The VC Roundtable Series - Call to Action

Last year, I spent a good deal of time wandering around this camp or that camp or a Mash/Mesh thing hoping that more Canadian entrepreneurs would get a chance to interact with me (as a VC).  The thinking was that besides the obvious (deal flow), being accessible to the start up community, etc, is super important.

Somewhere along the way, weird stuff happened.  First, they turned into speaking engagements with no opportunity to actually engage with the very people I wanted to speak with. For example, I got invited to a Demo Camp to do a presentation. My presentation was in the same format as the Demo Camp's don't control the slides, super fast, etc.  It was cute but lots of people complained to me that it was the wrong way to do it, etc.  So, I started thinking that there had to be a better way to do this. 

Sometimes the venues just aren't really well suited.  Next Monday's Demo Camp, for example, has no time for any of the VC guys to 'speak' or 'teach' or anything which is a shame but it may not be the right place.  I sponsored it anyway because it is super important to the community.

Jevon MacDonald, who does an outstanding job of writing StartupNorth, often said that we (the VCs) in Canada are not doing enough outreach.  Jevon is right.

To solve this problem and to hopefully answer Jevon's complaint, I'm going to do what I'm calling a VC Roundtable Series of get togethers.  The format will be something like this - and I'm open to suggestions:

• Evening, about 3 hours in length
• Informal/Free (super important!)
• Small Groups (super important!)
• Information on VC/Angels and the process.
• Sample Term sheets, documents, business plans, PowerPoints
• Example Pitch or Pitches to show what's interesting/good/bad
• Open questions for a good chunk of time.

What it will not be:

• Demo/Startup/FooBar/Camp/Conference/MESH/MASH
• Me trashing your ideas
• You trashing somebody else's ideas
• Three hours of me showing you PowerPoint slides

The hope is that at the end of the get together you will have:

• An understanding of my world
• A good set of reference documents/examples/materials
• Some of your top of mind questions answered
• A better feel for my industry and if raising third party capital is right for you.
• A good place to start

I'm going to kick this off in late March.  The plan is to hit major cities in Canada, coast to coast.  If Air Canada will get me there on my Airpass, I'll go. If we can get 15 people in a room that care about this stuff, I'll attempt to do it.

How can you help?

First, I'd like to find an intern who wants to learn about the VC business, play pseudo-geek, and manage some of this.  This would be setting up the web page, sign up stuff, etc.  If you know of a student who wants a summer gig hanging out with me in VCland, let me know.

Second, I'll need to know where this makes sense so spread the word. The obvious is Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto but Halifax? St. Johns? I'm willing to go if there is an interest and I get there via Air Canada aircraft.

Third, need some places to host it.  The simple requirements are someplace quiet where we can hang around, chat.  A whiteboard or something to draw on would be great.  So, schools, library conference rooms, etc, all would be fine.

Fourth, spread the word and let's see if there is a real need. A little link love, word of mouth and hopefully, we'll make a positive impact.

We'll get a calendar up as soon as we can.

Comments

[David]

Great idea, and although I'm no longer a VC, I'm happy to help out in Vancouver. As a "reformed" VC I'm either much more, or much less, credible than I used to be. Let me know if you need anything.

[Thomas Purves]

This is a great idea Rick, as I was just gchatting to, um jevon,

"...this is good his idea. I saw [Rick] and Suzie give a really good break down on WTF term sheets are, the terms and how they work etc. at one of the those BoT breakfasts this stuff is like gold for young entrepreneurs or engineers, who would have no way of knowing this stuff. The expectation is, you are just supposed to learn it the hard way"

The startup community appreciates all your reaching-out work Rick!

[Steve 'Vinny' Esemplare]

Darn, wish I lived in Canada! Came across your blog Rick - lots of very, very useful information and insight into the VC world - an excellent job old friend!!

Blast from the past - do you know where I can get a copy of XTree Tools for Networks? Love to chat sometime - drop me an email.

[heri]

rick,

i think this is a great idea.

if you can make it to montreal, ping me, we will setup something.

[Dave Forde - The Connector]

Great idea, Toronto Tech Week (http://www.techweek.to) would definitely support this!

Dave

[Sylvain Carle]

Count me in as another supporter for a Montreal event, will do what we can to make this happen (and with Heri and a few other locals, it's a sure bet).

[Peter Armstrong]

Hi Rick,

If you're coming to Vancouver I'd love to help organize this, as there are many people from the Vancouver Ruby/Rails Meetup group (http://ruby.meetup.com/112/) which I organize who are either founding startups [myself included] or considering doing so. Please feel free to email me...

-Peter

[Ilya Grigorik]

Great idea Rick, looking forward to seeing this come true! If you ever want to do something in the Waterloo region (probably don't need Air Canada for this one), you know who to call on!

[John Carson]

Hey Rick,

Set up a Facebook group for this kind of event, easy to promote and send invites. Let me know if you need a hand.

John.

[Jenny]

I'd be happy to play Vancouver VC hostess! There are loads of others here who I'm sure would be happy to get involved too. Just let me know what you need.

[Radiant Core]

Rick —

This is a great idea and a fantastic way to reach out to the startup community and to help us understand the funding process. Let me know how I can help!

[Agoracom]

Finally! A conference that focuses on biz, rather than "cool". I was starting to feel like any conversations about money were taboo.

If you need a sponsor in Toronto, give me a buzz.

Regards,
George

[Richard Reiner]

Great idea... let me know if I can help.

Cheers,
Richard

[Arnold]

Terrific! How can I help?

[Joseph Thornley]

Great idea Rick. I'd be happy to offer my Boardroom for the Ottawa event - and to support you in the organization as well.

[Keith Glover]

I believe Air Canada files to Kelowna... We could set something up here in the Okanagan Valley.