Start-up

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.

Want Some Tectorian Support?

December 6, 2013 by thestevehof

Even Spartacus Needed a Little Help from his Friends

Searching for ways to have your story heard throughout the Tectoria community and beyond?

Having trouble making a dent on Twitter, Facebook, and other channels?

Your friends at VIATeC are here to help. We want to scream your story from the top of Mt. Finlayson, but we can’t do that until we hear the story ourselves.

So, how do you go about making this happen?

Help us Help You

Between this tectoria.wordpress blog, our This Week in Tectoria Newsletter, the VIATeC E-Bulletin, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Flickr, we have thousands upon thousands of people to tell your story to. That doesn’t even include all of our offline channels.

So Send us your Stories Already

Keep in mind, however, that what may be a story to you, could sound like a sales pitch to someone else; and the quickest way to lose an audience is to continuously scream sales pitches at them.

So How do you Know if you Have a Story or Not?

We’re going to keep this very simple. Especially at first, just err on the side of sending us too much stuff. We’ll wade through everything each week and determine what we feel will work the best.

Lets be clear about something though, by writing this post the way I have, I’m setting myself up for a great deal more work, haha. Now that’s fine, and could actually be quite wonderful, as long as it serves a purpose.

While we’re here to ensure that all your great Tectoria stories are given the audience they deserve, behaving like the startup who cried wolf by repeatedly sending us SELL SELL SELL material, is a sure fire way to get your stories to the bottom of the pile.

A Few Key Points to Remember

Starting this very second, send any stories / ideas to me, Steve Hof, at shof@viatec.ca
For blog posts, the stories need to be especially compelling, or motivated by a clear intention to help the Tectoria cause.
If you’re on Twitter, mention @VIATeC in a post and include the hashtag #I_AM_TECTORIAN
If you’re on Facebook, post to the VIATeC wall so we know you’re there.
Don’t want to do either of those things? Fine, be difficult. At the very least, however, send me an email listing the channels you’re on and the best ways we can support you.
There’s no ‘h’ in Tectoria. It’s the little things people.

Is there something I’ve missed? Do you have a mind blowing, or even slightly above average idea for helping us help you?

Post your ideas, questions, and concerns to the comments below. Lets hash it out.

Okay Tectorians, the ball’s in your court.

I mean, even Rod Tidwell figured it out eventually.

Help me……… Help you.

by Steve ‘Soon to be Very Busy‘ Hof

Who Wants to Join VIATeC at SXSW 2014?

November 14, 2013 by thestevehof

Some of the Accelerate Tectoria VIATeC crew are putting together travel plans for SXSW 2014. Before we start making travel plans, however, we need to know how many of you might be interested in joining us in Austin?

Last year Dan, Rob and Robbie from VIATeC pulled together several Victoria tech companies for the annual event in Texas and created Tectoria House. Their crew included TicTalking, MediaCore, Yupiq and others, who blanketed the massive festival with good ol’ Tectoria charm, spreading the word about our Imagination Economy.

SXSW Interactive brings together some of the world’s most creative thinkers to talk about many of tomorrow’s most innovative ideas. The 2014 edition, dubbed An Abundance of Innovation, has hundreds of confirmed sessions, and promises to be an unbelievable opportunity.

SOOOO, you don’t need to make a full commitment yet, but if you’re interested in joining the team in Texas this March, please either leave a comment on this post, or email Robbie Aylesworth in the very near future.

by Steve Hof

It’s the Thoughtful Gifts that Count

November 7, 2013 by thestevehof

Ever tried to meet your hero? No? Well how hard did you really try? Local entrepreneur and proud Tectorian, Dylan Benson, decided he wanted to meet his hero. His hero just happens to be Alexis Ohanian, and for those of you living under a rock this past decade, Alexis is the co-founder of reddit, one of the most successful and notorious websites in the world. Dylan, however, managed to combine just the right amount of moxie, skill and random acts of kindness to make the meeting a reality.

Roughly 3 ½ years ago Dylan started spending time on reddit, quickly becoming involved enough to create subreddits with his friend Aaron to showcase their favourite content. As Dylan got more and more into the site, he realized its potential for social and community minded interactions.

Perhaps the most compelling of these social interactions came during Dylan’s first Reddit Secret Santa Experience. What’s a reddit Secret Santa Experience you ask? Well, Dylan was given a name, an address to send the gift to, and nothing else. Most people would have simply chosen a generic gift, and while he soon realized the difficulties involved with buying a gift for a complete stranger, he decided to press on. Dylan spent an inordinate amount of time combing through years of posts this anonymous user had made. Eventually, he came across one of this man’s posts detailing the childhood memory of losing his beloved Casey Jones action figure while out one day with his mom. Perfect. Dylan found the action figure online and quickly sent it along to his Secret Santa recipient. He was proud to have found a somewhat relevant gift, but had no idea what was about to happen.

Not too many days later, Dylan received a phone call describing a tearful conversation the recipient had just had with his sister. It turns out there was far more to this story than Dylan had been made aware of….. The man’s mother had since passed away, but that day still held a strong memory for him, not as the afternoon he lost his toy, but rather as a testament of his mother’s love for him. He could barely put into words how touched he was, and how much the small gift would forever mean to him. That day, two people who had never met in person, sealed a lasting friendship.

The Secret Santa Story doesn’t end there, however. During his quest to find a meaningful gift, Dylan came across numerous users who were frustrated with online gift giving sites. The sites seemed to offer very little assistance in finding gifts appropriate and meaningful to those they were purchased for. Dylan, an entrepreneur at heart, recognized the opportunity at hand. That moment sparked the creation of SomethingInTheMail.com, a successful Tectoria based website owned by Dylan and his two partners that strives to produce ‘The Ultimate Secret Santa Experience – Year Round.’

Shortly after the Secret Santa experience, Dylan joined the Alexis Ohanian Fan Club. And while he realizes how goofy it sounds for a grown man to join a fan club, Dylan did so because of how engaging an online presence Alexis was. (Often responding to fans, and involving himself in their conversations) Dylan received his Welcome to the Fan Club email, and responded in a unique way, mentioning a past blog post of Alexis’ surrounding a grilled cheese sandwich. Sure enough, Alexis responded to Dylan’s email personally.

Inspired, Dylan approached Alexis’ agent and began negotiating terms regarding a possible speaking engagement here in Victoria. Dylan also reached out to VIATeC’s own Dan Gunn for assistance. Dan was excited about the opportunity of bringing Alexis to Victoria for the Thinklandia festival, and swiftly stepped in to help. Together they were able to secure Alexis as a speaker, and to top it all off, Dylan was given the honour of introducing him.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Dylan used the ten or so minutes he had with Alexis to pitch the Startup community here in Tectoria as an ideal extension of ‘Small Empires’ (the name of a show Alexis hosts.) Needless to say, Alexis liked the idea and agreed to keep a dialogue going. (Dylan continues to work with Brandon Gains on making this project a reality, and we’ll keep you posted with any new information.)

Dylan’s story showcases the benefits of perseverance, creativity, and ingenuity. Thankfully, however, the Tectoria community is chalk full of similar tales, so we encourage you to swing by this blog whenever your day calls for a little extra inspiration.

By Steve Hof

Your Free PR Opportunity Awaits

November 7, 2013 by thestevehof

Hello People of Tectoria!

Your friends at VIATeC have decided to start sharing all of the great stories that Tectoria has to offer. Whether you’re a startup entrepreneur, an Accelerator program mentor, a college student with a grand idea, a teacher with an inspirational tale, or simply a Victoria resident who’s been positively influenced by our number 1 sector, LET US KNOW!!!!

How do you let us know? Great question. In a perfect world you’d type up a 150 – 650 word article, attach it and a few pictures to an email and send it to us. From time to time, however, we will have time to interview people and write the articles for them. Did I emphasize ‘from time to time’ enough? But seriously folks, we want to promote you, your business, and how you fit into the Tectoria story. YOU, however, have to take the first step.

So, if you’d like some free PR, please send your stories and pics to me, Steve Hof, at steve@pikomarketing.com. PIKO does a lot of marketing work for VIATeC and our offices are actually here in VIATeC’s Accelerator Building at 2659 Douglas St. So next time you’re in the neighbourhood, feel free to come introduce yourself and ask us any further questions you may have.

Cheers! Now let the storytelling begin!

by Steve Hof

Indochino.com raises $13 million in funding

April 12, 2013 by richardd

One of the more interesting stories from the past few weeks is Indochino.com raising $13 million in a second round of funding. Indochino is an online menswear retailer, best known for custom suits, that was founded by two graduates of the University of Victoria, Kyle Vucko (CEO) and Heikal Gani (CEO).

Founded in 2007, Indochino now has 55 employees in Vancouver and Shanghai, China. That’s steady growth after raising $4 million in funding in 2011.

Coming up with a business idea is one thing, mastering the technology is a second but these young entrepreneurs (they have the former president and COO of Yahoo on their board) are ensuring their young business is well funded to help maintain the growth.

Attendance up at small tech startup group

October 5, 2012 by richardd

There’s an interesting post on the Techvibes blog about Jesse Learmonth, founder of Bet Smart Media, who runs a group on Meetup.com targeting Victoria’s small technology entrepreneurs and tech businesses with ambitions to expand.

“I wanted to create something that gives us a chance to get together without any agenda or membership fees,” explains Learmonth. “A way to meet people like myself.”

A meeting last month was attended by around 85 people. The group has been going for 12 months and is going from strength to strength. Victoria is a town full of tech startups so this makes sense. The group can be found on Meetup.com under Technology Startups in Victoria. They meet once a month.