 500EV for the United States market in 2012, the automaker said.

Shown earlier this year at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Fiat 500EV powertrain is comprised of three main systems: high-power electric powertrain module, advance lithium-ion battery, and an EV control unit to manage power flows, the company said.

An overall fuel economy improvement of more than 65 per cent is expected for average drive cycles. Chrysler Group has teamed up with Electrovaya Inc. to supply the advanced lithium-ion batteries for the Ram PHEV test fleet.

Thanks to the folks at driving.ca for the Chrysler copy!

Head Hunters by Ivar

2010-04-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Electric Motorcycles are very Kool!!!

2010-04-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

When the big boys start to copy you, then you know you've got something.

I love to look in Chrysalix's portfolio and wish I could have been part of the due diligence tean that invested in Brammo. "No Clutch, No Gears, No Excuses" is the tag line and bikes look sleek, slick and fast. (I would buy one in a heart beat but my wife won't let me.)

Reuters reports that Yamaha, one of the best-known names in motorcycles, is finally entering the electric bike fray. The company has announced that it will be selling shares in order to raise $812 million to go towards developing low-cost, all-electric motorcycles and "motor-assisted" bicycles.

So far, electric bikes haven't really taken off -- they're expensive and haven't had that "it' factor -- but not many of the big players have been designing them, until now. With Yamaha's presence in the market, electric motorcycles may make a name for themselves.

Yamaha won't be spending all of that money just on all-electric motorcycles, though it will all go to cleaning up the business. The company's R&D team will also be working on more efficient engines for its bikes and boats.

Thanks to EcoGeek.org for the reuters copy.

What's the Hold-up with Grouse Mountain's Wind Turbine?

2010-04-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have been looking up the mountain for several month and wondering why the Grouse Mountain Wind Turbine is rarely spinning. Well it came out in a Vancouver Sun article a few days ago and it underlines a basic principle of energy development projects. Consult your customer early, often and and get them to sign off onit before yout start.

What does this all mean? Well there is something called a back-up / redudundacy system or something or other jig-a-ma-thing that is really important (Okay so I don't really know what's called but it doesn't really matter for the story). The short story is that BC Hydro is not going to connect just anything to the distribution grid (the wire connected to your house) that hasn't been tested for the specific senario it is being used for. The reason, a sudden energy jolt for the mountain and a whole buch of houses near the entry point have Kentucky Fried Electronics throughout their homes.

So what was the problem? The folks on Grouse, all of whom are very bright and know what they are doing, chose to use a lower cost solution that produced the same result. However, BC Hydro was reluctant to accept it because it did the thing that it was supposed to do in a way that they weren't sure of its reliability. The result, if there is any doubt, don't risk 10,000 homes full of expensive electronics and people with a tendency to get real cranky when their power goes out.

So who is wrong? Probably noone, but the key thing is talk to your customer first, second, third, fourth and then fifth, before you sign off on the contractor's designs.

I hope they get it sorted out soon and not at a cost unfriendly to the promotion of other suchn projects.

Photo Credit: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

VEF Clean Tech Panel

2010-03-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Great clean tech pannel event at the VEF last Tuesday.

The three CEO's, James Dean, David Helliwell and Glenn Johnson brought some trmendous insight into how they are building successful clean tech companies right here in BC. The common theme? Well there were many.

Funny enough, Kirk Washington noted that each of these success stories lacked Venture Capital backing. Hmmmmmmm. Well in Endurance Wind Power's case, they had a pretty good network of people who belived in them and not only are the empoloyees share holders in the traditional sense they are also investors in the company. Pulse Energy had a strong Angel backing and dPoint basically had to do it the old fashioned way - get a customer.

Other interesting points were how their products are being conceived. Where Endurance is building the best of breed type of product with innovative technologies, dPoint is applying technology developed for fuelcells in HVAC applications. For dPoint, this is a clever move - there will be far more airconditioning units going in than fuelcells so he has openned up the sky for a real chance to score a big hit.

James Dean of dPoint also had a very sage piece of advice in looking for your first customer / partner. Don't go for number one; go for number ten first, then number five and then number two. What these players all have in common is that they all have an interest in beating #1. First get your technology proven in one of the smaller players and work out the kinks. Move up the food chain a bit to get the attention of the larger players and then you are set to give the #2 or #3 player a chance to have something the incumbent doesn't have. It seems to be working.

Great event I sure hope you enjoyed it.

Ecogeek.org - Transonic Combustion Improves Gas Engine Efficiency Over 50%

2010-03-15T11:06:00.001-07:00

Transonic Combustion Improves Gas Engine Efficiency Over 50%
Written by Philip Proefrock on 10/03/10

Conventional gasoline engines are terribly inefficient things. Only 13% of the energy of the fuel actually moves the car. 62% is lost in the engine as waste heat, and driveline losses, accessories, and idling also reduce the efficiency.

Transonic Combustion is planning to build automobile engines with improved efficiency obtained through heating and pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber. "This puts it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion, which in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to propel a vehicle," according to MIT Technology Review. A transonic test vehicle achieved 64 MPG in highway driving, compared to a 48 MPG hybrid Prius, and running at a steady cruising speed of 50 mph, the test vehicle achieved 98 MPG.

Like diesel and HCCI, the Transonic Combustion technology operates without needing a spark plug. Timing software also further enhances the operating efficiency of the system. Transonic injection is being developed for use with gasoline engines at present, but will also be compatible with advanced low carbon footprint bio-fuels in the future. Transonic expects its system will be comparable in cost to other current high-end fuel injection systems.

Because of the higher operating pressure, the longevity and durability of the engine will be important considerations the company will need to address. The company plans to build its production facility in 2013 and expects to be building engines for production vehicles in 2014.
via: Inhabitat

Transonic Combustion Improves Gas Engine Efficiency Over 50%

Too much wind power – Way to go Houston!!

2010-03-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

How cool is this? Texas maxed out it’s grid with wind power. Let’s lay some more cable!

Texas Wind Is More Than Grid Can Handle
While the focus continues to be on expanding means and methods for generating electricity from renewable sources, the limits of the existing grid to handle that generated power and distribute it to where it is needed are beginning to show.

Last weekend in Texas, wind power reached a record high point of 6,242 MW represented 22% of demand. That's fantastic news, and we love to see that kind of records being broken. However, utility officials were forced to curtail wind power generation "because the supply of electricity outstripped the capacity of lines to move the power to urban areas such as Dallas-Fort Worth."
Production needs to continue to increase. But this points out what may become a more frequent problem, and dealing with the grid cannot be forgotten either.

EcoGeek - Brains for the Earth

Winning the Cleantech Game – Real Growth Stories Hosted by Kirk Washington

2010-03-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Vancouver Enterprise Forum is presents a Clean tech panel for March 23rd - Register Here

Cleantech is one of the fastest growing areas of technology and currently the attracting much of the new investment and media attention. British Columbia is recognized as one of the world leaders in developing new and potential game changing technologies.

This month we have assembled a panel of Cleantech CEO’s who have companies that are winning the game. They have customers, revenues and are growing.

• How did they start?
• What have they learned?
• What is their perspective on the sector?
• What is their outlook and opportunities for the sector in BC?

Join us on March 23rd and hear the answers from:

Glenn Johnson - President and Chief Executive Officer, Endurance Wind Power

Glenn founded Endurance Wind Power in 2008 and is responsible for the company's overall direction and growth. His passion for affordable clean energy for everyone drives his vision for Endurance to be a market leader in the distributed wind power industry.

Prior to Endurance, Glenn founded Comsource Broadband Technologies Corp. a North American based communications distribution Company. In six short years Glenn built Comsource into the number one communications distributor in Canada for both sales and profit amassing close to $70,000,000 in sales and $6,200,000 in earnings.

Glenn has always recognized opportunities and has also owned successful businesses in the real estate and development sector as well as the hospitality industry. In 2001, Glenn founded Glace Capital Corporation a merchant bank and private equity investment firm that specializes in the investment and restructuring of established companies with compelling opportunities for growth.

Glenn has received recognition as a finalist in the Ernst and Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" program, was named one of Business in Vancouver's "Top 40 under 40" as well as Profit Magazine's "Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies".

James Dean, CEO of dPoint Technologies

James was first bitten with the entrepreneurial bug during his exposure to the fuel cell industry in 1998 when he moved to Vancouver from Toronto to lead KPMG's consulting practice and landed Ballard Power Systems as a client. This series of events led James to be involved in the success of three different companies in the years that followed. In April of 2001 he and business partner David Chapman, joined Greenlight Power Technologies, a fuel cell test equipment company. They refocused the organization, moved it to Vancouver, grew sales from $3.3-million to $27-million and then sold the company in January 2003 to its closest rival, Hydrogenics Corporation.

James took his passion for clean energy and began dPoint Technologies in 2004 after he saw an opportunity to provide the fuel cell market with a low cost humidification technology. James has led his team to evolve the design and membrane materials to meet a growing demand for high efficient Energy Recovery Ventilation Cores that improve the energy efficiency of building HVAC systems.

James is an active member in Social Venture Partners, where he and fellow entrepreneurs support Starworks Packaging and Assembly that provides manufacturing and assembly services and employs people with mental disabilities.

James has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, a BaSc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo and was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

David Helliwell, CEO of Pulse Energy

Pulse Energy is led by its co-founder, David Helliwell, whose career has spanned 3 continents and has been focused on the energy sector since 1994. David has been an exploration geophysicist, a poorly-paid professional windsurfing racer, a Paris-based management consultant to large multinational organizations and has spent three years running the policy shop for a cabinet minister in the Canadian federal government. While with the Canadian government, David was responsible for reducing costs and improving environmental performance of 700 million square feet of office space across the country.

David is an Action Canada Fellow, a member of the BC Cleantech CEO Alliance, recognized as a “Top 40 Under 40” and is on the Imagine BC advisory board.

Moderated By Kirk Washington, General Partner of Yaletown Venture Partners

Kirk Washington is a founder and General Partner of Yaletown Venture Partners in Vancouver, where he leads its Cleantech investment practice. Kirk currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Microstaq, CoolEdge Lighting, NxtGEN Emission Controls, Ilcima Corporation, and as a board observer of EnerG2.

Kirk joined Yaletown after 13 years with Ballard Power Systems where he directed numerous activities including research & development, operations, corporate administration, and special projects. Most recently, as Director of Corporate Development he managed strategic partnerships, acquisitions, direct investments, and technology licensing activities.

Kirk is a mechanical engineer with over 25 years of technical and managerial experience in information technology and energy technology industries.

Time-lapse Video of Vancouver - Awesome

2010-03-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Job Market is Heating UP

2010-03-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

I suppose that this is more of a tweet than a Blog entry but worth a few words to update.

I keep an eye on tech related job postings and have created a crude barometer of what the tech job market is like in BC and things are getting pretty optimistic. Briefly, the index of 100 is the baseline set in 2007 - 2008 and based on the number of posting over a 60 day period. At the depth of the abyss in early 2009 we dipped below 50 and the high watermark of 120 was set in 2007.

Since September, the index has started to rise from 55 and passed 75 during the Olympics. There is an indication that we are aiming to surpass 85 before the first day of spring (how fitting) and possibly 90 before the end of the month. It would be a wildly optimistic to predict a sustained index of 100 for Q2 this year but a sustained index of 80 to 90 would reflect a tech labour market that is well balanced between job openings and job seekers.

That's all good news and seems to support the recent announcement that Canada's economy is racing back to health.

Tim Swanson
Cleantech Recruiter

Cleantech for Dummies - Fission vs Fusion

2010-02-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Fission vs Fusion

So I bet you ten-year-old child came up to you last night and asked something relatively straight forward like what causes lightening and why is the sky blue. These are easy compared to the big brown eyes that glanced at some documents spread across the kitchen table with regard to General Fusion’s approach to clean energy.

“Dad, why go to all of this trouble when the CANDU ACR-1000 light-water reactor technology will bring a whole level of cleaner energy to the nuclear market with little risk of producing weapons grade uranium.”

It is comments like these that take me back to the halcyon days of youth. Water vapour and ice crystals rubbing against each other release electrons until the cloud is full and negative charge of the cloud reaches a point where the cloud can hold them no longer and it sends them down to the ground in the form of lightening. Simple and straight forward just like the sun’s light refracting in ice crystals in the upper atmosphere make the sky appear blue against the black background of space.

Okay, so let’s start with the basics. Fusion happens when smaller particles combione to make heavier particles and release a bunch of energy in the process. Large fusion processes involving many atoms happen in a plasma state and the most common one is the sun. Fission happens when we break apart atoms and a lot of energy is released. The key issue for safety is that it is hard to stop a fission reaction once it starts and the results tend to generate a lot toxic stuff. Fusion on the other hand, is hard to start, sustain and produces little toxic stuff at the end.

So in my explanation, I suggested that we want to get to fusion because it is probably safer and cleaner even though it is really hard to do. Thinking that this would be enough, I calmly sipped another mouthful of wine and then choked on it when he restated the part of a cleaner CANDU reactor.

Which lead me to my own question of “what about the CANDU?”

I’m going to have to leave this one to some of the professionals. Looks like good stuff to me and perhaps someone should take the ball and run with it. Have a look at the following for more details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candu

http://www.candu.org/candu_reactors.html

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15048703

http://nuclearstreet.com/blogs/nuclear_power_news/archive/2009/12/16/under-the-hood-with-duncan-williams-the-acr-1000-the-first-light-water-low-enriched-uranium-candu-reactor-12162.aspx

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22114/

By Tim Swanson, Cleantech Recruiter, Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

Top 10 Financing Deals for 2009

2010-01-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

BC's tech deal sizes weren't as big as we have seen in the past but some companies got some serious dough this past year so let's have a look.

1. Plutonic Power           $70,000,000
2. Burcon Nutrascience  $16,900,000
3. Tantalus                     $14,400,000
4. Oncogenex                $10,500,000
5. General Fusion           $10,000,000
6. Zeugma                      $9,000,000
7. Tranzeo Wireless        $6,900,000
8. Redlan Technologies   $5,180,000
T10. Pakit                      $5,000,000 *
T10. Layer 7                  $4,980,000 *
T10. Mixpo                    $4,960,000 *
* Since Pakit, Layer 7 and Mixpo all round up to $5.0 million with two sig-digs I gave them the tie.

Honourable Mentions:

Azure Dynamics raised $10 million but since they moved their HQ to Ontario, the don't count as a BC company anymore (according to TechFinance.ca) but I still like them and they employ a lot of BC folks still.
Hearforce Medical raised $4.4 million and are still at a pretty early stage. Definitely Geoff Houlton and team deserve some recognition.
Versatile Systems raised just over $4 million and this mention rounds out the top ten for the pure ITC/Hardware/Software technology companies.
Other companies that raised cash in the $3m range are Zymeworks, Aquinox, NGrain, and Wellichem.

There are some arguments for inclusion and exclusion on the list so let me cover those things off.

The #1 spot on the list held by Plutonic Power is a clean energy project that is not necessarily developing their own technology but because this was a serious raise and falls into to cleantech, we gave them the nod.
I excluded GLG Life Technologies who raised $29 million on the TSX because their operations appear to be more in Asia than in BC so we doubt that this investment will enhance BC's tech community. Ditto for Wex pharmaceuticals who raised $34 million.

Congratulations to everyone who found some serious dough over the past year and good luck for a much more prosperous 2010.

By Tim Swanson - Cleantech Recruiter at Corporate Recruiters

Happy New Year! Some Stats to Kick off the Year

2010-01-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

There is no need to regurgitate economics drivel so I thought I'd toss out a few interesting things.

BC's Progress Board has given us some nice to knows but I'll save the economic ranking crap to the Vancouver Sun who completely misinterpreted how much better the rest of Canada is doing than BC - more on this later.

The size of BC's tech industry is 81,000 jobs with 8600 companies and this represents about 6% of BC's GDP.

The rest of the stats are nice but for me, I would prefer to so a top ten list that shows trends instead of a single data point isolated in time. However, the nice ones to know about are we are green, healthy and only Alberta pays less in taxes than BC'ers.

Kudos for the BC Liberals stewardship (I think). Since we only have 10 years of data, it is hard to compare against what the NDP may have done but BC ranks 3rd after Newfoundland and Saskatchewan in per capita GDP growth. In other words, we have seen a steady increase in our productivity of close to $5900 per person compared to the national average of $5200 since 1999. When the Newfoundlanders became Newfoundoilers, their GDP productivity raced up $14,400 per capita over the same period. The last key stat for me is only Albertans earn more per hour than BC'ers. So short of drilling for off shore oil in BC, I'd say we are doing pretty good.

Have a look at http://www.bcprogressboard.com/pdfs/Tables_14_12_09LRS.pdf to see for yourself.

By they way, last December we saw some half decent numbers in the financing columns. I counted seven financings between $1.5 million and $7 million for a total close to $25 million. Add in 10 more nickle & dime deals for less than $1 million and we're close to $30 million for the month.

All in all, we have reason to be optimistic for a good 2010.

By Tim Swanson, Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

Victoria commits $55m to 4 venture capital funds

2009-11-30T15:58:00.001-08:00

Any excuse to talk about money is a great excuse. All of us a Corporate Recruiters pleased with the commitment of our Provincial Government to help fill the gap in VC funds. This funding comes at a critical time in our economic recovery period.

The Vancouver Sun reported on November 29, 2009 that the British Columbia Government has committed $55 million to four venture capital funds. The four new funds include Vancouver based Yaletown Venture Partners, and Vanedge Capital as well as Montreal based Tandem Capital, and Wales-based Wesley Clover. Other member fund managers include Kearny Venture Partners, Ventures West, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Celtic House Venture Partners, ARCH Venture Partners and Walden Venture Capital.

So why is the government giving money to out-of-towners?

The money is part of the $90-million BC Renaissance Capital Fund announced in 2008, aimed at helping fund BC start-ups in information technology, life sciences, digital media and clean technology. While it may seem a bit strange to send money out of the province but business people understand the underlying quid-pro-quo. Even though they are not “required” to place there investments here there is a strong incentive for these folks to pool their own investment dollars with the BC dollars and invest it here in BC. So far it looks to be working. The government has advanced $9 million to fund managers, who, along with their partners, have invested $37 million in five BC ventures.

Victoria commits $55m to 4 venture capital funds

No Private Life on Facebook

2009-11-25T14:51:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just have to giggle at the application of social media. For me, I'm a pretty private guy but the age of digital cameras has exponentially increased the amount of photos of me on the web. I have gone from somewhere around two to probably around eight and quite possibly all the way up to 16. So for me, I can rest assured that my insurance policies and benefits packages will remain intact. But that is not the case for Natalie Blanchard of IBM in Quebec.

Natalie is depressed in the clinical sense and honestly, I sympathize. We share the same insurer as does a pretty big portion of the Canadian working population in Manulife. I also sympathize with Manulife and will not pick sides in this battle. Clinical depression is not something to joke about so I won't (and you can't know how hard I am biting my lip right now!). Simply, sympathy and profit do not necessarily run side by side in the insurance business so we need to be conscientious on what we share about ourselves online.

In Canada, the Personal Information Privacy Act (PIPA) was implemented to help regulate what companies have access to but at the same time we need to regulate ourselves and think before we act. Insurance companies will draw on all means necessary to ensure that the people who deserve benefits will get them and those who don't, won't. This is where social media can make a dramatic shift from being real fun to being a real liability.

Our good friend here at Corporate Recruiters, Colin Farrell, wrote about a similar topic in a Corporate Recruiters Summer 2008 newletter. I highly recommend reading it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, his thoughts are particularly relevant because our online presence is a strong reflection of our professional life. Secondly, anyone who can write a business article that includes the words "half-naked," "tattoos" and "booze" in the same sentence truly does have something interesting to say. And that leads us back to managing our online presence. If we don't need to consider our professional image, perhaps we need to consider the safety of our insurance policies.

Natalie is a great example and surely she is not alone. She was diagnosed with clinical depression and apparently was unable to be an effective employee at IBM so she was given leave to sort herself out. While on leave and while accepting benefits, she took some vacation time and posted some pictures on her Facebook page. The folks at the insurance company seemed to have come to the conclusion that this is not an appropriate use of a benefits program. I would tend to agree that flying Air Canada may not be the best way to combat depression but would recommend West Jet or Singapore Airlines.

The other thing we should know is that our car insurance company will also regard our online photo galleries as evidence in considering disability payments. A picture someone enjoying the fresh powder snow at Whistler is evidence of an able body and could be grounds to discontinue payments (and possibly pressing fraud charges). However, a person in the weight room may represent a body undergoing repair and rehab. A very subtle difference.

As a rule, honesty is the best policy. Recreation may be as important for rehabilitation as medical treatment and neither should be considered in isolation. However, for all the honest folks out there, like Natalie, we should consider saving ourselves the trouble and keep some of the fun offline.

And by the way, don't bother trying to find the offending pictures, they are not nearly as interesting as Colin's article and they have less "tattoos on [the] backside."

OK It's not Tech Related But I Laughed

2009-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks again for the laugh Ivar!

Things are Getting Busy! Financing is up too!

2009-11-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

I have I have been getting behind in my updates and I need to apologize to both of my fans for the gap between entries but the gap brings some good news.

Highlights - I am a subscriber to Tech Finance and I spent some time trying to find some comparisons but the end result was that we have had some big financings and quite a few.

October turned out to be the biggest month for tech financings in BC in at least 2 years. I estimated that close to $95,000,000 dollars in financings were announced. That is a lot of dough!

Plutonic Power raised $70 million which is the most since Sierra Wireless raised $85 million in October 2007. Considering the market conditions, this sounds like good news to me.

Also a trend that seems to be declining is the nickel and diming of raises of $500k to $1 million. There were seven deals announced over $1.5 million and six over two million. Again, I think this is an indication that the nuclear winter is thawing.

So what about November so far? The good news seems to be continuing and we are looking at close to $45 million announced so far.

One caveat is this is not definitive news on the world of financing is back to the good old days and there are lots of companies still pitching like mad to get some capital to finance their vision. One angel and venture capitalist I spoke to last week noted that between the various forums he has attended, he feels like he has seen the same people presenting close to a dozen times in the last few months.

So if you are one of the many still pitching for cash, don't get discouraged - the money is playing catch-up right now so it may be a bit longer in coming but it seems to be coming.

Nuclear Fusion Primer Video

2009-11-06T13:49:00.001-08:00

Resource Page for VP Corporate Development Search for General Fusion.

2009-11-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome the Resources Page for General Fusion's VP Corporate Development Search.

For this Search, we are looking for a person with a very entrepreneurial outlook and a proven track record in negotiating deals and alliances with governments, utilities, and/or major energy sector companies. This key member of the executive team will be a deep thinker and will build and execute on the Marketing & Strategic Alliances Plan. The role is a combination of Marketing, Business Development, Corporate Development and Strategic Alliances.

Below are a few links to key information to help brief yourself on the subject.

Position Description:
http://corporate.bc.ca/jobs/vp-corporate-development-power-technology-Vancouver

GF Website:

www.generalfusion.com

Fusion Basics

Take a deep breath and get a cup of coffee. For the uninitiated, this is a bit on the technical side and might be a bit tough to follow after a couple of martinis. Start at the top page and read through the pages successively to get the best understanding of what GF's doing.

http://www.generalfusion.com/t1_fusion_basics.php

If you are more of a visual person, have a look at the video from General Fusion

http://corporate-recruiters.blogspot.com/2009/08/general-fusion-video_12.html

or another video on the basics of nuclear fusion below

http://corporate-recruiters.blogspot.com/2009/11/nuclear-fusion-primer-video.html

*Please note that we humbly disagree that the Tokomak is the best technology for a commercial fusion reactor.

GF's Intellectual Property:

Below is a link to the IP page. Give a bit more depth and detail for those with a curiosity for it.

http://www.generalfusion.com/documents.php

More Stuff on Fusion:

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1364/

For more information please contact:

Tim Swanson Bruce Edmond

tim@corporate.bc.ca bruce@corporate.bc.ca

+1-604-687-5993 x116 +1-604-687-5993 x102

Corporate Recruiters Ltd.

490-1140 West Pender St., Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6E 4G1 Phone: 604-687-5993

http://www.corporate.bc.ca/

Angel Capital Overview workshop for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Advisors

2009-11-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Get Investor Ready - an Angel Capital Overview - January 19, 2010

Poor preparation is #2 reason why investors reject entrepreneurs. Open to anyone.

A unique 1 day workshop provides a real life overview of the angel investment process; Valuation, Due Diligence, Term Sheets and Post Investment Relationships. Comprised of a balance of expert presentations, panel discussions and small group case studies, it is designed to be highly interactive with networking time. A faculty of experienced US and local investors (tba), serial entrepreneurs and expert service providers, delivers the content. "Great info, must have to complete a deal"

Why attend? If you are planning to raise private equity in the next 3 to 12 months, ask yourself:
1    With volatile public equity valuations, how do you correctly value a private company?
2    Do you have a good overview of the language and ramifications of a term sheet?
3    Are you familiar with the due diligence process?
4    What post investment activities (Board of Directors, Mentoring, Communication) are required?
5    Almost mandatory for pre-revenue companies wanting to present at the next Angel Forum in May

Content by the US Angel Capital Association with help by angel experts, was designed for investors. These workshops are ranked 4.5 or better out of 5.0. 150+ people attended the first three workshops in this region. No comparable content offered in Canada. "very good; especially the mock valuation exercise."

Seminar Leader is Bill Payne who is an active private investor, board member, advisor to entrepreneurs and US Angel Investor of 2009. He is an involved member of San Diego's Tech Coast Angels, Vegas Valley Angels and Aztec Venture Network and has successfully founded or invested in 41 start-up companies. "Bill Payne has a particular knack of delivering his great knowledge of angel capital, worth the price of admission. Includes a panel of local angel and VC investors and expert advisors.

Who should attend: Individual investors (angels, friends or family), Entrepreneurs wanting to learn about the angel capital process to raise money for their company, Service Providers or Advisors who work with entrepreneurs or investors.

First 20 seats are $285. To register or get more info, click here Angel Capital Overview workshop on Jan 19 in Vancouver. Bring a friend - 10% less for 2nd person on same registration.

Sponsors:

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

When it Comes to Spam, Sybil has Nothing on Me

2009-10-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, let me tell you that I am one of the few people that actually enjoy Spam provided that it is surrounded by kimchi soup with lot's of tofu and Chinese cabbage. Yum! The other type of spam, the one without the capital S, I appreciate less but I am beginning to find some humour in it.

Since I don't send myself very much email, I set up a rule that would move any mail from my own account into a separate folder labelled Sybil - named after the lady with the multiple personalities made famous by the TV movie starring Sally Field in the 70's. I must say the Sybil has nothing on me and my email! After a while, I began to take interest in the names assigned to my email address because they were pretty wierd and some rather funny. So here are a few of my favourites:

Gidget Felmet Nicky Furqx Miriam Knestrick Elfreida Pasko

Shiloh Qgjxeih Clement Cuneio Fatimas Stright Melinda Waskey

Sonya Usam Tien Braman Joel Pedaci Twidwell Tiara

Marian Vebuki Leora Sjoberg Millie Rume Micah Cobo

Eboni Qcinoe

Reading the names has become part of my first-coffee-fire-up-the-computer-morning ritual. I like to see who I am today and then imagine what kind of parent would torment their child with a name like Gidget - another name made famous by Sally Field ...... maybe she's behind all of this. Hmmmmmmm.....

High Hopes for Windows 7

2009-10-22T00:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to BCIC for Connect '09

2009-10-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Monday night was a great night to go out and see the future entrepreneurs and inventors in our local community at BCIC's Connect '09. The British Columbia Innovation Council put together a get show which was a great change of pace with plenty of opportunities to mix, mingle, network and learn.

This new format started with a set of panel discussions on several topics ranging from getting funded and partnering with the players to incubators and accelerators. Each panel had great set of speakers with a deep understanding of their topics. The were very well attended and I know because you could barely squeeze into some of the rooms and at one point the moderator urged some of the folks standing at the back to move to the front to prevent a fire hazard - that's a full house!

The "Stand-up Structured Networking" portion of the evening was a tremendous idea. Some of BC's great leaders and business people were given a table and us regular folks were able to wander around and talk with some of the these people. I know lot's of these folks because I walk in the shadow of my boss, Don Safnuk, but for people without the benefit of a shadow, it proved to be a great opportunity for them to connect with some of BC's luminaries.

Surrounding the room and into the lobby were dozens of science projects from both high school and universities students with a vast array of stuff spark your curiosity. As many of you know from my previous blogs, I don't claim to be the sharpest tool in the shed so it was humbling to have a teenager remind me about regression analysis. To my surprise it wasn't observing my frat brothers regress to neanderthals over the course of a toga party. Nevertheless, it was both an entertaining and humbling experience (I mean Connect '09 - toga parties are anything but humbling especially if you don't have the legs for it.)

Congratulations to:

Mahmoud Pouladi, at PhD student at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at UBC, received the Ripples of Hope Award in biotechnology and entrepreneurship.

New Ventures BC Finalist Lungpacer Medical won the emerging technology award for its Transvasular Diaphragm Pacing System.

The University of Victoria's Brad Buckham shared honours with tech entrepreneur and academic Gerri Sinclair in the first ever entrepreneurship fellow awards.

A very special congratulations to "The Deans" (Dean Prelazzi and Dean Rockwell) and the BCIC team for organizing a great event. You can bank on us being there again next year!

Clean Tech For Dummies Part 5 - Why are Wind Turbines White?

2009-10-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

A continuing set of articles that I haven't written yet on clean technology.

So in honor of the Vancouver's first commercial wind turbine commissioned at the top of Grouse Mountain, I thought it would be opportune to ask some stupid questions.

First of all, I am a huge fan of the newest piece of the skyline and I think it looks great. On the other hand I knew that there would be no shortage of philistines defaming the newest icon of clean power so I decided to ask a stupid question: "Why are all wind turbines white?"

It had to be a dumb question because answers I got. The overwhelming response was, "I don't know."

But I thought there must be a reason so I called the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CANWEA) and asked. The response was pretty straight forward. "I don't know. Let me connect you to our press officer."

The press officer was also straight forward in her response, "I have had this question before but I really don't have a good answer for you. Perhaps you may want to call one of our members who manufactures them. They should be able to help."

So I called in to the manufacturer and got an even better response, "Because they are white."

"Sorry, let me rephrase my question. WHY are they white. Why can't they be green or blue?"

"I get this question quite often. We make them in white only."

"Why only white."

"Because that's the only color we make them in."

"I see. Can you elaborate?"

"No."

Very kafkaesque.

After that surreal telephone call I thought some speculation would be in order. According to the Federal Aviation Agency, tall things (over 200 feet) should be white because pilots can see them more easily. If a thing wasn't white, it needed to have flashing airline lights on it to alert pilots who feel it is necessary to fly less that 200 feet above the ground (more on this here). To give some perspective on this, 200 feet (60 meters) is pretty much any building over 15 floors. The Bentall Center in Downtown Vancouver is 400 feet so at half the height of Bentall Three we are not talking about a lot of head room here.

So the long and short of it is probably liability. Paint it white and we don't need to put irritating strobe lights on it or worry about kamikaze pilots (...or maybe we do...). In short, the FAA suggests we have eyesores so a handful of idiots don't kill themselves and sue the wind turbine manufacturers. Personally, I would prefer to let Darwin sort out the folks the think that flying under 200 feet is a good thing.

As for the risk to migratory birds and other flying critters? White doesn't seem to be the best color for them. For some reason white doesn't register as a potential hazard so there is some consideration to painting them white with orange stripes - wouldn't that be nice.

So for all the people who wish to complain about colors, lobby not the clean energy folks but the FAA. Perhaps we can suggest that millions of years evolution have managed to create a world of creatures that know not to run or fly directly in to large green and brown things like trees. Unfortunately, the FAA seems to believe that pilots somehow missed this genetic adaptation. Go figure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-10-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

VC is not broken - Anymore. Digital Media’s new funding models | Bootup Labs Blog

2009-09-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is a must read for you folks interested in finding some cash for your digital media business.

Published by Danny Robinson on September 22, 2009 01:25 am under Incubators and Accelerators, News, Uncategorized, Venture Capital
I was a having coffee with a VC colleague last week. This is someone I respect, and hope will fund some companies graduating from Bootup Labs. I have probably explained Bootup Labs and why our investment model works to this individual on at least 7 different occasions. It turns out that it took 8 times to get the ‘ah-ha’ that I was so patiently waiting for. Up until then, I just didn’t think he liked the idea. I’m happy to say, he is now a believer. But, as any good entrepreneur would do, I immediately reviewed the other 7 pitches in my head — searching for the flaws that made it so difficult to inject the concept into this guy’s brain cells. Could it be that he isn’t staying up to date with the VC industry? Is he not reading the same blogs, following the same people on twitter that I am? Is he not talking to entrepreneurs at the seed stage, flying to meet the thought leaders in the space, or engaged in local startup community? And if not, why isn’t he, or more importantly, why was I? Perhaps I was the one missing something; Maybe there simply isn’t a return-on-time for those activities. Who am I to judge? Maybe the status quo is simply good enough?

The truth is that the status quo is good enough for bio-tech, clean-tech or any other capital intensive, high risk, high reward company, which is why you see many VCs move toward those sectors and away from investing in digital media companies. Internet companies quickly have become low capital, lower risk, investments, but can still have some pretty big exits. Basically, if the companies you invest in don’t need very much money, then you don’t need to raise large funds, so the 10-2-20 model is officially broken. (10 year fund, 2% fee on capital under management per year, plus 20% of proceeds paid to management) If you don’t have a large fund, the 2% management fee doesn’t add up to enough to pay for the fund’s expenses. Plain and simple. Read the rest at ...

VC is not broken - Anymore. Digital Media’s new funding models | Bootup Labs Blog

TechFinance.ca : $37.5 Million Canada Interactive Fund Launched

2009-09-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

It seems rather laser focused for most of us but if you know of a not-for-profit in need of a website upgrade, this might be useful!

$37.5 Million Canada Interactive Fund Launched

TechFinance.ca News
Wednesday September 23, 2009

Government of Canada has launched a $37.5 million Canada Interactive Fund (CIF). Over five years, the CIF will support the creation of new forms of interactive cultural content and applications developed by Aboriginal and ethnocultural communities, official-language minority communities, and other not-for-profit cultural organizations.

The CIF is expected to build technical capacity within the funded organizations, which could allow for future commercial potential and the creation of new jobs.

The CIF, to be put in place in 2010-2011, will build upon the successes of Ministry of Canadian Heritage’s Partnerships Fund and the Gateway Fund, which continue to operate throughout 2009-2010.

The above article is from Techfinance.ca and you can see the press release here.

Climate Change on Google Earth

2009-09-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

A brief reminder why we are dedicated to cleantech and clean energy.

Cleantech for Dummies like Me – Part 3 or 4 (I forget which)

2009-09-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is the third or fourth instalment on a whole bunch of articles I haven't written yet.

Electric cars are cool and Canada has a great story (if they will ever let us drive them here). ZENN Motor Corp (Zero Emissions No Noise) is one of the industry leaders in this space and one of the few companies to IPO earlier this year. BUT there could be a real power play happening in the background. ZENN has invested in a US start-up with disruptive technology that may change the face of the automotive industry. (Photo from Pure Energy Systems PESWIKI)

The future of power storage may be in something called an ultra capacitor and for most dummies like me learning about them is a bit more that a mug of coffee on Wikipedia. But let’s give it a stab.

A battery is a chemical kind of thing – chemical stuff happens on the inside that releases electrons. For example, we have all seen the lemon battery where zinc and copper electrodes are used. What happens is something called reduction-oxidation (redox) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redox where oxidation is the loss of electrons and reduction is the gain of electrons.

All of you non-scientists are thinking the same thing – “No, no you’ve got it backwards!” Unfortunately, 2060 Google hits on “oxidation is the loss of electrons” vs. zero for “oxidation is a gain of electrons” proves that scientists do this stuff just to confuse regular non-science folks like me (and they do a darn good job of it). Anyways, back to the battery – it is a chemical reaction thing.

A capacitor is like an electronic ham sandwich that has a pair of conductors (rye bread) separated by a dielectric which is a scientific code word for insulator (or ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato in my example). You can use this sandwich to store energy by creating a voltage difference between the slices of bread. The amount of energy will depend on a lot of things like the type and size of the bread, and your choice of condiments.

In storing energy, the difference between a battery and capacitor is basically chemical versus mechanical. Imagine a strip of duct tape compared to a strip of Velcro. Duct tape is cheap, easy to use, and you can re-use it a few times before it loses its sticking power. Velcro is more expensive but it doesn’t lose its sticking power. Over simplified but batteries are like duct tape and capacitors are like Velcro. Rechargeable batteries eventually lose their ability to charge where capacitors theoretically don’t wear out. Neat stuff.

So why aren’t we already using them? We use them a lot in all kinds of electronics but mostly for regulating power. As a battery substitute, we have not advanced the materials technology enough to for it to hold enough energy and discharge it effectively enough for commercial applications. But this is changing.

In 2002 ZENN invested in a Texas start-up called EEStor and they have been developing an ultra capacitor that may be able to bridge the commercialization gap that would make the combustion engine irrelevant. Without going into the gory details, they may have a breakthrough in the coatings in the capacitor that allow it to store more energy. Going back to the sandwich example, they have substituted mayonnaise for miracle whip and achieved a level of performance that is close to batteries. The big advantage is that you can charge up the ultracapacitors is 3-6 minutes where will batteries take up to three hours. Also, the cost of manufacturing will be competitive with batteries. (More specs at The Energy Blog)

Also, Maxwell Technologies of San Diego have been shipping Boostcap Ultracapacitors for automotive applications. Other interesting R&D is happening with nanowire technology at Stanford University, Graphene ultracapacitors from University of Texas at Austin and Altair Nanotechnologies out of Reno.

These are potentially game changing breakthroughs.

For Further Reading on this stuff, I suggest:

Where I found out on EcoGeek

Want to invest? Read this first.

On Wikipedia:

New Reselease from ZENN

More Detail than you probably want:

What does Popular Mechanics have to say?

The Injustice of the Microsoft i4i Patent Case

2009-09-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

The current legal kerfuffle with Microsoft and a small Canadian software company called i4i has exposed a great injustice and if you take a close look at the proceedings you will clearly see .......... nothing.

I mean, what will be clear is nothing. Nothing will be clear for a number of reasons. The reason for the lack of clarity is that this involves a whole bunch of people who make their living in litigation. And this type of litigation is not well suited for daytime television (too many big words). These lawyers train for several years to learn how to make very precise, safe and unequivocal statements in very long sentences that normal people can't understand. For example, they have managed to stretch the following exchange into 100 pages each.

i4i Dude: "Hey Dude, you stole my stuff."

MS Dude: "Did not and it's not yours anyway."

(By the way, doesn't "MS Dude" sound like a great name for a killer social networking app?)

I did a quick scan of the legal documents in the case between MS and i4i and one thing did emerge for the blur of big words. It's not much different from a playground fight between a couple of nerdy kids with thesauruses. Confusing and amusing at the same time. However, the fight wasn't limited to just the kids. The Judge didn't agree with one side so there is a lot of unflattering language describing his grasp of the issues. These are lawyers so it is not in their training to insult anyone in the four-letter type of language - that would be inappropriate and wouldn't derive many billable hours.

My colleague Charles Brooks suggested I do an article for the normal folks who don't understand lawyers (assuming that I might) and as usual, I will over-simplify:

i4i has XML technology. MS had a relationship with i4i. MS Word now has XML technology in Word. Of the 988 people surveyed, 19 people responded and said that they might be using the XML authoring function. Based on this and other complex stuff, i4i extrapolated that they were a poor little software company that got stomped-on by a big bad bully.

So what conclusion can we make? i4i has pointed out that even if the technology is largely irrelevant, Microsoft will find a reason to incorporate it in their product. So where is the injustice? It is on our hard drives. Microsoft, i4i and perhaps 1000's of other companies are stealing our disk space with stuff that 98% of the people don't know or don't care about. It's mega-larceny on a giga-scale!

Is There Privacy on Facebook?

2009-09-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Facebook is a great service that many of us enjoy and the vast majority of us probably use Facebook because it’s free. We should also be thankful that many venture capitalists and private equity funds are willing to put in a ton of money at it to keep it afloat but soon these investors will want Facebook to make a profit. Free and Profitable is a model that can work and just like television, the trade-off for free stuff is usually advertising.

Successful advertising depends on getting the right commercial in front of the right people and to do this, advertisers want as much personal data as they can get. So Facebook is a potential goldmine because of the type, quality and quantity of personal information.

The potential is huge but there is a potential dark side. Controlling a large repository of personal information comes with a great deal of responsibility and the recent privacy complaint from Canada's Privacy Commissioner brought this to Facebook’s attention. Going through all this information is as dry and boring as a drive through the Gobi Desert. So allow me to over simplify and skip straight to the point.

Facebook is doing something pretty new and trying to add cool features with third party developers. In order to make a good app, some of the developers apparently need access to the information on your Facebook page or were given access to it by accident. For example, a quiz app may be running on a different web host and once you click the “allow” button to start, the quizzer could receive a lot of your “private” info like your “Wall” and gain access to your friend’s information as well. Yikes!

Don’t believe me? The ACLU Facebook page on “What Do Quizzes Really Know About You” is very enlightening. However, DO NOT take the quiz unless you really want to know how bad the security gap is and you trust ACLU (if it is really them).

As for Me? I did the quiz and wet my pants.

Some Links you might want to know about:

Change your privacy setting now

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

The hidden secrets of online quizzes

Facebook Increases Privacy Protection on Quiz Applications

So What is Windows 7 All About?

2009-09-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

With the upcoming release of Windows 7, I'm sure you can't wait to get the new version and forget the about Vista experience where your IT administrator spent three weeks hiding under his desk, rocking back-and-forth in the fetal position mumbling "I knew I shouldn't have. I knew I shouldn't have. I knew I shouldn't have ...."

If Microsoft has learned anything during its tenure of world domination, it has learned a lot about how memory works and not just computer memory but human memory as well. The seem to know exactly how long it takes for us to get over / forget the last time we said, "An upgrade? Never again!!"

Memory is a good place to start because W7 will need more of it if we compare the requirements against Vista (see the ZDNet link below). The other memory question is on the number "7." If this is the 7th iteration of a windows operating system, which ones are they hoping we'll forget? In consultation with a renowned expert on this stuff, Colin "Fark" Farrell, we came up with the following: (1) Windows 1~3.1, (2) 95, (3) 98, 98 SE, (4) ME, (5) NT 3.1~4.0, (6) Windows 2000, (7) Windows XP, (8) Vista and (9) Windows 7. However we group and regroup to come up with the number 7 doesn't matter; what matters is are we really getting a new operating system or Vista 2.0? We'll let the experts argue that one.

I have located a bit of reading to help to ease you into your research and decision making process.

What Does Microsoft have to say? Check out the W7 product description from MS and remember - just because someone says this is sliced bread, don't believe that it is the next best thing. Perhaps the pundits are a bit gun shy from previous upgrades where it has been unclear what the "up" in upgrade really means.

So What do I need? - ZDNet reviews the final word on W7 requirements for your hardware. The verdict? - more RAM and disk space required than Vista but not much more.

Windows 7: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown - a good review of the product that points out the GBU's. The key themes Microsoft has learned from Google that "less is more." I agree we are on the right track when we can reserve GB's on our hard drives for our stuff and not program files.

Five Reasons to Stick with XP - provides a bit of insight into why you might want to hold off on moving from XP to Windows 7. This is one of the brave folks who agreed to be part of the beta program and so far really likes W7. Something unfortunate is that there doesn't seem to be a plan to provide a direct upgrade from XP to W7 so you may be waiting for your hardware to give-up and get a new computer already bundled with W7.

Hasta la Vista baby, hello Windows 7 - Microsoft is calling it Windows 7, but really the latest version of Windows is what Vista should have been.

For the W7 beta users, their testing licence will expire in March 2010 and the OS will begine to shutdown every two hours until a product registration key is purchased. I thought this is amusing because this seems like a substantial uptime improvement over some past releases like ME.

Speed Demon? - One beta user sees a substantial speed increase but couldn't see clearly without some tweaks.

Well on that note it appears that Microsoft might be ready to exercise some up-grade demons but let's hope "exercise" in this context means the getting Linda Blair out of our hardware and not just preparing her for an MMA style tap-out fight.

Examiner.com acquires NowPublic

2009-09-02T08:54:00.001-07:00

September 1, 4:30 PMInternet Buzz ExaminerJoshua McIntire

The buzz on the Internet is hitting close to home with Examiner.com’s announcement today of the acquisition of NowPublic, a pioneer in the new media space.

Examiner.com, which in July’s comScore report had more unique visitors than Huffington Post (not to mention NPR and the Drudge Report combined), continues to make waves across the net based on the strength of its Examiners, now more than 16,000 strong. Examiner.com and NowPublic will make strong team members in the quest to provide informative content in an entertaining and timely manner.

DENVER, Colo., Sept. 2, 2009 – Examiner.com , the insider source for everything local, has acquired Vancouver-based NowPublic, a pioneer in user-generated content and the largest participatory news network in the world.

Examiner.com, whose audience has grown more than 200 percent since the beginning of the year and now has more than 15,000 Examiners (Examiner.com’s expert writers) in 109 U.S. cities, is the industry leader in creating local content, and will leverage NowPublic’s innovative search and publishing technology to solidify its leadership position in providing local news and information, delivering on the long-held promise of relevant, robust hyperlocal content to both consumers and advertisers.

“Every day we hear discussions about whether hyperlocal content will ever be scalable, sustainable or profitable as a business entity,” said Rick Blair, CEO of Examiner.com. “Examiner.com is rapidly becoming the solution to the hyperlocal puzzle. In the last year we have created the depth of content consumers and advertisers expect. With the acquisition of NowPublic, we have the technology to further engage our community of over 17 million unique visitors per month and distribute our stories in new and innovative ways.”

Among the technologies Examiner.com will adopt from NowPublic are its Emmy nominated real-time mechanism for scanning online conversations, world-class open source technology Drupal, and an enhanced publishing platform for Examiner.com contributors, who are projected to grow to over 30,000 by the end of the year.

“The NowPublic focus has always been on providing individuals, whether they are amateurs or professional journalists, the tools they need to quickly and easily contribute their perspectives on the issues of the day and the topics that interest them and their community,” said Leonard Brody, CEO and co-founder of NowPublic. “By combining our tools and audience with Examiner.com’s established, vetted, local content-generators, we are enabling Examiner.com, which has already seen incredible success, to further succeed in providing a site that attracts experts as contributors, passionate readers and the advertisers that want to reach them.”

In addition to the integration of NowPublic’s technology, Examiner.com will also actively recruit new Examiners from NowPublic, focusing specifically on NowPublic’s “professional amateur” contributors as well as its bevy of international writers, including its strong Canadian presence. NowPublic will also serve as a testing ground for new Examiner.com programs and ideas.
Examiner.com and NowPublic will operate independently, retaining their unique offerings and brand

Examiner.com acquires NowPublic

IT Hiring to Rebound in Q3

2009-08-25T11:04:00.001-07:00

For BC's Tech community, this is good news. In addition to Corporate Recruiters optimistic Q2 survey, others are finding an rebound very close. We are looking forward to and predicting a busy fall.

(From Matt Hartley, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, August 25, 2009)

IBM-Sapphire survey finds nearly 90% of companies expect to maintain or boost their IT staff in the coming quarter. For many economists and financial experts, an increase in companies' spending on information technology (IT) is often a leading indicator that a more general recovery is underway.

According to a joint study being released today by International Business Machines Corp. and IT consultancy firm Sapphire Canada, hiring in the IT industry is expected to kick into high gear in the next three months.

Of the 300 IT decision makers polled between June 22 and July 6, 87% said they planned to increase, or maintain, the size of their IT staff over the next quarter with nearly 40% planning to add IT professionals.

Also, Statistics Canada's most recent labour force study reported that employment in the professional, scientific and technical services sector rose by 0.5%, adding 6,100 jobs in July.

Full article at IT hiring intentions point to rebound

Tech Financing Trend - What I Learned at University

2009-08-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Using Tech Financing Data Year to Date Trend and Applying What I Learned at University

I learned some very important things at university that I carry with me to this very day. The first one is I should just go home after two pitchers of beer and the second I learned from my accounting instructor, Bill Giglio, who recommended that whenever possible hire someone with a Sicilian-sounding name to head up your accounts receivable department. I’m not sure why but he said that it worked for him.

On the other hand, the less interesting stuff I learned in my training as an economist would fill a volume of text books with enough biomass energy to heat the new Vancouver Convention Centre for a year. Interestingly, however, these texts are quite similar to IKEA’s new fall catalogue. They all have lots of tables and diagrams that look very simple and straight forward until you open them up and spread the contents across your living room floor. The statistics texts are the ones that most resemble the 15 drawer, sliding-mirror PAX ARDAL Bedroom Storage System – complicated but adaptable and elegant. So with this in mind, I have looked at some tech financing data from TechFinance.ca and have applied what I have learned and see if there is anything new to report in the data or just more dry boring regurgitated buffalo chips.

The above graph is the volume of financing deals made and does not take into account deal size. However, I can tell you that the deal sizes are down as well.

Drawing conclusions and interpreting graphical & tablicular data was a critical part of my education and I am proud to say that I did well in the making tables and graphs part. However, explaining them in precise, Latin-based multisyllabic economic terms (economese) was taught the day after I learn that my limit was two pitchers beer so I’ll have to give it to you straight. The lines in the graph go down and that isn’t good. They have been going down for close to three years after peaking in 2006 and that isn’t good either.

However, if we apply some statistical methodology to analyze the data, (something I managed to stay awake for) we can create a graph that shows a little bit of an up-tick. The slight positve slope is realized by looking at the average change over time (as illustrated below).

The graph shows we are still in the negative but the decline less compared to the year before. It even appears like we could be seeing a bit of a turnaround. But to truly understand what this means I will go back to the IKEA wardrobe analogy. This application of statistics is like putting your wife’s Gucci shoes and her favourite Dior Blazer in front of places where the screw driver left your hand a few times and saying, “Hey hon’, looks pretty good, eh?”

In a typical economic commentary, this paragraph would be solidifying our conclusions and then extrapolate the data to make a credible economic forecast. Well unfortunately, I went to a lot of trouble to download and analyze the data and tried to come up with something that isn’t a bunch of meaningless regurgitated buffalo chips. So the table below titled “Regurgitated Buffalo Chips I” gives the volume of deals across the largest four provinces (January to August only).

The last and most important thing I developed from my economics courses was the ability assume away details that would impede coming to a conclusion. So I will assume away my economics training and talk physics – “If you drop a ball in will bounce.” 2009 has not been a good year but investment in both June ($49m) and July ($35m) were both the biggest months of the year by a wide margin ($11m - $23m). Although they did not meet or exceed last year’s numbers, it shows a definite turn for the positive as illustrated below in “Regurgitated Buffalo Chips II.”

In my best econom-ese, “The lines on the graph are pointing up instead of down. This is probably a good thing.”

The 3 R's - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle - Part 1

2009-08-19T18:00:00.001-07:00

Is cheaper really better when it comes to green technology? When I ask my kids, “What are the three R’s?” The reply is, “Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.” The following article points out a common sense concern for cheap and recyclable. To increase the incentive for the 3 R's should we use more valuable inputs into recyclable products so they have intrinsic value after their lifecycle is used?

Li-ion Battery Recycling Starts Getting Attention
Written by Hank Green on 17/08/09

Car batteries actually have the highest recycling rate of any waste product in the world. Since they are, effecively, blocks of valuable metals, it isn't hard to get someone to pay for them once they stop holding a charge. However, while that easily applies for lead-acid and nickel batteries currently being used in traditional and hybrid vehicles, it's not as simple for lithium ion batteries.
Lithium ion batteries just don't have much in them that is economically useful. Currently, lithium carbonate is pretty cheap stuff, and it just isn't economically viable to recover it from batteries. Of course, thtoxcoat could easily change. As more and more batteries are produced, the world's current capacity for lithium could easily be strained.
Additionally, from an environmental perspective, it would be really bad news to have a new kind of battery that no one wants to recycle. Even if it isn't economically viable, Li-ion batteries contain all kinds of weird stuff that we don't want leaching into the ground water.
Those are the two reasons why Toxco, a company that already recycles nickel and lead batteries, is getting into the Li-ion game. And, also, why the DOE just gave Toxco a $9.5M grant to develop lithium battery recycling technology.
Toxco has been recycling small lithium ion batteries for more than a decade already, but new chemistries and the possible bulk of vehicle batteries is requiring them to re-focus on lithium. Hopefully, recycling Li-ion batteries will soon be just as easy as recycling any other kind of car battery. If not, it will be harder to sell buyers on the "green" part of electric vehicles.
One thing I won't say is that we're just "trading one unstable fuel for another" and that soon we'll be dependant on unbalanced countries for our lithium. Lithium is not a fuel, it's way of storing power. It is not used up by car batteries and there is plenty of it in the world. Don't start worrying that lithium is the next crude oil, it's not, especially if we can get good recycling technology going.

Li-ion Battery Recycling Starts Getting Attention

Why is it called an X-Box 360 anyway??

2009-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to enlarge

Cleantech for Dummies Like Me - Part Two

2009-08-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

This is the second instalment of a whole bunch of articles I haven't written yet. This is truly one of the most exciting technologies we could imagine and perhaps the most important.

General Fusion’s goal to solve the world's energy problems by building a reactor that utilizes the nuclear processes of stars to create a net gain of energy. As usual, this is an over simplification but to get that net gain (more energy out than in), they will create a fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium that will release energy into a surrounding layer liquid metal and then use that heat to drive a stream turbine.

For people like me who love to see super-kool experimental technology explained with pictures and very heavy metal objects, this is a must see. I'm not sure if it's expensive but it looks heavier than a Volvo tougher to assemble than a bedroom set from IKEA. A definite "gotta-have" for the rec room. I especially love the sound it makes - listen carefully, it's a very kool-klank.
See the video below or click here

General Fusion Video

2009-08-12T16:45:00.001-07:00

Just when you thought it was safe, the Smurfs Attack!

2009-08-08T11:49:00.001-07:00

God bless Wikipedia. Whenever I want to look more knowledgeable than I really am, I can read a couple of pages and presto, it looks like I know something. The recent attack on a university professor from Tbilisi, Georgia got me back on my favourite site looking up something called DDoS. Much to my dismay, it took more than a single cup of coffee to grasp the issue. So without getting into too much confusing detail I will summarize.

A ``distributed denial of service`` attack happens when a hacker or a group of hackers point a whole bunch of internet traffic to a specific place on the internet. Everyone who has used a computer knows that you can only have so many applications running before it runs out of resources and stops working. Perhaps a bit of an over simplification but the same thing can happen to servers on the the internet.

The unfortunate part about the attack this past week was that even though a single person was targeted, millions of people were affected. The overload caused Twitter some more downtime and they are struggling to bring services back to normal. Apparently even Facebook and Google were experiencing some hardship during the attack.

Fortunately for me, I was on vacation and was completely unaffected but upon my return, I learned that I am waaaay behind on my security vocabulary. Wikipedia had me flipping through pages and pages of definitions like Script kiddies, smurf attack, Smurf Amplifier Registry, mangled packets, Ping flood, Ping of death, botnet, teardrop attacks, zombie agents, fraggle attacks, Slashdot effect, bandwidth hogging, flash mobbing, and IP spoofing. After skimming through these definitions I have come to appreciate the security industry for few reasons. First I truly appreciate the protection they are continuing to provide for us and for using interesting names.

In the late 90`s a malevolent hacker hijacked the ``smurf`` moniker for one of his attack programs and the name stuck. Basically it is a program that creates a ton of traffic by sending and echoing a bunch of pings. It is not so different than what I am planning to do next : I am heading up stairs and join my 5 year old for a different kind of smurf attack!

Cleantech for Dummies Like Me! Part 1

2009-07-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Part One of a whole bunch of articles I haven't written yet.

This first instalment of cleantech articles is inspired (as usual) by my addiction to the BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Discovery channels. It is also inspired by a lot of research material that confuses the buffalo chips out of me. So by extension, this is intended for people who didn't take engineering and may or may not have a sense of humour. My sense of humour is as dry as martini and best experienced after a couple so please feel free to pour yourself one before you read on.

Today's theme is hydro electric power made easy (yeah right).

The two key components of hydro power are water and gravity. Seems straight forward but apparently the mixture of the two is where it gets complicated. First let’s clarify – water is that wet stuff and gravity is the thing that makes it heavy. Easy enough – lesson one is complete.

Lesson two is a bit more complex. First let’s contemplate the following equation for hydro electric power.

Output: P (W) = Q * Hb * g * ρ * η

This equation is written by some science and engineering folks so each of these letters have very special meaning and very important values like the gravitational constant, water density and turbine efficiency. But for simplicity let’s scrape aside the scientific goop and focus on the key things. P is "power," Q “quantity” and Hb is "head" (or height). I’m not sure why Hb stands for “head” but it is easier to spell than “height” so I’ll go with it. Basically, lots of water in a bucket high above your head has a lot more potential energy than small cup of water on the floor as illustrated below.

The technology for producing electricity has been around for over 100 years and is very adaptable. Our challenges in cleantech are to find more places to adapt and utilize this technology efficiently but there are a lot of obstacles. This is an over simplification but most electric companies are only interested in a very large and constant stream of reliable electrical power. As a result, much of our investment in technology is primarily around generating energy within a very narrow set of specifications at price that the consumer is willing to pay. This is important because suddenly zapping more than the recommended number of volts through your new Flat Panel HDTV will give it a very short but spectacular lifespan. The same holds true for the power grid.

So once we get out of engineering labs with our shiny new technology we encounter an additional letter in the hydro power equation noted above. Cleantech investors and entrepreneurs may refer to this as the "Bs constant."

Art work - courtesy of Ivar! Thanks Buddy!

Thus ends lesson two.

Technology enters into the equation when we vary the Q and the H to get a kilowatt of energy. High head means less water flow is needed and low head means more water flow is necessary to get that kilowatt. As a result, we need different technologies to change the potential energy into electricity. There are a lot of technologies but let’s have a brief, non-scientific look at the turbine part. Strip it down and a turbine is basically an electric fan in reverse. Turn the propeller and electricity comes out. So lesson three is to look at some different types of this turbine / propeller technology.

Photo from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Water_turbine_runners.jpg

The above photo is more than just a great set of uncomfortable doorknobs, they represent the key designs in hydro electric turbine technology. The Pelton Wheel (left) is considered the most efficient and is primarily used in high head applications where the water drops down through a tunnel and then squirted at the turbine at a high speed to turn the wheel. This is similar to when you turn the garden hose on a mischievous six-year-old - the faster the water comes out of the hose, the faster he runs.

The Francis Turbine (two center turbines) can look like the front of a jet engine and is the most efficient technology for medium head applications between 75 m to 500 m. The Three Gorges Dam used a whole bunch of monster sized Francis Turbines each the size of a small house.

The Kaplan Turbine (far right) can look just like a propeller off of a cargo ship. It is widely used in low head high flow applications around the world such as run of river projects.

Output: P (W) = Q * Hb * g * ρ * η * Bs

The Bs constant has a mathematical value that approaches zero. That is, no matter how much potential power is theoretically available, the Bs constant can actually prevent P (W) from having any meaningful value. The Bs constant is derived from a variety of factors and is unique for each project which makes it a paradoxical mathematical concept - it is always present and it varies constantly. This "constant-variable" is derived by summing up the following factors: we must find power that is not too powerful and not too weak; not too costly and not too cheap; not too risky and not too dangerous; not too new and not unproven; not too close to wild life and not too far from the electrical grid AND we must be accommodating to those who were here first and of course Never In My Backyard!

Recession over, growth resumes: Bank of Canada - The Globe and Mail

2009-07-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

Kevin Carmichael, Ottawa — Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009 12:58PM EDT
Canada's recession is over, and the country is beginning what will be a long reconstruction of the wealth destroyed by the financial crisis, the Bank of Canada said Thursday.
Gross domestic product will expand at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent this quarter, compared with an earlier forecast for a contraction of 1 per cent between July and September, the central bank said in its latest monetary policy report.
The dramatic shift is the result of stronger financial conditions, surprisingly high consumer and business confidence and a first-half contraction that was less severe than the economic catastrophe the central bank was bracing for when it last published its views on the economy in April.
If the bank's new forecast proves correct, Canada's first recession since the early 1990s lasted three quarters, making it one of the shortest downturns on record.
Click here for the rest of G&M article ...

$30 Million for Kick in the Nuts Media - Techvibes Blog

2009-07-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Fantastic news for another Vancouver tech company. This could be another sign that our tech economy is picking up steam.

$30 Million for Kick in the Nuts Media
Posted by Rob Lewis on Wed, July 22, 2009 11:32 AM · Filed under Vancouver , Venture Capital, Success Stories, Facebook, Social Media · No Comments
AdKnowledge, a Kansas City-based provider of behavioral online advertising solutions, has acquired Vancouver's KITN (Kick In The Nuts) Media, the parent company of Super Rewards, a virtual currency monetization platform for online games and social network applications.
The Super Rewards platform enables developers of social applications and online games to offer virtual currency to consumers who sign up for advertising offers. Consumers redeem the currency for virtual goods or other services in more than 1,000 social games, including five out of the six largest virtual currency applications on Facebook. Super Rewards has experienced rapid growth month-over-month and recently announced its expansion into iPhone applications and Twitter games.
Adknowledge currently partners with more than 1,200 developers to deliver banner ads on social networks through its sales operations in the US, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Adknowledge delivers more than 700 million banner impressions daily to consumers using Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites. Combined, Super Rewards and Adknowledge will work with over 80 percent of the top application developers on the leading social networks.
KITN Media was co-founded by Jason Bailey in 1998. While no financial terms were disclosed, VentureBeat puts the sale price at approximately $30 million. Real dollars!

$30 Million for Kick in the Nuts Media - Techvibes Blog

Guest Blogger Ivar Contributes!

2009-07-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Some of you will remember Ivar as my 9 year old in house graphic artist who provided the hip graphics for the Social Networking Presentation. Today he has provided some more custom work for us.

Click on the image to see the large format.

Thanks Ivar!

Today's Tech Tip that Really Works

2009-07-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

How to increase the speed of a computer running vista

Disconnect all wires
Hold down the power button
Pick up system and walk to the nearest window
Release and the speed will increase at 9.8 meters per second per second until the system reaches terminal velocity or crashes.

Note: This tech tip is also reported to drastically reduce vista related stress issues but is not recommended for highly populated areas.

The Outlook from the Thought Leaders of Cascadia

2009-07-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

A border is an interesting thing. Often it is just an arbitrary line but it can have significant influence on financing, access to customers and the flow of information. Here in BC, our tech community seems to have weathered the storm and seems more optimistic than other regions across North America. However, it seems that optimism in not limited to us. The Seattle based investment bank, Cascadia Capital released a report recently shedding light on market sentiment from our tech neighbours in the US Pacific Northwest. Below are a few highlights.

Kevin Cable, EVP of Cascadia Capital noted "...most companies we are working with are experiencing a loosening of the budget strings of the IT departments they are selling into, an increase in order velocity, and even some record-setting order values."

Brett Campbell, SVP Co-Founder, Nintex, a developer of SharePoint Solutions, noted that their customers could not wait much longer to innovate and move forward.

"Customer activity has increased in the last two months, and since mid-March we have seen an increase in our trial software, requests for demo stats, and also revenue. The only thing I’m seeing that is different from this time last year is that the procurement process in the enterprise has lengthened by about 40 percent."

"We still see healthcare, education and government as being strong for us, so we’ll take advantage of this and build more direct vertical offerings into these markets."

Lewis Carpenter, CEO of Winshuttle, a developer of SAP tools, noted that their customers (large and very-large global corporations) seemed to have been holding their breath.

“Much of our target market is still struggling—with new layoffs still hitting the news—but we’ve recently seen a resumption of larger, ‘enterprise deployment’ discussions with new and existing customers. We’re also seeing significant interest in some new products we just announced, which is a positive sign.”

“In our Global 2000 target market, I think we’ll continue to see slower sales cycles and heavy pressure on budgets through mid-year, with positive momentum starting to build some time in Q3."

Mike Kennewick, Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO, VoiceBox Technologies, a developer of voice applications for the automotive and consumer products industries, noted that although Q4 and Q1 were down, they are seeing some activity and growth.

“Cautious optimism. Customers have significant activity. There will be new product launches during the rest of the year; and we’re launching a new product this summer. Basically, product lines aren’t getting dropped, and we see continued growth on the horizon.”

The general consensus is that we are heading into better times with the horizon closer rather than further away. Perhaps recovery is as close as the end of Q3 and beginning of Q4. That's a good thing to know heading into the summer – we should get our rest and recharge knowing that we have a very busy fall ahead of us.

Many thanks to Cascadia Capital for their permission to reprint some excerpts and please see the whole report at http://www.cascadiacapital.com/_pdf/cautious_optimism.pdf

You’ve been CAPTCHA’d! – But it’s a good thing.

2009-07-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

I used to hate them and they can still drive me nuts but now I have learned to appreciate them. Over the weekend while I was channel surfing BBC World, Discovery Channel and other tech oriented shows, I saw an article on CAPTCHA’s and it made me say, “Cool!”

So what are CAPTCHA’s? They are those little hoops we have to type through in order to sign-up for stuff on line. They are those things with virtually illegible text boxes designed to fool machines but not humans. What do they do – they are designed to stop hackers and spammers from extracting information from websites with automated programs.

So how do they stop spammers? For example, if spammers want to capture a large number of email addresses, they could try to sign-up for thousands of free email accounts. Each time a requested email address is rejected, they have found a target address. For each, email address accepted, they have a new account to send from. By adding a step that will stump an automated program, the web master can make it much more costly and time consuming for spammers to capture email addresses.

So what is cool about CAPTCHA’s? The idea itself is pretty clever but there is another level to this that most people don’t know about. This other level is called the RECAPTCHA Project. Recently you may have noticed that some sites ask you to type two words. One of these words verifies we are a capable human while the other word is from a scanned document that an OCR program couldn’t read. So, one word at a time and millions of words per day, the internet community is helping to digitize old documents made before the digital age. Cool!

So next time you come across a CAPTCHA and need to type two words, you should be proud and get that warm fuzzy feeling that you are contributing to the greater good of humankind. And of course, then you can curse, scream and mutter unrepeatables.

(For more information please see http://recaptcha.net/reCAPTCHA_Science.pdf )

ACL Services Quietly Steps into the Spotlight with a BCTIA Award

2009-07-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Did you know that they dominate a global market?

There is a story behind every award. Between the applause and the decision to refill the glass with red or white, we can miss the greater importance of some of the achievements. On a night when so many great companies and people are honoured, the magnitude of the teamwork, effort and sweat of the soldiers in the trenches can be taken for granted. Perhaps ACL winning the BCTIA award for Best Application of a Technology is just one such story.

For over 20 years, Harald Will and the team at ACL has been quietly building an ironclad reputation among the world’s top audit firms and the financial departments of multinational corporations. By focusing on helping customers better understand their financial transactions with cutting edge technology and services, ACL has 85% of the Fortune 500 on its customer list. From this platform, ACL was chosen as the best firm (and perhaps the only firm) in the world that could help Siemens AG monitor their complex multinational financial transactions.

The problem was right in ACL’s wheelhouse: how to track potential financial leakages among the $100 billion in transactions annually and help identify anomalies. These leakages could be anything from poor internal controls and mismanagement of funds to back alley transactions that you won’t likely see on balance sheets or press releases. Not all of these transactions are easily discovered and it takes a high performance analytics program to uncover the patterns and footprints.

To tackle the project, ACL already had developed a wide range of technologies but also needed to accelerate the product road map. With the new timeline, a customer with the urgency, budget and commitment, the product road map had both the engine and the fuel it needed to take-off. Over the course of a year, a dedicated team from ACL, working with Accenture and Siemens built, delivered and commissioned a continuous monitoring system that would help ensure that Siemens could limit financial leakage and return more value to shareholders and stakeholders.

There is a greater social value that could be overlooked when considering the importance of projects like the Siemens transaction monitoring system. ACL also provides products and services for governments. In the era of accountability, ACL can help to expose misuse of funds to help tax-payer dollars travel further and to the right places. In countries where capital projects are awarded on things other than merit, it is easy to understand the importance ACL’s analytical technologies benefits on both sides of the deals.

A well deserved “Congratulations!” to Harald and the ACL team.

The Relationship Between Scotch & Tech CEOs

2009-07-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

When it comes to long term strategy, a technology CEO is similar to a Master Distiller of fine scotch. Each builds and executes on a vision that few people can appreciate until the product is ready for public consumption and often it is many many years before the it matures. With each release the CEO and the Master Distiller take unwavering care and attention to building their legacy. Attention to quality now will differentiate their products for the next generation of consumers.

Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle once noted that "when you innovate you need to be prepared for people to tell you you’re nuts!" Certainly many CEOs have also stated "I must have been nuts to have signed up for this." Innovation takes money, time and a disproportional amount of effort. It is the CEO's challenge and responsibility to set and maintain the long term vision to capitalize on the money and effort expended by his team each day – in the same way that a Master Distiller must continue to inspire and motivate, despite that fact that his product can not be properly appreciated for at least 12 years!

Balancing the needs of the market with the time required to deliver a quality product is a task that is shared by both the CEO and Master Distiller. While first to market may be an advantage for technology, time is often required for consumers to adopt the product. Sometimes, it is required for manufacturing to mature enough to deliver the product in economical volumes. Time costs money and this means that the CEO and the Master Distiller must each strike a deal between perfection and where marginal gains in value meets diminishing returns in investment.

Patience is not a virtue a Tech CEO can enjoy and they must realize their vision long before the master distiller can make a similar claim. That said, some technology is exceeds the time requirements of even the finest scotch. I recommend that you pour yourself an glass from a 12 year old bottle of The Macallan and contemplate some technology that needed more time to be appreciated:

13 years from the patent to the adoption of the mouse (1971 to 1984).
18 years ago the Linux kernel posted (August 1991).
15 years for the Board of Apple to realize that technology CEOs are a breed apart. Steve Jobs was ousted in favor of John Sculley in 1985 and returned via acquisition in 1996. It wasn’t until 2000 before the board removed "Interim" from Jobs’ CEO title.
15 years from the acceptance of a production model color TV in 1951 to the first Broadcaster (NBC in 1966) to switch to an all color broadcasting format.
18 years for PC hard drives to grow from 1 MB to 1 GB (1979 – 1997).
26 years after Richard Feynman proposed quantum computers, Geordie Rose, founder of D-Wave, demonstrated the first operating quantum computer in 2007.
168 years after the principle of the fuel cell ws published in the January 1839 edition of the "Philosophical Magazine," Angstrom Power, a BC-based company, began commercial sales of portable devices using proprietary hydrogen fuel cell technology.
28 years ago $81,000 would buy you a 34 kg 1GB hard drive and today $10.99 will buy you 1GB of memory that is smaller than your fingernail.

(Due to a flu bug this week, today's blog was an (edited) reprint from CRL's Spring 2007 New Letter)

Congratulations to the Carnary Derby Team!

2009-06-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

The early detection of cancer is the single most important piece of the puzzle in treating the disease and the continued research in this area is critical. A group of people who are committed to funding this is a group known as the Canary Derby which hosts annual soapbox derbies in Victoria and Vancouver.

This year the group was successful in raising over $240,000 between the events held June 27th and 28th. Congratulations to all those who participated and those who donated their time and money to this important cause.

How Important is Twitter?

2009-06-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

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Recently the news wires were on fire with the passing of a couple of 80's icons and it underlined the importance of a social network strategy in both your communications strategy and your online presence.

How important is Twitter? Well there were so many people tweeting about the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah that the system overloaded and crashed. That is a lot of people sending a lot of messages. And by the way, that's where I learned of both pieces of news.

Twitter is vastly confusing to the nonuser. "I don't get it" is the most common response. However, you don't need to get it, just listen to it for a while. Like scotch and some 80's pop culture, it is an acquired taste.

For professionals who need to know about their customers, you can learn about who they are by what they tweet and who they follow. I noticed some folks really like to follow topics related to high-end food and drink. In setting up a meeting with these people a "would you care to join me at Le Bistro at noon" may get you a quicker call back that a "see ya at Starbucks."

Food for thought.

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The Tech Economy May be Heating Up

2009-06-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

_
The investment dollars are continuing to flow and we are looking at the biggest month so far this year by as much as double. TechFinance.ca has reported a number of deals for BC for June and combined with some of the deals not out in the main stream press just yet, we could be closing in on $50 million. That will be double the volume for any other month so far in 2009. It is too early to tell if we will match last year's total but this is clearly a good sign.

Though the numbers are optimistic, we are waaaay down from last year in terms of what has closed in the first 2Q's of the year. To be fair, optimism may not be justified and the recent deal flow could also be written off to pent up demand. On the other hand, we may have a parallel in the brew. The stock markets slid to 55% of their previous highs back in March and then have roared back. Tech financing also appears to have slowed by 55% as well. This month's deal flow reflects a different market from the January to May time frame. Could this be the beginning of the surge in tech financing that will mirror the stock market?

It's much more fun to be an optimist so let's hope so!

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BCTIA Awards 2009 - A Night for the Heart

2009-06-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

_
The 2009 BCTIA Awards on Wednesday proved to be a night for the heart. From heart monitoring technology and heart stopping people, to the man who was recognized for giving his heart and soul to our BC Technology Community.

First up for the evening was Dr. Geoff Houlton of Heart Force Medical who took home the Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology award. He also won the Best Application of the Ampersand in stating that his team came out because they thought they were attending the “BC T&A” awards. The well received quip may have had some foreshadowing as well.

Fortuitous exposure is often the prime mover for a young start-up and it is powerful if your technology can back it up. So Congratulations to Janice Cheam and the team at Energy Aware Technology who accepted the award for Most Promising Start-up. Janice down played their technology and noted that their exposure was as much to do with good fortune and a few well timed words by senior members of our tech community. As a winner of a few awards to date, we should expect to see much more of Energy Aware. And if we see much more of Janice on the podium, I predict a surge in the need for Heart Force’s award winning cardiology technology.

Congratulations to Harry Chemko and Elastic Path Software for taking home the Emerging Company of the Year award. Also, they were the self-proclaimed winners of the Most Wine Consumed by a Table at a BCTIA Event. There were few tables could who could claim to challenge on this night so kudos to Harry and the Gang.

Something that deserves a lot of credit that may have gone unnoticed is that SR&ED, IRAP, the Provincial and Federal governments won the Most “I’d Like to Thank” category. It is good to see that these programs are making a real difference in our community.

Certainly it must have been a real change for James Topham to be on the other side of the podium. James was recognized, and rightfully so, for his tireless efforts in building our technology sector.

Congratulations and goodonya James!

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Additional $350 Million Venture Funding Boost for BDC

2009-06-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

After seeing the article below, I spoke with Tony Van Bommel, MD for EEEM Venture Capital at the BDC and he had some good news for us. The keys are this is money for new investments with $125 million coming in 2009 - 2010 as noted below. There is no geographical allotment and it is focused on investing in good new deals that create new jobs.

All of the money is available across Canada which means that all of it could end up in BC or Nunavut (pronounced "NONE-OF-IT" - I only realized the joke was on me when Tony responded, "The technology hub isn't as advanced up there so comparatively speaking, BC has a pretty good chance." Touche Tony!).

Additional $350 Million Venture Funding Boost for BDC
TechFinance.ca News Service
Monday June 15, 2009
Government of Canada today announced $450 million funding to the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in support of small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative firms.
The funding consists of $100 million to establish the Operating Line of Credit Guarantee and $350 million over three years to help drive venture capital investment in promising Canadian technology businesses.
The $350 million in funding for BDC's venture capital activities will allow it to make additional direct investments of $260 million over three years in follow-on investments in BDC existing investee companies, as well as new investments in seed technology companies and later-stage technology companies.
The remaining $90 million is allocated for investments in private, independent Canadian venture capital funds. This funding is in addition to the $75 million in venture capital funds committed to Tandem Expansion Fund.
Of this $350 million in funding, $125 million will be provided in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 and $100 million will be provided in 2011-2012.

TechFinance.ca :: Additional $350 Million Venture Funding Boost for BDC

$19 Million and Counting - Tech Funding Continues!

2009-06-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

June 2009 Financings are a Good Sign – $19,000,000 for BC Tech Companies so far!

There are no economic indicators better than the number of companies receiving financing. If you have been following the recent headlines on June financings you are probably already aware that we are approaching $18.5 million for our local tech companies. This slightly better that the same period in June 2008 ($18 m). The value per transaction is down but the volume is up a lot.

June 2009 (so far):

QHR Technologies - $1,000,000
Smart Cool Systems - $500,000
Azure Dynamics - $10,000,000
Onemove Technologies - $750,000
Kelso Technologies - $269,000
Finavera Renewables - $700,000
Quizam Media - $315,000
Streetlight Intelligence - $1,100,000
Ondine Biopharma - $1,782,000
AXEA Energy/AgriMarine - $1,000,000
biOasis Technologies - $500,000
Voice Mobility - $500,000

In addition to these financings, Mike Volkers’ newly named Greenangel Energy Corp. announced participation in three other greentech companies: DPoint, REV and Habitat. The combined financing add another $900,000 to those announced above. That brings us to $19.3 million.

Already this is as one of the most active months so far this year and if we can keep it up, we are on pace to match or beat last years numbers for June. We have our fingers crossed!

Vancouver Greentech Exchange - Beer is Important!

2009-06-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

How to Create a Greentech Hub in Vancouver

Last night SFU hosted a panel discussion on creating a greentech hub in Vancouver with Dr. Boyd Cohen, Mike Walkinshaw, Rolf Dekleer, and Paul Richardson. The following are brief notes on the discussion.

On Building a Hub:

Boyd Cohen:
Vancouver is not there yet and has some foundations for one to start. Critical for a hub of any kind to take root, an significant access to talented people, capital and office space are essential. While Vancouver has lots of talented people, he is concerned about the lack of available capital and the rate at which office space has been turned to condominiums.

Rolf Dekleer:
Adding on the availability of capital discussion, Mr. Deekler noted that most cleantech / greentech investments require a much bigger dollar number than software. The size of the rounds are in the $10 million plus range because in producing hardware (which is the bulk of cleantech technology) mistakes happen and they are costly. For software it could be as simple as an all-nighter with some coders - not so with developing capital type equipment and hardware.

Paul Richardson:
Paul represents a fund that recently raised $18 million for investing in "Green Enterprises." These are companies or businesses that may not focus on developing technology but the use of technology to create green and sustainable products. This could be a greener approach to agriculture or the use of more environmentally friendly textiles. There is no hub anywhere in the world and Vancouver could easily become the hub.

Mike Walkinshaw:
Vancouver has a half developed hub. The fuel cell industry has spun out some significant talent and knowhow. These are critical in building a sustainable hub of start-ups but it is not enough. There must be significant collaboration and cooperation. He was critical that the fuel cell industry spent too much time competing against each other and not enough time collaborating and trying to solve problems together.

Reminiscent of the influence of the collaboration between Crick and Watson in the discovery of the structure of all life, Mike made the impact statement of the evening:

"We need to sit down and drink more beer together."

Mike we hear you and recognize a call to arms when we hear one. We are getting the T-shirts printed up and we'll meet you at the pub!

___

Firms are Beginning to Reload - Downsizing putting top talent in the market

2009-06-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

A recent study by Deloitte Touche LLP business consultancy affirms this trend. In a survey of 300 chief executives across Canada, Deloitte found many were actively hiring to augment their knowledge base.

"This was somewhat of a recurring theme," says Peter Brown, a partner at Deloitte, describing the feedback the firm received.

Downsizing putting top talent in the market

Weekly Economic Indicators are Up

2009-06-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

There are no shortage of economic indicators and people eager to interpret them. Some are derived from complex mathematical models based on the latest government data and employment figures while others measure the hemline of skirts (no kidding). However, at Corporate Recruiters we have a few indicators of that aren’t mathematically complex, easy to understand, and perhaps overly simple but nevertheless, here they are:

Technology job postings on T-Net have rebounded significantly since the beginning of the year. Today, June 8th, 2009, there were 679 technology related jobs posted. This is a significant uptick from the last few months where the number of postings were ranging between 590 – 620. Late last week, we were close to 698 postings. This is getting closer to the numbers we were seeing back in October 2008. That looks like good news to us.

Other anecdotal evidence is sales job opportunities. Our experience is that the first sign of improving conditions is an increase in sales recruiting activities. Activity is up on T-Net and we are also seeing more requests sales people as well. Also good news.

The other indicator is the literally the word on the street – business is up for the bike couriers I bump into on the elevator – sometimes literally.

Western Union Acquires Victoria's Custom House

2009-06-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

A $370 million deal, over 150 years in the making and right in our backyard!

To be perfectly honest, BC’s connection to it started a little over 15 years ago in Victoria when Peter Gustavson sent a young UVIC grad to offer a new currency exchange service to the shops on Government Street. From this modest start, Custom House has grown to over 600 employees providing a super-efficient international payment service for small to midsized enterprises (SME’s) around the globe. Western Union (WU) recognized the value of both the niche and the innovative approach to the tune of $370 million dollars.

The leverage and benefits for this acquisition are clear. Custom House’s B2B service fills a void and WU provides a huge customer base to accelerate growth. Equally impressive for WU was the tight processes, efficiency and technology developed by Custom House. For these reasons, continued growth is expected in both the Victoria HQ and the development center in Vancouver.

And that is great benefit for all of us in BC’s tech community!

So congratulations to a Pair of Peters – Founder Peter Gustavson, and current CEO Peter Ciceri for building a great company and bringing one of the true pioneers of technology into our community.

Western Union is no stranger to applying innovation and technology so while we raise a glass in honour of The Peters, let’s have a quick look at some of WU’s pioneering innovations from the early days.

With the synthesis of Morse code and the telegraph, Western Union becomes one of the Pioneers of Digital Communications.
In 1861 Western Union laid the foundation for Google’s world domination by electronically linking California to the rest of North America for the first time.
A missed opportunity leads to Western Union becoming the world’s first dedicated data network when they declined to pay $100,000 to buy a patent for something that was “… nothing but a toy …” from a bloke from Cape Breton named Alex.
After abandoning voice communications, Western Union introduced the first killer-apps with the stock ticker in 1866; e-banking (wire transfer) in 1871 and the consumer charge card in 1914.
Western Union launches the world’s first multimedia application with the singing telegram in 1930.
Preceding Al Gore by over 50 years Western Union becomes the first technology company to introduce a Carbon Neutral policy with its fleet of bicycle couriers in 1898.

The 2009 VIATeC Awards Gala - What a Night!

2009-06-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

$1.8 BILLION and growing! That’s some real serious coin and it is generated by Victoria’s burgeoning VIATeC community. To put that in perspective, it is only a few percent less than what the BC Government contributes to the local economy.

That is not the only jaw dropping stuff revealed during VIATeC’s 2009 Tech Awards held last Thursday at the Victoria Convention Center. The people, companies and technology presented as nominees are clearly world class and to choose winners could not have been an easy task. From hydrogen powered sailboats and the world’s most efficient refrigeration systems to the leading edge of social networking technology and new media, both the award winners and nominees have exhibited technology that can compete on the global stage. Have a look for yourself at www.viatec.ca and www.youtube.com/user/VIATeC .

This event is something we mark in our calendar and eagerly await because it is one of the most entertaining events of the year. From the minute the doors open until the last of us are being cajoled to let the convention staff go home, it is an electric atmosphere that exemplifies the close-knit community that knows how to celebrate their successes. It is fun to be a part of it.

The VIATeC Awards is a testament to what great things can be achieved when a community comes together and works in unison to build an industry.

A special congratulations to Greg Conner of EDS Advanced Solutions who took home the Executive of the Year Award presented by none other than our own Amanda Du Toit

Kudos to Dan Gunn (who must be Jay Leno’s long-lost brother - see the photo album & youtube link above and tell me if you disagree) and the VIATeC Team for a great show (again)! And big kudos to all of the award winners and nominees who are building world class companies right here in BC. We are rooting for you and glad to be part of your success stories.