Posts tagged: Hamilton

Innovation Factory Café if Recap: B2B Sales Strategy for Startups

Posted on May 17, 2012

by Mark Elliott

The Innovation Factory holds and helps with great events in Hamilton. As a regular attendee, I was honoured to lead a session as part of the Café If program on Sales Strategy.  Earlier this year I also participated in the Café If session on Lead Generation for B2B Sales.  Our attendance was not quite as large as my earlier session, but we had lots of great questions and an engaged crowd.


Below are some of the highlights from this session:

Value Proposition should focus on benefits:  The benefits for B2B sales should focus on increasing revenue, expense reduction, productivity improvement, or avoiding something bad like bad PR or breaking a law.  Quantifying the benefits makes the value proposition even stronger.

There could be multiple targets at an account:  There could be multiple contacts that could help with a decision on your solution.  Change the value proposition to suit each role.

Path to Sales Success: Understand the steps in your sales cycle from lead/prospect through to implementation.  This will help with the team roles to support the sale and is very useful when new employees start.

Sales CRM: Every organization should be using a Sales CRM to support their sales efforts.  A CRM can help with account information, archive activities, schedule future activities, keep track of opportunities, and keep notes.

Special thanks to Leah MacCharles for organizing.  To find out about other great startup events sign up for our VA Partners’ monthly newsletter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Startup and small business events you don’t want to miss in May 2012

Posted on April 26, 2012

by Tabitha David

For our newsletter, our team compiles a list of events that we are interested in attending for the upcoming month, which we also believe to be useful to the startup and small business industry. A number of organizations listed are involved in a variety of events, but we have chosen to feature one event that we feel will be particularity useful for startups. We will be posting this blog with featured events the first week of every month.

The events we focus on are primarily in Toronto, the GTA, Guelph, Kitchener, Niagara, St. Catharines and Hamilton, so take a look through the events we are suggesting For April.  Please note that the following events may get sold out fast, so if you are interested in attending contact the organization quickly. If you’re hosting an event or have come across one you think we should mention, please feel free to contact us with your suggestions.


Discovery 12Ontario Centres of Excellence:  Discovery 12 
Discovery features more than 330 exhibitors and 2600 attendees from various industries including health, manufacturing, digital media and cleantech. Attendees include key players from academia, government, investment communities and students. The two day event includes keynote speakers, mentors, exhibitors and a number of networking opportunities.
When: Monday, May 14 – Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, 222 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto
 
Startup Drinks
Startup Drinks provides an open space for entrepreneurs and small business owners to connect and share ideas. There are no presentations or pitches, just conversation and networking. To meet some of the up-and-coming people in the startup community, this is a great event to attend.  These events are held in a number of locations such as Toronto, Hamilton, and Waterloo.
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Waterloo 
When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 @ 6:00pm
Where: Chainsaw, 28 King Street North, Waterloo
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Toronto 
When: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 @ 8:00pm
Where: Hotel Ocho, 195 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Hamilton
When: Thursday, May 10, 2012 @ 6:00pm
Where: The Winking Judge, 25 Augusta Street, Hamilton
 
MaRS Discovery District 
The events at MaRS are ideal for start-ups, science, technology and social entrepreneurs looking to make connections and learn more about a particular aspect of business.
Featured Event: Entrepreneur 101: The Pitch 
When: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 @ 6:00-7:00pm
Where: MaRS Discovery District Auditorium, 101 College St, Toronto
 
Mobile Monday
Mobile Monday offers events for people in the mobile industry who are looking to connect and share ideas with others, develop their products, and continue to expand their business. Mobile Mondays are held at a central location in Toronto. Attendees are able to interact with local and international professionals in the industry through networking and demo events.
Featured Event: App Best Practices 
When: Monday, May 7, 2012 @ 6:00 pm- 9:00pm
Where: MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Toronto
 
Silicon Halton
Silicon Halton organizes a number of events throughout the year in the region Halton which including Burlington, Oakville, and Milton. Their monthly meetups and Peer2Peer include three main components; a key notes presentation, a get to know a member presentation, and time set out for networking. These events are catered to anyone at a startup, especially in the tech industry, that are looking to learn more about business practices.
Featured Event: Meet Up 31: 10 UX Methods to Help You Build Great Apps 
When: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 @ 7:00pm- 10:00pm
Where: Milton Town Hall, Milton Room, 150 Mary Street, Milton
               
Communitech
Communitech events are focused on being engaging and interactive, providing useful information for companies of many sizes. Communitech is based in the Waterloo region and these events are varied and include peer2peer, Hub for Grub, Techworking Breakfast and Communitech Connect and more. 
Featured Event: Hub for Grub: The essentials of Early Stage Financing 
When: Thursday, May 10, 2012 @ 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Where: Communitech Hub – 150 Charles Street West, Kitchener
 
Haltech
Events at Haltech target startup businesses in the technology industry that are looking to develop new ideas, establish their business or continue to grow it. The events by Haltech are held in the region of Halton, and provide training for entrepreneurs as well as a chance to network.
Featured Event: HalTech Marketing Peer2Peer: Content Marketing for your Business 
When: Friday, May 11, 2012 @10:00am-11:30am
Where: Sheridan Institute of Technology& Advanced Learning, 1430 Trafalgar Road, Oakville
 
Innovation Guelph
Innovation Guelph is an organization that provides programs, events, and services to help entrepreneurs, community organizations, researchers and business leaders develop their ideas.  They also have expert advisors to help in your development.
Featured Event: Start-up Stories
When: Friday, May 11, 2012 @ 7:30am-9:00am
Where: TBA

Innovation Factory
Innovation factory facilitates the discussion of new ideas and discovery between business, science and academia. Their events are beneficial to anyone at a startup to a multinational corporation. Innovation factory offers events for both networking and learning along with the support of their experienced advisors. These events run in the region of Hamilton.
Featured Event: Café iF: Mark Elliott of VA Partners Presents: Fundamentals for B2B Sales Strategy 
When: Friday, May 11, 2012 @ 3:00pm- 5:00pm
Where: The Atrium @MIP, 175 Longwood Rd. South, Hamilton

Connecting Vision to Reality 2012 
This event will feature keynote speaker, entrepreneur and author, Eric Reis and a networking cocktail reception. The event will give you the opportunity to connect with founders, CEOs and key decision makers in the technology industry. Topics that will be discusses are around emerging Canadian technology companies.
When: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 @ 1:00pm-4:00pm
Where: Ryerson university, Ted Rogers School of Management, 55 Dundas St. West, Toronto

Rails Pub Night
This informal social event in Toronto is perfect for anyone interesting in web development. People in the industry are able to gather along with both recruits as people in the web development start up community.
When: Monday, May 21 2012 @7:00pm
Where: The Rhino, 1249 Queen St. West, Toronto
 
Sprout Up 
Sprout Up is a monthly event for forward-thinking entrepreneurs to gather and mind-meld. It’s a great chance for startups to get friendly, discuss current trends, and network in a casual, open, and focused setting.
When: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @6:00pm
Where: The Courthouse, 57 Adelaide St. East, Toronto

 

For further information about any of these events contact our team, and don’t forget to sign up for next month’s newsletter for more events.

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The best free, or nearly free, Startup B2B Sales Resources

Posted on April 10, 2012

by Mark Elliott

The biggest challenge for growing businesses is often sales. Growing revenue is hard and can mean success or failure for startup businesses.  Many times the owners or founders of a company have technical, financial, or operational experience, but often not sales. The good news for Canadian startups is that there are many free or nearly free sales resources that they can use.

MaRS - MaRS is the hub for startup resources in Ontario. There are many resources available including;

  • Entrepreneurs ToolKit with a lot of information on a number of sales tools.
  • Entrepreneur 101 sessions on sales
  • Best Practices presentations
  • Blogs

MaRS also has many videos of presentations on the site so if you missed it, you can watch it live. My presentation of Sales Strategy from March is up. A summary is on our site.

Communitech - Communitech has many events during the year and some have a sales focus. They also have an active blog that does feature some sales features as well. One unique feature they do have is their separate Peer2Peer groups on sales.

  • The Business Development & Senior SalesMeets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month.
    The topics include business development versus sales, lead generation, closing deals, recharging team batteries, sales team training, competitive intelligence, and going from start-up to mature company.
  • Tactical SalesMeets on the 1st Wednesday of every month.Topics include cold calling strategies, prospecting techniques, effective proposals and managing customer expectations.

Innovation Factory - The Innovation Factory Café if sessions have had a regular focus on sales.  There is a presentation coming up on May 11th at 3:00 on Sales Strategy.

Sales and Marketing for Canadian Startups Linkedin Group - This group has information on Sales, Marketing, and Social Media for Canadian Startups.  There are many discussions, information shared, and events posted.

Other Sales Leaders.  I also recommend checking out Anthony Iannarino and Paul Castain. They have regular blogs and new sales content on their site.  I also find that they have great twitter feeds as well.

If you have any other great free, or nearly free, sales resources please leave a comment or contact us.  VA Partners also has a wide array of free information posted on our site. A great way to get an update is to sign up for our newsletter.

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Startup and small business events you don’t want to miss in April 2012

Posted on March 29, 2012

by Tabitha David

For our newsletter, our team compiles a list of events that we are interested in attending for the upcoming month, which we also believe to be useful to the startup and small business industry. A number of organizations listed are involved in a variety of events, but we have chosen to feature one event that we feel will be particularity useful for startups. We will be posting this blog with featured events the first week of every month.

The events we focus on are primarily in Toronto, the GTA, Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Niagara, St. Catharines and Hamilton, so take a look through the events we are suggesting For April.  Please note that the following events may get sold out fast, so if you are interested in attending contact the organization quickly. If you’re hosting an event or have come across one you think we should mention, please feel free to contact us with your suggestions.

Mobile Monday
Mobile Monday offers events for people in the mobile industry who are looking to connect and share ideas with others, develop their products, and continue to expand their business. Mobile Mondays are held at a central location in Toronto. Attendees are able to interact with local and international professionals in the industry through networking and demo events.
Featured Event: VA Panel Pitch
When: Monday, April 2, 2012 @ 5:00 pm- 9:00pm
Where: MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Toronto
 
Silicon Halton 
Silicon Halton organizes a number of events throughout the year in the region Halton which including Burlington, Oakville, and Milton. Their monthly meetups and Peer2Peer include three main components; a key notes presentation, a get to know a member presentation, and time set out for networking. These events are catered to anyone at a startup, especially in the tech industry, that are looking to learn more about business practices.
Featured Event: Lean Startup Workshop
When: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 @ 6:30pm- 9:30pm
Where: Club e-Spot, 353 Iroquios Shore Rd. Oakville
 
Startup Drinks
Startup Drinks provides an open space for entrepreneurs and small business owners to connect and share ideas. There are no presentations or pitches, just conversation and networking. To meet some of the up-and-coming people in the startup community, this is a great event to attend.  These events are held in a number of locations such as Toronto, Hamilton, and Waterloo.
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Waterloo
When: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 @ 6:00pm
Where: Chainsaw, 28 King Street North, Waterloo
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Toronto 
When: Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 @ 8:00pm Mark
Where: Hotel Ocho, 195 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Featured Event: Startup Drinks Hamilton 
When: Thursday, April 12, 2012 @ 6:00pm
Where: The Winking Judge, 25 Augusta Street, Hamilton
 
Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum
The main goal of the breakfast sessions hosted by Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum is to help startups connect with potential investors and service providers in the business. Breakfast events are hosted 5 times a year in Burlington and feature presentations from three firms, followed by a guest speaker who will present on a chosen topic of interest. The GHVF is a great event to make valuable connections. Steve and Stephanie from the VA Partners team will be attending this event.
Featured Event: Breakfast Session with Duncan Stewart: Deloitte’s Predictions for tech, media & telecom for 2012 and beyond!”
When: Wednesday, Apr 4, 2012 @ 7:15am – 10:00am
Where: Burlington Gold and Country club, 422 North Shore Blvd E, Burlington
 
Communitech
Communitech events are focused on being engaging and interactive, providing useful information for companies of many sizes. Communitech is based in the Waterloo region and these events are varied and include peer2peer, Hub for Grub, Techworking Breakfast and Communitech Connect and more.
Featured Event: 2012 Tech Leadership Conference
This day-long forum is designed exclusively for information leaders from across industry in Waterloo Region. Keynotes, professional development and practical information provide CIOs with the latest trends and more.  Mark and Stephanie from the team will be attending this event
When: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 @ 7:30am – 4:45pm
Where: Bingemans Conference Centre – Marshall Hall, 425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener
 
MaRS Discovery District 
The events at MaRS are ideal for start-ups, science, technology and social entrepreneurs looking to make connections and learn more about a particular aspect of business.
Featured Event: Entrepreneur 101: Bootstraping
When: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 @ 6:00pm to 7:00pm
Where: MaRS Discovery District Auditorium, 101 College St, Toronto
 
Haltech 
Events at Haltech target startup businesses in the technology industry that are looking to develop new ideas, establish their business or continue to grow it. The events by Haltech are held in the region of Halton, and provide training for entrepreneurs as well as a chance to network.
Featured Event: The MarCom Toolkit Workshop: 3 Part Series
When: Wednesday, April 11, 18, 25, 2012 @8:30am
Where: SPARK Centre for Research & Innovation 1430 Trafalgar Road, Oakville
 
Innovation Guelph
Innovation Guelph is an organization that provides programs, events, and services to help entrepreneurs, community organizations, researchers and business leaders develop their ideas.  They also have expert advisors to help in your development.
Featured Event: 60- second Pitch
When: Friday, April 13, 2012 @ 12:30pm – 4:30pm
Where: Innovation Guelph, 42 Wyndham st. N #402, Guelph
 
Rails Pub Night 
This informal social event in Toronto is perfect for anyone interesting in web development. People in the industry are able to gather along with both recruits as people in the web development start up community.
When: Monday, Apr 16, 2012 @7:00pm
Where: The Rhino, 1249 Queen St. West, Toronto
 
Sprout Up 
Sprout Up is a monthly event for forward-thinking entrepreneurs to gather and mind-meld. It’s a great chance for startups to get friendly, discuss current trends, and network in a casual, open, and focused setting.
When: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 @6:00pm
Where: The Courthouse, 57 Adelaide St. East, Toronto
 
Canada 3.0 
The event features an impressive lineup of more than 2,000 delegates from around the world coming from a variety of industry, government and academic fields all gathered in Stratford. These are the people who make innovations in Canada happen. The main topics that will be discussed are the benefits of digital media as it enriches communications, facilitates knowledge transfer, improves productivity and drives innovation. The two day event will feature interactive showcases, pitch off competitions, keynote speakers, panel discussions and extensive networking.
When: Wednesday, April 25 – Thursday, April 26, 2012
Where: Stratford Rotary Complex, 353 McCarthy Road, Stratford
 
Hamilton Startup Weekend 
Hamilton Startup Weekend strives to create an environment to bring together like mined individuals with a focus on web and mobile application for a 54-hour event that allows collaboration and networking to develop working startups. Participants will also get a chance to feature their ideas, listen to industry professionals and receive feedback from local entrepreneurs.  Mark from the VA Partners team will be attending this event.
When: Friday, April 27 6:00pm– Sunday, April 29, 2012 @7:00pm, 2012
Where: Mohawk college, 135 Fennell Ave. W, Hamilton
 

For further information about any of these events contact our team , and don’t forget to sign up for next month’s newsletter for more events.

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Startup and small business events you don’t want to miss in March 2012

Posted on March 1, 2012

by Tabitha David

For our newsletter, our team compiles a list of events that we are interested in attending for the upcoming month, which we also believe to be useful to the startup and small business industry. A number of organizations listed are involved in a variety of events, but we have chosen to feature one event that we feel will be particularity useful for startups. If you missed our newsletter, we will be posting this blog with featured events the first week of every month.

The events we focus on are primarily in Toronto, the GTA, Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Niagara, St. Catharines and Hamilton. Take a look through the events we are suggesting For February. Please note that the following events may get sold out fast, so if you are interested in attending contact the organization quickly. If you’re hosting an event or have come across one you think we should mention, please feel free to contact us with your suggestions.

Startup Drinks: 

Startup Drinks provides an open space for entrepreneurs and small business owners to connect and share ideas. There are no presentations or pitches, just conversation and networking. To meet some of the up-and-coming people in the startup community, this is a great event to attend.  These events are held in a number of locations such as Toronto, Hamilton, and Waterloo.

Featured Event: Startup Drinks Waterloo

When: Wednesday, Mar 6, 2012 @ 6:00pm

Where: Chainsaw, 28 King Street North, Waterloo

Featured Event: Startup Drinks Hamilton 

When: Thursday, Mar 8, 2012 @ 6:00pm

Where: The Winking Judge, 25 Augusta Street, Hamilton

Featured Event: Startup Drinks Toronto 

When: Wednesday, Mar 28, 2012 @ 8:00pm

Where: Hotel Ocho-2nd floor lounge, 195 Spadina Avenue, Toronto

Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region 

This event consists of a networking portion followed by a guest speaker and debates focused on social media for B2B and B2C. There is also a breakfast provided.

Featured Event: Taking your Social Media to the Next Level: Lessons from the Non-Profit Sector

When: Thursday, March 8, 2012 @ 7:30 – 9:00 am

Where: 20 Queen Street South, Kitchener

Silicon Halton: 

Silicon Halton organizes a number of events throughout the year in the region Halton which including Burlington, Oakville, and Milton. Their monthly meetups and Peer2Peer include three main components; a key notes presentation, a get to know a member presentation, and time set out for networking. These events are catered to anyone at a startup, especially in the tech industry, that are looking to learn more about business practices.

Featured Event: Meetup #29: Cultural Diversity in Organizations as a Competitive Advantage

When: Tuesday, Mar 13, 2012 @ 7:00 pm

Where: Dueling Pianos/ Wendel Clask’s- Entertainment Central, 370 Dundas St. East, Oakville

Rails Pub Night: 

This informal social event in Toronto is perfect for anyone interesting in web development. People in the industry are able to gather along with both recruits as people in the web development start up community.

When: Monday, March 19, 2012 @ 7:00pm

Where: The Rhino, 1249 Queen St. West, Toronto

DemoCamp: 

Democamp hosts events that cater towards designers, developers and marketers. Attending these events will allow you to interact with professionals and gain insight from speakers about your industry. These events are held every couple of months in Toronto, Hamilton, and Guelph.

Featured Event: Demo camp Hamilton

When: Tuesday, Mar 20, 2012 @ 6:30pm–9:00pm

Where: Twelve Eighty Pub @ McMaster University, Hamilton

Sprout Up March: 

Sprout Up is a monthly event for forward-thinking entrepreneurs to gather and mind-meld. It’s a great chance for startups to get friendly, discuss current trends, and network in a casual, open, and focused setting.

When: Tuesday, Mar 20, 2012 @ 6:00pm

Where: The Courthouse, 57 Adelaide St. East, Toronto

Cost: $12

MaRS Discovery District: 

The events at MaRS are ideal for start-ups, science, technology and social entrepreneurs looking to make connections and learn more about a particular aspect of business.

Featured Event: Sales Strategy: Presented by Mark Elliott from Venture Accelerator Partners 

When: Wednesday, Mar 22, 2012 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Where: MaRS Studio, 101 College St, Toronto

Innovation Factory:

Innovation factory facilitates the discussion of new ideas and discovery between business, science and academia. Their events are beneficial to anyone at a startup to a multinational corporation. Innovation factory offers events for both networking and learning along with the support of their experienced advisors. These events run in the region of Hamilton.

Featured Event: Café iF: Hamilton Resources for your Business

When: Friday, Mar 23, 2012 @ 3pm- 5pm

Where: McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Rd South, Hamilton

Innovation Guelph: 

Innovation Guelph is an organization that provides programs, events, and services to help entrepreneurs, community organizations, researchers and business leaders develop their ideas.  They also have expert advisors to help in your development.

Featured Event: The 60 Sec Pitch

When: Friday, Mar 23, 2012 @12:30pm -4:30 pm

Where: Innovation Guelph, 42 Wyndham st N #402, Guelph

Communitech:

Communitech events are focused on being engaging and interactive, providing useful information for companies of many sizes. Communitech is based in the Waterloo region and these events are varied and include peer2peer, Hub for Grub, Techworking Breakfast and Communitech Connect and more.

Featured Event: Peer2Peer Strategic Marketing

When: Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 @ 8:00am- 10:00am

Where: The Tannery, 151 Charles Street West, Suite 100, Kitchener

Cost: Free for Communitech Members

For further information about any of these events contact our team, and don’t forget to sign up for next month’s newsletter for more events.

 

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