IntenseDebate

14 years ago @ asymco - What do you have to be... · 1 reply · +1 points

I don't think carriers are exclusively in the drivers seat here. Apple retail is selling phones. Microsoft is ramping up their retail efforts. In Europe, unlocked, full price phones are the norm, it is only in North America that we have 2/3 year contracts with subsidized hardware.

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Jobs: Web Developers a... · 0 replies · +1 points

iQmetrix is also hiring in our Vancouver office. We're looking for people in UX (designer, interaction architect) and QA (director, leads). Contact me for more info.

14 years ago @ Feld Thoughts - An Alternative For The... · 2 replies · +1 points

Couldn't you use Gist for this?

I agree that AB isn't a great app. It's got APIs and some of the things mentioned below sit on top of it ... but actually try and do a bunch of other things as well.

I don't really "use" Address Book -- it's just a local sync point to other sources of data. Most notably, Google Contacts, which syncs acroos to Batchbook (social CRM -- sort of like Gist, but more CRM focused than info focused).

Talking about live connects and so on makes me think BB or Gist could make a desktop client and do really well on the Mac.

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Canada needs more Ange... · 0 replies · +1 points

There is a lack of investors in Canada. I think that has lead, in part, to a lack of local entrepreneurs. We can debate which part of the chicken and the egg came first.

14 years ago @ StartupCFO - Canada needs more Ange... · 0 replies · +1 points

My Devil's Advocate is not so much that I'm against doing a startup ... but rather that I have seen little in Canada's current academic institutions that sets students up with the right background to tackle this.

So ... why go to university?

Our academic institutions need a refresh and a kick in the pants.

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

Devil's advocate: why do we need more student entrepreneurs? Don't we just need more entrepreneurs, period?

If straight out of university is the best place to get more of them, then great, but I have yet to be convinced of that _in Canada_. The schools with co-op programs seem to do the best job of preparing students to be entrepreneurs (because they learn by doing directly in industry). I have yet to interact with students from any other program that seem to have the requisite skillset or fire in their belly to become an entrepreneur. And, even in the co-op program, the best students are heavily courted by the big companies, making it hard to say no to the man and go it alone.

I say, go work for the man for a couple of years, fill up that bank account and your rolodex, and THEN do a startup. In Canada, doing it straight out of school with the current financing and mentorship climate, simply isn't a smart thing to do.

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Wertz joins board, fir... · 0 replies · +1 points

Not sure. Might be Intense Debate cleaning up some of the spam trackbacks - looks like many of the TC, Gigaom,etc. stories get re-aggregated all over the place.

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Beer label design day ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks all for the pointers to local brewing supplies. Maybe we'll go fancy and get casks...

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Startup Visa Canada · 4 replies · +1 points

I just got back from a really quick trip to Miami. I connected with one of the companies that applied to our January intake, but didn't make the final selection. Meeting with him and with other people there, it's clear that the region suffers from some of the same issues that Vancouver / BC suffers from on an ecosystem basis.

Yes, we are in global competition for entrepreneurs. I asked Stewart Butterfield why he was starting his new company here, and his answer was, in essence, "because I like living here". I am actually completely OK with that as a competitive advantage for our region!

Can we agree that we want a more "knowledge based" economy in Vancouver / BC / Canada? If yes, then we need more startups starting in Canada. I'm happy to welcome startups with great teams and ideas wherever they're coming from.

14 years ago @ Bootup Labs Blog - Bootup Labs Demo Days ... · 1 reply · +1 points

Actually, the companies have presented / demo'd locally at lots of events. If you missed them, feel free to come by the office and meet the teams.

You and I have talked about more tech focused events - I'm trying to fit a DemoCamp in with heavy tech presentations. Want to help source some?

I think Startup Drinks (Jan 2010) will be a good opportunity to meet the next group.

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