Entrepreneur
Vancouver
LX Ventures: Canada’s Answer to the Series A Crunch
By Kira M. Newman | Jul 10, 2013 at 1:00 pm
When some people look at the Series A crunch – the mass of startups who get seed funding but fail to raise more – they see too much seed funding. When Mike Edwards looks at the Series A crunch, he sees a problem with…
iPad
Vancouver
Tapstream Launches App Banners to Remedy Dropping CPM Rates
By Meg Rayford | Jun 20, 2013 at 10:00 am
As more web users go mobile, publishers are suffering declining CPMs. Even though mobile is becoming a larger piece of the web traffic pie, advertisers just don’t seem to be interested in paying full freight for an impression on a mobile browser. “Web publishers…
Education
Vancouver
Kibooco: How to Think Like a 5-Year-Old
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 29, 2012 at 1:00 pm
If you were designing an “undo” button for a 5-year-old, who can’t read, what would it look like? The traditional back arrow makes just about zero sense to a young kid. The team at Kibooco, an app that helps kids create their own story…
Culture
Vancouver
Building a Rockstar Startup Team [Insights from GROW Conference]
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 28, 2012 at 9:00 am
Finding the right startup team can be the difference between a tense office culture, constant interruptions, and passive-aggressive emails and days full of high-fives, heads-down work, and happy hours. At GROW Conference, Vancouver’s premier startup event with over 800 attendees, a few speakers reminded…
Entertainment
Vancouver
CineCoup Will Bring Indie Films to More Theatres
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 23, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Vancouver startup CineCoup has reached an agreement with Cineplex Entertainment, Canada’s largest theatre chain, to bring popular indie movies into their theatres. Theatres traditionally shy away from independent films because they are a mixed bag, full of a few blockbusters like Paranormal Activity and…
Entrepreneur
Vancouver
What’s the Hardest Part about Startup Weekend? [Vancouver Edition]
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 20, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Startup Weekend, the 54-hour race to build a working product and pitch to judges on Sunday night, came to Vancouver this weekend. The event jumpstarted 17 ideas, from planning routes to selling tickets to epic Pokemon-style networking battles. And contrary to popular belief, few…
Food
Vancouver
Food.ee: The Magic of a Catered Office Lunch
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 17, 2012 at 11:00 am
On her second week on the job as Yahoo’s new CEO, Marissa Mayer announced that lunches in the company cafeteria would be free. A longtime offering at Google, Mayer’s previous employer, the free lunch symbolizes a company’s commitment to its employees: they no longer…
Angel Spotlight Series
Vancouver
Angel Spotlight Series: Behind the Scenes with Boris Wertz
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 15, 2012 at 3:00 pm
As an entrepreneur pitching to angel investors, you have a lot on your mind. You have to nail your pitch and anticipate their questions, all while staying cool and charismatic. Preparing your pitch is of paramount importance, and a crucial component of this is…
Education
Vancouver
Thinkific and the Science of Online Education
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 14, 2012 at 9:35 am
This year, Stanford University turned things upside down with experiments in the “flipped classroom.” For a few courses in biochemistry and computer science, students watched their lectures online and did problem solving, discussion, and practice during classroom time. According to the school, biochem students…
B2B
Vancouver
Keep Experimenting: The Story of KarmaHire’s Accidental Success
By Kira M. Newman | Aug 8, 2012 at 9:47 am
When KarmaHire’s virtual career fair opened at 11 a.m. on July 24, their servers immediately crashed – the website was down because too many people were trying to access it. How did the Vancouver startup go from have-not to hotshot in 6 months? KarmaHire’s…
Entrepreneur
Vancouver
Vancouver’s Launch Academy: Demo Day, with a Twist
By Kira M. Newman | Jul 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm
In a typical demo day, each of the companies graduating from an accelerator gets a few minutes to pitch their idea, show off their wit, and hopefully win the hearts of investors. But today, the startups from Launch Academy are under more pressure: they…
Android
Vancouver
Meet Linquet, the Lost Phone Finder (and More)
By Kira M. Newman | Jun 27, 2012 at 9:44 am
In 2011, mobile security firm Lookout located 9 million lost smartphones. In the process, they learned a thing or two about how people tend to misplace their phones – namely, between the hours of 9 pm and 2 am, in places like coffee shops,…
Android
Vancouver
A Thinking Ape: When Games are Not Just Games
By Kira M. Newman | Jun 8, 2012 at 3:00 pm
A Thinking Ape’s social games are “thin veils over really amazing chat rooms,” says cofounder Kenshi Arasaki, a former Amazon engineer. “Our games are just excuses for people to socialize.” The Vancouver startup is the creator of games like Kingdoms at War and Party…
Business
Vancouver
Why You Should Give Your Employees More Responsibility
By Kira M. Newman | Jun 6, 2012 at 3:00 pm
I visited Vancouver’s A Thinking Ape on a Wednesday afternoon, just in time for lunch: Peruvian subs from a deli across the street. People milled around the open-concept office, sitting on red bean bag chairs and couches with gorilla pillows, drinking chicha morada. A…