Today Startup Canada, a national, entrepreneur-led non-profit movement, unveils its flagship venture, Startup Canada Communities. According to this non-profit organization, a totally new approach to supporting entrepreneurs, its venture will “trailblaze a new approach to support entrepreneurs—from the bottom up.” 

Startup Canada Communities provides entrepreneurs with resources like access to mentors, work space, and funding to start and grow their businesses and to connect with other startup founders. Networked websites and grassroots entrepreneur-led events and activities are designed to unite the local startup community. From access to co-working space in St. John’s and coding workshops for women entrepreneurs in London, to entrepreneur networking events in Prince George and startup pitch events in Ottawa – entrepreneurs across Canada will be able to plug into their local startup community easier than ever before and use the new Startup Communities website to find events, other startup founders and support in their local community. The all-star Advisor Team supporting the project includes Brad Feld (Boulder, Colo.- based entrepreneur, venture capitalist and co-founder of TechStars), Bjoern Herrmann (founder of Startup Genome), Jonathan Ortmans (president of Global Entrepreneurship Week), and Ken Bautista (founder of Startup Edmonton). These advisors are helping refine and increase the impact of the startup community model. Brad Feld says:

This grassroots model for entrepreneurial development is truly transformative and will position Canada as a beacon for entrepreneurs worldwide. Startup Canada’s national network of communities will ensure that entrepreneurs of today and the generations to follow will have the necessary tools, communities and culture to succeed.

The project will initially pilot in 15 communities across Canada in 2013 to order to develop and further refine this innovative model. The first 15 pilot communities include St. John’s, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, York Region, London, Kingston, Winnipeg, Calgary, Lethbridge, Smithers, Prince George, and Langford. These communities were chosen due to both their varied levels of startup sector maturity and in order to begin building a coast-to-coast network of communities with a diverse range of sizes, demographics, and industry sectors.

The individual Startup Communities will have the ability to stay in touch with each other and learn from one other through their symbiotic connection with Startup Canada. Their first-year experiences and successes will create the infrastructure for a second wave of Startup Communities to take off across Canada in 2014.

“The world should be watching this project closely because Startup Canada is on to something that could revolutionize the way entrepreneurship is ignited and advanced in communities around the world,” states Jonathan Ortmans.

Startup Canada Communities is a response to the call-to-action from the more than 20,000 entrepreneurs who made their voices heard during the Startup Canada National Tour last year, calling for stronger, more connected and more active local startup communities to accelerate entrepreneurial success.

“Healthy and vibrant entrepreneurial communities at a local level are the heart of inspiring, supporting and accelerating the growth of startups,” says Victoria Lennox, CEO of Startup Canada. “We are uniting and harnessing the momentum of the Startup Canada movement to form the foundations of a pan-Canadian network to inspire, support, and provide constant encouragement to entrepreneurs.”

For more details on the network and the participating communities, visit www.startupcommunities.ca.

The post Startup Canada Launches National Support Network for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Ken Gnazdowsky

“Find it EZ is committed to improving business intelligence, database analysis and development processes with the world’s first fully integrated software change management utility. We create productivity software for developers, by developers who know their pain!” said Ken Gnazdowsky, co-founder and CEO of Find it EZ Software Corp. “Our relationship with Crystal Migration Services allows us to extend our market reach with a partner specializing in two of our core supported technologies.  Our Microsoft award winning software is a perfect complement to their service.  Together, we can solve a common problem to better manage report migration from one vendor to another.”

As a leader in Crystal Reports to SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) migration, Crystal Migration Services Corp. provides best-in-breed report conversions to companies across the globe. The leading-edge software services can transform legacy Crystal Reports into Microsoft Reporting Services faster, more accurately, and at a lower cost than anyone else in the industry.

“Find it EZ Code Search is a powerful search and impact analysis tool to help report designers.” said George Su, CEO of Crystal Migration Services Corp. “Teaming up with Find it EZ will allow us to reach more Crystal Reports customers who want to move to SSRS.”

About Find it EZ Software 

Find it EZ Software Corp. is a software development tool vendor with headquarters in Kelowna, BC. The company is an award winning global leader in productivity software for developers. Find it EZ was founded in 2010 as a spin-out of Bits n’ Bytes Software Inc. with customers throughout the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who depend on its automated change impact analysis software.

Whenever changes are planned or made to the underlying database in any software application, it can be a challenge to find all referenced code that can be affected.  Normally, each software layer or programming language would require time-consuming and disconnected analysis with a variety of tools.  Find it EZ provides a full 360 degree view of the entire code-stack in a single pass.  Search and document Crystal Reports, SSRS, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Excel and more for complete change dependency analysis with just one integrated tool.

Find it EZ Software is an Accelerate Okanagan Premium Member. Tweet it up at: @finditez.

About Crystal Migration Services Corp.

Crystal Migration Services Corp., founded in 2011, is a Business Intelligence migration solution provider with headquarters in Surrey, BC. As the #1 choice to convert Crystal Reports to Microsoft Reporting Services (SSRS), Crystal Migration Services has the conversion quality and accuracy that other competitors do not

have. Proven success with customers from USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, Crystal Migration Services provides the most effective and cost-saving services to convert Crystal Reports to SSRS.

The post Find it EZ Announces Strategic Partnership with Crystal Migration Services appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Co Founders, Ivan Gonzalez and Alejandro Valcarcel, the guys you ofter see around AO on long boards, explain the business:

MiTaxi is an application intended to mitigate the risks of riding in a taxi in Latin-American, as well as to provide taxi companies information about the trips and people that board their fleet. Our team is committed to develop applications that provide a real benefit to you and to the people around you. We are young, we are smart, and we are ambitious. A mix of nationalities brings to this team a wider vision of action and the will of pursuing foreign markets. We believe that providing technology products to third world countries we can contribute to the development of the region.  We are the young energy in the building and we are here to stay for a while.

We are currently launching in Colombia but with plans to expand to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Check out their brand new website and tweet it up at @MiTaxi_Colombia.

MiTaxi have been on the Venture Acceleration Program since December 2012. They won 1st Place at Venture Okanagan in November 2012 and they were nominated for Young Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2012. The company is also currently on the short list for the New Ventures BC competition under the name Corked Ideas.

The post Vlog: VAP Company MiTaxi Secures Funding, Launches Site and Heads to Colombia appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

The Director of Kelowna technology company Mathtoons Media, Kristin Garn, has been selected as one of Canada’s top twenty emerging female tech entrepreneurs and will participate in the TechWomen 2013 program. TechWomen Canada is run by the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco and accelerates the growth of Canada’s most promising women-run companies.  The program combines professional and business development opportunities with local industry experts, investors and strategic partners through networking events including a reception hosted by Cassie Doyle, Consul General of Canada.

Kristin Garn

Garn says, “I’m excited by this opportunity to meet more Canadian women in technology and to expand Mathtoons products and business into the U.S.”  TechWomen 2013 participants will be paired with mentors from leading companies in Silicon Valley and will receive training and skills in their specific area of expertise as well as professional guidance and support.  “It’s an impressive group of women to be included among,” says Garn, “and I think it’s amazing to have an Okanagan technology company represented in this program.”

Mathtoons is an educational technology company that creates digital teaching and learning tools designed specifically for today’s tech savvy learners. They create mobile apps and online content which combine the newest digital innovations with the most recent educational research, connecting  students and teachers to math topics and working with schools and universities across Canada.  “We’re hoping that this program will help us reach a larger global audience and expand our opportunities,” says Garn.  The program runs in San Francisco from May 13 to 16, and Garn will be tweeting her experiences from @Mathtoons throughout the event.

For more information on the program, visit the TechWomen Canada website.

The post Mathtoons Media Chosen to Participate in TechWomen Canada 2013 appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Hosting Credit

Startups in AO’s Venture Acceleration Program (VAP) and Traction Program can spend up to $1000 per month on SoftLayer’s platform for one full year, including dedicated servers, cloud servers or a hybrid of both.

Help and Advice

Program members get connected with SoftLayer’s award winning Innovation Team. These are the über smart guys who created the SoftLayer Platform and its advanced Automation System. As their most senior technology team, these innovators are experts at things like massively scalable software and hardware architectures, Cloud, globally distributed computing, security, ―Big Data‖ DB’s (Mongo etc.) and all of the other crazy new “Best and Next Practices” in modern and forward looking compute.

Marketing and Exposure

Startups on AO’s Programs also get connected to SoftLayer’s Marketing Team. Things like guest blog posts, Skype and on-site video interviews, white papers, use-cases and more. When they are out of Beta, ask about their Technology Partners Marketplace, which exposes startups to thousands and thousands of SoftLayer’s customers.

Who Are SoftLayer?

SoftLayer is the worlds most advanced Dedicated, Cloud and Hybrid hosting Company. They integrate best-in-class technology and connectivity into the industry’s only fully automated platform, empowering startups with complete access, control, security, and scalability.

http://www.twitter.com/softlayer

http://www.facebook.com/softlayer

The post SoftLayer Offers $12,000 Worth Of Services To Every AO Program Company appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Traction Program client, Hustream Video, has created a fully interactive video showcasing AO’s events, community and programs. Check it out and choose your own adventure!

Interactive video is a unique and innovative twist on standard video that has caught of the eye of Microsoft, Intel, Lenovo, Isagenix and over 40 other Hustream clients who were seeking something new to give them that competitive edge.

Interactive Video is a ‘choose your own adventure’ style where the viewer, by way of decision points placed within the video, navigates through the video content seeking only the stuff they want to see. Instead of watching an entire video, Interactive Video is all about viewing short, relevant, and to the point video clips. The result is a highly engaging viewer experience that has proven to increase engagement 5x longer than standard video.

Thanks Hustream! We love it.

The post We’ve Gone Interactive appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Techvibes, Canada’s leading technology news site, has extended a 50% discount to Accelerate Okanagan Members and Program clients (VAP and Traction) for single job postings on their job board.

The Techvibes site gets thousands of visitors per day. Posting jobs on their job board is a great way to gain visibility for potential candidates from across Canada, and around the world.

If you want access to the discount code, please contact Accelerate Okanagan (contact@accelerateokanagan.com).

Also, don’t forget that you can post jobs on the AO Job Board for free as a Member too. Since January 1st 2013, we have had over 120 jobs posted and 40,000 page views on our Job Board.

Legal/Financial/HR Business Clinics

Do you need any legal, financial, or human resources advice about your company, or potential company?

Accelerate Okanagan Partner firms donate professional advisory time every month to help companies in the Okanagan technology community. It is part of their long-term commitment to seeing the growth of the tech community.

Private appointments can be booked in 45 minute slots and are open to Program clients, Members, and technology companies in the Okanagan.

If you could use some advice from a legal, financial, or human resource professional, please connect with Accelerate Okanagan (contact@accelerateokanagan.com) and check out our events calendar  for more info and the full schedule.

Legal Clinics are held every second Monday. Financial Clinics are held once every two weeks in Kelowna, and once per month in Penticton. HR clinics are held once per month. All clinics are  available either in person, or via conference call or Skype. Participating firms include KPMG, Grant Thornton, White Kennedy, Pushor Mitchell, and Gowlings. They are a very talented group of companies who can help take your business to the next level.

Boost Your Media Coverage

We have created a Members only media portal on the AO website. Log in and take advantage of the new Members Media Service for tips on how to create and distribute content to maximise your media coverage. The Media Service is available to Club Members, AO Technology Premium Members and all AO Program Clients (VAP and Traction). We can tweet for you, send out media releases to our extensive media contact list and add success stories to our blog and other social media sources. Check it out here.

Other

As an AO Member you can also benefit from the following resources:

• Discounts to AO events
• Job Board
• Resume Bank (resumes from talented individuals looking for work in the tech sector are being added daily. Log in to the AO website to check it out.)
• Full Company Listing on the AO website
• Voting rights at the AGM
• Media Service (tech Members only)
• BCTIA Member Benifits
• and more..

AO Memberships start at $300 per year! Give us a call on 250 870 9028 or an email at contact@accelerateokanagan.com if you would like to discuss becoming a Member.

The post New Members Benefits…Techvibes.. Free Legal, HR and Finance Services.. and PR & Media Service appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Based out of Kelowna, Get in the Loop was launched in 2011, experiencing early traction with their exclusive golf discounts. Since then, the company has experienced rapid growth and is expanding into other industries and regions. Founder, Matt Crowell said, “After year two, I knew there was a big opportunity outside of just offering great discounts on golf. This year, we are excited to be launching the new members site in the Okanagan, providing an array of discounting opportunities to our members.”

Get in the Loop has seen extensive growth to their membership over the past 2 years and is excited to disrupt the discount industry. When asked about the differences between Get in the Loop and other discount websites such as Groupon and Smart Betty, Crowell said,

“We are different in two ways. First, our membership is focused on exclusive facilities that generally do not offer discounted rates such as higher end restaurants, golf clubs and wineries. Secondly, members only get deals that they are interested in. If you like playing golf, you get in the Golf Loop. If you like to eat out, you will get exclusive restaurant deals through the Restaurant Loop.”

Get in the Loop members receive regular offers at premium businesses like The Harvest Golf Club, Sparkling Hills Resort, and Rics Grill to name a few. It’s not just a discount website, but a local community that offers mutual benefits.

Matt Crowell, Founder of Getintheloop Marketing

Crowell credits the success of his company to their quality business partners and the member’s commitment to supporting their favorite local spots. Get in the Loop has been known to host great annual golf tournaments, featuring all local sponsorship, great prizes and of course at a great price.

Crowell says, “I am definitely excited about the new Loops we have added. Our golf events have always been a blast and its been great to watch the loop community connect. With the new Partners there is lots of opportunity for more awesome Get in the Loop events.”

Get in the Loop is currently developing their smartphone applications and in the process of adding even more great Partners.

To sign up, visit www.getintheloop.ca to register. Once registered, you will be able to view all of the Partners Get in the Loop is working with and choose which Loops you would like to be a member of. Once you have selected the Loops you love the most, press buy now and start saving money on great local entertainment.

About Getintheloop Marketing Ltd.

Get in the Loop is a membership community offering locals access to exclusive discounts at the most desirable businesses in their area. Loop Members are privy to an automated platform providing online and mobile booking tools. Loop Members get great deals and their partners get local long-term customers. The Get in the Loop concept provides businesses with the ability to instantly promote great discounts to their local Loop Members. An average Get in the Loop deal is roughly 50% off and can last 4 hours, 2 days or for a whole week, whatever their Partner decides to offer.

Web: www.getintheloop.ca
Twitter: @Getintheloop_
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Getintheloop.ca

The post Get in the Loop Launches to Offer Exclusive Discounts at Premium Golf Courses, Resorts and Restaurants appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

If you happened to miss out, luckily for you, the whole thing was taped and can be viewed below.

Enjoy!

Entrepreneurs Unplugged with David Burke from Accelerate Okanagan on Vimeo.

Entrepreneurs Unplugged is a monthly session where community members and students with technical backgrounds can learn about and get involved in entrepreneurship. Each  session features food, drink, networking and – most importantly – experienced entrepreneurs sharing their startup experience.

The next event falls on May 6th at the Streaming Cafe. Be sure to register early in order to reserve your seat. Falling on the first Monday of every month, each session will be hosted in the Streaming Cafe and will be live streamed online.

The post David Burke Talks Entrepreneurship at the Streaming Cafe – Video appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.

Kelowna proves that not only can tech hubs emerge outside the metropolis, but world-class companies can thrive here. The growing tech, gaming and animation hub in Kelowna is helping to put the interior on the map.

We caught up with some of the Kelowna and Penticton based studios and asked what they are working on:

Circle Radius Games – Penticton

Circle Radius Games are working on a gaming concept, “Duel at Paces”, a fun adversarial combat title for iOS and Android, delivering humorous old world dueling to mobile devices. The object is to walk apart at pace length, avoid harm as best as possible, and in turn, put some bullets into your adversary. Insult 18^th century style has never been so fun!

Michael Sur of Circle Radius says, “Advanced artificial intelligence based adversaries and quality gameplay allow our meticulously designed environments to run console quality graphics on your smartphone or tablet.” Players can choose from 7 Characters such as the Fat Lord and the Gypsy Woman and features include 7 old world flint guns to make them meet their maker and hilarious death animations.”

In development since February 2013 and slated for release Q1 2014, they are working hard to have the game out as soon as humanly possible.

Lemonade GameLabs – Kelowna

Ted Carefoot, Founder and CEO of Lemonade Gamelabs gave us an update on where they are at. “At Lemonade GameLabs Ltd, we have been growing quickly over the past month since having received our startup funding from the Community Futures program in March.”

Currently, we are negotiating a digital publishing deal from a group based out of Seattle WA, working on our first game project titled ‘Trapped’ (a 3d digital boardgame of survival where 1-4 players have entered a compromised orbiting derelict space station, having only moments to flee with their lives for iPad, PC, and Mobile platforms), planning a demo under an exclusivity agreement for the popular card collectable game ‘Smash-Up‘ (by AEG), and putting finishing touches on an internal game project called ‘Towers’.”

We are also building on our early success with ‘digiboardgames.com’ blog, which is a funnel for all breaking news on digital boardgames, collectible card games, and rpg releases for the iPad, PC, and mobile phone platforms.  We have doubled in size this past month, and may double once again before June if successful with our additional revenue program applications and publishing contract.”

Bardel Entertainment Inc. - Kelowna

Kelowna Innovation Centre tenant, Bardel,  is a fully integrated entertainment company, engaged in creating and producing award winning, audience driven content and creative services for industry leaders such as Nickelodeon, Twentieth Century Fox, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures. Led by its founders, Barry Ward and Delna Bhesania, the studio is recognized as one of Canada’s leading animation and digital media companies. The team are currently working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Monsters Versus Aliens alongside many other projects.

Yeti Farm Creative - Kelowna

Yeti Farm Creative, the Okanagan’s first 100% locally-owned commercial animation production company, continues to grow adding to their team of artists and animators working on undisclosed projects they hope to be able to announce in May at their grand opening along with their site re-launch. Check back here in May for the big announcement!

Hyper Hippo Productions - Kelowna

Two of the leading creative and business minds behind Disney’s Club Penguin, the number one virtual world for children, have formed Hyper Hippo Productions, a new studio that promises to offer fun and imaginative children’s properties for a wide range of digital platforms.

Lance Priebe, co-founder and creator of Club Penguin, and Pascale Audette, former Studio Head and Vice President of Global Operations for Disney Online Studios, will develop quality entertainment for children under the Hyper Hippo label.

“We are dedicated to creating a fantastic studio that will not only radically change how the industry perceives digital entertainment, but one that will positively impact children’s lives for years to come,” said Audette.  “In addition, it is important for us to invest in our local community through initiatives that increase the technology footprint in Kelowna, and in the global community through social outreach programs. Simply, our end goal is to make a positive impact in the world.”

Mech Mice, Hyper Hippo’s much anticipated first offering, has been a long time dream of Priebe’s, with development beginning prior to Club Penguin. An episodic journey, Mech Mice blends together rich story with a tactical strategy experience for a young generation of kids (ages 10 and up). The property is scheduled for release in 2013 and an open beta program will begin this summer. Hyper Hippo are Kelowna Innovation Centre tenants.

Dramaforum – Kelowna

The newest tenant at our cowork space, The Pod, Dramaforum Oy was established in Finland in 2003. Its goal is to support childhood needs and children’s natural eagerness to learn through various products in a way that is fun, interesting and safe.

In Dramaforum’s world, children can enjoy a safe childhood. The right to be a child and the right to live in a child’s world for as long as possible are essential elements of a safe childhood.  Dramaforum offers products and services that allow children to experience childhood and the world around them safely.

The virtual world of Petra’s Planet, which is based on the values promoted by Dramaforum, was launched in April 2012. Additionally, Dramaforum publishes a series of children’s books starring Petra as the main character on which the virtual world is also based.

WTFast

VAP client WTFast was founded in 2009 as a SAAS company that helps make online games up to 70% faster. For serious online gamers, there’s nothing worse than a connection that lags just when you’re about to break a spell, jump out of view, or slay your nemesis.

WTFast streamlines users’ game data by providing an ultra-fast, ultra-reliable path to proprietary game servers on the WTFast Gamers Private Network. The result is vastly improved response times, fewer disconnections, reduced lag spikes, smoother game play and improved overall performance – so gamers can win!

Benefiting all gamers, whether they lag all the time or once in a while, WTFast ensures an optimal game connection 100% of the time.

The month of January was phenomenal for WTFast. They saw over 120,000 new user registrations (60 day growth of 282%) nearly 100,000 active users and almost 3 million game sessions (60 day growth of 389%). They attribute their increased usage to online advertising, new game releases, increased fan promotion and gaming blog coverage on the web.

2 Hat Security

A Kelowna entrepreneur with a stellar track record for helping keep kids safe online is positioning himself to do it once more. Chris Priebe, who helped his brother make Club Penguin the safe and secure site that has since become an industry standard, now runs 2 Hat Security.

VAP company, 2Hat Security, is a professional penetration testing company with a unique twist. They are among the first to specialize not only in normal web apps but also in children’s safety online. Chris has extensive experience in children’s online virtual worlds including architecting and writing the moderation tools for Club Penguin which started the whole online flash virtual worlds for kids. Following that he has worked full time in securing 3 of the top 10 children’s virtual worlds for the Walt Disney Company and the miriads of services that support them.

Disney Online Studios

Kelowna-based Club Penguin, a massive multi- player virtual world for kids, sold to The Walt Disney Co. for $350 million in 2007.

Founded in March 2005, Club Penguin features avatars of animated penguins that live in an antarctic virtual world. Users can play games together, chat, care for in-game pets called “puffles” and furnish virtual homes with virtual accessories.

Lance Priebe and Lane Merrifield (2 of the 3 Club Penguin cofounders) took us through their entrepreneurial journey at the Streaming Cafe as part of Startup Week Okanagan.

https://vimeo.com/63772383

Gaming & Animation Industry Coffees

Lance Priebe of Hyper Hippo (and previously Disney) hosts Gaming & Animation Industry Coffees every Tuesday where local game & animation industry artists, producers, executives, entrepreneurs & everything in between gather for conversation and networking, every Tuesday, 8am-9am at the Streaming Cafe. If you are interested in learning more or would like to get out and meet some of the people mentioned above, sign up here to attend. It is open and it’s free and it is awesome!

The post Kelowna is Host To a Growing and Thriving Global Gaming & Animation Cluster appeared first on Accelerate Okanagan.