http://www.wmediaventures.com Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:25:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Techvibes.com, the network of local technology blogs, just released their first Canada Start-up Index. The methodology to determine the index is by no means scientific but the list still provides a really good overview of the Canadian start-up scene. The performance of the W Media Ventures portfolio companies (2 among the top 3, ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/canadas-largest-internet-start-ups/ Over the weekend I attended NextMedia 2008 in Banff. It was my first NextMedia conference and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sessions and the attendants. A few thoughts that I took away from the conference: Nexopia is still one of the best kept secrets in social networking: while ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/attending-nextmedia-2008-in-banff/ As the Internet evolves, the venture capital business starts evolving and we have been seeing more and more investors focusing on growth and late stages in the past few years. This is exactly the step that our partners over in Germany have taken in the past months: after having managed the ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/burda-digital-ventures-turns-into-acton-capital-partners/ Brian just shared this document with all participants of the Burda Digital Ventures / W Media Ventures event last Friday and I thought it would be worthwhile sharing this with a larger audience.   The Painted Picture of 2008 The best way to ensure the future happens is to create it first in ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/more-on-1800-got-junks-company-culture-the-painted-picture-of-2008/ Last week we brought together over 20 founders, CEO's and senior managers from 6 portfolio (AbeBooks, Suite101.com, Nexopia.com, TeamPages, Techvibes, Carrie & Danielle) and 2 associated companies (LiveCurrent, Strutta) for our first Burda Digital / W Media Ventures event in Vancouver. It was a day packed with best practices and company presentations but the talk ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/building-a-great-company-culture-how-hard-can-it-be/ Today we announced our investment in Indochino, a website that helps people to buy a tailor-made suit directly from a professional tailor in China. Together with a few other angels, I had been invested in the company since last summer and was very impressed what the founders Kyle and Heikal ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/new-investment-indochino-brings-tailor-made-suits-from-china-to-you/ Carrie & Danielle’s vision is to inspire authenticity – understanding who you are, what’s working in your life and what’s not, and turning that understanding into action. The two founder ladies (by the name of Carrie and Danielle, who would have thought?) have been hugely successful in the past few ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/carrie-danielle-a-social-media-company-focused-on-authentic-living/ Vancouver-based Communicate.com announced today that I will be joining their board effective immediately. Since taking over as CEO and Chairman a few months ago, Geoff Hampson (who is also my business partner in Techvibes.com) has assembled a really strong management team led by Jonathan Ehrlich (one of the digital media people to watch ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/joining-the-communicatecom-board/ This past week I attended TED 2008 in Monterey (last time in this location as TED moves to Long Beach) and - as usual - brought back tons of ideas and inspiration (good coverage here). TED is definitely one of the best conferences one can attend, full of energy, interesting ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/ted-2008-and-thoughts-on-how-ted-became-a-worldwide-media-platform/ International expansion is part of almost every business plan of an ambitious start-up but few ever get around to it: strong existing competition in international markets, a lack of understanding of the local culture or not enough international expertise in the management team often keep start-ups in their domestic market. ... http://www.wmediaventures.com/news/suite101-goes-international-launches-german-site/