The low-down on our biggest prize & its judges: the Startupfest $70k Investment Prize
Things are bigger and better this year at Startupfest: first we’re giving you two extra days of startup fun, and now we’re bringing you the largest investment prize in Startupfest history! That’s right, the Investment Prize judges are back, and this year $60k is up for grabs. And the best part? Any badged and attending startup is eligible for the prize, so make sure to woo the judges with an amazing pitch!
Like last year, a group of angel and VC investors are coming together as equal partners to create Startupfest’s biggest investment prize. Festival Founder Phil Telio will once again be alongside Anna Goodson, Rory Olson, Danny Knafo and new judges Jamie O’Hara, Howard Stotland and David Chamandy, to award one deserving startup a $70,000 prize in the form of an entrepreneur-friendly convertible debenture.
In addition to the $70k investment, the winner will be awarded:
– $5,000 in services from design and branding specialist: Daniel Arsenault
– One year of free access to the Fasken Martineau Start-up Program. The Start-Up Program includes the following benefits:
- Incorporation and organization of a corporation OR registration of a trade-mark in Canada*
- Corporate record keeping (update minute books)
- Access to templates, such as intellectual property (IP) assignments and non-disclosure agreements
- Kick-off meeting to implement an IP strategy** and Fasken Martineau’s unique IP management structure
- 2 hours of consultation per month (legal drafting not included)
- Access to Fasken Martineau’s Start-Up Community
- 10% discount on hourly rates for other services (patents, shareholders, agreements, license, etc.)
– 6 months FREE rent, with services included, at the Quo Vadis Communoloft location on Rene Levesque. The prize is valid for two spaces at value of $650 per month for each space ($8,000 value). If the winner is not Montreal-based, this portion of the prize is transferable.
Please note that the prize is not closed and may grow in value between now and the Festival. Any angel on institutional investor interested in participating in the value should contact us at info@startupfest.local.
Check out our judges below!
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INVESTORS
These Investor Judges each pooled $10k for the $60k Investment Prize, and will ultimately determine the winner.
Ann Goodson
CEO & Founder of Anna Goodson Illustration Agency (AGIA)
Anna Goodson is the CEO & Founder of the Anna Goodson Illustration Agency, a contemporary creative boutique representing some of the most prominent illustrators from around the world. Founded in 1996, AGIA has a proven track record of expertise that has served the visual market well. AGIA works with leading advertising agencies, design firms, magazines, publishing and newspapers from around the globe. In the spring of 2010, Anna launched The MEATMARKET™, a place to hook up with the very best in the International Photography Industry.
Prior to launching AGIA, Anna worked 5 years in Advertising. She started her business career at the tender age of 19 while doing her BFA at Concordia University and working part time at her father’s printing agency company. Anna’s father and grandfather were both entrepreneurs and her grandmother was in sales in 1925. Anna thinks that being an entrepreneur is in her blood and looks forward to founding and investing in other business in the future.
Philippe Telio
Founder and Producer of the International Startup Festival
President Embrase
Phil may have an engineering background, but this seasoned entrepreneur got a taste of the startup world fresh out of university. His journey started in the early 90s pre-internet era when he joined Public Technologies Multimedia—a startup that grew from a handful of people, to hundreds of people in just a few short years. Although he launched his career as a programmer, Phil was quickly drawn into the business side of startups and has pursued this vocation ever since. From PTM he joined Locus Dialogue, who was eventually bought by InfoSpace (another startup that grew quickly). In 2003 Phil decided to start his own chapter with Embrase, a business-consulting firm centered on bringing innovation to the enterprise market. Despite his 20+ years of executive experience driving strategic business development, his heart was always in startups so he created a series of events that have now come to be the largest events in Canada for entrepreneurs. Phil is also a board member of the Osmo Foundation and is the President and Chairman of the Montreal Startup Foundation.
Rory Olson
CEO and Founder of Wall Street Survivor
Rory Olson is the Founder and CEO of Wall Street Survivor, among the largest, Interactive, financial education sites, online. Launched in 2007 and with over 420000 users, Wall Street Survivor is the CodeAcademy for Investing, using its real-time stock market simulator coupled with content, to educate beginner investors in a mentored handheld way.
Prior to founding Wall Street Survivor, Rory was Founder and CEO of several highly regarded companies such as; Total.Net, Canada’s largest independent dial-up Internet Service Provider. He was COO of MPACT Immedia, a pioneer in the provision of electronic commerce solutions (which eventually merged with Bell Canada’s business unit, Emergis, to form BCE Emergis where he assumed the role of EVP Business Development). He then became a partner and COO of Airborne Mobile, which sold to Cybrid a Japanese mobile entertainment company. He was also the Co-Founder and CEO of SureFire Commerce, one of the leading card-not present payment processing companies.
Rory is passionate about technology startups, his family and friends, entrepreneurship, U2 and his dog Casey.
Daniel Knafo
Angel Investor
Danny spends his days working for a private institutional lender which provides bridge-financing to distressed companies. He has over 20 years of business experience, including 8 as a senior manager for one of Montreal’s top insolvency and restructuring firms. In addition, he has held senior financial management posts with both privately-held and public corporations operating across diverse sectors. For the last 6 years, he was responsible for sourcing mid-market business opportunities, asset appraisals and asset dispositions in Eastern Canada for an Ontario based distressed ABL lender.
Danny holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University, an MBA from McGill University and was granted a Bankruptcy Trustee License from Industry Canada in 1995.
Howard Stotland
Founder STS Systems
Danny spends his days working for a private institutional lender which provides bridge-financing to distressed companies. He has over 20 years of business experience, including 8 as a senior manager for one of Montreal’s top insolvency and restructuring firms. In addition, he has held senior financial management posts with both privately-held and public corporations operating across diverse sectors. For the last 6 years, he was responsible for sourcing mid-market business opportunities, asset appraisals and asset dispositions in Eastern Canada for an Ontario based distressed ABL lender.
Danny holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University, an MBA from McGill University and was granted a Bankruptcy Trustee License from Industry Canada in 1995.
Jamie O’Hara
Managing partner, Grise Global Groupe
Jamie founded Grise Global Groupe with a simple philosophy: find the very best management talent and either help them when needed or get out of the way. Grise has a wide sector mandate and a global cast. Grise Global’s most recent investments include Wavo, a company at the global intersections of music and social, as well as GuestDriven, a company which drives advocacy and relevance between hotels and their guests worldwide. Grise Global is based in New York.
Jamie is a Patron of the Signature Theatre Company and an active fundraiser for the Mount Sinai Hospital Benefit Committee, NYC.
David Chamandy
Senior Director, Investments at Machkor Capital
David is an entrepreneur who co-founded internet dating site Lavalife -arguably the world’s first iteration of the modern day social network- in 1986 in Toronto, Canada. Upon exiting Lavalife in 2004, he co-founded Darwin Dimensions Inc., a Montréal based CG developer of the web-based EVOLVER avatar generator for the online game and feature film industries and later sold to Autodesk Inc., in summer 2011. In 2007, David began moonlighting as an active angel investor and currently serves as the senior Director of Machkor Capital., a seed and early stage venture capital fund headquartered in Montréal that includes Beyond the Rack, Buyosphere and Gamerizon Studios among its holdings. Machkor invests in emerging, internet, mobile and enterprise based start-ups in Canada and the United States but can also invest opportunistically beyond these parameters. David currently sits on the Board of independent casual game developer Gamerizon Studios Inc., and on several Boards of Advisory including Montreal based seed stage venture fund Real Ventures, and the privately run Atwater Racquets Club of Montréal.
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ADVISORS
These judges will act as advisors to the panel of Investor Judges for the $70k Investment Prize.
Chris Shipley
Driving Actionable Innovation Strategies
Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the executive producer of the DEMO Conferences from 1996 to 2009, she has helped technology companies bring more than 1,500 new products to market. She co-founded Guidewire Group in 2004 to help emerging technology companies identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market. Today, the company is building a robust business development platform that helps startups and Global 2000 companies identify and engage with new opportunities. Chris has covered personal technology since 1984 and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology and consumer media. Fortune Small Business Magazine placed Chris on its “Top 10 Minds in Small Business,” the San Jose Business Journal named her a “Woman of Distinction,” and it 2010 the SVForum honored her with its Visionary Award.
Alexandre Taillefer
Senior Partner, XPND Capital
Alexandre Taillefer, a senior partner since 2011 with XPND Fund L.P., an investment fund with interests in technology, media and entertainment companies, is a born entrepreneur who has made a name for himself in the development of new technology companies.
After studying computer science at the Université de Montréal and administration at the École des Sciences de la gestion at UQAM and at HEC Montréal, in 1993 he became the founding president of Intellia, later Nurun, a leader in web development in Canada. In 2001, he founded Hexacto, which in just two years became the leader in mobile games before being bought by Jamdat Mobile and then Electronic Arts. In 2007, he co-founded Stingray Digital, a company specializing in digital entertainment.
Chair of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal since May 2012 and chair of Montréal’s advisory committee on public art, Mr. Taillefer also sits on the board of numerous companies, including C2.mtl, gsmprjct, Lumenpulse, BeHaviour and iPerceptions, and is a member of the Montréal, Cultural Metropolis steering committee. His involvement in the culture sector began in 2005 with his successive appointments to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ acquisition committees for Canadian and then international art. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Opéra de Montréal from 2006 to 2012.
Trevor Stuart
Associate at Technology Crossover Ventures
Trevor joined TCV in 2012, where he primarily focuses on internet investments. Prior to TCV, Trevor was an analyst in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Morgan Stanley in the firm’s London and New York offices. While at Morgan Stanley, he worked with companies in the internet and software sectors on a variety of transactions including public equity offerings, debt offerings, and strategic M&A assignments. Trevor received a B.S. in Economics from Boston College. Trevor’s current investments include AppNexus.
Chris Arsenault
Managing Partner iNovia Capital
Chris has been an early stage technology investor and entrepreneur for the past two decades. He was founder & CEO of SIT, which was acquired by Ubizen, and helped launch a series of tech companies; Copernic, Wanted, up2 and i5. Chris believes entrepreneurship is a “state of mind”, not a title nor a profession. He is a board member of the CVCA, R�seau Capital, is Co-Chair of the CIX and is an active Charter Member of Silicon Valley based C100.
Steven Abrams
Director at BDC Venture Capital
Steven Abrams is a partner in the IT Venture Fund. Hejoined the BDC in 2001, after almost nine years in investment banking with Scotia McLeod and two years as CFO of an interactive advertising agency. As a director in corporate finance, he participated in many IPOs, privatizations, M&A advisory mandates, and equity and debt financings for companies in sectors, including technology, transportation and telecommunications. For an Internet company, he raised a first round of venture capital, did three acquisitions, two startups, and helped grow the company from 20 people to 145. Mr. Abrams holds an MBA in Finance from Cornell University and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from McGill University.
Sevrine Labelle
Vice-présidente, Stratégie et affaires publiques et Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain
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CONVERTIBLE LOAN AGREEMENT
View The preliminary International Startup Festival 2013 Convertible Loan Agreement HERE.
** Please note that the following standard convertible note is preliminary and subject to change.
