Tectorian of the Week: Eric Jordan

July 31, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Eric Jordan is our Tectorian of the Week for August 1, 2014.

The CEO of Victoria gaming company Codename Entertainment (formerly known as DJ Arts) is an archetypal Tectoria success story:

Eric got his start in a computer lab at UVic in the mid-90’s where he helped co-found PureEdge Solutions.

By the time the home-grown software company was acquired by IBM in 2005, PureEdge had 70 employees and 5 million users.

Following the acquistion, Eric took a year off to travel the world with his family. But Eric came back to Victoria, and has been committed to making our community a better place every since.

How?

Eric helps out in a lot of ways. For example, he’s a board member of the Cool Aid Society and is the co-chair (along with Victoria mayor Dean Fortin) of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness.

The Coalition’s mission?

By 2018, all people facing homelessness in Victoria will have access to safe, affordable, appropriate, permanent housing.

The Victoria region has built a considerable number of supportive and affordable housing units since 2008, but the Coalition estimates that at least 1,500 units of affordable housing and more than 250 supportive housing units are still needed to end homelessness in Greater Victoria.

If you want to join Eric and the Coalition on their mission to end homelessness, get involved.

In fact, Eric has always tried to help out his local community, including a decade ago when as chair of the VIATeC board of directors, he helped launch the VIATeC Food Bank Challenge.

The Food Bank Challenge has since grown into a massively successful Tectoria community campaign that has collected more than $1.5 million so far to help out the more than 20,000 individuals in Victoria who rely on a food bank each year to avoid going hungry.

More recently, after serving as president of the Premier’s Technology Council, where he had the opportunity to educate senior levels of government about the important role tech companies play in BC’s economy, Eric has returned to his roots to lead a successful high-growth company right here in Victoria.

You should know that Eric is also all about games, both online and IRL with his family and friends (a certain Tectoria blog writer has even received useful parenting tips from Eric about how to “gameify” household chores so that the kids will actually do them).

This makes him the perfect choice to lead Codename Entertainment. The growing company is part of Victoria’s booming gaming industry, and has created a ton of cool titles that gamers all over the world can play on Facebook, Kongregate, BigFish and more.

Always ready to help build community, Eric sits on the Video Game Round Table, and is organizing the Video Game Startup Boot Camp here in Victoria on October 17.

Eric is working with VIATeC and IGDA to create a structured, intensive day-long workshop to connect local Tectorian teams and individuals with industry experts to put together a business plan.

The goal? To build a video game company right here in Victoria and help this vibrant sector continue to grow.

And, of course, as a technology veteran and a member of the gaming community, Eric can be counted on to participate in events like OrcaJam and GottaCon that mix gaming, technology, and the creative industries.

That’s a lot of community involvement! Thanks, Eric!

Eric has done a lot of other cool things in his life, and we know he will continue to accomplish a lot. And we also know he’ll always be here, helping make Tectoria a true community.

Tectorian of the Week: Laura Meyer

July 23, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Laura Meyer of StarFish Medical is our Tectorian of the week.

Laura is StarFish Medical’s supply chain manager, her background is in electro-optics, and she has also built aircraft for several years. She’s a Lean facilitator, which means Laura helps optimize supply chains, and she’s happy to share her expertise with other supply chain and manufacturing managers in Victoria.

In fact, a true Tectorian, Laura volunteers her time to organize the VIATeC Supply Chain Round Table. Collaborating with peers across different companies to share best practices and build a strong tech community is the Tectorian way, so thanks Laura!

Before arriving in Victoria nearly a year ago, Laura worked all over the world managing and then building supply chains for advanced manufacturing companies like StarFish Medical, Victoria’s well-known medical device design, development and manufacturing company.

StarFish clients are often entrepreneurs bringing new concepts to life. Laura’s job is to help engineers source or create standard products that turn concepts into prototypes and eventually medical devices. Laura also supports ViVitro Labs, a StarFish Group company which is itself well-known within its global industry for designing and providing cardiovascular device testing equipment and lab services.

What makes Laura such a pleasure to work with?

“She brought the promise of adding experience and energy to the manufacturing and supply chain team. Eight months later she has delivered on all counts,” says Jason Dolynny, StarFish’s Director of Manufacturing.

“Recently Laura helped transfer entire existing supply chain from a Calgary manufacturer into our operations,” says Jason. “The medical device involves 30 vendors and the task was completed in 3 months. Laura works so closely with the client that her counterpart in Calgary feels completely aware and trusts the StarFish team completely.”

Once again, a Tectorian is helping put our community on the map as a place where idea grow. We’re happy Laura has come here to share her experience and drive, and look forward to seeing what she does in the future!

Tectorian of the Week: Jesse Learmonth

July 15, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

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Jesse Learmonth is our Tectorian of the Week for July 18th.

Jesse is an inspiration: since helping launch web and mobile startup Bet Smart Media in 2010, Jesse has not only built a successful tech company right here in Victoria, he has also worked tirelessly to connect fellow entrepreneurs in town with resources and support – the very spirit of a Tectorian.

But first, more about Bet Smart.

Bet Smart has been developing web and mobile betting products since 2010. Jesse and his team have taken an idea (we remember a presentation they made at the Tech Park on a rainy winter day back in 2010) and have turned it into reality. That’s Tectoria, for you.

Bet Smart focuses exclusively on the mobile “iGaming industry”, and more specifically, the sports betting category. The team helps people find and choose bets, and their strategy is to partner with sportsbook operators to supply them with content-driven products that deliver value to the bettor, whilst helping drive bets to the sportsbook.

Bet Smart also has a service offering, lending itself out to other companies looking for some extra horsepower and expertise in the area of app development and more.

Jesse has also channeled his drive and enthusiasm into the Victoria BC Startups group on Meetup.com.

The group provides true technology entrepreneurs with regular meetups with other local startup founders to exchange ideas, share stories from the trenches, and liaise with others who have a true appreciation for what it means to start a company!

It’s an technology entrepreneur group run by other entrepreneurs – a cohort that typically works night and day to build their businesses with little time for socializing.

So Jesse is helping build community, helping share information, and helping build Tectoria.

Thanks Jesse!

Tectorian of the Week: Greg Bobolo

July 9, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Greg Bobolo is our Tectorian of the Week for July 11th, 2014.

Greg Bobolo and the team at Tectoria’s own SendtoNews have signed an agreement for the global syndication of short videos for Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball, a deal SendtoNews estimates will bring in more than $100 million over five years.

The vast library of content generated during the 2,500-game baseball season is the “holy grail of sports video highlights,” according to Greg (think of all the baseball highlights, interviews, top plays you have ever watched on TV), and now SendtoNews has the global syndication rights “across a variety of platforms.”

The Wharf Street-based company generates revenue via the ads attached to each video. Ad revenue from the video is distributed between the rights holder, media outlets and SendtoNews.

Prior to MLB, SendtoNews had already inked deals with NASCAR, the American Hockey League, and other organizations. These sports highlights are sent to more than 1,000 newsrooms all over North America.

Not bad for a tech startup that’s just four years old.

SendtoNews is the based on the vision of Keith Wells, a veteran broadcaster and familiar local face who understood that a rapidly changing media landscape presented a lot of opportunities.

In response, Keith developed a platform that allowed non-accredited media to relay video from the 2010 Olympics to their local station.

Greg Bobolo then led an A-Team of some Tectoria’s most talented tech veterans to transform Keith’s vision into a grand-slam success story.

Before joining SendtoNews, Greg Bobolo had already founded and built two startups into multimillion-dollar operations in seven years, winning him an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award finalist nomination at just 31 years old.

“When I was brought on to SendtoNews I saw enormous potential,” he told BIV recently, “News organizations have a huge need for sports content and are lacking in resources to purchase it. I saw a clear direction for the company and started developing partnerships.”

Greg’s hard work pounding the pavement in Los Angeles, London, New York and other global media hubs has paid off.

By the end of 2013, Victoria’s own SendtoNews was the largest provider of short-form sports video content in Canada.

“We have a digital network that sees millions and millions of viewers every month, and it’s growing steadily at about 100 per cent month-over-month,” Greg told the Globe and Mail about a year ago.

By the end of 2014, Greg is predicting there will be more than 100 million monthly viewers on the SendtoNews network in North America.

Besides Greg’s energy and drive, what sets him apart is his ability to “network at a high level” to develop the partnerships that drive SendtoNews’ success.

He estimates he’s met with over 120 sports owners, from the NHL to the NBA, preferring to go directly to the top.

Never feeling self-conscious about his Tectorian “small island in the Pacific Ocean” roots, Greg always feels confident when negotiating with a room full of Ivy League graduates, relying on “doing his homework” to secure a deal.

Greg Bobolo and the team at SendtoNews provide a lot of inspiration for fellow Tectorians trying to make it big. Congratulations on the newest major league partnership, and we’re pretty sure this is just the beginning.

Tectorian of the Week: Carli van Maurik

July 3, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Carli van Maurik is our Tectorian of the Week for July 4th, 2014.

Many Tectorians will recognize Carli thanks to her constant presence as a “booster” in the VIATeC Accelerator, where she mentors start-up businesses and appears as a frequent guest speaker.

Carli provides much-appreciated insights about technology start-up formation, debt and equity financing, corporate and capital structuring, corporate governance, maintenance and compliance, as well as shareholders agreements.

In short, if you’re a building a tech company in Victoria, you want someone like Carli in your corner, not only because of her knowledge and expertise, but also because Carli has been there too, trying to do something that’s never been done before in order to reach her maximum potential.

Since graduating from with a law degree from Dalhousie, Carli van Maurik has chosen to find her own path, inventing her own opportunities. Carli van Maurik could have joined one of the big law firms to toil away racking up as many billable hours as possible, but it was during one interview in Calgary when she realized she had to practice law her own way:

“The interviewer in Calgary actually talked to me about my goldfish for the entire half hour slot,” Carli says. “I spent $800 on a flight for that interview.”

So, with the goldfish triggering a certain satori, Carli ended up in Victoria, where she quickly rolled up her sleeves doing pro bono work while working for some top-notch local boutique law firms.

Now Carli van Maurik is Senior Business Solutions Lawyer at Whiteboard Law, where she works with BC tech industry champions Jim and Joan Mutter to help businesses in Victoria, Vancouver, and Kelowna grow and achieve their full potential.

They help everyone from early stage growth-oriented companies to acquisition-ready companies that are raising money and doing deals – the kind of successes the VIATeC Accelerator program is trying to foster.

Thanks, guys!

Whiteboard Law is unique in that it is a completely virtual law practice, and uses cloud-based technology that allows the team to be on the move, with full access to client files from any global location with internet access.

This is actually innovative for the legal industry, which even in 2014 still typically relies on paper-based information management – this means companies must take time out of their day to travel to a law office to review files.

Whiteboard’s online approach provides startup companies with an agile process that saves time and money – crucial in a tech scene that is always changing.

Carli’s sense of enthusiasm, and her focus on entrepreneurship and innovation make her the perfect fit for Accelerate Tectoria, and make her our Tectorian of the Week.

Tectorian of the Week: Mike Hann

June 25, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Mike Hann, organizer of the Tall Tree Music Festival, is our Tectorian of the Week.

Why Mike?

Because when he is not single-handedly organizing one of the most popular – and remote – music festivals of the summer, Mike is crewing Antarctic scientific vessels as “underwater whale research leader.”

How cool is that?

Originally from Victoria, after getting certified as a scuba-diving instructor Mike left for Australia where he became interested in pursuring a musical career. Once he returned to Victoria he became at whale-watching captain (he had had extensive experience with sailboats growing up) which led to his gig in the Antarctic.

Along the way he became co-owner of a hotel in Port Renfrew, which is where Tall Tree Music Festival began.

Now in its fourth year, Tall Tree is expected to attract 2,200 visitors this weekend on a hillside overlooking Port Renfrew.

Read the 2014 lineup here.

As the festival has grown, more camp sites and infrastructure have been added each year, and a natural spring now serves the site. A third stage added in 2014, which will be devoted to the electronic programming. The site is equipped with more food vendors, better waste management, more art and even showers.

How does Mike do such amazing things? He says:

“A lot of it is experience-based. I’ve been given the opportunities to be in the field around these animals, living those experiences. That’s the best education you can have in my line of work. If I had followed through with all the schooling that I had begun, I would have missed out on a lot of opportunities in my life.

2014 VIATeC Technology Awards Winners Announced

June 20, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Tectoria, BC – June 20, 2014 – Tonight 13 winners of the coveted VIATeC Technology Awards were revealed in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Victoria Conference Centre (see photos here).

The Sold Out 756 attendance number wasn’t the only record broken at the VIATeC Technology Awards, a gala event known across the province for its recognition of innovation and excellence in Victoria’s advanced technology sector. This year there was a record number of 100 nominations were made to this year’s VIATeC Technology Awards.

“We’re thrilled to see the technology awards move from strength to strength,” says Dan Gunn, Executive Director of VIATeC. “This is the 13th anniversary of the awards, and interest remains very high – not only in nominating the innovative individuals and companies who make our sector strong, but in attending the awards to connect with the movers, shakers, doers and makers in Victoria’s imagination economy.”

The awards celebrate the achievements of technology companies responsible for making Greater Victoria the fastest growing technology region in British Columbia. The awards provide well-deserved recognition for some of Victoria’s most innovative firms and a great opportunity for the local technology community to gather and celebrate each other’s successes.

Known for innovation in the crowded pantheon of business award galas, the VIATeC Technology Awards ceremony is noted for actually entertaining the 700 plus technology community members, investors, government decision-makers, academics and media who attend.

2014 VIATeC Technology Awards Winners

The winners of the 2014 VIATeC Technology Awards are:

Technology Company of the Year: CAMACC Systems

Emerging Technology Company of the Year: Red Brick Media

Recognizes a Greater Victoria company that has the greatest potential to demonstrate excellence in innovation and a commitment to the technology community while embracing sound business fundamentals. This category is reserved for operations that have been established for less than three years.

Executive of the Year: Tammara Kennelly – FriesenPress

Recognizes an individual who has had a significant impact on the success of an organisation as a direct result of their leadership. For this award, executives are considered to be those that hold typically senior titles.

Innovative Excellence: AML Oceanographic

Recognizes a company that has researched and designed an innovative service, process or product that is expected to revolutionize a sector, method of business or way of life.

Strategy of the Year: PlusROI Online Marketing

Recognizes the best strategy implemented by or for a Greater Victoria organization. Nominated companies are required to provide a letter of support clearly explaining their strategy and milestones. The judges will consider impact and results achieved from the underlying strategy.

Product of the Year: Go2mobi

Recognizes a company that has achieved success in the commercialization of an innovative technology product (e.g market acceptance and sales).

Team of the Year: Tutela Technologies

Recognizes a team in the technology sector who demonstrates outstanding initiative and service delivery, and has had a significant impact on the company for which they work.

Employer of the Year: KANO/APPS

Recognizes a company that has demonstrated its commitment to staff and provides a pleasant workplace. Finalists will be chosen from a survey given to current staff. Nominated companies will be required to provide staff email contact list.

Start-up of the Year: TinyMob Games

Recognizes a company less than 2 years old that demonstrates significant potential to generate revenue, raise investment, or to have significant social benefit. Five finalists will be chosen to provide a 45-second video pitch and the winner chosen by audience vote.

Colin Lennox Award for Technology Champion

The Colin Lennox Award for Technology Champion goes to Owen Matthews.

Member of the Year

The VIATeC Member of the Year is Limbic Media.

For Education Champion, two winners this year are:

Danita Stewart – School District 62 Sooke
Jake West – Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

A HUGE thank you to our sponsors, who have made this event possible!

About VIATeC

The Victoria Advanced Technology Council (VIATeC) is the conduit that connects people, knowledge and resources to grow a successful technology sector in Greater Victoria.

The organization was founded in 1989 to promote and enhance the development of the local advanced technology industry. With only a handful of known technology companies, the ambitious mandate to facilitate the development of our region as a global centre of excellence for advanced technology was set.

Owen Matthews

June 18, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Owen Matthews is our Tectorian of the Week for June 20th.

In many ways, Owen *is* Tectoria:

Like many in our community, Owen got his start studying studying Computer Science and Psychology at the University of Victoria.

And he knows what it’s like to launch a tech startup, cross the chasm, and do what it takes to successfully commercialize a technology.

By 1998, just a few years after leaving UVic, Owen had founded software startup NewHeights in Victoria.

NewHeights allowed businesses to easily manage video conferencing, data collaboration, voice calls, and conference calls using a single interface. It’s something that we take for granted now, but just a decade ago it was revolutionary.

Owen’s company NewHeights, based right here in Victoria on Government Street helped kick off the revolution. By 2007, two years after receiving Frost & Sullivan’s Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award for enterprise applications, NewHeights was acquired by Vancouver-based CounterPath Solutions.

Owen Matthews: Tectorian

So, why is Owen Matthews our Tectorian of the Week?

Owen bought a double-decker bus and suggested branding it for Tectoria to take to events… We launched the Tectoria SpaceBus at VICfest this past weekend.

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Owen also introduced VIATeC introduced to the team that helped us find Fort Tectoria, and that same razor-sharp team is managing all the renovations and permit applications for our new home. It’s going to be an incredible leap forward in the evolution of VIATeC.

Owen has also recently launched a “mini tech-park” on Vancouver Street at Fort, just a few blocks from our own Fort Tectoria, transforming what used to be the old bottle depot at 1124 Vancouver Street into what will become the heart of the Harris Green neighbourhood.

Image Courtesy of Photographer Sama Jim Canzian

The space is home to growing tech companies like Pretio and Tutela, so, with a lot of help from Owen, there will be some critical mass turning downtown Victoria into a visible tech hub.

Helping train entrepreneurs for success in Victoria

Still based in Victoria, Owen also works with the Alacrity Foundation, which has a mandate to turn engineering and business students and recent graduates into entrepreneurs through practical business training.

The foundation has become well-known for Entrepreneurship@Alacrity and Entrepreneurship@UVic. These are training programs that teach young engineering and business graduates how to build successful technology companies.

The program is experienced-based, where graduates are assigned to projects that form the basis of a real technology product opportunity.

Tutela Technologies, recipient of the 2013 VIATeC EmergingTechnology Company of the Year Award, is an Alacrity alumni, and is a great success story of combining engineering, entrepreneurial and creative talent from UVic to create a successful addition to our booming tech sector.

Owen Matthews also acts as executive vice president of Wesley Clover, a technology investment firm that is playing a key role here in Victoria helping fledgling technology entrepreneurs commercialize technology through support of initiatives such as the Alacrity Foundation.

It can be challenging to launch a successful tech business anywhere on Earth, but partners, allies, mentors, and supports like Owen Matthews, Alacrity, and Wesley Clover are key ingredients in the secret sauce that makes a vibrant technology community like Tectoria.

And then there is Owen Matthews’ community involvement.

Owen is passionately committed to the development and growth of Canadian athletes and youth development. He was the co-chair of the Advancement Committee for Canadian Sport Centre Pacific Institute, a $28 million dollar training facility for high performance athletes. He is also active on the board of advisors for the Business school at University of Victoria and Power to Be, a charity founded to enrich the health, education and quality of life for vulnerable youth.

So thanks for your hard work Owen… and we look forward to seeing you at the VIATeC Awards tonight.

Limbic Media: Tectorian of the Week

June 11, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Our Tectorian of the week for June 13, 2014 is Limbic Media.

Limbic Media got its start 2006, combining entrepreneurship with multi-media artwork.

They call their interdisciplinary work, “Real-time Interactive Media Control Technologies.”

Why is Limbic our Tectorian of the Week?

Limbic Media is also a strong community supporter, collaborating with many people and organizations in Victoria, including PSII‘s Jake West (a fellow Tectorian of the Week) and VIATeC.

Limbic also represents the nexus of technology, art, and entrepreneurship that we think best represents Tectoria today and our community in the future.

The Limbic team has a ton of interesting art-related projects on the go including infinity mirrors for the VIATeC Awards on June 20th, a computer vision based 3D tracking/mocap system for audio/video control, and a new social wearables platform funded by CreativeBC.

Real-time interactive media control technologies

Limbic’s stated objective is to be a platform of real-time interactive media control technologies for use in multi-media entertainment markets, education, research, and the fine arts.

In other words, the team at Limbic creates interfaces and devices that allow people to interact with and control audio, visuals, lights, and machines using natural user interfaces, such as body movements, facial expressions, eye and movements with “alternative interfaces” (smart phones, wearable sensors, modified paintbrush) and even biometrics (brainwave activity, heart rate, breathing).

It’s totally cool stuff, and they do it all from their home base at the top of Discovery Street.

Audio-reactive LED Butterflies

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Audio Reactive LED Butterflies from Limbic Media on Vimeo.

With the creative genius of Limbic’s Gabrielle Odowichuk (an electrical engineer with a creative sensibility), a number of large audio-reactive LED butterflies were designed and built. The skeleton of the butterflies were made of soldered wire frame and then covered in white material. The butterflies were them painted by Kristin Grant.

ARKYD: A Space Telescope for Everyone

June 4, 2014 by Nevin Thompson

Kickstarter is taking on space exploration. While a crowded-funded planetary probe has been in the news, there’s another Kickstarter project that is putting space exploration within reach of… everyone!

Calling asteroids “the best real estate in the Solar System,” Planetary Resources bills ARKYD as “the first private space telescope and a stepping-stone to near-Earth asteroids.”

Planetary Resources is an American company formed in November 2010, and their stated goal is to “expand Earth’s natural resource base” by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining.

The first step to mining asteroids, the company believes, is launching small (30–50 kg) low-cost space telescopes for both Earth observation and astronomy.

The same telescope satellite capabilities that Planetary Resources hopes to sell to customers can be used to survey and intensively examine near-Earth asteroids.

Planetary Resources is offering several versions of its space telescope.

ARKYD 100

The ARKYD 100, is, according to Planetary Resources, a low-earth, commercial space telescope “within reach of the private citizen.” According to the company:

The ARKYD 100 Space Telescope provides spectacular views of the Earth’s surface and deep space, including the rich, virtually unexplored areas between our planet and the Sun. Central to its configuration and functionality is a precision imaging system. With arc-second resolution, the ARKYD 100 spacecraft camera will provide detailed celestial and Earth observations where you want them, and when you want them. The ARKYD 100 is capable of surveying for near-Earth asteroids during one orbit, then be retasked for rain forest observation on the next. The possibilities for utility and engagement are only limited by the imagination of the user.

Planetary Resources says the telescope will be offered to the public “soon.”

ARKYD 200

The ARKYD 200 adds “propulsion capabilities and additional scientific instrumentation” to the ARKYD 100 Space Telescope to create a probe that can actually travel to an asteroid.

So far, more than 17,000 Kickstarter backers have pledged $1.5M in funding, blowing the company’s original goal of $1M out of the water… into orbit.