Lessons learned: My BBC Interview

Daryl Hatton ConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship Leave a Comment

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 Hatton ConnectionPoint, Entrepreneurship, FundRazr Leave a Comment

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 …

What’s the best place to work with ADD?

Daryl Hatton Entrepreneurship Leave a Comment

I’m traveling on business. Sitting alone in a noisy bar in Toronto. By choice. Plowing through my email. And making hay. A pretty young woman at the next table shouts, “How can you WORK in here???” Explaining it seems futile. Too loud. I shrug my shoulders and she turns back to her friends. But the truth is that, for me, it is a great place to work. As with many CEOs, I suffer a mild case of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). It is difficult for me to stay {SQUIRREL} on one thought or issue at a time. There is just …

Helping Competitors for Fun and Profit

Daryl Hatton Entrepreneurship Leave a Comment

I spent 90 minutes today helping a competitor with his business and I feel really good about it. We discussed challenges, strategies and market opportunities. Afterwards I made some introductions to people I think might be good to add to his team. I also introduced him to two customers we tried to sell on our solution but came up short. Many rational people would say, “What??? Why???” I asked myself the same questions. The answers that came back highlight some of my core philosophy and are worth sharing. Doing the right thing to help someone when you can is rarely …

Letting go of expectations

Daryl Hatton Entrepreneurship 2 Comments

It is bloody amazing what can happen when I just let go of expectations and trust it will all work out. We were told on Wednesday, November 21st we had to be out of our office at 321 Water Street by the end of December. Short notice rescinding a previous promise to let us stay until June on a month to month. Grrr… Starting looking – hit despair quickly – most available properties were crap. We really want to stay in Gastown in a place similar to what we have now: brick, glass, wood beams, view… The “feel” of our …

Notes to a Startup

Daryl Hatton Entrepreneurship Leave a Comment

Here are a few pieces of advice I offered to a new start-up company in Vancouver in response to some questions they had about taking on outside investment. I thought it was worth sharing… 1)      Regardless of whether we went with a debt (based on future earnings) model or an equity model, would we need to create an official board of directors, or can we just have an advisory board? We’d prefer the latter, so we can avoid all the governance issues.  As a private incorporated company, you are required to have a Board. Not having one doesn’t avoid governance …