I attended a great talk by Rick Segal of JLA Ventures this evening, hosted by my friends at BootUp Labs. Sort of a primer on the process you go through to raise VC money. Outsiders often have the best insight, and as an American running a Canadian VC fund, Rick’s better placed than most to [...]
Gradual Change
Thoughts on marketing, branding and social media.
venture capital
Getting Funded in Canada
I just got around to reading Paul Graham’s post on the VC industry’s reluctance to change its investment approach, despite evidence that its model might be broken. It’s hard to argue with the point that it costs less than it used to to create many kinds of technology-based businesses, and by extension that a valid [...]
Success Factors
Investors and entrepreneurs often pitch business models by describing them as a fresh or niche-focused take on a high profile success story. Angel investor Jeff Clavier allegedly described parenting social network, Maya’s Mom, as “Dogster for moms”, but this unfortunate example aside the point is simple: apply a business model that worked elsewhere to a [...]