Canada Wants Your Startup! Canadian Minister Immigration

Canada has a new Startup Visa, you may have seen the billboard when leaving or arriving San Francisco Airport. I interviewed Jason Kenney, Canadian Minister Citizenship, Immigration & Multiculturalism @TIE Con 2103. Apologies for the noise but Jason still managed to get the point across.  Canada wants you if you’re a great startup!  Watch the interview.

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Seduction & The Pitch

When entrepreneurs pitch their startup/idea whether to investors or partners they are really just selling their company/idea to the other. However it is not just a simple sales pitch as some may think. If you scrape below the surface, there is a lot riding on it. Whoever is being pitched will generally be considering some sort of long term relationship with the entrepreneur. Similar to a profile on a dating site, if it’s a good pitch then it can open doors to what it is you really need i.e.,  investment or collaboration. If it’s bad then no matter how wonderful your startup/idea is, you will probably not get what you need to move forward & grow into a substantial business. Many entrepreneurs underestimate the value of the pitch and so many go hungry for the partners/investors that could change the startup game for them. In the dating game most people looking for love know how important the first meeting/date is & the fate of the relationship is often surmised within the first few minutes. This chemistry is based on natural affinities that to some extent still remain a mystery to most dating sites.  However there are general tips that are guaranteed to support you in developing more possibility of chemistry with the people that count when you pitch.  When you are pitching you are wooing the investor/partner so make sure that your pitch has the ability to seduce them.

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Brad Feld, Foundry Group: The Startup Visa

Video interview with Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group.   Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStars & CEO NCWIT.  He can find him at his blog Feld Thoughts & on Twitter @bfeld

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