Something Ventured: Archive Insight For BC Technology Entrepreneurs By Brent Holliday 1. Our Technology Industry (Rants and Raves) 2. Building Fast Companies 3. BC Company Case Studies 4. Technology Trends 5. Financing Do's and Dont's     Our Tech Industry (Rants and Raves)     August 8, 2008: How to Fix Venture Capital in Canada, Part 2 In a follow up to the last column, Brent dives into his opinions on how to fix venture capital in Canada. Based on the history, some things will be hard to un-do, but the only way to move forward is to get returns for the investors. Sounds easy? Not.   July 25, 2008: How to Fix Venture Capital in Canada, Part 1 An interesting discussion started recently by the gentlemen starting BootUp Labs in Vancouver. It was on how the community can help to fix Venture Capital in Canada. An auspicious goal! This week Brent decides to back up and discuss the history of VC in Canada and how it may have been broken in the first place...   June 13, 2008: Exit Signs It may be Friday the 13th, but the news is not all gloomy for IPO and M&A, the two paths to exiting your successful technology business. This week Brent de-constructs what drives these exit types and gives you his opinion on where we are in the cycle for both possibilities.   May 2, 2008: Making Green Going Green? Clean technology investment is way up in the US and Canada. Hype about global warming is driving the demand for new innovations and solutions. This week Brent argues that a bubble is forming nicely around clean technology and goes into the benefits to investors and hopefully to BC, which has been the cradle of the green movement for 40 years.   April 18, 2008: Above The RIM Which company is the largest in Canada by market capitalization today? A bank? An oil company? Here’s a hint: it’s a technology company with an incredibly addictive gadget. This week Brent goes outside of BC to marvel at the biggest company in the land and celebrate its prominence before it gets passed by a load of fertilizer.   April 4, 2008: Thirty Six Hundred Days of Tech On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Brent writing his first column for T-Net, we cordially invite you to join him in his look back at an amazing decade in technology locally and worldwide. That’s this week in Something Ventured.   February 1, 2008: A Look Back to the Future A learned economist from Portland came to town this past week to tell us about the future and how to access the people and talent to make that future bright for BC’s technology industry. He described a person that grew up in another region, became educated and mobile before their 25th birthday and moved to Vancouver to seek their career start. He described Brent. And now Brent represents what we need in our labour pool, someone who is engaged in the industry and stuck. Read how in this week’s Something Ventured.   January 18, 2008: 2008... Oh Great 2008 is not off to a great start for business and the economy in general.  So how come Brent and a few dozen other entrepreneurs and investors were smiling just this week?  What do we know?  Where might we all go?  Get Brent’s view in this week’s Something Ventured.   December 21, 2007: Year End Fluff Piece At the end of the year, journalists are with their families and write “fluff pieces” to fill the gap between Christmas and New Years.  Not to be left out, Brent lobs a few quotes and links that he found around the Internet out for you to enjoy.  See you in 2008!   December 7, 2007: Happy Christmas ’Tis the season to be happy… right? It depends on your role in the technology company, says Brent. Regardless of your role and your stress levels, he tries to lend some perspective this holiday season with a powerful little video that some of you may have seen already. Check it out this week in Something Ventured.   November 9, 2007: Industry Health Check After receiving a health check himself, Brent decided to play doctor and diagnose the BC technology industry.  Find out how he thinks the industry is doing against the baseline check ups from 2003 and 2005, this week in Something Ventured.   October 19, 2007: Woe Canada A prominent Canadian entrepreneur, who made all of his money in America, has issued a stinging wake up call to Canada about why he will never start a business here.  Brent responds to his call to action and adds his theory as to how we compete in the short and long term as a nation… this week in Something Ventured.   September 7, 2007: Economy Is Less Than Prime All anyone wants to talk about today is the sub-prime mortgage debacle and that the US economy is teetering on the brink of recession.  This week, Something Ventured seeks to explain what happened (in a humorous metaphor, of course) and what your early stage technology company can do to avoid it affecting your bottom line.   June 15, 2007: IPO Dreams A Reality? The dream goes like this: Greedy venture capitalist, stung by years of mediocre returns wakes up to the glorious news… The technology IPO is back!  The technology IPO is back!  Is the nightmare finally over?  This week Brent explores the steadily improving environment for the hallowed path to early stage investor riches…   June 1, 2007: Two Ideas Today This week Brent couldn’t decide which column to write, so he wrote two.  First he responds to a popular Judy Bishop column about e-mail overload in the workplace.  Then he discusses and links you to a great new set of podcasts set up to chronicle the origins of BC’s technology industry.   April 27, 2007: The Next Shift Something Ventured has an assignment for you. This week you will find a link to a short presentation. It is thought provoking and extremely relevant to you as a technology industry participant, as a Canadian with a job and/or as a parent. It’s all about the Shift underway in the world as it flattens, gets faster and contains much more information. See it, read Brent’s thoughts and form your own.   March 30, 2007: BC's Content Creators Digital media is hot. Within digital media is the video game industry and it is equally hot. This week Brent profiles some local up-and-comers in the game industry and shows you how they will profit from the ongoing digital media boom.   March 2, 2007: Send People and Money According to the recent Tech Talent Survey by the BCTIA, there is a burning need for more talented people in the technology industry today (and there has always been a burning need for capital). This week Brent talks about the macro or industry view of the talent and capital issues and tries to show the micro or company view to the reader to see how it connects to your company.   January 12, 2007: The Year of Tech Once again it's crystal ball time. Without too much regurgitation of everything else you are reading about the technology industry in 2007, Brent takes his own look at what lies ahead this year and he sees... Good Times.   December 8, 2006: Requiem for Innovation? Buried in the news of the formation of the largest telecommunications equipment company in the world with the merger of Lucent and Alcatel was the fact that Bell Labs, the corporate research arm of Lucent, will be re-focused on strict product development, not basic research.  It is the end of the Bell Labs that we all knew.  This week Brent looks at its demise and compares it to MPR Teltech and its shutdown in the 90’s.  What does it means for innovation in North America?   October 27, 2006: Bears and Bulls in BC Are you a bear or a bull for BC’s technology industry?  Brent looks at the big technology companies and the early stage data as well as the anecdotal evidence and comes to a conclusion about the near future, this week in Something Ventured.   August 25, 2006: A Financial History Lesson There is a bubble afoot in the financial world in the field of private equity (venture capital is a subset of PE).  Brent asks this week in Something Ventured, if we have learned our history lessons and understand what is likely to happen next.   June 17, 2006: BC’s Fertile Ground Brent takes a moment from the cake cutting ceremony for his 200th T-Net column posted this week to actually deliver some content.  A study done in the US measured start-up activity by looking at the ratio of start-ups posting jobs to popular job boards.  Brent does the analysis for BC and, guess what, we do very well as compared to many US regions.   April 3, 2006: Are The Big Hitters Still Swinging? Like any geographic technology cluster, BC has a few technology companies that account for most of the revenue and many of the employees.  For the overall health of our industry, you really need to know the health of the largest companies.  This week Brent looks at the recovery of some of the biggest names around town to gauge the health of our region.   January 27, 2006: Is There Anything to Harp About? Mr. Martin, we barely knew you.  No space on the $10 bill for your mug, you 18 month PM, you.  Mr. Harper breezes in to Ottawa with a similar fate probably awaiting him.  What does his new government mean for the technology industry in BC?  Anything at all?  This week, Brent adds his new Liberal commercial about Stephen Harper to the fray and discusses what the change in government means for Vancouver’s technology industry.   January 13, 2006: Prediction Without Superstition Despite the fact that this column was published on Friday the 13th, dire predictions for 2006 are not what’s in store for the IT industry.  In fact, the news looks pretty good as many much-hyped technologies are reaching critical mass this year.  Brent synthesizes the 2006 predictions from a variety of sources this week in Something Ventured.   December 5, 2005: Tech IPO: Here We Go? With March Networks scorching hot after its IPO, VCom off to a good start, Miranda Technologies about to launch next week and Tim Horton’s going public in January, Brent asks this week if the IPO market is back for Canadian technology companies.  Wait a second… Tim Horton’s a tech company?  No, not really, but like a morning double-double, it’s hot too!   November 18, 2005: Interesting Vista After exposure to the new Microsoft products, Windows Vista and Office 12, Brent got to thinking (always dangerous) about how Microsoft is positioned this time around for what will be a battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of enterprise and consumers next year.  Many critics believe Microsoft has missed the boat again, but Brent doesn’t want to bet against Bill G.   September 9, 2005: A House of Cards In venture capital circles, it was the equivalent of sudden celebrity break-up or a sports star busted for steroids.  A shocking surprise sending tongues wagging all over the country.  The Ontario government suspended tax credits for labour sponsored funds in that province, an effective stop to tax-assisted fund raising for early stage investment.  But wait, there’s more.  Three days later, the largest life sciences investor in Canada announces it’s for sale… immediately.  How is all this going to affect BC?  Is the sky falling?  Check out Something Ventured this week to find out.   June 13, 2005: Top Ten Percent Or Bust The mantra of the new provincial government and the BC TIA is to make Vancouver a top ten technology centre by 2010.  After spending some time with the leading VCs in the Silicon Valley , Brent is of the opinion that, although lofty, this has to be our collective goal because it appears that the spoils of technology go only to the very top few percent. Find out why this week in Something Ventured.   May 20, 2005: More And Less Now that the politicians are done the theatre and are back to work, Brent asks them to consider early stage company formation and some structural problems we seem to have in Canada.  Read his letter to the Premier and the Prime Minister in this week’s Something Ventured.   May 6, 2005: Four More Years With Adscam and a generally good feeling about BC, you may not have noticed that an election was on.  Brent reflects back on the conditions of BC and the tech community in May of 2001 and sees what has changed between then and today under the BC Liberals in this week’s Something Ventured.   April 25, 2005: BC Tech Really Puts Out This week Brent details the process and the results of an intensive study to measure output of the technology industry in BC and measure it against all other North American regions.  The results are amazing for BC and will surely spur further studies and much discussion.  You might have read about it in the Vancouver Sun, but the details are only here in Something Ventured.   April 1, 2005: Surely You Jest For the first time, Something Ventured’s deadline date lands on April 1st.  Brent has taken this fateful day to speak on something he knows a bit about: fools in the technology industry.  See who the Greatest Fool is in this week’s special column.” December 10, 2004: Looking Back On This Decade Standing in 2005, looking back at 1995, it seems pretty obvious where you could have, should have been to make money: The Internet.  Without the benefit of hindsight and assuming that we are in for a very good second half of the decade, where are the hot innovations or markets that you will kick yourself for missing when it’s 2015? Brent looks back, er, ahead this week in Something Ventured. December 10, 2004: 2005 Arrives It’s that time of year again.  Predictions, wishes and thoughtful looks back on 2004 are all the rage among column writers at the end of the year.  This week, Brent will acquiesce to the status quo and dole out his look at the state of the technology industry as we head into the second half of the decade.   November 14, 2004: Bill The Great Two thousand and twenty seven years ago, one of the most amazing men ever to walk the planet died in what is today known as Baghdad.  His meteoric life is celebrated in a new movie and, in Something Ventured, in a comparison to one of technology’s greatest men, Bill Gates.  The comparison is very interesting.   October 1, 2004: Innovation Creation “Conventional wisdom holds that a “flood of innovation” is coming to Canada due to the increases in research and development funding.  While this seems like good news for the tech industry, Brent discusses a couple of dams keeping the flood from reaching the fertile plains of global markets.”   August 13, 2004: Celsius 888.333 It’s hot and dry this summer, but the stock market (and the technology stocks in particular) seem to be cold and damp.  What is going on?  Is the economy grinding to a halt?  Where is the fear coming from?  This week Brent has his conspiracy theory ready for your perusal. Then he tells you what is really going on… he hopes.   May 7, 2004: High Tech Self Loathing Recently, the pot has been stirred again about the “hollowing out” of Canada ’s tech industry by big, bad US acquisitions of weaker innovative Canadian companies.  Brent decides to tip that pot over this week and asks why it is a sin to sell to a US company.  It appears to him to be a natural occurrence in a global economy.   April 23, 2004: Capital Losses Without comparing heartbreaking Game 7 hockey losses, Brent looks at how Ottawa is doing in early stage technology value creation in relation to other regions, including Vancouver .  The findings are surprisingly bleak for Ottawa .  Can it come back?  What lessons can Vancouver learn?  Find out in this week’s Something Ventured.   March 5, 2004: Religious Wars A Canadian once famously said, “Every dogma has its day”.  In the world of technology, religious wars are common as people furiously hang on to their beliefs and try to convert others to their point of view.  This week Brent explores and explains some of the past and current religious wars in technology.   February 6, 2004: Off-Base on Off-Shore The off-shore out-sourcing of IT work is getting an awfully bad rap in the US these days as their jobless recovery continues.  This week Brent looks at the myopic protectionism and the fact that other countries (including Canada?) are taking opposite views.   January 9, 2004: When Fear Turns to Greed The sentiment in technology has been one of fear for more than three years now.  Fear of losing jobs, fear when making investment and fear of a recovery.  The bulls have finally appeared to shake the bears and the enterprise looks like it will spend on IT again in 2004.  Will we move too fast to the greed part of the cycle?  Remember what happened last time we all got greedy…   December 22, 2003: Technology Carols In an attempt to bring Christmas cheer to the technology industry, Brent decided to sing some familiar carols to you... except that he changed the words. For a Christmas smile, see what he wrote in this week's Something Ventured.   December 5, 2003: How the Mighty Have Survived We have many organically grown, innovative, successful companies in BC.  Now that the upside of the business cycle appears to be starting, how are the superstars of our industry faring?  Who’s emerging?  Brent gives his two cents on the success stories this week in Something Ventured.   November 7, 2003: IT Inflection Point A trickle of positive news about an improving Information Technology (IT) industry turned into a flood this week. Everything seems to be good again in techland.  But wait, why is Brent saying that the start-up might still suffer a bit for the next 3 to 4 quarters?  Read this week's Something Ventured to find out.   September 5, 2003: Jobs Lagging "If things are looking rosier in the technology industry and the economy in general over the next year and tech companies are profitable again, then where are the jobs?  This is the concern of many people in, or wanting to get back in, BC's technology industry and Brent tries to answer the question by saying not "where" are the jobs, but "when" are the jobs coming."   August 22, 2003: California Reelin' If you thought porn stars, bodybuilders and diminutive former child actors running for governor weren’t bad enough, California’s technology industry took it in the chin this week when Jim Clark, founder of Netscape and Silicon Graphics called the Silicon Valley “an insanely depressing place”.  This week Brent looks at the state of California and what BC’s technology industry can do to help and to benefit.   August 8, 2003: Getting More Productive The stereotype of the Lotusland worker, lacking in sufficient work ethic, is actually hurting us here in BC.  While there is a demonstrated productivity gap between American and Canadian workers, Brent decided to delve deeper into the reasons for the gap and help to disprove the notion that we are all less keen to do hard work amidst all this natural beauty.   July 11, 2003: The Eyes of the World Riding the current binge of civic pride in our Olympian victory, Brent looks to the obvious question of how to leverage this focus on Vancouver into more people, ideas and investment into our technology industry.  If we have a global stage, why not put on a show?   May 30, 2003: What Colour Are Your Glasses? Consistently conflicting messages and data points are a sure sign of change in our technology industry's fortunes.  On one hand, Crystal Decisions files its IPO and on the other hand, Alcatel shuts its doors in Vancouver.  This week Brent talks out of both sides of his mouth when analyzing these and other headlines in the past week.  By sending conflicting messages he hopes to avoid critical e-mails.   May 2, 2003: Send Them to the Glue Factory Now that we have a plague following a war, Brent is concerned that the four horsemen of the apocalypse have arrived.  But after visiting Toronto himself and seeing some recent industry data, he is sure that the horses are on their way back to the barn and we are in for some better times.   April 17, 2003: We All Lose A Little Within 24 hours earlier this week, the local technology industry lost two important souls.  Cecil Green died peacefully at 102 after a legendary life.  Peter Standeven passed away after a long fight with cancer. The founder of the IT Financing Forum and human encyclopedia of Canadian technology companies was 48.  Both are mourned this week in Something Ventured.   March 21, 2003: Go About Your Business As the bombs fall on Baghdad, the hand-wringing on US backlash against Canada in business has begun.  Becasue we are not among the "coalition of the willing", it is feared that we will lose much of trade with our biggest economic partner.  This week, Brent takes the contrarian position that the US will look past this issue and trade will not be affected.   February 7, 2003: Lies, Damn Lies and Industry Data Mark Twain said that there are “lies, damn lies and then statistics” when referring to data and the information gleaned from data.  This week Brent looks for some truth in the data available to tell us how healthy our technology industry is in this terrible downturn.  It was slim pickings, but the data dredged up is interesting.   January 10, 2003: The Best Laid Plans Through some strange synchronization error with Outlook, Brent has submitted his To Do List and Calls To Make as his column on T-Net this week.  With tongue firmly in cheek, read what Brent is up to in 2003 and see if it matches with your lists.   December 20, 2002: Don't Look Back Brent is looking forward to the stroke of midnight on December 31st this year.  He wants the year 2002 to be far behind as soon as possible and he knows many of you feel the same way.  Read about his thoughts for 2003 in this year-end Something Ventured.   November 22, 2002:  The Real Innovation: No More Politics After a flurry of political events this week (Vancouver election, Innovation Summit), Brent  looks at the real impact of government policies in the short term and the mess that politics makes of good intentions to grow our technology industry.   November 8, 2002: Wake Me Up When It's Over In a week that began with good news that might indicate the bottom of the technology market, hopes were dashed with a visit to the IT managers at large and medium sized companies.  They aren't buying IT!  Read what they had to say this week in Something Ventured.   October 25, 2002: Contraction Contrition As the tech downturn continues and cost-cutting is de rigeur, concerns are being raised about permanent job losses in the technology industry, particularly jobs that can be done off-shore far less expensively.  Brent gives his perspective on that concern this week in Something Ventured.   August 16, 2002: Rational Exuberance Brent still has “burnin’ love” for the technology industry as a whole even though it continues to “shake, rattle and roll”.  Find out why this business won’t be “heartbreak hotel” on this, the 25th anniversary of the death of the King of Rock ‘n Roll.   June 28, 2002: Self Interest vs. Self Destruction There are many ramifications of the scandals plaguing public markets today.  For example, does the idea of the CEO being personally (i.e. everything they own) on the hook for any transgressions that occur at their company make them nervous?  As a burned investor, does that sound fair to you?  Like a VC backed start-up, many larger businesses may soon have their managers personally warrantying the company.   May 31, 2002: Back to the Future What is old is new again.  What worked in the past must be applied now. This week, Brent explores these concepts in two contexts, the start-up technology company and the province of BC as a whole as it tries to start a new Innovation agenda and bring more prosperity.   February 15, 2002:  An Olympian Effort With the Winter Olympic Games upon us, Brent could not resist the obvious metaphors.  This week, Brent introduces some new sports that we all need to watch and judge in the coming months and years as they affect the technology industry in BC.   February 1, 2002: Can't Grow, Supplies Are Low BC's technology industry is chronically under- funded argues Brent this week.  He has some interesting comparisons between BC and Oregon to illustrate that the problem lies the supply of money, not the quality of opportunities. Read more in this week's Something Ventured.   January 4, 2002: Wishful Thinking Brent rings in the New Year with a set of wishes for you and for the technology industry as a whole.  After 2001, it won't take much to improve the situation...   November 23, 2001: Engineering BC’s Technology Future The new BC Government is actively asking for ideas on how to grow the technology industry.  So this week Brent obliges and tells you what he told the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise this week.   November 9, 2001: Take This Job And Covet The technology job market has rapidly imploded with all of the layoffs and bankruptcies.  What will all of these knowledge workers do now?  Brent has some predictions this week in Something Ventured.   October 26, 2001: My-Optic Markets Conferences and trades shows have been decimated since 9/11.  But Brent flew to Boston to see if a conference for a decimated industry sector, optical equipment, would show signs of life.  He found a leaner, hungrier industry bent on changing the world. When it will happen?   September 28, 2001: Fear and Loathing in the Media Fear and sadness has turned to anger since September 11th.  This week Brent rants about the business media's willingness to use the terrorist attacks as an excuse for everything bad in our economy.  It's not right and it's not accurate, he argues.   September 14, 2001: A Horrible New Beginning It is not hyperbole to state that the world has changed this week.  With the emotions still raw, it seemed too trite for Brent to talk about the technology industry.  Nonetheless, he musters up some thoughts about the impact of the terrorist acts on the world, Canada and the tech industry.   August 30, 2001: Red Sky In The Morning According to Brent, we live in uncertain times. Gazing in the crystal ball can be dangerous but that hasn't stopped Brent from trying to figure out what the conditions are currently and what might happen next in the technology sector.   July 6, 2001: Digital Divide Or Digital Disaster?    After starting a small maelstrom with negative comments about Industry Canada's proposed installation of broadband access everywhere in Canada, Brent responds this week with his view of the right way to become a digital nation.   June 22, 2001: Six Months of Misery: 1H 2001 Report The first half of 2001 has largely been forgettable for the technology industry.  This week, Brent helps us remember what happened over the past six months and what we can take away from the experience going forward.   May 11, 2001: Election Circumspection           The election that the technology industry has been waiting for is upon us. Brent gives one final rant on the NDP before proposing how Gordon Campbell can live up to his promises with the tech community.   January 19, 2001: Ottawa's Lambda Gamble Things may be tough in the money raising markets, but Canada's outlook remains bright due to our tech industry. According to Brent, the brightest star in the technology sky is Ottawa, but he points out that their reliance on one sector of the overall industry might be dangerous.   January 5, 2001: The Canadian Conspiracy It's 2001 and Brent tries make like Arthur C. Clarke with a tongue in cheek look at Canada's brain drain and the underlying conspiracy that created it."   December 22, 2000: Lump of Coal It's Christmas time and Brent is not feeling jolly. The new economy/Internet gravy train is now a smoldering wreck. Or is it? Are we all over-reacting a bit by bidding the stock market to new lows?    November 3, 2000: Greeks, Grits and GOP      This week, Brent returns from his one column hiatus and talks about the elections this month - here and in the US.  He sees the elections affecting the tech industry with an impact, especially if Jean Chretien mentions "new economy" again and again and again."   October 27, 2000: Apocalypse Maybe: The Venture Capital Meltdown This week, Paul Kedrosky writes on Brent's behalf discussing venture capitalists (like Brent), classifying them midway between i-bankers and short-sellers as well as discussing their role in finding and obtaining funding for companies.   October 13, 2000: We Rose to the Occasion This week, Brent takes a look at the historical passing of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and tries to nail down what all the fuss is really about given that he created incredible economic hardship for Canada. In the end, it looks like we may be better off going forward because of what he did and what he represented, especially now that government is tuning into the technology industry.   September 1, 2000: Back to School Brent Holliday discusses the importance of education and how society, as a whole, will be better off if the people, as a whole, are more educated.  So how do we start to cultivate more smart people through education?    July 21, 2000: Now We're Cooking Brent Holliday reveals how our Province is still Hot  and RIGHT for starting a new technology business  in terms of finding talent, raising capital, getting  customers and getting buzz.   July 7, 2000: A Little Too Liberal in Spending Brent Holliday vents his anger about the $700M of  the hopelessly misdirected Canada Jobs Fund that  became the political albatross in April and May and Jane Stewart's undoing, which is now headed only to Atlantic Canada to spur the "New Economy".    March 31, 2000: Blame.ca Brent Holliday comments this week on the success  of the Canadian Consulate Trade Office,  representing the Canadian technology Industry in  California and retracts on previous rants and raves  directed at the governments apparent lack of insight and support regarding the new world economy and technology. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   March 3, 2000: Sigh of Relief This week Brent Holliday discusses the impact of the newly announced federal budget on the BC's high tech industry and uses a fictional technology company to highlight the financial implications. Brent comments on Onvia.com's successful entrance to the NASDAQ exchange, closing the day with a market value of $4.9 billion (US) . Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   January 7, 2000: Ride the BC Bull This week Brent Holliday kicks off the New Year with a few optimistic predications and observations about the state of the BC technology industry in year 2000. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today. November 26, 1999: Get IT or Get Out This week Brent Holliday discusses the government's inability to understand that Technology is fuelling a new global economy and that if it continues to be unsupportive and apathetic to the technology industry in Canada then it will fail as a potential world competitor in this area. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   September 17, 1999: Underrated and Under Radar This week Brent Holliday suggests that Canada is underrated as a major contributor to the global technology economy and as a consequence misses out on venture investment from Europe and the US. Brent provides a few solutions that may help attract foreign investment to the Canadian technology industry. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   August 6, 1999: Summer Better Than Others Brent Holliday reflects on some hot and not so hot events that impact the BC technology sector this summer. Brent provides some insight on a few Hot IPOs, including, Pivotal, Creo and Sierra Wireless and suggests that temperatures maybe cooling at the public market for Net IPOs. Brent concludes by proposing a solution for the government to help stem the brain drain as well as putting money back into the technology industry in Canada.   April 16, 1999: Damn Yankees In this week's column Brent Holliday looks at the perception that Americans have of Canada and Canadian companies, and suggests that, if they want to be perceived by Americans as "real players," Canadian technology companies must have a presence in Silicon Valley, and they must seek out partnerships with American companies.   March 5, 1999: Fed Up Brent talks about taxes and how the Federal government is killing growth in the high tech sector, and in Canada generally, with its punitive and confiscatory tax regime.   January 8, 1999: Missing the Big Dance Brent kicks off the new year with a column about Canada and what it might become in the next century. His short answer is: Not much. Brent also laments the the way Canadian businesses have hesitated to get into the booming industry of e-commerce.   October 23, 1998: Playing God With BC's Economic Future   August 29, 1998: Currency Crunch Reality Check Brent Holliday discusses the alarming devaluation of Canada's currency and the potential effects for individuals and the BC high technology sector.   July 6, 1998: Attracting Tech Workers To BC: A First Step Brent Holliday outlines what he believes are the first steps necessary to attracting skilled high-tech workers to BC. Chief among them is a well thought out promotion of BC living and the value of an education in technology, targeted at two groups: BC secondary and post-secondary students, and engineers and programmers in technology hubs around the world.   April 20, 1998: Report from the Future: Impact of the TIA High-Tech Report on BC A tongue in cheek look back at the BC technology industry from the year 2007.     Building Fast Companies     February 22, 2008: BC's Got Talent BC’s Technology industry has growing pains, which is a good problem to have. The recent TechTalentBC survey tells us that we want to add 5,000 net new jobs. There are currently well over 1,200 positions available on this site.  Where do we get these people? And from the eyes of the start-up, how do you find great people? This week Brent looks at the results and adds his two cents on the search for talent in BC.   November 23, 2007: Vancouver Giants? In a follow-up column to the health check of the industry last time, Brent looks at the biggest technology companies in BC and asks how we could have a gargantuan company, a la Microsoft, RIM, Google or Intel.  It has to do with platform technology and/or product extension… that’s how the other guys did it.   September 21, 2007: Channels Surfing Many of the young technology companies here and everywhere make use of indirect sales channels. Many of you have tasted success and failure using those channels to drive sales. Some of you might be staring into the headlights of a channel strategy train wreck coming your way. This week Brent looks at why you need the channel and why it doesn’t always work out the way you planned.   August 10, 2007: Founder vs. Founder The public spat over the founding of Facebook is getting some press now that the web site is worth so much money. This week Brent talks about that situation and some local founder dust-ups that he is familiar with in order to tell you how to avoid pitting founder vs. founder when your start-up is a success. All it takes is a little planning.   April 13, 2007: Black Cats And Blown Budgets On Friday the 13th, Brent was compelled to write about luck.  In this case, the focus is on predicting your companies financial success through the budget process and the pro forma statements.  Read Something Ventured this week to hear about how to make reasonable predictions and how to keep your credibility when luck keeps you from hitting your numbers.   January 26, 2007: Will You Get The Pass? Wayne Gretzky once said, allegedly, “I don’t go to where the puck is, I go to where it’s going to be.” This week in Something Ventured, on Wayne’s 46th birthday, Brent looks at applying that theme to effective on-line marketing in this Web 2.0 universe.  Hey, we are all talking about it… who is actually applying it?”   November 10, 2006: The Valley Way (Redux) Six years ago, Brent wrote a 10 point essay on how the Silicon Valley was different than here, from the perspective of the company, entrepreneur and employee.  This week, he turns it around and looks at traits found outside of the Silicon Valley that make it very tough to grow an insanely great company.   October 6, 2006: Trade Shows: Boondoggle or Boo-Yah! Technology industry trade shows: useful marketing venues or boozy networking parties.  Whatever your definition, the trade shows are a necessity, especially for the start-up looking to make a splash in the market.  This week Brent gives you his seven immutable laws of the trade show to help your next trip be worth every penny.   March 4, 2006: It’s So Basic The basics of business are boring and therefore usually overlooked and not done well.  This week Brent looks at the back office functions of a start-up and relates some of the horrible practices he has seen in accounting and human resources and why a company needs to be good at these basics before attacking the harder strategies.   December 16, 2005: Money in Your Stocking Who doesn’t like a little money in their stocking for Christmas?  This week Brent looks at a few ways to add cash to your growing technology company that may be a little off the beaten track.  He also speaks to the lump of coal that the CDN dollar’s strength is delivering to everyone’s stocking.   September 23, 2005: My Advice Column This week Brent gives some advice to entrepreneurs on, well, advice.  For a variety of reasons start-ups tend to overlook good advice because they don’t want to pay for it or don’t see the value in it.  Find out why this is a mistake made too often, in this week’s Something Ventured.”   June 24, 2005: Be Ready for Battle This week Brent delves into competition for your company’s product or service and reveals some key ingredients missing from most start-ups’ and some growing companies’ competitive analysis.  As a bonus, a long letter is attached from a reader responding to his column about Creo and the successful creation of the groundbreaking thermal CTP technology in the early 90’s.  Interestingly, this person is (and always has been) from Kodak.   March 4, 2005: Heading For The Exits When an investor talks about an ‘exit’, they are not talking about showing a CEO the door at a start-up.  An ‘exit’ is the time to get liquidity for an investment in the form of a public offering or an acquisition.  This week Brent explores the method behind the acquisition exit and why it is often a bumpy ride from the first overtures to the announced deal.   May 21, 2004: Why Can't We Go Hire? After years of involvement with start-ups, Brent has seen some good, bad and very bad hiring practices. With some anecdotes and advice, he hopes to help those of you looking for a few good people."   May 21, 2004: Born Leaders Any venture capitalist will point to only one thing that determines the outcome of an investment in early stage technology companies: management.  This week, Brent dissects this motherhood and apple pie statement in writing specifically about leaders and his thesis that they are born, not made.   January 23, 2004: Getting to No We Canadians can be a polite, shy bunch.  But in global business, particularly in early stage business, not asking direct questions or reading between the lines on "nice" answers can lead to poor decisions.  This week Brent says "Go ahead and ask".  The worst that they can say is "No."   November 21, 2003: Conspiracy Theory On the 40th anniversary of the single event in American history that spawned a thousand conspiracy theories, Brent looks at the theory that big technology companies, like the big organizations supposedly behind the assassination of JFK, are capable of doing whatever they want to whomever they want.  And he gives his two cents on the JFK conspiracy theory.   September 19, 2003: Timing Is Everything The saying goes that timing is everything.  As the economy slowly turns and technology starts to look like a vibrant industry again, Brent explores how to set yourself up to benefit from exquisite timing.  It’s not pure luck.   May 16, 2003: IT's Marginally Better After being accused of over-hyping the Information Technology recovery, Brent fires back with a look at the fundamental reason IT is the place to stay: great margins.  Read about it in Something Ventured this week.   March 7, 2003: Hope On In this time of uncertainty in geopolitics, the stock market and other continuing concerns, Brent shows that the technology industry is showing some positive indicators.  Read about the hope he has for companies that can meet the current challenges and carve out a living in an uncertain world.   October 11, 2002: A Very Limited Partnership All small start-ups with a product ready for the market look to larger, more established partners to help them expand their customer base and gain credibility.  But many times, these partnerships are not worth the press release they are written on… This week Brent explores some myths and traps of strategic partnering.   August 30, 2002: The CEO Looks in the Mirror With increasingly heavy scrutiny being directed at the role of a CEO and what they can and cannot do in that role, Brent looks at the typical lunch-bucket, start-up CEO and issues a few warnings about early stage corporate responsibility.   July 12, 2002:  A Slow And Sticky Road Fast Company was the mantra of the late 90’s. Everyone wanted to know how to get big fast. Well, in fact, it doesn’t happen that way.  Four years ago Brent wrote about a slow growing success in Vancouver and advocated the lean, mean approach to growing big.  This week, he re-visits that theme and urges everyone to stick with it through these tough times.   May 10, 2002: Are We Out Of Options? Is the stock option grant for employees a thing of the past?  Do employees of early stage technology companies care after all the carnage in the markets?  This week Brent explains the current state of stock options and why you should care, whether you are an employer or an employee.   March 28, 2002: I Told You Not To Do That Feeling an explanation was required for missing his column deadline last time, Brent has revealed that he made a stress-inducing mistake.  In keeping with the theme, he shares common start-up company mistakes this week so that you might avoid them in your venture.   January 18, 2002: Technology Jobs Contract With almost 12,000 BC civil servant job cuts announced this week, Brent's thoughts have turned to the job market in technology and the prospects for the unemployed tech worker.  Read what those prospects might be in this week's Something Ventured.   October 12, 2001: Fact or Friction?   That which does not kill us makes us stronger.  This week Brent talks about a prolonged technology slump and the prospects for getting through the other side as a successful enterprise   August 17, 2001: The Proposition Is Clear          We all know that the Internet mania and the telecom disaster are behind us. What are some of the lessons that we can learn from the recent past that can help our technology companies grow today? One of the lessons is to really ask oursleves why people will part with their money to buy our product or service. This week, Brent explores the black art of creating a solid value proposition.   July 27, 2001: Grab Your Boards And Let's GO Maybe it's the heat, but the summer of 2001 is getting to Brent.  In the middle of all of the bad news for technology companies, he dishes out some advice on getting a better Board of Directors and how that might help your company raise some capital in this, the Sahara Desert of technology cycles.   May 25, 2001: Rules Of Engagement From his perspective as a venture capitalist, Brent sees many Opportunities at the earliest stage.  Two things continue to bother him about Vancouver's start-up scene: Industry experienced management and the lack of knowledge in financing a start-up.  He gets specific in this week's column.   March 30, 2001: A Cash Strapped Start-Up Odyssey As if life in a start-up could be any tougher, we now have the worst business environment in 10 years to deal with, according to Brent.  What should you and your company do right now to live to see another day? It's all about cash and Brent will tell you why in this week's installment of Something Ventured.   March 16, 2001: Customer Driven Capital  Under a blanket of snow, interesting times are happening in Ottawa. Among other things, Brent paid a visit to the Ministry of Finance and to a technology conference last week and shares his observations on building successful companies from scientific roots.   February 2, 2001: A Successful Experience Have you ever been experienced?  Brent argues that venture capitalists have been, and that they have learned what entrepreneurs should know. The theme is explored in 4 key areas that are critical for early stage companies.   December 8, 2000: The Valley Way, Eh? This week, Brent discusses the conditions of belonging to a large, fast growing company.  In short, you have to learn the lessons of the Valley. They have perfected the process of starting the technology company. They have learned, through an iterative process, the tactics and strategies of growing a small technology business quickly into a large, well known company. They have found what ingredients need to be sprinkled in with the entrepreneurs to support the start-up and growth of these companies.   September 29, 2000: Citius, Altius, Fortius This week, Brent Holliday talks about entrepreneurs and what it takes to compete and win.  He describes them as "peak emotion junkies" enduring great hardships and long hours of preparation in order to experience the rush of meeting and exceeding expectations - the emotional high of success.    August 18, 2000: Brain Currency This week, Brent Holliday discuses what he defines as Scarecrow Economics - It's all about Buying Brains.  Technology companies have found that one of the keys to success is finding scarce talent. Recruiting is hard. Buying companies for their staff is easier.   May 12, 2000: Whither The CFO Brent Holliday reveals the secret to a company's success - A competent money counting manager who is responsible for driving the entire money-making process as well as  managing the legal aspects - and still getting the best deal for the company and its shareholders. Bottom line:  They need to know how to close a financial deal.   February 18, 2000: The New Human Race This week Brent Holliday reflects on successful technology companies and equates their achievements to successful people and attempts to define a 'successful person' in 2000. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   October 29, 1999: Decisions, Decisions This week Brent Holliday suggests that the success of a technology company is determined by good management and more specifically by management's ability to make effective decisions and to encourage an environment that breeds this philosophy.   September 3, 1999: It's Interesting, But... Brent Holliday presents his 'idea' for making a billion-dollar company as he reaches the 'insight' stage of the four-stage process in becoming a commercial success and seeks critique from his readers. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today. August 20, 1999: What A Concept! This week Brent Holliday explores the repetitive processes behind taking an idea and making it into a commercial success. Brent provides a flowchart model as a guide and highlights insight, opportunism and planning as necessities to achieving commercial success. July 9, 1999: The Kids Are Alright Summer's here and the living is easy. Brent Holliday this week reflects on the Nintendo generation and suggests that those of us running technology companies should consider harnessing the incredible energy and enthusiasm of this next (internet) generation. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today. May 31, 1999: A Look At Some New Models Brent Holliday assesses existing high tech business models and profiles some emerging new ones with particular reference to changes made possible by the internet.   March 19, 1999: Keeping Your Company IQ You've heard the cliche: "Our people are our biggest asset." In early stage tech companies, the reality is, your people are your company. How can you hold on to these people? This week Brent Holliday offers some real life stories and solutions.   February 19, 1999: The Talent Show Brent talks about "talent" and offers his view of what talent is, and what it can get you as you move through your career in technology.   October 9, 1998: Rising Above the Noise, Part 2 Brent Holliday continues his discussion this week on the role of public relations in positioning and building BC technology companies.   September 11, 1998: How To Gain (Or Drain) A Brain   August 14, 1998: What It Takes To Be A Tech Entrepreneur Brent Holliday discusses what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur in the technology sector. The discussion falls into two parts: Who are you? And what do you know? He also addresses some of the more popular myths about entrepreneurialism in general. August 1, 1998: Working in the Silicon Valley, Eh? Brent Holliday conducts an informal poll of 5 Canadians working in Silicon Valley to discover what attracted them there and what it might take to lure them back to Canada. June 21, 1998: Insight For BC Technology Entrepreneurs (Part 1) Brent Holliday discusses common myths about employee compensation and the factors which motivate employees to work.   June 1, 1998: Is Now The Right Time To Start a High Tech Company In BC? Brent Holliday discusses what it takes to start and run a successful technology company.     BC Company Case Studies     May 30, 2008: A Tale of Two Companies One big winner and one big loser.  It was an interesting May for BC’s technology industry as Gemcom sold for $180M while the vultures are picking the bones clean at Ascalade.  What happened in each case?  Brent discusses this week in Something Ventured.   June 29, 2007: March of the Different Penguins Unless you have kids between 8 and 14 or you are in the new media business, you may have missed one of BC’s biggest success stories.  It’s a web based community site called Club Penguin and it is rumoured to have turned down nearly CDN$500M this month!  This week Brent gets all of the incredible story around Club Penguin that’s available… because the founders won’t talk. February 9, 2007: Holliday's Uncertainty Principle Venture investing should be about making bets on really, really big ideas.  So-called ground breaking ideas that can sell into huge markets don’t actually come along that often, so we VCs make investments in “great ideas” with solid management teams.  On incredibly huge idea right here in BC is D-Wave Systems.  With their big demonstration of a 16 qubit quantum computer next week, Brent discusses the problem with ground breaking ideas as an investment and uses D-Wave as a great example.   July 28, 2006: A Convenient Exit for Convedia It’s been a while since BC saw a technology company sell for more than US$100M, but this week saw Convedia sell for US$105M to Radisys from Oregon.  Brent looks at the last of the Newbridge Affiliates to make it to an exit this week in Something Ventured. February 10, 2006: Triple Treat Without enough for any one idea to make a column, Brent decides to do three this week.  Find out about the NRC turning into a bank, three new bootstrapped BC success stories and technology at the Olympics… all this week in Something Ventured   February 20, 2004: Learning Latin With Creo Creo in Latin means “to create”.  This week, Creo proposed to get adjungo (Latin for “join”) to Kodak.  Brent explores the history and the meaning of the sale of one of BC’s biggest technology successes this week in Something Ventured.   February 20, 2004: A Good Place to be Times are good for some local BC technology companies after years of good and bad times.  For the rest of us, there is still uncertainty in the air, but it seems fun to be a part of this industry again.  This week, Brent talks up some new (old) successes and how the joy is back in the journey.   October 10, 2003: A State of Success The successes in BC’s IT community continue as ActiveState successfully sold to Sophos in the UK for US$23M just over two weeks ago.  Brent sat down with the founder, Dick Hardt and learned an interesting tale of vision, perseverance and execution that might help inspire other entrepreneurs to never, never give up.   February 21, 2003: Three That You Might Want To Be In the underperforming and underwhelming current technology market, Brent went out to find some local success stories in technology.  He found three very successful companies with a unique twist – none of them ever raised financing, private or public, on their way to the top.  Read about them this week in Something Ventured.   September 27, 2002: Fuelling Ambition This week Brent hands the keys to David Berkowitz of Ventures West for a pollution-free drive through the industry sector of fuel cells and alternative energy in British Columbia.  From the leading VC in this space, learn what is happening now and what needs to happen going forward.   August 2, 2002:  Survival Story In dismal market conditions for technology, Brent looks for silver linings.  This week he writes about three local survivors: entrepreneurs that have beaten or are beating adversity.   November 17, 2000: A Local Legend Turns 100 If you could live to be 100, imagine the changes you would see in technology? What if you were a fundamental part of those changes by starting one of the world's largest technology companies? What would it be like to look back over 100 years? Read the amazing story of a Vancouver legend in this week's Something Ventured.   August 4, 2000:  Zero to a Billion in 800 Days This week, Brent Holliday reveals how almost a billion (US) greenbacks have been spent acquiring just two companies in the Vancouver area in the past 12 months - Abatis and HotHaus.  If BC made the map last year, these deals will help solidify its presence as a "place to be".    July 23, 1999: The Haus Wins! Brent Holliday discusses the recent acquisition of HotHaus Technologies by Broadcom. Brent puts forward arguments as to why Broadcom would have paid $414 million for a company with $4-5 million in revenues and speculates how much the employees at HotHaus made from the deal. More importantly, Brent discusses the impact that this deal will have on the BC technology industry.   May 14, 1999: Revisiting Ballard Brent Holliday revisits his premier column on T-Net with a new look at Ballard Power Systems and the 5 P's which have helped make them a technology heavyweight in British Columbia: Patents, Perserverance, Patience, Partners and Publicity.   April 2, 1999: BC Technology Forecast 1999 On the heels of PricewaterhouseCoopers' survey of the technology scene for 1999, Brent Holliday releases his own forecast for the future of the technology industry in BC.   December 18, 1998: A BC VC Santa Wish List Brent takes a quick look back at the 1998 technology scene and delivers a venture capitalist's Santa wish list for the coming new year.   May 18, 1998: A Radical Look Back Brent Holliday traces the evolution of BC based Radical Entertainment from its origins as a "for hire" developer in the software games business to its current status as a developer of original content now poised on the brink of major success, and uses this to demonstrate a model for content or service-based technology companies to build their businesses.   May 13, 1998: Sierra Systems Stirs Up The Services Sector Brent Holliday questions assumptions bout whether early stage service-based technology companies can or should be financed by venture capitalists in BC after observing Sierra Systems Group's recent strong IPO and and post IPO stock performance (up 85% in two weeks).   April 13, 1998: A Local Legend One of the most fascinating technology stories of the 20th century, a true rags to riches story, has its roots right here in Vancouver. A story about Dr. Cecil Green, Co-Founder of Texas Instruments. April 6, 1998: Putting BC's Economic Future On The Back Of Ballard We have a unique chance to ride the back of Ballard's popularity and create a huge local industry that sets the pace for the rest of the world's alternative energy needs.     Technology Trends     November 24, 2006: Data, Data Everywhere Data is only useful when it is assembled into meaningful information.  There is tons of data available on the net, both in the form of databases and information about data (metadata) that could be useful. This week Brent looks at the business models around data and some local companies that are benefiting from these models.   September 22, 2006: Fun Facts, Part Two In a follow up to the last column, Brent takes you on another ride through the IT facts that he accumulates daily.  In adding some context to enterprise IT stats and figures, he hopes to see where the trends are for a multi-trillion dollar industry.  Oh, and he can tell you the profile of a typical private jet owner.   September 8, 2006: Fun Facts, Part One This week Brent turns the spigot of information that he receives everyday over to you to see the trends that are developing in consumer and home markets.  It is a collection of “facts” and interpretation of the “facts” around market sizes and market trends that is both relevant and irreverent.   July 1, 2006: Summer Reading As you gear up for your summer time break from the technology salt mines, Brent has prepared a list of summertime reading which he has picked up during the past few months.  Some of it is useful and some of it is just plain funny.  Enjoy your break!   May 19, 2006: There Be Dragons Tremendous change is happening in technology right now.  A few of the things predicted by wild-eyed prognosticators in the past are starting to actually happen.  Hype has given way to reality and BC’s tech companies need to be ready.  Brent outlines and comments on a few of these trends in this week’s Something Ventured.   October 7, 2005: Two Point Oh No It really has to get under the skin of well-intentioned, optimistic folks who help create a new new thing when the instant it hits mainstream, it is viewed as a bubble and everyone becomes a cynic.  Well, it’s happening again with what was born as Web 2.0.  Yes, a well-intentioned branding of a shift in how the web is utilized has become a mockery of itself in a very short time.  Brent explains this week in Something Ventured.   August 26, 2005: Being Digital - Ten Years Later Pundits make predictions that often come true.  It’s just that they are usually way too early.  This week Brent looks at the idea of Being Digital, a book from a decade ago that predicted the changes in our lives with digital content.  Turns out the author got it mostly right, just breathlessly early.   July 22, 2005: Time to Hit a Driver Summer is finally here and the golfing is fine.  Speaking of golf, Brent wants to talk about drivers this week.  Well, actually, more about technology growth drivers over the next few years as opposed to the slicing and hooking variety.  Read his summer ramblings this week in Something Ventured.   June 18, 2004: The Consumer is Hot The consumer markets are getting hotter in the world of early stage technology.  This week Brent explains why VCs have shied away in the past, but have recently come back to consumer-oriented investments.  The numbers are pretty compelling.   April 8, 2004: Tuning in to Reality According to a Canadian judge’s ruling last week, a shared directory of copied music is the same as a photocopier in a library.  This startling revelation has earned Canada further kudos among the crowd that really likes our marijuana laws.  But it also marks the beginning of the end of the foolishness of the recorded music industry in its approach to an enormous trend for all forms of digital content.  Brent explains in this week’s Something Ventured.   March 26, 2004: The Opportunity is Soft In the summer of 1977, a modest venture investment in a desperate software company called Microsoft would have made you one thousand dollars for every dollar invested within 8 years.  Undoubtedly the most lucrative investment opportunity ever, Microsoft is now the enemy of many start-ups in software because of its dominance.  Where does that leave the software opportunities today?  This week Brent looks around the software business to find out.   October 24, 2003: Killer App’s Bad Rap E-mail is the killer app of the Internet.  But e-mail is becoming more of a burden every day.  Un-solicited e-mail is burying you and your filters are now removing good mail with the bad.  Is e-mail broken?  Brent discusses in this week’s Something Ventured.   April 4, 2003: The Hype Echo After the unusually large hype and after the equally as large amount of money is gone, the cynics come out and further depress a market.  Such has been the case in technology in 2002 and 2003.  But perhaps the money led to some innovation that the survivors and the new companies are capitalizing on.  This week Brent talks about the hype echo, which could be where the real money is made.   January 24, 2003: Plausibly Possible If the beginning of the day is all about possibilities and the end of the day is all about results, then Brent wants to go back to the early morning and dream about the possible technologies of the future.  It’s nicer there.  Have a look at what he has dreamt up this week in Something Ventured.   December 6, 2002: After The Hype is Gone This week Brent gets more positive as the new year approaches.  If the slow IT markets are improving in 2003, your company needs to be ready to pounce on new opportunities.  To help you be ready for a successful 2003 and 2004, Brent reviews some of the past hyped technologies and gives the current state of those market opportunities.   September 13, 2002: Is Ours The Right Way? As scientists, marketers, CEOs, engineers or venture capitalists, we believe certain fundamentals to be true. For Brent, September 11th shook loose a few fundamentals. This week’s Something Ventured goes deep into the struggle for what is "right" and how important that becomes to what we teach and what we know.   June 14, 2002: Wi Fi Fo Fum This week Brent discusses why the Internet gained so much momentum so quickly and identifies the revolution starting out on the periphery of the Internet - WiFi, also known as 802.11b.   April 26, 2002:  Does IT Still Hurt We are still in turbulent times for the tech industry.  This week Brent hones in on a gigantic industry, Information Technology or IT.  How does it affect your tech business?  What are the near term prospects for recovery?   April 12, 2002:  Covering The Telecom Recovery We live in uncertain and cynical times in the technology industry today. Getting good information to help make decisions is critical.  This week, Brent explores the telecommunications industry trends and tries to point out what is just plain pessimism and what is really happening.   March 1, 2002: Through the Looking Glass What are the short and long term trends for Enterprise Software, Wireless and Optical Communications?  Brent spent the week listening and talking to tech industry analysts and CEOs and summarizes their views in this week’s Something Ventured   December 7, 2001: Software Everywhere The single largest area of investment for early stage venture capitalists continues to be software applications but applications are the least defensible type of technology company, argues Brent. So why and how do VCs pick software application companies in which to invest?   June 8, 2001: Land of the Wireless One This week, your intrepid tech reporter Brent Holliday, reports from his 5-day stay in Tokyo and Kobe. He was invited as the keynote speaker to the Think Canada trade mission for early-stage Canadian wireless companies.  Brent notes that “We are miles behind the Japanese in wireless usage, but a few companies in Canada seem to get it and they are giving it to the Japanese. I have a big suggestion for any Canadian company in the wireless business with applications for cellphones or PDAs: get to Japan fast.   April 16, 2001:  Who's Buying IT? Information Technology spending in the enterprise has dropped over the past 9 months causing many investors severe pain as the big technology company stocks dropped with it.  But spending on IT software and services is still big business.  Where should a young start-up look for some of that cash?  Brent analyzes the market for enterprise IT spending this week."   February 16, 2001: Light At The End Of The Tunnel Brent synthesizes information from some of the top predictors of technology trends and behaviours to show you that all will be well again in the world of technology and the stock market.  When?  April 24th, to be exact.  Read on to find out why..."   June 9, 2000: It's All Optics This week Brent Holliday discusses the impact and advantages of optical networks in the technology industry.  The reason that this topic is hot is simple - Bandwidth.   May 26, 2000: Go Ahead, ASP Me This week Brent Holliday explores the many aspects of ASP's -  the new breed of web application providers and hosts - exposing the reader to an exciting and ground shifting change in the way we use applications.   April 28, 2000: Fast Cash Folly This week Brent Holliday discusses the impact of new market conditions and the loss of the "Get Rich Quick" capability, on  technology employees. Brent suggests that we say goodbye to the dotcom madness of 1999. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   April 14, 2000: The Great Spring Melt This week Brent Holliday discusses the cooling off of what was once described as "hot" technology stocks and advises us not to panic. Brent comments on the sectors of the technology industry that have been hurt by the fall and what this means to employees and companies for the future. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   February 4, 2000: Back To Basics This week Brent Holliday comments on the technology trend of consumer related E-Business using the Net. Brent suggests that this maturing market will be increasingly difficult to attract investors unless entrepreneurs are able to present a workable business model that predicts economic success.   December 10, 1999: And I Feel Fine This week Brent Holliday reflects on the past one thousand years of technological advancement as the millennium approaches. Brent provides some thoughts on the Y2K issue and looks forward to 2000 and the dawn of new progress.   November 12, 1999: Still Wired On Wireless Brent Holliday reports back from the CTIA Wireless IT '99 show and discusses the revolutionary industry of wireless data and the themes that dominated the event. Brent provides positive feedback from local BC events, Softworld '99 and the Canada IT Forum. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   October 15, 1999: A Whole New World This week Brent reports back from the trade show 'Internet World' in New York, which focused on e-commerce, software solutions and services for companies needing to interact or do business via the Internet. Brent provides some insight into emerging trends and predicts a new industry of customer-service orientated companies.   June 25, 1999: Did Java Good Time? Brent Holliday reports back from the JavaOne conference in San Francisco this week on the past and present status of Java technology and says that Java is now for real and has outlived much of its initial hype. He argues that the application, customer need, and integration matter most and the underlying technology is secondary.   February 5, 1999: The Lure of the Euro Brent looks at world markets for Canadian technology products. He identifies 3 major markets - Asia, N. America and Europe - and provides a brief analysis of why he thinks Canadian tech companies should be concentrating their efforts on N.America and especially Europe.   January 22, 1999: Internet Buzz-word Bingo Brent takes aim at Internet buzz-words and concepts, such as "portals," "disintermediation" and "e-commerce," and bravely attempts to provide a plain-language explanation of those that, ostensibly (ouch!), fall into the realm of the "explainable."   April 27, 1998: Hot Technologies of the 21st Century Brent Holliday writes this week about hot technologies of the 21st century that will help create major market opportunities and lists some of the BC technology companies that are positioned to take advantage of these technology trends.     Financing Do's and Dont's   October 5, 2007: Un-Conventional Wisdom If an idea gains enough steam and the crowd starts to accept the facts as assuredly true, “conventional wisdom” is created.  This week Brent looks at the danger of conventional wisdom for both the entrepreneur and the investor looking to make it big in technology. July 23, 2007: A Strangeloop Coup As a local start-up raises a huge Series A round this week from individual investors, Brent muses about the reasons that they chose this path and compares the company to two similar ones that chose a very different financing path.  It is an exciting company and an exciting opportunity that you can read about right now in Something Ventured. May 18, 2007: Lack of Funds It was a crappy week to be a VC in Canada as Q1 and April investment numbers were low and the CD Howe institute sent out a scathing report on LSVCCs.  But the big bummer for the industry as a whole is the declining funds available to invest.  This week, Brent talks about the challenges ahead for Canada and its technology industry with less venture capital sloshing around.   June 2, 2006: Hope Your AIM Is True Desperate for the almighty IPO, founders, angels and VCs are looking overseas to London’s AIM market and they see a pot of gold.  This week Brent looks at the gold rush mentality breaking out all over after returns like that of Sandvine in Waterloo (a recent AIM listing) make the tech industry IPO happy again.   April 21, 2006: On The Wings Of Angels Angels play a vital role in the financing ecosystem for start-ups. Just how vital? How much dough do they put out there every year? Brent digs up some impressive numbers for angels and discusses the impact of these "investors in the shadows", this week in Something Ventured.   October 31, 2005: Ambition Recognition Brent spent some time talking to investors around BC, angel and VC, and wanted to pin down a characteristic or gut feeling that would cause them to invest in entrepreneurs without previous success in a start-up.  His result was “vaulting ambition”, which led him to contemplate examples of those with the quality.  Check out the list in this week’s Something Ventured.   July 8, 2005: Understanding The Underlying The world of early stage financing is full of conflicts among the various parties in any given company.  This week Brent explores some of the conflicts that cause so much angst in the process of funding a company and offers his understanding of a “root cause” to these issues.   July 16, 2004: The Heat Is On A reader’s letter caught Brent’s attention more than others because it spoke about the frustration the writer had with VCs in Vancouver.  To read his “un-biased” response to the letter and some other comments on our early stage tech industry, check out this week’s Something Ventured”.   June 4, 2004: Behind the VC Curtain After an industry conference in Calgary , Brent decides that the Flames are alright and that it was high time he shed some light on the motivations of the venture firms that you pitch for money in Canada .  Learn who a VC is accountable to in this week’s Something Ventured.   July 25, 2003: I.P. Whoa! In a busy summer season for news in the BC technology industry, no story was bigger than Crystal Decisions’ decision to skip a certain winning IPO.  What made them do it?  What does this mean for the IPO dreams of founders, option holders and early stage investors?  This week, Brent gives his point of view on the IPO that wasn’t.   June 13, 2003: Open Season on Venture Capitalists Brent was feeling generous this week and gives you two columns for the price of one.  Another writer discredits on VCs in his article and Brent responds with some predictable and some unpredictable answers to the other writer’s points in this week’s SV.   April 27, 2001: If Not You, Then Who? This issue of Something Ventured, Brent comments “It's tough to find money for a start-up these days.  The overall market malaise and carnage has made investors hesitant, if they are investing at all.  Where do you find money to fuel your new technology company?” Something Ventured has some ideas on where to shake the money tree.   March 2, 2001: Still Crazy After All This Fear During these trying times in the market, it makes sense to talk to someone that has been through this all before.  This week Brent talks about a Silicon Valley VC that has lived the ups, the downs and the ups again and gives us his sage advice on what to expect in the coming months or, gasp, years.   September 15, 2000: A Chill In The Air This week, Brent Holliday reports this week that venture capital spending will dive in the US in the 3rd and 4th quarter and will slow down significantly in Canada across all sectors, especially the internet. A must read for entrepreneurs everywhere.    June 23, 2000: Wait Mate, Should You Incubate? This week, Brent Holliday sheds light on the fastest growing trend in technology company financing –  the new breed of seed fund – incubators. Are they for you?   March 17, 2000: March Madness Brent Holliday discusses the insanity of investors who finance 'hyped' companies that do not have the capability to conduct business and compares their potential for success with private companies who have the ability to transact business. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   January 21, 2000: It Ain't Easy Money This week Brent Holliday discusses those entrepreneurs who have brilliant business opportunities but fail in their initial attempts at convincing investors to finance their companies. Brent provides advice on how to eventually get the capital needed. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   October 1, 1999: Why Investors Say No If you are an entrepreneur in search of capital, Brent Holliday's column contains information on what you should know before you approach investors. Read his column on the front page of T-Net today.   June 14, 1999: An Investor Like No Other What if your future as a technology company was pre-determined as a raging success? Brent Holliday poses this question and suggests that an investment by Silicon Valley based venture capital firm, Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield and Byers is the closest thing to a guarantee of success available. April 30, 1999: Money City Maniacs Brent Holliday discusses long term venture capital investing and puts this in the perspective of recent internet stock market hysteria and laggard entrepreneurs making "late to the party" and "me too" public offerings on the OTC, VSE and ASE stock exchanges. December 7, 1998: The Perfect Investor This week Brent discusses the qualities you should look for in a potential investor when you seek financing for your company. November  20, 1998: Internet Insanity... Or Is It? Brent looks at unbelieveably valued public Internet companies and attempts to derive the real value in these companies. November 6, 1998: The VC Road Trip Brent Holliday looks at the similarities and differences between Canadian and US technology investing and provides a few tips for entreprenuers who may be seeking financing from venture capitalists. June 15, 1998: Entrepreneur's Dilemma: Public vs. Private Venture Capital Investment in BC Brent Holliday discusses the merits and pitfalls of getting early stage financing from public or private sources.