Ottawa business journal 20160829

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Invest Ottawa 2.0?

Former entrepreneur-in-residence says it’s time to take a fresh look at organization’s mandate > PAGES 2-3

August 29, 2016 Vol. 19, NO. 22

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There’s no denying it When it comes to doing damage control after your company screws up, honesty is the best policy, Allan Wille says. > PAGE 6

Lainie Towell has taken a leave from her day job to launch Voguemobile, joining a growing number of store owners who are hitting the road. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

‘Fashion trucker’ driven to succeed Ottawa entrepreneur says city’s first four-wheeled retail outlet is gaining momentum Lainie Towell’s Voguemobile has amassed a devoted following while making the rounds in Ottawa-Gatineau this summer > PAGES 4-5

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Former Invest Ottawa entrepreneur-in-residence Bob Huggins is now a director at L-Spark, an enterprise software incubator and accelerator in Kanata. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Leave innovation to business community, ex-Invest Ottawa startup mentor says City-funded organization needs to sharpen its focus and stop trying to be ‘all things to to all people,’ former entrepreneur-in-residence argues

BY DAVID SALI

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

david@obj.ca

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former entrepreneur-in-residence at Invest Ottawa says it’s time for the city-funded economic development agency to get out of the business of promoting innovation.

“I think anybody who’s been in innovation in the last four years and watched the happenings at Invest Ottawa would refer to it as a dark age,” says Bob Huggins, a businessman and documentary filmmaker who is also a director at L-Spark, the Kanata-based enterprise software incubator and accelerator.

“There’s a real contradiction to think that an economic development group

within a city somehow is innovative.

That’s a huge mistake on the city’s part.

I’m not sure why the city gets pulled into stuff like this.”

When it emerged out of the ashes of its predecessor, the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, in early 2012, Invest Ottawa billed itself as a “one-stop shop for business.” After expanding the rebranded organization’s role, city council in 2011 approved a 53 per cent hike in the agency’s annual budget to $3.6 million.

The rebranded organization’s mandate included promoting the city as an innovation hub and attracting new investment, both foreign and domestic, to the capital. Mr. Huggins was one of the founders of its on-site accelerator, GrindSpaceXL, which offers mentorship,

office space and services to fledgling technology startups and has since graduated more than 40 companies.

No other city in Canada combines the economic development and innovation roles in a single agency. Mr. Huggins, who mentored more than 200 companies as an entrepreneur-in-residence at OCRI and Invest Ottawa from 2009 until he left the agency in 2014, says council would be better off investing the money it is pouring into innovation into making the city a more liveable, attractive place for prospective entrepreneurs to settle.

“The city should stick to its knitting and foster an environment that people want to live in,” he says. “You could better spend that budget somewhere else.”

With its four major universities and

colleges, a highly educated workforce and a thriving tech community led by ambitious, creative businesspeople such as Terry Matthews and Shopify’s Tobi Lutke, Ottawa already has a great foundation for success, Mr. Huggins says.

Companies like Shopify and Mitel were built by entrepreneurs who settled in Ottawa because they liked the city, and it’s those types of individuals, not government-funded agencies, who fuel economic growth, he adds.

“All of the success and innovation is always driven by successful entrepreneurs that create wealth events, whether they be exits or capital events,” Mr. Huggins says. “How do we get more Tobis? Everybody (needs to) stick to the things that they do well.”

“The city should stick to its knitting and foster an environment that people want to live in. You could better spend that budget somewhere else.”

– FORMER INVEST OTTAWA ENTREPRENEUR-IN-RESIDENCE BOB HUGGINS

His comments come in the midst of Invest Ottawa’s search for a new chief executive to replace Bruce Lazenby, who stepped down earlier this summer after five years on the job.

“That person, whoever that may be, would have to be a seasoned entrepreneur,” Mr. Huggins says. “We need somebody who understands what entrepreneurs live through on a daily basis. Hopefully, they find a good person.”

Still, he has plenty of praise for Invest Ottawa’s 16-member board of directors, which includes a variety of seasoned businesspeople such as Mr. Lutke and Jason Flick of You.i TV and representatives from the city’s colleges and universities. He also says some Invest Ottawa initiatives – including

L-Spark itself, which is a partnership between the agency and Mr. Matthews’ Wesley Clover International – have had a “positive” impact on the local economy.

“Everybody’s heart is in the right place,” he says.

The organization doesn’t need to be scrapped, he says – its purpose just needs to be more sharply defined. By “trying to be all things to all people” as both an innovation and economic development hub, Invest Ottawa will never excel in either role, he argues.

“It doesn’t work at any level. I defy anyone to show me an example of where it does, certainly in Canada and even the United States.”

Invest Ottawa co-chair David Ritonja, a vice-president of Nokia’s North American branch, concedes the agency

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has suffered through some growing pains in adapting to its dual roles.

But he says the organization has also scored its share of major successes, adding districts like Kitchener-Waterloo, where the economic development and innovation functions are handled by separate agencies, face challenges of their own with their approach.

“Quite often, they are not as aligned and work as well together as they could, and I think their industry suffers

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as a result of that,” he says. “To my knowledge, there’s still a strong focus and desire to maintain both in the same organization (at Invest Ottawa).”

Mr. Ritonja, who has been involved with OCRI and Invest Ottawa for almost a decade, says OCRI tried to fund itself privately in the past but couldn’t sustain those efforts.

“If it could be done through private means, I think everybody would be open to it,” he says.

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Lainie Towell, a former professional dancer-turned-mobile fashion entrepreneur, shows off the refurbished van that has become her travelling store, Voguemobile. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

Ottawa fashion entrepreneur’s trailblazing venture truckin’ along Lainie Towell’s Voguemobile the city’s first example of a growing retail trend: the mobile store

BY DAVID SALI

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

david@obj.ca

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very entrepreneur knows there will inevitably be a few bumps on the road to success. But Lainie Towell is feeling them a little more tangibly than most.

The 44-year-old Ottawa native has spent the summer selling dresses, bracelets and other items out of a 25-foot former Purolator courier van that she has converted into the city’s first mobile clothing store.

Ms. Towell makes regular appearances around town, parking her van in various lots that have been zoned for retail use.

Since her travelling fashion outlet, called Voguemobile, first hit the streets in June,

it has attracted plenty of social media buzz and has already begun to amass a loyal following.

The self-proclaimed “fashion trucker” also takes her motorized store to major events, such as the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and does private showings at occasions like bachelorette parties. Typically, she has about 200 items in her inventory ranging from evening dresses to scarves and other accessories.

“Why would a woman want to buy a dress off the back of a truck?” the affable entrepreneur says with a grin, already anticipating the obvious question.

“Seriously, why?”

Part of the answer, she says, is pretty simple. To stand out in today’s increasingly fragmented retail marketplace, a new business has to offer

customers something a little different.

If shopping at a fashion truck doesn’t fit the bill, what does?

“That’s exciting, that’s an experience, that’s a story,” Ms. Towell says. “And that’s what people want. It’s like when you go travelling somewhere, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I got these great shoes at this little boutique in Strasbourg that was off the beaten path.’ It’s the whole story around it.”

A former professional dancer who took a leave of absence from her marketing job at a non-profit agency to give her entrepreneurial dream a shot, Ms. Towell started out by selling bracelets made from fragments of old licence plates at craft shows.

She initially wanted to carry on the vehicle theme by setting up shop in a

vintage trailer. While doing research online, she stumbled across a growing trend south of the border: mobile retail outlets.

Before long, she was in touch with a Californian named Stacey Jischke-Steffe, the co-founder of the American Mobile Retail Association, who helped guide her through the process of getting her business on the road.

With financial backing from a friend, she bought a van and spent several months refurbishing it into a dress shop on wheels. By early summer, she was ready to try her luck.

“Everything about this project feels like it’s been a challenge because everything’s so new,” says Ms. Towell, who required a special itinerant seller licence from the city.

Learning to manoeuvre a remodelled delivery van around Ottawa’s streets was no small hurdle for someone who normally drives a Fiat. Then there was the question of where to park her fourwheeled boutique.

Through trial and error, she discovered a couple of spots – one next Kunstadt Sports in the Glebe, another across from the Mayfair theatre in Old Ottawa South – that seemed to catch fashionistas’ fancies. The ByWard Market? Not so much – too many tourists who aren’t interested in buying, she says.

“At least I can get up and go to another parking lot if one doesn’t work,” she notes. “I haven’t signed a lease for five years somewhere. That’s very appealing.”

If she’s having a slow day, she adds, she can just pack up her truck and head home or hit the beach.

“If I was in a store, I couldn’t do that,” says Ms. Towell, who comes by her entrepreneurial instincts honestly – her father, Garv Towell, was a well-known Ottawa retailer whose ventures included Rocket Records on Wellington Street and House of Nostalgia on Rideau Street.

That flexibility and freedom are big drawing cards for mobile entrepreneurs, she notes.

“Location is key for any small business. You really get to take your store to the areas that are most desirable for you. And you’re able to have more flexible hours.”

– STACEY JISCHKE-STEFFE, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN MOBILE RETAIL ASSOCIATION

Ms. Towell plans to return to her marketing gig part-time in the fall, but will keep the truck fuelled up in case she decides to do pop-up appearances. She is also starting to land a few online sales, shipping dresses to customers as far away as Saskatchewan.

“I think that, for somebody like myself, I really wanted to go into business, but I also want to be able to pay my mortgage or afford my car payments or whatever it is that we need to do in life,” she says, explaining that she can keep the Voguemobile enterprise going while still earning a steady paycheque at her day job.

Ms. Jischke-Steffe, whose organization now has about 100 members including Ms. Towell, agrees.

She says mobile retail is an appealing option for owners who want to keep startup costs low and are wary of being

tied down to one specific location.

“Location is key for any small business,” says the Los Angeles resident, who opened that city’s first mobile dress store, Le Fashion Truck, with a partner almost six years ago.

“You really get to take your store to the areas that are most desirable for you.

And you’re able to have more flexible hours.”

She estimates there are between 800 and 1,000 mobile retailers in the United States and Canada. Most sell women’s clothing, she explains, but there are trucks, vans and trailers that offer everything from records to paintings – and even one called “Napify” that travels to college campuses, providing sleepdeprived students with a place to grab 10 minutes of shut-eye for $5.

“Going mobile is becoming very popular amongst businesses in general,

whether it’s food or retail,” Ms. JischkeSteffe says.

For Ms. Towell, it’s already been quite a journey.

“There are times when I ask myself, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” she concedes with a hearty laugh.

“For a while, I was like, ‘I’m in the fashion-truck business.’ And, then I was like, ‘No, you’re not.’ The truck is just the container. And, then I was like, ‘You’re in the fashion business.’ And, then the other day, I thought, ‘No, you’re not.

You’re in the originality business.’”

Whatever happens, she says, it’s been worth it.

“If things really boom, then great.

And if they don’t, then I’ve got this funky part-time business. I’m going to figure it out as I go. There’s so many different scenarios that you can create with this.

There’s a lot of possibilities.”

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Why you need to own your mistakes

TELEPHONE Phone: 613-238-1818 Sales Fax: 613-248-4564 News Fax: No faxes, email editor@obj.ca PUBLISHER Michael Curran, 238-1818 ext. 228 publisher@obj.ca

Ottawa entrepreneur Allan Wille knows that to err is human. But the founder of software firm Klipfolio says that when things go wrong – and they will – a little honesty and humility can go a long way to ensuring those mishaps don’t alienate your customers

N

o one likes it when something goes wrong. But take it as a fact of life in business: it’s inevitable, and at some point, something will. A server will fail, someone will press the wrong button or invalid information will be taken as true. And customers will notice.

Children often lie or deny when caught red-handed doing something bad. “Did you eat those cookies?” asks the parent. “No, it wasn’t me!” replies the child, despite chocolate-stained fingers and a face full of cookie crumbs.

a problem and saying they’re working on it. So when things go wrong, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Nip any frustration in the bud by telling them very quickly that something’s amiss and that the problem is being worked on.

GIVE PEOPLE INFORMATION We have a protocol in place for dealing with problems, and that protocol provides for regular release of information to customers.

As quickly as possible, we put a

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

As soon as you can after the problem, screw-up or mistake is resolved, figure out what went wrong. See what you can do to prevent it from happening again (in other words, what was the root cause and how will you fix it?). Then, assess what you did wrong in response to the mistake – and also what you did right

OBJ.CA

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In business, that lie-or-deny instinct can be fatal.

The best policy – in fact, the only policy – is to take responsibility for whatever went wrong.

It has always been our policy to do so.

And I know from experience that it pays off many times over in trust, goodwill and understanding.

Here’s our approach to handling mistakes, screw-ups and problems: ADMIT SOMETHING’S GONE WRONG When my internet service goes out at home, I get annoyed. I get even more annoyed when I check their service status page and it shows all systems are green, even as the Twittersphere is lighting up with the same issue.

However, I’d be much more understanding if there was a message on their status page admitting there’s

message up on our support site. We also send out a Tweet saying we’re working to fix the problem.

We send out updates even when there’s nothing new to report. An update telling people we’re still working to fix the problem reassures customers. The last time we had a major outage we were tweeting updates every 30 minutes.

TELL PEOPLE YOU’VE FIXED IT When the problem is fixed and things are back to normal, send out an all-clear message. Otherwise, you’ll leave people wondering what’s going on.

That message should also explain what the problem was and address any concerns that might have been raised by the situation.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES As soon as you can after the problem,

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Terry Tyo, 238-1818 ext. 268 terry@greatriver.ca EDITOR, PRINT CONTENT David Sali, 238-1818 ext. 269 david@greatriver.ca CO-ORDINATOR, ONLINE CONTENT Maya Gwilliam, 238-1818 ext. 291 editor@obj.ca COPY EDITOR Samantha Paquin ADVERTISING SALES General Inquiries, 238-1818 ext. 286 sales@obj.ca

screw-up or mistake is resolved, figure out what went wrong. See what you can do to prevent it from happening again (in other words, what was the root cause and how will you fix it?). Then, assess what you did wrong in response to the mistake – and also what you did right.

APOLOGIZE As soon as possible, send out an apology.

The apology for the mistake should be sent by a person at the right level in your association.

For example, if one customer was affected in a minor way, our customer success representative responsible for them would reach out directly. But when we had a major outage last spring, it was important that the e-mails to our 5,000 customers came directly from me. And I replied personally to every single person who responded.

Any apology should acknowledge concerns customers might have. For example, you might need to reassure them about the security of their data.

The apology should also quickly describe the problem, explain why it occurred and talk about what you’re doing to prevent it from happening again.

A lot of our customers are like us – growing businesses. They understand the issues we face and can empathize with our situation. And when we’ve admitted to a mistake, they have responded positively.

It’s not productive to blame anyone or anything else for the mistake. Even if the problems were not ultimately your fault, your customers won’t see that; they see you.

And when they see that you admitted to a screw-up, they will recognize that your company takes responsibility. They will recognize your honesty. And they will respect you for it.

Allan Wille is a co-founder of Klipfolio and its president and CEO. He’s also a designer, a cyclist, a father and a resolute optimist.

Wendy Baily, 238-1818 ext. 244 wbaily@obj.ca Carlo Lombard, 238-1818 ext. 230 carlo@obj.ca SPECIAL PROJECTS Nikki DesLauriers, 238-1818 ext. 240 nikki@obj.ca MARKETING & SALES CO-ORDINATOR Cristha Sinden, 238-1818 ext. 222 cristha@greatriver.ca CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tanya Connolly-Holmes, 238-1818 ext. 253 creative@obj.ca ART DEPARTMENT Regan VanDusen, 238-1818 ext. 254 regan@greatriver.ca Celine Paquette, 238-1818 ext. 252 celine@greatriver.ca FINANCE Jackie Whalen, 238-1818 ext. 250 jackie@greatriver.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS/DISTRIBUTION Patti Moran, 238-1818 ext. 248 subscribe@obj.ca PRINTED BY Transcontinental Qualimax 130 Adrien-Robert, Parc Industriel Richelieu Gatineau, QC J8Y 3S2 NEWS RELEASES News releases for the Ottawa Business Journal’s print or Internet news teams can be e-mailed to editor@obj.ca.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We welcome opinions about any material published in the Ottawa Business Journal or issues of interest to local businesspeople. Only letters with the writer’s full name, address and telephone number will be considered for publication. Addresses and phone numbers will not be published, but they might be used to verify authenticity.

Letters can be e-mailed to editor@obj.ca.

Ottawa Business Journal is published by

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mark Sutcliffe PRESIDENT Michael Curran All content of Ottawa Business Journal is copyright 2016.

Great River Media Inc. and may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. Publisher’s Liability for error: The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with any advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of monies paid for the advertisement.

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TECHNOLOGY Corel boss sees big opportunity in new software acquisition

BY JACOB SEREBRIN Special to OBJ

T

he acquisition of a software product for product management and mind-mapping might seem like a strange move for a company that’s become known for its graphics processing products.

But Corel CEO Patrick Nichols says it makes perfect sense.

“CorelDRAW allows you to express your creativity with unstructured information and MindManager allows you to express your creativity with structured information,” he says. “Those two are opposite ends of the same coin when you get down to the core technologies and we see some very rich overlap opportunities between the core strategies of the both of them as they continue to progress into the future.”

Earlier this month, Corel acquired MindManager from San Francisco-based Mindjet.

“It was a great product that’s had a very loyal base with great recurring revenue streams,” Mr. Nichols says.

He says he sees an opportunity for Corel to add some of its own expertise to the product, but there’s more to it than that.

“At the same time, we also see the opportunity to bring in some of their technology and introduce it in our core products and see if there’s more value-add that we can unlock by having a better understanding of structured information,” Mr. Nichols says. “It’s not that we’ve got a strategy specifically to start targeting and focusing in on structured data and data acquisition opportunities, it’s more that we saw a great, rich opportunity of overlap.”

Product acquisitions have played an important role for Corel in recent years.

“Corel kind of switched cultures to focus in on profitability and operational excellence and we’ve been taking the strong profits and investing it in

acquisitions over the course of the last few years,” Mr. Nichols says.

He says the decision around whether to build a new product or acquire one comes down to how fast the company can get a product to market.

“Over the course of the last three to five years, we’ve maintained a good healthy balance of both,” he says. “We focus on organic growth, while at the same time finding opportunities to invest.”

He says acquisitions can help accelerate Corel’s growth and the company’s expertise can help accelerate the growth opportunity for the products the company acquires.

Being privately held has been a benefit to Corel, which was taken private in 2010, says Mr. Nichols.

“We got to let go of the public company mantra where the goal was to basically meet and beat analysts’ expectations, and analysts don’t always make the best product managers, the

Corel CEO Patrick Nichols. FILE PHOTO

best investment decisions for where a company like Corel needs to go,” he says.

“I think Corel is a perfect example of an organization that’s been able to operate so much better outside of the public markets.”

Mr. Nichols says the company sees a lot of opportunities with its core products such as CorelDRAW and Paint Shop Pro. He says there will also be a new set of products coming out over the next two years, adding the company has its eyes on more acquisitions.

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TECHNOLOGY Ottawa a perfect fit for Vancouver-based venture capital firm’s new office: CEO

BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca

I

n a 20-year business career that has seen him work in a variety of roles for various tech firms – including guiding a company from a startup to a successful IPO – Hugh Chow figured he had crossed just about everything off his bucket list.

Then came the chance to lead the Istuary Innovation Group, a Vancouverbased organization that acts like a venture capital firm with a twist: it also helps incubate the companies it funds, with the goal of taking them to exit within two years.

The company now has 19 “innovation labs” that act as incubators in Canada, the United States and China, employing more than 600 people.

“Istuary is a company that makes companies,” Mr. Chow said in a phone

interview with OBJ earlier this month.

Since he joined the organization as its CEO in February, the Hong Kong native has witnessed firsthand the way it nurtures fledgling companies in a “scaleable, methodical” way. Istuary’s goal, he said, is to develop firms that are ready to market new technologies to rapidly growing global markets, particularly in China.

“I love growth,” said the self-confessed “geek at heart,” who was an engineer before embarking on a career as an entrepreneur. “That’s why I’m in this type of industry.”

He says Istuary, which recently opened an office in Kanata, flips the typical process of hatching a startup on its head. Instead of starting with an idea and trying to convince the market it’s worth buying, Istuary’s companies look to see what the market wants and then come up with products to fit those needs.

Istuary CEO Hugh Chow. PHOTO PROVIDED

“We don’t just invest in ideas,” Mr. Chow said. “We start from the market first. If the market wants salt, I’ll give them salt. I think that’s really what sets us apart.”

Trying to predict what technologies people will be using a decade from now is a fool’s errand, he said.

“It’s like driving in the fog,” he explained. “If you don’t fall off the highway, you’re just lucky. We understand that.”

Istuary, which is funded by a mix of Canadian and American investors, currently has about eight startups in its pipeline, Mr. Chow said. Whereas many VCs believe they’re doing well if one in 10 firms they fund makes it, Istuary sets its sights much higher, he added.

“From Istuary’s standpoint, we look at it and kind of go, ‘It doesn’t have to be like that.’”

Continued on page 11

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TECHNOLOGY SavvyDox building momentum in cloud-based collaboration market

BY JACOB SEREBRIN Special to OBJ

F

or a young company looking to sell to government and large enterprises, building credibility can be one of the biggest challenges.

But it’s an area where Ottawa-based SavvyDox seems to be seeing some success.

“Being a startup, one of the problems you always have is getting recognition for what you have,” says CEO Hans Downer. “The common response is, ‘Oh, you’re a startup, your stuff can’t be really that good.”

His company, which makes a cloudbased document collaboration platform, was recently recognized as one of the 20 Most Promising Document Management Solution Providers by California-based CIOReview magazine, a publication targeted at the very people Mr. Downer needs to reach.

SavvyDox CEO Hans Downer. FILE PHOTO

“When you get recognized by a publication like CIOReview magazine, that kind of gives you the green tick mark, for lack of a better term, to proceed with a lot of these customers who are fairly large and would tend to be a little reluctant to deal with a startup,” he says. “This is kind of the validation by a third party that the product is valid.”

It’s not the first time that SavvyDox has received some third-party

HR UPDATE SPRING 2016

recognition – in 2014, the company was named one of OBJ’s Startups to Watch.

SavvyDox’s software allows multiple people in different locations to collaborate on the same document.

It’s a replacement for track changes in Microsoft Word, and it goes a little further when it comes to things like security than Google Docs.

That’s why selling to large organizations is so critical for SavvyDox – smaller companies don’t necessarily need the company’s full feature set.

“In larger companies, it’s critical that you have security around the document – it’s critical that you ensure that the documentation that’s going out is correct and you want to ensure that you’ve got the full collaborative input from all your subject matter experts,” Mr. Downer says. “Our view, from a differentiation perspective, is the author has to see all of the changes that are being suggested and then the author determines which one is correct.”

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He compares it to a face-to-face meeting – the person doing the presentation maintains control of it but everyone gets to provide their input.

The company’s software also allows users to control who can read a document and can prevent users from downloading a document onto their own computers – an important security feature in a place like Ottawa where leaks can be a big fear. It also allows comment authors to see who’s read which parts of a document.

SavvyDox isn’t just getting credibility from third parties – it’s also getting it from its customers. The company has been working with the federal government’s Office of the Auditor General for the past year and is also working with Shared Services Canada.

“Government has popped up as our lead customer,” Mr. Downer says.

It’s also established two resellers in the United States to target the federal government there.

THE LIST 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

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17 18 19 20

Company/Address/ Phone/Fax/Web Shopify 150 Elgin St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1L4 888-746-7439 shopify.ca Kinaxis 700 Silver Seven Rd. Ottawa, ON K2V 1C3 613-592-5780 / 613-592-0584 kinaxis.com Mitel 350 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 2W7 613-592-2122 / 613-592-4724 mitel.com InterRent REIT 207-485 Bank St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z2 613-569-5699 / 888-696-5698 interrentreit.com Canopy Growth 1 Hershey Dr. Smiths Falls, ON K7A 0A8 855-558-9333 / 888-977-2595 tweed.com Wi-LAN 608-11 Holland Ave. Ottawa, ON K1Y 4S1 613-688-4900 / 613-688-4894 wi-lan.com Halogen Software 495 March Rd. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G1 613-270-1011 / 613-270-8311 halogensoftware.com Calian Technologies 101-340 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 1Y6 613-599-8600 / 613-599-8650 calian.com Orezone Gold 201-290 Picton St. Ottawa, ON K1Z 8P8 613-241-3699 / 613-241-6005 orezone.com Espial Group 900-200 Elgin St. Ottawa, ON K2P 1L5 613-230-4770 / 613-230-8498 espial.com Edgewater Wireless Systems 1125 Innovation Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G6 6130271-3710 / 613-271-1152 edgewaterwireless.com C-COM Satellite Systems 2574 Sheffield Rd. Ottawa, ON K1B 3V7 613-745-4110 / 613-745-1172 c-comsat.com Avivagen 100 Sussex Dr. Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6 613-949-8164 / 613-993-0796 avivagen.com Enablence Technologies 119-390 March Rd. Kanata, ON K2K 0G7 613-656-2850 / 613-656-2855 enablence.com Northern Shield Resources 440-55 Metcalfe St. Ottawa, ON K1P 6L5 613-232-0459 / 613-232-0760 northern-shield.com ProntoForms 920-515 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3B8 613-599-8288 prontoforms.com Focus Graphite 912-130 Albert St. Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4 613-691-1091 / 613-241-8632 focusgraphite.com DragonWave 600-411 Legget Dr. Kanata, ON K2K 3C9 613-599-9991 / 613-599-4265 dragonwaveinc.com Clearford Water Systems 100-515 Legget Dr. Ottawa, ON K2K 3G4 613-599-6474 / 613-599-7478 clearford.com Pacific Safety Products 124 Fourth Ave. Arnprior, ON K7S 0A9 613-623-6001 / 613-271-9384 pacsafety.com

LARGEST PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES (LOCALLY HEADQUARTERED COMPANIES, RANKED BY MARKET CAPITALIZATION. SOURCE: TMX GROUP AND REGULATORY FILINGS)

Share price (as of Aug. 5, 2016) / 52-week high / 52-week low

Stock Symbol / Exchange/ Fiscal year end

US$205.23 million ($18.79 million)

$48.86 $51.29 $25.85

SH TSX*1 Dec. 31

Commerce platform that allows individuals to sell online and in-store.

$1,525,485,264

US$91.27 million US$12.66 million

$61.81 $64.07 $29.99

KXS TSX Dec. 31

Cloud-based software that enables customers to improve and accelerate supply chain planning and analysis.

1

$1,208,386,442

US$1.16 billion (US$20.7 million)

$10.76 $11.93 $7.56

MNW TSX*2 Dec. 3

Provider of business communications and collaboration software and services.

3

$610,271,585

$82.98 million $49.8 million

$8.50 $8.50 $6.00

IIP.UN TSX Dec. 31

Invests in income-producing residential properties within Canada.

9

$443,667,125

$12.7 million ($3.5 million)

$4.13 $4.20 $1.15

CGC TSX-V Mar. 31

Producer and seller of medical marijuana.

5

$275,279,653

US$102.86 million US$10.04 million

$2.31 $3.85 $1.30

WIN TSX*3 Dec. 31

Acquires and licenses a range of intellectual property that drives products in communications and consumer electronics markets, including wireless fidelity data-over-cable service, multi-mode wireless, bluetooth and V-Chip.

6

$204,442,017

US$65.69 million (US$13.48 million)

$9.49 $10.30 $6.52

HGN TSX Dec. 31

Creates performance, talent management and best practices suite.

7

$181,421,421

$242.25 million $9.77 million

$24.45 $24.50 $14.89

CGY TSX Sep. 30

Provides business and technology services to industry, government and major organizations in Canada.

11

$140,195,400

$0 (US$7.57 million)

$1.10 $1.28 $0.22

ORE TSX-V Dec. 31

Exploration stage company acquiring, exploring and developing gold projects in Burkina Faso and uranium projects in Niger.

8

$74,736,488

$2.48 million $1.27 million

$2.00 $4.04 $1.67

ESP TSX Dec. 31

Designs, develops and markets software solutions to consumer electronics manufacturers.

13

$49,674,714

$90,157 ($1.95 million)

$0.39 $0.39 $0.14

YFI TSX April 30

Wideband, multi-channel radio and high-capacity, security-centric access point solutions.

10

$41,546,787

$10.37 million $1.6 million

$1.14 $1.29 $0.85

CMI TSX-V Nov. 30

Development of satellite-based technology allowing the delivery of high-speed Internet services.

16

$35,933,389

$163,966 ($2 million)

$0.14 $0.15 $0.03

VIV TSX-V Oct. 31

Develops small-molecule compound discoveries for commercialization in markets in distinct biotechnology sectors.

18

$35,633,558

US$2.05 million (US$10.42 million)

$.0.07 $0.13 0.04

ENA TSX-V June 30

Developer of access network solutions, technologies and products; high-capacity FTTx access systems and multiservice access platforms; optical chip technology; carrier-grade architectures; vertically integrated subsystems.

N/A

$33,684,864

$0 ($2.24 million)

$0.19 $0.26 $0.01

NRN TSX-V Dec. 31

Junior mining company focusing on diamonds and platinum exploration in under-explored regions of eastern Canada.

14

$27,923,375

$9.19 million ($2.6 million)

$0.30 $0.38 $0.17

PFM TSX-V Dec. 31

Mobile workflow solution to collect, receive and submit data in the field.

15

$21,637,541

$0 ($5.02 million)

$0.14 $0.29 $0.06

FMS TSX-V Sep. 30

Graphite mining and exploration company.

N/A

$15,085,916

US$86.3 million (US$42.3 million)

$4.16 $13.96 $2.00

DWI TSX*4 Feb. 29

Provider of high-capacity packet microwave solutions that drive nextgeneration IP networks.

12

$14,882,206

$3.89 million ($6.78 million)

$0.17 $0.49 $0.10

CLI TSX-V Dec. 31

Designs and implements wastewater management systems utilizing a patented system.

17

$10,624,510

$17.73 million $1.14 million

$0.16 $0.24 $0.10

PSP TSX-V June 30

Design, production and sales of protective products for law enforcement, military, fire and emergency medical services personnel.

Rank last year

Market capitalization (as of Aug. 5, 2016)

4

$3,308,202,815

2

Full-year revenues / Net income (loss)

Description

*1 Shopify is also traded on the NYSE under SHOP. *2 Mitel is also traded on the NASDAQ under MITL. *3 Wi-LAN is also traded on the NASDAQ under WILN. *4 Dragonwave is also traded on the NASDAQ under DRWI. Should your company be on this list? If so, please send details to research@obj.ca This list is current as of August 5, 2016. Š 2016 by Ottawa Business Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced by any method in whole or in part without written permission by Ottawa Business Journal.

While every attempt is made to ensure the thoroughness and accuracy of the list, omissions and errors sometimes occur. Please send any corrections or additions by e-mail to research@obj.ca. OBJ lists are primarily compiled using information provided voluntarily by the organizations named. Some firms that may qualify for the list are not included because the company either failed to respond to requests for information by press time, because the company declined to take part in the survey or because of space constraints. Categories are drawn up in attempt to gather information of relevance to the Ottawa market.

Research by Patti Moran. Please send questions and comments to research@obj.ca.

FOR THE RECORD Contracts The following contains information about recent contracts, standing offers and supply arrangements awarded to local firms.

General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada Corp.

1941 Robertson Rd. Description: Radio and television communications equipment, airborne Buyer: DND $38,270,581 Gartner Canada Co. 1545 Carling Ave. Description: Resource alignment review of Shared Services Canada Buyer: Treasury Board of Canada $1,351,315 ADRM Technology Consulting Group Corp.

45 St. Andrew Description: One level 2 business analyst and one level 2 technical writer Buyer: Public Service Commission of Canada $1,287,635 ADRM Technology Consulting Group Corp.

45 St. Andrew Description: One project manager – level 2 Buyer: Public Service Commission of Canada $1,287,635 Maplesoft Consulting Inc. 1545 Carling Ave. Description: One level 2 business analyst and one level 2 technical writer Buyer: Public Service

Commission of Canada $678,000

Commission of Canada $339,000

Maplesoft Consulting Inc. 1545 Carling Ave. Description: One project manager – level 2 Buyer: Public Service Commission of Canada $678,000

Empowered Networks Inc. 1 Hines Rd. Description: Technical architect – level 2 Buyer: DND $316,400

NAV Canada 77 Metcalfe St. Description: Training Facility – Sept. 7-Oct. 4, 2016 Buyer: DND $611,886 Paranis Construction Inc. 676 Claude St. Description: Courtyard B masonry conservation repairs Buyer: National Research Council Canada $607,000 Ace Building 309 Frost Ave. Description: M-2, M-59 washroom renovations Buyer: National Research Council Canada $400,708 Nortrax Canada Inc. 190 David Manchester Rd. Description: Six-wheel drive grader Buyer: Transport Canada $378,203 Modis Canada Inc. 155 Queen St. Description: Task authorization contracts for one level 2 programmer/software developer and one level 3 database administrator Buyer: Public Service

Testforce Systems Inc. 235 Stafford Rd. W. Description: Audio test equipment Buyer: Transport Canada $301,088 Calian Ltd. 340 Legget Dr. Description: Boatswains services Buyer: DND $267,132 Advanced Business Interiors 2355 St. Laurent Blvd.

Description: Workstations Buyer: PWGSC $245,577 Affinity Video Productions Ltd. 2740-B Queensview Dr. Description: Audio visual production services Buyer: Employment and Social Development Canada $205,691 Valcom Consulting Group Inc. 85 Albert St. Description: Professional services engineer Buyer: DND $194,307 ADGA Group Consultants Inc. 110 Argyle Ave. Description: Business analyst Buyer: DND $173,925

People on the move Sciemetric Instruments has named chief research engineer Richard Brine as the company’s chief technology officer. Mr. Brine joined the company 25 years ago. For the past 10 years, he has led most aspects of new technology development and commercialization. As CTO, he will be responsible for the total product vision, from concept to deployment and ongoing customer support.

BluMetric Environmental announced it has added Matt Heffernan to its board of directors. Mr. Heffernan is currently president and CEO of Zedi Inc., a Calgary-based production operations management company.

Under his guidance, the firm’s sales have increased more than 500 percent over 10 years. His approach recently resulted in the company

being named one of the Globe and Mail’s Top 75 Great Places to Work in Canada. Mr. Heffernan previously held executive positions in telecommunications, satellite imaging and engineering consulting, where he was involved with mergers and acquisitions and was able to turn faltering business units into high-growth, high-profit operations.

This data is part of the Ottawa Business Growth Survey. Conducted by Abacus Data and made possible by Welch LLP, the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the Ottawa Business Journal, the survey gathered input from hundreds of local businesses. A free 36-page report can be downloaded at www.ottawabusinessgrowthreport.ca.

HURDLES TO BUSINESS The TOP five most important issues for Ottawa business over the coming five years

47%

SKILLED WORKFORCE

39%

NEW BUSINESS ATTRACTION

34%

CORPORATE TAXES ACCESS TO CAPITAL MUNICIPAL TAXES

26% 23%

“The future success of Ottawa’s knowledge-based and creative sectors is closely tied to our ability to attract the very best and brightest to move here. The massive growth of Ottawa’s Shopify, the decision by Apple to set up shop, are happening because of their ability to find the right talent and attract the people they need to our community.

There are a lot of exciting things happening in our city right now. From the upcoming LRT to Lebreton Flats redevelopment, Ottawa is becoming an even more exciting city in which to live – this will in turn fuel further growth of this key sector.”– BRUCE RAGANOLD, DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WELCH LLP

11 OBJ.CA

like Istuary, he said, adding he’s looking forward to collaborating with officials at the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards, which is slated to open in November.

“The stats speak for themselves,” Mr. Chow said. “There’s a lot of things going for (Ottawa). It’s the right environment.

We need talent.”

Canada as a whole is a highly educated nation with world-class engineering schools, he explained, so there’s no reason why the country shouldn’t be a world leader in developing innovative, ready-for-market technologies.

“We have a lot of good things going in Canada,” he said. “I think we have a lot more to offer to the world than just oil and natural resources and scenery.

We have some of the smartest people as well.”

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

Continued from page 8 The fund has deep connections in China, he said, making it more likely to convert opportunities into acquisitions.

One of its startups, a network technology company, was recently sold to a major Chinese firm, he said, and a couple of other deals with Chinese partners are in the process of being finalized.

“You can go on a lot of trade missions,” Mr. Chow said. “I’ve been on a few. It’s really hard to come back with a deal in your hand. We have the ground game.”

Though Istuary has only a handful of employees in Ottawa right now, he expects that number to grow to about 30 before the year is out. The capital’s strengths in the semiconductor, Internet of Things and big data analytics fields make it a natural location for a fund

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

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VOL. 1, ISSUE 6

Bayview Yards facility one-stop shop for startups GROWTH IN OTTAWA. PHOTO

BY MARK HOLLERON

ATION OTTAWA’S INNOVATION ST

FORMER NORDION CEO STEVE

WEST, WHO CO-CHAIRS THE

INNOVATION CENTRE AT BAYVIEW

YARDS, AND ICBY EXECUTIVE

New entrepreneurship hub

WARD DRIVING FOR nt of auto tech QNX at forefro

PAGE 3

DIRECTOR RICHARD QUIGLEY

SAY THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED

FACILITY WILL HELP SPUR ECONOMIC

rtunities, backers say PAGES 8-9

will open a world of oppo

TAKING FIVE startup fest 5 key lessons from

PAGES 4-5

MERGER MANof IA M&As The ins and outs

PAGE 11

CONNECTING TECH IN OTTAWA

VOL. 1, ISSUE 6

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

FORMER NORDION CEO STEVE WEST, WHO CO-CHAIRS THE INNOVATION CENTRE AT BAYVIEW YARDS, AND ICBY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RICHARD QUIGLEY SAY THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED FACILITY WILL HELP SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH IN OTTAWA. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON

OTTAWA’S INNOVATION STATION New entrepreneurship hub will open a world of opportunities, backers say PAGES 8-9

DRIVING FORWARD

QNX at forefront of auto tech PAGE 3

TAKING FIVE

MERGER MANIA

5 key lessons from startup fest PAGES 4-5 The ins and outs of M&As PAGE 11

SYSTEM UPDATE

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The Wow! factor is alive and well Kanata North’s pedigree, talent are driving semiconductor success

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

Kanata North remains on the cutting edge when it comes to the next generation of semiconductor technologies. And why wouldn’t it be? That pedigree is rich and runs deep, all the way back to Bell Northern Research and the old Mitel Networks.

Take GaN Systems, co-founded eight years ago by CTO John Roberts and President Girvan Patterson. Their resumes, and those of others on the management team, are a who’s who of the big local names in the industry through the ’90s and the 2000s.

That’s no accident. GaN’s potentially game-changing gallium nitride switching and power conversion portfolio was prototyped in the National Research Council of Canada’s own test foundry acquired from Nortel Networks. When it came time to build and expand GaN’s team, the founders had no problem finding a great pool of proven local talent from which to draw.

TECHOPIA.CA

02

Heritage of the area But it isn’t just talent – a corporate culture that fosters open creativity has also carried over from those old days.

“That’s a heritage of the technology sector here that’s still alive and well,” Patterson said.

Sidense Corp. is another thriving player that’s taken advantage of

creative culture and talent to grow its global clout in the vast market for embedded non-volatile memory. Its team pedigree includes Chipworks, MOSAID Technologies, Mitel Networks and ATMOS Corp. The company has been snapping up good memory people wherever it can find them.

“If you’re a good circuit designer, you’re going to find employment here,” said Tomasz Wojcicki, VP of Customer Engineering Support.

Even semiconductor multinationals that set up shop in Kanata North are looking for more than just another satellite office. They’re looking for a specialized local team to tackle hard problems no one else can.

Rocket science Take Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited.

TSMC has grown over the past two decades from a startup in chip manufacturing into the world’s largest independent foundry. Roughly half of the chips found in mobile phones today are manufactured at TSMC. TSMC’s Ottawa team works on next-generation memory compilers, high-speed interconnects, and perhaps most impressive of all, test systems that are embedded on the chip itself.

“We have here one of the top

groups in the world that is working on stuff that no one else has ever seen,” said Cormac O’Connell, Director of TSMC’s Ottawa Design Centre. “We’re literally doing rocket science here.”

• Ottawa’s semiconductor industry (and you might even say Canada’s) began in 1969 when Nortel Networks forerunner Northern Electric created Microsystems International Ltd. (MIL). MIL produced one of the world’s earliest microprocessors, the MIL MF7114, and a series of early microcomputers using this chip.

• MIL was also the place where future serial entrepreneurs Terry Matthews and Michael Cowpland met. The rest, as they say, is history.

• Today’s chips can contain 10 billion devices, where a single atom out of place can have a

Learn more about why Kanata North is fertile ground in which to grow successful companies and find great talent, from semiconductors to software-as-a-service, at www.serioustechliveshere.com

dramatic impact on performance. What’s on a chip these days needed a whole server room 20 years ago.

• GaN Systems’ gallium nitride compound chips replace conventional siliconbased electronic switches that just can’t meet spec for speed, temperature, voltage or current.

Efficiency-improving applications range from high-performance auto engines and industrial to making your TV even thinner and getting rid of that brick on your laptop power cord.

• As an independent foundry for hire, TSMC makes chips for fabless electronic

companies so they don’t have to spend billions to set up their own foundries.

This enables them to build products and compete against the likes of Samsung or Intel – companies that can afford to fabricate their own chips used in their branded system products.

• Sidense Corp. is making waves with what might seem like an old, quaint technology – onetime programmable memory. But that supposed “limitation” provides one significant benefit – a tough layer of added security as more and more devices become connected through the Internet of Things.

APPLE ENLISTS SHOPIFY TO EXTEND ITS DIGITAL WALLET TO WEB TECHOPIA.ca the infrastructures are speaking the same language? This is what might take time to implement.”

KPMG identified another hurdle in its report: you’re not getting into a self-driving car until you’re 100 per cent sure it’s not going to drive off a cliff.

There will most certainly be early adopters when autonomous drive is ready for public streets, but QNX recognizes consumer hesitance in handing over total control of the car. Malfunctions aside, an insecure OS could open the door to the hacking of self-driving cars. (You wouldn’t want to be David Hasselhoff if KITT from Knight Rider suddenly went rogue.)

FINDING AN OPENING On the other hand, that’s also where Wall sees the opportunity to establish QNX as an industry leader. Wall knows that safety and security of the self-driving car will be paramount, but he is adamant that QNX can become the OS of the autonomous vehicle.

He sees its platform as the steadfast “glue” in the car that will connect autonomous drive systems from a variety of developers.

KPMG also found the eventual adoption of autonomous drive would dramatically reduce accidents, predicting that nearly 80 per cent of crashes could be mitigated with controlled-vehicle technology. That’s thousands of lives (and billions of dollars) saved.

SLOW – BUT CONSTANT – ACCELERATION

JOHN WALL, VICE-PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING AND SERVICES AT QNX. PHOTO PROVIDED

QNX IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT TECHOPIA talks to John Wall about autonomous driving and where QNX fits into the journey

BY CRAIG LORD

SETTING THE PACE “We see the role of QNX as providing a safe and secure platform and all the necessary plumbing to connect these systems together,” says John Wall, vice-president of engineering and services.

The systems, he says, need to come together to form a world of self-driving cars.

To move independently of a driver’s control, cars will need to understand the world around them. To this end, QNX is developing object recognition technology so that a car can read a stop sign, for example, or recognize an adjacent lane. On top of that, the company looks to enable cars to actually communicate with driving infrastructure, and even with other cars (collectively, V2X).

ROADBLOCKS

DRIVING LOCAL ROADS Wall is glad his team is taking on this ambitious work in Ottawa. While QNX has arms all over the world, having headquarters in Canada’s capital has meant access to a pool of talent from some of the best software companies in the world.

“From a software talent base, I don’t know that I’ve seen a place that’s much better than Ottawa.”

Whether it’s led by an established leader in QNX, or a sudden push from a California juggernaut, it seems the road to autonomous driving runs through Ottawa.

03 TECHOPIA.CA

Cars need to talk to each other to avoid collisions. Makes sense, right? Well, there’s a bit of a snag, says Wall.

“I think probably the largest challenge is, how do you make sure all the vehicles and

From a software talent base, I don’t know that I’ve seen a place that’s much better than Ottawa.

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

The autonomous driving industry is revving up, and Ottawa seems primed to lead the pack.

QNX Software Systems is the leader of the city’s automotive software industry. The developer of automobile clusters, telematics and infotainment OS became a BlackBerry subsidiary in 2010 and now acts as the Waterloo giant’s automotive arm. QNX reached a milestone this summer with its acoustics software shipping in more than 50 million systems across 20 automakers, and the release of a new platform for instrument clusters.

This success hasn’t gone unnoticed in the industry. Apple recently picked up Dan Dodge, the founder and former CEO of QNX, with speculation that he will be part of the company’s own autonomous drive ambitions. “Project Titan,” as the top-secret initiative has been dubbed, has led Apple to establish a Kanata presence across from QNX. The next 10 years will be pivotal for the future of autonomous drive. A report from KPMG earlier this year stated the auto industry was primed for the self-driving

revolution. “Everything, from how we move goods to how we move ourselves around, is ripe for change,” it read.

And QNX wants to drive that change.

Wall suggests that autonomous driving won’t happen all at once. He sees semiautonomous, or assisted, driving as the transitional step that will win over drivers.

Technologies such as park assist and blind spot monitoring, already featured in many vehicles, can help to build consumer confidence. Phasing in smart sensors that can help you to make a lane change safely, for example, is the kind of baby step that can make a driver more comfortable with eventually taking their hands off the wheel entirely.

“I think it’s going to be gradual. I really see a large timeframe where you’re going to have assisted driving that’s going to, every year, year over year, improve the safety of the vehicle before people start watching TV in the car,” says Wall.

QNX is focused on developing this transition with its “glass cockpit” concept.

Sitting in the front seat, a driver should have a clear view of the car’s instrument cluster and infotainment system. This means you can assess speed, upcoming navigation commands, communicate distractionfree with the back seat, and more – all this without ever taking your eyes off the road.

“I think as a company, if you can get those two things right — having a clear direction on what you are trying to do and bringing in great people who can execute on Follow TECHOPIA on Twitter @techopiaOTT or like us at Facebook.com/techopiaOTT the stuff — then you can do pretty well.” – MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO OF FACEBOOK

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TOP 5 TECH LESSONS Key takeaways from Montreal startup festival

BY JACOB SEREBRIN

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

The Montreal International Startup Festival is now one of the top events for aspiring and proven Canadian tech entrepreneurs, attracting about 2,000 people every year.

For the hundreds of startup founders who attend the event, it’s a chance to network, learn some lessons from successful entrepreneurs and maybe meet potential investors.

As its name suggests, the event, which takes place outside in Montreal’s Old Port, has a festival atmosphere. It’s a little more casual than your average business conference, but it’s serious when it comes to the content.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the festival:

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2. THERE’S ONLY ONE SILICON VALLEY

“I don’t understand the obsession with trying to become Silicon Valley – I think that’s silly,” Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke told the audience during his talk on the festival’s main stage.

He says there is only one Silicon Valley and that startup ecosystems in other places should focus on their own strengths – because if they try to be something they’re not, they’ll just be a poor imitation of the original.

His colleague Finkelstein says he sees that happening.

“I think what Canadians have started 1. BEING A STARTUP ISN’T ABOUT SIZE doing is, rather than looking at all the — IT’S ABOUT MINDSET reasons that their particular cities aren’t “I think a startup is actually much more good, they’re looking at what they have that of a mentality than it is a number of no one else has,” Finkelstein says. “I have a people thing, or how much revenue you relationship with a group of ambassadors have,” says Harley Finkelstein, the COO of that can introduce me to anyone I need in THE MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL STARTUP FESTIVAL HAS BECOME A TOP DESTINATION FOR ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS. PHOTOS PROVIDED Ottawa-based Shopify. any country because I live in Ottawa.”

He says Shopify still has a startup While Finkelstein says he sees a tech mentality even though it’s a publicly renaissance happening across Canada, traded company that dates back a decade. it’s particularly notable in Ottawa because “One of our core philosophies is ‘Act the city was hit so hard when the dot-com like owners,’” Finkelstein says. “If everyone bubble burst in 2001. feels like Shopify is their baby and Still, Lütke says Silicon Valley might be everyone feels like they’re the founder of worth the occasional visit. It can be a good Shopify, even though we have more than place to think big, he says.

1,000 people, we get the best result.”

A big part of that, he says, is staying 3. EVEN IN THE MODERN WORLD, THE TECH “scrappy.”

BUSINESS IS STILL ABOUT PEOPLE “We’re a group of guys and girls who really spend their time experimenting with Technology may be able to connect people things. Stuff that works, we scale and stuff like never before. A lot of the startups at that doesn’t, we shut it down,” he says. the festival are taking advantage of that One way Shopify maintains that with their products, but meeting people “scrappiness” is by holding quarterly “hack in-person is still important. days,” where employees can work on any “When you come to a place like this, project they want – provided it could help the biggest thing you’re getting is you’re the company – for two days. reconnecting with folks you already know It’s a way for the company to and developing new contacts. Business is experiment with new and sometimes all about random collisions,” says Manu outside of the box ideas, while boosting Sharma, the co-founder of Ottawa-based morale and giving employees a chance to AirLoop, which offers a loyalty program for work with new colleagues. small businesses.

HOPEFULLY THIS DOESN’T GO TO TORONTO’S HEAD TECHOPIA.ca I think a startup is actually much more of a mentality than it is a number of people thing, or how much revenue you have.

HARLEY FINKELSTEIN COO, SHOPIFY

A casual meeting can “suddenly turn into a possibility, an opportunity,” he says.

“It’s the connections, the people you meet and there’s always something to learn from people sharing their wisdom.”

Networking opportunities are also what drew Felipe Izquierdo, founder of Ottawabased Welbi, to the festival.

“It really is all about the people that I meet, the connections that you build, the network, that’s definitely the No. 1 reason that I’m here,” says Izquierdo whose startup develops software that turns existing wearable devices into healthmonitoring tools.

4. DON’T BE AFRAID TO COMPETE — EVEN IF THE ODDS SEEM LONG Shaun MacLellan, a student at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management, says he wasn’t sure what he would get out of the Montreal festival. In fact, he didn’t decide to go until the last minute.

It ended up paying off for MacLellan, the founder of YouCollab, a startup that connects YouTube content creators. His startup ended up coming third in the festival’s main pitch contest. It received a $35,000 investment and an invitation to the attend the Next 36, a mentorship and networking program for young entrepreneurs.

Still, it wasn’t easy. MacLellan says he was around the 120th entrepreneur – out of more than 200 – to pitch the judges.

5. INVESTORS WANT TO SEE REAL PRODUCTS AND REAL TRACTION “In general what we’re looking for is functional product, early customer usage and revenue, hopefully some semblance of a team,” Dave McClure, the founder of 500 Startups, a Silicon Valleybased venture capital fund and startup accelerator, told the audience during a talk at the festival.

He says his firm, which has more than US$200 million in assets under management and has invested in 1,300 startups, wants to see real metrics before it makes investments.

“I don’t want to know that you or your mom think your product is awesome, I want to know that your customers think your product is awesome and the objective evidence of that is that they’re using and paying for it,” he says.

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5G mobile technology is focused on enabling operators to meet the demands of an ever more mobile world.

the capacity of current mobile networking solutions at a fraction of their costs. Ranzure’s solution is unique in that it can be deployed as an underlay, without disturbing the operator’s legacy 4G network.

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Ranzure may be a young and aspiring company, but its founding team (Erik Boch, Pardeep Kohli, Ashok Khuntia) have plenty of successful history in the technology start-up game. They’ve started several new companies that have successfully made their way to IPO or acquisition;

• Spatial Wireless (now Alcatel) • Mavenir Wireless (now Mitel Mobility) • DragonWave So what is Ranzure’s focus? “Ranzure is developing 5G Cloud RAN technology which changes the way mobile networks are deployed and the services that they can deliver to the mobile world” says Erik Boch, co-founder and CTO of Ranzure.

Mobile networks have been going through an evolutionary process over the past few decades … 2G…3G….now 4G …. Each bringing small incremental improvements. There comes a time where a new coat of paint isn’t the solution ….

It has to renovated. “Ranzure’s solution is a revolutionary new way in which mobile networks will be built and how they’ll delivery nextgeneration ultra-high capacity services to our mobile devices” says Pardeep Kohli, co-founder and Ranzure’s CEO. Ranzure is currently growing its R&D operations to fuel the development of revolutionary Cloudbased SW and highly deployable, auto-configuring micro basestations that will deliver 1000 - 10000X

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QNX REACHES 50-MILLION MILESTONE FOR UNITS SHIPPED TECHOPIA.ca

APPRENTICESHIPS: An old yet new approach to entrepreneurship education Post-secondary institutions across Ontario are embracing entrepreneurship education at an unprecedented rate, according to a recent report by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

Beyond the notion of starting new businesses, entrepreneurship education benefits students in many diverse ways, including the development of critical skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity. These are skills that are increasingly in demand by both public and private sectors. The University of Ottawa Entrepreneurship Hub is adopting its own unique approach to entrepreneurship education through a learning-by-doing model that has a long and successful history in the trades: apprenticeships.

The apprenticeship model of entrepreneurship education is described in more detail in the following interview between Luc Lalande, the executive director of the University of Ottawa EHub, and students Jocelyn Courneya, Miriam Saslove and Melina Kokkinos from the Faculty of Arts. All of these students are experiencing apprenticeships as part of a student-led venture named the “Digital Storytellers Guild” (DST Guild).

DST GUILD: Apprenticeships have a long history of success in occupations — often referred to as the trades — characterized by technical proficiency of tools. Why did you believe it had potential application to entrepreneurship education?

DST GUILD: Outside of student associations,

LUC LALANDE WITH STUDENTS FROM THE ‘DIGITAL STORYTELLERS GUILD’ AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA. PHOTO PROVIDED

LALANDE: When I first joined the University of Ottawa in June 2014, I spent considerable time talking to students about the meaning of entrepreneurship. It became clear to me then that many young people on campus identified entrepreneurship as something that primarily interested business students. Following this train of thought, entrepreneurship education was synonymous with taking a business course if not an outright business degree. My challenge, therefore, was to find a way to engage students in a way that fostered an entrepreneurial mindset and behaviours without students having to, first, feel

they needed to take a business course or degree and, second, start a business. In order to reach more students beyond the business school, I needed to change the “language” that is typically adopted in describing entrepreneurship education.

The famous quote from management guru Peter Drucker sums it up best: “Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.”

Another deep influence in adopting the apprenticeship model of “learningby-doing” was my involvement with the global maker movement and more specifically maker education. I was intrigued by the constructivist learning paradigm pioneered by Seymour Papert,

MILIEU CODING PATH TO A BETTER GOVERNMENT

BY CRAIG LORD

LEE-MICHAEL PRONKO AND LUISA JI, CO-FOUNDERS OF MILIEU. PHOTO PROVIDED

to implement a neighbourhood study in Kitchissippi. The goal was to find out how residents felt about potential developments before proposals headed to committee and before zoning amendments were already underway.

“We want to foster a culture where residents are inputting their sentiments or are sharing their visions ahead of time, so they can shape their neighbourhoods,” says Ji. This is the philosophy of Milieu in a

LALANDE: I do. Especially for those fulltime students who are simply not ready to launch their own ventures but nonetheless wish to learn to think and behave more entrepreneurially. Apprenticeships while in school are a terrific way for students to gain valuable skills and experience before they graduate. And getting paid for it at the same time!

nutshell: Open democracy is better when more voices count.

A problem with true open democracy is that if you try to hear everybody’s voice, it takes too long. For a single city, it would take long hours to sort through the hundreds of comments from residents and come to a reasonable conclusion.

Or, better yet, you could break it all down into data.

Milieu aims to use tools called cognitive APIs (application programming interfaces) to analyze feedback from public consultations and break down whether residents approve or disapprove of a project, or how ideas make them feel (sad, anxious, angry, happy, excited).

Cognitive API tools offered by IBM and Microsoft can crunch thousands of comments and present the information right back to your app for a small fee.

Milieu data analyst Trevor Deley says this technology is what makes the public consultation app so exciting.

“You can know, in real time pretty much, what the public sentiment about a project is. You can capture the community,” he says.

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For co-founders Luisa Ji and LeeMichael Pronko, connecting residents with their city and developers is a fulfilling goal. The two Carleton University graduates were inspired to create Milieu when they walked together through the streets of Ottawa and found vacant lots and developments slated where neighbours weren’t consulted.

“We talked to a lot of angry neighbours,” Ji says. “We wanted to dig deeper into why this was happening.”

That inspiration coincided with the City of Toronto holding an urban planning and policy competition. A first place prize there pushed the two to found the business.

The next boost came from Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who gave the group a $5,000 grant from his office’s budget

internships, and volunteering, it is very hard to find “hands-on” experience in communications as a university student.

Becoming a part of digital storytellers allows for guidance and mentorship within the fields that interest you, while at the same time giving you the ability to manage your own projects and be creative. This program allows you to take risks, build your portfolio and take responsibility unlike other student learning experiences.

And here is a question for you, Luc. With so much emphasis on campusbased incubators and accelerators, do you think the idea of “apprenticeships in entrepreneurship” will catch on?

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

On a Saturday afternoon, in a small, crowded living room in Ottawa, a group of entrepreneurs are trying to code their way to a better democracy.

Milieu is aiming to change the discussion around public development in a massive way, but it’s starting small.

The 16-person team was just accepted to the City of Guelph’s Civic Accelerator program. Starting in September, the group will be embedding with the city to overhaul the way Guelph notifies and consults with residents about development proposals.

The startup is developing a web and mobile application that quantifies public sentiment on proposals and gives residents an organized voice in neighbourhood intensification.

one of founding faculty members of the MIT Media Lab. The core tenet of his constructionist theory of learning is that people build knowledge most effectively when they are actively engaged in constructing things in the world. I imagined that Papert’s model could be applied to entrepreneurship education by way of apprenticeships. Practice-based entrepreneurship, I thought, would be the next best thing to actually starting up your own venture.

I’ve got a question for you.

As undergraduate students in the public relations and communications program in the Faculty of Arts, you are among my first “subjects” experimenting with this apprenticeship model of entrepreneurship education. What has been your experience so far?

BETTER SOFTWARE CEO DELIVERS STREETSMART, INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGES TECHOPIA.ca receptionist will ask key questions to understand an entrepreneur’s immediate needs and know where to direct them to their first point of contact.

In some cases, it may be an outside organization, such as one of Ottawa’s business improvement areas. However, the Innovation Centre is equipped to help entrepreneurs with several programs and workspaces, including: MadeMill: An advanced additive manufacturing space and advanced digital media lab, this is a workshop for designing, prototyping, testing and production that allows companies to take an idea and see if it can be developed into a scalable product; Incubation and meeting space; Accelerator programs offering a suite of technical and business programs, services and support; A global cybersecurity program and other sector-specific expertise; Foreign direct investment, trade and economic development expertise, programs and resources; Education and training opportunities.

INNOVATION CENTRE MANAGING DIRECTOR RICHARD QUIGLEY AND THE CENTRE’S CO-CHAIR, FORMER NORDION CEO STEVE WEST, CHECK OUT THE FACILITY DURING A RECENT TOUR. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OTTAWA’S NEW INNOVATION CENTRE

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The multimillion-dollar transformation of a 75-year-old city maintenance garage into a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation is nearly complete.

Later this year, the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards will officially open its doors, bringing together many of the city’s economic development programs and business support services under one roof. Proponents hope it will also become a focal point for entrepreneurship that will create jobs and help startups grow faster.

Ahead of its opening, TECHOPIA spoke with the chair of the Innovation Centre’s board, former Nordion CEO Steve West, as well as managing director Richard Quigley about what the city’s business community can expect to see at Bayview Yards.

WHAT IS IT? In a nutshell, the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards aims to be a onestop business shop to accelerate and build companies. It’s aimed at being a collaborative place that houses startups, entrepreneurship experts, economic development programs, educational workshops and other business support services under a single roof.

“It’s different from anything that’s existed before in Ottawa,” West says.

Located inside a renovated and repurposed 46,000-square-foot former public works garage, the Innovation Centre is within walking distance of the Bayview Transitway station west of the downtown core.

The core premise is that having entrepreneurs, advisers, investors and

professional service providers in a single building will lead to “happy collisions,” or impromptu conversations and networking that wouldn’t happen if all those people were located in separate facilities across the city.

WHAT’S INSIDE? The Innovation Centre is a place where early-stage entrepreneurs can learn what information and assistance they need to grow. Some companies may need help developing a prototype of their product, for example, while others may need to sharpen their sales pitch or learn how to break into a foreign market.

An entrepreneur walking through the Innovation Centre’s doors for the first time will be greeted by a concierge, Quigley says. Much like a medical professional would triage a patient, the

WHO WILL BE INSIDE THE INNOVATION CENTRE?

The city’s lead economic development agency, Invest Ottawa, will be leaving its current home in Little Italy to become the Innovation Centre’s anchor tenant. Invest Ottawa will be bringing its core programs, including the GrindSpaceXL startup accelerator and its global marketing division, to Bayview Yards.

The city’s largest post-secondary institutions – Algonquin College, Carleton University, La Cité and the University of Ottawa – will have a presence, as will organizations such as the Ottawa chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and the Ontario Centres of Excellence.

Industry associations such as Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters will also be represented and will draw on the Innovation Centre’s resources when their members need prototypes or certain forms of expertise.

WHY IT’S NEEDED West describes the Innovation Centre as a “beacon.” Even if an entrepreneur doesn’t know what exactly is happening at Bayview Yards, they know where to go.

“The city has many things going on, but they are often (geographically) disparate,” West says.

The Innovation Centre will also be a central focal point for international companies considering an expansion to Ottawa, says Blair Patacairk, Invest Ottawa’s managing director of investment and trade.

“When we go out and start talking about why (companies) should come to Ottawa, we (talk about our) great talent, technology and universities. Now, we’ll have all these things in one place,” Patacairk says. “That cuts the time for them to enter the market and get their product up and running.”

WHO RUNS IT? The Innovation Centre is a non-profit

WHAT’S HAPPENING Stay up to date with TECHOPIA’s calendar of events at techopia.ca

Entrepreneur’s view Mona Hafez says she was listening to a venture capitalist’s presentation at Startupfest in Montreal this summer when she realized her business was missing something.

The investor’s key message to entrepreneurs in the audience was to build relationships with would-be funders before they start searching for seed funding.

“I haven’t spent the last few years cultivating relationships with investors,” says Hafez, the CEO of OrbitHub, which develops booking and registration software for sports clubs and community associations. Instead, her recent focus has been on developing a market-ready product.

However, Hafez says that the Innovation Centre can help her firm fill that gap.

OrbitHub was admitted to Invest Ottawa’s incubator in 2014 and will be moving to the Innovation Centre with the economic development agency this fall. Hafez says she’s optimistic that being located inside the new facility will help in her search for funding.

“The Innovation Centre is going to be generating traffic like Invest Ottawa, but it will attract a broader community of investors, potential customers and other advisers,” she says. “If there are investors passing through the facility, introductions are going to be happening a lot more naturally.”

THE NEW 46,000-SQUARE-FOOT INNOVATION CENTRE AT BAYVIEW YARDS IS SLATED TO OPEN THIS FALL IN A FORMER CITY MAINTENANCE GARAGE THAT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REMODELLED. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON

agency with a board of directors that, in addition to West, includes Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, Windmill Development Group’s Jeff Westeinde, Deloitte’s Mike Runia, tech executive Jim Roche and development consultant Nancy Meloshe, among others. Quigley was named the centre’s managing director earlier this year.

HOW IS IT FUNDED? Some $38 million in public money and in-kind contributions have been pledged to the Innovation Centre, including: $15 million from the City of Ottawa in funding and donated real estate; $15 million from the provincial government for construction, design, engineering and other capital expenses;

and $8 million from the federal government.

A spokesperson for the Innovation Centre said it’s too early to discuss its operating budget.

offer business hours at Bayview Yards once a month.

Seasoned businesspeople are also invited to volunteer as mentors and coaches.

HOW CAN COMPANIES GET INVOLVED?

WHAT ARE THE MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS?

Members of the city’s business community are welcome to attend events or grab a coffee at the Innovation Centre’s cafe to network. There is also space available to rent.

“It’s considered a public building,” Quigley says. “Companies that want to offer training or organize events should be calling and talking to us.”

As another example, he said that service providers could rent meeting room space at the Innovation Centre and

The Innovation Centre has several internal targets, including helping to facilitate 335 new jobs in the Ottawa region and assisting 1,200 “entrepreneurs, innovators and firms” through programs supported by the federal government by December 2018.

WHEN WILL IT OPEN? A soft opening is planned for late autumn.

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

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University of Ottawa

Andrew Todd Paralympic athlete — Canadian Rowing Team BASc in Chemical Engineering (’14)

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Andrew for his participation in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio TECHOPIA.CA

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Faculty of Engineering engineering.uOttawa.ca

MERGER WILL CREATE MICROPROCESSOR JUGGERNAUT IN OTTAWA TECHOPIA.ca AGILITY +

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE: MediaMiser president explores the ins and outs of M&A Chris Morrison knows mergers and acquisitions from both sides of the table – buyer and takeover target.

The president of Ottawa-based MediaMiser, which creates software and provides services related to media monitoring and analysis, played an active role in the acquisition of Agility from PR Newswire last month.

The purchase allows MediaMiser to add 1,500 former Agility customers, 50 employees and annual revenues in the $5-million range.

Over the years, MediaMiser has been part of four acquisitions, including its own purchase by Innodata.

Here is an edited interview with Morrison.

TECHOPIA: How about pointers on bringing the deal to a close and dealing with all the last-minute legal niceties?

MORRISON: These are some of the most

TECHOPIA: From a MediaMiser perspective, what is the purpose of M&A activity?

MORRISON: One of the most difficult

MEDIAMISER PRESIDENT CHRIS MORRISON HAS BEEN THROUGH HIS SHARE OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS. PHOTO SUPPLIED

and opportunities that become available to others. Our most recent acquisition of Agility from PR Newswire was a direct result of this consolidation and represented an opportunity to double the size of our company overnight, add new products, and bring talented professionals into the fold – a rare triple play.

The threat was if we were unsuccessful in our bid to acquire Agility, it would have been bought by another competitor, which would in turn make it more difficult to achieve our goals.

Gatineau-based Infoglutton in 2012, it was as simple as having met the founders at an Ottawa networking event and noting that both firms could benefit by working together in the future.

In my experience, at least so far, the conversation always starts by getting to know the company founders and keeping everyone open to the idea that while you may be competitors now, you could achieve even more success by working together.

TECHOPIA: Any pointers on managing

TECHOPIA: How do you make the

what must be very complicated and delicate conversations, particularly valuation?

approach? How do you identify an M&A target?

MORRISON: While valuation can be the

MORRISON: There’s no singular approach.

TECHOPIA: And what about posttransaction? Everyone thinks it’s going to be a dream world, but it must be fraught with pitfalls.

MORRISON: Harvard Business Review estimates that over 70 per cent of all acquisitions fail. Some of the biggest companies in the world have made huge mistakes, but we’ve been fortunate so far with ours. It may sound sentimental, but at the end of the day it’s all about people.

This is true of both new employees and customers you’ve acquired.

As we speak I’m at LaGuardia Airport, heading back home after a four-day, off-site planning session with our new leadership team from Agility. Being able to sit down in person and discuss their concerns, the future, and how we’re going to effectively work together and win the market is critical.

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All four of our acquisitions have had completely different origins and approaches, but do have one thing in common: timing. When we acquired

single most debated topic on both sides of a deal, the reality is that most deals are driven by previous M&A activity in your industry. Investment banks and M&A advisers track and publish activity by sector, and include information on

valuable lessons I’ve learned in M&A, and you almost have to go through the process yourself to fully understand it. It’s definitely a case of expect the unexpected. But the most poignant advice we received, advice that has rang true in all our M&A activity, was given to me by our investment banker at San Diego-based Software Equity Group: “A deal is never done until it almost falls apart.”

It’s a very complicated process that of course requires strong legal representation, but maybe even more importantly, open lines of communication between all parties to deal with inevitable last-minute (and often critical, make-or-break) issues.

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

things a company faces is acquiring new customers. Usually, this happens through either organic growth or acquisitions.

While M&A activity must align with the overall goals of the organization and fill gaps in products and services, often the end result is acquiring a significant group of new customers or the ability to sell more efficiently into the marketplace.

At MediaMiser, we’ve now been a part of four acquisitions (including being acquired ourselves in 2014), and each had their own specific purpose – often filling a technology or experience gap – but no matter the reasons, they all must support the growth of your company. But the decision also can’t take place in a bubble.

You need to account for activity in your marketplace driven by your competitors, as well.

Our industry – PR solutions for tracking and analyzing news – is undergoing significant consolidation, and there has been a breathtaking amount of acquisitions by some of the larger players (most notably Cision).

When a larger player starts a “land grab” for market share, there are both threats

transaction values and the multiple paid on revenues or profits. There are always outliers like Microsoft’s $26B acquisition of Linkedin (a whopping 91 times earnings), but realistically most deals fall within a documented formula that can be researched from the outset.

For any entrepreneur, I would highly recommend a book by Vancouver-based M&A advisor Basil Peters titled Early Exits. It’s a fascinating look into the M&A world from someone who was first an entrepreneur, then a venture capitalist, and now an M&A adviser.

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