WatStart

AcceleratorCentre

GaryWill — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:01:27 GMT

2010-02-12 08:01:27 by GaryWill

LocalStartups

GaryWill — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:33:19 GMT

2009-12-11 11:33:19 by GaryWill

IRAP

GaryWill — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:09:44 GMT

2009-11-23 20:09:44 by GaryWill

Recession

Mike — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:35:18 GMT

Does anyone how the recession is affecting Waterloo start ups? It seems like the technology sector has been holding up.

Zoomii - Bringing book browsing online

Justin Cumby — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:36:00 GMT

These days, we're all making a lot of our shopping purchases online. The most significant challenge e-commerce sites face is translating the experience that consumers get in store to a similar one online. With regards to book buying, that's exactly the experience that Zoomii is trying to build.

Chris Thiessen, operator and founder of Zoomii, loves bookstores and would spend afternoons wandering throughout shelves of books, browsing and stumbling upon books he had never even heard of. That's the magic of bookstores that any booklover can identify with. Browsing the hundreds of books, waiting to see what catches your eye and imagination.

The objective of Zoomii is to bring that experience online. Zoomii is a place where users go on and hang out rather than leave an e-commerce site having fulfilling a specific purpose.

The user experience is ver unique. Just like any other bookstore users can select a bookshelf with the genre of book they'd like to browse. They can then scan through the various shelves and check out the different titles available to them. Zoomii boasts an inventory of books from Amazon thanks to their Associates Web Services.

Zoomii already enjoys 350,000 users to date and a monthly average of 10,000 users. For those of you out there who love the traditional book shopping experience, Zoomii is definitely an e-commerce experience for you to check out.

Primal Fusion: Taking thought to a new level

Justin Cumby — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:42:00 GMT

Imagine being able to express yourself to a computer in a way that they understand you. Imagine having a computer make your online experience so simple that you are able to complete tasks faster than ever. Seem unimaginable? Not for the team at Primal Fusion.

What the Waterloo startup is accomplishing is having your online experience automated for you by your computer. It's called Thought Networking with the idea of thinking online and acting online. You put in a request to your computer and it will automatically search the expansive database of information online to find you the data you need.

Think about it. There are billions of web pages out there that currently host various types of information. Imagine a student trying to write a term paper. They start out with a topic that leads them to begin researching. This kind of thing can take weeks or even months to find all of the information they need, digest it and put it in a form that they can use to write their paper. What Primal Fusion and their idea of Thought Networking is trying to shorten that experience and have it done for you.

How this works is users shorten the research process by brainstorming with Primal Fusion about the topic: what's needed, desired outcome, outlines, etc. Once that's completed, they will send out “agents” into the Internet that will find the relevant information and digest it for them in minutes, which allow the user to get started with their project faster.

But this isn't just for students. Peter Sweeney, co-founder of Primal Fusion, says, “It's for anyone who has a sustained interest in a topic. For example: house hunters looking for their dream home, a marketer who has to deliver a report or even someone who's looking for the love of their life.” Users simply describe what they're thinking about and how they want it delivered and the system will conform all the relevant data that's out there for them.

Primal Fusion operates with a very talented and experienced management team, thirty-five employees and a research advisory board with talent in the areas of patents and IP strategy, data mining, data visualization, statistical computing, probabilistic databases, query optimizations, information retrieval, knowledge representation, rhetoric, and interaction design.

If Thought Networking seems like something you'd like to try you can register to the private alpha and try it for free. If Primal Fusion seems like an organization you'd like to work for you're in luck as they're always looking for new talent to add to their ranks. Simply check out their careers page for opportunities.

This startup profile has been brought to by by Sun Startup Essentials.

OntarioCentresOfExcellence

GaryWill — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:09:30 GMT

2009-09-16 18:09:30 by GaryWill

HomePage

GaryWill — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:33:10 GMT

2009-09-15 20:33:10 by GaryWill

SetupYourOffice

GaryWill — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:58:49 GMT

2009-09-11 19:58:49 by GaryWill

BMEPBusinessAdvisoryFunding

GaryWill — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:34:26 GMT

2009-09-03 23:34:26 by GaryWill

Hello Waterloo Region

John — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:38:01 GMT

Just wanted to say “hi” to the tech community of Waterloo Region.

U-Exchange.com is a barter only site that has been in operation for four years now based out of Cambridge, ON.

We’ve enjoyed major media mentions worldwide and are happy to be based out of the tri-tech area of Southern Ontario.
http://www.u-exchange.com/media

Cheers

John C Moore
Founder
www.u-exchange.com

Communitech

GaryWill — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:39:02 GMT

2009-04-05 07:39:02 by GaryWill

ParkVu launches i2b - your iTunes library on your BlackBerry

Gary Will — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:38:00 GMT

Exactly one year after Jeff Fedor and Terry Goertz started their company, ParkVu has launched its first product.

i2b is a BlackBerry application that gives users mobile access to their iTunes libraries (typically on their home computers) and automatically updates the BlackBerry so that it has all the tracks from selected iTunes playlists, which can include the most played and most recently added playlists.

So, now you can access all of your iTunes library at any time (if your home computer is on—if it isn't, i2b still makes 100 tracks available). And there's no more need for USB cables—tracks can be moved to your BlackBerry through a Wi-Fi connection or through the cellular network. Cost for the service is $2.99 a month.

Full details are available from the ParkVu website.

Open or closed: Choosing the right software model

Gary Will — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:28:00 GMT

Gary Brock at the University of Waterloo has passed along a note about an event on Thursday, April 2 at the Accelerator Centre presented by C4—the Southwestern Ontario technology transfer network that UW belongs to:

We've organized an upcoming half-day event which will explore different models for commercializing software, with a focus on open source. It includes a keynote address by Greg DeKoenigsberg, who is Red Hat's Senior Community Development Manager and one of the leaders of the Fedora project http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview . We also have three Ontario software companies which came out of University research talking about their respective software business models.

Jonas Brandon from StartupNorth and ePresence will also be speaking, as will Maplesoft's Tom Lee and Netsweeper's Perry Roach.

Cost is $20, which includes breakfast.

More details and registration info here.

SR&ED changes unlikely to have much impact on startups

Dieter Birk — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:33:11 GMT

I think you under-estimate the ability of Canada Revenue Agency to make life more complex.

The new T661(08) is targeted to small companies with few projects. It is a nightmare for large corporations who now must fit all their projects into a template as part of their corporate T2 tax filing. But don't think the little guys get off easy.

Instead of providing their accountant a well-thought out technical report on their SR&ED, they must now shoe-horn a text-based description into the limited word space addressing precise tax terminology, and select from an approved list of "evidence", "technology fields" etc. The accountant will have to "cut and paste" the client's information into the template of their T2 software.

No longer can you use a photo or a technical diagram to save a thousand words. You also can't use a thousand words. The task is now to find a technical writer that has the wordsmith skills of a poet with full knowledge of the tax and legal significance of each line.

The software companies are already reporting problems with making their products compatible with the new T661(08). The advice on the CRA website, that companies can use the old T661(07) form during a transition period won't work because of other software updates. There are inconsistencies between the new T661(08) and the Ontario OITC forms which have not been updated for tax years before Jan.1, 2009.

For twenty years, the accountants at CRA have tried to get their teckie advisor/reviewers to create a check-list to describe SR&ED. Finally the beanies have won. The CRA reviewers will have a hard time doing desk reviews from reading the poetry alone. More site audits will likely be required to fill in their understanding of the projects.

The new T661(8) looks like a miniaturization, not a simplification for small companies and start-ups. But for those large companies with 100 projects, it will require a 405 page T661 form. Not a fun cut-and-paste job for the accountants!

JumpStart program provides up to $250K for smartphone app startups

Roop — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:08:06 GMT

What happens to the IPR or trade secret if it is submitted to JumpStart (or in general to an online application for funding like it)?

The JumpStart web page didn't seem to address this.

CommunitechEntrepreneurServices

GaryWill — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:35:49 GMT

2009-02-13 00:35:49 by GaryWill

SR&ED changes unlikely to have much impact on startups

Gary Will — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:10:00 GMT

I read over all the briefings and the new CRA guide, and listened in on a conference call organized by Deloitte, and can't see how the much ballyhooed changes to the SR&ED form will have much of an effect on startups.

My conclusion was that the application form is still a pain in the neck, but no more so now than in previous years.

I've written more on my blog, but "no big woop" is an adequate three-word summary.

Xylotek on PROFIT HOT 50

Douglas Grosfield — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:21:36 GMT

Hey folks, thanks Gary! We received much good advice during our early days by joining Gary at WatStart meetings to absorb what has to be considered highly relevant information. Onward and upward!

Doug

WatStart get-together: Thursday, July 3, 4-6pm

Gary Will — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:52:38 GMT

Yes, the PowerPoint from the guys from Osler has now been posted to the resources page. It's called Introduction to Shareholder Agreements.

WatStart get-together: Thursday, July 3, 4-6pm

Thusenth — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:22:26 GMT

Are there any documents/presentation slides available from this presentation?

Looking for good developers

Mike — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:06:51 GMT

Martin, feel free to contact me with the details. I am always looking for interesting projects to work on (especially during the Spring/Summer 2008). I have a good knowledge of several programming languages: PHP, C/C , R for Statistical Computing. View my profile to get my contact details.

Source for PHP Developers

Mike — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:05:34 GMT

Simon is correct. I picked up PHP in a couple of days and I was proficient in about a week. PHP syntax is really easy to remember and PHP in general is a nice language to work with. Thussy, feel free to contact me I am looking for some good PHP projects for Spring/Summer 2008.

Looking for good developers

Gary Will — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:18:07 GMT

You might attract more interest if you said who you are and what you’re working on.

Looking for good developers

martin — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:18:37 GMT

Currently we are getting our web project stage 1 completed by an offshore company.
We would like to bring a very good developer who is local, on to the team…...ideally somebody who would like to join a start up company as partner…

Suggestions on where to find this type of person.
cheers
martin sumner

StartupCamp#2 format

Simon — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:11:30 GMT

Yeah, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the Montreal camp.

I think with the voting, because it happens “offline” it should reduce the embarrassment factor hopefully to zero. For demos, what do you mean about service oriented companies, who wouldn’t have something to show?

Let’s not call them pitches … I don’t want this to be like a recruiting/money raising thing, but more like a discussion and learning opportunity (for the presenters and everyone who’s seeing what they are asking and what they get back).

—simon

StartupCamp#2 format

mic berman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:55:56 GMT

ok, so, now that I’ve read this a bunch of times I understand the idea of voting. although I can’t say I really like the idea, I’m willing to try it and see what happens. (It reminds me of those scenes where you’re the last picked on the baseball team)

In terms of timing. 60 seconds for the initial pitch no more. Everyone runs through their 60s then all vote and then we take the votes as the order of presenters.
No more than 15 minutes per full pitch/review by the audience (not 20 that’s too long).
I’ll do another post on lessons learned from Montreal (MT) startupcamp that we might be able to apply.

In terms of the requirement of having something to demo, ok, but what about service oriented companies. are we excluding them?

Source for PHP Developers

Simon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:26:29 GMT

A good programmer is a good programmer, regardless of language. They can pick up whatever particular language you need in a few weeks. As Ali said, java and PHP are very similar, the syntax is VERY similar. In addition it’s also similar to C and C . I think the schools probably tend to avoid PHP because it’s missing some features that are important when you’re teaching object-oriented programming, but if you know OO from java, it will be easy to figure out how it works in PHP.

Source for PHP Developers

AliAsaria — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:13:40 GMT

Our experience at Well.ca has always been to avoid looking for PHP developers but, rather, to find good developers that understand the Web. A good Java Web developer or a good .Net web developer can learn the syntax of PHP very fast.

You can take a good Java developer and make her into a good PHP developer within a few weeks of practice and reading stuff on the Web.

Source for PHP Developers

Thussy — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:25:04 GMT

First off, great redesign.

I’m finding it hard to find really talented PHP developers, and I am stumped as where to look. I’ve met many software engineers and computer science students, and the answer I hear most often is that they don’t learn the language in school. There seems to be a great talent pool on a global level, there are a lot of people contributing to open-source projects across the world, but when you’re looking for a member to join your team, you want them to be local.

I’ve got enough knowledge of PHP to spot messy code, and I can write some here and there but I’d really like the first beta of the site to be far more robust than I can make it.

I have a working prototype, it’s nearing completion but I would like to find a permanent PHP developer who can really polish it up, and provide insight into future development. Working through Elance isn’t always ideal – although it worked out great for Digg.

Any ideas?

the watstart site

Simon — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:18:16 GMT

Thanks!!! You just made my day :-D

the watstart site

al k — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:36:20 GMT

Just wanted to mention that I really like the design of this site… that keyline uptop that is just slightly crooked is aces – creating the right amount of tension so you go “wtf??”, and the heading and menu text give it the necessary “brainstorming” sketchpad kind of feel.
cheers!
Al K

StartupCamp#2 format

Simon — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:18:22 GMT

OK I ordered the timer today, it was $30 so the sponsors can pay for that. It’s supposed to beep when it runs out of time and have a big red & white dials.

I guess I see what you mean about extending the time. I think also that it would be a good idea not to do that. As for 15 vs. 20 minutes, I don’t know… maybe 20? Last time did seem a bit rushed to me, although I’m biased, because I was the one who had to cut people off.

I’ll make clearly marked edits to the original post.

StartupCamp#2 format

Norm — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:19:42 GMT

Everything looks good, except for some mild concern I have about extending the 15 minutes.

The Demo and Startup Camps are all about revealing the maximum number of opportunities through lightweight, rapid-fire, engaging presentations. Allowing times to slide undermines what I think is a very effective format. It also subjugates the subsequent presenters, and the disinterested audience members, to the popular will.

If we think 15 minutes isn’t going to be enough, then I think we should allocate 20 minutes each, but not more.

Overall, I’m happy with what you’ve described. This is only our second try, so we can tune the model even more in the future.

By the way, a big-ass timer will help everybody, and especially the presenters. It is very easy to lose track of time while on stage.

StartupCamp#2 format

Simon — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:50:23 GMT

That’s a good idea (get a room) ... I wonder though that if we tell people “2 minutes” they’ll treat it as longer, after all the last StartupCamp we only gave people officially 3 minutes to present I think. I would almost say tell them 30 seconds :-) (which is after all the length of an elevator pitch).

Also I’m getting a big ass timer. I want to get one like the one I saw at TorCamp DemoCamp a year ago or so. Anyway, I found this: http://wintergreen.ca/catalogues/index.php?cata…

I just wasted like an hour searching for that

StartupCamp#2 format

Jesse — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:58:32 GMT

This looks good. Realistically we may want to say 2 min for your mini preview and cap it at 30 min for discussion… if there are some keen people they can get a room.

StartupCamp#2 format

Simon — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:33:02 GMT

Yo.

Following up on http://groups.google.com/group/BarCampWaterloo/... ...

it has to be a technology that can be demoed
you have some (possibly very limited) thoughts about business directions
you are thinking about turning it into a business
OR you have a small business and are thinking about going big
you are open to heckling and constructive criticism

INTRODUCTION & INVITED SPEAKER

About 15 minutes?

MINI PREVIEWS

Maybe 1 minute each?
No laptops/slides – just tell us what you want to talk about.
Edit: Maybe allow announcement here

BREAK & VOTING

The audience thinks about who they’d like to hear from.
It’s an approval voting system.
You have one vote for each possible presentation, either check it or don’t
Edit: mark your vote(s) as a checkmark on the whiteboard

SELECTION

Whoever has the most checks goes first
Then the next most, and so on, until we stop.

PRESENTATIONS

5 minutes to present?
Ask us questions – what do you want to know from us? Many of us know things about starting up companies.
We will heckle you (constructively)
10 minutes of discussion?
~~If the audience really wants to, we can go over time? By how long?~~

~~ANNOUNCEMENTS~~

~~None of these?~~

—simon

Hello, World!

Simon — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:12:23 GMT

I get it. All of the times are in UTC. I’m pinging the people who made Beast to find out what’s up with that, because it’s not obvious in the source code.

Hello, World!

Gary Will — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:48:31 GMT

Another clock test: 10:48pm on Tuesday.

Hello, World!

Gary Will — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:20:01 GMT

Testing the system clock … posting this at 11:20pm on Wednesday night.

StartupCampWaterloo

Simon — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:40:10 GMT

That’s actually pretty surprising given how graphics oriented the layout & navigation is. I gave literally no thought to mobile users of the site….

StartupCampWaterloo

Gary Will — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:35:31 GMT

This loads pretty well on a BlackBerry … Good to see.

StartupCampWaterloo

Larry Borsato — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:13:11 GMT

If you are reading this, then why arent’t you at StartupCampWaterloo?

Hello, World!

Diver777 — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:49:01 GMT

sweet