The last Founders and Funders dinner in Toronto was almost exactly two years ago. A lot has happened in that time and we thought it was time to sit down and break bread together again.
The Founders and Funders dinners are a series of invitation-only dinners that are held across Canada several times a year. They are a sort of summit on the state of each community and we do our best to make sure that the best startups possible have a chance to meet the most respected and active investors who are doing deals in those cities. There is always a mix of locals and people who come in for the event as a way to get connected.
We believe that if you cannot sit down and have dinner with someone, then you probably shouldn’t invest in or take investment from them. This is a great chance to apply a social filter to the dealflow in any one place.
What is it?: An invitation-only 3 course dinner. Cocktails before, cocktails after….
Who is coming?: The top investment-ready startups and active investors in Canada.
Where is it?: Downtown Toronto
When?: February 16th, 2012 at 6:30pm
How much is it?: Tickets range from $125 (startups) to $500 (service providers)
We are now accepting requests for invitations and the first round of invitations will go out this week.
To apply please use this form >>
We have also decided to include a brief fireside chat with Daniel Debow at this dinner. We rarely do this sort of thing at a Founders and Funders but 2011 was such a great year we thought it would be fun to look back on the ups and downs of Rypple through the years and how they got to their eventual exit, some of which was written about in Forbes this week.
Daniel and Rypple have also been a big part of the Canadian startup community and he has also been an active angel investor recently.
We are excited to hear what he has to say about how we can help build more great Canadian companies and how to build awareness in Silicon Valley when your HQ is back here in Canada.
We hope you will join us as we kick off another great year for the Toronto and Canadian startup community.
We will be announcing Founders and Funders dinners in other cities soon as well.
“The last Founders and Funders dinner in Toronto was almost exactly two years ago.” Why so long? I was there, and time has flown by since, and a lot has happened in-between.
Why does it seem to take a Herculean effort to put them together? These kinds of get-together should happen more often and more naturally. That’s our challenge as a community of startups.
Why not have a discussion on that during the event and gather ideas. Loop in some of the thoughts that Rick Segal has started on Google+ https://plus.google.com/110544491522389499696/posts
@wmoug:disqus it has been 2 years because the events have varied value. We aren’t a media company trying to monetize entrepreneurs. We aren’t a government funded agency funded by MRI or other. We aren’t a venture fund trying to fill our investment pipeline. We are entrepreneurs. We are trying to build companies. I try to run events that are helpful for me (hopefully others find this stuff useful too).
Rick’s proposal is exactly what I as an entrepreneur need. And I’ll support it.
Agreed. This sort of stuff should be happening more naturally. That’s why I brought back Rick’s suggestion into this discussion. It’s part of the solution.
– posted via http://engag.io