The Road to TEDx

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship, Personal

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.”   H.W. Murray The role of startup CEO is challenging both personally and professionally. The variety and depth of problems you work on are incredible. Not only do you get to collaborate with amazingly talented and motivated people, but together you end up creating a business out of thin air. If you are lucky, it may even become one that changes the world in a big way. This is deeply satisfying. But the icing on the cake is that, along the way, there are many opportunities …

Lessons learned: My BBC Interview

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship

Tonight I had a chance to be on BBC Newsday (part of their World Service). Not once. Twice. They claim an audience of 283 million listeners as the world’s largest international broadcaster and the world’s biggest breakfast radio show. Even if only a fraction of them are listening at once they’ll number more than ALL THE RESIDENTS OF CANADA. No pressure. I gave myself a rating of 6 out of 10 on the interviews. I’ll explain why below… What I’ve learned about radio interviews: Pay attention to the format of the show. Don’t get lulled into the idea that all …

Damned if we …

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship, FundRazr

When I started FundRazr I never expected we’d end up on the horns of a moral dilemma… Crowdfunding helps people deal with life’s financial challenges by collecting contributions from family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others in our personal networks. Sometimes these challenges are tragic in nature such as for emergency healthcare or recovery from accidents and are easy for the community to get behind and support. However, as crowdfunding has grown, some of the challenges are starting to involve the “messy” parts of living in a complex civil society. Last week brought a great example of this. Michael Slager, a white South Carolina …

We picked a good time to start a business

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship

Rob Lewis recently wrote a TechVibes article on the dismal state of venture capital investment in Canada. It seems that the VC investment model is under severe pressure and many tech businesses can no longer enjoy the benefits of VCs doling out easy money to their startup. We don’t see this as a huge threat and, in fact, believe it is an opportunity. Frankly, VCs made some stupid, follow-the-leader investments in the late 1990s. If one invested in a certain type of Internet application, a bunch of others jumped right in with similar (but not visionary) companies in the hopes …

Starting a company is hard

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint

It is hard to explain to people (at times) why starting a new company is so hard. I think Paul Kedrosky did a great job in the following quote: Creating a successful startup is among the hardest things you can do in a capitalist economy. Entrepreneurs must successfully navigate a sea of multi-dimensional uncertainty, from technology (will it work?), to people (do I have the right employees?), to market (will anyone care?), to financial (can I finance doing this, and can I then sell the produce or service for more than it costs?) At big companies you can fail at …

Witness to the start of a new era

Daryl HattonConnectionPoint

Sometimes, I’m very aware how lucky I am. Today is a good example. I was fortunate to be present when Google launched Wave. I can hear the snide comments now: “Give me a break – it is just a piece of software”. “Techies – just a bunch of self-centered geeks”, “OMG, get a life”. This is different. It is impossible to describe Wave succinctly – there are too many aspects that, by themselves, are very important and impactful. However, there is one thing it does that stands out for me – Wave is the first big implementation of the transition …