Event Information
Date: Tuesday, May 29 2012
Venue: Roundhouse Community Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
Time: 9:00am – 3:30pm

The Small Business Information Expo is a tradeshow that brings together various organizations and government departments that support small businesses. By attending the event, you will have the opportunity to meet face to face with these groups, learning about the many services available to you. Exhibitors include:

• Office of Small and Medium Enterprises
• Canada Border Services Agency
• National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP)
• BCIT :: Applied Research
• Small Business BC
• S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
• More to be announced

In addition to the tradeshow, the expo features free drop-in educational seminars on a variety of business topics, including:

• Doing Business with the Government of Canada
• Support  for small business owners interested in expanding their business to other markets
• Connecting industry with university expertise
• Building your social enterprise
• Six keys to common sense marketing
• Increasing your profits

The Small Business Information Expo is  free to attend! To register, click here.

What is inspired work? What does it mean for you? What does it mean for the world? Why is it important? The New School for Inspired Work is hosting a 3-hour introductory class where you can explore these questions and learn what you can do to discover your inspired work.

Date: Tuesday, May 9th
Time: 6:30 – 9:30 PM

For more information, or to register, click here.

How did Q1 Labs leverage technology developed at a university to become a global leader of security intelligence solutions?

• How much of their success was about the technology, market timing and management?
• What were the challenges to financing and building a company with Canadian roots?
• Did Q1 Labs live up to Shaun’s vision for the company?

Industry veteran Shaun McConnon is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Q1 Labs, where he brings extensive senior management experience in operations, sales, and marketing to the growing network security management company.

During his career, McConnon has guided technology ventures through the IPO process, and he has also orchestrated several successful mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining Q1 Labs in November 2003, McConnon served as CEO of Okena, a next-generation security company, which he led from its inception to its acquisition by Cisco Systems. Previously, McConnon was CEO of Raptor Systems, where he steered that firewall security company through a successful IPO and then its subsequent sale to Axent Technologies (later acquired by Symantec). Earlier, McConnon held various executive positions with Sun Microsystems, most recently as managing director of Australian and New Zealand operations.

McConnon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Roanoke College.

Tuesdya, May 22 – 6pm- 8pm
Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC)
www.vef.org

How is Machine to Machine communications changing major industries? 

Join VEF to learn how industry giants automate mines, forestry operations, trucking, pipelines and terminals.  Hear what they are doing today and which technologies they will need in the future.

A limited number of free tickets are available to UBC student entrepreneurs for this event on a first-come, first-served basis. Please apply below if you wish to receive one of these free tickets. If you are unsuccessful, student tickets are available at a reduced price of $35 by using the code CMD133E0 when you register at www.vef.org using the student discount option.

Moderated by Dave Thomas (Rocket Builders) and VEF Board member, the panel includes:

John Tolkamp, Director IT – Ainsworth Engineered
Mark Richards, Manager, Mining Technology – Teck Metals
Peter van der Gracht, CEO – SignalSet
Jason Krause, Senior VP (Corporate Development & Marketing – Sierra Wireless
Neil McDonnell, CEO – Wurldtech

24 Apr 2012 – 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC)

Full details at www.vef.org

Deadline extended to May 6th and an extra prize of $25K added!!

______________________

On March 5, the Business Development Bank of Canada launched the 2012 BDC Young Entrepreneur Award contest with a bold new format. They are inviting Canadian entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 35, to apply and compete for a $100,000 BDC Grand Prize for Innovation.

Young business owners have until April 8, 2012 to apply and submit a short video presenting an innovative project that will grow and improve their business. Eleven finalists will be selected- one from each province and one from the combined territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut). Once finalists have been selected, Canadians will vote for the winner of the $100,000 BDC Grand Prize for Innovation.

For more details and to apply, visit the  2012 Young Entrepreneur Award microsite at bdcyoungentrepreneuraward.ca or join them on Facebook at facebook.com/BDC.ca. Entrepreneurs can also follow BDC on Twitter at @BDC_News or on Linkedin to share news about the contest with other members of their network.

entrepreneurship@UBC is hosting the founders of a hot new company in Kelowna who are looking for top technical talent to join their team as co-founders of the company. Karackter Labs will run a live hackathon competition at the UBC Okanagan Campus (EME Building) on Saturday, April 28th from 1pm to 7pm.

Whats at stake:
Karackter Labs – Is about creating interactive and engaging experiences for brands through social media. (Check out the beta for Women’s Pro Soccer)

We are looking for 1 or 2 (even 3 if its the right fit) technical co-founders ( or you could call it a hacker-cofounder or coder-cofounder) to be a part of a highly experienced team and establish tech startup!

The opportunity – We’re not kidding around here! We are thinking way out side the box on this one! We think we need to be ball’s ee and we’re prepared to put our equity where our mouth is and offer up to a 30% equity stake in Karackter Labs for a technical Co-Founder(s)

There are a few skill sets that need to be filled technically so it could end up we create teams for the hackathon.
We need Coders that know some or all – HTML5, PHP, SQL, Java
We need Animators – creation and manipulate wire frames
We need Designers – User Interface, Design and Software User Experience

You Do:
…need to know this is not a job!
…need to know that you become part owner of a business, need to have desire and passion to build and be involved in a high tech start up, need to understand its hard work to be a technical co-founder, need to know the other co-founders have built and sold high tech startups in the Silicon Valley.

You Don’t:
…need to be a expert coder! but you do need to know how to code.

What is a technical co-founder?
An equity partner with someone that has technical abilities to create and hack up some killer code and is equally passionate about the space we are in (interactive social media) and can complement the skills of our existing team with his or her own unique offerings to code, hack and develop software.

Who are the other co-founders? Good question…glad you asked!

Steve Wandler: Founder and CEO of YourTechOnline.com (YTO). YTO became the #1 ranked Online Tech Support Company in North America beating out Best Buy’s Geek Squad, which lead to the acquisition of the company to support.com a San Francisco Bay Area company (NASDAQ: SPRT) in 2008.

Tim Eades: With over 17 years of leadership experience in sales, marketing, and general management, Tim lives in the Silicon Valley and has deep expertise in driving high growth for computing, security and enterprise software companies. His business experience includes providing technology solutions to Fortune 100 companies, large enterprises, mid-size businesses, as well as consumer markets. Prior to leading Silver Tail Systems in its current stage of hyper-growth, he was CEO of Everyone.net an SMB focused SaaS company (acquired by Proofpoint) where he led the company to record growth and profitability. Prior to Everyone.net, Tim held sales and marketing executive leadership positions at BEA Systems, Sana Security, Phoenix Technologies and IBM. Timothy holds advanced degrees in business, international marketing, and financial analysis, primarily from Solent University in England.

Sign up online here.

Want to be an entrepreneur?  Apply for UBC’s premier entrepreneurship course – New Venture Design.

This 4^th Year course is interdisciplinary, traditionally Engineering and Commerce, however this year applicants from other faculties are also encouraged to apply.

It’s not your normal course!  Don’t just write a business plan – invent something cool.  Start a business.  Compete nationally and internationally.  Strut your stuff….and get credit.

For more information, check out:  www.nvd.ubc.ca

Application details on website – deadline April 25th

Come to the New Venture Design Open House on April 10th:

• See this year’s great teams & ventures
• Hear about past successes
• Meet the Profs; ask Qs.
• April 10th, 5pm
• Location: Kaiser 2020 (Engineering, Main Mall)

entrepreneurship@UBC is pleased like to welcome Doak Shirreff Lawyers  to our list of Vendor Partners – the first in the Okanagan Valley.  Doak Shirreff is a full-service law firm, based in Kelowna, BC. Their  goal is to provide clients with practical legal services in a common sense, cost effective and friendly manner.   They have been operating in Kelowna since 1968, making them one of the longest established legal partnerships in the Okanagan Valley.   Doak Shirreff will be assisting our UBC entrepreneurs with discounted services tailored to their individual corporate needs.

The Lead Contact for this incorporation and business law assistance is:

Christy L. Lovig, MBA, J.D.
Lawyer
clovig@doakshirreff.com
DOAK SHIRREFF LLP LAWYERS
200-537 Leon Avenue
Kelowna, British Columbia
Canada V1Y 2A9

Direct: (250) 979-2552
Telephone: (250) 763-4323
Fax: (250) 763-4780
Web: www.doakshirreff.com

The 10th Annual UBC Net Impact Conference & Sustainability Expo will emphasize pragmatic, solution-based approaches to sustainable business. This progressive event will focus on the measured impacts and value of sustainable business practices. Together, we will propel sustainability – beyond rhetoric.

Details

• April 20th, 2012
• Renaissance Harbourside Hotel
• 1133 West Hastings Street
• Vancouver, BC V6E 3T3

Join us after the conference for a networking reception at the Granville Room to continue lively conversations over drinks!  Speed networking begins at 5:00 pm, followed by informal cocktails and appetizers. Tickets are $12 and include a drink and canapés. Hosted by the Vancouver Net Impact Professional Chapter and Board of Change. Buy Tickets here!

Do you have a great idea? Would you like to start your own company or project? Would you like to meet other like-minded people? Don’t know where to start? This event is perfect for you.

Ideahack and entrepreneurship@UBC is throwing our second event in the Start Something series: - So you’ve got a great idea, now what? Our goal is simple, we want you to start something up to have an impact (a business, a project, anything) – so we are connecting you with the tools to make it happen.

PART 1 (Rick – Unbounce CEO – tells his story)

Come hear Rick Perreault, the CEO of Unbounce sharing his story of ups, downs, and where to go once you’ve got a good idea (see bio below). Unbounce is one of Vancouver’s most rapidly growing companies. Their product is a rapid prototying tool for landing pages / websites that lets you build quick and beautiful websites easily without technical experience, and most importantly track user behaviour on those websites. It is super useful for anyone with a non technical background to get good feedback on their idea and get it out there into the world.

PART 2 (idea pitching competition)*

During the second part of the event, student teams will have 90 seconds to pitch their tested ideas to the audience. Prizes will be given to the top teams and they will have the opportunity to meet with local entrepreneurs following the event.
*If you would like to take part in the competition, you will need to go to the competition workshop on March 26. Teams will storyboard their ideas and then be given training on how to create their own landing pages on the Unbounce platform. Don’t worry if you’re by yourself or if your idea hasn’t been fleshed out yet, we’ll help you with both. There are a limited number of spaces so sign up quickly. This is also intended for teams in idea phase.

PART 3 (mix and mingle)

This event is part of a much larger intiative to build the entreprenuerial communnity at UBC. You will have time at the end of the event to meet other like-minded students and young entrepreneurs from all faculties and the startup community. We hope this will be the beginning for many amazing ideas about to come to fruition.

If you’ve ever had a good idea and you’re thinking about taking the next step towards becoming an entrepreneur or starting your own project than this event is for you.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!
- The Ideahack Team + The e@UBC Team + Unbounce Team

Click here for tickets.

**Tickets will not be sold at the event
Rick’s Bio

Rick is the evangelist spreading the word of the Unbounce mission. With over 12 years in interactive and marketing, Rick has held senior management positions in creative and strategy starting at Riptown where he developed and lead an award-winning creative marketing team who’s innovative work in product and positioning helped propel it’s main client into a billion dollar gaming powerhouse.

In the last 8 years, Rick has been responsible for the effectiveness of the conversion funnel where landing pages were not always used because of the challenge of getting them built and deployed in a timely manner. From his experience, the idea for Unbounce was born. The end result is available here.