2006 New Ventures BC Competitor ROLLOUT just returned from New York Fashion week where they debuted their custom wallpaper in the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge. The lounge and ROLLOUT’s paper were covered by various media including Timeout NY, who raved “…it’s gorgeous prints like these that make us sad we don’t have bigger walls in these NYC apartments.”

This season the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge was designed by Eric Villency, president of furniture designer Maurice Villency. Speaking about the lounge, Eric enthused “…there are different focal points in the room, but the overall focus definitely has to be the wallpaper and it’s a very dynamic design statement, it’s a very bold colour, the unifying motif is hopefulness, we wanted to have a positive energy, the idea of an oasis”.

ROLLOUT, established in 2005, is a creative studio that designs and digitally prints custom wallpapers by the square foot. Recruiting community-based artists and designers, ROLLOUT is constantly on the hunt for exciting ideas from any inspiration. Illustration, photography, graphic design, and industrial design provide the inspiration; the walls provide the medium.

Founded by Anita Modha & Jonathan Nodrick, ROLLOUT was born out of the need for graphic expression in the interior design industry.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister Diane Ablonczy held a roundtable with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF). During the meeting, CYBF young entrepreneurs, mentors and senior officers from across the country discussed the significant impact young entrepreneurs have on Canada’s economic stabilization, growth and global competitiveness. The group explored how to capitalize on the innovation and energy resident within Canada’s youth by building and supporting an enhanced entrepreneurial culture going forward.

In a press conference this afternoon, the Prime Minister outlined the government’s Economic Action Plan which included a $10 million grant to CYBF. In 2009 this investment will enable the national charity to help more than 500 aspiring young entrepreneurs start new businesses and contribute quickly to Canada’s economic recovery. In total, by 2010, more than 900 entrepreneurs will start a business as a result of the government’s funding.

These 900 new businesses will create an estimated 5,000 new jobs, $135 million in sales revenue, $32 million in tax revenue, and enable more than 900 volunteer business mentors to share 46,000 hours of knowledge with young entrepreneurs. This puts CYBF is on a growth trajectory to support the launch of two new entrepreneurial businesses per day by 2012.

There has never been a more important time to invest in young entrepreneurs. Research shows that: 20,000 young people annually have an unrealized business idea; 70% of small business owners plan to retire within 5-10 years; and, unemployment is on the rise.

Thanks to this a new grant and competitions like New Ventures BC, there has never been a better time to start a business. Register now for the seminar series and get ready to compete.

2007 New Ventures BC finalist TeamPages announced today that it has completed its second round of financing led by Burda Digital Ventures, W Media Ventures, and local angel investors, including Ralph Turfus, founder and past CEO of Class Software Solutions.

“Since our first round of financing, we have been listening closely to our community and heads down improving the product and making it easier to use. And it has really paid off. We are seeing upwards of 1200-1400 teams registering each month with this number steadily climbing as the busy spring sport season is approaching,” says Mike Tan, founder and CEO of TeamPages. “We are really excited about this round of financing. Not only will it help us continue to improve our platform and bring on more teams, but it has added a some really smart investors to our team as well.”

The new financing will be used to further develop its newly launched League and Club Management software and expand into larger youth sport associations, leagues, and clubs across North America.

TeamPages has been on a roll of late. Last month their profile ran on an episode of CBC’s Fortune Hunters and they also celebrated having their 10,000th team join the TeamPages community.

Congrats to Mike and his team on their success to date.

The Massive Technology Show is returning to Vancouver on April 1st at UBC Robson Square and New Ventures BC has  50 tradeshow passes ($29 value) to give away. These passes get you past the door man and into the tradeshow area.

The Massive Technology Show is Canada’s leading small business tradeshow and conference. This one day event shows companies with 1 to 250 employees how to embrace the power of technology. Massive is recognized nationally for its combination of practical, yet dynamic content. The informative technology displays, and the series of speaker presentations and panel discussions, make this the definitive event for small business.

We’ve also got a handful of  “slim passes” that are good for individual conference sessions themed around leveraging technology in a volatile economy.

If you’re interesting in a free tradeshow pass, send us an email and we’ll forward you the New Ventures BC promo code. The slim passes will go to the first 10 people to email us.

Rizwan Kheraj of NRC-IRAP was the keynote at last week’s VEF Momentum “Stimulus” event and all reports are that Riz provided some very valuable information and insight for young entrepreneurs.

Slide #11 of the following presentation sums it with a hypothetical entrepreneur leveraging government programs creatively to turn $5,000 into $130,000. End result: Beta built, targeted customer consulting compete, technology validated, and business model shipshape.

Imagine what you could do if your starting point included New Ventures BC prize money from the 2009 competition??

In a rare move, Victoria-based  2006 NVBC Competitor Oprius Software has taken the uncommon practice of posting their conversion numbers of the sales contact management software. While secrecy and confidentiality tend to be industry standard, Oprius is sharing their numbers in hopes of  persuading others to do the same, creating a more useful, transparent set of industry statistics.

Among the conversion ratios listed were:

• Web traffic to new free trial – 7%
• Free trial to paying user – 48%
• User retention – 98%

Since launching their software-as-a-service product in late January 2008, Oprius has realized surprising growth and CEO Alan Smith asserts that he is “very happy” with the 2008 numbers.

Smith goes on to mention the company has recently turned profitable – a huge milestone for any New Ventures BC past competitor. He points to strong customer support and an engaged community as key drivers of their ongoing success. With numbers and growth as strong as Oprius, it’s no wonder they’re so willing to share their conversion ratios with the world.

Registration is now open for the New Venture BC’s Seminar & Networking Series.

Our first seminar, Assessing the Opportunity, will be presented by Bob de Wit and takes place on Wednesday, April 1st at the SFU Segal School of Business at 500 Granville Street. Registration & networking (with coffee & appetizers) gets underway at 6:30pm with the seminar starting at 7:00pm.

The full 10-week business seminar series schedule runs from April 1st to June 3rd and includes nine seminars and one networking event. Total cost for the series is $100 but that also covers your entry into the competition.

Alternatively, you can register for seminars individually for $20 each or attend for free if you’re a student (with a valid ID card). Register now online.

If you’re reading the New Ventures BC blog, then chances are you’re working on a new business idea for the 2009 competition. If you’re already feeling confident about your pitch, you should consider running it by the money folks at CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

CBC is once again offering aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs the chance to turn their inventions and schemes into real-life, money-making businesses. Back for its fourth season, auditions for Dragons’ Den are taking place across Canada including seven cities in BC.

• Victoria – Monday, March 30th
• Prince George – Tuesday, March 31st
• Nanaimo – Wednesday, April 1st
• Campbell River – Friday, April 3rd
• Vancouver – Friday, April 3rd and Saturday, April 4th
• Nelson – Tuesday, April 7th
• Kelowna – Thursday, April 9th

Detailed information about audition locations is online and aspiring entrepreneurs may also apply via an online application form.

A message from our friends at the TIME Centre…

We are delighted to announce that due to overwhelming interest SFU TIME Ventures Incubator will be offering our highly praised foundational seminar duo on a regular basis (as part of the Milestones to Success: SME Seminar Series).

The Build your SME and Finance your SME seminars will now be offered as one seminar package.

The next Build and Finance your SME seminar duo will take place on Friday, March 20 and April 3, 2009.

This SME-building and financing seminar describes the best practices of successful entrepreneurs. Its 16 modules will be delivered in 2 action-packed days. These 16 modules are synergetic and together form a comprehensive, effective and efficient roadmap for building and financing an early-stage SME.

The principal presenter is a seasoned and respected speaker on this topic, Mr. Roger Killen.

To register online and for more information please visit:  http://www.sfu.ca/time

I sent the 2009 New Ventures BC Competition Brochure to the printers last week!

Here’s an electronic copy for you to read and send out to anyone that might be interested in this year’s competition.

NVBC Brochure