On Friday, December 4, the BCTIA was pleased to host another Grub in the Hub for the tech community! This week’s topic was IP Protection for Software and we were thrilled to have Ling Wong from Fasken Martineau impart his expertise to our audience.

The discussion started with an introduction to IP and its importance to the firm. IP now constitutes an astounding 84% of a company’s value, so protection of a firm’s IP is critical. The most common form of IP protection comes in the form of patents, which Ling discussed in detail. He covered how to obtain a patent, evaluation criteria, and how to patent globally.

In addition to patents, Ling gave an overview of copyright and trade secrets, two other common forms of IP protection. Unlike patents, copyrights do not need to be registered to be in effect, but registration will afford the copyright holder more protection under the law. Trade secrets also do not require registration, but they also never expire so long as the secret remains a secret. In the world of software, some common trade secrets are computer technology, source code, and algorithms. The main takeaway of this discussion is that IP is extremely important and it is critical that companies discuss their IP strategy as early as possible.

We would like to sincerely thank Ling Wong for taking the time to speak to our audience! We hope to see you at the next Grub in the Hub!

The BCTIA Innovation Hub was buzzing with energy and talent on the evening of Dec 8, when over 150 technology professionals walked through its doors to meet 14 hiring companies at Tech Open House, a partnership between BCTIA and BCTechJobs.

Developers, QAs, Data Analysts, UX designers, Product Managers, Project Managers... if it's a technical role, it was well represented through a variety of great candidates. Attending companies ranged from high-profile local startups such as FusionPipe and Precision NanoSystems, to global powerhouses such as Microsoft, Amazon, MDA, and Fortinet. The local tech community was well represented by Vancouver-based companies ACL, BuildDirect, ResponseTek, Avigilon, Counterpath, GroupHealth, Traction on Demand, and Istuary Innovation.

Candidates had a chance to casually work the room, meeting with company representatives face-to-face to introduce themselves, discuss career opportunities, and hand in resumes. The whole evening was busy, fun, and most importantly, productive - Traction on Demand left with 6 interviews scheduled for the very next day!

Companies had a blast chatting with candidates and were very impressed with the level of talent. Gabrielle Garon, HR Manager at Counterpath, remarked that "the CounterPath team was incredibly impressed with the Tech Open House! The atmosphere was energetic and engaging – making it easy to connect with the great talent that turned up. I’m already looking forward to the next event."

With over 2000 connections made, this was the perfect closing event of 2015 for TechTalentBC. We are confident many great hires will result from Tech Open House, and we are looking forward to delivering many more fun and effective hiring events in 2016!

Companies can sign up for TalentTalk to stay tuned on upcoming talent events and candidates available. To learn more about TechTalentBC and how to get involved, email us at talent@bctia.org.

Candidates can stay tuned on upcoming events and career opportunities by creating a profile on BCTechJobs or joining our Meetup Group.

Happy holidays and see you in 2016!

Often we are too caught up in the busyness of our lives that we sometimes forget to focus on what's important to us right then and now. MindWell is a company working towards creating mindfulness for the workplace to help people experience less stress and increase productivity. Coming this January, MindWell will be launching a 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge and they are inviting everyone to take part in this positive movement. Read on to learn more.

Describe your company and your primary products and/or services.

MindWell is in the business of developing mindfulness training to help people experience less stress, more joy and peak performance.

While we have created several in-person mindfulness courses for the workplace that have been studied by UBC and proven to positively impact work performance, creativity and conflict management, the company is now developing online training that will teach people the core skills of mindfulness. 

Launching in January 2016, the 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge will be delivered online via any device, anytime and anywhere. After just five-to-10 minutes a day for 30 consecutive days, participants and their buddies (each person will be asked to invite a buddy from outside the organization at no additional cost) will become healthier, more productive and better able to problem-solve and work in a team. Improved leadership skills are also a proven benefit of mindfulness training.

Not surprisingly, tech giants like Google, Apple and Dell all have mindfulness training programs for employees but so do organizations like Target, Goldman Sachs, the LA Lakers and even the British House of Parliament.

What are MindWell’s goals for the coming year?

First up is to ensure our clients taking the 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge, including BCTIA, UrtheCast, Coke, UBC and others, have a positive experience.  The Challenge has been in development for more than a year and we’ve worked hard to secure the involvement of these A-list organizations and now we need to deliver.  Next up will be to fine tune the Challenge based on the feedback we get from clients and researchers at UBC’s Sauder School of Business who are studying the outcomes.  From there we’ll roll the Challenge out more widely plus look at developing other online training tools and curriculum that support our core offering.

2015 was a wonderful year for the tech industry in BC. With so many milestones being reached by companies across the province, we found it hard to keep track of all of the good news! To help jog our memories, we compiled a short list of just a few newsworthy stories that you may have missed (or forgotten about!) throughout the past year.

Click on the headlines to read the full story:

These are just a few of the exciting news stories about our industry to be published in 2015. You can read more BC tech updates on our Blog, or check out our BCTIA Year in Review infographic to get a look at just how much the industry has grown in the past year.

What was your favorite tech moment of 2015? Share it with us on twitter @bctia using hashtag #techin2015.

We wish you Happy Holidays and a joyful New Year, see you in 2016!

Growing BC's Next Anchor Tech Companies

On April 28, 2015, we opened applications for a brand new program, HyperGrowth, BC's first second-stage revenue accelerator. Unlike other programs in the market, HyperGrowth is focused on sales and marketing, and building the tools that companies need in order to take their companies to the next level.

Over the next few weeks we sought to find the best growth-stage companies in the province; high-potential tech companies that were poised to become anchors in BC's tech industry. We were looking for exceptional tech startups, ones with the potential to employ thousands of employees and see $100MM+ valuations in their future.

After painstakingly selecting seven finalists, a live pitch event determined the three companies that would participate in HyperGrowth's inaugural cohort: EDP Software, Thinkific and RentMoola. The 6-month immersive program began shortly thereafter, and included bi-weekly workshops with senior marketing and sales executives from elite sales organizations, weekly meetings with Executives-in-Residence (EIRs), and invaluable mentorship from the BCTIA Network.

Now that six months have passed, the formal program components have wrapped up, and the companies have seen significant advances in their business. All of them considered the program to be game-changing, and benefited not only from the intense mentoring and workshops, but also from the community they built during their time in the BCTIA Innovation Hub:

"Since joining BCTIA's HyperGrowth program 5 months ago, we have tripled our revenues and doubled our team. The connections and advice provided by BCTIA were instrumental in bringing about this growth for us and will continue to fuel us for the future."
-- Greg Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, Thinkific

"BCTIA has been instrumental in setting our company up for growth. With the guidance of the HyperGrowth program, we've transformed our commercialization strategy.  The result is that we are on track to close as much business in Q1 2016 as we did in all of 2015. Without the support of the BCTIA, we would be generating a fraction of the revenues we will see next year."
-- Sachin Agrawal, CEO, EDP Software

Where are these three companies off to now? Thinkific, having grown in size, has moved into their own space in Vancouver, EDP will be staying at The Hub but are “graduating” to the second floor, and RentMoola has retained their offices in Downtown Vancouver, but still visit The Hub from time to time.

We'll be keeping our eye on this incredible first cohort, and will share additional updates as time goes on. Please join us in congratulating them once again, and stay tuned for exciting HyperGrowth announcements in 2016!

In this week's Spotlight, we are featuring Vancouver-based Trulioo, a global powerhouse dedicated to building trust in the financial services industry through identity verification. With over 4 billion consumers in over 45 countries and a recent financing round of $15 million, Trulioo is successfully breaking boundaries and plans to continue expanding and growing even more. Read on to learn more about this emerging company and its goals for the upcoming year...

Describe your company and your primary products and/or service(s).

At Trulioo, we are helping build a framework of trust online so that people and businesses can feel safer when they are transacting and engaging with one another in a virtual environment. Our mission is to enable access to financial services by bridging the digital divide via verified identities for the entire global population. Trust is what has and always will connect us as humans, and at the heart of it all is verified identity.

As a global identity verification company, we help businesses and organizations instantly verify identities online through a single integration, providing real-time access to 4 billion consumers in over 45 countries via 145 trusted data sources – the widest coverage in the market.

Trulioo’s identity verification service, GlobalGateway, is used by over 400 global clients, including Stripe, Square, PayPal, WorldRemit, Interactive Brokers, and Kickstarter – among many other players in the payments, banking, ecommerce, and online marketplace space. GlobalGateway powers fraud and compliance programs to streamline anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) processes for digital transactions, including payments and ecommerce.

How many employees currently work at your company?

Currently staffed with 25 superstars headquartered in Vancouver, BC and five talented and dedicated team members spread out across the U.S., we are looking to add another 10 skilled and passionate members to our team in the next few months.

Left: Jon Jones, President | Right: Stephen Ufford, CEO and Founder

Where are you located?

Located in the heart of downtown, Vancouver, kitty-corner to the Harbour Center and just minutes from the Pacific Centre and historic Gastown. We are located on the third floor of a beautiful heritage building - where our team gets to hike up three flights of stairs twice every day because being fit and healthy is a must here at Trulioo!

Describe the culture of the company.

We have a unique and diverse bunch at Trulioo. Each person brings something special to the table and it works wonders for us. Our team consists of a disparate collection of experiences, backgrounds, skills, and expertise. However, a few common characteristics you’ll find in each team member are respect for one another, deep commitment to success, and willingness to collaborate and cooperate. Each team understands their role in the big picture and takes pride in their work.

Empowerment is a key component of our culture at Trulioo. We strongly encourage our team members to take risks, experiment on new ideas, and implement an ongoing feedback loop to foster a healthy learning environment. Empowering our team drives accountability, performance and professional development. Our team makes decisions on their own every day and we stand by them 100 percent.

We have a very open work environment with lots of transparency and freedom. Office spaces are primarily used for meetings, conference calls, and brainstorming sessions. The open floor plan encourages our teams to interact and engage with one another.

And of course, we are known to host a few foosball challenges every now and then with phenomenal startups looking to flex their top foosball sharks over a friendly game (or two or three) accompanied with a local selection of craft beers and pizza.

What does your leadership team (and company as a whole) do to support/grow that culture?

Our leadership team leads by example and demonstrates a high level of engagement by rolling up their sleeves and throwing themselves into the trenches when they need to. There’s no place for egos here at Trulioo. We are a highly effective team and everyone understands their contribution to the success of the overall team and the accountability that everyone has to our clients, our investors and to each other.

The leaders of our organization walk the talk. We value action, not lip service, and that is certainly something each team takes a lot of pride in because the output made by each team is exemplary.

When your employees talk about your company, what do they brag about?

Our team brags about the Trulioo family they are part of, the challenge of being in a fast-paced environment at the cutting edge of FinTech, and of them being part of a company where we are making a profound impact by helping to provide financial access to all citizens of this world, especially in developing nations. They might also brag about our cappuccino machine!

Describe your most recent achievement, milestone, reason for bragging rights.

We recently closed a financing round of $15 million, the largest fintech round in Canada. America Express Ventures participated in the financing round making it their first investment in a Canadian startup.

Trulioo Raises $15 Million, Largest Fintech Round of 2015

We were also listed in KPMG’s Global Fintech 100 List as an “Emerging Star,” selected as CIX Top 20 Tech Company, and received Top Innovator recognition for our API technology by DevNetwork and presented with Europe’s 2015 Digital Identity Innovation Award. In addition, we were finalists for Deloitte’s Fast 50 Companies-to-Watch and Startups Canada Award for Innovation.

What kinds of roles are you hiring for?

We are hiring in every department from Business Support and Sales & Marketing to Product and Technology. You can see the full list of positions on our Careers page.

What kinds of people are you looking for?

We are looking for smart, like-minded individuals who share similar values, beliefs and work ethics. Being honest will earn you trust; being humble will earn you support; and being hungry will earn you respect. Since we spend so many hours in the day working alongside each other, it only makes sense that we hire people that we want to surround ourselves with.

And of course, having a good work-life balance is must-have quality for members of our team. It’s in everyone’s best interest to maintain a good balance to ensure job satisfaction and productivity.

What is your company goal for the coming year?

We’ve got lots of goals for the coming year, but two we’d like to emphasize here include continued coverage and capabilities, and culture development. In 2016, we will continue to expand our capabilities to an ever-growing set of global institutions all through exemplary results and levels of service. We will also focus on challenging and empowering our teams to refine our culture where they feel engaged and prepared for continued growth and success.

***

To learn more about Trulioo, visit trulioo.com.
To read more Spotlight on Tech features, click here.

If you'd like us to shine the spotlight on your company, email communications@bctia.org today!

Content courtesy of the Canadian Digital Media Network 

Twenty-six companies have been accepted into the winter 2016 cohort for the Canadian Digital Media Network’s (CDMN) Soft Landing program.

The program helps mature startups and small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) in CDMN’s network of partner hubs to open a satellite office or grow distribution channels in a foreign market. Companies accepted into the program are granted access to office space for up to three months in their desired destination, plus up to $4,000CAD to cover travel and accommodation expenses.

Companies landing in the winter 2016 cohort include (destination in brackets):

Brisk Synergies (Lannion, France), Optigo Networks (Boston; New York City), Beam Me Up Games Inc. (Japan; France), iILLOGIKA STUDIOS, INC (Los Angeles), Sweet Tooth Inc. (Austin; San Francisco), AOMS Technologies (Brussels; United Kingdom; United States), Symanta Inc. (Boston), TitanFile Inc. (Palo Alto), Beagle Inc. (Stuttgart), SAMTRICA (London), Inova Group ULC (Sydney), Stathletes Inc. (New York City), 360Growers Inc. (Australia), Giatec Scientific Inc. (Bogota; Santiago; Sao Paulo), CardSwap Inc. (Los Angeles; Austin), Lane (San Francisco), Plastics For Change Recycling Corporation (Mumbai; Jakarta), B3 Systems Inc. (Santa Clara), Wirkn Inc. (New York City; Los Angeles), QuickLinkt Solutions Inc. (Seattle), Sharethebus (San Francisco), Willowglen Systems Inc. (Dubai; Abu Dhabi; Manama), Project Whitecard Studios Inc. (Daytona Beach), Fundmetric Incorporated (New York City; San Francisco), Athletigen Technologies Inc. (Los Angeles; San Francisco; Las Vegas), Prollster (Washington DC).

Since 2012, CDMN has helped 251 Canadian companies go global and generate over $40 million in new revenue and over $33.3 million in investment opportunities.

The next call for applications for the Soft Landing program will be open from Jan. 29-Feb. 12, 2016. For more information on the CDMN Soft Landing program, click here. 

***

BCTIA is proud to be a part of the national Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN).

We're back again to introduce a bundle of great new members! From international financial institutions to companies developing wearable technology, we are excited to showcase our incoming new members who joined the BCTIA Network in December.

Read on or click on their logos below to learn more about these great companies.

	Central 1 is the central financial facility and trade association for the B.C. and Ontario credit union systems. Central 1 represents a consumer-oriented, full-service retail financial system that serves 3.1 million members and holds $102 billion in assets and is owned primarily by its member credit unions, 40 in B.C. and 80 in Ontario.
	Dynamic Management Solutions (DMS) is a focused consulting firm specializing in implementing sustainable and tangible business process improvements. We measure our success based on our client’s success. Dynamic Management Solutions provides a systematic approach to help organizations optimize their underlying processes to achieve tangible results.
	HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. We serve around 48 million customers through four global businesses: Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Private Banking. Our network covers 72 countries and territories in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America.
	IQ PARTNERS is Canada’s leading Executive Search & Recruitment firm. With offices in Toronto and Vancouver, our recruitment agency has also been one of the fastest growing firms since 2001 with over 40 headhunters.
	Based in Vancouver, BC, Mio Global manufactures innovative easy-to-use fitness tech products that make heart rate training accessible to all athletes. Featuring award-winning, patented Mio Continuous Technology, Mio's products provide EKG-accurate heart rate data at speeds of up to 15mph and don't require a chest strap.

Want to meet more companies from the BCTIA Network? Find out all about our new members from last month, and learn about the hundreds of other companies in our Member Network Directory! Don't forget to check out our Industry News Feed to keep up to date with everything that's going on the tech community.

If you're interested in learning more about the BCTIA Network or have questions about membership, contact Hana Doubrava at hdoubrava@bctia.org.

But beyond the usual parade of uber-geeks and tech savants, we’re witnessing a decided shift in the perceptions of tech and its increasingly mainstream role.

Don’t get me wrong.  Canadians have always welcomed technology.  In fact, Canadians spend more time online than the rest of the world, and are among the world's most engaged and savvy online users. But, there has always traditionally been a gap in how Canadians perceive technology as consumers and how they perceive technology in the business context of jobs and the economy.

We were interested to know if this gap was closing, so we worked with Vision Critical to launch a public opinion poll in December.  The results of the survey showed surprisingly strong support for the tech sector as an economic driver for British Columbia and Canada, along with some other interesting findings:

1. Tech is perceived more positively than other industries.

2. Tech is viewed as a core engine of growth for the economy.

3. Tech is expected to create a sizable proportion of new jobs.

4. Tech is expected to be a major contributor to the Canadian economy.

As an increasing number of Canadians recognize that technology is not an island, they’re approaching it as an integrated capability that contributes to the success of virtually every industry.  As Mark Andreeson once opined, “Software is eating the world… and Companies in every industry need to assume that a software revolution is coming.”

In a province traditionally known for its natural resources, it’s amazing to see the coming of age (and rising public sentiment) for the tech industry.  It’s likely we’ll look back on 2016 as the year that ushered in the next wave of opportunity for British Columbia and Canada, with technology leading the way.

Bill Tam
President & CEO, BCTIA

-----------------------

In the News:

Technology Outlook 2016: Artificial intelligence, workforce diversity, major growth in store this year for tech sector - http://www.bctia.org/Resources/News/BCTIA-News/2016/1/5/Technology-Outlook-2016

Vancouver's Emerging FinTech Scene Poised to Push Back Against Canada's Financial Centre - http://www.bctia.org/Resources/News/BCTIA-News/2016/1/5/Vancouvers-Emerging-FinTech-Scene-Poised-Push-Back

The Year Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities - http://www.bctia.org/Resources/News/BCTIA-News/2016/1/1/The-Year-Ahead

Will $100M B.C. Tech Fund be Enough for Vancouver Startup Scene? - http://www.bctia.org/Resources/News/BCTIA-News/2015/12/15/Will-100m-BC-Tech-Fund-be-Enough-for-Van-Startup-Scene

Following the December announcement of a $100MM investment in venture capital, the BC Government unveiled the remaining two pillars of their #BCTECH Strategy earlier this week.  As anticipated, the strategy follows the themes outlined in the BCTIA’s 4-Point Plan– specifically addressing three pillars of Capital, Talent, and Markets.

Making it Easier to Access New Markets.  There are no concrete commitments to increasing the procurement from BC tech companies.  However, the Province intends to improve accessibility by streamlining smaller procurements through a short-form RFP (2-pages) for contracts under $250,000.  In addition, they have launched the BC Developers’ Exchange, a platform for inviting BC tech companies and application developers to leverage a repository of government APIs and datasets to build applications that can then be sold back into government.

The full #BCTECH Strategy is now available online. To open a downloadable pdf, click here or on the image above.

We welcome your input to shape our policy framework and grow BC's tech industry. To provide your feedback and participate in BCTIA's Policy Advisory Committee, please email policy@bctia.org. 

Contributed by The Art of Sales

Whether you have been in sales your whole life, or just started your first sales position, everyone has room to grow. Continuous learning pushes an ordinary salesperson to become an extraordinary salesperson – this is why we appreciate when conferences like The Art of Sales come to town and offer cutting-edge knowledge on current issues, challenges and real world experiences in sales. There are only 4 weeks left to get involved with The Art of Sales in Vancouver – here are the top 3 reasons we are excited about this conference (and you should be too):

1. Five high-caliber thought-leaders

The Art of Sales features five renowned, bestselling authors and visionaries including Daniel Pink, the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of To Sell is Human and Drive; Jeffrey Gitomer, a world-renowned sales expert and New York Times Bestselling Author of The Little Red Book of Sellingand The Sales Bible; Brent Adamson, the Bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer; and more.

2. Wide range of sales topics

Topics covered at the event will include sales effectiveness, customer loyalty, relationship development, body language & communication, and strategy & performance. This wide range of important topics ensures that everyone will walk away with remarkable new insights.

3. Networking

There will be a full day of networking opportunities for attendees with over 1,200 of British Columbia’s most influential and accomplished sales leaders from a diverse range of companies and industries.

On February 5^th, 2016, The Art of Sales Conference will be coming to Vancouver. Will you be joining us? Register today using promo code: BCTIA27 and you will save $50 per person. Save an additional $50 per person when registering 3 or more people at the same time.

On January 18th & 19th, over 2,600 people came together to celebrate our province's vibrant tech industry during the inaugural #BCTECH Summit.

It was an action-packed two days, featuring a Technology Showcase, Career Expo, and a Trade Show that included a BCTIA pavilion featuring Aequilibrium, Axine Water Technologies, Finger Food Studios (IoT Design Shop), Global Relay, Motion Metrics, Tasktop Technologies, Traction on Demand, Trulioo, TSO Logic, Rigid Robotics, and UrtheCast. The BCTIA team was in attendance, including President & CEO, Bill Tam, who moderated a panel discussing "Why BC?". 

When asked for highlights from #BCTECH Summit, here's what our team had to say:

Overall, the #BCTECH Summit was an excellent way to bring the tech community together and showcase some innovative BC-made technology. It reinforced that the tech ecosystem in BC is incredibly strong and growing quickly. We look forward to working alongside the BC Government and our industry partners to the tech ecosystem in our province continue to grow for years to come.

For more information, visit http://bctechsummit.ca/

On January 15, we hosted our first Grub in the Hub of 2016! Peter Brady and Leslie Rose of the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) shared their insight on securities and on how small businesses can raise money. Using a story filled with mini-cases, they illustrated and answered questions that many small businesses in BC may currently be facing.

Firstly, they debunked one common misconception – securities are not just common shares!  A security is any document that allows the holder to profit from the efforts of others.  Additionally, there two basic requirements underlying the security laws: everyone who trades securities must be registered with the Commission, and everyone who distributes previously unissued securities must file a prospectus with the Commission.

When considering how small businesses can raise money, the options depend on if the business is a private issuer or not.  Private issuers are issuers that have less than 50 security holders. There is an exemption for private issuers so they do not need to file a prospectus, but that exemption only allows the private issuer to sell securities to family, close personal friends, close business associates, or accredited investors. If you have grown past the point of being a private issuer, you can still sell to family, close personal friends, close business associates and accredited investors, without filing a prospectus, but you will then be required to report the sale of the securities to the Commission.

Small businesses can also raise money from any investor through startup crowdfunding and offering memorandum exemptions.

Peter and Leslie also answered questions from the audience regarding the specifics of reporting to the Commission and the private issuer exemptions.  This information can be found here.

Thank you Peter and Leslie for sparking this discussion with such clarity.  We hope to see you at our next Grub in the Hub!

To view more upcoming events, visit our Events Calendar.

On January 21st, we celebrated the BCTIA Innovation Hub's one-year anniversary! Over 180 people joined the celebration at our space at 887 Great Northern Way as we recognized our first cohort of graduating HyperGrowth companies, showcased the tenant companies currently at The Hub, and thanked our Founding Partners.

When we first opened our doors on December 1st, 2014, we didn't know what to expect but it has definitely been a wild ride! Since then, The Hub has become home to 33 growth-stage tech companies, greeted over 3,500 visitors, and hosted more than 140 events.

In addition to that, we launched two programs for our community including TechTalentBC, where we made over 2,900 talent introductions, and HyperGrowth, BC's only second-stage accelerator. We'd like to give a big congratulations to our first HyperGrowth cohort: EDP Software, RentMoola, and Thinkific, for completing the intensive 6-month program at The Hub and wish them best of luck for their future endeavors! As for our next cohort, we have officially opened our HyperGrowth applications and are currently seeking for high-potential tech companies to move in by May 2016. If you know a company that would be a great fit, send them to hypergrowth.bctia.org now!

It has been a great year for us at The Hub and we look forward to many more years of excitement and growth. Thank you for coming out and we look forward to seeing you at our next event, TechBrew!

Missed out on the celebration? Click here to see photos on Flickr or click on the "1 Year in The Hub" infographic to learn more about The Hub.

Join us for a night of innovation on tap

This Thursday marks the first TechBrew of 2016! We will be showcasing 8 inspirational local companies, including winners and finalists from the 2015 Technology Impact Awards! Companies include AdLinks, Apivio, Arius3D, Conquer Mobile, Grow, Keboola, Rainforest Automation, and ZincNyx! In addition to giving tabletop demos, the companies will pitch at the beginning of the event starting at 6pm.

Learn all you need to know about TechBrew here:

To read the recap and see photos from our last TechBrew, click here.

Haven't purchased your tickets yet? We have a limited amount here. 

We can't wait to see you on Thursday! Don’t forget to tweet @bctia with the hashtag #TechBrew!

This week we are shining the Spotlight on CounterPath Corporation, a leading provider of innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions that unite business users through the use of voice, video, messaging, presence and collaboration. CounterPath is thought of as the WhatsApp + Skype for business!

1. Describe your company and your primary product(s) and/or service(s).

Founded in Vancouver in 2002, CounterPath is a leading provider of innovative desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions. Our flagship product Bria has been downloaded tens of millions of times helping us in achieving our mission to be the world’s leading provider of VoIP softphones. Our solutions have been recognized by several awards and our technology powers the offerings of many of the world’s largest and most influential service providers and enterprises.

2. How many employees currently work at your company?

We have 110 team members, in 6 countries, on 3 continents.

3. Where are you located?

Our Headquarters are located in the hub of downtown Vancouver, near Coal Harbour at Bentall One. We also have offices in Victoria, Ottawa, Boston, Chicago – and abroad!

4. Describe the culture at your company.

Our culture is powered by people who love what they do. Our people are driven, creative, autonomous, collaborative, and dynamic. Our team collaborates across home offices, oceans, and time zones all in the spirit of making our customers successful. Our team is totally casual, open, and has a ton of fun together, too. Because we have people who have been with us for 10+ years, our team is full of genuine friends who love working together.

5. What does your leadership team (and company as a whole) do to support/grow that culture?

Our Leadership team is hands on with the team and truly fosters an open door culture. One of our company values is to have the “Courage to Innovate” so our Leaders are always looking to the team to be creative, fix problems, and help CounterPath move forward. We do this through fostering many diverse channels of communication like our quarterly global town hall meeting, one on one’s, and lots of impromptu creative jam sessions on the fly.

6. When your employees talk about your company, what do they brag about?

Employees love that they are learning new technologies and applying them in the marketplace to make a difference. Our products are used by tens’ of millions of users and every team member has a role in continuing that success.

7. Describe your most recent achievement, milestone, reason for bragging rights.

CounterPath has transitioned from Consumer to Enterprise through key wins within Government and Financial segments. This is important as the Consumer market is saturated with Consumer OTT (over-the-top) applications and CounterPath has successfully repositioned itself into a new market category called Enterprise OTT (over-the-top) that is completely untapped and underserved by traditional players such as Cisco and Avaya.

8. What kinds of roles are you hiring for?

We are looking for big talent within Software Development, iOS- Android Development, Marketing, Product Management and Sales. For more information, visit our Careers page. 

9. What kinds of people are you looking for?

The types of people we’re looking for are creative, collaborative types. People who are high effort, motivated types who are driven by a desire for excellence. People who are positive, happy, and fun. And people who can take a joke. Especially if that joke is mildly offensive. Our team is full of dynamic, interesting people: we have World Class Sailors, Pilots, Musicians, Fifa Soccer Coaches, and Authors. We like people who aren’t afraid of taking the road least travelled. After all, that is the CounterPath way. #ThisIsCounterPath

10. What is your company goal for the coming year?

We are in midst of a new Enterprise market window that has formed from the growth of Consumer OTT (over-the-top) applications that are driving user demand for similar capabilities in business. We are uniquely positioned to own this burgeoning market from small to extra large Enterprise segments. We’ll also be refining and building out our entire Talent strategy to hone in on our success over the past 14 years’ and look openly to the future and ask: what can we do for our People and Culture to make CounterPath even more exciting and rewarding in 2016?

***

To learn more about CounterPath, visit counterpath.com.
To read more Spotlight on Tech features, click here.

If you'd like us to shine the spotlight on your company, email communications@bctia.org today!

Claude Monet’s La Mer Agitée

Content provided by Verus Art

Atlanta, Georgia (January 26, 2015) – Larson Juhl, creators of the art world’s first 3D re-creations, announced today through their Verus Art brand, the release of their second masterpiece re-creation in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada, Claude Monet’s La Mer Agitée.

Following the first re-creation of Van Gogh’s Iris, Monet’s masterpiece has been 3D scanned and printed utilizing the proprietary technology developed by Verus Art in collaboration with its partners, Arius Technology and Océ, A Canon Company.

La Mer Agitée, in the National Gallery of Canada’s collection since 1946, will have a limited worldwide distribution of 950 re-creations and sell for $4,500 each. A hand crafted, water gilded frame from Larson-Juhl’s Senelar atelier in France was selected for the masterpiece to honor the time period and style of the original. The Verus Art re-creation maintains the exact canvas dimensions of the original paining and measures 29 1/8” x 34 ½” with the addition of the Larson-Juhl frame.

With Verus Art’s technology, Monet’s brushwork has been recreated to capture the exquisite details of the seas, sky, and shifting sunlight that struck Monet’s inspiration during a cold March trip in 1881 to Fecamp, up the coast from Le Havre in France. The dynamic brushwork of this masterpiece is a testament to his excitement and passion for invigorating conditions. Accustomed to working outdoors and then completing his pieces in studio, La Mer Agitée appears to be laid down and finished in one brisk session.

“What an honor to be able to recreate masterpieces by renowned artists such as Van Gogh and Monet. Recreating these beautiful paintings allows us to help the world live with art in a more significant way and celebrate the hard work of our team members and technology partners,” said Paul Noble, Vice President, Business Development at Larson-Juhl. “To re-create with such precision the brushstrokes of a Van Gogh flower, or Monet seascape, or one of the great masterpieces coming soon, is a game changer with regard to helping more people around the world experience beauty.”

The collaboration between Verus Art and the National Gallery of Canada will produce a series of re-creations geared towards enhancing public engagement, retention and educational programs.

“Our selection was guided by choosing great paintings people would want to experience every day” says Stephen Gritt, Director, Conservation and Technical Research at the National Gallery of Canada. “We also wanted to challenge the technology to see how well it can capture the spirit of an individual painting – it’s essential physicality through which a painter can share thoughts, feelings, and a moment in time.  I’m happy to report another success.”

Monet’s La Mer Agitée and Van Gogh’s Iris are both available at www.verusart.com

Written by Michael J. Kousaie, Head of Business Development, Technology, Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange

Earlier this month, Bill Tam wrote a great blog post about the role that the BC technology sector is expected to play in building jobs and supporting economic growth in the province. The article is a good read and serves as an important reminder of a broader trend we are seeing across the country: tech matters. It matters to investors. It matters to governments. It matters to companies. It matters to the economy.

From my seat at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), I have a very interesting view of how the sector matters. In particular, I get to see companies from their earliest stages (growing up in some of our country’s amazing incubators and accelerators) through to maturity. I get to see public and private companies. And I get to talk to angels, VCs, and public company investors about their view on the sector. Through this lens, I’ve seen the sector evolve and grow in importance across the country. As I wrote in a recent article, tech is definitely back in Canada.

The story in BC is just as strong.  Consider these statistics:

Clearly, 2015 was a good year for the tech sector in BC. What about 2016? Of course, it’s impossible to predict specific funding levels, IPO activity, etc.  But, it is clear that BC has built a very strong foundation for further success. Some of the key pieces that are in place include strong accelerators and incubators (like BCTIA and HIGHLINE), supportive government initiatives, and (most importantly) a strong cohort of successful companies (both public and private) and entrepreneurs that provide important leadership, mentorship and support to the sector. With these pieces in place, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the continued growth and success of the tech sector in BC.

* Source: http://www.cvca.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-Q3-data-release-FINAL.pdf

On January 26th, the BCTIA and BC Tech Jobs kicked off their 2016 Talent Meetups with a highly engaging and insightful discussion on the "Journey to CTO". Some of Vancouver's most interesting CTOs, including Tal Ball from BuildDirect, John Boxall from Mobify, Gord Elder from ResponseTek, and Johnny Oshika from Jobcast/BCJobs.ca, shared their stories, career highlights, challenges, and tips for success with a crowd of technology professionals at the BCTIA Innovation Hub. Attendees left inspired and had a chance to chat with the CTOs one-on-one afterwards to introduce themselves in person and potentially build bridges to help their career growth in the future.

Here are some highlights from the panel discussion:

What are the common qualities you see in your most successful team members?

Empathy; being able to relate to our clients and what they go through. No prima donnas. Ambition; people who elevate themselves and the company and find interesting solutions. Business domain; spending the time to learn about the business, the problems we are trying to solve. Passion is crucial, and it is part of our challenge to find and ignite that in people. The characteristics of people who are bound to excel are different from company to company, as well as within one company as it grows - as a startup, we needed the crazy hackers who got the job done fast; now, collaboration is a lot more important.

How does one build the bridge from technical developer to business leader?

First, it's important to know what you like to do (and that might change over time); maybe you want to remain technical if you're happy there. Being a people leader and technical leader are different tracks and many companies will recognize that and invest in both. If you want to make the jump, look around for learning opportunities, whether that's in education, at work, or other business opportunities. At work, look for the small wins; there are always things that can be better, low-effort projects that can have a big impact. These small wins help management recognize who is killing it and reward them for it. Developers most likely to progress into non-development roles are the ones who ask a lot of questions about why we are building a product and share ideas to make it better - these people naturally start to lead because others want to get behind their ideas.

Last but not least, follow the value proposition. Connect to both sides - product and customer - and understand what the technology needs to do as well as what problem the customer is trying to solve. There's the coder and the customer; the rest of us are overhead, so we need to add a lot of value.

How do you stay up to date with technology?

Twitter for the latest and greatest, which can lead to other sources for deeper dives. Our teams, who serve as a filter function for all the new tech and ideas out there. Scanning headlines and trends. Access to industry analysts (although they are not always useful). Singularity university for high impact ideas.

What drives you?

"Passion for building teams and seeing them achieve success. The technology, staying current, and maintaining a sense of what makes sense or not." - Tal Ball

"Being at the intersection of strategic vs tactical, technology vs business focus, and acting as a translator between sales/marketing and product. Having the opportunity to think of long term stuff but also control how we deliver it. Having diversity in the role." - Gord Elder

"Building things. Lots of people have mobile, so that's where I could make the most impact. It's cool to see lots of people are using what I coded, and then building the bigger blocks." - John Boxall

"I love creating things; tie that with business, and now you can go from creativity to accomplishment when you see others using what you've built." -Johnny Oshika

What advice would you give to someone building a career in tech?

Now is a fantastic time to start a tech career, as there is so much power, technology, and opportunity at your fingertips. Get tech experience, even if it happens to be unpaid, and look for open source projects and meetups to build up your resume. Most hires happen through referrals, so don't limit yourself to job boards, reach out to people you know; however, but don't send the same email to everybody on the engineering team of a company, as they will discuss amongst themselves. Think about what kind of company is right for you and what you want to accomplish. Vancouver's tech scene is very diverse, so know if you prefer a small team where you can do a lot and branch out or if you prefer to specialize and learn from others around you, and then choose a company accordingly. Find out what the company culture and values are, as you won't find success if you're not aligned with them.

The conversation went way beyond these questions, from their career progression, to first-sale stories, to decision-making processes, and it was truly inspirational and fun to hear from these CTOs. All attendees left with valuable tips and tools to become as successful in their own careers as the CTOs are, and are looking forward to putting these pearls of wisdom to practice in their professional lives.

A big thank you to Tal, Gord, John and Johnny for sharing their expertise, and to all attendees for making this event a big success. See you at the next Talent Meetup!

***

Talent Meetups focus on a variety of current technology and career advancement topics. To stay tuned on upcoming events, join our Meetup group here. If you'd like to join a Meetup panel as a speaker and promote your employment brand, please email clouzada@bctia.org and ryan@bcjobs.ca.

Content provided by Traklight

The legal industry is undergoing a technological revolution, and in the last several years, Legal Technology (LegalTech) has exploded into an almost $400B market in the United States. From only fifteen LegalTech startups raising on Angel List in 2009 to over four hundred listed in 2013, technological disruption has affected every branch of the legal industry.

Sometimes compared to financial technology (FinTech), the LegalTech industry saw major venture investment backing in 2014 and 2015 in four areas, cited by Bessemer Ventures here as ripe for disruption: process automation, legal research, consumer, and e-discovery.  However recently that investment has slowed down, as has investment in many sectors.

We started Evolve Law last fall as an additional sales and marketing channel for our companies because we experienced challenges selling to lawyers, an inherently risk adverse group. Our mission is to accelerate the pace of adoption of technology within the legal industry.

Everyone resists change but lawyers seem to have an added hurdle because they dislike being first or even early adopters.  I have been asked on numerous occasions whether we have hundreds of other firms using my company Traklight’s technology. When I answer not yet, the firms do not wish to continue the conversation. My theories of why lawyers are slow to adopt technology originally appeared in a series I wrote for the American Bar Association’s Law Technology Today:

Our first Canadian Evolve Law event was held last fall in Toronto at the Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone. Our hosts were the new Legal Innovation Zone, one of two legal tech incubators in Toronto. At that event, it was estimated that Toronto now has over thirty legal tech startups!

Several themes emerged during this expert legal tech panel and you can view the two-part video here – Is the Forbidden Fruit Hanging Lower? .

LegalTech is a growing vertical in Vancouver with Clio, one of Bessemer’s investments, plus Contractual.ly (just acquired by Coupa) and Knomos.  If you are a legaltech company in Vancouver and not listed above please reach out to me on twitter @maryjuetten.

Please join us at BCTIA on February 16^th at 5:30 pm to see legaltech company demos; hear from experts, including Clio Founder Jack Newton and Dan Lear of Avvo; and learn about social media and innovation’s impact on the law - more details here.