Shortly after the sale of a controlling interest in InQuent Technologies, I spent a considerable amount of time speaking at universities and to business groups on the subject of entrepreneurship. I enjoyed sharing my experiences in these venues. It was mutually rewarding. I believe that entrepreneurship is in the public interest, and I seek to actively promote this belief in Canada and abroad.
With increasing commitments in the past few years, I have had less time for public speaking. It was suggested to me that blogging would be an ideal platform to spread my entrepreneurial gospel and engage a much larger audience than I could reach through speaking engagements. This proved to be true, as my posts attracted a growing readership. Unfortunately, my time does not permit for new commentary at present. Archived posts may be accessed below.
The following posts were published online in 2006 and 2007.
I was recently quoted in a story on startup fundraising where I was identified as a “Venture Capitalist”. This is not the first time I’ve been incorrectly labeled a VC. I can see how the confusion could arise – my operating entity for direct early-stage investing is named “Aprilis Ventures” and our website homepage identifies […]
Yesterday we announced that VerticalScope sold its automotive publishing division to Primedia. The acquisition of the Modified Automotive Group is a significant milestone for both VerticalScope and Rob Laidlaw, my operating partner and President of VerticalScope. Rob is a highly skilled media entrepreneur – in just four years he grew Modified from an idea into […]
My interest in promoting a culture of entrepreneurship is not limited to the for-profit sector. I’ve had the opportunity to befriend a number of social entrepreneurs over the past six years. These non-profit bootstrappers often follow a very similar path to their profit-oriented counterparts. While the parallels are remarkable, the hurdles to success are usually […]
Outmaneuvering the Competition Any entrepreneur worth their salt is constantly thinking about how they can both defend and increase their market share. For us, the answer came courtesy an email from KPN, the incumbent Dutch telecom. They were interested in selling our products to hundreds of thousands of business customers they served in the Benelux […]
It Started Out Simply Enough I had always been a computer hobbyist. I taught myself html and coded my first website in early 1995, prior to leaving for McGill. The site was for my father’s architectural practice. I built the site for him mostly out of my own interest in better understanding web development. That […]
Working for “THE MAN” The first and last job I would ever hold was as a junior forest ranger for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Cochrane, Ontario. I was 16 at the time. Cochrane is known for its polar bears and being the birthplace of hockey player and legendary donut purveyor Tim Horton. What […]