Billions With Zero Knowledge

Roberto Rocha wrote a nice article about Akoha’s launch at TechCrunch50 last week for the newspaper which appeared on Wednesday.

He followed up the article with a great post about starting to play Akoha, the faith economy and our Montreal private launch on the Gazette technology blog.

He cites the rule of reciprocation as the key driver.  Reciprocal altruism is a central part of what we working on at Akoha.

Unfortunately someone at the Gazette decided to run a photo of me in the newspaper edition that I think makes me look fat.  What do you think?

You can see more recent pictures of what I look like here on Flickr.   I would have preferred that the Gazette use any of these.  Even this gem I found on Flickr while searching for the tag “Austin Hill” would have been fun

On Fri 26 Sep 2008. [3] Comments

and all I got was a funny video

Seriously I’m just winding down from all the excitement of Akoha’s launch at TechCrunch 50 this week. Spent the day with our team responding to our growing community of players and planning some next steps to respond to the opportunities that came from our launch. You can watch our presentation on the Akoha community blog. (Subscribe to the Akoha RSS feed if you are a reader here. I’ll be posting in both areas)

Before posting about the experience of TechCrunch 50, updating my readers here about the Akoha launch and responding to some questions I’ve been getting about the choice of Yammer as the winner (which I completely understand) I’ve decided to go out and relax for a night. Those posts will come.

But enjoy this in the meantime - it made me smile.

On Fri 12 Sep 2008. No Comments

This blog has been relatively dormant the last 6 months as we’ve been preparing Akoha to be unveiled publicly.

Yesterday Akoha was able to announce that Akoha has been selected as one of the 50 (actually 52) finalists at the TechCrunch50 conference.

I still can’t announce the details of what we have been working on, but you can watch our TechCrunch50 presentation live on Wednesday (tomorrow Sept. 10th) during the Games session at 10:30PST at the TechCrunch 50 website.

You can read periodic updates on the details of Akoha on the Akoha blog.

On a personal note I want to congratulate all the TechCrunch50 finalist companies. I know how much hard work by our team has gone into premiering Akoha at this conference (dubbed the Superbowl of Startups) and want to congratulate all the companies who were also selected. We are having tons of fun watching your own companies launch and can’t wait to step onto stage and join you as presenters.

We will have more to post soon. For now you can hold on - Akoha is coming.

On Tue 9 Sep 2008. [2] Comments

It’s been overdue, but since I’m going to be using this blog more frequently with Akoha’s impending launch I wanted to update a number of disclosures about my affiliations, relationships and investments.

I’ve posted a new About Me page that now lists some of the angel investments I’ve made, some of the other business relationships I have in the technology industry and some updated info on my personal & business life.

Some of these details were previously mentioned throughout some posts that I made in the last year, but I had never updated on my bio.

There is some new information about companies I’ve invested in (Standout Jobs, Bumptop, BrainparK) and partnerships I have with some VCs hat I will announce properly in the coming weeks, but I’ve updated the About Me pending proper posts that will be coming soon.

On Tue 9 Sep 2008. [2] Comments

My brother Hamnett and I were on the cover of Report on Business Small Business Magazine last week.  The article does interviews with a number of Canadian serial entrepreneurs.

It was fun to do the photo shoot, which involved my brother and I jumping on a trampoline on the roof of the Radialpoint building overlooking Montreal.   It was a first for me, posing for the photographer & trying not to fly off the trampoline or the building

I’ve embedded a scan of the article below.

On Sat 6 Sep 2008. [5] Comments

I recently added a whole bunch of friends on Facebook by finally scanning my contact folder (which runs about 8k+) with Facebook.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how far Facebook has extended into my business, professional, personal and non-Internet communities.   I found about 500 contacts who I wasn’t already friends with.

We all hear about the millions of users on Facebook, but there are those realization points when you discover a neighbour, grandmother or other long lost contact who is on Facebook that its mainstream adoption becomes more tangible.

For someone like me who spent so many years explaining to friends what the Internet was or what bulletin boards are (going back a few years), it’s encouraging to see how mainstream the Internet has become.

Then I saw this link cross my screen and I had to laugh.

On Mon 18 Aug 2008. [3] Comments

I’ve been away from blogging for a couple of months lately working on my dream, Akoha.

Despite that I had to post this video in honor of Dr. Randy Pausch who died today after a battle with pancreatic cancer.   Having lost a family member to a similar type of cancer I felt a personal connection with Randy’s battle since I heard his speech last September.

Randy in the final year of his life became world famous through YouTube broadcast of his lecture, an ABC News special that Diane Sawyer did on his story and published a book about his Last Lecture In the end more then three million people have watched his lecture in the last year and he has influenced so many people in sharing the story of his life.

An incredible story from an inspirational man.  He will be missed.

On Fri 25 Jul 2008. No Comments

I’m very excited to be able to post that we announced our angel financing at Akoha today.

Raising angel financing in Canada has unique challenges that I’ve written about here before.   Part of what was most fun about raising this round was the number of incredible investors I was able to meet.   Many of them joined us in this round, but throughout the process I was impressed by the growing strength and sophistication of Canadian angel investors.

Completing a $1.9 million dollar round for a stealth project had its unique moments, but the confidence and support that our investors have shown for the project has been great.

I’d like to welcome all our investors to the Akoha project and thank them for their support.

On Mon 28 Apr 2008. [2] Comments

Kara Aaserud wrote an interesting piece in Canadian Business Profit Magazine about the relationship between angel investors and the companies they invest in.

Ben Yoskovitz, Fred Ngo and I are mentioned in the article.

Combine those two interests, and it’s easy to see why angels often want an active role in management and decision-making. Such a high level of engagement makes finding an angel who is aligned with your vision and business goals as crucial a task as perfecting your investment pitch. Austin Hill, a Montreal-based investor and serial entrepreneur, says the most common mistake business owners make is treating private-equity financing as a mere business transaction. “I had one entrepreneur show up at my house on a Saturday morning, shove his product in my face and ask me if I was ready to invest,” says Hill. “Entrepreneurs need to understand it’s a relationship, something they should begin nurturing well before thinking of asking for money.”

For Benjamin Yoskovitz, CEO of Montreal-based Standout Jobs Inc., developing that relationship began with volunteer work for BarCamp Montreal, a conference for the city’s bustling technology-startup community. That exercise led to chance meetings with Fred Ngo, his eventual co-founder and chief technical officer, and Hill, who became one of his investors and chairman of Standout Jobs, which develops Web-based recruiting tools.

There are some additional quotes from both Ben and I where we discuss the importance of aligning common vision and having good communication with your investors.

Getting the right angel investors is one of the most critical decisions an early stage company can make.   It is one of the reasons I’ve criticized the speed dating approach of obtaining investors that is showcased on the CBC show Dragon’s Den. The show is good for entertainment - but it is still just TV.

While the market for angel investing in Canada still has a lot of maturing to do I am very optimistic about the organization of angel investors into funds, networks and the exchange of best practices that is beginning to occur.

On Mon 21 Apr 2008. 1 Comment

Last summer my friend Patrick Lauzon and I spoke about the need to create a new type of networking event that would bring together founders of technology firms, angel investors and venture capitalists.

We held the first Founders & Founders dinner last November with a private group of 75 people.   With the help of our sponsors, iNovia Capital, Neotech Capital and Montreal Startup the event raised $1,000 for the Montreal Barcamp community.

The event was a great success, and was quickly replicated in Toronto by our friends David Crow and Jevon MacDonald.

2nd Founders & Funders Montreal Announced

We are pleased to announce that we are going to be holding the second Montreal Founders and Funders dinner this coming May 14th in Montreal.

To help expand the community of people we invite to the event, we are opening up a registration form for invites allowing anyone who is a founder, angel investor or VC investor to request an invite. 

We are limited to 100 seats for the dinner.   The fee for the dinner will be $100 which will include drinks and dinner.

Given the interest we received after the first event and the fact that we won’t be able to invite everyone who has expressed interest to the dinner.  As a result we are also going to be hosting an after dinner open cocktail networking (A nice roof top terrace party).  The networking event will cost $20 and include two drink tickets.

Attendees to the dinner will be able to attend the networking event.  The networking party afterwards is open to anyone interested in the technology community in Montreal (not just Founders & Funders).

All profits from the event will go to support Barcamp events in Montreal.

How to Get An Invite

If you would like to attend the dinner, or the networking event after the dinner please fill out the following form and let us know who you are.

We will be contacting everyone with details on the location & registration for the dinner in the coming weeks.  We will also be announcing the great sponsors who are supporting us throw the event.

You can keep track of the event on the Founders and Funders blog.

If you would like to sponsor the event please feel free to contact me.

On Fri 18 Apr 2008. [3] Comments