Archive for April, 2010

TON Tuesday - Virtually Yours: Building a winning team through outsourcing

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Gowlings Monthly TON “Starting your Start-Up Series” Presents:

(160 Elgin Street, 26th Floor)

Virtually Yours:  Building a Winning Team through Outsourcing

As access to capital continues to be a challenge for Ottawa Hi Tech Start-Ups, more and more companies are adopting the virtual and outsourcing business models.  R&D, production, staffing, sales/marketing, legal and finance are just some of the areas where you can have experienced resources without the costs associated with full time employees. Companies who adopt outsourcing are founded on the concept of focusing on doing what they do best, running lean, and building their IP and capabilities with the help of more experienced outside virtual resources

Please join us on May 11th to hear an expert panel on outsourcing moderated by accomplished Ottawa Tech Media expert, Janet Eastman.  During this seminar, we will discuss various topics, such as how opportunities for outsourcing of non-core services have made the “virtual” company structure more achievable, and how these opportunities might be particularly relevant for Ottawa Start-Ups.   

Gowlings is very pleased to host Starting Your Start-Up, The Ottawa Network monthly event stream that combines quality networking with practical advice and insights from industry leaders and subject matter experts.   Starting Your Start-Up focuses on the business basics that are the foundation for launching and building a successful start-up in these promising and challenging times including financing, team formation, business & product development, sales, and marketing.

RSVP today, as space is limited.  This event is provided at no cost for members of The Ottawa Network.

Please click here to register

Moderator - Janet Eastman

Janet Eastman is a media & communications expert who has worked extensively on both sides of the industry during her more than 20 year career.   Janet began her career in radio as a broadcaster and quickly moved into writing and television media.  In 2001, Janet became the host and producer of the only independent Canadian Business Television program; Ottawa Citizen Business TV.   After a successful 6-year run and over 1100 shows, Janet left Ottawa Citizen Business Television and evolved her career as Manager of Communications and Investor Relations with publically-traded Orezone Gold Corporation.

Janet joined drive2 Inc, in 2009 as Director of Media and Communications where she works with drive2’s customers to develop effective communications, brand and PR strategies and tactical messaging for our customers.   Janet is a storyteller at heart who has produced local and national radio documentaries and television programs, newspaper and magazine articles.  Her experience allows her to take often complex, hard to understand technology and effectively define and translate it into relevant, make sense communications and content.

Panellists

Frédéric Boulanger, President, Macadamian Technologies

As President and co-founder, Frédéric is responsible for Macadamian’s long-term vision and strategic direction. Under his leadership, Macadamian has grown from four founders to a team of more than 130, known as one of the most respected software development firms in the industry.

Frédéric is on the executive committee of the Ottawa Software Cluster, and is co-founder and co-executive of the Ottawa Software Executive Forum, an Ottawa-based networking group that brings high-level software executives together to share best practices, exchange ideas, and explore new technologies. Frédéric is also a board member of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) and is active in a number of ITAC committees, including outsourcing and Canada’s competitive positioning.

Prior to founding Macadamian, Frédéric was the Senior Development Manager of Paradox, Corel Corporation’s flagship database product. There, he managed the first release of Paradox after Corel acquired the relational database management system from Borland. His team successfully tackled an unfamiliar code base and met an aggressive deadline, developing a new version of the complex application in eight months. Frédéric also managed Corel Family Tree Suite, which received the ZDNet Editor’s Choice award.

Francis Liska

Are you looking for sustainability in your business? Francis has a passion for learning and sharing ideas. He is a strategic thinker who excels at carefully considering alternative scenarios to find solutions in a world of seeming complexity.

Francis holds a degree in Business Administration and a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Information Technology. He is a Certified General Accountant, Certified Information Systems Auditor, Certified Internal Control Auditor and a Certified Management Consultant. He also holds the COBIT Foundation Certificate from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

Francis is an owner of OTUS Group, a firm of business advisors dedicated to making businesses stronger. Over his career he has helped numerous organizations in the government, entrepreneurial and not for profit sectors to improve their operations.

Matt Massey

Matt Massey has spent the majority of his career building new revenue opportunities for business-to-business organizations.  He is an enthusiastic, highly talented marketer with a passion to succeed. 

Matt founded drive2 Inc. in 2006 to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in getting in front of the companies they want as customers.  Driving sales and revenue and better positioning drive2’s customers for growth and success.  The foundation of drive2 is based on a philosophy that smart, integrated marketing infrastructure coupled with effective demand generation programs drive sales effectiveness and revenue goals.

drive2’s Demand Generation Model has a proven track record for success. In the last 10-months alone, Matt and his team have successfully generated over $11 million in qualified new business opportunities for their customers.

Matt is a contributing author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0, is actively involved in the community and volunteers with a number of charitable organizations.

Click here for registration details.

RECAP: TON Tuesday April 27 - Turn Selling into Buying

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

 

How are your sales? If you believe your company could be more effective at selling your products or services, attending last night’s TON session with Trevor Wilkins, Principal of Holis Associates Inc., would have been a great start. Trevor is an Engineer turned sales professional who has practised sales for the last 25 years. Today, owner of Holis Associates Inc., Trevor delivers training programs all over the world. Graciously delivering a small segment from his full curriculum, Trevor battled a severe ear and throat infection to explain to TON how to structure a sales meeting for success.

Attended by start-up owners, marketing and sales professionals, established business executives and one lawyer, this TON session was a huge success. Here now, a brief recap of the main learning points from Trevor’s presentation.

Point One: We are all salespeople.

Trevor drove home the point that everyone sells – to family, friends, clients, suppliers, employees – we’re all selling all the time. We use different methods with different people to persuade them, convince them to our viewpoint. “Start-ups,” says Trevor, “Don’t have time to wait for the customer’s process. Start-ups have to take control of the buying process and drive the sale from the beginning.”

 

(more…)

TON Tuesday: Inspiring a Sale From the Buyers Side - The First Step in Turning Selling into Buying

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

The Ottawa Network Presents


Inspiring a Sale From the Buyers Side
The First Step in Turning Selling into Buying

April 27, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm

@

bitHeads Inc.
1309 Carling Avenue
(entrance at east end of Westgate Shopping Centre)

Do you need to influence investors, partners or customers to buy products, ideas or services, or to buy into a vision? All of us influence and persuade other people every day, at work and in our personal lives. 

This session will focus on how to find and use a customer’s REAL psychological drivers to buy. Old school techniques of spraying features and functions and hoping, produce only random success and wasted effort. In today’s more sophisticated markets, discovering what drives another person’s business and decisions is essential before proposing a solution. The same applies to finding partners and investors. 

So come and experience our dynamic speaker and add insights and practical tools to your approach to sales influence. Discover how simple techniques can deliver dramatic results, whether you are a business owner, marketer, project manager or just thinking about a startup.

Trevor Wilkins
Principal of Holis Associates

Trevor Wilkins is an engineer turned software developer, who has ‘jumped the fence’ and been selling complex solutions worldwide for 25 years. He has been involved in or led start-ups large and small, from owner/developer in a garage, through to Director of a NASDAQ middleware company; from the City of London to the America’s Cup; in software and hardware technology; in the Americas, Europe and the Far East.

Trevor and his team have developed a radical and highly effective approach to selling which they deliver as the BCI Programme™. This session is a short snapshot of a key component of the broader BCI programme.

Event Moderator: Walter Knitl, The Ottawa Network
 


Click here for registration details.

The event is free of charge to TON members and anyone who would like to experience TON networking before deciding on membership.

RECAP: TON Tuesday April 13, 2010 - MENTORS

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Mentorship and Coaching – Getting it Right for Your Company

 

Why should you look for a mentor for your new business? Martin Horne, co-founder of the financial consulting company the Finelyne Group, maintains that businesses need coaches to help them make their products commercially successful. If it’s something that the CEOs of Google and Apple both use today, then start-ups shouldn’t turn up their noses either!

 

Martin moderated the April 13 session of TON, graciously hosted by Gowling’s and attended by 50 or more young company CEOs, ambitious start-ups, established companies and more. The two panellists, Bruce Lazenby, TEC Chair and Denis Colbourne, President and CEO of DC-Technologies Ltd., have both been mentors and advisors to different companies for many years. Here now, the top tips from the discussion.

 

 

How should you choose your board?

 

Experienced, challenging and someone not afraid to ask you the tough questions is what you should be looking for. Someone who can tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. “If you are really, really comfortable with your mentor,” says Bruce, “it’s probably the wrong person.”

(more…)