links

Values or Value First?

Here’s a wrap-up of the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table dinner held at the Wildwood Grill on Tuesday August 29th in Calgary.
The theme was Technology Marketing and the discussion was animated as attendees discussed a broad range of topics including: choosing a business partner (look at the culture/values first or the numbers/value first?); internal blogging strategies [...]

Here’s a wrap-up of the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table dinner held at the Wildwood Grill on Tuesday August 29th in Calgary.

The theme was Technology Marketing and the discussion was animated as attendees discussed a broad range of topics including: choosing a business partner (look at the culture/values first or the numbers/value first?); internal blogging strategies (education, keywords, etc.); SEO (conversion vs. clicks); varying business views of the role of marketing in Calgary (commodities trading, t-shirts, strategic role); finding customer champions (internal influence, heroes, etc.); vibrant communities (taking the good with the bad); and ideas for growing technology marketing know-how and expertise in Calgary.

Representatives of the following companies were at the table: Divestco, Curve Dental, Intuit, Evoco, Tynt, iStockphoto, RenoWorks, Shopster, Cambrian House, Uncommon Innovation, and Mob4Hire.

Feedback from the evening:

“Great contacts, folks I’d been meaning to connect with for some time, interesting discussion.”

“I really enjoyed the event and thought it was useful to get together with fellow technology marketers and talk about functional and current business issues.”

“Thanks very much for organizing the dinner last night - it was one of the best industry events I have been to.”

Clockwise from upper left: Stephen King (Curve Dental), Christine Dougan (Intuit), Peter Koizumi (Shopster), Shekhar Parmar (STIRR Canada), Doug Vickerson (RenoWorks), Carey Houston (Evoco), Yvonne Beyer (iStockphoto), Claudia Moore (STIRR Canada).

Finding Great Talent: Event Wrap-up

“The challenge in finding and retaining great sales and marketing talent” was one of the hot discussion topics at the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table held on July 3rd, at the Tribune Restaurant in Calgary.
A group of 10 emerging and established tech startup founders and funders were invited to the dinner, hosted by STIRR Canada’s Patrick [...]

“The challenge in finding and retaining great sales and marketing talent” was one of the hot discussion topics at the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table held on July 3rd, at the Tribune Restaurant in Calgary.

A group of 10 emerging and established tech startup founders and funders were invited to the dinner, hosted by STIRR Canada’s Patrick Lor and Claudia Moore. Among the companies represented were Acceleware, Calgary Scientific, VoodooPC (HP), Userful, and Evoco, as well as the evening’s sponsor Macleod Dixon.

Discussions covered a range of other topics including: best practices in working with international partners and resellers, startup culture, the ins and outs of tax credits and government funding, when to outsource, and more … talk continued on past dessert.

Some of the attendee feedback included:

• “It’s nice to have exposure to raw entrepreneurial spirit/DNA …”
• “I lost track of the time owing to the terrific conversation.”
• “I appreciated the small format discussion - and the ability to ask questions and share experiences.”
• “It was interesting hearing about the common issues all our companies suffer …”

More Founders’ Tables are planned for this summer, with a larger Tech Mixer planned for the fall. Stay tuned for dates, locations and times.

West Coast F&F event

If you’ll be in the Vancouver area in mid June, there’s a tech entrepreneur community event of interest. Following successful Founders & Funders events in Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver is primed to host the first West Coast Founders & Funders event in Vancouver on June 17th.
Vancouver’s Boris Mann (right) from Bootup Labs has been working [...]

If you’ll be in the Vancouver area in mid June, there’s a tech entrepreneur community event of interest. Following successful Founders & Funders events in Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver is primed to host the first West Coast Founders & Funders event in Vancouver on June 17th.

Vancouver’s Boris Mann (right) from Bootup Labs has been working with David Crow, Jevon MacDonald and Austin Hill to get this first West Coast event ramped up. After the June F&F dinner, their next Western Canada event will likely be in October. Stay tuned.

In addition to organizing Vancouver DemoCamp and BarCamp events with the local tech community, Boris also collaborates with Maura Rodgers at Strutta on Vancouver LaunchParty socials. Lots happening on the West Coast to link up the tech community!