Today I decided to see what was new in the web world on Techcrunch and came across a reference to a great post by a local entrepreneur entitled “Why Your Startup Will Fail“. I first came familiar with the posts author, Eric Karjaluoto, a Vancouver entrepreneur, upon seeing his Elevator Pitch on Techcrunch a while back for his startup MakeFive. MakeFive allows its users to create top five on any topic they want. Although I didn’t particularly think it was the best idea of all time, many Techcrunch readers seemed to think it was destined to fail because it did not fulfill a pressing need of society. Mr. Karjaluoto made some great points in his rebuttle, mentioning sites like Twitter, that have exploded in traffic, not because people need them but because they are just fun. He seems to think MakeFive could make an impact like this and quite frankly, I think it very well could. Who’s to say what will catch on and what won’t. All we hear about these days is Twitter, which when you think of what the service really does, doesn’t really impress me at all.

As part of our shared commitment to enhance the learning and education of young entrepreneurs, this blog post has been sourced by the BC Innovation Council, VEF Momentum’s Technology Champion Supporter. The content of this post was written by Helen Yu, Registered Patent and Trademark Agent, Barrister & Solicitor at Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP. Look for more contributions sourced from the BC Innovation Council on the VEF Momentum blog in the near future.

++

Okay, so you are a young entrepreneur with an idea for a new business.  You are working on a business plan, worrying about how to secure financing, trying to coordinate a meeting with a business mentor to figure out what to do next – you have so many things running through your mind in order to get your business started, I bet protecting your intellectual property is probably not at the forefront of your mind.  Let me tell you, passion for starting up your business cannot act as legal protection of your intellectual property and your intellectual property may be the very thing that gives you a competitive edge, especially in this tough market.   

So Michael Arrington at TechCrunch seems to think Europeans are out to lunch when it comes to entrepreneurship. See his insights, and the scene at LeWeb 2008 that started all the drama here. It seems the 2-hour lunches and other “lifestyle” aspects of European culture are the reasons why Europe’s best entrepreneurs are moving to Silicon Valley. Hard work, long hours, and not being a “lifestyle” entrepreneur are part of the formula for success in America. Needless to say, his comments have created quite a frenzy at the TechCrunch blog and have even got the organizers of LeWeb questioning whether to invite Arrington to the next conference.

Sorry I didn’t get this up sooner everyone. But here she is. The presentation is quite relevant as we are experiencing similar economic conditions. Thank you Barry.

We are now launching the next phase of VEF Momentum focused specifically on mentoring and educating young entrepreneurs.

Over the past few months, many of you have given us feedback on what you feel is missing in this city for young entrepreneurs. Namely – substantive, actionable lessons and guidance from established entrepreneurs, professionals and investors. As a result we’ve formed a pilot program called “Fireside Chats.”  These chats are a unique and valuable opportunity for young entrepreneurs to spend time with local seasoned entrepreneurs and business leaders in a roundtable like setting.

I’m happy to say that our event last week - Now More than Ever, held at Tunnel Multi-Lounge was a resounding success. We had another sold out crowd of young entrepreneurs, professionals and mentors from across the city. Barry Jinks, the Founder & CEO of Colligo provided an informative and enlightening discussion on surviving and persevering as a young entrepreneur through tough economic times, and we had another series of great elevator pitches.

Okay, so maybe I’m a little biased. But I know there’s definitely a few areas we can improve upon. So as a team we agreed to offer free tickets to our next Speaker Session & Mixer to the first 15 people who fill out our feedback form.

Click here to fill out the form if you attended our last event on November 19th!