On Friday night, I found myself wishing I’d attended the Moncton CyberSocial’s Angel Den in July. 

I was sitting in the packed auditorium at the Dalhousie University Computer Sciences Building enjoying the ten pitches at DemoCamp Halifax, arranged by Milan Vrekic and Tony Abou-Assaleh of TitanFile.  The program alternated between the presentations by developing companies and sage advice from seasoned veterans like Tim Burke of Tether and Brent Newsome of NewPace.  The proceeds from the evening were donated to Dalhousie’s Women in Technology Society.

The Angel Den in Moncton – which I missed as I was still developing Entrevestor – featured pitches from ten New Brunswick companies, such as Sean Fahey, CEO of the video recruitment platform VidCruiter.

So on Friday night I was thinking that in two months we’ve had 20 companies, many at the inception stage, climb out of their bunkers and stand unshielded before their peers and potential investors. Twenty of ‘em, just in these two cities.

If we extrapolate on that figure I’m sure we could have had 30 or 40 new companies from across the region that could have presented at such an event. (One of the great things about Invest Atlantic on Monday is it will feature pitches from all four provinces.)

I’m also sure that Angel Den and BootCamp Halifax will be held again next year and there will be another 20 or so new companies come out of the woodwork and present, given the pace at which companies are being created.

The bad news is we’re still in the mindset of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each having their own events. There’s a growing regionalism in this industry and it would be great in the future if the events invited pitchers from other provinces (or states).  I realize they’re sponsored by provincial bodies, but the exchange of ideas and networking opportunities would multiply by opening up the pool of companies.

Back to DemoCamp: The presenting companies were at different stages of development, and the best were truly impressive.

Saeed El-Darahali, President and CEO the multi-channel marketing outfit SimplyCast, is a great speaker outlining a dynamic company, a cash flow-positive enterprise with clients in 175 countries. Peter Hickey, president and CIO of 2nd Act Innovations, described how the company’s 4sight data filing system was born: a Hong Kong company spent about $2 million hiring a group of Halifax programmers to develop the system; when the HK company got in financial trouble, Hickey, Andrew Doyle and their partners were able to buy the system for a dollar and open their own company.

The earlier stage companies were impressive, though they obviously have some work to do. One presenter candidly said her company’s main challenge  is that two of them are writing code in an apartment and the company server is under a bed.

The presenters included:

  • PixelBang, a video site for underground extreme sports.
  • Gistof, an intriguing search engine that helps the user find targeted leads through social media.
  • Yellowee, a site allowing the user to find business listings in a geographic location.
  • Pitch Perfect, produced by Headspace Graphic Design, a tool allowing graphic designers to perfect their pitch to clients.
  • Duke Mighten of Mighten Ink, demonstrating a comic-book-cum-video-game collaboration titled SXPD.
  • Compilr, technology that allows programmers to write code on their browser (described in Entrevestor on Sept. 2).
  • Equals6, a professional network for students planning their career path. Founder Andy Osburn told me the site is undergoing strong growth in Ontario and India.  
  • And Brightseeds, a social network for young entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada.