My favourite sports writer, Don Banks of Sports Illustrated, likes to open his columns with the words: “Musings, observations and the occasional insight from” such and such. Well, here are my musings, observations and occasional insights from the third annual MentorCamp yesterday in Halifax.
- The quality of the teams was exceptional, showing the depth of great startups in the region. Founder and CEO Permjot Valia had a great lineup of companies at MentorCamp 2012. He had been worried about whether the pool of tech companies in Atlantic Canada was deep enough to bring in six to eight superior regional companies again in 2013. I told him at Christmas time not to worry, that there were super companies developing, and I feel vindicated. I’ll go out on a limb and predict he’ll be able to find another half-dozen worldbeaters in 2014.
- I wasn’t able to attend all the speeches, though Joe Stump’s treatise for startup founders was tremendous – simple, candid lessons delivered in clear English. I missed the speech by Paul Singh, an investor with 500 Startups, but in the middle of the day he tweeted: “if you're outside the Valley (or any other large startup hub), figure out how to import urgency to your region. #MentorCamp.” Words to ponder. Do we need a greater sense of urgency in Atlantic Canada? Singh, who spends his life traveling the world meeting startups, obviously believes so. So, how do we attain it?
- The participating companies are gaining traction. R17 (formerly RUMAnalytics), which improves the speed of ecommerce sites, has its first customer. It spent a week in San Francisco attending startup school at Ycombinator and working with one of the world’s largest etailers. TopLog, which is developing a tool for systems administrators, has launched a beta test with nine companies. Analyze Re, which provides an analytics tool for the reinsurance industry, has signed non-disclosure agreements with four firms and has 20 more in the pipeline.
- There were about 40 mentors from around the world meeting eight companies. But just one company -- Craftista of Arkansas -- could offer an equity tax credit to ALL of these potential investors. Arkansas allows investors to basically sell their 30 percent equity tax credits, so any investor from anywhere will get back close to 30 percent of their money immediately by backing a startup in the state. The founders of Craftista, which helps craft bloggers sell products, could tell anyone they met Monday they would receive a credit if they invested. The other companies – three from Nova Scotia, two from P.E.I. and one each from New Brunswick and Manitoba – have far more restrictive policies. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in particular only offer ETCs to residents of these provinces. So only the Nova Scotian companies could offer an ETC to only 13 of the 40 mentors whereas the visiting Arkansans could offer one to all 40.
