On November 24th ACETECH is hosting a one-day workshop titled Mastering the One-Page Strategic Plan.

The workshop will be presented by Gazelles International Certified Coach Kevin Lawrence and is based on the best-selling book “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” by Verne Harnish. To date over 20,000 executives worldwide have attended this workshop.

Attendees will walk away with a solid start on the Gazelles’ signature One-Page Strategic Plan providing a roadmap for alignment among your leadership team members along with time-tested and proven principles for growth that you can start implementing right away.

Workshop outcomes:

• A considerable start on your 2012 One-Page Strategic Plan, to focus and align your team
• Best practices and tools to strengthen your ability to execute and accelerate your growth
• An aligned, accountable and enthusiastic leadership team, ready to hit the ground running in 2012

Register online.

The 30th Angel Forum took place on October 17th in Vancouver and over 100 entrepreneurs, investors and sponsors were in attendance. Among them were over 50 registered investors and 18 presenting companies.

The day-long event wrapped up with the Angel Forum crowning the 2011 BC Angel Investor of the Year as well as the Investor Choice Award winners.

In 2009 legendary angel investor Mike Volker was awarded the inaugural BC Angel Investor of the Year award and last year the award went to the angel investor Paul Geyer. For 2011, the Angel Forum recognized active angel Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures.

Among the companies recognized for the Investor Choice Awards was 2010 BCIC-New Ventures Round 2 competitor Aeos Biomedical of Vancouver who were named the “Best Company likely to be Acquired”.

Congrats to all the winners on another great forum.

On December 7th in Vancouver the folks behind the Angel Forum with be presenting Market Research v2.0 – a practical real world Market Research workshop for entrepreneurs and investors alike.

The focus of this one-day workshop is on the application of various marketing research methods to specific decision areas. Learn how to design marketing research studies to:

• Understand your customers, industry, new product requirements and your competition.
• Segment your markets and position your products/ services in the targeted marketplace.
• Generate new product ideas, test concepts, measure performance and track changes.

The workshop will be led by Creekstone Consulting’s Lyn Blanchard who has over twenty years of senior management experience in technology. Her market research experiences include focus group moderation, market assessments, market validation work, feasibility studies, strategic planning, competitor analysis – all enabled  by a variety of research techniques and methodologies. She is a member of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), BCTIA and is a Certified Management Consultant.

Other speakers to be announced later and it will be a blend of presentations, case studies and panel discussions with lots of time for Q&A and networking.  Register online.

In celebration of Small Business Month, Webnames.ca and Small Business BC are running a contest this month for small businesses to either win a WordPress website or a professionally produced promotional video.

Entering is simple and only takes a minute online.

In addition Webnames.ca is offering .CA domain registrations this month for only $4.99 for a one year registration (new domains only). More details here.

VIATeC’s Launch Party is taking place on Thursday, September 22nd in Victoria and one former New Ventures competitor is among the seven startups competing for “Best in Show”, “Coolest Concept” and “Most Likely to Succeed”.

2011 Competitor Bet Smart Media will be debuting SportsWidgets.com, a cloud based premium sports content platform and marketplace that is a one-stop shop for anyone who wants to get sports content into their applications or on their websites.

Launch Party will be an evening of innovation, drinks and appies at the Vancouver Island Technology Park where you can network with Victoria Tech Executives and discover some of Victoria’s most promising up-and coming tech companies. Here are the companies that are launching:

Launch party will begin immediately after the VIATeC Annual General Meeting at approximately 5:45pm. This is a free event for VIATeC members and non members, however donations for tech tools in local schools will be accepted.

The 10 Finalists in Accelerate Okanagan’s Jump:Start Challenge have been announced following the first round which took place in Kelowna last Thursday.

The challenge started with 27 entrants being invited to present their pitches at an open forum. 10 companies were then selected by an expert panel of judges to move on to the next round of the challenge, where they will receive nine weeks of intense training, coaching, and mentorship to improve their investor presentations.

Among the ten finalists are four former New Ventures competitors.

Hustream Technologies and Rapid Water Testing were in the Top 20 in last year’s BCIC-New Ventures Competition:Regional and Digniti Home Hospital (2010) and ElectroMotion Energy (2011) were competitors that made it through to Round 2 in their respective years.

In November, the 10 finalists will be narrowed down further to the final 5 companies, which will each have the opportunity to present before members of the investment community in Vancouver and Kelowna.

Prizes for the top three companies will include free enrolment for one year in Accelerate Okanagan’s Venture Acceleration Program, which helps high potential technology companies accelerate their growth and maximize their opportunity. The overall winner will also receive one year’s free office space at Accelerate Okanagan’s Kelowna or Penticton innovation centres.

This blog post was written by BCIC’s Dean Prelazzi and was published earlier today on the BCIC Blog.

A couple of years ago, I met Mark Dance – former COO, CFO and Division President at Creo.  He approached me at a local tech event with immeasurable enthusiasm and described some product management training material he delivered to engineering students at UBC and his desire to launch a technology commercialization and business planning workshop for early-stage technology entrepreneurs.  This was well aligned with BCIC’s mandate, and having worked for startups most of my career – and experiencing first hand some of the challenges Mark was aiming to address – I knew he was on to something.

And so it began. In partnership with BCIC (and later, with NRC-IRAP’s support) Mark’s workshop launched in April 2009 and has since assisted 23 companies (38 participants).  According to a participant survey, since attending the workshop companies have added 14 new jobs to BC’s work force, generated over $780,000 in new revenues, acquired over $1M in investment, created 14 business partnerships and landed 44 customers (including early adopters). I’m not saying Mark’s workshop is 100% responsible for this success considering the myriad of support programs these companies may have accessed in BC’s technology ecosystem. But, if you speak to the participants and read their testimonials, it’s clear the impact of his work has been profound and quite likely played a major role in this collective success.

The next workshop is scheduled to begin in October 2011, with a focus on Clean Energy/Clean Tech (although all early-stage tech startups are encouraged to apply). The application deadline is September 16^th. (more…)

In 2009 legendary angel investor Mike Volker was awarded the inaugural BC Angel Investor of the Year award. Last year the award went to the active angel investor Paul Geyer.

Now it’s time to crown the BC Angel Investor of the Year for 2011.

The Angel Forum’s Bob Chaworth-Musters has posted the criteria for the 2011 BC Angel Investor of the year award:

• An individual who has invested at least $100,000 of their own money in one or more companies (not their own) in last 12 months.
• Is recognized by his/her peers as a experienced business mentor to entrepreneurs.
• Is recognized by entrepreneurs as measurably adding value to companies
• Promotes his/her activity so as to bring new investors to the market
• Who has agreed to be nominated, is a resident of BC and attend the 30th Angel Forum
• Contributed to the knowledge base or profile of angel investing in BC
• Cannot be a previous winner

If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or advisor, nominations are now open and can be submitted online. The BC Angel Investor of the Year will be honoured at the 30th Angel Forum in Vancouver on October 17th.

BCIC’s Cleantech Commercialization & Business Planning Workshop is an intensive, hands-on exercise which compels the entrepreneur to think critically about the true value, commercialization potential and positioning of their product idea.

Designed for new or early stage BC-based technology entrepreneurs/companies with an idea for, or in the process of building, a clean technology or clean energy company.

The workshop is taught by Mark Dance, former CFO and COO of Creo, one of BC’s most successful technology companies. Participants go through three comprehensive one-day workshops, examining critical business planning issues and key elements of product management such as: sustainable differentiation, revenue forecasts, pricing, competitive landscape, positioning and market strategy.

Upon completion of the last workshop and final project, participants are given three 1 hour one-on-one company specific mentorship sessions with Mark, valuable opportunities to further discuss, develop and gain feedback on their idea and business plan.

The workshop takes place on Friday, October 21st, October 28th, and November 4th from 9:00am to 5:00pm followed by 3 mentor sessions on Friday, November 18th, December 2nd, and December 16th. The workshop costs $269 per company (valued at $3,000) and includes 2 attendees and all materials. A third attendee may join for an additional cost of $125. The workshops maximum attendance is 8 companies.

The application deadline is Friday, September 16th. To apply or for more information, please download the application form or email Nadine Diner at BCIC. Submitted applications will be reviewed and the chosen applicants will be notified after the deadline.

For those outside of Vancouver, five $1000 travel bursaries will be awarded to select participants.

As part of TECTERRA’s mandate to support growth and opportunity for geomatics in Canada, they’re sponsoring geomatics companies/professionals to attend Wave2011 and Banff Venture Forum. Calgary’s TECTERRA is proud to be a sponsor of both events.

Each opportunity requires that you complete a very brief application form. You may apply to participate in one or both activities. Both applications are due by August 31st.

If your company is selected to participate in Wave2011 the package valued at $3,110 will include an exhibit booth, two registrations, an exhibitor presentation during the conference, and 3 nights at the Chateau Lake Louise. Apply for sponsorship to Wave2011 here.

If your company is selected to attend the Banff Venture Forum the package valued at $1,695 will include one full conference pass to the BVF and one night stay at the Banff Springs Hotel. Apply for sponsorship to the Banff Venture Forum here.