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Show & Tell II was on Friday, and the teams got a lot of feedback and comments from both the Real Ventures Mentors and their peers. Here were some of the golden nuggets of the day:

“I’m still not excited about this.”

“I feel there’s something missing in terms of what this is all really about.”

“You’re talking about it like it’s a product, and everyone likes to have it, but I don’t think that’s enough.”

“You talked about revenue, where it’s coming from, but I think you should spend some time thinking about ‘Is this really what is is to me to everyone else, or is it something much bigger?’”

“Let’s assume you’re successful. What does that look like? You’re on every single phone in the world. What opportunity does that present you?”

“You have to kick someone’s ass. You’re being too nice. You have to be a killer.”

“You’re not going to win this by ballet dancing around it.”

“Everyone thinks their tools are the easiest, the simplest, the best. That’s why you need to find something to differentiate yourself.”

“It’s not quite magic enough.”

“I’m happy you’ve got a big story. The jury’s still out on whether you can make it happen.”

Happy Friday everyone! Today the teams got together for their second Show & Tell. Lots of feedback was in the airwaves and the teams came out with new outlooks and the drive to take it to the next level (check back on Monday for notes & photos from the day). To end the week, we thought we’d share these hilarious GIFs with you from Running a Startup‘s Tumblr. Have a great weekend everyone! 

When I get my inbox to zero, I’m like

When I get home from a 14 hour day, I’m like

When someone cancels a meeting at the last minute and I find myself with an unallocated hour, I’m like

After I give facebook permissions to an app, I’m like

When I read over law paperwork, I’m like

When I’m alone in the office with the music blaring, I’m like

When I’m on a conference call, I’m like

When I try and explain what I do, I’m like

Check out more thanks to Running a Startup. And keep smiling!

According to FastCompany, it “turns out, something as simple as tweaking the color of a button changes user behaviour or endears people to your product.” Read on for their findings or read the full article here. 

First, they presented the following quiz, taken from YouTube designer Marc Hemeon: “Based on just the colors of the buttons, can you guess which company belongs to each of them?”

Example 1 (easy):

Example 2 (easy):

Example 3 (medium):

Example 4 (hard):

 If you guessed Facebook, Google, Flickr, and LinkedIn, you were right!

Then they presented a breakdown of colours and the companies they represent, and why (thanks to the Logo Company):

Black:

Green:

Blue:

And gave examples of companies triggering different emotions:

Then they presented this KISSmetrics infographic on how colours affect our purchases:

And yet another KISSmetrics discovery, gender-specific colour preferences:

And finally, the surprising results that the red button generated 21% more clicks. 

Despite research data and everyone’s opinions, colours can surprise us! The best way to find out which colours work best for your company is by testing them out.

Which colours have worked best for you??

Canada’s Startup Accelerators have been getting a lot of press lately. Good press and bad–lots of happy Demo Day reports, successful companies, but also lots of questions on why there are so many, and what role they’re playing, exactly, in Canada’s economy. In two articles just this week, the Financial Post wrote about the “Glut of startup accelerators failing to produce the next Hootsuite or Shopify” and questioned: “Is Canada’s accelerator model broken?“

These articles surely sparked a lot of conversations in our office, and undoubtedly in the offices of accelerator programs across the country. As fate would have it, Real Ventures Venture Partner, FounderFuel Mentor, and more recently Chief Corporate Development Officer at FreshBooks, put our thoughts into words on his blog (read his post here). 

His main points were:

1. “Understand the role of accelerators, especially in geographic markets outside of places like Silicon Valley.” They’re not looking for the next Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Instagram. They’re there to “identify, nurture and develop talent.” There’s no denying Canada is lacking on the talent front when it compares to our neighbours down south–and accelerators are looking to help us cultivate the best talent we have and get it up to par. 

2. Accelerators give people who go through them a “better appreciation of what it takes to build and ship great products and what it takes to get funded. And every one of them is more fundable as a result.”

3. “What we are lacking here in Canada is density.” Accelerators aren’t sprinkling fairy dust and creating what we’re lacking, but they’re the building blocks in the accelerator ecosystem that is necessary to create such density. 

4. Accelerators, on the whole, don’t churn out tech giants. “By Paul Grahams’s own admission [...] Airbnb and Dropbox – account for 75%” of Y Combinator’s portfolio value. This doesn’t mean that they don’t help shape great companies, founders and ideas.

5. “Good (and by that [we] mean BIG) things take time.” Many startups that have had great success have been around ”far longer than any of our accelerators.” 

And finally, “The whole notion that in 3 months you can figure out your path towards building a market leader is crazy. And anyone who thinks that will only be disappointed. Acceleration is great, but there’s no substitute for being in the market day in day out trying to find and delight customers.” 

Good stuff, Mark. 

You’ve probably heard of Buffer. That little stack of black squares on the toolbar of your browser that lets you magically post to social networks at optimized points in time…without having to do any of the math or thinking. A few days ago one of our teams shared with us a post written by Leo Widrich, the company’s co-founder, on the pitch they used to raise $500K. Here are the tips he had to share on making their pitch a success:

1. Share your slide deck with other startups! “Sharing the actual slidedeck we used (and one, that’s not 10 years old) is by far one of the most useful things for others to learn from.”

2. Ratio thinking. “If you do something often enough, you’ll get a ratio of results. Anyone can create this ratio.”

“The law of averages really comes into play with raising investment. Overall, we probably attempted to get in contact with somewhere around 200 investors. Of those, we perhaps had meetings with about 50. In the end, we closed a $450k seed round from 18 investors. Perhaps the most important part of our success in closing that round was that Leo and I would sit down in coffee shops together and encourage each other to keep pushing forward, to send that next email asking for an intro or a meeting. In many ways, the law of averages is the perfect argument that persistence is a crucial trait of a founder.”

3. Traction is key. Make it your key slide! “We quickly realized that as first time founders, this was probably our only way to raise any money: By focusing everything on the traction slide.”

“So my advice for first time founders who want to raise funding is almost always to put that thought aside until you have good traction. Instead, focus completely on traction. Focus on product/market fit. When you have good traction, it becomes much easier to raise funding.”

4. If your space is crowded, explain the competition–and clearly!  

Check out their slide deck here.

James from LaBarge Weinstein gave the companies the following advice on how to develop their team’s set of Founder Ethics. It’s worth your time doing the following exercise with your team to make sure your values are aligned. As James said, the best teams focus less on details and more on values.

Have each member of your team read the five statements below, and gage your individual reactions. For every point, ask yourself: do you feel ok with the statement? Does the statement make you feel uneasy? Are you completely against the statement? Your team’s reactionary values to these five comments will help you develop the philosophy of how your agreements should be shaped. 

The 5 statements to establish your Founder Ethics:

1. My shares will vest over time.
2. If I cease to be employed for ANY reason (whether I quite or am let go), I lose unvested shares. 
3. I will not control the votes attached to my shares.
4. I will be diluted without my consent. 
5. I will be the last to get liquidity for my shares. 

These statements will help your team develop a philosophy and values around standardized terms. These will come into play in Equity Agreements, IP Agreements, Shareholder Agreements and Employee Agreements, among others.

L’événement s’adresse à tous les journalistes, développeurs, statisticiens et designers qui s’intéressent au journalisme de données et à l’enjeu des données ouvertes.

Quoi ?

Hack Journalisme est un hackathon organisé par le journal Les Affaires. Comme la dénomination l’indique, les projets qui devraient émerger de Hack Journalisme seront de nature journalistique. Ils pourront prendre la forme de textes, de cartes, de tableaux et même d’applications.

Où ?

L’événement aura lieu à la Maison Notman, au 51, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, à Montréal.

Quand ?

L’événement aura lieu du 15 au 16 juin 2013.

Pourquoi ?

Le but de l’événement est de favoriser la collaboration interdisciplinaire en matière de journalisme de données. Ces échanges contribueront à la démocratisation de cette discipline hybride, elle-même susceptible de déboucher sur une société plus ouverte et sur une population mieux informée.

Inscrivez-vous!

In case you haven’t noticed, patents are making the news. IP law is in the headlines. Today, the folks at Fasken Martineau stopped by to talk IP law to the teams. And no, nobody was bored or uninterested. Turns out these guys have some pretty good stories that are all too relevant to startups today. 

Take John Baker, for instance. He started Desire2Learn when he was still in university. When he was building his e-learning platform, he thought he was building a fortress. Turns out there was a gaping door in his fortress. It was IP law. He ended up being sued by several agencies. He learned the hard way that IP needs to be protected. 

A common misconception is that technology evolves too quickly for patents. It doesn’t, and IP lawsuits are EXPENSIVE, so do your research!

Why patent?

1. Some investors like patents. How can you stop someone from doing what you’re doing? Patents. 

2. Exit strategy. Think of potential acquirers. They will see lots of value in you having a patent.

How can a startup implement a patent strategy? There are several different options available: 

1. Copyrights: protects human expression (novels, plays, drawings, movies, etc.) – extended to protect software

2. Patents: Protects the product of human ingenuity (achines, chemical compositions, electronic devices, etc.)

3. Trademarks: protects the means used by consumers to identify the origin of goods or services

4. Trade secrets: protects information and technical developments that have commercial value because of their secret nature

In short, startups need to do their research and always have sound legal advice on hand. If you do your duty and get your IP law covered, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches and money in the long run!

When it comes to legal matters, it’s impossible to be too thorough. A one line clause on page 4 of a contract can come back to bite you in the derriere, so make sure you protect your startup’s tushy by understanding the types of agreements that you sign, and the possible repercussions. 

Arguably, The Term Sheet is one of the most important agreements your company will sign. It is the agreement between you and your investors, it outlines your relationship and describes the rights and responsibilities you will hold to each other.  

This week, JS and and James from LaBarge Weinstein talked to the companies on this topic. JS walked the companies through the Real Ventures term sheet, explaining each line, and James discussed a practical approach for startups to take vis a vis the legalities of raising money. 

Each VC will have their own term sheet. Each will have terms they’re more flexible with and terms that have no room for negotiation. So you will have to review each agreement carefully, and, it’s highly recommended that you do so with the aid of a lawyer who understands these types of deals. In Canada, most law firms do not focus on “startup law” — LaBarge Weinstein does! and they’re pretty stand up people — so take the time to find a lawyer who is well versed in this specific area.

The term sheet outlines what you and your investor are agreeing to in regards to investment amount in exchange for either convertible notes or equity. Most VCs don’t like convertible notes because these do not align their interests with yours, and so most VCs will prefer equity to establish a true partnership. 

When you set your closing date, understand that very rarely will this date be met. Set a date that allows you to close about a month after.

A good part of the term sheet will focus on what type of shares you’re granting to the investor and the terms. The type of shares will determine how the investor would get his or her money back. By the way, you’ll be better off having a clause with no dividend and agreeing on a price that is fair for both parties. This may mean a lower valuation for your company, but it is better to keep the terms simple.

Among other things, the term sheet establishes when the investor can be bought back, known as redemption, it gives the investor protective provisions, such as a veto and the right to approve all major decisions made by the company, the right to buy more shares in the future to maintain the same percentage of the company, and it sets the option pool of shares that most be reserved for future employees of the company.

This is just a gist of what the term sheet includes — the best thing you can do, after hiring a good lawyer, is to familiarize yourself with the various points of the term sheet and reflect on which ones your company is flexible with and which ones you feel strongly about. 

Today George Favvas spoke to the teams on being a Canadian in the Valley. Originally from Montreal, George moved to the Bay Area in 2011 as co-founder and CEO of Rewardli, which lets self-employed and small business owners leverage the buying power in their social networks so they can get better deals on the products and services they need. Since moving to the Bay Area, George has learned the ins and outs of being a Canadian living south of the border–and has apparently seen his hair go from dark to grey (but we think it suits him just fine!). Here’s his top ten tips on being a maple leaf in the golden state:

1. Flying in on Monday and leaving on Friday will not give you the time to raise a round. No matter how much you hustle. 

2. Talk to investors in parallel. Monogamy in fundraising is not going to get you anywhere.

3. Beware of big VCs that will talk you in circles but won’t invest at the seed stage. Don’t waste your time on them!

4. There are tons of resources (like the C100) that can be useful to startups in the Bay Area, so come visit! It’s only a 6-9 hour journey.

5. Get legal advice on your company structure and visa options. There are ways for you to move to the Golden State, for sure! (but it’s not through Startup Visas and it’s not easier just because you’re Canadian)

6. Think about Angels (small $ amounts, faster investments, belief in the team, sensitive to valuations, OK with 3x return) vs. VCs (big $ amounts, less valuation sensitive) and what kind of money you want.

7. Be polite and prepared at the border. They ultimately decide the fate of your trip!

8. The rule of thumb for raising and exiting: you need to exit for at least 10x the capital you raised.

9. As a physical place, with its critical mass of ideas & people, San Francisco is hard to replicate. However, replicating the state of mind that rules San Francisco is easy: take risks, accept failure, iterate quickly, become scalable, be a do-er not a talker, and shed your lazy behaviour!

10. Don’t forget your roots! George himself says that he occasionally visits his hometown of Montreal for a fix of the best bagels and smoked meat in the world

Check back for the slides from George’s chat: