MoMoVan - April 7: Entrepreneurship and going to market

TOPIC: Entrepreneurship and taking products to market.

We're lining up a terrific panel of successful entrepreneurs and other who know the challenges, intricacies and disappointments – but especially the excitement – of taking a new product to market. Don't miss this session if you want to hone your entrepreneurial spirit and successful speed to market tips from the insiders. Of course, we'll also have two or three new pitches for you, the usual free pizza, a complimentary Granville Island beer, and plenty of networking. Don't miss this MoMoVan!

	Date:	Monday, April 7, 2008
	Time:	6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
	Location:	Granville Island Brewing (GIB Taproom), 1441 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC
	Tickets:	FREE to WINBC Members
		FREE to WINBC Sponsors and Partners
		FREE to Students
		$20 to Non-members of WINBC and at the door
	Space:	Limited to 80 people
		Registration deadline: Friday, April 4, 2008

	PROGRAM
	6:00 PM – 6:30 PM	Registration, networking, pizza, pop, beer
	6:30 PM – 6:40 PM	Elevator pitches (3 @ 3 min)
	6:40 PM – 7:00PM	Audience Q&A, feedback, live voting
	7:00 PM – 7:30 PM	CTIA Las Vegas panel discussion
	7:30 PM – 7:45 PM	Networking break
	7:45 PM – 8:15 PM	Entrepreneurship and going to market
	8:15 PM – 8:30 PM	More networking and closing
	Free parking, free food, and first beer free. Program subject to change without notice.

By now you've heard that our 2007 BC Wireless Industry Survey uncovered the need of BC's mobile companies to find $133 million in financing over the next two years to fund growth and expand their markets. Where will that money come from? That was the main subject of our March 3rd MoMoVan at the downtown offices of Fasken Martineau.

Steve Hnatiuk, from Yaletown Venture Partners. Yaletown is backed by major institutional investors in Canada and the US and invests the majority of its capital in early-stage technology companies in BC. They typically invest up to $2 million in the first round in any start-up they back and up to $6M in a company across multiple rounds. Every year Yaletown sees about 300 new companies seeking funding and invests in 3 or 4.

Jenny Yang, from the Business Development Bank of Canada, a crown corporation with $500 million to invest in early stage companies, especially ones in life sciences, advanced technology, telecommunications and IT.

Riz Kheraj, from NRC/IRAP, which helps small and medium tech companies by providing financial and other support. They have $13 million in R&D funds available to BC technology companies.

Steve: If you're looking for funding, remember that it won't all come from local sources, especially if you are seeking funding beyond $500K. You will need local partners. Other regions of the world are definitely aware of us and want to invest, but they want to see local participation.

Besides VCs, you can go to the BDC for loans, especially if you are cash flow positive. You can then use their funding to leverage interest from VCs elsewhere. Also remember, the BDC has great contacts in Asia, India, Europe and the USA.

Earl: Telefilm Canada has a $14.5 million fund for new media, which we created because it is so difficult to finance content...especially entertainment. If you're looking for new media funding, you need a solid value proposition. For most new media it's hard to establish a good business case – except in familiar areas ringtones and SMS. Keep in mind, too, that what companies are most looking to invest in are talented people.

Steve: We are all looking for the next Sierra Wireless. But only 1 in 100 companies have any real VC potential, so if you aren't that 1 in a 100, you need friends, angel financing, and sources like Telefilm, the BDC or NRC for enough funding to get off the ground and get established. Then you might be ready for VC financing.

Jenny: One of the problems with financing wireless apps is that they are expensive to develop – there are too many different platforms that you have to develop for to have a large enough market. The hope is that Mobile Web will provide an open platform and create better opportunities for wireless products and services. I tell people in the planning stage that things always take longer to develop than you plan for.

Sam Znaimer (audience member, from Ventures West): If you say you're looking for $133 million in investment, that's daunting, but if you break it down into smaller chunks, it's more do-able. To interest VCs, you have to start small, make sure you set and meet milestones, get some results and then go after raising more capital. A good example of that is Zeugma. They raised $2 million initially, then on the strength of their ideas, and particularly the strength and experience of their management team, went on to raise another $35 million.

Riz: A good strategy might be to combine companies to reach a critical mass.

Michael: Yes, in Finland it’s not unusual for 3 or 4 companies to work together as a group.

Riz: Telus and Bell also fund new media. You can apply to them for funds for content development, content delivery and content delivery backbone.

There were two pitches, one from Bryan Bradshaw, Co-Founder of jWalkr.com and the other from James Sherrett, CEO and Founder of AdHack.

Bryan Bradshaw's company has raised $425,000 and is now seeking a further $1 million to fund development of their local mobile search platform. The service is analogous to Yelp, for instance. He describes it as "real people helping real people with online, local content – a social shopping platform, where users post reviews of locations, businesses, products and more."

If you were downtown, for example, and looking for a good Thai restaurant, jwalkr could provide you with several reviewed choices to select from.

James Sherrett's company is all about do-it-yourself advertising, or as he describes it: "an eBay for advertising creative." It is seeking to raise $500K.

"We put ad creators and ad buyers together. Why? Because there are so many new digital channels and not enough ads to run on them. Traditional ad creation is slow and expensive and has a low ROI. But there are lots of creative people out there creating ads, just to please themselves. We're giving them a potential market and giving advertisers a low-cost source of ads."

Several WINBC members took time to visit the huge Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February, including Jim Maynard, President of Wavefront; Igor Faletski, Co-Founder of Handi Mobility, and Michael Bidu, Executive Director of WINBC.

Jim Maynard was impressed by the sheer size of the event, and he came away with an acute sense of how important China is going to be, both as a potential market and as a centre of wireless innovation. Jim also noted that some delegates and exhibitors feel the Congress is too carrier-focussed.

Igor Faletski admired the extensive brand-building opportunities he saw and liked what he saw at the Canadian pavilion. He notes that there were some great events taking place outside the show venue, and came away with the distinct impression that, globally, carriers are chasing customers and that the wireless industry is ready to boil over.

Michael Bidu liked the fact that the show was "not just for big established companies. There was one hall devoted entirely to start-ups."

However, he also said he saw little on display that was truly exciting: "Lot's of innovation, but little traction."

"Overall, the Congress provides a very business-focussed environment: In four days, more that 30,000 business meetings took place."

Michael came away from the show with a strong feeling that the BC wireless industry needs its own pavilion at the Congress, where several wireless and new media companies pool resources to raise international awareness of the potential of BC companies.

"That's what the Israelis did, and also the wireless companies from the North Rhine and Westphalia region of Germany. Their displays were effective in terms of generating positive impressions and ROI." In case you didn't know, North Rhine-Westphalia is where T-Mobile got started.

Michael also notes that WINBC is actively pursuing economic development and export opportunities with those two clusters, as well as with wireless companies in the UK and Scotland.

Bruce Sharpe video taped all the presentations from the last MoMoVan. If you want a more detailed look at some of what happened and what was said, you'll find his videoclips HERE (courtesy of Singular Software).

About WINBC
Wireless Innovation Network of BC is promoting the fast growth and sustainability of British Columbia, Canada as one of the world's best wireless technology clusters and communities. We are the industry association representing more than 250 BC wireless technology companies generating in excess of $1B in revenues.

About Mobile Monday
Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets. Mobile Monday is organized by a group of dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, Mobile Monday has grown into the world’s leading mobile community. More info at: www.mobilemonday.net

About BDC
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is a financial institution wholly owned by the government of Canada. BDC plays a leadership role in delivering financial, investment and consulting services to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses. These services complement those of private sector financial institutions. More info at: www.bdc.ca.

About wavefront
wavefront is the commercialization bridge between the wireless developer community in British Columbia and the mobile operators, government and large enterprises that are deploying new wireless products and services. In collaboration with its established partners, wavefront provides the developer community with neutral, independent test services and the market knowledge to enable rapid commercialization. More info at: www.wavefrontac.com.