Ask HN: New VC Event in Canada | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: New VC Event in Canada

8 pointsezrider44287 comments

I am hosting an event in Toronto on October 20th, 2010. I was hoping for some feedback from the community on the site and the concept. We are pretty far along in the planning but we can change the concept or structure of the event if enough people feel strongly about it.

Here is my elevator pitch (feedback would be great on it too):

I am looking for startups in any market that will be seeking financing within 6 months. This is restricted to companies in Canada.

The Investment industry in Canada is at an all-time low. Great startups in Canada have to reach out to the Valley to get investments. I think that there is enough money in Canada and people are willing to take the risk. I am organizing an event bringing together the biggest investors in Canada. The goal of the event is to get a commitment from Investors within 30 minutes after the startup pitches. Funding will range from $50k to $5 million, preferably Series A funding.

If you think your company has what it takes and is ready for a pitch of a lifetime let me know and we will go from there.

Apply here http://www.fundation.org/apply/

Glad to see someone trying to help Canadian funding efforts.

Your about page is pretty weak on actual information about who's organizing this (i.e. you) and your background. I'd love to see those details.

No harsh criticism intended, but at the moment it kind of comes off as: I've rented a conference room, but I still need people to pitch AND people to invest in those pitches. Some indication that you've got some connection to one of those 2 groups would be encouraging.

I've bookmarked the site though, I'll keep my eye on it.

Thanks for the feedback. We will put together some content on who we are, who our guest speakers are, and the people currently on our board of advisers in short order. We are more heavily connected to investors and sweat equity investors than entrepreneurs at this point, so we are pushing out to the community for help in that area specifically.

This is a grand idea. Any clues to as who are the investors?

As for the site, here is some constructive criticism:

- Check your formatting on the pages. Wordpress can be a bitch sometimes. Try Shift-Enter for line breaks.

- Think about segmenting the copy on the about page into maybe a couple of different sections, say investors, pitchers, About Us . Segmenting helps readers with text overload.

Other than that, site looks good.

As a fellow Toronto resident, I am looking forward to seeing how far you get with this.

As an entrepreneur in Toronto I can say that this is sorely needed. I do echo the question by someone else why there is pressure to make a decision so soon.

Wouldn't that be like speed-dating except you have to marry the person you just met?

> The goal of the event is to get a commitment from Investors within 30 minutes after the startup pitches.

This sounds like a typical time-share "information session" to me. Why the pressure?

Thanks, Great comment! I completely understand where this is coming from. I am going to change the sentence to reflect that within 30 minutes of the pitch investors will set the expectation that they want to see more. I dont want it to seem like there is pressure to invest or that if an investor is interested then the money is guaranteed.

Nothing for super early startups? Might expand your audience a bit more, people looking for less than $50k (ie. YC sized investments)

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