Monday, May 28, 2012 12:37 PM EDT
Britain targets young entrepreneurs with new startup loan program
TERRY BRODIE
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
PM hopes to tackle unemployment, create 'wave of enterprise'
Britain is pinning some of its hopes of economic recovery on young entrepreneurs, with the launch of a new startup loan program.
The "StartUp Loans" scheme announced today will lend up to £82.5-million over the next three years to youths aged 18 to 24. They'll get a typical £2,500 apiece to help start up new businesses; the money must be repaid within five years, with interest charged at the level of inflation plus 3 per cent.
They'll also get mentors to offer guidance, connections and networking. James Caan, a star of the British Dragons' Den TV series, has been appointed chairman of the program.
The government hopes the program will help create a more entrepreneurial culture as well as create jobs for the young, whose unemployment has hit record levels.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he hopes the program will unleash 30,000 new startups in a "wave of enterprise," according to a variety of reports, including this one in the Financial Times, this BBC report, this one in The Telegraph and this Sky News report.
A report by the prime minister's enterprise adviser, Lord Young of Graffham, calculated that Britain would have 900,000 more businesses if it had the same rate of entrepreneurship as the United States.
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Friday, May 25, 2012 11:30 AM EDT
Silicon Valley investors drawn to Calgary startups
SEAN STANLEIGH
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
A new Canada-U.S. partnership emerges
Calgary-based Boast Capital has partnered with the Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley to launch Startup Camp Canada.
The hybrid accelerator program will provide Canadian startups time in Calgary and Silicon Valley, provide access to more than 180 venture capital firms and angel investors, including Accel Partners and Sand Hill Angels, and get them in front of entrepreneurs from companies such as YouTube and Skype, as well as a community of leading universities and corporate partners.
Startup Camp Canada will be launched in two phases:
- Phase one is a 10-week acceleration program in Silicon Valley, beginning June 18, which includes workshops, speaker series, mentorship sessions and active coaching.
- Phase two is a 16- to 18-week Calgary-Silicon Valley hybrid program that starts mid-September. In Calgary, startups will participate in a Startup MBA curriculum of weekly courses on topics such as market discovery, business model design, sales and marketing, project management, pitching and raising capital.
Startup Camp participants are eligible to receive an investment of $25,000 upon acceptance into the program with opportunities for further investments.
Boast Capital is made up of a team of engineers and finance professionals with a background in software and manufacturing and more than 10 years of experience with successful SR&ED claims. It assists organizations of all sizes within the software engineering, IT, and manufacturing industries overcome a number of challenges.
“The Canadian government ranks Calgary as having the highest number of tech startups per capita," says Alex Popa, founder and partner at Boast Capital. "That, coupled with a highly educated and motivated work force, strong tech ecosystem, low health care costs, better labour and facility rates, easily available government grants and a quick flight between Calgary and the Valley, makes Calgarian startups quite intriguing to Silicon Valley VCs.
“We have some great success stories like Veer, Stumbleupon and iStockphoto, to name a few. Our goal is to have many such successes by building a world class tech ecosystem in Calgary and driving startups from around the world to move here.”
The application deadline for Startup Camp Canada is June 5.
Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:31 PM EDT
AOL campus squatter scores seed funding
SEAN STANLEIGH
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Now that's passion and dedication
Eric Simons spent two months living at AOL's campus in Palo Alto, Calif. Undetected.
He would hide out on couches at night, CNET reports, eating the company's food, exercising and showering in its gym (the link includes a photo gallery). Until he was finally discovered by a security guard.
Mr. Simons, who is now 20, after high school had become part of the inaugural class of Imagine K12, a Silicon Valley incubator focused on education. His idea was to launch a company to create tools to help teachers build lesson plans and share them with students and other teachers. He moved to the Valley, but his initial concept was slow to get going. When the four-month program ended, the $20,000 (U.S.) awarded by the incubator was gone.
AOL hosts Imagine K12, and all of its participants get a security badge. Apparently the one given Mr. Simons kept working after his stint ended.
"There were so many people going in and out each day," he told CNET. "They'd say, 'Oh, he just works, here, he's working late every night. Wow, what a hard worker.'"
After the fateful day he was finally discovered, he moved out of the AOL building, and things started looking up. Mr. Simons said he was able to score $50,000 in seed funding from Ulu Ventures and Silicon Valley VC Paul Sherer.
The money enabled him to rent a house in Palo Alto, hire an engineer for his company, as well as a couple of interns for ClassConnect, all of whom will share the new pad.
"Tenacity and commitment are key attributes of a great entrepreneur," Clint Korver of Ulu Ventures told CNET. "Eric has these in spades."
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 12:05 PM EDT
Microsoft houses startups to build Kinect apps
SEAN STANLEIGH
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Startups help design Microsoft's future
Microsoft is hosting 11 startups for a 13-week accelerator program to build apps for Kinect for Windows, a version of the Xbox device designed for PCs, Bloomberg.com reports.
In order for Kinect to play a central role in the future of computing, the story explains, Microsoft needs startups to build applications that make gesture-based controls and 3-D scanning important to non-gamers. Nearly 500 startups applied for the program, an indication that Kinect continues to be a key strategic play for the software giant.
Montreal-based Jintronix, founded in 2010 by MIT student Justin Tan, scored one of the coveted 11 spots. Mr. Tan's father had a stroke that left him paralyzed on one side of his body, and the entrepreneur noticed a reduction in rehab time after patients are discharged, the company’s chief technology officer, Lex Youssef, told Bloomberg.
Mr. Tan and several high school friends created hardware for in-home rehab that's now built on Kinect for Windows. It apparently does a better job of tracking a patient’s motion and it can determine whether someone is doing the exercises correctly. Therapists can track progress and analyze data without a visit to the home.
Microsoft's accelerator program ends June 28, at which time the entrepreneurs meet with potential investors.
The program comes on the heels of a similar announcement in March when Microsoft and Nokia said they would invest a total of $23.9-million (U.S.) into a new mobile application development program, AppCampus, at Helsinki’s Aalto University during the next three years.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 1:53 PM EDT
Iconic brands get boost from the future
KATHERINE SCARROW
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Mags, hoverboards and DeLoreans on two wheels
Brands steeped in the past - including those featured in the 1980s Back to the Future franchise - are enjoying a boost from nostalgic fans of the present. In the past year alone, the following products made famous by the cult film are enjoying a second life:
Nike mags. Last September, Nike released 1,500 limited edition pairs of Mag sneakers, the same ones worn by Marty McFly in the 1989 sequel.
Hoverboard. This past February, Mattel announced that it plans to make a replica movie version of pink hoverboard McFly uses. Sadly superfans will have to wait three more years.
DeLorean bicycle. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, along with the release of a $90,000 electric version of the iconic gull-winged sedan scheduled for 2013, DeLorean Motor company just announced it will unveil a $5,495 stainless steel bicycle. Stephen Wynne, president of the company, admits he was skeptical when approached with the idea. But he soon realized that the ‘Anyday,’ a 11-speed bike with ‘luminescent’ coated wheels that ‘appear to turn on’ when lights shine on them, would be an appropriate extension of the niche brand (despite its inability to propel the rider to 88-mph speeds of time travel).
Monday, May 21, 2012 8:35 AM EDT
Operation Entrepreneur on Prince Charles' s Victoria Day itinerary
TERRY BRODIE
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Program helps Canadian Forces members transition by starting a business
Among the stops that Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, are making during their visit to Canada over this Victoria Day weekend is a visit to the Canadian Forces Base in Gagetown, N.B., to visit with military personnel enrolled in The Prince's Operation Entrepreneur program.
It's a program to help members of the Canadian Forces transition to civilian life by starting their own businesses.
It was created by Prince's Charities Canada, which supports The Prince of Wales's Canadian charitable work, in partnership with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) chapter at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Memorial's SIFE already offers a "based in business" educational boot camp for veterans.. It will run a week-long boot camp to help those enrolled in Operation Entrepreneur gain the same education, mentoring, networking and other support; those enrolled will also have a mentor and financing through CYBF.
The program is still putting together funding, said Nicole Tattersall, manager of media relations for the CYBF.
An advisory board from The Prince's Charities will be overseeing the program, as well as helping to find funding, she said. The first 20 enrolled will enter the boot camp in June, she said.
For Prince Charles's own words on the program, click here for a piece written by the Prince.
Friday, May 18, 2012 2:51 PM EDT
The $1-billion startup club gets crowded
SEAN STANLEIGH
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Valued at $1-billion? Join the club
At least 20 U.S.-based companies backed by venture capital are valued at $1 billion (U.S.) or more, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Online scrapbooking site Pinterest is the latest example. The startup raised $100-million this week at a $1.5 billion valuation, despite little revenue and no profit. During the dot.com bubble of the late '90s, 18 startups were in the $1-billion price tag club, an analysis by Dow Jones VentureSource reveals.
Facebook, which has just become a publicly traded company, is now valued at $100 billion and it is no longer in the startup arena. But the Dow Jones list include a number of "high-flying web players," including file-sharing firm Dropbox Inc., room-rental provider Airbnb Inc., e-commerce platform business Rearden Commerce Inc., and software maker Workday Inc.
Speaking of Facebook, the big business story of the moment, the valuation boom is being driven by investors looking for the next big hit and, the Journal points out, "a belief that this time it's different with the new generation of web companies." Many of the startups actually have strong growth prospects, and social media and mobile technologies are delivering huge customer bases.
But it's still a case of buyer beware. Who knows how many of these companies will ultimately deliver major profits. "In the dot-com bubble," the Journal story adds, "many billion-dollar companies, such as online grocer Webvan and online toy seller eToys, famously flamed out."
The CEO of Evernote, Phil Libin, remains optimistic. "I don't care whether there's a bubble or not," he says.
"What we want is to make sure we're isolated from market forces and bubble dynamics and that we've got the resources to get through it."
Thursday, May 17, 2012 11:05 AM EDT
Crafty mother turns children's scribbles into toys
KATHERINE SCARROW
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
From 2D doodles to 3D creatures
The first toy that Wendy Tsao created was for her son, Dani, in 2007.
“When my son started kindergarten, his school asked for a comfort toy to put in his emergency preparation kit. Instead of sending in one of his favourite stuffed toys or running to the store to buy something, I decided to sew one myself” she explains in an interview with Cool Hunting.
“I was thinking of making his favorite animal, but then I saw his self-portrait. He drew it all the time, and it always - more or less - looked the same, with huge eye circles, stick arms and ten long wispy digits. So, I thought, 'why not?' And when I was finished, my son immediately recognized it and was very appreciative.”
Five years later, the Vancouver-based owner of Child's Own Studio continues to build fantastical plush three-dimensional creatures, such as the peanut butter bee, cranky crocodile and four-armed robots. Check out its extensive Flickr gallery here.
Each creation takes approximately two days to make and, though there isn't a set price, the studio provides a quote once the child's drawing is received. While Ms. Tsao accepts the occasional adult request, she finds "accomplished drawings the least inspiring." She admits to preferring the scrawls of children, those that leave room for creative input and interpretation.
Because of the high volume of orders, Child's Own is currently not taking additional commissions for its wait list. But Ms. Tsao recommends similar services in her Softmaker Showcase on the website.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 4:19 PM EDT
F**k Cancer founder makes most creative list
TERRY BRODIE
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
'Yael Cohen is changing the world'
Yael Cohen, founder of Vancouver-based F**k Cancer, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the word about the importance of early detection of cancer, has earned a place on Fast Company's annual 100 list of the most creative people in business.
Ms. Cohen, noted on the list for her creativity in "how to make people talk," is in good company among what Fast Company describes as its list of "business innovators who dare to think differently." For the full 2012 list, click here.
The chosen range from players at Facebook, Google and Twitter to actress Jessica Alba, who co-founded The Honest Co. of eco-friendly baby care and household cleaning products. Read our take on celebrities jumping on the entrepreneurial bandwagon.
Columnist Mia Pearson wrote recently about Ms. Cohen and her organization in connection with a series by the Women's Executive Network offering "more provocative" speakers.
"Yael Cohen is changing the world with F*** Cancer,” WXN chief operating officer Kiersten Anas Byrick was quoted as saying.
Have a look, too, at this video of Ms. Cohen in conversation with The Globe's Marina Jimenez about her edgy approach in encouraging young people to take an active role in their parents' health, after her own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 12:00 PM EDT
Turning an everyday need into a franchise
KATHERINE SCARROW
The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.
Advice from the trenches for would-be franchisors
Have you ever thought about taking your business to the next level, but weren't sure how? Why not consider replicating your business success by franchising it?
As Dawn Engelbrecht points out in this article from the New Zealand Herald, even less conventional businesses – such as a before and after school program, for example – can make excellent franchise opportunities.
Ms. Engelbrecht confesses she caught the franchise bug early on. As the owner of a chain of franchised restaurants in South Africa, she could testify to the “value of replicating a good brand using strong systems and support.” When she moved to New Zealand with her husband and two children in 2000 – and with no family or friends to speak of – she spotted the opportunity to buy into an after-school program called sKids.
The first 12 months she spent developing manuals and tools for franchisees to use, and then went through a rebranding process. But it wasn’t always straightforward.
Ms. Engelbrecht offers the following observations to those considering becoming franchisors:
- Owning a franchise is very expensive and time-consuming to do properly. Getting off the ground can take up to three years.
- Franchisees are not your employees, so make sure your documents are very detailed, as this is what the franchisee will be relying on to grow their business.
- Take your time appointing franchisees as you will need to be able to work with them for many years
- When franchisees come to you with new ideas, examine whether they have potential to be used throughout the system and whether they fit the philosophy of the brand.
Tony Wilson, our regular columnist, offers these two articles to help you out:
Small Business Briefing Contributors
Sean Stanleigh
Sean Stanleigh is the editor of Report on Small Business. His goal is to make ROSB the primary destination for readers in search of information and compelling stories about Canada's small-business community, which continues to grow in size and influence. Mr. Stanleigh has an extensive background in journalism, including a number of senior editing positions at The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.
Terry Brodie
Terry Brodie is an award-winning veteran reporter and editor who has worked for numerous media outlets in Canada and abroad, including The Globe and Mail since 1996. Now an editor for Report on Small Business, she previously oversaw several sections of the Globe, most recently as editor of Globe Careers. Past work experiences range from The Financial Times of Canada, CHUM Radio and The London Free Press to Crain's Cleveland Business in the U.S. and Newsview Magazine in Israel.
Katherine Scarrow
Katherine Scarrow is a web editor for Report on Business. Before joining The Globe, she worked at Yahoo! Canada, where she helped cover the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Ms. Scarrow holds a graduate degree from the University of British Columbia and interned at the CBC and the United Nations.
