Had a quick lunch and rushed into a meeting with Cindy Pearson (Vice President & COO, BC Technology Industry Association). Cindy gave me a good overview of the technology industry in British Columbia. The industry is very dynamic and growing rapidly. What’s even more impressive is the support structure around the industry. While there is [...]

Started another hectic day with a morning meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Met with Monika Surma (Trade Commissioner at the Department). Monika provides advice to Canadian new media and software companies who are looking to trade internationally. Had a fruitful conversation regarding needs of the Canadian companies when looking [...]

Met with Jim Maynard (President, Wavefront) and his executive team for lunch today (thanks for the sushi guys). I initially met Jim in summer 2008 when he and Michael Bidu (Executive Director, WINBC) visited us at the National B2B Centre. Its impressive that Wavefront has grown by leaps and bounds in the last six months [...]

Met with George Hunter, CEO of Small Business British Columbia (SBBC) this morning. SBBC is a support organisation for small businesses in British Columbia. They provide assistance to individuals who are looking to start a business as well as to establish businesses to help them grow the company. George has recently joined SBBC to head [...]

I had a pleasure of being on the panel of International Forum with Tony Fish (Co-Founder, AMF Ventures, UK), Jeanette Kopak (Director Project Operations, Centre for Digital Media, Canada), and Jim Baker (Chief Marketing Officer, Icomera, Sweden). The discussion was moderated by Peter Lesyk (Director Business Development, TELUS). Jeanette demonstrated Movisphere, application that the students [...]

Summit had several intensive discussion sessions throughout the day.  Discussions were generally arranged around investment, technology, international market sand education. Investment panels were around the topic of raising funds for start-up ventures and how to engage carriers (financially and as partners) with your company.  Focus of the discussions took into account the current investment and [...]

Following on from the Leadership Forum yesterday, had a great, information packed Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit today. The conference theme was around Ideas, Innovation, Insight and Investment. The morning started with keynote speakers from a cross section of the wireless industry, including researchers, venture capitalists and companies. Tom Huseby (SeaPoint Ventures, Seattle) said this is [...]

Pacific Northwest Wireless Summit 2009 kicked off today in Vancouver, Canada with an amazing Leadership Forum. The Forum was held on the 29th floor of Fasken Martineau‘s offices in downtown Vancouver. During the conference, the fog lifted momentarily to give us a great view of Vancouver waterfront with the Grouse Mountain in the background. Vancouver [...]

Social networks are creating a buzz among the marketing folks who are trying to understand how to engage with the various communities online. Many marketers incorrectly assume that traditional marketing (i.e. advertisement) would work just as well on social networking sites as they have elsewhere. They happily go off spending money on that channel. And [...]

If you are looking to expand your business to the UK, look at the West Midlands region, perhaps the perfect place to setup your British venture. With easy access to the London Metropolitan area, West Midlands’ cost of doing business is 30% lower than London’s. And the Bridge to Growth initiative makes this deal even [...]