chrisarsenault

chrisarsenault

21p

15 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ StartupCFO - Canada needs more Ange... · 1 reply · +1 points

In a sense, it's less about lack student entrepreneurs than it is a gap, a lack of culture of entrepreneurship and business mentorship across demographics and industries in Canada.

13 years ago @ StartupCFO - Canada needs more Ange... · 4 replies · +1 points

Mark,
I agree with most of your comments with the exception of the "lack" of mentors and Investors for our entrepreneurs part - one feeds on the other. The valley, @theC100, as well as elsewhere where we have a mass of successful Canadians, provide Canadian entrepreneurs with a conduit we need to better leverage, not discard. I'm a strong believer of the Brain Flow, not a Brain Drain believer.

A key element of your post relates to the younger generation of entrepreneurs. Where are they? Where are the 24-25 year old entrepreneurs that want to change the world? Don't tell me it's because there isn't any Investors... Bad excuse. When I was 24' so was Alexandre Taillefer, David Tanguay, Martin Bouchard, Fred Lalonde, Eric Boyko, Austin Hill .... Take a look back at the 1995-1997 time frame, what type of business we were building... Without any knowledge whatsoever of the existence of VC financing....

We need more young entrepreneurs sticking their necks out and wanting to make a difference.
And I want to back them!

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Angels & VCs · 3 replies · +1 points

In Canada we are starting to see more and more Home Run potentials: Beyond The Rack, Netshelter, Tynt, Woozworld, Stream the World, Status.net, iBwave Vantrix, Tungle .... the winners are the startups that first focused on validation, proving their model, gathering traction, building the pipeline... before closing large amount of VC funding (except one above listed company that raised substantial funding early on)... These companies are making their way to becoming industry segment leaders. Putting Canada on the map and help build our ecosystem. Many of the entrepreneurs leading the above companies first made their teeth on smaller successful and less successful exits. Some deals require less ambition to be successful, to generate return. Others, have the potential of being huge home run's... if they first prove out their model before raising big cash. And hopefully, in both cases, we will see more and more angels working with VC's!

Got to jump on a flight now. Hope to read more comments tonight.

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Angels & VCs · 0 replies · +1 points

I think that for a tech startup today, its more about doing more with less cash: prove your model, get VALIDATION, confirm virality, have real growth trends and sustainability... then raise big cash (that's exactly what Twitter, Google, Paypal and Foursquare did).

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Angels & VCs · 0 replies · +1 points

We need to be reasonnable on the potential of a deal. Any type of deal (VC or Angel funded). When a company only needs 2M and sales for 30M... the return is pretty good for all involved. And for the entrepreneur... it make him/her want an even bigger success next time around. It's important that we work on building a strong ecosystem, and that requires recurring successful entrepreneurs at the forefront, a network that goes beyond our borders, understanding of what it takes to generate strong returns for vc funded companies, but also requires all kind of success stories, big and small. Its about changing our entrepreneurial culture one deal at a time. Dreaming and thinking BIG is an absolute need. Yes! But, that requires making sure we have the tools within our ecosystem to allow us to dream of changing the world! If we don't know how to build the next Facebook, Google or Twitter how will we make our dreams come true? That's when having many more small to mid size successes will help build such ecosystem. But when well prepared, it doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for the fence and knock it out of the park either! __

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Angels & VCs · 0 replies · +1 points

Would love to see this debate expanded and put to the forefront even more! Too bad I missed the Capital Innovation event in Montreal yesterday. I also just read Les Affaires article by @mckenTeralys et sa bande: ...http://bit.ly/dhZv58 OUCH! This didn't sound good!

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - It\'s not just about S... · 1 reply · +1 points

Way to go Mark! Go Montreal Go! We also see great companies startup in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, New York and on and on.

The message I took out of Venture Hacks is the Boyz Clubbing or the Network per say. Having access the the resources (money, people) is one thing, having real-time interfacing opportunities to bump into people that can make a difference for your business is crucial and somewhat the "X-Factor of the Valley".

Clusters are built through time and I do think Montreal like many other places in Northern Canada are building the next generation of startups. In Canada, we need more visibility around our successes -our stars - we tend to be too reserved when instead we should promote our successes, our entrepreneurs!

We also could truly benefit from our own "PayPal Wars" type of entrepreneurial network!! We saw what the Softimage did to the Montreal economy... over 15 CEO's or co-founders were born through their passage at Softimage, and they created what is now one of the strongest gaming and post-production clusters in North America.

We need MORE of these to compete with the World, not just the Valley!!!

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Startup Visa Canada · 0 replies · +1 points

David Crow: your comments ROCK, you are right-on!

Advice is welcomed, I invite anybody to get in touch with me with ideas, constructive comments or opportunities to sound board. Meanwhile, I applaud initiatives such as Danny’s startup Visa Canada, ACTING instead of sitting back and complaining.

If you want change for the better, then get up and make it happen, you’ll be surprise of how much support you’ll get from the community.

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Startup Visa Canada · 1 reply · +1 points

Danny,
Great initiative, synergies are needed in any environment but most importantly the need for a dynamic an open environment to let innovations flow. I think the visa opportunity/issue is more of a US one than a Canadian one, yet I support the initiative and think it can only help build a stronger web of knowledge, entrepreneurs and investors alike.

The “broken VC model” comment is soooooooooooooooooooo old and out of context that reading “empty comments” about it truly irritates me now. Like any other business or industry, the Venture Capital business model needs to evolve or it will eventually die. It’s not more broken then it was in the bubble years or in the ‘80’s when you could count the number of active privately managed VC funds on one hand!

14 years ago @ Redeye VC - Company Math vs VC Math · 0 replies · +3 points

Great post Josh. In times like today, getting the message across to both sides of the equation is as important. In Canada, data is tends to state that there will be 33% less VC's within the next 3 years. Thus, those still in the market are those who need to understand (or maybe they are those who do!). I had your post "re-posted" on the Canadian Venture Capital Association blog VCRants, hoping to reach out even further.