HUH? E eINadvantaOTgesTAto locaWl A, MTherAD manufacturing som e are
CONNECTING TECH
IN OTTAWA
VOL. 1, ISSUE 3
MADE IN OTTAWA, HUH? There are some advantages to local manufacturing
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
FAST HARD ANDKanat a’s L-Spark New cohort in hits the accelerator PAGE 3
TED SUPER CONNEC s will change everything, Internet of Thing PAGE 4 says Carleton research chair
L THE REAL DEA shares the straight dope App developer on getting cash PAGE 9
PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
CONNECTING TECH IN OTTAWA
VOL. 1, ISSUE 3
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
HARD AND FAST
New cohort in Kanata’s L-Spark hits the accelerator PAGE 3
SUPER CONNECTED
Internet of Things will change everything, says Carleton research chair PAGE 4
THE REAL DEAL
App developer shares the straight dope on getting cash PAGE 9
PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
“If you’re changing the world, you’re working on important things. You’re excited to get up in the morning.” – LARRY PAGE, CEO OF GOOGLE
Crank Software Inc.: Brian Edmond, President; Thomas Fletcher, VP, R&D; Jennie Lundrigan, Marketing Communications Manager; Jason Clarke, VP, Sales & Marketing MNP: Gavin Miranda, Taxation Services Partner; Ryan Pinet, Assurance Services Senior Manager
Partners in Growth, Allies in Innovation
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
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.
TECHOPIA.CA
02
Contact Gavin Miranda, CPA, CA, at 613.691.4224 or gavin.miranda@mnp.ca
SYSTEM UPDATE
Subscribe to TECHOPIA’s weekly e-mail newsletter at techopia.ca
BRACE FOR ACCELERATION BY CRAIG LORD
L-Spark, the Kanata-based incubator that is a partnership between Wesley Clover and Invest Ottawa, continues to churn out promising startups. The program includes an incubator for newer companies and an accelerator for more advanced companies. Below, we check out the new cohort in the L-Spark accelerator.
CAREERLAUNCH “We want to hit this market hard and fast.”
CLINICONEX
“They force you to not just become an entrepreneur, but to become CEOs.”
ANTHONY MAR, FOUNDER OF CLINICONEX. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
Anthony Mar is no stranger to the L-Spark program. Cliniconex, a SaaS company that helps doctors’ offices save money on missed and rescheduled appointments, was a product of the incubator. “As the deadline to apply was approaching, I started thinking about the contribution [L-Spark] made to the company in the incubator,” Mar says. Cliniconex recently missed out on a first round of funding. Prospective investors said missed metrics were to blame. Nonetheless, the progress the company experienced made applying for the accelerator an easy decision. “We were really close to raising a round. That was because of L-Spark,” Mar says. If that’s what the program can do in a few month, he adds, the nine-month accelerator program will yield even greater results. It was a natural transition, too, from the incubator to the accelerator. Mar says the two-dozen pitches he has done in the past few months made the successful application to the accelerator possible. “I needed the incubator to get into the accelerator,” he says. Living up to its name, Mar says the accelerator has made everything in the company move at a faster rate. “We have higher expectations now of ourselves to accomplish things,” he says. “Having to execute even faster. Having to get deals done faster. Having to raise money earlier.” But that’s the kind of environment Mar
Making a return to L-Spark is ZINation founder David Ker, who found initial success in the incubator cohort. ZINation provides software for merchants to generate automatic catalogues and lookbooks for their wares. It’s integrated with Shopify and Magento e-commerce says the cohort needs. The accelerator is platforms. The software strives for a teaching the cohort how to be the CEOs of sleek viewing experience for customers, fast-growing companies. integrating product details into a catalogue “L-Spark gives entrepreneurs a way to in just two clicks. Making them “shoppable” transition from being ‘that tech guy’ to being is the ultimate goal, Ker says. CEO. And that’s really crucial.” The pre- and post-L-Spark versions of ZINation are clearly delineated in Ker’s mind. “Before L-Spark, we were a bunch of FILE FACETS entrepreneurs, but we were a bit naïve … The incubator was to make us fundable, now “You almost can’t help we need to raise the money.”
but succeed.”
You’ll be forgiven if you don’t understand the inner workings of “information governance,” also known as IG. File Facets is there to do it for you, and save your company money while it does. To make it simple, the objective of File Facets is to clean up the “dark data,” the files without proper metadata or retention schedules, saved and forgotten on shared drives or some other dusty digital shelf in the recesses of your company’s servers. Clearing out and organizing redundant, obsolete, trivial files (ROT), can save businesses $5,000 per terabyte, says File Facets founder Chris Perram. File Facets, the software company, began in January. But Perram has been building towards this stage for years as an IG consultant for the federal government. It wasn’t until a customer asked him about implementing the technology into shared drives that the concept for the software-asa-service was born. “There’s nothing in File Facets that isn’t
The L-Spark program doesn’t take it easy on the cohort, suffice to say. Expectations around monthly recurring revenues (MRR) and five-year plans are paramount in the program. Demanding as it may be, Ker was excited to reapply for a chance at that kind of environment through the accelerator program. “You’re going into a process of creating a smarter business. More data-driven. More customer-focused,” he says. “They force you to not just become an entrepreneur, but to become CEOs.” One recurring theme from the incubator cohort was a sense of community forming around the L-Spark companies and mentors. Ker says he can already feel the same connections beginning to form. “It’s still early, but it’s a similar environment. I see the same level of cooperation … The L-Spark team is awesome.” Early results from L-Spark’s second accelerator cohort indicate agreement on that point.
03 TECHOPIA.CA
“Having to execute even faster. Having to get deals done faster. Having to raise money earlier.”
ZINATION
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
If you get a job straight out of college or university in the next few years, it might be thanks to Jeffrey Doucet. He’s the founder of the company that bills itself as the first job search management platform, CareerLaunch. It began as an app called “Quick Hire,” aimed at helping employers recruit for entry-level positions. Then it evolved into a platform to help post-secondary students organize their job searches. “We realized we weren’t solving the problem we were hoping to solve,” says Doucet, noting they were really looking to help students get hired out of school. His team then designed a course to provide students with the skills to get a job. CareerLaunch is the software that came out of that. It was designed to mimic that process. The product is made available through licensed post-secondary institutions. It organizes applications, sends notifications of next steps, and provides learning materials to students. “It makes the job seeker much more effective,” Doucet says. The Toronto-based company was at a crossroads a few months ago, after it locked down an initial partnership with Ryerson University. It could have grown slowly and focused on pre-existing customers, or it could aim at an enormous international market of job seekers. “For us, growing slowly wasn’t an option we were excited about. We want to hit this market hard and fast.” That need drove Doucet and co-founder Tristan Toye to L-Spark. Though just a few weeks into the program, the mentorship available through the accelerator has made an immediate impact on CareerLaunch’s trajectory. “A lot of the value is in the people who walk through the door,” Doucet says. CareerLaunch launches with partner schools in Ontario in just a few weeks time.
client-driven from real-life projects,” says Perram. In September, File Facets won the IG Technology Provider of the Year award from the Information Governance Initiative, beating out heavy-hitters in the field like OpenText and Hewlett-Packard. In coming to L-Spark, File Facets is learning everything there is to know about being a software company from the best in the Ottawa ecosystem. “At the core of what they provide us, in terms of support, is incredible mentorship,” Perram says. The environment has been so beneficial to Perram already that he has moved from his office in Kanata to work directly out of L-Spark at all times. “If I’m going to squeeze everything I can out of L-Spark, I need to be here.” Perram says the principles of discipline and accountability that come with working in the accelerator have been the biggest impacts on his daily work. “I am laser-focussed on my next nine months,” he says. “You almost can’t help but succeed.”
“I think as a company, if you can get those two things right — having a clear direction on what you are trying to do and bringing in great people who can execute on the stuff — then you can do pretty well.” – MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO OF FACEBOOK
TECH 101: INTERNET OF THINGS New research chair in sensory technology named at Carleton U BY STEPHEN KARMAZYN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
Ottawa is getting smarter, at least in the technical sense. The Internet of Things, which is to say the connectivity between devices in everything from wearables that measure heart rates to cars that selfassess, is going to be big. “The Internet of Things will allow us to see our world and to make our world
TECHOPIA.CA
04
LEFT TO RIGHT: CISCO CANADA PRESIDENT BERNADETTE WIGHTMAN, DR. MOHAMED IBNKAHLA AND ROSEANN RUNTE, PRESIDENT OF CARLETON.
smarter. It will transform the way we live,” Mohamed Ibnkahla told those gathered for his appointment to the new Research Chair in Sensor Technology for the Internet of Thing at Carleton University. This is another in the long string of IoT focused investment of human capital and, well, regular capital. IoT is taking over everything from energy
consumption and water control to garbage collection and snow removal, he said. Ibnkahla went so far as to say that the “whole concept of city governments … will completely change with the Internet of Things.” Cisco Canada president Bernadette Wightman, who partnered with Carleton in the announcement of this new chair,
says, “We may already think we live in a hyperconnected world, but one per cent of the things that can be connected are connected.” That means there is plenty of room for growth. A recent Cisco study determined the IoT will drive $14.3 trillion of net value globally over the next decade with $400 billion of that coming in Canada alone.
GET SOCIAL
Follow TECHOPIA on Twitter @techopiaOTT or like us at Facebook.com/techopiaOTT
We need to have a sense of urgency. Every sector of the economy is going to be disrupted by this … new connected phenomena that connects people, processes and machines. Don’t think it’s not going to happen to you. This is a conversation that Canadian business needs to have that they’re not having. — JAMES MAYNARD,PRESIDENT AND CEO, WAVEFRONT
“The Internet of Things has the opportunity to transform every single industry, every business, every city and every country,” Wightman said. “The path to digitization is hugely reliant on research and innovation, precisely the type of research and innovation that (Dr. Ibnkahla) is doing. Canada has an opportunity to lead and take a key role in digital disruption and creating a thriving environment that will benefit all Canadians.” IoT dominance is coming. The choices are to be prepared or get out of the way. James Maynard, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Wavefront, is dedicated to accelerating Canada’s wireless innovation. The institution
works with more than 30 companies and its mandate is to grow Canada by $400 million in GDP, 6,000 in new jobs and a 150 new companies in the first five years. They’re on pace to achieve that. “In the last five years, there’s been a tremendous shift in the price performance and availability in technology, to the point now where it’s almost free,” says Maynard. “The major shift with the Internet of Things, is the shift in the role of IT in enterprise. This is the first time where I’ve seen technology platforms have become offensive strategic weapons for businesses to grow.” Maynard says if you’re still trying to figure out how to get online and mobile, you’re two years behind.
“Mobile devices have overtaken traditional web terminals. The mobile user is king and the next thing is to connect them to their world.” IoT is part of the “intellectual insight” that helps businesses grow, streamline and modernize. “It’s really the next phase of bigger integrated platform of cloud, data analytics, big data and mobility,” says Maynard. “We need to have a sense of urgency. Every sector of the economy is going to be disrupted by this … new connected phenomena that connects people, processes and machines. Don’t think it’s not going to happen to you. This is a conversation that Canadian business needs to have that they’re not having.”
UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET OF THINGS
It’s been around for just about 30 years, and used to be called machine-to-machine communication. And the long and short of it is IoT is here to save you “million and millions of dollars” if used right, says Alan Swain, VP at Wavefront. He mentions self-reporting analytics that will tell you when something needs servicing versus having an arbitrary service date is a great way for companies to shave operation costs with needless check-ups. Another area is health. The newly opened Humber River Hospital, for instance, is the first fully digitally integrated hospital in North America. Which is to say IoT isn’t risk free. Swain warns of security threats from hackers getting into, say, a selfupdating pacemaker and futzing with it, but the best way to ward of those worries is to be prepared.
ALAN SWAIN
VICE-PRESIDENT, WAVEFRONT
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
05 TECHOPIA.CA
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” — FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
MADE IN OTTAWA, NO KIDDING? There are advantages to manufacturing at home, says CEO BY STEPHEN KARMAZYN
‘Made in Ottawa’ isn’t the tag you see on a lot of tech products, but a quick walkthrough of Powerstick.com’s office might change your mind. “Coming in here every day is like coming into Santa’s Workshop,” says Nigel Harris, founder and CEO of Powerstick.com. Centered around branding and building cool tech tools, Powerstick.com is best known for its eponymous product, the Powerstick. Part portable phone charger and part USB storage, the device sees use everywhere from folks in the office to U.S. Military soldiers in the field. Powerstick.com’s newest device is the Mosaic, a WI-FI accessible hard drive that allows multiple users to connect and
Université d’Ottawa
NIGEL HARRIS
FOUNDER AND CEO, POWERSTICK.COM
stream content from a single device. Mosaic launches on Amazon Nov. 25. Both products, like all of Powerstick. com’s goods, are assembled by hand onsite. “Our customers expect longevity, quality in our company and our products,” Harris said. “Manufacturing here, we have
|
a much better chance of standing behind (the products) and replacing them if they do become defective, which importers have great difficulty with if they’re having their products manufactured overseas with limited production runs.” Quality assurance is also a huge bonus that comes along with the “Made in Ottawa” sticker. As CEO, Harris can walk a few metres down the hall from his office and oversee the entire production process. In a world where competitive wages and taxes have sent most manufacturing jobs to Asia, Powerstick.com proves a unique case of keeping those jobs – and capital – right here in the Ottawa economy. “People say, ‘How can you afford to do it Canada? Shouldn’t you do it in China?’” Harris said. “They don’t really understand all the component issues, the sourcing issues, the problems with quality … that you have with overseas imports.” To be fair, Powerstick.com isn’t producing millions of products to store on mass retailer shelves. But there’s a number of huge
University of Ottawa
A VACCINE FOR ALL INDIGENOUS WOMEN Jessie Nault is drawing on her heritage and her personal experience to combat the high incidence of cervical cancer among Indigenous women.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
One day, all young Indigenous women in Canada will be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer. And this will save many lives. This goal is certainly ambitious, but at 26, Jessie, a medical student and researcher at uOttawa, is certainly not lacking the ambition to tackle this issue head-on.
TECHOPIA.CA
06
The scholarships she receives from the University allow her to focus full time on her studies and research. To learn more about how Jessie is defying the conventional, visit http://www.uottawa.ca/give/JessieNault.
Defy the Conventional: The Campaign for uOttawa
benefits to building in Ottawa, Harris said. Being NAFTA compliant, for instance, allows the company to avoid tariffs. Another is that markets that would otherwise be closed off to products produced in Asia – like Canadian labour unions and the US Military – Powerstick.com can freely access. Powertick.com counts as clients some heavy hitters, including Bank of America, Reuters, Ford Motor Company and Google just to name a few. Mr. Robot, the USA network show taking the world by storm, has bought branded Mosaics with the second season pre-loaded for promotional and review purposes. “The labour force here in Ottawa is very well trained,” Harris said, “it’s very technical. A lot of our people come from the Nortel/ Newbridge environment. They’re very skilled and it’s very easy to get the manpower we need. “It’s very profitable, but it’s also an incredible amount of fun designing a products that everyone regards as cool tech toys.”
TECH-FLIX
Updated local and national video posted weekdays at techopia.ca
— SPONSORED CONTENT —
The telecom boom is far from over for CENX Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall helps local firm speed build a global business
Y
ear-over-year revenue growth of over 400 per cent. A $12.5-million series D round of venture capital. A 100 per cent jump in staff. With numbers like that, it should come as no surprise that CENX is staking a claim in a market space ripe with opportunity. Capitalizing on it takes the CENX team across borders on a regular basis. With its secret sauce steeped in proprietary intellectual property, the company needs a legal team with the expertise and contacts to serve its interests around the globe. “You always have to look at what you are doing here today in Ottawa and extend those considerations to what is happening in all those other jurisdictions where you operate,” said CFO Kim Butler. While CENX is still based in the U.S., the bulk of its operations are located with the senior management team in Ottawa under CEO Ed Ogonek. The company is in the fast-growing lifecycle service orchestration (LSO) market. Building on Ottawa’s hotbed of tech talent CENX helps mobile, wireline and cloud data service providers manage reams of big data to provide more reliable services more quickly to their customers.
“Ottawa remains a hotbed of technology talent for data
In three years, the CENX team has grown from 30 to more than 180 staff, with offices across the U.S. and overseas. Full-service law firm Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall has been a crucial partner at every step. “CENX is a great example of a fast-paced and growing tech company with a variety of legal needs that we are proud and honoured to support,” said Lorraine Mastersmith, a partner in the Business Law Group at PerleyRobertson. Her team has steered CENX through the complexities of cross-border financing, global intellectual property protection, commercial leasing and the myriad
of employment law issues inherent in the management of a rapidly growing workforce. Local expertise, global experience “We’ve needed to tap into a broad range of services as we’ve grown,” said Butler. “When we look to engage firms, we want someone who has the local contacts, understands our market and our business needs as a technology company, and can support us outside of Canada.”
around the globe,” Butler said. “That means we don’t have to deal with several lawyers in different time zones ourselves.” Partners who are on the same page It all comes down to partners who understand each other. “Our advice and support is strategically more effective when we understand what is going on in all aspects of a client’s business,” Mastersmith said.
This is particularly important when it comes to managing patents and trademark applications and registrations overseas. It’s a sensitive area that requires more than just routine business advice.
“It makes a big difference in our operations to work with a law firm that understands the cadence of our business, our management approach and how we deal with challenges,” Butler added.
“We have one contact point with Perley-Robertson here in Ottawa who facilitates and manages the relationship with trademark agents
To learn more about how PerleyRobertson, Hill & McDougall can help grow your business, visit www.perlaw.ca.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
It does this by taking the rich pool of talent it finds in Ottawa for data and IP networking, and combining it with big data analytics, workflow automation and leading-edge visualization software.
and IP networking,” Butler said. “It only seemed logical to build out the team here with the caliber of people we find in the area.”
07 TECHOPIA.CA
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.” — RICHARD P. FEYNMAN
— SPONSORED CONTENT—
Legal tips for startups Tech startups have unique legal needs. A lawyer with experience in the tech world can be a valuable business asset and resource to help you create a solid framework from which to grow your business. Here are Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP/s.r.l.’s top legal tips for startups:
1
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
KNOW WHAT YOU NEED AND CREATE BUDGET
TECHOPIA.CA
08
Legal advice does not have to be expensive. By educating yourself and clearly setting out what your legal needs are, getting quality and effective legal advice will be in your budget. Make sure your lawyer understands your business and what you plan on doing with it. If you have an exit strategy, share it with your lawyer. This information is invaluable to ensure you receive the advice you need.
2
3
4
GET INCORPORATED
KEEP THE CAP TABLE SIMPLE
SIGN A FOUNDERS’ AGREEMENT
By incorporating you can easily split ownership in your startup among your founders and investors. You also protect your personal assets from liability.
If you plan on doing an angel or venture round of financing, your investors will want to see a clean, simple cap table. Complicated share structures are often tax driven and for a new startup with little revenue, not a top priority. Spend your money and time planning elsewhere and keep it simple.
A shareholders’ agreement helps co-founders plan for the worst. If the working relationship breaks down between shareholders running a company, the shareholders’ agreement sets out the steps necessary to end the working relationship amicably without the expense and hassle of negotiation or litigation.
5 VEST EQUITY OVER TIME Vesting ownership over time is a fair way to make sure the people who put their time and energy into growing your startup reap the rewards of that growth.
If you’re a startup that needs legal advice, contact Conor Cronin at Perley’s Business Law Group. He can be reached at ccronin@perlaw.ca.
WHAT’S HAPPENING Stay up to date with TECHOPIA’s calendar of events at techopia.ca
THE STRAIGHT DOPE Lessons in financing from an L-Spark grad Did you get any legal advice?
BY CRAIG LORD
Christian Desjardins, founder of Punchtime and L-Spark incubator grad, recently went through a second round of seed funding for his SaaS company. What lessons did he learn from his first round? Techopia got the scoop.
What was your strategy going into discussions? “We got a little bit lucky, I guess. In hindsight, I would say, I don’t know if I would’ve jumped on board so quickly. We gave up 20 per cent equity the first time around, which isn’t a whole lot, but it’s substantial. And then you have to deal with the realities of that relationship once you’re in it. It’s just like a relationship with a person. You don’t want to commit too quickly or blindly because then you might be in for some surprises. The second-time around, we were much more prudent and much less willing to give up equity easily. And we really got to know the people who wanted to work with us and wanted to invest in what we were doing.”
“Lawyers got in pretty much right away. The lawyer we had originally was not extremely well informed with these types of dealings. He was our guy for all of our basic corporate needs, that sort of thing. He wasn’t completely out of his league, he did review the paperwork and it was pretty much standard stuff for the most part but it was a strange deal. The first time we did it, it was an equity deal, but part of the deal felt a little bit like a loan, which we didn’t really like. Eventually we changed that and that was part of the complex relationship. Definitely get a lawyer, and try to get a lawyer that’s experienced, that’s done this before. If our first lawyer had done this many times, it would’ve raised more red flags that we felt like we found out maybe a little bit too late. They weren’t huge things, but they did bother us, and if we had known beforehand, we would’ve made decisions differently. People who have done a startup and have been through the whole process, those people are super helpful. Because along the way, they’ve met those people, they’ve
made those connections. Learn from their mistakes as opposed to having to make those mistakes yourself.”
How did you determine how much to ask for? “The first time we got funding, we didn’t have a really well-formulated, wellstructured ask. We knew that we wanted to hire a certain amount of human resources. We knew we needed to do certain other things that cost money like buy equipment, pay rent, that stuff. So we raised about $200,000. From the onset, I would say, make sure you know who’s paying for the accountant and the lawyer fees that facilitate the transaction. We ended up paying a whole lot of it, and it cost us a lot of money. All of that money could have gone to more appropriate applications if we had taken more time to negotiate.”
What advice would you give to someone looking for seed funding?
y e v r u S e c i o h C Employees’ ny forever! mpa o c r u o y e g n a h c It could
What’s the big takeaway? • •
• • •
“Get input from others. A lot of the advice that we got from L-Spark in the beginning,
Take the
it’s not that we discounted it, but we found some of it comical and we just didn’t get it. And then in hindsight, they were absolutely right. They are people who have done this before and they were right on the money. Get your pitch straight, have it super practiced, be critical about your pitch once you get a load of advice. It’s always more convincing if you can show a demo, something that works. Make sure you understand the financials of the startup. Projections are important. Know your investor. That’s a huge part of it. An Ottawa investor and someone from the Valley are completely different. Somebody from California, first of all, the money is much more. There’s a lot more competition, and they’re a lot more interested in big ideas than they are in MRR (monthly recurring revenue). In Ottawa, they want to see real growth, they want to see recurring revenue, they want to see a viable business. Something that’s been tried by real people that it was intended for and it works.”
•
Don’t jump in too quickly, take time to realize what you’re negotiating Shop around for affordable accountants and lawyers who have been through these negotiations Know who’s paying the bill for the legal work Find people who have been through it before and trust their advice Get your pitch straight and make sure you’re sharing something compelling Know your investor!
“We have done the survey for a number of years...we WANT to hear what our employees have to say to us” – Dawn Kadlec, Director, Creative Operation, McMillan “This is a great marketing tool and helps us attract the best and the brightest. Also gives us great feedback” – Jeffrey Sullivan, Partner, Collins Barrow Ottawa LLP
CONGRATUL ATIONS!
The 2015-16 Employees’ Choice Survey is now open.
It takes two minutes to register and 15 minutes to launch a company-wide survey.
Visit employeeschoice.ca now to register! Engaging Employees
E CH AIC RDS
AW -16 2015
09 TECHOPIA.CA
TalentMap
EMPLOYEES’
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
Managed by Talentmap, Canada’s employee engagement survey experts, the process will provide remarkable insights and promises to boost your company’s performance and bottom line.
CONNECTED ON THE GO Check out TECHOPIA newsfeed on your mobile device at techopia.ca
AIt’s notTOUGH SLOG all fun and games inside social app startup Bumpn In the last print and digital issue of TECHOPIA, editor Stephen Karmazyn introduced readers to local social app startup Bumpn. In this issue, Karmazyn sits down with Bumpn co-founder Moe Abbas for a one-on-one to explore what it’s like to run a mobile app startup. Here is an edited transcript of that chat.
TECHOPIA: Take me through what it’s like to run a startup.
ABBAS: It’s hard. It takes a lot longer than you think it will. When we first started we thought we’d have a product out in the first three months and we’d get traction and everyone would pick it up. That’s not the reality. The reality is, it takes at least two years to see a semblance of success. Year one is a lot of pain. A lot of ups and downs. Mostly downs. A year and half into it you start understanding the market and where you fit in. I don’t think anybody can launch a company and immediately have product-market fit.
TECHOPIA: How can you tell if you’re on the right path?
ABBAS: You have a hypotheses: this is a good business, people want this thing. You have to go out and test it. Like all things that are tested, you’re going to be right to a certain degree and you’re going to be wrong on a lot of things and you’ve got to learn from that. It’s like a big science experiment; it’s very costly and requires a lot of smart people to get it right. Along the way, you learn more and more about the space and the more you learn the better the product you can make.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
TECHOPIA: So what mistakes have you made?
TECHOPIA.CA
10
ABBAS: From getting the right co-founder to getting the right idea to capital requirements to building everything right in the company, we made so many mistakes. I would just count the first nine months as a total write-off other than an expensive learning experiment. If you’re doing a startup be prepared for at least two years of runway because that’s how long it’ll take you to figure your shit out. If after two years you don’t know, you should get a job. That’s the maximum range … you gotta figure your shit out. I don’t care if it’s in a brand new industry. It took three months to launch the first version of Bumpn. It failed. It was more about getting into the space, just move fast. But we learned from that and we did another iteration and another iteration.
TECHOPIA: Success always depends on people. Talk about the HR component of a startup.
ABBAS: We can’t have anyone in the company who isn’t an A or higher player. Even if it’s your co-founder. Especially in engineering. In a tech startup, if you don’t have phenomenal engineers, when you start, you’re going to be in trouble. You gotta be prepared to put everything aside and completely, obsessively immerse yourself. You need to be thinking about it all the time. You need to have your whole team thinking about it all the time. You have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of things to do a startup. I had to shelve all my businesses. A million-dollars plus in opportunity costs in order to focus on Bumpn. Not only do you have this opportunity cost, you’re losing money. I burned $500,000 of my own money in the company and you don’t even know if you’re going to succeed.
MOE ABBAS, CO-FOUNDER OF BUMPN WITH HIS TEAM. PHOTO SUPPLIED
It’s scary. It’s terrifying. Everyday you gotta wake up sick. Because if you’re not waking up sick, you’re not feeling it. At the same time you need to understand you can’t be living in an emotional state, you can’t run the company in an emotional state. As long as you’re building a great product that people love, you should be able to succeed. If you have a small niche of people who love your product, that’s more important than a lot of people liking your product.
TECHOPIA: How do you measure your success? ABBAS: Inside you gotta be questioning everything. You gotta be harsh critic. We’ve changed parts of the application that people love, because it just didn’t work. It wasn’t getting us toward our key business metric. What defines success for you product? For us, it’s daily active users. Ulitmately, everything you do, you have to ask this one question. How does it get us daily active users? If you can’t answer that question, even though it’s brilliant and amazing, you gotta scrap that. You need to focus on driving that business metric.
TECHOPIA: Is the co-founder no longer with the company?
ABBAS: A lot of great companies, they lose a key member. You realize along the way they’re not really the right fit for your organization.
TECHOPIA: Is there a story behind that? ABBAS: His engineering chops were not up to par. Number two, there was there was negativity. He’s a decent guy, but I don’t like the way he left. We were running low on cash at the time. The product kept getting delayed and kept having bugs. We hired another engineer whose engineering work was better than the cofounder. I had to ask him to leave. And I was only able to do that when I was comfortable in the space. That was back in 1.0. You really gotta make hard decisions, especially when it involves people. We had to release all the fat, bring it down to a small core group of really talented people. What happens is you end up doing things faster.
like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind! — AUTHOR UNKNOWN
MEE TINGS THAT M AK E YO U LOOK OH -SO - GOOD. Reserve your next meeting, incentive or special event and receive the following: Complimentary main meeting room One complimentary coffee break (including coffee, tea and water) Free WiFi in guest rooms AND in main meeting room One suite upgrade for every 35 guest rooms/night 35,000 HHonors contract signature bonus points $15 in promotional gaming credits Complimentary outdoor parking
3, boulevard du Casino I Gatineau I QuĂŠbec I J8Y 6X4 I www.lacleamy.hilton.com
*For meetings booked and held prior to March 31st, 2016, based on availability. Minimum of 35 actualized guest rooms required per night. Offer not valid for meetings that are already tentative, definite, under contract or actualized. Taxes and service not included. Certain conditions may apply.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
Contact Liliane Cossette, Account Executive at 819-790-6496 or at liliane.cossette@hiltonlacleamy.com
11 TECHOPIA.CA
HUH? E eINadvantaOTgesTAto locaWl A, MTherAD manufacturing som e are
CONNECTING TECH
IN OTTAWA
VOL. 1, ISSUE 3
MADE IN OTTAWA, HUH? There are some advantages to local manufacturing
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
FAST HARD ANDKanat a’s L-Spark New cohort in hits the accelerator PAGE 3
TED SUPER CONNEC s will change everything, Internet of Thing PAGE 4 says Carleton research chair
L THE REAL DEA shares the straight dope App developer on getting cash PAGE 9
PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
Want a great Christmas Party this year? Let us be your party planner! B r i n g y o u r t e a m & w e ’ l l ta k e c a r e o f e v e r y t h i n g !
ottawa’s biggest
office
Win fabulous prizes! Enjoy cocktails, food, entertainment, & so much more!
party SHAW CENTRE
6
to midnight
Thursday, Dec. 10
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2015
Powered by Ottawa Business Events
TECHOPIA.CA
12
SINGLE TICKETS: $65
GROUP OF 10: $600 / CHAMBER MEMBERS: SINGLE TICKET: $60
TO REGISTER: visit ottawachamber.ca
GROUP OF 10: $550