Kelly Thompson, iStockphoto's COO

University of Calgary Computing Science alumni and students joined with STIRR Canada members on January 21st to exchange start-up stories, advice, and ideas at the most recent TechMixer. Calgary-based  iStockphoto’s global success in the microstock photography industry was the topic of the evening.

Kelly Thompson (iStockphoto COO) and Patrick Lor (iStockphoto founding team) shared stories about their early years as entrepreneurs, highlighted the company’s peaks and valleys, and fielded questions from the audience of aspiring tech entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Macleod Dixon for their continued sponsorship of Calgary’s tech entrepreneur community!

Brad Sewall welcomes the audience

Adrian Zissos, (left), Merak Projects co-founder

Dr. Bob Schulz, UofC

Pat Lor, STIRR Canada

UofC CSPS Alumni Assoc.

The event is free for students, and $5 for STIRR members and University alumni.

The event takes place Wednesday, January 21, 6:00 at MacEwan Hall on the University of Calgary campus. For more details and to register, click HERE. [link will direct you to a secure University of Calgary information and registration page]

As promised, some more details on the upcoming STIRR Canada Tech Mixer in Calgary:

How Canada’s AbeBooks engineered its multi-million dollar sale

Boris Wertz, CEO at Nexopia & Director at Abebooks (photo courtesy of Kris Krug, via a Creative Commons Licence)

On Oct 15th, headliner Boris Wertz, CEO of Edmonton’s Nexopia, will be in Calgary at a STIRR Canada Tech Mixer event to share insights on how his previous venture, AbeBooks, won the attention of Amazon and was recently acquired.

Attendees to this invitation-only event will also be first to hear 60-second elevator pitches from a select group of local “under the radar” tech founders. Get ready to mingle with a great group of seasoned and emerging tech industry players!

YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF STIRR CANADA TO ATTEND.

Our membership is limited to high-tech startup founders, founding teams, former founders, angel and VC funders, and technology journalists. Please click on the “APPLY” tab above to complete our application form.

General Information: Info [at] stirr.ca

Press Contact: Media [at] stirr.ca

Sponsors: Sponsors [at] stirr.ca

STIRR is known for great events - big and small. Get ready for a BIG STIRR Canada event this October 15th - more than 100 tech entrepreneurs will meet up in Calgary for the Fall Tech MIxer. Come to this Main Event to meet founding high-tech peers, get great advice from successful founders and funders; learn about some under-the-radar emerging tech companies, and have a great time.

WATCH FOR MORE DETAILS ON TICKETS AND FEATURED COMPANIES - COMING SOON!

You must be a member of STIRR Canada to purchase tickets! If you haven’t joined already, please click on the APPLY tab (above) and tell us more about you.

Wireless Dynamics
dTech
CoolIT Systems
x-Tech
DirectVoxx
VoodooPC
Octane Capital
iNovia Capital

Much talk was around marketing, PR, getting visibility, and tech product management. The importance of a brand strategy that is implemented with consistency was discussed as an important component of getting noticed. The dinner conversation then turned to the ups and downs of selling into big, multi-national companies (many stories were told!), as well as the differences in marketing enterprise technology vs. consumer devices. Before the evening ended, the topic of “building businesses with an exit strategy in mind” was tabled.

Invites have gone out for the next Calgary Founders’ Table. This invitation-only dinner for tech-driven entrepreneurs will kick off the conversation with a window on the challenges and opportunities facing hardware-oriented tech startups.

HOW TO JOIN: If you’re the founder or funder of a tech startup, and you’re interested in joining STIRR Canada, please click on the Apply tab (above) and complete our Application Form … tell us more about you and your company.

HOW TO SPONSOR: If you’re interested in sponsoring a STIRR Canada event, please click on the Sponsor tab (above) to find out more.

WHAT’S ON FOR FALL?: Invites will go out in September for our big fall Calgary Tech-Mixer event - get ready for some great Hacks, special guests, and networking opportunities!

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).

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.

Another Western Canadian tech community event is planned for July. Sign up for BarCamp Edmonton - to be held on July 19th, 10:00 am at the Edmonton World Trade Center, Floor 6. Sponsors for the event are Nexopia and TEC Edmonton.

Interested in learning more about new tech or meeting peers from the Edmonton tech community in a casual and friendly setting? Think about which topic you’d be interested in leading a 20-minute interactive discussion about. MORE INFO HERE .. including beer and food details!! Thanks to Cam Linke for the heads up.