Videos

Andy Nulman – Just For Laughs
Nathalie Hazan – Raison d’art
Ondi Timoner – A Total Disruption
Danae Ringelmann – indiegogo

The Spark and the Fire: How Creators Think

Founders see the world as it should be rather than as it is. They find the unseen angle to get attention. They uncover the unexpected, reveal what’s obvious in hindsight. This is at first a creative process, later honed through iteration and analysis. At its core, there’s a spare.

This session is a series of short, back-to-back discussions between an artist, an organizer, a filmmaker, and a founder. Taking turns as both interviewer and subject, they’ll explore what it means to create, and the strange bedfellows of imagination and industry.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Produced by: Rachel and Michel
www.racheletmichel.com

Harley Finkelstein – Shopify
Fabian Pfortmüller – Holstee
Ethan Song – Frank & Oak

Distributed, Disrupted, and Democratic— The Retail Revolution

E-commerce was supposed to transform retailing; it turns out it was the tip of the iceberg. From ubiquitous credit-cards, to online wallets, to the eye-opening simplicity of the Apple Store, to the tablets that are replacing cash registers, retail is undergoing a massive shift. In the back office, software is replacing processes; out front, it’s quickly becoming the default channel. Creators and curators can sell direct-to-consumer, using powerful tools that weren’t available to anyone just a few short years ago.

Along with these changes are fundamental shifts in consumer expectations, who want to buy what, where, and how they want—putting traditional retailers on notice that they can no longer rest on their laurels. The future of retail is distributed, disrupted, and democratic—and it’s the subject of this high-powered session. Join Shopify CPO Harley Finkelstein; Frank & Oak founder Ethan Song, and Holstee founder Fabian Pfortmüeller for this glimpse into the future of retailing.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Greg Isenberg – 5by and Dmitri Leonov – SaneBox

Growth Hacking is a Stupid Term. We Still Need to Change How We Market

Growth Hacking is a stupid term. You should simply be smart about growing your business. And that means being metric-driven, iterative and experimental. While the concept of Lean Startup has become commonly accepted in product development, marketing is still catching up.

Subversive marketers Greg Isenberg (5by) and Dmitri Leonov (Sanebox) will lead this session, in which you’ll learn which growth metrics to focus on in your business and how to drive them.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Michael Baum – FOUNDER.org

Rebooting the World

Over the past ten years, all net new jobs have come from young, innovative companies. They’re the engines of economic growth powering the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, less than 1% of today’s university graduates go on to start a company.

Imagine what it would mean for the economy—and for society—if we could double, or even triple, the number of student founders in the coming decade. How are we preparing coming generations to start companies that innovate, create jobs, and revitalize economic growth? Join entrepreneur, investor, and FOUNDER.org creator Michael Baum in his mission to inspire students to chase big ideas and become founders of impactful companies.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Produced by: Rachel and Michel
www.racheletmichel.com

Dario Meli – Quietly

Big Fish, Huge Pond: Launching Globally

The scale of the global market, for mobile technology, has never been bigger. It grows dramatically each year, yet so few startups ever formulate an international strategy, let alone start with one. Join Quietly’s Dario Meli for a conversation on emerging markets around the world, from the perspective of launching a mobile-first social application.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Produced by: Rachel and Michel
www.racheletmichel.com

Ray Reddy – Google

Thriving in Uncertainty

Author Eric Ries defines a startup as “”A human institution designed to create something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”” But running a startup means making hard decisions every day. So how do founders make those tough decisions in a world of high uncertainty? Essentially, you have to learn how to bet. Everything from a hire, to a product launch, to a pricing decision is at best an informed bet.

Pushlife founder and CEO Ray Reddy bet his way through an emerging mobile commerce space and ultimately to an acquisition by Google, and in this session, he’ll discuss the many tough decisions his company had to make—and he continues to make—from its founding to its acquisition by Google, and beyond. He’ll explore topics such as betting on trends before they’re obvious; betting on the right timing for a market; and striking a balance between short-term cash flow and long-term strategic positioning.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Rahul Sood – Microsoft

Super-Size Me

Congratulations! You’ve sold your startup, it’s going global, and it’s your job to help oversee a smooth transition. Your job is done, right? Or does the real work actually start now?

In this session Rahul Sood tells the story of starting a small, Canadian company; growing; and surviving the acquisition by a massive US Organization; and how he’s surviving as an entrepreneur in the world’s largest software company. He’ll share his experiences, epic failures, and invaluable insights gained in a candid discussion that every entrepreneur in search of an exit needs to hear.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Margaret Dawson – HP Cloud Services

The Crooked Path to Success

We all know about choosing the road less traveled and taking the fast track. But the path to success is not always the fastest, the straightest or the newest. In fact, sometimes finding success involves a zigzag through life that only when looking back even resembles a path at all. And that is ok.

Join zigzagger and startup veteran Margaret Dawson, who has found business success and personal satisfaction through nontraditional routes. She’ll share what she has found to be the important criteria when making decisions, how to evaluate risk, and how to trust your gut and your logic at the same time, and, importantly, how to decide who to listen to (and who to ignore) when making work and life decisions

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Fred Destin – Atlas Venture

Surviving Beyond Seed: Tales from The Trenches on Surviving Your First 24 Months

Most companies fail in their 24 months. Don’t join their ranks. In this no-BS discussion, much-loved seed investor Fred Destin delivers his battle-won list of the key mistakes startups make that kill them early on.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montr�al
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Danae Ringelmann – indiegogo

From Founding to Future: Building What Matters

Danae Ringelmann, Co-Founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Indiegogo, the largest global crowdfunding platform, will touch upon how the passion and dedication to solving a problem lead to the birth of Indiegogo and crowdfunding as we know it today. With an emphasis on the importance of building a company for scalability in a changing landscape and how she envisions the future of crowdfunding.

Filmed at the International Startup Festival 2013 in Montréal
startupfest.local
@startupfest

Published on Aug 26, 2013