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Get On the Idea Train, Direction: International Startup Festival!

“All aboard the ThreeFortyNine Roadtrip!!”

Looking for a way to spice up your summer?

This summer, ThreeFortyNine, an awesome coworking space in Guelph, is filling a first-class train car with Ontario startups, investors and the startup curious for a ride to the International Startup Festival! That’s over ten hours on a train with over 50 startup junkies–not to mention activities and networking opportunities to boot! They’ve got great plans lined up to make it the most fun and enriching train ride you’ve ever been on, like mentor speed dating, powerpoint karaoke, and a pitch competition. Sign up and get a ride to and from the festival from either Kitchener, Guelph, or Toronto, and have the chance to meet Ontario startups, investors and mentors. Don’t miss it! 

Check out the event and register here. 

Today we wished JS Cournoyer, partner at Real Ventures, a very happy birthday. Hip hip! Hooray!

Over the last few days, and up until Demo Day, the teams have been split up for a lot of the time in preparation for the big day. The CEOs will be put to work fine-tuning their pitches, while the technical leads, designers and marketing people will be working full speed to bring their products to the top of their game and assemble kick-ass pitch decks.

“Engineers vs. ad operations. Product vs. public relations. Often, the “geeks” of the office operate differently than other departments. The question is how to bring them all together.” (Mashable)

With this in mind, it’s important to consider the differences that might arise between the various roles that exist in a startup. Fostering healthy relationships between the members of your team means embodying a positive company culture. Doing this while the CEO is off practicing their pitch all day and the rest of the company is working on the product can be hard. That’s why it’s important to maintain open channels of communication, assume equal responsibilities (as much as this is possible), build a good team, and to cross pollinate (sharing is caring) with information. The more each person knows about how the rest of the company is working, the better they will be able to do their job. “Both sides need to understand the why, not just the what.”

“All team members hear and see all issues. Encourage engineers to go to call centers to meet the folks on the customer front line. Have sales people attend development meetings. And finally, place executives in the trenches with product and technology. Whether it’s pizza at 4 a.m. or a brief strategy meeting in the CEO’s office, it’s a team effort — from first year grads to the very top.”

Finally, even if you have completely opposite schedules, take the time to sit down at least once a week and talk over what’s been happening. If you’ve been pitching all week and struggling with how to communicate your vision or a certain feature, ask the person who wrote or designed it. If you’re building part of the product and aren’t sure exactly what the company had in mind, ask. These sessions will give everyone time to openly talk about problems or achievements, thus keeping communication open and progress a number one priority. 

There’s no need for separation anxiety as the roles within the company become more defined or as responsibilities mean less time spent with your team. Just keep communication open and honest, do your best to embody a positive company culture, and your business will come out stronger as a result.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. It’s all the teams seem to do these days. Very often, after a pitching session, teams must return to the drawing board to rework, reword, and get their ideas flowing. Hence a little look into the art of brainstorming (and how our teams do it)

Can you count the number of times your primary and secondary teachers would draw a big cloud with a word in it on the board with satellite clouds around it and ask you to raise your hand and shout out ideas? Chances are, it happened a lot — and we remember it: brainstorming. You’re expected to spit out as many words/ideas you can possibly think of related to the word or idea in the big cloud. And no ideas are to be laughed at or considered stupid. 

It turns out brainstorming is not as earth-shatteringly productive as we all thought it to be back in the day. Sure, you’d think that criticism would slow creativity. But in FastCompany’s article entitled “The Brainstorming Process is BS but Can We Rework It?,” they look at the fact that “Numerous studies have [verified that]: Putting people into big groups doesn’t actually increase the flow of ideas. Group dynamics themselves–rather than overt criticism–work to stifle each person’s potential.”

Through studies by Jonah Lehrer and Susan Cain, it’s been proven that “the presence of criticism actually increases the flow of ideas.” Go figure. Susan Cain’s study and book, Quiet, shows that there’s also something to be said about thinking on your own. Susan Cain analyzes the New Groupthink in a New York Times article, looking at the ability and necessity of an individual to think creatively on their own. She points out that “most humans have two contradictory impulses: we love and need one another, yet we crave privacy and autonomy,” meaning that for many, working alone is when we’re most productive, but that the chance to give and receive criticism as well as to discuss with our peers is an invaluable part of our creative process and helps us to find better answers to our questions. Traditional brainstorming might be dead, but research is giving way to a new way of approaching creative processes, and it doesn’t start with a cloud on the blackboard. It starts within each one of us. 

So, we’ve all got ideas within us. But “Good ideas usually don’t hang by themselves, unattached. They come about as solutions.” How does the new breed of brainstorming (the one that allows criticism) play a part in the process of problem solving?

FastCompany’s Cliff Kuang argues that “allowing criticism into a room full of people trying to brainstorm allows them to refine and redefine a problem. Adding more and more complex problems to the mix doesn’t stifle creativity–it actually gives the mind more to work with, simply by demanding that we find better and better answers.” In a follow-up article to calling the brainstorming process BS, Daniel Sobol looks into the power and importance of “deliberative discussion” – argue, discuss, argue, discuss. Rinse and repeat.

The idea of getting a group of people together to throw ideas around is a constructive one–given that it involves criticism, and looks not only at solutions, but problems as well (which usually ends up bringing about even better solutions). The group aspect of brainstorming was not entirely wrong. They just didn’t realize that “brainstorms can activate a neurological fear of rejection and that groups are not necessarily more creative than individuals. Brainstorming can actually be detrimental to good ideas.” They were, however, on the right track with the environment–they just didn’t hit the nail exactly on the head. For some rules to follow during your new brainstorming (aka deliberative discussion) sessions, check out what Daniel Sobol had to say here.

Here are the articles in their entirety:

The Brainstorming Process is BS But Can We Rework It? 

Innovation Is About Arguing, Not Brainstorming. Here’s How To Argue Productively

The Rise of the New Groupthink

Groupthink

We asked our 11 teams how they view the creative process and when they are most creative/innovative. Here’s what came of the pseudo e-mail brainstorm: 

We bid last week’s rain adieu and said hello to over 100 people for the first-ever FounderFuel Community BBQ! The event was a hit, with hot dogs and Molson Canadian for all. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the community, meet great people, and enjoy the beginning of summer!  Here are some photos from the evening: 

Thank you to our generous sponsors, Molson Coors for the beer and Notman House for hosting the event. 

We’re near the end of the accelerator road for our 11 startups, and it’s just the beginning for them! Here’s a bit on the bumpy rise of a startup: 

HackFwd is a European pre-seed investment company and they put together this great infographic, which was shared by FastCompany as the infographic of the day a while ago. They called it the “bumpy rise of a startup.” So appropriate. If anything, the teams know by now that the rise (and falls) of a startup are as bumpy as a road made out of speed bumps. 

Our favourite parts of the infographic? “Can I bring my light saber on an airplane?,” “Get to know your peers” (that’s part of what FounderFuel’s all about), and “Passionate about an idea.” So many of these steps are embodied in the FounderFuel program, and we’d like to thank the guys at HackFwd for putting together this roadmap of the rise of a startup! 

Sometimes the little things get overlooked when preparing your pitch. Here’s a list of things you might forget but should always keep in mind:

1. Stand straight on two feet. Don’t sway from side to side.

2. Be excited and share your enthusiasm with the audience.

3. Don’t be afraid to smile.

4. Make eye contact with the audience and scan the room.

5. Say your brand name as often as possible rather than “we”. For example, “FounderFuel features 100+ mentors” rather than “We feature 100+ mentors.”

6. Be assertive: don’t say things like “we think we can do XYZ.” Instead say “we will do XYZ.”

7. Speak in short sentences. Get to the point fast.

8. Insert ‘pauses’ in your script. They’re powerful and dramatic, allowing you to put emphasis on important points. Moreover, they give the audience a chance to really understand the point you’re making.

9. Use voice variations in your speed, volume, etc. so that it isn’t the same tone throughout.

10. Never look at the big screen behind you. You have a monitor for that.

11. Don’t have things (mobile phone, change, keys, etc.) in your pockets that could lead to a distraction. Nothing! 

12. Keep your hands out of your pocket. Keep your arms free for gestures.

13. Hold the clicker in one hand. Don’t move it from one hand to another or hold it with 2 hands.

14. Don’t say “sorry” if there’s any kind of error. Just move on.

15. Have a bottle of water nearby to avoid dry mouth.

There you have it! Put these tips into practice when giving your pitch and you’ll be drawing a crowd of investors when you’re done. 

Today, to get ready for tomorrow’s FounderFuel Community BBQ, the cohort got their gardening gloves on and cleaned up the front yard! Here are just a couple of photos from the efforts. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand!

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Shakespeare wrote these words in his oft-quoted Romeo and Juliet. But was he right? Juliet speaks these words to Romeo, implying that a name means nothing and she and Romeo ought to be together (despite their feuding families). When it comes to naming your startup, contrary to what Juliet thought (oh, silly Juliet), a name is not nothing, and it deserves a lot of thought. 

“Never forget that your name is the first thing to come out of your mouth every time you pitch your company.” (Julian Shapiro, TheNextWeb)

The name of your startup is the first impression you make: it can be an attention catcher, or it can be off-putting. It’s not something to be overlooked nor is it something that necessarily comes to you right away. Already during this cohort, two companies have renamed themselves and are undergoing rebranding. And it’s not a small task. Choosing a name that resonates with your customers, your audience, and reflects your vision is a big undertaking. 

“In spite of the frustration startups experience, coming up with a name is a straightforward process,” says Julian Shapiro of TheNextWeb. He says to compile a list of keywords (from company names you like, relevant topics to your startup, what makes you different), find out if the domain is available, “and you’ll find yourself with a handful of great names at reasonable prices.” “With your top name choices in mind, there are two things you need to do before making your final decision: You must decide how much money to spend, and you must collect feedback.” Once you’ve done that, you’re pretty much set. Shapiro also goes into what makes a name weak vs. strong, and some great success stories. 

Just as you wouldn’t name your child or dog just anything, you shouldn’t name your company just anything either. Get all the details and the guide on how to name your startup in the TNW article here.