Shaheen Tejani and Alnoor Kassam don't have the biggest bankroll in town.
The founders of Vancouver-based venture capital fund SmartSeed say their typical investment will run from $100,000 to $500,000, making them bit players in Canada's financial scene.
But they have big plans for their fund, and at least for the companies in their portfolio, they intend to be a looming presence.
"When people meet us, they realize we'll be in their face," Ms. Tejani says. "Not everybody likes that approach -- and that's fine. If we can, we'll refer them to somebody else."
Ms. Tejani, 34, and her business partner Mr. Kassam, 44, say their hands-on approach, plus a wide and varied network, will provide startup firms with crucial capital and connections.
Both Ismaili Muslims, they met at a Vancouver mosque, where they soon discovered a shared interest in business. That 1998 meeting led first to casual networking and then, in October, 1999, to the launch of SmartSeed.
"I met my life partner in the mosque, and then I met my business partner in the mosque," Mr. Kassam says. "So it's worked out pretty well for me."
Timing also played a role.
When they met, Ms. Tejani, who had immigrated to Canada with her family from Uganda as a child in the seventies, was working as a consultant to high-technology startups.
Her parents had wanted her to become a doctor, but "organic chemistry threw me" and she pursued a degree in computer science instead. After working in high-tech sales, she ran a Vancouver manufacturing company that made specialized steel components.
A health problem forced her to step down from that position. Once she recuperated, she decided to put her background to work by helping startups hone their strategies.
Mr. Kassam has been in Canada full-time since 1993, when he fled Kenya after a real estate deal put him at odds with the corrupt government of president Daniel arap Moi.
Mr. Kassam was the principal shareholder of a Kenyan bank that acquired a Nairobi shopping mall in settlement of a debt owed by Nicholas Biwott, a former Kenyan cabinet minister.
After the bank turned the mall into a profitable operation, Mr. Kassam says, the government wanted it back.
In 1993, the Kenyan bank was shut down following government allegations of corruption.
At the time, Kenyan authorities claimed they were seeking Mr. Kassam in connection with the bank's collapse. But an RCMP spokeswoman said Kenya failed to provide evidence to consider a prosecution.
A Vancouver lawyer for Mr. Kassam says no warrants were ever issued. Mr. Kassam says his dealings were above-board, and that he fled because he feared for his own, and his family's, safety.
He started over in Canada, beginning with a small hotel project in Calgary.
By the time he met Ms. Tejani in 1998, he was itching to play an active role in a technology company. Previously, he'd bid on the assets of a bankrupt Vancouver software maker, but lost out to another suitor.
Ms. Tejani offered to put him in touch with investment prospects. Eventually, they decided they could do better by investing in multiple companies.
At a technology industry forum in Vancouver, they pitched their concept before they'd raised a dime.
Response, both from startup companies and established venture capital providers, was encouraging. Both groups said there was room for a fund that would focus on early-stage deals and provide some handholding.
Ms. Tejani and Mr. Kassam set up a limited partnership to raise investment capital.
Beginning with $500,000 of their own funds, they have raised $4-million for a planned $10-million fund.
They say their network gives companies access to investors who, although they may not be participants in SmartSeed, have the ability to pump $1-million or more into suitable companies.
Ismailis from Canada and abroad have invested in SmartSeed. But investors also include non-Ismailis who have backgrounds in technology, real estate and finance, Mr. Kassam says.
The partners rely on gut instinct and intuition, along with balance sheets and technology reports, to make their decisions. They prefer to meet prospects in person, before they vet business plans, to do a "chemistry check" and see how everybody gets along. If they feel a founder or executive isn't the right person to take the company to the next stage, they'll say so.
Their goal, they say, is to help build world-class, billion-dollar companies in Vancouver. And although relatively high taxes and other factors, such as expensive housing, can make it tough to lure top managers and skilled staff to Vancouver, they argue that the city -- and Canada as a whole -- is a good place to build high-tech companies.
"San Jose [in California]is San Jose, it's the big black hole that sucks everything up," jokes Ms. Tejani, referring to the difficulty of recruiting scarce technology workers.
"But the people who do come here [to Vancouver]want to stay," Mr. Kassam says. "There are cheaper salaries, our development costs are likely 40 to 50 per cent less, and if you need to get [to Silicon Valley] it's a two-hour flight."
Wendy Stueck