Financial Storyteller

New Ventures BC Competition sees big increase in Prize Fund due to new lead sponsor

This is a competition I have enjoyed being a mentor on for the last couple of years. I was thrilled to see that this year they have secured a new lead sponsor,  BC Innovation Council.

The press release tells the story best ...

New Ventures BC Competition Grows to $335,000 in Prizes With New Title Sponsor
New Ventures BC, one of North America’s largest technology business idea competitions, is even bigger this year — with $335,000 in prize packages. That’s an increase of $200,000 over last year, thanks to new title sponsor The BC Innovation Council.

“Our investment in this competition speaks to its success in fostering new entrepreneurs over the past seven years,” says Soren Harbel, CEO of the Council. ”We hope our new Proof-of-Concept Awards will assist in bringing some great technologies into the market place.”

Previous competition winners include the world’s largest mobile community, AirG, with 20 million users worldwide, and GenoLogics Life Sciences Software Inc., which has customers throughout North America and Europe.

The competition is open to any B.C. resident, team or business with an innovative technology product or service that has not yet secured material financing. The deadline to enter is April 23.

Prizes include:
BC Hydro $60,000 first prize package plus BC Innovation Council $100,000 Proof-of-Concept award
Enbridge $38,000 second prize package plus BC Innovation Council $50,000 Proof-of-Concept award
A $17,000 third prize package plus BC Innovation Council $50,000 Proof-of-Concept award
BC Hydro Sustainability $20,000 prize.

Now in its eighth year, the competition aims to help very early-stage entrepreneurs acquire the business skills they need to get their technology to market. The competition takes place over four rounds and seven months and includes a unique mix of business education, networking, mentoring and $335,000 in prize packages.

Competitors can participate in eight business education seminars, which start April 2, ahead of the April 23 competition entry deadline. These seminars are also open to non-competitors who pay the $100 registration fee.

Established by SFU Business, New Ventures BC is operated by the non-profit BC Ventures Society and made possible through the generous support of private and public sponsors, as well as volunteer mentors, speakers, and judges.

For the seminar schedule, and to register, visit www.newventuresbc.com, call 604-725-5740

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1000 True Fans to make a living?

Looking through my feeds this morning, or in this case a link posted on facebook I came across a post from Kris Krug. 1000 True fans is from a blog from another KK and puts forward the idea that:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

Something for me to pass on to Leftantler and her exploration of photography. I like the idea a lot and reminded me I must read The Long Tail - it's been sitting there for ages and the term, like the Tipping Point is now part of everyday language. Unlike the Tipping Point I haven't read the book!

A book I am reading and enjoying is Story Factor by Annette Simmons. It's my first foray into Annette's work and I find myself nodding my head and smiling a lot which must be a good sign.

Returning to 1000 True fans, the idea here is that a true fan will spend $100 per year on your art, be it music, photography, writing etc. Find another 999 of these and you can make a reasonable living of $100K per year (the average in BC was $59K in 2005). The accountant (sorry to use the A-word) in me suggests setting a goal of $59K rather than $100K, meaning that's 401 fans I don't need to find! Therefore I'm 40% towards my goal! (this is where the accountant switches into a dreamer!).

Despite the flippant comments above I think there is lots of merit to this idea, but one that requires more thinking. I'll let you know how I get on ...

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Tags: kriskrug, 1000fans, longtail, tippingpoint, storyfactor, annettesimmons