Today’s VCs tell you the secrets of a successful pitch

By Marielle VokseppThink of your relationship with a VC as a marriage

At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture on raising money, leading venture capitalists divulged the secrets of successfully pitching to an investor. The secret is in the relationship.

The panel discussion, led by Barry Gekiere, Managing Director of the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF), featured high profile folks from the VC industry:

• Bryan Kerdman, Managing Partner, Bryker Capital Corp.
• Duncan Hill, General Partner, Mantella Venture Partners; Founding Partner, Basecamp Labs
• Josh Sookman, CEO, Guardly

And what advice did these top investors have?

When preparing to approach an investor, speak to advisors and other entrepreneurs who have worked with them to find out as much as you can.  Still don’t know where to look for an investor? Read: How to identify an investor for your business.

It takes five minutes for an investor to decide if they are interested in you. Once you have chosen someone to approach with your pitch, make sure you have the right tools. (What tools, you ask? Read: Tools you need to raise money.)

Watch the rest of the lecture video on “Raising Money” to learn more from this Q&A session and hear it first-hand from leading venture capitalists.

Downloads and Resources:

• Video: Raising Money
  
• Entrepreneur’s Toolkit: What is the valuation?
  
• Entrepreneur’s Toolkit: How investors determine the valuation of your business
• Entrepreneur’s Toolkit: The hidden elements in a valuation
• Join the Entrepreneurship 101 Facebook group

Reposted from MaRS

Marielle works as part of the education team at MaRS. She helps entrepreneurs get access to business resources both online and in-person.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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Want to Stretch Your R&D Dollars?

By Sarah O’Neill

Did you know that the after-tax cost to Canadian businesses of funding industry-driven, university R&D, in collaboration with NSERC, can be as little as 17 cents on the dollar? This figure applies to a company’s cash contributions to a university research partnership, for which NSERC typically supplies two dollars for every dollar of business investment. Such investments are also eligible for tax relief, including refundable cash in many instances, under Canada Revenue Agency’s $4 billion Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program.

Universities and colleges are full of researchers with ideas and expertise that can help your business solve short-term problems and provide fundamental insights into longer-term technological challenges. Many companies are first attracted to universities and colleges to access a unique piece of equipment or solve a specific issue. This often leads to enduring relationships with professors or students that are of even more value to the company.

NSERC has several academic-industry partnership programs available that can help your company’s R&D dollars go further. If you’re new to research partnerships, a great first step is to try our Engage Grant program – $25,000 towards a 6 month project and no company cash required.  Have some cash, and want to get more out of it? Check out our Collaborative Research and Development grant  for 2:1 cash leveraging.

Currently, there are about 3,000 professors and 7,000 students engaged in research partnership projects funded by NSERC. Not sure where to start to find an academic with the expertise your company requires? A great first step is to give us a call at the NSERC Ontario Regional Office; we can connect you to the right people at the university or college.

Sarah O’Neill is the Communications and Promotions Officer at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Ontario regional office.  Sarah can connect you with the information you need to know regarding NSERC’s partnership opportunities.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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Idol III – Does Your Company Have What it Takes?

By Jasmeet Duggal

RIC Centre is proud to present the final session of the Growing Your Business Season III breakfast series – Innovator Idol III. Four emerging companies will have an opportunity to sell their business idea to a panel of industry experts including investors at the third annual Innovator Idol. The presenters will provide feedback from the panel and winner will be chosen by the audience. The winner will receive thousands of dollars, cash/prizes/in kind contribution by the event sponsors.

If you think your company has what it takes to impress the panel and win over the audience with your pitch, submit to take part in Idol III.

Innovator Idol III:

Date: June 15^th, 2011
Time: 8:30 am – 11:00 am
Location: Noel Ryan Auditorium (Cross from Mississauga City Hall)
301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.
Mississauga, Ontario
L5B 3Y3

Applicants must complete the application form and submit to Jasmeet Duggal at jasmeet@riccentre.com by May 15, 2011, 4 p.m.

Do you know an emerging company that has the next great idea? Send them this link to Innovator Idol III.

Jasmeet Duggal is graduate student pursuing a Master of Biotechnology from the University of Toronto. She is currently the Communications Officer for the RIC Centre, a role which has allowed her to engage in the start up culture, instilling an understanding of entrepreneurship and business development. With her expertise in the life sciences, she hopes to pursue a career in technology transfer to bring innovation in the life sciences to market.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers pro vide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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HIT it up (health care IT, that is…)

By Caitlin McCabe

Technological developments in the last decade have radically and rapidly changed the average Canadian lifestyle. Our research practices and social habits have moved online with society’s transition to a mobile, quick-access style of information access and distribution.

But what do these changes mean for health care? Innovative companies have a new vision for the delivery of health care, a vision in which modern technology is leveraged to improve the speed, accuracy and personalization of diagnosis and treatment.

The health care IT portfolio includes, for example:

• Consumer digital health products such as smartphone apps that allow patients to take control of their own care
• Analytic platforms in helmets and watches which alert the wearer to get tested for concussions or heart problems
• Monitoring software that tracks the spread of infections within hospitals
• Online health management tools that help a patient find a local doctor or keep track of their prescription schedule
• Medical devices that improve the success of surgical interventions

Such innovations offer promising and potentially game-changing solutions for many gaps in our current health care model. But each division has unique business development challenges.

Challenges

Entrepreneurs in the health care IT sector face challenges that span the divide between the life sciences and information technology groups. Some of the challenges include:

• Clinical validation
• Technical development
• Privacy
• Regulatory issues
• Often-prohibitive health care policy
• Hospital infrastructure that may not readily adapt to change

All start-ups have hurdles to overcome, but for health care IT ventures in particular, the potential for improving health care delivery — not just in Canada, but in the wider world as well — is great motivation to stick with the cause.

MaRS’ burgeoning health care IT client portfolio contains many such dedicated futurists, and to these clients, I say: keep an ear to the ground for upcoming Peer-to-Peer sessions and programs designed just for you!

Check out the following resources for more information:

• Report – MaRS Market Insights: Consumer Digital Health
• Video – Consumer Digital Health: Market Opportunities and New Business Models

Reposted from the MaRS  Blog

Caitlin helps make sure our clients in the life sciences and health care industry have a great experience with our life sciences practice at MaRS.

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New Product Development Requires Fresh Perspective on ‘Creative’ and ‘Structure’

By Robert Brands

What exactly is new product development? Does the “product” actually have to be a product? Or can it be a process? Does the idea have to come from the C Suite? Or can it be a suggestion from the factory floor, the retail showroom, the Idea Box or a customer tip?

How do you treat ideas once they land in your organization’s “idea hopper”, and how wide is your idea funnel?

Answer these questions, and you’ve placed your finger on the pulse of how your organization embraces new product development.

NPD best blossoms in that place where creativity commingles with structure – where fresh thinking is fostered in a nursery of structured liberation. Think of ideas as if they were offspring: They should be free to roam and explore, but they need fences – structure – in their lives to ensure safe maturation in a controlled environment.

The same is true for NPD – regardless of whether products are widgets for sale or processes envisioned to improve the organization. A formalized new product development process will guide your organization towards Innovation through steps and “sub-steps” to help you make a Go / No-Go decision.

A carefully designed business process will take you through all the steps of new product development including idea generation, concept development, prototype development, and scale-up to launching and tracking. And remember that good “products” don’t all necessarily have to result in revenues; they can enhance processes, that in turn, can boost profitability.

Finally, is your organization prepared to measure the results – not of the NP, but of the process itself? Do you have a system in place to gather, measure and share both the success and the stumbling blocks? Are you prepared to ask yourself, how did the process work?

The truth is, future success can be closely tied into past accomplishments – if you’re willing to ask the right questions, create the right environment, and learn along the way.

Robert is the founder of InnovationCoach.com, and the author of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation”: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival, with Martin Kleinman published by Wiley. Helping to Evaluate, Improve and Deliver Innovation through 10 Imperatives that Create and Sustain “New” in Business or Organization.

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Can There Be An Open Model of Innovation in the Life Sciences?

By Jasmeet Duggal

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. In the case of the pharmaceutical industry, the current innovation model needs some fixing. Its traditional approach to innovation focuses on in house development with the intent of market exclusivity; at least until the patent expires. And guess what? Patent expiration is spreading like wildfire.

As Mark Lundie, Director of R&D at Pfizer highlighted at yesterday’s Innovation in the Life Sciences seminar at MaRS, the innovation gap is growing as R&D expenditure is on the rise while productivity remains low. In other words, billions of dollars are spent on R&D of drugs, while the number of drugs brought to market is limited to the digits on your hands.

The seminar discussion focused on utilizing the open model of innovation, already in use by other sectors, in life sciences.

Michael May, CEO of The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine defined open innovation as the development of technology that meets environmental stressor or a need where the outcome is a non-zero sum game. The stressor, being patent expiry, for many blockbuster drugs is leading to collaborative initiatives to minimize the innovation gap and increase productivity. Pfizer has undertaken a public-private partnership by embedding their researchers in The Centres of Therapeutic Innovation with Academic Medical Centers to translate science into therapeutic candidates for drug discovery.

Many of the global players in the pharmaceutical industry are established in Canada, making the country well positioned to facilitate public-private partnership. Whether the open innovation model is a true paradigm shift is yet to be established. The bigger challenge is the adoption of this model by Big Pharma.

Jasmeet Duggal is graduate student pursuing a Master of Biotechnology from the University of Toronto. She is currently the Communications Officer for the RIC Centre, a role which has allowed her to engage in the start up culture, instilling an understanding of entrepreneurship and business development. With her expertise in the life sciences, she hopes to pursue a career in technology transfer to bring innovation in the life sciences to market.

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What’s your MarCom strategy?

By Joseph Wilson

How to communicate your idea to the media

I’d like to introduce you to the Turbo Encabulator. It’s an innovative invention that “would not only supply inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grameters.”

The product is, of course, a joke, designed to poke fun at the way scientists try to use the media to communicate their products. The footage below is from 1977, but the joke goes back even further. In 1946, the “turboencabulator” became an in-joke amongst engineers on their lack of marketing savvy.

So how can I avoid the “turboencabulator” method?

To begin with, take a careful look at your target market and determine which media are most important to your customers.  Do your customers spend a lot of time on the Internet looking at gadgets? Or do they browse a specific set of stores to find the latest fashions? Do they watch TV or play with their iPhones?

Such decisions will determine where you plant your message.

Time & money

Since you’re running a start-up, your time and money is limited. You can’t afford to blanket the media with billboards, TV ads and flyers. As such, you’ve got to identify the key opinion leaders in your field and target your marketing to them.

Who are the people in your industry that your customers listen to?

Language and your “IP story”

Is your elevator pitch full of technical jargon or clear, meaningful words? A good way of achieving clarity is by using a metaphor to explain your product. One of the reasons the Microsoft Office suite is so popular is because people immediately understand it based on the over-riding metaphor of the “Office.” You turn on your computer to your “desktop,” arrange your files into “folders,” and when you delete something it goes into the “recycling bin” (which used to be called the “garbage” or “trash” in less environmentally conscious times).

One of the most important MarCom skills to learn is the art of the sound-bite. Get a video camera and film yourself explaining your technology.  Go through the following tips for perfecting the sound-bite for different media:

Tips for soundbites

Medium	Content
Look the interview in the eye (not the camera) Pause for edit points Strong voice Clear, enunciated phrases Less than 20 seconds	Mention your company Avoid technical words Use metaphors Avoid cliches Call to action Emotional connection Use numbers and stats

Bite by bite, you’ll eventually gather together a compelling MarCom toolkit that tells the right story to the right people, giving your product the air-time it deserves.

Join us

MaRS has designed a workshop series to help technology clients clearly define their marketing and communications (MarCom) strategy. The Entrepreneurship 201 Workshop Series: The MarCom Toolkit is an interactive, hands-on session of between 15 and 24 technology entrepreneurs devoted to steering them away from the “turboencabulator” method. We go through all of the stuff above, right down to handing out Flip cameras and getting you to film each other.

To enroll for Entrepreneurship 201: The MarCom Toolkit, talk to your MaRS advisor or email entrepreneurship201@marsdd.com.  Workshops are free for clients of MaRS and other innovation centres in the Ontario Network of Excellence.

Reposted from MaRS

JosephWilson is currently an education advisor at MaRS. He also writes on issues of technology and culture for NOW Magazine, the Globe and Mail, Spacing and Yonge Street. He is the Executive Director of the Treehouse Group, dedicated to fostering innovation by hosting cross-disciplinary events.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers pro vide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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Do you have what VC’s are looking for?

By Marielle Voksepp

“Remember the golden rule: He who holds the gold, makes the rules.”

VC’s want money. Not just any money; BIG MONEY.

In last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture, Terms of Investment, Shirley Speakman of the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) gave an overview of the realities of seeking out private investment for your start-up.

Because venture capital is high risk, winners need to be big — and big means at least nine-times return with a potential for high growth. Investment from an outside investor also means being prepared to accept new terms for your company. To see a list of considerations to bear in mind before accepting outside investment, read the article:  Are you ready for a private investor?

If you do decide that your company is ready to accept outside investment, you’ll want to use this workbook to ensure you have the right tools in place to raise money: Financing: Identifying, targeting and engaging potential investors.

Most importantly, before spending long hours and a large amount of preparation to  demonstrate your worth to an investor, find out if your company is “VC-able”: watch the lecture video.

Downloads and Resources:

• What is the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF)? Find out here
• Lecture video: Terms of Investment
• Slide Presentation: What do VC’s want?
• Article: Venture capital term sheets
• Article: Elements of a term sheet
• Article: Venture capital term sheets
• Entrepreneur’s Toolkit: Articles, workbooks and learning tools on the Terms of Investment

Reposted from MaRS

Marielle works as part of the education team at MaRS. She helps entrepreneurs get access to business resources both online and in-person.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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Is Social Media Starting to Die Out?

By James Burchill

Trends on the Internet are fun to watch and move very quickly compared to some other markets. For instance, while the Web’s trends tend to go in cycles of one or two years, trends in food and restaurants tend to go in cycles of nearly a decade. So the fast-changing world of the Internet can be exciting.

The latest trend to be noted amongst those who watch such things is that social media is losing some of its lustre with some users. A visible decline has been seen starting in February of this year, denoting a possible plateau during the Christmas Holiday and now falling steadily.

The Trend Itself

The trend is a 10-day moving average in terms of number of tweets on Twitter using The Daily’s iPad application. The app’s usage peaked at about 220 tweets per day in early February, then dropped quickly and significantly down to about 85 per day by the end of the month.

It’s since shown steady usage with ups and downs until mid- to late-March, when it began to decline again though at a steadier pace. On about March 20, it had been averaging around 85 tweets per day, but at the end of the month had dropped to about 50 per day.

You’ve probably noticed two things about this data.

What It Really Means

The trend itself is not about social media at all, though that’s where most of the headlines discussing it have gone. The truth is, these numbers represent a drop in the user activity and interest in one of the newest news outlets – this one being The Daily, the iPad-specific news app.

Let’s face it, though: a headline saying that social media is dying gets a lot more reader interest than one that says The Daily is dying.

To be fair to the information’s collectors at Niemen Labs, though, the numbers of some other gadget-specific news outlets were also considered. They show roughly the same results, though not in as dramatic a way as those of The Daily.

What the data really seems to be saying is that current (paid or unpaid) applications for finding news using the iPad are lacking. Users seem to be dropping them, or at least not using them as often. The high point for The Daily was during the Holiday season and into the New Year when the app was brand new and was getting heavy publicity as part of Apple’s push for the release of the iPad 2.

Since then, users have complained about the app’s shortcomings and basically heard the “we’re working on it” line. In the fast-paced world of the Internet, “working on it” for more than a few days or even a week means losing users. The longer you take, the more you’ll lose and the harder it will be to win them back. The Daily seems to be missing that point.

The Future of The Daily

With the losses over time that The Daily appears to be sustaining, according to Niemen Labs’ information, it’s not likely that the app will survive without a major publicity effort. In their favor, though, Daily promoters can also note that Twitter itself is losing users as well. Many use it as a glorified RSS feed for their blogs and despite its best efforts, the Twitosphere has become inundated with spammers.

So where will The Daily go? If they’re smart, they’ll revamp their app to match user expectations and then they’ll make another huge marketing push. If they wait too much longer, though, they’ll have a tough row to hoe and may have waited too long.

JAMES BURCHILL shows individuals and companies how to profit from the innovative use of Internet technologies, strategic content and social media marketing. You can find out more at James’ website and you can subscribe to his J-List and get over 40 articles, reports and advice on Internet Marketing today.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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Energize Your Networking Activities

By Jeff Bowman

In the past couple of years, I have touched on some of the strategic value of being an effective networker.

There are, however,  some  little tips that may assist you in separating yourself from the “guy I met hawking business cards” to “the that person I met who really seems keen on helping me grow my business”

Subtle differences in the way you approach people can make all the difference in the world when it comes to gaining a little face time. Simple things like not walking around with your hands in your pockets, it always reminds me of a Charlie Chaplin character. Carrying around a daytimer or business portfolio has always made me a little skeptical of a networker’s intentions, and I find myself avoiding the individual because somewhere deep in the back of my mind I imagine him immediately trying to sell me encyclopedias.  Hanging around the food area is usually a sign of someone who is unsure of how to approach others, so https://riccentre.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpthey wait until they come to them. If you really need a drink at the event, get it, consume it and move back into networking. A person who has to shift their drink to another hand to shake mine or grab a business card often leaves a moist impression.

What I like to see in a networker is energy! Not the kind of kinetic energy that has them bouncing around the room like a pinball, but a good strong enthusiastic smile, strong gait and a level of confidence when approaching and speaking to me. A smile is a prerequisite of attending networking events, and should be worn everywhere.

We’ve all met the shy introverted business owner who shows up because some business coach told them they need to network to grow their business. They often flounder until someone helps them out.  As an energetic networker, it is your responsibility to seek out those people and assist them, introduce them to others you know and bring them into a friendly conversation.

I still remember the first event I attended as a business owner 11 years ago.  Even though I am outgoing and love people, I was uncomfortable. Mike walked right over to me shook my hand, asked me who I was, what I did, and immediately said to me “What type of people are you hoping to meet” I could not have felt better walking out later that evening having met several people who I call friends today.

That leads me to the second key to effective networking.  The environment. Start out small if you are new to networking. Attend some small social functions with business friends.  Practice your approach in a non threatening friendly environment. You may fare much better in your efforts at approaching people in smaller settings. In my books, there are few social events or gatherings that are not opportunities to network. I learned early, that by speaking to people at events not specifically labeled networking, it was easier to talk about my business and ask about theirs.  There was no expectation from the other person that I had to be perfect, that I knew the rules of engagement or that it was anything other than friendly conversation. The larger events represent opportunities for selective networking.  You probably know more people, even casually who would be more than pleased to introduce you to contacts they know. The onus lies with you to ask them for the introduction.

Ensure that you understand the type of networking skill to utilize in different social environments.  Family events, you can be more relaxed and comfortable. More formal social events like wedding receptions, dinners, gala’s etc require strategic minimal introductions and business card handoffs with “I’ll follow up next week, thank you”. Chance meetings at sports events for instance may allow only a few minutes for a brief interaction, with follow up made the following week to explore possible connections. Dedicated networking events, breakfasts, speaker series offer the opportunity for professional networking on a large scale, with people who are there for the same purpose you are.  Make the most of them.

When you always have a business card with you, a smile on your face and a positive attitude towards helping others grow their business connections, you can handle any environment you find yourself in.

Reposted from The Marketing Pad

Jeff Bowman is a Sales and Marketing Specialist with The Marketing Pad Inc.. Follow Jeff’s blog at Blogpad or visit www.themarketingpad.com.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit RIC Centre for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

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