FINANCIAL POST
T H U R S D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 4 , 2 0 1 6
CA LG A RY H E R A L D
PH OTOS BY J EN N PIERC E/ F O R T H E C A L G A RY H E R A L D
EVENT RECAP C A P I TA L B U Z Z
IS YOUR BUSINESS READY TO LAUNCH? Entrepreneurs talk about how they knew the time was right
Here’s what Capital Ideas members took away from the Jan. 28 panel:
“Melissa of Wean Green on how to differentiate in the market: brand and personality — good advice”
Victoria Bennett, strategic marketing principal at Bennett Milner Williams Consulting, @VikiBennett
“Great businesses start with meeting personal need.”
Christine Reimer, president, Bridge The Gap Accounting Services Ltd., @BridgeGapYYC
“(Joel’s) a business owner. Oh, and a mortgage broker. Oh, and a graphic designer.”
Amber Craig, CEO at Bamboo Creative, @AmberCraig_
“The cost of starting a software business these days is (almost) zero — @Daycareiq. What are you waiting for!?” Startup Calgary, @startupcalgary
“Think of your current employer as an investor in your future business, says TakeChargeSOS’s Joel Olandesca”
Anna Leyva, independent management + strategy consultant, @annaleyvayyc
ON THE FIRST BUSINES S PLAN
ON FINDING THE R I G H T NA M E
“I was a former first grade teacher on maternity leave, so I had a duotang with lined paper and Mr. Sketch (markers) and I wrote a business plan with that. The entire first business plan is done in Mr. Sketch … I had it from the moment I thought ‘OK, I’m going to try this and see what happens.’”
“Really cool ideas, for some reason, come about when you’re in the bathroom … SOS came about (like that). I literally took a napkin and started sketching logo ideas then. It happened so fast. Within a few days we were registered as a business, we had a website and we had our first order for equipment.”
MELISSA GUNNING, CEO & f o u n d e r o f We a n G re e n , weangreen.com
JOEL OLANDESCA, creator & co-founder of SOS Charging Solutions, soschargingsolutions.ca
ON BALANCING A D AY J O B
“It is very tough to work your eight hours a day, then go home and find time. If you have the motivation and you have the dedication you make it work. If you want to succeed, you have to make those kinds of sacrifices.” CRAIG PEARCE, co-founder of DaycareIQ, daycareiq.com
LISTEN NOW
Hear a podcast of the panel You can hear the entire discussion in our podcast. Download: capitalideascalgary.com/podcast Subscribe: “Capital Ideas Calgary” on iTunes and Stitcher
ONLINE For the full recap of “Is your business ready to launch?” visit capitalideascalgary.com/news.
Thank you! Kevin Chatain, manager of entrepreneurship at ATB Business, presents Paul Boucher, bilingual voice actor/president of Right Voice Communications Inc. (paulboucher.com), with a door prize after the event.
Questions? Contact us at hello@capitalideascalgary.com
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