Ottawa business journal 20150831

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Tech’s ‘Better’ man

Ottawa Commercial Leasing

A familiar problem prompted party rental guru Steve Cody to reinvent himself as a software producer > PAGES 10-11

August 31, 2015 Vol. 18, NO. 21

creating the right space for your business merkburn.com 613.224.5464

For daily business news visit obj.ca

Steering us wrong The City of Ottawa needs to rethink its secretive approach to parking rules, says Michael Prentice. > PAGES 8-9

Candace Tierney launched her company earlier this summer after coming up with an ice cream alternative that uses oats. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Frozen oat treat a hot summer hit U of O business graduate turns creamy dairy-free confection into a sweet success Lactose intolerant entrepreneur’s creation is no run-of-the-mill ice cream knockoff, as her growing sales figures prove > PAGE 4

2O15

Take Your Business To The Next Level LEARN | CONNECT | BE INSPIRED

Theatre encore?

Gladstone Theatre’s conditional buyer is committed to keeping venue open, leaseholder says. > PAGE 12 Canada Post Publications Mail: Agreement No. 41639025

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“One of the things I noticed about oats is that they’re very creamy, so I thought, ‘Well, what’s the best cream-based food you can get?’ Ice cream, right?”

– CANDACE TIERNEY, FOUNDER OF OAT & MILL

An ice cream lover who has a hard time digesting dairy foods, Candace Tierney invented an oat-based frozen dessert. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

The cream of the startup crop MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

Recent University of Ottawa grad’s dairy-free, oat-based frozen dessert has scooped up growing sales in its first summer on the market

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BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

C

andace Tierney is a self-confessed ice cream fanatic who also happens to be lactose intolerant.

You don’t need a doctor to tell you that’s probably not a healthy combination.

“I’m the type of person where, if I have one scoop, I’m gonna have 10,” the budding young entrepreneur says with a chuckle. “If you ask anyone who has lactose intolerance, the feeling after eating dairy is just so bad. You feel like

you’re dying.”

But finding a way to get the dairy fix she craved without the dairy wasn’t easy – until a stint in Thailand introduced her to an alternative.

While earning her degree in commerce at the University of Ottawa, Ms. Tierney spent time studying international business at Thammasat University in Bangkok. There she discovered coconut ice cream, a popular treat that tasted great and was much gentler on her stomach.

Even so, it had its drawbacks.

“The texture is really nice,” she says.

“However, every single flavour tastes like coconut.”

Coconuts also don’t exactly grow on trees here at home, so when she returned to Canada, she searched for another option.

She found it on her breakfast table.

An “avid oatmeal eater,” Ms. Tierney wondered why people usually eat the cereal grain only in the form of porridge, despite its widespread reputation as a heart-healthy food high in fibre, protein and vitamins.

“Oats are extremely nutritious and in Canada, oats grow like a weed,” explains the 23-year-old, who has been a vegan for several years. “They’re completely pesticide-free and just a natural crop to

grow. Every time I have oats, I feel good after having them. Why is it that we only have them for breakfast?”

That’s when her favourite food came to mind.

“One of the things I noticed about oats is that they’re very creamy, so I thought, ‘Well, what’s the best cream-based food you can get?’” she says. “Ice cream, right?”

Following that “ah-ha” moment, Ms. Tierney formed a company, Oat & Mill, in early June with the goal of producing an organic, oat-based frozen dessert.

Whether the idea would actually work was another story. Backed by $20,000 in funding from the University of Ottawa’s Startup Garage incubator, she hired three employees, read everything she could about making ice cream and produced hundreds of test batches in an effort to find the perfect formula.

Unlike most ice cream, the process was far from smooth. It took some time – and more than a little frustration – to come up with the right combination of finely milled oats and water for the product’s “cream” base.

“There were so many times where I just thought, ‘OK, this just isn’t working.

Let’s make something else – let’s make cheese,’” she says with a hearty laugh.

“The frozen part makes it so tricky. If you put too much water in it, you’re going to end up with a crystallized product. But we kept at it.”

She and her staff eventually hit on a “creamy and smooth” product they think stacks up nicely against the real deal. Most customers can’t even tell the difference, she says, and they can feel good about enjoying a treat that is made from 80 per cent organic ingredients with no animal byproducts and has slightly fewer calories than its dairy-based counterpart.

Continued on page 7

— SPONSORED CONTENT —

CHANGE LOG TECH VETERAN HELMS OTTAWA INNOVATION STUDY A former senior Nortel Networks employee has teamed up with Invest Ottawa and i-Canada to conduct a survey about how Ottawa stacks up as an innovative city. Sorin Cohn, now president of BD COHNsulting and a 35-year business and tech veteran, will lead the study, along with i-Canada co-founder Barry Gander. The survey will measure the city’s data sharing, sustainable growth initiatives, entrepreneurism and research and tech sectors. Results of the study will be compared against the benchmarks of other global cities considered “intelligent” communities.

ELECTRIC BIKE COMPANY HOPES TO KICK-START SUCCESS An Ottawa startup peddling electric bicycles came up short in its recent Kickstarter campaign goal but still has lofty ambitions for 2016. The family-run company, uMov Technologies, was founded on the idea of offering safe, reliable and cost-effective alternative modes of transportation. While its crowdfunding campaign raised only $30,000 of its $100,000 goal, founder Binyamin Shimshoon said he hopes to find investors, open a store and, if all goes well, generate $300,000 in revenue – enough to turn a profit – next year.

FITNESS STARTUP LICENSES BUSINESS MODEL, EYES EXPANSION An Ottawa entrepreneur who started a fruitful fitness business nine years ago is ramping up for expansion across North America. JeanLuc Boissoneault recently made the decision to license his business model for Free Form Fitness and said the reaction so far has been encouraging. The 2014 Forty Under 40 recipient said he had been working on the

licensing idea for about two years, deciding on licensing instead of franchising because it gives him more flexibility to adapt to the everchanging fitness market. There’s been interest in Toronto, he said, and cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles would be good for his business model.

NEW CRAFT BREWERY LAUNCHES IN OTTAWA Time to add another suds maker to the evergrowing list of Ottawa-based craft breweries.

The Weather Brewery recently launched with a Belgian-style beer called “Sun and Sky.” Brewmaster Zach Trynda visited Startup Ottawa’s finance boot camp in mid-August to get a taste of what it takes to make a startup successful. The company’s beer is available at five establishments in Ottawa – The Black Tomato, Brothers Beer Bistro, the Cheshire Cat Pub, Union Local 613 and Wellington Gastropub – joining an Ottawa-area craft brewery explosion that include Beau’s, Beyond the Pale, Kichesippi and many others.

L-SPARK PREPARES FOR ACCELERATOR COHORT Startups chosen for one of Ottawa’s newest accelerators will compete this month for the opportunity to grow their businesses to qualify for series-A financing in an intensive ninemonth program. L-Spark wants young softwareas-a-service and cloud-based companies with at least $10,000 to $30,000 in monthly recurring revenue that are disrupting a rapidly growing market. The program features oneon-one mentorship, access to a community of experts and meetings with venture capitalist and angel investors. Selected applicants will pitch to L-Spark on Sept. 22.

Calendar on page 7

The 21 st Annual

600 ATTENDEES | 55 SPEAKERS | 12 SESSIONS Register Today Early Bird Rate $380 + HST* *Early bird rate ends September 14

by Bruce Lazenby, President and CEO, Invest Ottawa

I

n partnership with i-Canada, we have launched a landmark study to advance Ottawa’s position as Canada’s model for business innovation.

I truly think this study will prove our town “Owns the Podium” when it comes to business innovation in Canada.

We often hear from cities who are quick to claim that they are ‘punching above their weight’, however we feel Ottawa, home to more than 1700 technology companies, is a truly a notch above the rest. Staying ahead of the crowd is why we are undertaking the study: it is the first study of its kind to apply science and methodology to municipal innovation.

Leading this project is Barry Gander, Co-Founder of i-Canada, and Dr. Sorin Cohn, President of BD Cohnsulting Inc. Dr. Cohn has over 35 years of international business and technology experience, having studied the topic of innovation at length.

He recently told me, “The term innovation has become a buzzword.

Business innovation is actually the transformation of ideas and knowledge into higher value. It enables companies (and cities) to achieve a better competitive position where it matters: in the market and in society at large.”

The team points to a myriad of key factors which make the case for Ottawa’s leadership role, including:

• High growth, technology-intensive sectors like Life Sciences, Clean Tech, IT and Software are typically strong at R&D. • Ottawa accounts for 90% of Canada’s industrial telecommunications R&D. • Ottawa hosts more top ICT companies than any city in Canada, outside of Toronto.

• Ottawa has two brand new commercialization centres (CENGN and MDCC) helping Canadian businesses bring their cutting edge products to the global market faster.

• Ottawa’s technology companies have raised more money in IPO’s over the last five years than the major Canadian cities combined.

• The Financial Times just named Ottawa the “Most business friendly” mid-sized city in all of the Americas.

The global marketplace gets more competitive with every passing year. All cities are trying to develop better talent and ecosystems, and to attract the best residents and businesses. To achieve this in Ottawa, we need your help and ideas. Visit our website at investottawa. ca to take participate in the study. It’s the first step on the journey to making Ottawa the most innovative city in Canada, and an example to the world.

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For full conference details and to register visit www.realestateforums.com/ottawaref

We need your help.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

October 8, 2015 Ottawa Conference & Event Centre

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Hot dam!

M

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

anaging water is big business in Canada. In fact, Canada is the second-largest producer of hydroelectricity after China and consumes almost 11 per cent of all the hydroelectric power generated globally.

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Add to that the water management systems required for mining operations and crop irrigation in our vast resource and agriculture sectors, flood control, recreation and drinking water. It’s no wonder that Canadian engineers who specialize in dams, reservoirs and other water management infrastructure are so highly regarded around the world.

from Canada, the U.S. and abroad. CDA regularly engages with the international community through the Paris-based International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD).

Ottawa topped the list Each year, ICOLD holds an annual meeting that draws about 1,500 delegates from around the world. It’s a regular pilgrimage for the Canadian industry. About 18 months ago, the CDA decided it was time to play host after years without an ICOLD event in Canada, and set out to make a bid for the 2019 annual meeting.

“Canada is a significant player in the international dam community,” said Don Butcher, Executive Director of the Canadian Dam Association (CDA). “We tend to punch above our weight.”

CDA considered seven Canadian cities as possible venues. But four factors whittled that list down to Ottawa – access to local dams for technical tours, international access, and the fact that this is the nation’s capital and a bilingual city.

CDA is a non-profit industry association dedicated to promoting excellence in dam and reservoir engineering, construction and operation. It has about 800 members

For Butcher, Ottawa and host venue the Shaw Centre are just the right size to accommodate an event like ICOLD’s annual meeting. The 1,500 delegates

Why Ottawa was just the right fit for an international dam meeting

and their guests also have easy access to services and a variety of hotel accommodation options to suit every budget.

“Ottawa is a nice and compact city in that way,” he said. “It’s really to Ottawa’s advantage to have the convention centre and such a range of hotel options within walking distance, as well as a relatively close and accessible airport. For an event organizer, these are all great benefits.”

But having chosen a host city was only half the battle. CDA still had to mount a winning bid.

Even before the CDA had chosen Ottawa, Butcher had engaged with Ottawa Tourism to help sort out the details. From the start, he was impressed by the willingness to step up and help.

Ottawa Tourism assisted with creating a promotional video, and provided marketing materials and handouts for CDA’s pitch to ICOLD in Norway this past

June. It even did the legwork to confirm availability and pricing for 2019 with the Shaw Centre and local hotels.

CDA won its bid to host ICOLD’s 2019 annual meeting in Ottawa within days of making the pitch.

“We appreciate at the highest level the efforts from Ottawa Tourism and its team,” Butcher said. “They really stepped up. We would have been challenged to do this on our own without a whole lot of additional effort and cost. As a small non-profit with a limited budget, we appreciate the help the community can provide.”

Is there an event you want to bring to Ottawa?

For more information, please contact Lesley Mackay at LMackay@ottawatourism.ca, or call 613-237-5150, ext. 122.

“A little thing is a little thing but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing.” – HUDSON TAYLOR

Continued from page 4 “You’re eating oats, and oats are healthy for you,” she says, calling her concoction a “guilt-free pleasure.”

So far, Ms. Tierney says, the market response has been even better than expected.

The Smiths Falls-based operation has sold out every batch as fast as it could make it, anywhere from 100 to 300 litres a week, thanks mainly to word-of-mouth advertising. About 60 per cent of its sales are online – customers can have their favourite flavours delivered right to their door – with the rest coming at local farmers’ markets and events such as last weekend’s Ottawa Craft Beer Festival. The company expects to hit $20,000 in sales by the end of the month.

The adventurous Ms. Tierney says she’ll attempt any flavour a customer suggests. Of the dozens she’s produced so far, the most popular are chocolate peanut

Revved up about Startup Garage Candace Tierney isn’t the only young entrepreneur in Ottawa with big business dreams.

Her new frozen dessert company, Oat & Mill, was just one of several firms that were celebrated at the University of Ottawa’s Startup Garage Rally earlier this month.

A 90-day boot camp for first-time entrepreneurs, Startup Garage provides funding, training, office space and mentorship for students and young businesspeople from eastern Ontario. Among the rising companies it has helped launch are MicroMetrics, which markets technology designed to make it easier for stores to gather customer feedback from devices such as mobile tablets, and Gymtrack, which makes a system that helps gymgoers monitor their workouts.

Aside from Oat & Mill, the other startups

CALENDAR Bootstrapping Your Business Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 1 to 3:30 p.m.

Invest Ottawa, 80 Aberdeen St. Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

butter, chocolate chip cookie dough and Nanaimo bar. She’s a particular fan of the Earl Grey-infused London Fog, while her younger customers seem to be partial to one called unicorn poop, which has a vanilla base covered in sprinkles.

“The kids love that one,” she says. “One of our main goals when we started was to have kid approval. That’s the toughest.

Kids don’t like healthy food, for the most part.”

Ever ambitious, Ms. Tierney says her long-term goal is to eventually expand to other markets.

“Shipping frozen goods can be really challenging, so we’ll see,” she says.

In the meantime, Oat & Mill’s initial success has been, well, sweet.

“I was thinking maybe we’ll have a couple of people try it and like it,” Ms. Tierney says. “But every week we sell out.

And every week, we can’t believe that we still have jobs.”

honoured at this year’s rally on Aug. 27 were: • CigBins, a cigarette butt collection and recycling service; • eCelery, a web-based delivery service that connects customers to chefs from a variety of ethnic backgrounds who make home-cooked meals; • Enplex, which makes an electronic wristband that transfers contact information between users with just a handshake or fist bump; • GameStrat, which provides football coaches with a platform to analyze plays while a game is in progress; • Predikat, which makes software that helps companies predict when a customer is likely to defect and offers solutions for retaining clients; • and Tyto Robotics, which makes hardware and software that gives robot and drone designers the ability to test small motors and acquire motor data.

Ottawa’s Internet of Things Conference Thursday, Sept. 24 to Friday, Sept. 25 Maker Space North, 250 City Centre, Bay 216 Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

Patents 101 Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Algonquin College, 1385 Woodroffe Ave. Info and registration at eventbrite.ca

Is Your Business Idea Feasible?

Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Invest Ottawa, 80 Aberdeen St. Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

Kanata North Networking Evening Wednesday, Sept. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Marshes, 320 Terry Fox Dr. Info and registration at kanatanorthbia.ca/ events

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Startup Finance Bootcamp Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Kivuto, 151 George St. Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

Mobile Apps 101 Monday, Sept. 14 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Invest Ottawa, 80 Aberdeen St. Info and registration at investottawa.ca/events

Career Mastery for Turbulent Times Thursday, Sept. 24 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St. Info and registration at careercoachint.com/ workshop

COMMENTARY Great River Media 250 City Centre Ave., Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6K7 obj.ca PUBLISHER Michael Curran, 238-1818 ext. 228 publisher@obj.ca SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF SALES Don Mersereau, 238-1818 ext. 286 CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Terry Tyo, 238-1818 ext. 268 EDITOR, PRINT CONTENT David Sali, 238-1818 ext. 269 david@greatriver.ca EDITOR, ONLINE CONTENT Tom Pechloff, 238-1818 ext. 291 editor@obj.ca COPY EDITOR Krystle Kung CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tanya Connolly-Holmes, 238-1818 ext. 253 creative@obj.ca ART DEPARTMENT Jamie Dean, 238-1818 ext. 278 jamie@greatriver.ca Regan VanDusen, 238-1818 ext. 254 regan@obj.ca ADVERTISING SALES Wendy Baily, 238-1818 ext. 244 wbaily@obj.ca Alison Stewart, 238-1818 ext. 226 alison@obj.ca

The three-hour on-street parking limit between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. applies regardless of whether there are signs posting it. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Few signs of common sense in Ottawa’s parking bylaws City’s secretive and uneven approach to three-hour limits needs to change, Michael Prentice writes

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

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irst, let’s give credit where credit is due: The City of Ottawa deserves praise for its role in keeping parking rates in check in the heart of the city.

It does so by charging reasonable rates for city-run parking lots and short-term on-street parking. This puts pressure on the private sector not to raise its parking rates too high.

However, the city does a poor job in applying a bylaw that restricts daytime on-street parking in Ottawa to a maximum of three hours any day of the year – weekends and public holidays included.

This three-hour limit between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. seven days a week applies regardless of whether there are signs on the street informing motorists of this parking restriction.

How are Ottawa visitors supposed to know that they must not park in the same spot longer than three hours if there is no sign informing them of this limit?

I’ve lived here nearly 40 years, but assumed the three-hour limit did not apply on, say, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. I was vague on whether it applied on weekends.

Now I know – thanks to a recent article in the Ottawa Citizen by the paper’s consumer crusader, Hugh Adami. He recently recounted the story of a woman

SOME OF OTTAWA’S BEST PARKING DEALS: Underground parking at World Exchange Plaza, Metcalfe and Albert streets, is free for unlimited periods on weekends.

Free parking for up to three hours any day of the week is available on some residential streets within walking distance of downtown.

But read parking signs carefully. Lots of stores offer free parking for shoppers at the new Lansdowne Park. Among the most

from southwestern Ontario who got two $60 tickets for parking for more than three hours on a quiet residential Ottawa street near where she was staying.

She complained to City Hall and got a runaround. According to the Citizen, one unsympathetic city employee told her: “When you go visit somebody, don’t you ask about the rules of the house, like generous is Whole Foods, which recently lowered its spending minimum to $10 for 90 minutes of free parking. That’s a saving of $4.50, since the regular parking rate is $1.50 for 30 minutes. Indoor parking at City Hall costs a maximum of $2 on weekends, holidays and evenings.

… AND TWO OF THE WORST: Daytime parking on weekdays is $6 an hour at the National Arts Centre and $5 an hour at World Exchange Plaza.

Susan Salsbury, 238-1818 ext. 229 ssalsbury@obj.ca MARKETING & SALES CO-ORDINATOR Cristha Sinden, 238-1818 ext. 222 cristha@greatriver.ca INSIDE SALES SUPPORT Marc Nordemann-Keller, 238-1818 ext.259 marc@obj.ca CAREER ADVERTISING & MARKETPLACE ADVERTISING SALES 238-1818 ext. 251 VICE-PRESIDENT OF OTTAWA BUSINESS EVENTS Susan Blain, 238-1818 ext. 232 susan@ottawabusinessevents.ca FINANCE Jackie Whalen, 238-1818 ext. 250 jackie@greatriver.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS/DISTRIBUTION 238-1818 ext. 248 subscribe@obj.ca PRINTED BY Transcontinental Qualimax 130 Adrien-Robert, Parc Industriel Richelieu Gatineau, QC J8Y 3S2

Ottawa Business Journal is published by

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mark Sutcliffe PRESIDENT Michael Curran All content of Ottawa Business Journal is copyright 2015.

Great River Media Inc. and may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. Publisher’s Liability for error: The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with any advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of monies paid for the advertisement.

A guaranteed minimum of 14,000 copies per week are printed and distributed.

ERRAIN

CHALLENGING T

munity — wa’s tech com issues facing Otta too wide for many some of the key is still pullout looks at a gender gap that 12-page TECHOPIA a visionary CEO to bridging ace from how to repl

G TECH IN

CONNECTIN

OTTAWA

IS IT FINA’SLLY OTTAWA TIME TO THE SHINE IN LD? APP WORpes

VOL. 1, ISSUE 2

31, 2015 MONDAY, AUGUST

CHALLENGING TERRAIN

12-page TECHOPIA pullout looks at some of the key issues facing Ottawa’s tech community ­— from how to replace a visionary CEO to bridging a gender gap that is still too wide for many

ho Startup has higwh social media for Bumpn, nestudents at app aimed PAGES 6-7

CONNECTING TECH IN OTTAWA

IS IT FINALLY OTTAWA’S TIME TO SHINE IN THE APP WORLD? Startup has high hopes for Bumpn, new social media app aimed at students PAGES 6-7

VOL. 1, ISSUE 2

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

“It’s not good enough to stand aside and say I’ve developed something. Ideas are 10 a penny. You have to convert it to a business. And you have to meet with clients.”

— SIR TERENCE MATTHEWS, CANADIAN ENTREPRENEUR BLOG

INSIGHT SYSTEMS In-Touch Insight Systems: Patrick Leckey, Director Of Engineering, Jodie Hewson, Director Of Marketing, Cameron Watt, CEO MNP: Shawn Mincoff, Partner, Megan Jordan, Manager

Partners in Growth, Allies in Innovation As a cutting-edge business, you need growth strategies that are as innovative as you are. MNP has the expertise, knowledge and people to help you plan ahead while taking advantage of grants, tax credits and market know-how, right now. As the fastest-growing national accounting and business consulting firm in Canada, MNP has the same entrepreneurial spirit and mindset as you do. And when it comes to opportunities for technology, we help you create the future.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

Contact Shawn Mincoff, CPA, CA, at 613.691.4266 or shawn.mincoff@mnp.ca

TECHOPIA.CA

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SYSTEM UPDATE

Subscribe to TECHOPIA’s weekly e-mail newsletter at techopia.ca

OUT OF THE FOUNDER’S SHADOW What happens when a visionary leader moves on?

FORMER HALOGEN CEO PAUL LOUCKS STEPPED DOWN IN JULY AFTER 15 YEARS AT THE COMPANY’S HELM. FILE PHOTO had become a symbolic figure whose enlarged personality and public performances were a reflection of the company he built. He touched every functional area and left no doubt who was in charge.

In contrast, Mr. Cook chose to remain privately personable yet publicly professional while deftly managing and changing the leadership of key functional areas.

Sometimes he broadened roles and responsibilities, as he did with Jonathan Ive, now the company’s chief design officer. For Mr. Cook, Mr. Ive was simply the best leader for Apple’s hallmark functional area. Mr. Cook was no Mr. Jobs, nor did he want to be. He simply wanted to be the best at management.

The lesson is equally apt for smaller, less iconic companies where it can be an open secret that sometimes (although not always) visionary founders aren’t necessarily the best managers. With the departure of a founder, the opportunity for change usually emerges for the better.

And that change can lead to more proficient management structures.

An enlightened board will ask its executive recruiting firm not to find another guru or imitation founder, but someone who can manage the talent already in place. Replace the founder, if you will, with the next strong building block in the management foundation. The old adage “everyone is replaceable” is true not because people like Steve Jobs aren’t one in a million – they are. Founders are

replaceable because the void they leave is often one of personality.

Functional leaders are there for a reason: they possess the skills necessary to step up to increased management responsibility. Just as the founder needed to be hands-on in the early days, a sound management team needs to take the reins of functional responsibility in the days ahead. It’s not unusual for such a team to flourish once out of the founder’s shadow.

Not to be forgotten was Apple’s first attempt at a replacement CEO. More than 30 years ago, John Sculley, the chief executive and marketing guru from Pepsi, was recruited as Mr. Jobs’s replacement. An “imitation founder,” Mr. Sculley tried to mimic his predecessor’s mastery of innovation.

Yet he floundered and flopped with his pet product, the ‘Newton’ personal digital assistant.

As a faux founder trying to brighten Apple’s future, Mr. Sculley cast one of the notable shadows on the company’s otherwise storied history.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

EDITOR’S NOTE: In July, Halogen Software CEO Paul Loucks took many by surprise when he announced his resignation. “After meaningful reflection, I made the decision that I wanted to spend more time with my family and consider other interests over time,” the longtime chief executive said in a statement. Mr. Loucks became president and CEO of the software-asa-service company 15 years ago and orchestrated a major company pivot to HR software. He led the company to a $55-million IPO in 2013 and, later that year, was named CEO of the Year

by Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.

TECHOPIA asked local executive search expert E. A. Clarke, managing partner of the StoneWood Group, to comment on what it means when a founder leaves a company. Here is his edited response.

The departure of a company’s founder/chief executive can cast a shadow from its shop floor all the way to the stock exchange trading floor.

That’s often because the departing founder has a larger-than-life personality with the reputation of a guru and visionary. Invariably he or she knows the company, employees and managers better than anyone else. So amplified are their profiles, they have become the very embodiment of the firm.

In the early days, many founders earn their management stripes the hard way, by trial and error and by leading “war rooms” with sheer determination during times of trouble. The loss of this, even later on, can cast a pall on a company that might not have remained in existence without such leadership.

But there can be a touch of silver in the corporate lining as they depart.

Once board members believe no one is irreplaceable, they’ll place the emphasis on “manager” as much as “visionary” in their search for a new senior executive.

Recent history has shown the way.

When Apple, the world’s largest company, needed a new chief executive, it looked no further than Tim Cook, its most competent senior manager. Steve Jobs, his predecessor,

EA CLARK

MANAGING PARTNER, STONEWOOD GROUP

03 TECHOPIA.CA

“Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet.”

— DOUGLAS ADAMS, AUTHOR

GYMTRACK FOUNDERS PABLO SRUGO (LEFT) AND LEE SILVERSTONE SAY SILICON VALLEY ACCELERATOR 500 STARTUPS OPENED DOORS FOR THE NEW OTTAWA-BASED COMPANY THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EXISTED. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

SILICON VALLEY STARTUP ACCELERATOR DARED OTTAWA’S GYMTRACK TO DREAM BIG TECHOPIA.CA

04

BY JACOB SEREBRIN

Lee Silverstone was at the Montreal International Startup Festival last year when a chance meeting changed the trajectory of his business.

Mr. Silverstone, the co-founder and co-CEO of Ottawa-based Gymtrack, says he was telling a stranger about his

business, which sells a system of sensors and software that automatically tracks users’ workouts at the gym.

The man he was talking to “was swarmed with people, there were just people all around him pitching him ideas and I didn’t really understand why, we were just trying to talk,” Mr. Silverstone says.

The stranger gave Mr. Silverstone his card and asked to see his pitch deck.

It was only after walking away that Mr. Silverstone looked at the card and realized whom he had been talking to: Dave McClure, the founding partner of 500 Startups, a well-known Silicon Valley startup accelerator and venture capital fund that invests in early-stage

companies.

“We sent him our deck, met up with him for a drink later that evening and he was like, ‘Do you want to move to San Francisco and be in 500?’” Mr. Silverstone says. “It was Friday at this point and he’s like, ‘It starts on Monday.’”

Mr. Silverstone says he didn’t even have a passport at the time. But the next Wednesday he was on a flight to San Francisco, where he would spend the next four months.

“Every batch at 500 Startups, I think about 1,500 or 1,700 companies apply and they take 30. We didn’t even apply. It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” he says.

For Gymtrack, the first Ottawa firm to be selected for the accelerator program, it would open doors that the company’s cofounders didn’t even know existed.

“We had heard of venture capital but never thought it was a realistic option for us – it was always a pipe dream,” says Mr. Silverstone.

In February 2015, three months after Gymtrack completed the program, the company closed a $2.5-million investment round.

Mr. Silverstone and Pablo Srugo, the firm’s co-founder and co-CEO, say 500 Startups changed the way they thought about growing their business.

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Do something that people care about and do something that people buy or are going to buy.

I oftentimes see people building stuff because they think it’s cool. But if the customers don’t care, then no one’s going to care … build something that’s going to be big.

“It was a frame-of-reference change for us,” says Mr. Silverstone.

Mr. Srugo says that in Ottawa, “the message around (venture capital) is yeah, some people raise VC money and some people don’t and it’s a hard thing.”

He says that attitude change started on day one.

“You walk into 500 Startups and the first talk they have, the first thing I see, is this guy going up there being like, ‘Every single person here has a startup worth $6 million and every single person here is going to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next week,’” he says.

It was a big switch.

“A lot of times, unfortunately, we got very small-minded and closed-minded advice here in Ottawa,” Mr. Silverstone says. “When we got to the Bay Area, we saw it was all wrong.”

The 500 Startups accelerator program is described as a “buffet,” offering talks by industry experts every day and frequent visits by venture capitalists. Every startup is also paired with a partner at the company who acts as a sort of mentor.

At the same time, “you’re still running your business,” says Mr. Silverstone.

The program also comes with some cash – 500 Startups invests $100,000 in every company it accepts.

For Mr. Silverstone and Mr. Srugo, the experience gave their business more credibility, landing them meetings with some of the largest gym chains in the world, something that might not have

happened so early in the life of the company without the backing of such a program.

As with many Canadian endeavours, success in the United States led to recognition at home. Montreal-based Real Ventures was one of Gymtrack’s lead investors, along with White Star Capital, which has offices in Montreal, London and New York.

The program also gave them a chance to meet other entrepreneurs and build a strong network.

“When you go through a selection process and you’re weeding 30 companies out of 1,500 from around the world, you’re going to get serious people,” says Mr. Srugo. “Literally every single person there was, in their own way, spectacular. You’re learning things from everyone.”

Mr. Silverstone does have some advice for Ottawa-based companies that want to apply for a program like 500 Startups.

“Do something that people care about and do something that people buy or are going to buy. I oftentimes see people building stuff because they think it’s cool,” he says. “But if the customers don’t care, then no one’s going to care … build something that’s going to be big.”

WAVING THE FLAG Gymtrack was the first Ottawa company picked to attend 500 Startups, but it wasn’t the first Canadian company to attend the prestigious accelerator program. Of the more than 800

companies to graduate from 500 Startups, just over a dozen have been Canadian. (The 500 Startups venture capital fund has also invested in some companies that weren’t part of the accelerator.) Here are some of the most notable Canadian companies to attend the program: Rewardli: Founded by two Montrealers, it was a member of the very first “batch,” or cohort, at 500 Startups.

Initially, it was a group-buying site for small businesses. It later changed its name to PerkHub and now helps companies such as American Airlines and Google manage customer rewards.

Its co-founders recently launched an app to bring back doctor house calls.

Pinshape: Originally from Vancouver, it’s a marketplace for products that can be printed on 3D printers.

AgFunder: Founded in Toronto, it’s an equity crowdfunding platform focused on the agriculture industry.

Accredited investors can use it to invest in agriculture companies and agriculture technology firms. More than $20 million has been invested through the platform.

Fuzzy.io: This Montreal-based company is one of two Canadian startups currently in the accelerator program.

It helps developers easily add machine learning to websites and apps.

Remitbee: A Mississauga firm, it has developed an app that allows people to transfer money between devices and convert currencies at the same time.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

05 TECHOPIA.CA

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.”

— ARTHUR C. CLARKE, AUTHOR

CAN OTTAWA BUILD A CONSUMER APP WITH MASS APPEAL? Geolocation social media app Bumpn set to launch at local universities

BY STEPHEN KARMAZYN

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

Social media is big business.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, WhatsApp – all are members of the billion-dollar valuation club. So where does Ottawa’s tech community stand in terms of developing social media platforms and apps with broad consumer interest?

If that question left you scratching your head, consider Bumpn, a new social media app that is setting its sights high.

Geolocation is key to the app, allowing communities to form based on proximity. Think Facebook groups

TECHOPIA.CA

06

generated by geography.

Aimed at students – ground zero for nearly all social media virality – the app is intended to connect young adults at universities to each other using an interface familiar to the Facebook and Instagram generation.

With 10 schools targeted for its official launch this September and Bumpn ambassadors working to turn the social media platform viral, the local startup has big ambitions.

Already, its prototype has attracted 4,000 users since its launch earlier this summer.

“We actually started off as an eventbased sharing app,” says Moe Abbas, chief executive and co-founder of Bumpn. “And we had this cool location piece that let you discover nearby events.”

After talking with users and analyzing data, the company discovered Bumpn’s

location piece was a popular social networking tool.

“That’s when we had our ‘aha’ moment,” Mr. Abbas says. “We realized that existing social networks were not built around a user’s location. Our mission is to connect communities, and we’re starting with students.”

Based out of Nepean in an openconcept office with a “no-shoes” policy and a barbecue out front, the Bumpn team consists of nine full-time employees and a few interns at any one time. The startup hopes to be the next social media craze to challenge the space’s huge incumbents.

Calling Ottawa a “city on the rise” but lamenting the lack of venture capital interest and inclination towards low-risk investment, Mr. Abbas says he hopes he can bring more attention to the place he has called home most of his life.

Taking advantage of the federal

government’s Industrial Research Assistance Program, Bumpn gained partial funding, guidance and a network, three elements he believes are crucial to the survival of any startup.

“We’ve got to figure out how to survive as Ottawa startups,” Mr. Abbas says. “Hopefully that survival is in Ottawa. But if that survival is somewhere else … life and death is the ultimate motivator.”

The company is primarily being financed by IRAP, local investors and Michael Dunleavy of the LaBarge Weinstein law firm.

As for overcoming barriers into what is both a lucrative and very difficult market to breach? Mr. Abbas sees one major path.

“Virality with retention is the holy grail for social media applications,” he says.

While Bumpn will initially launch as a free app, Mr. Abbas plans to monetize by selling ad space on the application.

Mr. Abbas sees three major areas to feature those advertisements: branding the photo filter names, ads put in the community feeds that you follow and featured communities.

Examples of the three ad types would be a photo filter branded with the name of a company – an idea for which Bumpn has a patent pending – along with an ad for a nearby sandwich joint appearing in Carleton University student’s local feed, and a sponsored Red Bull community/ event feed.

“Revenue is a derivative of engagement. Once we have mindshare, we can find all sorts of ways of monetizing,” says Mr. Abbas.

Umar Ruhi, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, is an expert on social media and e-business.

Mr. Ruhi says consumers in the social media space are creatures of habit, something that could pose a huge hurdle for Bumpn.

“From a customer standpoint, the network effects and the switching costs, those are two extreme barriers,” he says. “You need to have a critical mass of customers, and people who are already using these (older) platforms are hesitant to switch.”

Successful competitors to a Facebook or Instagram need to tap into the right technology and the right sociology trend, he explains.

“It sounds a little bit like the check-in apps that we’ve had before. I do see the potential,” he says.

“When it comes to future opportunities, I think there is potential for applications that extend our existing social network.”

And then it all comes back to the ecosystem.

“Canada as a whole is not viewed as being very startup-friendly,” Mr. Ruhi says. “We’re doing much better these days, so people are going that route. But at the same time, there are still hurdles to overcome when it comes to finding funding, finding support from the government. We are making progress, but those are types of things you need to do in order to make it to that level where

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Updated local and national video posted weekdays at techopia.ca

We realized that existing social networks were not built around a user’s location. Our mission is to connect communities, and we’re starting with students.

MOE ABBAS

CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF BUMPN

BY STEPHEN KARMAZYN

07 TECHOPIA.CA

The Silicon Valley landscape is dotted with tech giants with a strong mass-consumer connection. From Facebook and Google to Apple and Netflix, multibillion-dollar companies flock to the warm climate, green lifestyle and alluring draw of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The term Silicon Valley North has been tossed around as a moniker for Ottawa, not always with great fanfare. Whether you think the term is an apt description of the nation’s capital, there’s one way Ottawa severely lags behind its California counterpart – business to consumer sales (B2C).

The Ottawa technology landscape features a few large companies, a rich talent pool and a multitude of startups on the rise.

What there isn’t, however, is much of a B2C market in the mould of Facebook or Google.

Why? “The reasons are historical and geographical,” says Nigel Harris, a leader in the Ottawa tech scene for more than three decades and the current CEO of Powerstick. com.

The history of Ottawa is steeped in business-to-business (B2B), he explains.

Going back to when Montrealbased Northern Electric relocated its R&D branch to the capital in the late 1950s, the influx of engineering talent laid the foundations for a tech-focused environment, he says. However, that talent was focused on the more esoteric parts of the market, not on producing consumer goods.

And then there’s the geography game.

“If you create a B2C company, 90 per cent of your opportunity is going to be in the U.S.,” Mr. Harris says.

“If you’re trying to build the most cost-effective product, you’re probably going to build it in China,” but then you lose the benefits of NAFTA, he adds.

Powerstick.com, of which Nigel was a co-founder, is on the verge of releasing a very consumerfriendly device – the Mosaic.

Essentially a portable harddrive that is Wi-Fi compatible, Harris describes the Mosaic as

the perfect device for a family road trip, allowing everyone to stream their own content. Even with the device gaining some traction in big media outlets and being submitted to the Consumer Electronics Show’s best-in-show competition in Las Vegas, Mr. Harris is still hesitant to participate in direct-to-market sales, especially with big box stores.

Instead, he sells Powerstick directly to business customers such as the U.S. military, Tesla and Bank of America and attaches their branding to the devices.

“What people are doing now is they’re going to the store, finding something they really like, they’ll find out as much as they can about the product and then they’ll go back and see where they can get it cheaper online,” he says.

Mr. Harris says that dealing with box stores is such an onerous process the benefits aren’t worth the costs.

Beyond that, B2C marketing presents numerous other challenges, such as having to appeal to various consumer demographics and large swaths of diverse potential consumers versus catering to a single need shared by a number of repeat business customers.

One of the ways around the difficulty in marketing in the B2C realm, Mr. Harris saw, was to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the Mosaic.

Reaching its goal of $50,000 in pledges with three weeks to spare, Mr. Harris explained that not only was Kickstarter a great place to pick up some extra cash, but the buzz started around the Mosaic as a result of the Kickstarter was the real payoff. For Powerstick.com, it was a great marketing tool.

Allan Zander, CEO of DataKinetics, a data optimization and performance company, largely agrees with Mr. Harris’s assessment of the Ottawa tech scene.

“Since there was an early ground swell of B2B companies here, comfort was likely developed that way,” Mr. Zander says.

“I don’t think the next Google or the next Apple is likely to come out of Canada. The model too frequently is not to swing hard for the fences, but to bootstrap and get something off the ground. The

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

you can challenge some of the market leaders.”

He looks to one of Ottawa’s biggest homegrown tech success stories for signs of hope.

“What Shopify has done in terms of their IPO … that is going to encourage a lot of entrepreneurs,” he says. “Your exit strategy isn’t always to just get acquired.

There are other options and here’s a prime example.”

Mr. Abbas agrees.

“If we get a couple more unicorns that sprout their heads in Ottawa, it’ll make a huge difference (in the ecosystem),” he says.

Ottawa struggles to find any success in B2C tech

money that is required to get a B2C enterprise off the ground is just not heard of [in Ottawa].

“While both [B2C and B2B] companies need engineering talent, a B2C company needs a whole team of strong marketing depth very familiar with B2C challenges,” he adds. “There certainly is good marketing talent available in Ottawa, but it is harder to find than good engineering talent.”

Mr. Zander believes the marketing gap is one of the main obstacles to B2C development in Ottawa. He isn’t sure there is a shift in the nature of the city’s tech market towards B2C, but that doesn’t mean he is down on the market overall.

“There is a hum again of innovation and entrepreneurial buzz going which is, frankly, exciting,” he says. “I wouldn’t take anything away from that just because it is B2B-focused instead of B2C.” Larger-scale VCs have also been eyeing Canada, Mr. Zander says.

“As some of these companies start to increase their value by being more consumer-focused that are driving big multiples,” it may build the ecosystem, he explains. “Hootsuite is not a bad example in my mind for this. Are they leading edge in what they do and demonstrating that they can make it as a Canadian company?

Absolutely.”

Umar Ruhi, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, says local technology firms still generally feel more comfortable with the engineering side of their businesses.

“I think the companies in Ottawa are pretty strong when it comes to the core tech in their solutions,” he says, “but they may not be as good when it comes to the augmented product – look and feel, the packaging, the appeal to the emotional aspect of a customer purchase, which is important for a B2C.” The ever-changing employeremployee dynamic is also swaying how businesses operate in both the B2B and B2C fields.

“Businesses are giving their employees more of a say in the type of tech they prefer,” Mr. Ruhi says. “Even if you are doing B2B stuff, you still need to go and talk to individuals inside the company.

It’s no longer the CIO who is the gatekeeper and you have to go and talk to the CIO and the organization in order for them to adopt your solution.”

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.”

— STEVE JOBS, APPLE CO-FOUNDER

CUTTING THROUGH THE ‘FUTURE FOG’ OF INNOVATION ECONOMY Understanding the difference between research

new processes and tools best support innovation?

Commercialization: How do the best companies target their markets and convert innovation into profit and growth?

As a beneficial/helpful side effect, the studies are pulling Ottawa’s business community together. There is no doubt that innovation success depends on the building of community. Today, 80 per cent of all global economic activity is generated in urban areas. The top 100 communities in China have a combined economy bigger than that of France and Germany together.

Almost half of the world’s technological and scientific innovation is created in cities.

Canada, fortunately, has a good chance of success, but we cannot be complacent.

Canada has won as many “Most Intelligent Community” awards as any other nation, a remarkable achievement for its population size. Cities that have won that award include Calgary, Waterloo and Toronto. Ottawa has knocked on that door i-Canada Alliance, information about several times itself. firm-level management of innovation can Ottawa has many strengths. It has be used to measure the contribution of 1,700 high-tech companies and, equally innovation effectiveness. stunning, has seen more IPOs than any It is the first time this kind of other Canadian city in the past five years. measurement has been applied.

Ottawa’s companies are masters of the Invest Ottawa’s innovation practical art of innovation. And our city benchmarking study is asking business, could, in fact, lead other Canadian centres social and technology organizations to help them exploit the innovation to give their views on how well Ottawa economy. is doing as a platform for competitive Ottawa could be the key to Canadian innovation. An online questionnaire success in a very different context from its solicits views on how innovation is used usual significance in the political sphere. It to enhance competitive status. The could be the innovation capital of Canada. resulting dashboard will provide insight into Ottawa’s business competitiveness as it is perceived by its top managers. A HOW TO TAKE THE SURVEY companion personal interview survey The Intelligent Community Assessment by dives more deeply into a firm’s innovative Stakeholders Tool (i-CAST) can be found potential. for Innovation at: In parallel, another Invest Ottawa http://fluidsurveys.com/s/Ottawa_ study is asking community leaders to Business_Competitiveness_%2B_ give their views on Ottawa’s progress Innovation_iTCA_2015 on the evolutionary path of becoming a Smart Community. A Smart Community The Intelligent Community survey can be is the end product of a successful found at: innovation economy. The results of this http://fluidsurveys.com/s/Intelligent_ survey will determine the necessary Ottawa_Study_2015/ activities to transform Ottawa into a centre that competes intelligently in the global knowledge world of today and tomorrow. The study features an online questionnaire asking for personal opinions on how well Ottawa is prepared to compete.

The results of both studies will be two dashboards on Ottawa’s underlying innovativeness and its resulting “Smart Community” strength. This could trigger new programs and initiatives and set BARRY GANDER new targets to satisfy unmet needs. i-CANADA CO-FOUNDER Invest Ottawa’s goal is to supercharge the community and give all of our colleagues and citizens a direction and a boost.

Barry Gander is co-founder of i-Canada, Some of the evaluation’s practical a movement dedicated to creating a questions include the following: nation of intelligent communities large Innovation forces: What trends and small, rural and urban, where all should we be watching? What role does can enjoy the economic development, management play? job growth and social prosperity Cultures of innovation: How does now available in the world’s leading organizational culture aid the innovation communities. i-Canada provides active process and how does leadership support transformational programs featuring the innovation? best practices of the world’s “smartest” New processes and tools: What communities.

and innovation is key, i-Canada founder says

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

BY BARRY GANDER

TECHOPIA.CA

08

Many nations have achieved a surge in GDP because of their mastery of the innovation economy.

We are all familiar with the Information Economy, and that is still with us, but the broader and more useful term of “innovation economy” is taking hold as the benchmark for success capability.

Does Ottawa have an innovation economy and how does it rank against other centres?

The answer to this question will predict whether your income will go up or down in the next five years.

It is a daunting question, not because we have no information, but because we have so much we are in a “future fog.”

There are two crystal balls we can use to forecast our future prosperity. One shows a glamorous picture: Canada is a leading research nation. Ottawa has many research labs. We should be confident that we are entering a bright future. The other crystal ball shows a more dismal prospect: Canada is falling steadily behind in innovation. Our relative economic vitality is suffering.

How can these two futures co-exist? How can Canada be ahead in research while stalling in innovation?

The answer is that research is the mirror opposite of innovation.

In research, money is invested in an effort to find knowledge. Canada is very good at investing money to find knowledge. Generally, this investment is not connected with a rise in GDP. You can be in the best research country in the world and yet watch your income decline year after year.

Innovation, by contrast, is a process where knowledge is used to make money.

You start with knowledge. You use it to get money (or some other value).

As examples, think of the companies that are highly valued today. Facebook, which did not rely on research but used social innovation, is now worth more

than Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer.

Google, which creates no original content and is not based on any newly researched invention, capitalizes on its improved search functionality to generate more than $50 billion annually from advertising services.

Apple, Microsoft and Google top the list of most-valued companies in the United States and, with respect, it would be hard to characterize their offerings as a product of research rather than innovation.

The Internet itself – an innovation, not a new research project – now accounts for 21 per cent of the growth of global GDP among developed countries.

The market cap of companies in the technology and innovation sector is now bigger than the mining sector on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Innovation has been credited with creating two-thirds of all economic growth in places such as Great Britain from 2002-08, when all growth stalled.

And perhaps the most important stat: high-tech, innovation-based goods are predicted to lead trade growth over the next 15 years.

These stories are volcanoes rising from the sea, driven by the immense power of the new innovation economy phenomenon.

Innovation economists believe that what primarily drives growth in today’s knowledge-based economy is not capital accumulation, as neoclassicalism asserts, but innovative capacity spurred by appropriable knowledge and technological prowess. It is based on the combination of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Innovation has been a very elusive concept to measure. Now, however, thanks to work by Sorin Cohn, leader of innovation metrics at the Conference Board of Canada, and through the

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Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall helps Martello Technologies soar When your business is taking off like a rocket in flight, you had better have a top-notch team at Mission Control.

I

t’s been a busy year for Ottawa’s Martello Technologies. Last fall, it acquired French software maker Netvitesse and raised $3 million through a brokered private placement.

“That acquisition and the financing were rocket fuel for us,” said CEO Bruce Linton.

Rocket fuel indeed. This past spring, Martello topped the Ottawa Business Journal’s annual list of Fastest Growing Companies with overall revenue growth of 602.4 per cent in the past three years.

But when your business is navigating the corporate laws of two different countries, as well as the securities laws that govern capital investment, heady growth must be tempered with prudent attention to detail.

The right support, at the right time In the five years since its founding, Martello has matured into a key player in the ecosystem for global unified communications giant Mitel Networks.

Its MarWatch software as a service (SaaS) delivers fault and performance management capabilities for Mitel systems. In other words, MarWatch helps Mitel service providers and resellers find and fix problems on their cloud-hosted business communications networks.

A crucial partner at every step in this journey has been the team at fullservice law firm Perley Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP/s.r.l.

Perley-Robertson has been growing and evolving alongside Ottawa’s rising tech stars for decades. Today, it’s a truly full-service firm, capable of handling for its clients the details of business startup, international expansion, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border financings and public offerings as well as immigration and the protection of intellectual property rights.

And these capabilities are multilingual, something that was an obvious necessity

for Martello’s acquisition of a French firm.

Local expertise, global experience “We serve our clients with local expertise and global experience,” said Partner Robert Kinghan, Head of PerleyRobertson’s Business Law Group. “Martello is a great example of a client we have worked with for a number of years to provide the right combination of service and counsel, at the right time.”

Take for example, the federal government’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program (SR&ED). It encourages Canadian companies to innovate and advance technologies that will spur the growth of this country’s knowledge-based economy.

Perley-Robertson’s expertise in tax and corporate law was crucial to ensure Martello didn’t extinguish its SR&ED eligibility through the Netvitesse acquisition.

“With any growth strategy, you have to think of every step, not just the finish line, and we have managed that quite well with the help of Rob and his team,” said Linton.

“If you want to be the Fastest Growing Company in Ottawa, you need PerleyRobertson.”

To learn more about how PerleyRobertson, Hill & McDougall can help grow your business, visit www.perlaw.ca.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

For Linton, an active entrepreneur and executive in Ottawa’s tech scene since the days of CrossKeys Systems in the mid ’90s, the choice of which law firm to retain for Martello was an easy one.

“I’ve worked with Perley-Robertson for over 11 years, with three different companies,” he said. “You don’t go back to a service provider unless it’s a top quality experience.”

09 TECHOPIA.CA

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INITLIVE CEO DEBBIE PINARD SAYS SHE REALIZED EARLY ON SHE WAS IN THE MINORITY IN THE TECH WORLD. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

HELP WANTED: WOMEN IN TECH Female entrepreneurs say Ottawa is no stranger to gender gap

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

BY CRAIG LORD

TECHOPIA.CA

10

For all of the hype lately around Ottawa’s burgeoning tech scene, it’s easy to gloss over its shortcomings. Namely, this: for every woman you see working in high tech in Canada, there are three men.

That ratio is even steeper when looking at women on boards of directors and in management positions at tech firms.

Critics say the gender gap is a glaring glitch in the inner workings of the technology industry. Mega-companies such as Google and Apple have recognized this, both making internal efforts to improve diversity (“Inclusion inspires innovation,” noted Apple CEO Tim Cook in announcing its endeavours).

Organizations such as the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) have prioritized promoting women in tech through research and mentorship channels. Women Powering Technology, a group that provides networking opportunities and skill-development workshops to female professionals, has an active chapter in Ottawa.

Local female entrepreneurs say Ottawa still has work to do to bridge the gender gap.

“It’s changed a little, but the majority of people in engineering and computer science are males,” says Debbie Pinard, CEO and co-founder of InitLive.

Ms. Pinard graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1979 with a degree in math and physics. She quickly found herself working for one of the biggest tech companies in the region: Mitel.

While there were a few women working at Mitel, even a few women directors, it didn’t take long for her to realize she was in the minority.

“I never really had heard about the glass ceiling, or knew that it was an issue in high tech because I never felt like I was treated differently. It wasn’t until you get older and you start to move up in the company that you start to see less and less females,” she says.

Perceptions of men and women would sometimes dictate the work they did, Ms. Pinard says.

“I used to joke about boy-code and girl-code,” she says, referring to the belief that men were more skilled at dealing with the physicality of hardware while women were better suited for user-interface, front-end work.

Sue Abu-Hakima, CEO and co-founder of Amika Mobile, is no stranger to fighting the gender battle in tech.

After graduating from McGill with an electrical engineering degree, she progressed towards a PhD in artificial intelligence while working for the National Research Council in the ’80s and ’90s.

Despite her obvious aptitude, she says

she was encouraged to take leave when her superiors assumed family life would hold her back from career and educational success.

“I was really mad. I got mad because it felt sexist. And NRC wasn’t unique in their approach to women,” she says.

The role of the family in a woman’s career can be a contentious issue.

The University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management has partnered with CATA and Springboard, a U.S.based company aiming to promote female entrepreneurship, to take a closer look at the influence of family life on women’s careers.

Laurent Lapierre, lead researcher at Telfer, says the study aims to provide usable results for women looking to grow their business.

“How do women take familyrelated issues into consideration when deciding whether or not to grow their business? Is it always a negative? Is it sometimes a positive?” he asks.

For example, if a spouse or other family members make a priority of sharing the burden of home life, a female entrepreneur might feel more free to grow her business.

Ms. Pinard believes that talk of women being held back by their families is overstated.

“I don’t think that’s the reason why women don’t go into high tech,” she says. “I think that’s the easy way to explain it … Whether it’s male or female, the family has to support them.”

Where might one look to fix the gender gap?

Both Ms. Pinard and Ms. AbuHakima agree: society as a whole needs to do more to encourage girls to consider maths and sciences as viable fields of study.

“It starts much younger. In high school, no girl wants to be a nerd, or not very many. It’s just not cool,” says Ms. Pinard.

Dispelling the perception of socalled STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – studies as a boys-only club takes courage, but Ms. Pinard adds there is no reason at all why young women can’t be successful in those fields too.

“Just because there are men in the space doesn’t mean that women can’t do it. You shouldn’t be scared and look at ‘Well, it’s all guys,’” she says. “Women are just as capable as men. Don’t doubt.”

The creativity inherent to technology is often overlooked, Ms. Abu-Hakima says.

“What I love about being an entrepreneur is that you took an idea, which is nothing, which is like air … and all of a sudden, it becomes something real. It becomes a product that you can build,” she says. “That’s something that we have to turn on for kids. So they’ll be more turned on to technology.”

Mr. Lapierre’s team is still looking for female entrepreneurs willing to take the survey. Go to techopia.ca for the link to contribute.

BY THE NUMBERS:

CANADA’S TECH GENDER GAP Statistics drawn from Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Women in Technology division (CanWIT), 2015

25 Per cent of Canada’s advanced technology workforce comprised of women

52 Per cent of highly qualified women working in STEM who will quit their jobs in the first 10 years of their career

37 Per cent of boards of directors in the corporate sector with no female representation

17 Per cent of senior management teams in the corporate sector with no female representation

“People underestimate good luck and fortunate timing in my success.”

— MICHAEL POTTER, FORMER COGNOS CEO

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whether you should take off your shoes?”

Nice. Eventually, the woman had her fine reduced, but it left a nasty taste in her mouth, as it does in mine.

Don’t we want people to visit our city?

Is this how we treat them? City politicians should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Here’s a suggestion: why doesn’t the city erect prominent signs at every highway entrance to Ottawa informing motorists not to park their car on the street for longer than three hours, even on Christmas Day? Here’s another suggestion: why doesn’t the city do a better job of informing visitors and residents alike of this threehour parking limit?

Here’s a suggestion: why doesn’t the city erect prominent signs at every highway entrance to Ottawa informing motorists not to park their car on the street for longer than three hours, even on Christmas Day?

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09 OBJ.CA

Michael Prentice is OBJ’s columnist on retail and consumer issues. He can be contacted at news@obj.ca.

H ay o w wn s a t ow wa t a n n s w k ck ow do loc

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

After the Citizen article appeared, a reader complained in a letter to the editor that the bylaw was “secretive and unfair.”

It’s certainly secretive, but it’s not unfair.

Some city residents pay more than $700 a year for a permit that allows them to park on the street outside their home for as long as they wish. Mostly they live in older homes in or near downtown, where there is little or no off-street parking. Naturally they complain when motorists park outside their home for more than three hours without a permit.

One thing wrong with the bylaw is how unevenly it appears to be applied. There is no need for this bylaw on quiet residential streets.

If a street is not sufficiently busy to post a sign restricting parking to three hours, why not exempt this street from the bylaw?

Mostly this is a public-relations issue.

City hall has an obligation to ensure the public is made aware of the rules.

nd d e hiin b eh s b g s n g y i t n ly n i e t e o nl m ee o s t m f a s t e a llef w e ! w e y! n

TECHNOLOGY Finding a better way With the help of L-Spark, Better Software founder enters tech industry with big ambitions

BY CRAIG LORD Special to OBJ

S

teve Cody wants you to use better software to run your business.

Ever since he was 15 years old, Mr. Cody has been starting and operating businesses. Despite decades of experience, it wasn’t until recently that he stumbled on software that made the nitty-gritty of business just a little bit easier.

That led him to launch the Better Software Company, a straightforward name for a man with a very unusual career path.

A serial entrepreneur if there ever was one, Mr. Cody got an early start in the game, buying and selling cottage properties while he was still in high school.

“Kinda grew up in the projects, single mother, we didn’t really have a lot of money. I had to find a way to make my own money,” he recalls.

By Grade 10, he was ready to branch out. He left school at 16 to begin a career that would see him start the largest window-washing company in Ottawa, followed by a scaffolding business, a Halloween specialty store and a party rentals venture among others.

This run of successful startups kept leading Mr. Cody back to a familiar problem: the lack of a universal tool to help owners with the minutia of managing a business. He noticed that essential tasks such as invoicing, scheduling and marketing were all being done rather inefficiently through different applications.

“I reached out to a guy from Nortel and said, ‘Look, can you build me one

Steve Cody has been running businesses since he was 15 years old. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE CODY

application, so that I don’t have to be doing this all the time?’”

The result? Better software.

It took a while before Mr. Cody, who by his own admission is no tech wiz, realized what he had in front of him. A friend in the technology business told him he should start selling the software

he was using to run his businesses.

The time had come for Mr. Cody to reinvent himself once again.

“I sold off my businesses, kind of burnt my ships,” he says. “And last August I incorporated the Better Software Company.”

The company is built around a simple

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yet critical question for small-business owners: “How can we automate processes to make you money, and how can we automate processes to save you money?”

There was only one problem: Cody had no idea how to run a tech startup.

“I understood business, but I didn’t understand anything about technology.

I couldn’t even do a PowerPoint presentation,” he says.

An advertisement for L-Spark, the Kanata-based incubator and accelerator program focused on cloud and softwareas-a-service companies, proved to be the answer.

Initially, L-Spark turned him down after the person who did his pitch for him – Mr. Cody had no experience in presentations – faltered. The Better Software founder needed to do some convincing to get a second chance.

The near-miss almost cost him a pivotal opportunity.

“It’s hard to think after 25 years that you’re doing to do something lifechanging. And for me, L-Spark was lifechanging,” he says.

A partnership between Wesley Clover International and Invest Ottawa, L-Spark is focused on taking advantage of a local industry rich with expertise in enterprise software, says managing director Leo Lax. These SaaS veterans, whom Mr. Lax calls “sherpas,” are on-hand at L-Spark to mentor companies such as Better Software.

“The intense engagement with an entrepreneur and the mentor is one of the experiences that is different, or unique, in the L-Spark environment,” Mr. Lax says.

To that end, Mr. Cody’s mentor Laurie Davis, the founder of the Capital Angel Network, took a vested interest in

Ottawa: SaaS capital of North America?

WHAT IS ORLÉANS BOAT WORLD & SPORTS? Orléans Boat World & Sports, established in 2007, provides the latest and best in boats in Ottawa. From premium new and pre-owned boats, to a wide variety of quality maintenance services, Orléans Boat World & Sports can meet all of your boating needs.

Friendly, knowledgeable staff will help you select the hottest new boating technology, find a recreational vehicle that’s made for you, and look after all of your on-the-water needs.

WHAT IS AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT ORLEANS BOAT WORLD & SPORTS? Orleans Boat World & Sports is in the business of creating memories.

Co-owner Marc Savage explained, “We love when we have customers come in and share that they remember the first time their father took them fishing or waterskiing. That’s what we do, build memories one customer at a time.”

Orleans Boat World & Sports is also proud to be in the top 100 boat dealers in North America.

HOW IS ORLEANS BOAT WORLD & SPORTS INVOLVED WITH THE SENS? Orleans Boat World & Sports has had 4 seats in the 100 level since they opened 9 years ago. They use tickets for client recognition, as well as for rewarding staff. Marc shared, “It’s a fun night out!”

They are also supporters of the Ottawa Senators Foundation. “We strongly believe in what the Ottawa Senators Foundation stands for and what they raise funds for,” said Marc. Staff will be participating in the Bell Sens Charity Golf Classic and Orleans Boat World & Sports will be hosting a fishing tournament in September with all proceeds going to the Ottawa Senators Foundation.

11 OBJ.CA

Steve Cody, founder of local startup the Better Software Company, says Ottawa is wellsuited to be a leader in the SaaS space.

He credits Shopify, which recently launched a hugely successful IPO, for pushing the city into the forefront of the field.

“I think we have the perfect environment for SaaS startups,” he says. “I think we have huge competitive advantages, and Shopify has really led the way. They opened the doors for everyone else. They gave us credibility, that’s for sure, in North America.”

While Mr. Lax says Ottawa is still a few years away from being a dominant enterprise software hub, the process is well underway.

“We are a strong believer in the cluster that we are hoping to build in Ottawa,” he says.

“In order to do that, our entire community of technology players, investors, partners, service providers should come together to make sure that our community becomes stronger in a safe and comfortable environment for our entrepreneurs.”

L-Spark will host its SaaS Showcase on Sept. 17 at the Canadian Museum of Nature, where companies from its first cohort will be on display.

Proulx

Daniel Name: Marc Savage and Title: Co-owners World & Sports Company: Orléans Boat

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

BY CRAIG LORD L-Spark might be the first to notice it: Ottawa could be on its way to becoming a hub for software-as-a-service startups.

Leo Lax, the managing director of the Kanata-based accelerator, says the decision to focus on SaaS companies was a direct result of being in Ottawa.

“We have an abundance, a really rich group of mentors, who are experts in enterprise software,” he says. “It was a natural choice for us to say, ‘Let’s take advantage of the natural intellectual capital we have right here in Ottawa and build on that.’”

Ottawa once made a name for itself in the telecommunications industry. Mr. Lax is among those who believe SaaS is the new telecom.

“We have all of the ingredients that require creation of such a major cluster,” he says. “We have the entrepreneurial talent that’s coming out of universities and colleges in the area.

We have anchor tenants, global corporations that are here in Ottawa such as IBM, Mitel and others.”

the company, moving from guiding to investing to working as the COO at Better Software. Together, they assembled a team capable of realizing the startup’s full potential.

When Mr. Cody first joined L-Spark in January, his company had just four employees, none of whom were developers. Nine months later, 33 employees work at Better Software – including 10 developers.

Nearly every person who works for Mr. Cody took a pay cut to do so.

“I wanted to create something really special,” he says. “They believe in it.”

The company has already raised $750,000 in seed funding, with another $250,000 in the works. It comes out of beta in November and has offices set up in eight countries around the world via Wesley Clover International’s network.

Mr. Cody says that connecting with people such as Terry Matthews, the magnate behind Wesley Clover and a hundred other tech companies, is another big benefit of the L-Spark experience.

“You’ve got a guy who’s knighted from the Queen who actually wants to spend time and learn more about the business, which is just amazing in itself.”

Mr. Cody has audacious goals for Better Software, including a billion dollars in revenue after five years. That might seem bold, but he says there’s something different about this business compared with his previous endeavours.

“I never really had a passion for the product,” he concedes. “In this case, I have a real passion for the product, and the outcome, because I get to do what I love to do: helping small business owners.”

ne O s e i r o m e M Building e m i T a t a r e m Custo

REAL ESTATE Show will go on after theatre’s sale Conditional buyer committed to keeping Gladstone Theatre alive, leaseholder says

BY TOM PECHLOFF tom@obj.ca

T

he Gladstone Theatre has been conditionally sold to a buyer who is committed to maintaining the building as a stage venue, the current leaseholder says.

“Having met with (current owner) Steve Martin and the real estate agent and the new buyer, I am thoroughly convinced by the sincerity of the new buyer wanting to continue to lease to us,” said David Whiteley, co-artistic director of Plosive Productions.

Plosive has leased the building for nine-month terms every year since 2011 – its current lease expires at the end of the 2015-16 season in May – and Mr. Whiteley said although signing a new

lease was a condition of the sale, that caveat was waived when it became clear the new buyer and Mr. Whiteley were going to be able to work together on terms of a new lease.

Mr. Whiteley said the new buyer, who will not be named until the deal is finalized, wants a “fair return” but isn’t terribly concerned about the specifics of a new lease as long as they are terms Plosive can meet.

“He wouldn’t want to set a new rate which we can’t manage, putting him on the hunt for a new tenant,” he said. “He wants us to be the tenant and he’s ready to work with us on terms that will work for us to let us continue using the theatre as it is.”

Mr. Whiteley said the conditional buyer is active in the real estate industry and the Gladstone is “a drop in the

and

The Gladstone Theatre has been conditionally sold to an unidentified buyer. FILE PHOTO

bucket” of his portfolio.

“We all want to see it grow, but he’s not going to put a gun to our heads and say, ‘Well, you better find a way to make it more profitable so you can pay higher rent or you’ll be out.’ Not at all, he’s ready to work with us,” he said, adding the new buyer’s financial future doesn’t “hang in the balance” of the rent he gets for the building.

Mr. Whiteley said both parties would like to get a new lease hammered out sooner rather than later. “(The conditional owner) has a very relaxed attitude. He’s very supportive of us,” he said.

Mr. Whiteley couldn’t say exactly when the sale will be finalized, but said he expects it to be in the “reasonably near” future.

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Use less, save more – it’s easy math

Local residents step up to Hydro Ottawa’s Summer Saving Day challenge

W

hat motivates you to conserve electricity and save money on your power bill?

This summer, Hydro Ottawa applied the principles of behavourial science and personalized communications to encourage Ottawa residents to reduce their energy use during peak periods.

Afterward, each customer is notified to tell them how much energy they used on the Summer Saving Day and where they ranked among 100 comparable

“This is an effort to engage people and start a conversation about energy use and conservation,” said Owen Mahaffy, Hydro Ottawa’s Director, Communications and Public Affairs. “The program has been wellreceived and it’s confirmed that Ottawa is a very engaged and connected community.”

the benefits and the power grid is seeing the benefits. It makes people question how they use electricity and what is making them rank a certain way versus their neighbours.”

Hydro Ottawa offers tools for residents to track their electricity usage by the day, and even the hour, to understand their Ottawa is one of six municipalities engaged consumption habits. Until now, only about 40 per in this pilot and the only one in Canada. cent of the utility’s customers have taken The others are in the U.S. To date, peak advantage of the tools available. This pilot consumption over the allotted five-hour period each day has been reduced among program aims to grow that number. participating local households by more “We see Summer Saving Day as a way to than three per cent. That’s enough to put create more two-way dialogue and educate Ottawa first among the group. people about how they can effect change “These are great, bankable results,” Mahaffy that benefits their pocketbooks,” Mahaffy said. “Our next step will be a survey to said. “Our customers are getting the message and responding. They are seeing obtain a deeper understanding of what

residents think about this program.”

Summer Savings Day is a pilot initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Energy’s Smart Grid Fund. Hydro Ottawa is collaborating with Opower, a company that provides tools, information and incentives to equip customers with valuable insights and context about their electricity use during high demand periods.

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

About 50,000 randomly selected residential customers have been enrolled in a pilot project that runs from July until September. Hydro Ottawa has reached out to these customers through direct mail, email and phone, to encourage them to be more energy efficient on select summer days when the temperature is particularly hot – deemed Summer Saving Days.

households. Participation is completely voluntary – customers can opt out at any time.

13 OBJ.CA

THE LIST Company/Address/ Phone/Fax/Web

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2015

17 18 19 20

Mitel 350 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 2W7 613-592-2122/613-592-4724 mitel.com Kinaxis Corp.

700 Silver Seven Rd. Ottawa, ON K2V 1C3 613-592-5780/613-592-0584 kinaxis.com InterRent REIT 207-485 Bank St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z2 613-569-5699/888-696-5698 interrentreit.com Shopify 150 Elgin St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1L4 888-746-7439/N/A shopify.ca Wi-LAN Inc. 608-11 Holland Ave. Ottawa, ON K1Y 4S1 613-688-4900/613-688-4894 wi-lan.com Halogen Software 495 March Rd. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G1 613-270-1011/613-270-8311 halogensoftware.com Calian Technologies Ltd. 101-340 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 1Y6 613-599-8600/613-599-8650 calian.com Espial Group Inc. 900-200 Elgin St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1L5 613-230-4770/613-230-8498 espial.com Tweed Inc. 1 Hershey Dr. Smiths Falls, ON K7A 0A8 855-558-9333/888-977-2595 tweed.com C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. 2574 Sheffield Rd. Ottawa, ON K1B 3V7 613-745-4110/613-745-1172 c-comsat.com Orezone Gold Corp.

201-290 Picton St. Ottawa, ON K1Z 8P8 613-241-3699/613-241-6005 orezone.com Clearford Water Systems Inc. 100-515 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G4 613-599-6474/613-599-7478 clearford.com Edgewater Wireless Systems 1125 Innovation Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G6 6130271-3710/613-271-1152 edgewaterwireless.com ProntoForms Corp.

920-515 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3B8 613-599-8288/N/A prontoforms.com Focus Graphite Inc. 912-130 Albert St. Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4 613-691-1091/613-241-8632 focusgraphite.com Avivagen Inc. 100 Sussex Dr. Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6 613-949-8164/613-993-0796 avivagen.com Pacific Safety Products Inc. 124 Fourth Ave. Arnprior, ON K7S 0A9 613-623-6001/613-271-9384 pacsafety.com Enablence Technologies Inc. 119-390 March Rd. Kanata, ON K2K 0G7 613-656-2850/613-656-2855 enablence.com Thermal Energy International Inc. 36 Bentley Ave. Ottawa, ON K2E 6T8 613-723-6776/613-723-7286 thermalenergy.com Annidis Corp.

100 Maple Grove Rd. Ottawa, ON K2V 1B8 613-596-1800/613-596-9453 annidis.com

Largest publicly traded companies

(Locally headquartered companies, ranked by market capitalization. Source: Source: TMX Group and regulatory filings)

Market Rank last capitalization year (July 24, 2015)

Revenues/ Net income (loss)

Share price (as of July 24, 2015)/ 52-week high/low

Stock symbol / Exchange / Fiscal year end

Description

1

$1,435,771,066

US$1.1 billion (US$7.3 million)

$11.96 $14.00 $8.83

MNW TSX*1 Dec. 31, 2014

Global provider of business communications and collaboration software and services.

3

$704,129,499

US$70.05 million (US$200,000)

$29.46 $32.18 $14.55

KXS TSX Dec. 31, 2014

Cloud-based software that enables customers to improve and accelerate supply chain planning and analysis.

4

$442,951,472

$65.4 million $23.98 million

$6.28 $6.75 $5.24

IIP.UN TSX Dec. 31, 2014

Invests in income-producing residential properties within Canada.

N/A

$394,026,336

$105.02 million ($22.31 million)

$43.56 $51.92 $30.00

SH TSX*2 Dec. 31, 2014

Commerce platform that allows individuals to sell online and in-store.

2

$320,094,422

US$98.31 million US$9.71 million

$2.65 $4.35 $2.34

WIN TSX*3 Dec. 31, 2014

Acquires and licenses a range of intellectual property that drives products in communications and consumer electronics markets, including wireless fidelity data-over-cable service, multi-mode wireless, bluetooth and V-Chip.

5

$218,334,763

US$56.66 million (US$15.38 million)

$9.87 $11.15 $7.59

HGN TSX Dec. 31, 2014

Creates performance, talent management and best practices suite.

6

$137,143,342

$211.26 million $10.58 million

$18.60 $21.62 $17.33

CTY TSX Sept. 30, 2014

Provides business and technology services to industry, government and major organizations in Canada.

9

$119,651,052

$20 million $1.17 million

$3.29 $4.30 $1.37

ESP TSX Dec. 31, 2014

Designs, develops and markets software solutions to consumer electronics manufacturers.

N/A

$98,363,938

$2.37 million** ($9.35 million)**

$1.93 $2.90 $1.60

TWD TSX-V Mar. 31, 2015

Producer and seller of medical marijuana.

10

$37,951,777

$13.21 million $2.81 million

$1.05 $1.53 $1.00

CMI TSX-V Nov. 30, 2014

Development of satellite-based technology allowing the delivery of high-speed Internet services.

8

$36,378,612

$0 (US$10.9 million)

$0.31 $1.07 $0.29

ORE TSX Dec. 31, 2014

Exploration stage company acquiring, exploring and developing gold projects in Burkina Faso and uranium projects in Niger.

20

$35,194,075

$534,993 ($5.22 million)

$0.45 $0.60 $0.04

CLI TSX-V Dec. 31, 2014

Designs and implements wastewater management systems utilizing a patented system.

N/A

$30,495,912

$175,875 ($2.6 million)

$0.24 $0.62 $0.02

YFI TSX Jan. 31, 2015

Wideband, multi-channel radio and high-capacity, securitycentric access point solutions.

12

$26,275,040

$6.28 million ($1.35 million)

$0.33 $0.50 $0.24

PFM TSX-V Dec. 31, 2014

Mobile workflow solution to collect, receive and submit data in the field.

11

$19,292,343

$0 ($6.05 million)

$0.16 $0.69 $0.16

FMS TSX-V Sept. 30, 2014

Graphite mining and exploration company. Its mineral exploration projects include the Kwyjibo Rare Earth Elements and Copper Project and the Romer and Labrador Trough Project for Base and Precious Metals.

17

$13,766,694

$295,671 ($2.08 million)

$0.07 $0.11 $0.06

VIV TSX-V Oct. 31, 2014

Develops small-molecule compound discoveries for commercialization in markets in distinct biotechnology sectors.

16

$11,867,074

$14.34 million ($136,284)

$0.18 $0.22 $0.08

PSP TSX-V June 30, 2014

Design, production and sales of protective products for law enforcement, military, fire and emergency medical services personnel.

15

$11,563,177

US$4.69 million (US$16.18 million)

$0.05 $0.10 $0.04

ENA TSX-V June 30, 2014

Developer of access network solutions, technologies and products; high-capacity FTTx access systems and multiservice access platforms; optical chip technology; carrier-grade architectures; vertically integrated subsystems.

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$8,052,230

$13.15 million $634,023

$0.05 $0.12 $0.05

TMG TSX-V May 31, 2014

Development, engineering and supply of pollution control, heat recovery systems, and condensate return solutions.

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$6,473,032

$2.36 million ($5.67 million)

$0.06 $0.35 $0.04

RHA TSX-V Dec. 31, 2014

Engaged in research, development and sale of a medical device to eye-care professionals in Canada, the United States and China.

**15-month period*1 Also traded on the NASDAQ under MITL. *2 Also traded on the NYSE under SHOP. *3 Also traded on the NASDAQ under WILN.

OBJ.CA

14 Should your company be on this list? If so, please send details to research@obj.ca. This list is current as of August 18, 2014 by Ottawa Business Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced by any method in

whole or in part without written permission by Ottawa Business Journal. While every attempt is made to ensure the thoroughness and accuracy of the list, omissions and errors sometimes occur. Please send any corrections or additions by e-mail to research@obj.ca. OBJ lists are primarily compiled using information provided voluntarily by the organizations named. Some firms that may qualify for the list are not included because the company either failed to respond to requests for information by press time, because the company declined to take part in the survey or because of space constraints. Categories are drawn up in an attempt to gather information of relevance to the Ottawa market.

Research by Patti Moran. Please send questions and comments to research@obj.ca.

FOR THE RECORD People on the move GaN Systems, a developer of gallium nitride power switching semiconductors, has appointed Peter Di Maso as director of product line management. Mr. Di Maso will be responsible for creating and executing a sustainable product and market strategy.

The CHEO Foundation announced that Stephanie Egan will be rejoining its team as a communication specialist and will also help co-ordinate the activities of the board and various committees.

Xu Ming, vice-president of ZTE Corp., will join the

board of directors of Enablence.

ZTE Corp. is a provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions which has entered into a business cooperation agreement with Enablence.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce announced that Guy Legault has joined its team as chief operating officer. Mr. Legault, a certified professional accountant, joins the chamber from Engineers Canada, where he was vice-president of business development and services.

Hats off Halogen Software has been named a visionary for the third consecutive

that Mitel has received this recognition from Gartner.

Contracts The following contains information about recent contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements awarded to local firms.

year in Gartner’s recent Magic Quadrant for Talent Management Suites.

Talent management suites are an integrated set of applications that support an organization’s need to plan, attract, develop, reward, engage and retain talent.

Mitel announced that the company has again been recognized by Gartner as a leader in the latest Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications.

This is the second time in four months

Totem Offsource Inc. 1 Promenade du Portage Description: Work stations Buyer: Statistics Canada $1,653,583

Beau’s Oktoberfest, presented annually

by Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company, has been selected as one

of Canada’s 10 best Oktoberfests in an article in the fall issue of Canadian Geographic Travel magazine.

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada Corp.

1941 Robertson Rd. Description: Expert systems development (R&D) Buyer: PWGSC $1,063,359

Holmes & Brakel – Ottawa 88 Hines Rd. Description: PDV collaborative furniture Buyer: PWGSC $567,740

Life Prediction Technologies Inc. 1010 Polytek St. Description: Communications network software (R&D) Buyer: PWGSC $631,499

Valcom Consulting Group Inc. 85 Albert St. Description: ILS specialist and technicians Buyer: DND $458,750

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Corporate Tables of 8 with Signage $210 + HST (Members) $315 + HST (Non-Members)

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Karen de Lottinville, CEO of Trillium Dental A highly skilled healthcare professional and business leader You will learn: How creating lasting success is more than focusing on the bottom line

SAVE $100 with the Early-Bird Rate until Sept 16

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15 OBJ.CA

POWERED BY: OTTAWA BUSINESS EVENTS

Register online at ottawachamber.ca

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Individual Tickets: $30.00 + HST (Members) $45.00 + HST (Non-Members)

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Project1:Layout 1 16/03/2015 12:09 PM Page 1

OBJ.CA

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