Smart money

In mid April Rick Segal is setting out across Canada to help educate us tech entrepreneurs about funding our companies. I’ve booked my ticket. Have you?

If you’ve met Rick (or read his great blog) you’ll know he calls a spade a spade, despises bullshit, and knows a great deal about the mechanics of funding (and running) a startup.  He is a partner at JLA Ventures so going to one of these sessions might turn into more than just an education.

Even if you’re not looking for funding right now (as is the case with GigPark) these will be great sessions to grow your knowledge in an important area of entrepreneurship.

Photo by Pieter Baert.

“Marketing is the price you pay for being unremarkable”

Quote from Robert Stephens, founder of the Geek Squad – via Carsonified.

I’ve read this quote before, but it hit home this morning having just gone through a big PR push for GigPark.

I chose to interpret the quote like this: Rather than spending a lot of money on marketing, it’s always better to spend your time and money building a remarkable product/company that people want to talk about and journalists want to write about.

I still believe that PR/marketing/advertising experts can be an incredible resource to help you spread the word, but they shouldn’t be used to drum up interest in a product or company that isn’t, in some way, remarkable.

GigPark on Breakfast Television Calgary this Monday

Of course I think GigPark is a big deal, but it’s nice when others agree ;). This afternoon Noah, my biz partner in GigPark, is being interviewed on CKNW in Vancouver, and on Monday he’s live on Breakfast Television Calgary.

CKNW has a live stream that you can check if you like – Noah is on just after 4pm Pacific Time. I’ll also try to get a clip of the appearance on BT posted as soon as possible. For those in Calgary, he is scheduled to appear just after the 7am news.