The inaugural Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is on the calender for April 29 & 30th at the Carlu in Toronto and promises to focus on innovation. The two-day event will feature an innovation marketplace, flash-forward presentations on the state of technology, and facilitated networking opportunities. Key participants from the US and across Canada have been invited and confirmed attendees include: Mark Skapinker of Brightspark, Barry Gekiere of Ventures West, Bryan Kerdman of EdgeStone Capital Partners, Steve Hnatiuk of Yaletown Venture Partners, and Rick Segal of JLA Ventures. Source: Canadian Innovation Exchange

Okay, yeah our two primary VCs are going to be there.  So of course I have to give them props, but really we need more of these events and not just in Toronto.  We need one in Montreal and Vancouver as well.

Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum.  You need to be around innovation.  You need to be exposed to new ideas and exciting people.  Doesn’t matter what you do or where your passion lies, you need to always challenge yourself.  Push the boundaries.  Expose yourself to new and challenging ideas.  Even ideas that seem contrary to what you think is right. often those lead to insights and inspirations you couldn’t see before.

What’s stopping you from innovating?  Is it you?

Post from: EveryJoe

Canadian Innovation Exchange set for April 29-30th

This recent post, which I don’t think Rick’s mind is spooky at all–messy, well, who am I to talk, Rick outlines some insights that I think entrepreneurs who are looking for VC funding should read:

There are two ways to answer this. First, is the obvious answer: All things coming in the door are evaluated on their own merits.  The second is really an expanded answer to the first one so here goes.

Tons of VCs will tell you that getting a referral is the fastest/easiest way to get into a VC’s office to make that first pitch.  I suspect with the massively large players, this is probably true. They see 1000s of deals every day, field 100s of calls, 100s of emails, etc, so getting to the top of that list will not be a cake walk.

For me and the spooky place called my mind/space/time, there is somewhat of an unofficial process that I use. Source: The Post Money Value: Inside the (messy and spooky) VC Mind

If you have read his post by now, I’m not offended if you open it in a tab, read it and come back here, you should probably be thinking “yeah that makes sense”.

The key for me is: Solve a problem.

No, don’t create a solution waiting for a problem.  Look at what people need now and figure out a better or new way to solve it.

Take RSS.  Both FeedHub and aideRSS are working to solve a problem–info overload.  It’s something I suffer from all the freakin’ time.

Think about it.  What isn’t working.  What could be better.  Now, can you make it better?

Start there.

Then talk to Rick.

Post from: EveryJoe

How to get a VC’s attention–Advice from Rick Segal