Blogmatic

With the todays news of significant job losses at Dell has inspired me to create this post series. I am an advocate for the LSIF and think it is an important ingrediant in building knowledge based infrastructure. The cancellation of this fund by the provincial government in 2004 has devastated early stage knowledge based businesses in Ontario. Here is a summary of my LSIF post.

Return of the Funding Paradox (Part III)

LSIF - Sourcing

LSIF - What is all the fuss about  

LSIF - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

LSIF - When Bad is Good

LSIF is Beautiful

No Comments »

I originally wrote about the Funding Paradox in May of 2007 with earlier posts alluding to the same thing with a different name. At the time there seemed to be a real disconnect from what was being said by the investment community and the start-ups in Ottawa. More thought and some investigation resulted in “Fixing the Funding Paradox” Series of posts.

The Entrepreneurial Hockey Analogy

The Funding Paradox

The Funding Paradox Part II

Return of the Funding Paradox Part III

Fixing The Funding Paradox - Introduction

Fixing The Funding Paradox - Situation Analysis

Fixing The Funding Paradox - Sourcing

Fixing The Funding Paradox - Selection

Fixing The Funding Paradox - Solution

1 Comment »

This post was inspired by “Cognos sale, portrait gallery snub not the end of the world” in the business section of the Saturday Ottawa Citizen by Mark Sutcliffe. Mr. Sutcliffe suggests that “it is simply a fact of life in the technology world today (referring to the acquisition of Cognos by IBM). Get used to it” Frankly this “Get used to it” sentiment is a sedentary attitude that promotes complacency and mediocrity. Accept the status quo your Canadian. I prefer to think of the acquisition of Cognos as a call to action that we need to change and adapt therefore it is really more of a wake up call for the tech community and not the first alarm bell to ring. The sale of Cognos is not the end of tech in Ottawa, however, it is an indicator that significant forces of change are at work. Darwin’s law reigns supreme, adapt and prosper or accept the status quo and fade away.

There are and continue to be a number of unresolved issues affecting the local tech community. I wrote a series of posts (listed below) with respect to this back in April when Terry Mathews announced that within five years Ottawa won’t have a tech sector (An elephant in the room).

Face the brutal facts - 
Roadmap to Revitalization -  
The Entrepreneurial Hockey Analogy 
Recovery Framework 
Start-up – Government Policy – Federal Issues
Start-up – Government Policy – Provincial Issues 
Start-up – Government Policy – Municipal Issues
Start-up – Talent Issues
Start-up – Funding Issues 
Start-up - Team Formation 

These posts are based on what I knew in April 2007, I know more now, however, stand by the content. I won’t rehash what was written previously but will provide some questions for inquisitive minds to ponder.

What results did OCRI achieve with:
     $1.7M from the Ontario government for OCRP and BMEP programs?
     $500k from the City of Ottawa for the Innovation Hub (or Innovation Dud)?

Seriously, this is $2.2M dollars which doesn’t include another $1.6M from the City of Ottawa. By my calculation this is enough money to get more than 50 companies revenue ready or seed fundable from theGovernment of Ontario and City of Ottawa, however, I suspect the money has been frittered away on bureaucratic pursuits. Alas we may never know, because OCRI is accountable to no one for their financial expenditures. Where is the accountability for Ottawa’s economic development budget in 2007? If you are looking for City of Ottawa 2007 budget ideas why not apply some due diligence to our economic development spending.

Surviving in the age of globalization requires agility, adaptability and results. I think we can do better and at a minimum OCRI should be accountable for making public their financials so Ottawa taxpayers can have a better understanding of how our economic develoment dollars are being spent and more importantly the return on investment.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

2 Comments »