Comments on: No money and no customers in Ottawa? http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/ A daily round table on the tech industry with experts and callers from all over the globe. Join us as we pick apart the news and get to the meat of what\'s happening out there. Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:11:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Steve http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394786 Steve Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:31:50 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394786 Hi Andrew, I first heard about Adscape the old fashioned way, word of mouth from a colleague Ian Graham (http://klondikeconsulting.com/blog) who volunteers with me for the Ottawa eBusiness Cluster (ebusinesscluster.com). Dan Willis, founder of Adscape, presented at the Cluster last March on in-game advertising... within days of being bought. Another intersting web2 startup I could mention is TravelPod (bootstrap + one angel) which was acquired by Expedia in May (2 time presenter at the cluster). Travelpod was founded in 1997 as a blog, before the term was coined) for recreational and adventure travelers to keep friends & family updated. Talking with an OBJ reported at a local TiE event in August led to TravelPod getting some local media attention. As of August, TravelPod's travel IQ game was the most popular game on Facebook's application platform (http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/313095017845610.php). Ian also runs DemoCamp (http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/DemoCampOttawa6) which has proven itself to be a very reliable source of interesting startup activity. So, no single source, just local real-world social networking and a bit of cheer-leading. Hi Andrew,

I first heard about Adscape the old fashioned way, word of mouth from a colleague Ian Graham (http://klondikeconsulting.com/blog) who volunteers with me for the Ottawa eBusiness Cluster (ebusinesscluster.com). Dan Willis, founder of Adscape, presented at the Cluster last March on in-game advertising… within days of being bought.

Another intersting web2 startup I could mention is TravelPod (bootstrap + one angel) which was acquired by Expedia in May (2 time presenter at the cluster). Travelpod was founded in 1997 as a blog, before the term was coined) for recreational and adventure travelers to keep friends & family updated. Talking with an OBJ reported at a local TiE event in August led to TravelPod getting some local media attention. As of August, TravelPod’s travel IQ game was the most popular game on
Facebook’s application platform (http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/313095017845610.php).

Ian also runs DemoCamp (http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/DemoCampOttawa6) which has proven itself to be a very reliable source of interesting startup activity.

So, no single source, just local real-world social networking and a bit of cheer-leading.

]]> By: David http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394668 David Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:39:44 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394668 You can always look for projects on the <a href="http://www.rfpdb.com" title="RFP Database" rel="nofollow">RFP Database</a> to bid on... there are even a number of Canadian projects listed at the moment. (sorry if that sounded condescending, but most of the projects are in the U.S.) You can always look for projects on the RFP Database to bid on… there are even a number of Canadian projects listed at the moment. (sorry if that sounded condescending, but most of the projects are in the U.S.)

]]> By: Andrew http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394032 Andrew Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:15:10 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-394032 @ Steve - very good, never heard of them - but I should have, which partially illustrates my point. Are there more? We need a directory/page of successful CDN startups in the Web 2.0 space, middle ware or otherwise. @ Steve - very good, never heard of them - but I should have, which partially illustrates my point. Are there more? We need a directory/page of successful CDN startups in the Web 2.0 space, middle ware or otherwise.

]]> By: Steve http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-393969 Steve Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:04:08 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-393969 Q - "What was the last Canadian Web 2.0 company that had millions of users from around the globe that was sold to Google?" A - Adscape Media... bootstrapped in Ottawa, became viable business with only one angel investor, didn't get the time of day from our local VCs, secured late-stage US VC where the founder controlled the terms, purchased by Google in Feb 2007 (terms of sale not disclosed). What do they do? They develop software tools for online gaming vendors to sell real world advertising in the virtual gaming environment. What is Google doing with this? The rumor is that the combination of Google's Maps, Directions, Business Directory, Streetscape, Sketchup and other applications are building the pieces for a virtual version of the real world where Google owns all the advertising space... every billboard, every truck that goes by, and local retailers do their online commerce through Goog. OK they were a web2 infrastructure play not a pretty interface or user brand, but nonetheless pretty darn cool local startup story IMO. Q - “What was the last Canadian Web 2.0 company that had millions of users from around the globe that was sold to Google?”
A - Adscape Media… bootstrapped in Ottawa, became viable business with only one angel investor, didn’t get the time of day from our local VCs, secured late-stage US VC where the founder controlled the terms, purchased by Google in Feb 2007 (terms of sale not disclosed). What do they do? They develop software tools for online gaming vendors to sell real world advertising in the virtual gaming environment. What is Google doing with this? The rumor is that the combination of Google’s Maps, Directions, Business Directory, Streetscape, Sketchup and other applications are building the pieces for a virtual version of the real world where Google owns all the advertising space… every billboard, every truck that goes by, and local retailers do their online commerce through Goog. OK they were a web2 infrastructure play not a pretty interface or user brand, but nonetheless pretty darn cool local startup story IMO.

]]> By: Andrew http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-393935 Andrew Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:14:17 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2007/10/02/no-money-and-no-customers-in-ottawa/#comment-393935 Techcrunch lists daily startups getting funded, sold, merged etc., and I just don't see those type of companies in Canada, maybe I am not looking in the right place, but if you are an internet startup and your success is predicated on selling to local business, I think you have already missed the boat. What was the last Canadian Web 2.0 company that had millions of users from around the globe that was sold to Google? or eBay (partially invented here I realize) or Nokia? We just don't seem to be into the AJAX RoR mantra. (BubbleShare noted, it was slick) I blame this on our garages. They are really really cold for 9 months - this is not the situation in SV. :) Techcrunch lists daily startups getting funded, sold, merged etc., and I just don’t see those type of companies in Canada, maybe I am not looking in the right place, but if you are an internet startup and your success is predicated on selling to local business, I think you have already missed the boat.

What was the last Canadian Web 2.0 company that had millions of users from around the globe that was sold to Google? or eBay (partially invented here I realize) or Nokia? We just don’t seem to be into the AJAX RoR mantra. (BubbleShare noted, it was slick)

I blame this on our garages. They are really really cold for 9 months - this is not the situation in SV. :)

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