DFAIT Technology Growth Initiative Business Bootcamps

Departement of Foreign Affairs and International TradeDFAIT is sponsoring the Technology Growth Initiative (TGI) Business Bootcamps Spring 2011 to help Canadian companies go-to-market in specific US markets (BostonDenverLos AngelesNew YorkPalo AltoSan DiegoSan Francisco/Silicon Valley and others). The program provides startups with access to webinars, a one day bootcamp session and direct connections with VCs and local entrepreneurs to share experiences and find funding.

The one day bootcamps are being help in April and May 2011 from Halifax to London. The bootcamps are interesting, they provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch and get feedback from trusted experts (yeah right I think I served as an “expert” in 2009 ;-). But it is a great opportunity to get a different set of eyes on your pitch. And it plays to the old adage, “how do you know when an entrepreneur is dead? he stops pitching”.

Registration for One Day Business Bootcamp

  • Halifax: April 27th, 2011 – Cleantech and ICT
  • Quebec City: April 28th, 2011 – ICT
  • London: April 29th, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences
  • Toronto: May 2nd, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences
  • Ottawa: May 3rd, 2011 – Cleantech, ICT, Life Sciences

There is also the upcoming April 6th, 2011 11:30EST seminar with Mike Grandinetti (he’s also a TechStars mentor) focusing on “Lean and Mean Startups”.

April 6th: 11:30 EST (Upcoming Webinar – Soon)

  1. Lean and Mean Start-ups – Presented by: Mike Grandinetti, Managing Director, Southboro Capital, Boston.
  2. So you think you are ready? – 10 things you need to know before presentation day – A candid talk on presentations gone horribly wrong and how you avoid that – Presented by: Coby Schneider – Miller Thomson & Others.

These are great opportunities to learn about expanding into specific US markets. The DFAIT team brings key players to local markets and makes it easy to establish relationships that allow companies to grow. There are lots of opportunity to criticize some of the efforts, but the team at DFAIT have run this program for the past few years with varied success. It’s worth the time of startups actively looking to expand their customer base (this means that you’re beyond seed stage, you probably have customers, you have a product, you’re looking for a scalable business model) to explore how DFAIT can help.

The event is co-hosted by our sponsors and friends at KPMG are corporate partners helping DFAIT and startups. There are a lot of cross-border issues concerning corporate structure, financing, taxation and other where KPMG can leverage their experience to help early and growth stage companies.

Quebec City based Poly9 group acquired by Apple

Techcrunch is reporting that Quebec City based Poly9 group has been acquired by apple. Details are thin and it looks like the team has gone dormant.

It will be interesting to find out exactly what has transacted in this case. Just last night I was telling David that Quebec City is consistently underrated for startup potential in Canada.

We have been tracking Poly9 since they added themselves to the startupindex.

Poly9 is a technology studio in Quebec City specializing in 2D & 3D web mapping, and interactive media.

Since 2005, we have designed and developed some of the most exciting and popular web mapping applications for major clients. We are also behind highly visible Google Gadgets, running on iGoogle and the Google Gadget Ads platforms. Take a look for yourself at the Our work page.

Our company’s flagship product, Poly9 FreeEarth, is the first geographic 3D globe that works in all browsers, and does not require any download or installation.