Rethink Toronto wall mural

I know – I’m a bad blogger. Possibly even a bad person… I haven’t posted here yet about my new adventure helping to start Rethink’s Toronto office. Needless to say it has been a ton of fun.

One of the fun parts has been helping to design the kind of office space we want to work in. And a week ago we made the office come alive with a giant wall mural by the insanely talented artist (and Rethink art director), Carson Ting. Here is a great little ‘making of’ film Carson put together. Thanks Carson!

RethinkTO wall mural art by Chairman Ting from Chairman Ting on Vimeo.

Icebreaker

Dre, David and I ignored the wind chill warning and headed out to the Toronto Islands for a round of disc golf today. It was absolutely beautiful out there. Also, the brilliant Rectory cafe was open so we had somewhere to warm up and drink hot chocolate. Don’t let the cold weather put you off – head out there!

Wonder no longer

I spent some of last week working from the Rogers Center and just outside our window they were setting up for a Wiggles show. Ever wondered what it looks like to build a stage for The Wiggles? Wonder no longer…

Setting up for a Wiggles show from Pema Hegan on Vimeo.

Calling all Toronto tech founders

Noah and I, along with Malgosia and John from LearnHub are hosting a little get together this Saturday for founders of local tech startups. This is the second Founders Lunch in Toronto and I’m hoping these turn into regular events. They’re a great place for founders to share lessons learned, get a different perspective on challenges they’re facing and simply hang out with other people going through the madness of starting and running a tech business.

If you are a founder and haven’t been sent an invite yet, please drop me a line – pema AT gigpark DOT com.

Breaking: Massive fire on Queen St West (at Portland)

Rosalynn and I woke up to find a huge fire burning just down the road from our condo. We can see flames and billowing smoke from our window. I hope everyone is OK.

For any TTC riders, it looks like streetcars are being diverted onto King Street at Shaw.

Advice form Richard Edelman

Stuart MacDonald‘s final question to Richard Edelman during this morning’s Mesh keynote was: What three pieces of advice would you like everyone here to walk away with?

His answer:

1. Make your stories visual. PR people are great with words and not so great with visuals.
2. Don’t be defeated by setbacks. You have to fall a couple of times to ski fast (skiing was his analogy of choice).
3. Don’t let clients say ‘here is your little box’. There is this tremendous grey area. Be bold and assert yourself.