Recently one has the impression that the Canadian tech sector is willing itself back to life. After the meltdown last fall, there have been numerous events in recent weeks that seem to be indicators pointing in the right direction. For example:
May 19, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association held its annual award dinner. Held at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, this $200/seat event was well attended. More importantly, although I thought I knew of most of the players in the Canadian tech space, 75% of the awards went to groups that I had never heard of.
May 20, the Ottawa Network held its second Founders and Funders dinner happened downtown at the Velvet Room. This mixer is designed to put entrepreneurs and VC’s together over drinks and dinner for an evening of networking. There were a lot of new startups. More importantly, 8 VC’s were present, and 7 of them were from outside Ottawa. Although the local venture community has disappeared, Waterloo, Montreal and Toronto are moving in to fill the gap.
May 22, the National Angel Capital Organization is holding its Spring 2009 Co-Investment Summit in Toronto. This fabulous event brings together individual angel investors, angel investment groups, and entrepreneurs for a day of networking and pitching. Look for Calliflower at that event. Our presentation will be in the afternoon.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
