Disqus - Latest Comments for Jevon

Re: Welcome to StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:27:27 -0000

Thanks Mark, we are focused on profiling Startups and Funders, and not just web startups, but BioTech and Green Energy as well.

We hope to compliment Maple Leaf 2.0 as best we can.

Re: Startup Resources: Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham

Jevon — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:51:15 -0000

I seem to be predisposed as a skeptic of these sorts of government funded places, but it would be interesting to hear about the companies they are currently working with, success stories, etc.

Re: The Startup’s Guide to Mesh

Jevon — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:24:16 -0000

We will update on the Pre-Mesh party over the weekend.

Re: The TVG is dead, Long Live Ventures

Jevon — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:04:41 -0000

Perhaps this is the push we all need to finally follow through on StartupCamp?

Re: Reflections on MESH 2007

Jevon — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:10:49 -0000

I fixed them ;)

Re: JobLoft post Dragon’s Den

Jevon — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:54:01 -0000

You know, "The Dragons" really promoted the fact that they have a lot of connections and that their existing businesses could use JobLoft to promote it, but I think it is pretty short sighted to believe that giving up additional share of your company (to the point of 50%) for those reasons.

Laurence Lewin and Jim Treliving are two very successful canadian retailers. They are more successful than any of us, that is for sure, but they are also only successful (in their flagship businesses) here in Canada, and their businesses only have a relatively small market share. In North America, their market share is tiny.

Why would you give up your company at a premium so that you can get a couple of mid-size niche businesses as clients? Wouldn't JobLoft be better off trying to earn their own clients (rather than buy them, with JobLoft shares). Being the Boston Pizza and La Senza exclusive recruiting site would, quite simply, alienate other potential clients. That is a huge issue in fast food, especially here in Canada where the market is very fragmented.

Would you pay $200,000 in order to get a handful of clients paying you a couple hundred dollars each? It just makes no sense at all.

Also, you are right, after having 50% of the company, the dragons most likely would have wanted to invest more. In fact, they probably would have issued a new controlling share class, and then would have promptly bought up vast majorities of it, diluting the founders out of the company (don't let the door hit you on the way out).

Re: » Go East! Another Startup Competition - New Brunswick | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:22:17 -0000

No. They have not run that competition in 4 years at least. Too bad.

Re: » Tonight is the night - Dragon’s Den Season 2 - Episode #1 | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:48:21 -0000

Once again, I am in shock that those guys gave up 50% of their company on a $1million valuation, and this time there is no "we are your customer" excuse.

I have to say though, this show is damn entertaining, if not a little repetitive at times.

Re: » Delusions of Facebook - Should you be a Facebook Startup? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:53:13 -0000

Omar: That's a Red Herring and you know it. I never mentioned Google once in my post. In fact, I do think that google is different from Facebook, and it's why I didn't bring them up.

I am not marginalizing Facebook, I am turning the light on the sustainability discussion and trying to offer some decent insight to anyone thinking of putting all their eggs in the Facebook basket. There are so many hyper-active discussions going on about FB that I think some would-be startups are wasting too much time trying to borrow customers from someone else.

Why not offer an argument to disprove my points Omar?

Re: » StartupCamp Toronto - December 6th | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:05:39 -0000

Hah!. We will be releasing some more tickets when we prune the list of people who signed up in the wrong categories.

Re: » StartupCamp Toronto - December 6th | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:23:45 -0000

Ari: I understand what you are saying, completely. However, the format of this event is such that it requires audience participation to work. We gave away student tickets for people who aren't experienced in the startup world, but other than that we need to have people in the audience who can offer credible advice/feedback.

The other thing is that there is a submission process for presenting companies, so if you have the next Google and you submit it, you can still get in. It is up to the audience, and they can vote for ideas or established companies,. it's up to them.

Re: » Razzle Clones Woot | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:39:10 -0000

Todays deal (the wireless headphones) was smoking hot. Can't wait to see more good ones. I have subscribed to the RSS feed.

Re: » StartupCamp Toronto - More Details | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:20:09 -0000

Hah, I promise to /try/ not to disappoint Ali ;)

Re: » StartupCampToronto is tomorrow - open to all (8:30pm) | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:55:21 -0000

Not for you there won't be. ;)

Re: » Founders and Funders Toronto Kick Off Questions | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:04:24 -0000

Ah Leila, Idee is the big leagues and we are just watching, you know that.

Re: » Canadian Companies at DEMO08 | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:11:54 -0000

Cool. I had somehow missed FaceBookCamp3 completely. Just got a ticket!

Re: » Where are all you brilliant startups? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:20:58 -0000

Wow. The response has been fantastic. Thanks, and keep it coming!

Re: » As The Web Turns - The tales of Capazoo | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:33:08 -0000

It is the Montreal city flag. A fleur-de-lys for the French, a rose for the English, a shamrock for the Irish and a thistle for the Scottish. I think it is neat.

Re: » VeloCity - Incubator 2.0 or something completely new? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:23:26 -0000

Ian: I agree re: commercialization. I will go a step further and say that Universities in Canada are basically hopeless. Although I am aware of a few solid projects spinning out of some universities now, but those have taken some time.

I think in the case of the VeloCity residence, the students have to be self motivated and should not assume that they will get much material outside help. Any of the students who expect or want much help beyond the great atmosphere are in for a rude awakening.

However, my experience with Waterloo students tells me that there will be lots of highly motivated and very excited entrepreneurs at VeloCity who will put in the required work. The key for them is going to learn not to waste time and to just produce product and then test it in the market.

A fear would be that there will be all sorts of "business plan" seminars and sidetracks which will distract from execution focused activity.

Re: » VeloCity - Incubator 2.0 or something completely new? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:20:42 -0000

Thusenth: The "endorsement" from Apple comes from a National Education Sales Manager. Getting an endorsement from a salesperson is about as hard as getting McDonalds to sell you a Big Mac. It may as well have been left off the site.

Re: » Always Be Audacious - Otherwise you are just boring | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:19:23 -0000

Hey Lauren -- I know that feeling. I think the trick is to learn how to deal with it more quickly. Instead of being in a rut for a week, you get it down to an hour or two. It comes with the territory though, and it won't completely go away. Once you start working with more people, partners or employees, it also gets a bit easier.

Re: » LearnHub.com launches - Teach and Learn Online | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:37:30 -0000

I agree Ali -- it kinda grows on you once you get the hang of a few things.

Re: » One more reason to StartupNorth: Office Skating Rink | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:59:24 -0000

I am thinking we should organize a game of Startup pickup!

Re: » Weekend Reading - March 15th 2008 | StartupNorth

Jevon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:24:18 -0000

The sudden intensity probably seem especially vicious if you are seeing this from the outside, but the truth is that most of these "discussions" have been coming to a boil for a long time and I think the community just needs to get through them and get them (and the issues at the core of them) out of the way.

Re: » Weekend Reading - March 23rd 2008 | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:44:24 -0000

Nice article! A big thanks to David George-Cosh too!

Re: » stopfinder.com - Should you take transit or take the car? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:07:01 -0000

Sheesh. Let a guy embellish a little to make a point! ;)

Re: » Launching Tungle | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:58:05 -0000

Now that's a good endorsement. ;)

Re: » Funded Well.ca | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:45:55 -0000

Congrats Ali

Re: » indochino.com takes new round of financing from Burda Digital | StartupNorth

Jevon — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:08:38 -0000

The difference between a lifestyle business and something fundable isn't a matter of what the actual product is, it is a matter of approach and scalability.

Indochino is building a custom-clothing fulfillment business that they can scale. If it was just Kyle (the CEO) and a tailor or two, then sure, it would be a lifestyle business. But he is doing a lot more.

This is also the second ecommerce site to get funded in Canada this month.

Re: » startupindex.ca - Free our data, free the community | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:56:54 -0000

Jacqui: Thanks! We are hoping to get VCs and angels inputting data.

Re: » Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:41:49 -0000

If you click on their name when mentioned in the post,. it will transport you to their website,. just like magic.

Re: » Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:33:09 -0000

John. It was there dude.

Re: » Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:43:56 -0000

We will always link through directly to a startup. That is one of the benefits of what we do: we give exposure and send users right to the startup., but we will sometimes link right in to StartupIndex for things like further information on deals that are done, or information on investors.

Re: » startupindex.ca - Free our data, free the community | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:40:10 -0000

Rob: Right now we are having people set "Angel Investor - Disclosed" as the investor, and you can then put in the person's name. But you are right, highly active individuals might need their own profile.

Re: » Idée Tineye in limited beta - We have invitations | StartupNorth

Jevon — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:49:02 -0000

As you may have guessed, the invitations are gone. I'll see about getting more.

Re: » TSX Venture Exchange Entrepreneurial Bootcamp | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:22:28 -0000

I have to agree on this one. Unless someone can convince me differently, the TSX.V looks like a wasteland for tech startups. They all come in with a bang, everyone liquidates, and then they languish, unable to raise more capital or get rewarded for performance.

Does anyone have examples of healthy tech companies on the TSX?

Re: » Will you bet on VenCorps? | StartupNorth

Jevon — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:24:41 -0000

Will: I don't do heads ups on posts. period. You can ask anyone about that. ;)

Re: » Mesh Conference - 15 Minutes of Fame | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:37:15 -0000

Glad to hear it was worthwhile Noah.

Re: » NYC Seed versus IAF | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:40:19 -0000

Thanks for this Dave. I really haven't looked in to the IAF fund enough, and this reminded me to dig in a little.

Re: » Lessons in Social Media, with MediaScrape | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:57:21 -0000

I agree Heri, when he said "Screw them,", he did make it pretty clear.

Re: » Weekend Reading - June 21, 2008 | StartupNorth

Jevon — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:22:42 -0000

That playlist of Jeremy's is just embarrassing.

I do not know him.

Re: » The Who, What, Where, When & Why of Y-Combinator. An Interview with Michael Parkatti & Michael Marrone | StartupNorth

Jevon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:44:28 -0000

Can't wait to see what they launch with at the end of the summer. Should be fun to watch.

Re: » Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:28:59 -0000

Puritan work ethic,. Your point is valid, but you have your context mixed up.

When the time you have that should be spent doing things that build your company, or put food on your table, etc, are instead spent pondering, wondering, etc,. there is a danger that you won't create things., which is my point. It is rewarding to create. Even the painter has to put his/her brush to the canvas at some point. Or usually does at least.

I expect everyone to keep close guard of a lot of leisure time and to use it for all sorts of things, like pondering how things might work.

Re: » Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done | StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:49:27 -0000

@omar: Thank god that the days of buying colo slots and hardware up front on the hope of needing them is over.

I don't think that a lot of new startups realize what a massive headache that was. Total pain.

Re: » Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done | StartupNorth

Jevon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:56:20 -0000

@leila -- I went for a run yesterday (sunday): Shuter to River St, down River to eastern, back through the distillery district and st Lawrence market and back home. Felt great, only had to break once.

Perhaps I should start a running blog ;)

Re: » VenturesWest shuttering offices, several people gone | StartupNorth

Jevon — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:56:36 -0000

I agree, everyone I have met from VW has been great.

Re: » AndyCamper.com - Get kids outdoors | StartupNorth

Jevon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:06:06 -0000

I had the same thoughts.

I have seen a few "kids virtual world" startups lately in Canada that I am looking forward to seeing launch. There is still a tonne of opportunity there.

Re: Welcome to StartupNorth

Jevon — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:27:27 -0000

Thanks Mark, we are focused on profiling Startups and Funders, and not just web startups, but BioTech and Green Energy as well.

We hope to compliment Maple Leaf 2.0 as best we can.

Re: Startup Resources: Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham

Jevon — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:51:15 -0000

I seem to be predisposed as a skeptic of these sorts of government funded places, but it would be interesting to hear about the companies they are currently working with, success stories, etc.

Re: The Startup’s Guide to Mesh

Jevon — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:24:16 -0000

We will update on the Pre-Mesh party over the weekend.

Re: The TVG is dead, Long Live Ventures

Jevon — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:04:41 -0000

Perhaps this is the push we all need to finally follow through on StartupCamp?

Re: Reflections on MESH 2007

Jevon — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:10:49 -0000

I fixed them ;)

Re: JobLoft post Dragon’s Den

Jevon — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:54:01 -0000

Re: Go East! Another Startup Competition - New Brunswick

Jevon — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:22:17 -0000

No. They have not run that competition in 4 years at least. Too bad.

Re: Tonight is the night - Dragon’s Den Season 2 - Episode #1

Jevon — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:48:21 -0000

Re: Delusions of Facebook - Should you be a Facebook Startup?

Jevon — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:53:13 -0000

Re: StartupCamp Toronto - December 6th

Jevon — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:05:39 -0000

Hah!. We will be releasing some more tickets when we prune the list of people who signed up in the wrong categories.

Re: StartupCamp Toronto - December 6th

Jevon — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:23:45 -0000

Re: Razzle Clones Woot

Jevon — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:39:10 -0000

Todays deal (the wireless headphones) was smoking hot. Can't wait to see more good ones. I have subscribed to the RSS feed.

Re: StartupCamp Toronto - More Details

Jevon — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:20:09 -0000

Hah, I promise to /try/ not to disappoint Ali ;)

Re: StartupCampToronto is tomorrow - open to all (8:30pm)

Jevon — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:55:21 -0000

Not for you there won't be. ;)

Re: Founders and Funders Toronto Kick Off Questions

Jevon — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:04:24 -0000

Ah Leila, Idee is the big leagues and we are just watching, you know that.

Re: Canadian Companies at DEMO08

Jevon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:11:54 -0000

Cool. I had somehow missed FaceBookCamp3 completely. Just got a ticket!

Re: Where are all you brilliant startups?

Jevon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:20:58 -0000

Wow. The response has been fantastic. Thanks, and keep it coming!

Re: As The Web Turns - The tales of Capazoo

Jevon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:33:08 -0000

It is the Montreal city flag. A fleur-de-lys for the French, a rose for the English, a shamrock for the Irish and a thistle for the Scottish. I think it is neat.

Re: VeloCity - Incubator 2.0 or something completely new?

Jevon — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:23:26 -0000

Re: VeloCity - Incubator 2.0 or something completely new?

Jevon — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:20:42 -0000

Re: Always Be Audacious - Otherwise you are just boring

Jevon — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:19:23 -0000

Re: LearnHub.com launches - Teach and Learn Online

Jevon — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:37:30 -0000

I agree Ali -- it kinda grows on you once you get the hang of a few things.

Re: One more reason to StartupNorth: Office Skating Rink

Jevon — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:59:24 -0000

I am thinking we should organize a game of Startup pickup!

Re: Weekend Reading - March 15th 2008

Jevon — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:24:18 -0000

Re: Weekend Reading - March 23rd 2008

Jevon — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:44:24 -0000

Nice article! A big thanks to David George-Cosh too!

Re: stopfinder.com - Should you take transit or take the car?

Jevon — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:07:01 -0000

Sheesh. Let a guy embellish a little to make a point! ;)

Re: Launching Tungle

Jevon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:58:05 -0000

Now that's a good endorsement. ;)

Re: Funded Well.ca

Jevon — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:45:55 -0000

Congrats Ali

Re: indochino.com takes new round of financing from Burda Digital

Jevon — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:08:38 -0000

Re: startupindex.ca - Free our data, free the community

Jevon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:56:54 -0000

Jacqui: Thanks! We are hoping to get VCs and angels inputting data.

Re: Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers

Jevon — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:41:49 -0000

If you click on their name when mentioned in the post,. it will transport you to their website,. just like magic.

Re: Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers

Jevon — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:33:09 -0000

John. It was there dude.

Re: Refresh Analytics - Analytics and Demographics for Facebook developers

Jevon — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:43:56 -0000

Re: startupindex.ca - Free our data, free the community

Jevon — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:40:10 -0000

Re: Idée Tineye in limited beta - We have invitations

Jevon — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:49:02 -0000

As you may have guessed, the invitations are gone. I'll see about getting more.

Re: TSX Venture Exchange Entrepreneurial Bootcamp

Jevon — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:22:28 -0000

Re: Will you bet on VenCorps?

Jevon — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:24:41 -0000

Will: I don't do heads ups on posts. period. You can ask anyone about that. ;)

Re: Mesh Conference - 15 Minutes of Fame

Jevon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:37:15 -0000

Glad to hear it was worthwhile Noah.

Re: NYC Seed versus IAF

Jevon — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:40:19 -0000

Thanks for this Dave. I really haven't looked in to the IAF fund enough, and this reminded me to dig in a little.

Re: Lessons in Social Media, with MediaScrape

Jevon — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:57:21 -0000

I agree Heri, when he said "Screw them,", he did make it pretty clear.

Re: Weekend Reading - June 21, 2008

Jevon — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:22:42 -0000

That playlist of Jeremy's is just embarrassing.

I do not know him.

Re: The Who, What, Where, When & Why of Y-Combinator. An Interview with Michael Parkatti & Michael Marrone

Jevon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:44:28 -0000

Can't wait to see what they launch with at the end of the summer. Should be fun to watch.

Re: Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done

Jevon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:28:59 -0000

Re: Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done

Jevon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:49:27 -0000

Re: Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done

Jevon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:56:20 -0000

Re: VenturesWest shuttering offices, several people gone

Jevon — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:56:36 -0000

I agree, everyone I have met from VW has been great.

Re: AndyCamper.com - Get kids outdoors

Jevon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:06:06 -0000

I had the same thoughts.

I have seen a few "kids virtual world" startups lately in Canada that I am looking forward to seeing launch. There is still a tonne of opportunity there.

Re: New audience metric needed: engagement

Jevon — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:17:19 -0000

This is an OLD topic of conversation. I can remember diving into it in 2001 pretty seriously, the writing was on the wall back then.

It would be great to dig up some of that old material and find out what others have been doing with this as well.

Re: What if I sold ads here?

Jevon — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 22:53:45 -0000

Robert: We love what you write, and we come here for that. If I can take a moment or two and consider some ads that you have placed on YOUR site, I will do that. Your work has a real value for we readers, and there is no reason you shouldn't benefit from that.

You don't just have to send it to some anonymous charity either, you could setup a trust fund to help pay the university tuition of someone in your own community who needs it, or to put some computers in public schools, or you could just go on an extra nice vacation each year. ;)

Re: Web 2.0 comes to enterprise

Jevon — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:45:58 -0000

I think there is a difference between Office 2.0 (Zoho, Google Docs, Smartsheet, etc) which change productivity to a new level, and apps like ConnectBeam, which I think are distinctly Enterprise 2.0 in that they bring us closer to the idea of tacit work, which is totally different than finding a better way to make a word document.