Patrick Lor

STIRR Founders & Funders

NOTE: The following is cross-posted from www.stirr.ca, and is courtesy of STIRR Canada team member Sharon McIntyre. I was going to write a post summarizing the event, but Sharon has done a much better job than I ever would have . . .

On Thursday evening, Albertan tech startup founders, funders, and emerging young guns filled the main floor of Calgary's Bonterra Trattoria restaurant at STIRR Canada's kick-off Founders & Funders Dinner event. Five hours later, after some great networking and facilitated dinner table conversations, people were still buzzing.

A young startup founder remarked: "I can't believe the caliber of people I just got to talk with or the amount I learned before dessert came. This has been the most productive tech event I've been to in Calgary."

Participating companies included: Active Conversion, Broadramp, Calgary Scientific, Cambrian House, Cognera, CoolIT, Coril Holdings, Cornerstone Technologies, Datagardens, DirectVoxx, Dynastream, eSchedule, GamesCafe, iNovia Capital, Intervera, Loa Corporation, Mobovivo, Octane Venture Partners, Ph03nix New Media, Preo Software, Psyko Audio Labs ... ...  Renoworks, Shopster, SpatialQ, StockVantage, StumbleUpon, Techvibes, Tynt, and Xtreme Technologies.

Calgary native, and StumbleUpon co-founder, Garrett Camp, talked about the ups and downs of his friends-and-family funded early startup days and how he ultimately moved to Silicon Valley to be closer to his advisors. He also revealed that his first investor was a StumbleUpon user from the Valley who simply contacted him by email.

A common theme revolved around how important "retaining the right people" is to creating success. Discussions included: giving up a substantial amount of equity to attract a co-founder, asking potential employees how much salary vs. stock they wanted to gauge their propensity for risk; and a founder's preference to hire equity-only team members (whether you can self-fund the startup or not).

Here are a few conversation snippets from the evening:

"How are we gonna reach the young guns, the 'Garrett Camps' in their dorm rooms right now?" Answer back: "Reach them at university. Do free beer and pizza events on campus and get them to connect to the people here tonight."

"Geography doesn't matter, it's wherever the best ideas are."

"This kind of event is exactly what we need. A way to connect under-the-radar startups with people who can help them. That's what's been missing."

"Tech isn't only about pure software development. We have to ensure we include tech-driven startup innovation, like some of the companies we see here at our table tonight."

A selection of images from the event:

(below) Garrett Camp is introduced by Pat Lor

Allan MacKenzie, Octane Venture Partners, (below, top right) engages his table

 

(below) Pat Lor, formerly of iStockphoto and STIRR Canada co-founder, welcomes attendees

 

(below, left) Claudia Moore, Material Insight President and STIRR Canada co-founder makes a point

 

(below) Cam Linke of Techvibes (striped shirt) and MJ Sikorsky of Cambrian House (yellow and green t-shirt) dive into a discussion

 

 

 

Drama at DemoCamp!!

We have a saboteur - somebody out to destroy all the good things that DemoCampCalgary is trying to create. When the DemoCamp organizers showed up at Melrose on Tuesday night, the manager told us that someone had called to cancel the event booking. He told us that he didn't have anyone to staff the room we were booked in, and there was a construction crew in there as well. After much consternation, they managed to get us into the second level, which wasn't as ideal as the theatre on the lower level.

It was probably just a simple understanding, but wouldn't life be more exciting if we really did have a mole in the midst? However, rest assured that having lived through that experience once, we don't ever plan on letting it happen again. We'll be calling in to confirm our reservations from here on in!

So, apologies to everyone for a less than optimal experience. Then again, there were lots of smiles and some great discussions in the crowd - could it have anything to do with the beverages?

After a late start, the audience of 50 or so attendees saw 4 company presentations and one special project presentation. First, the companies:

• Mob4Hire: Paul Poutanen presented this crowdsourced platform for testing mobile applications. Participants from every region throughout the world are encouraged to register the model of their phone, their location, and their service provider. Developers of mobile applications can tap into the crowd and seek testing on specific phones in specific locales on specific carriers, or test their applications across the entire Mob4Hire network.


• Aviary: I presented Aviary, an outrageously cool set of online design applications. Think Photoshop, Illustrator and 14 other applications, all of them working within your browser - no downloads required. The system tracks every version that is saved, and allows sharing of source files - allowing the community to collaborate on design projects with ease. Drop me a line if you'd like a beta invite.

• Xtreme Technologies: Chris Becker presented the XLink, a cellular phone gateway that allows you to answer cellphone calls on your home phone. The device connects to your cellphone through bluetooth, and has an output jack that you plug your home phone system into. Calls to your cellphone will ring through to your home system whenever your cell is within bluetooth range of the XLink. It allows you to use all those unlimited evenings and weekends minutes while your cellphone is charging. If you'd like to try it out, go to their online store and type "barcamp" into the coupon code field for 20% off.
   
• Ph03nixNewMedia: Jon Lam presented "Curse of the Pharoah", a casual game which is currently hosted on Big Fish Games. It was an instant success, and Big Fish promptly ordered up two more titles.
   

Matt Beck, a student from the University of Calgary presented Alberta's entry in the Solar Decathlon. Along with students from MRC and SAIT, the team is the first-ever Western Canadian team to gain entry into this international competition. They must compete in 10 separate contests, from designing and building a solar home, to creating enough energy to power an electric vehicle for a day. The competition will be held in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2009.

DemoCamp - May 13, Founders & Funders May 15

There are two great tech events happening next week - one that's open to all that are interested, and one that is invite only:

DemoCamp Calgary 9 (click here to register) is being held at Melrose Cafe and Bar on Tuesday, May 13th at 6:30. DemoCamp is for the community, by the community - so feel free to grab a friend and join us. Presenters get 10 minutes to demonstrate their wares, but no PowerPoint is allowed!! The audience will see 4 or 5 presentations and will get a few minutes to ask questions after each presentation. Then, we drink beer and discuss how we're going to change the world with our web 2.0 virtual reality / social networking /contextual advertising gaming platforms.

The DemoCamp Calgary community has been absolutely fantastic over the last year. We've had the opportunity to meet a variety of great entrepreneurs, companies, tech wizards and angels. Entrepreneurs have received some amazing advice, and angels have seen some great opportunities. We're looking forward to even greater things as the community moves into its second year.

Then, on Thursday, May 15th, STIRR Canada is holding a Founders and Funders Dinner with special guest Garrett Camp, co-founder of StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon was acquired by ebay for $75 million in 2007, and has recently hit 5 million users.

This is an invite only event, built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. After spending the last several years immersed in the community, I found that the biggest complaints about networking events was that they were either too large or had too many people that you wanted to avoid. To make things worse, the guest speaker usually sucked. 

So, the team at STIRR Canada faced those issues head-on: we restricted the invite list to entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. So, if you're a part of a co-founding team that's developing more products than services, we're interested in hearing from you. If you're an angel or a VC that would love to contribute your smarts to Calgary's next great startup, we're also interested in hearing from you. We're just looking to facilitate the best business conversations ever. (inspiration: The Lobby) To top it all off, we'll bring in the "rock star" entrepreneurs that everyone is dying to meet.

We've limited the attendance to 50 people. Invites have been going out over the last few days, so if you haven't gotten one by Friday, contact us at info@stirr.ca and tell us why you belong on the list. And don't fret if this one isn't in the cards for you - we'll be holding more events throughout the year.