Lean Coffee: Raising your first round

I think I've been spending a few too many late nights coding PMRobot UI enhancements, as I had some trouble actually finding today's Lean Coffee Meetup.

I was running late due to the TTC, and the Meetup Android app hadn't updated the recently-changed location. So I wandered through an empty building trying to figure out where I had gone wrong.

Luckily somebody (who had obviously had more sleep) pointed me to the open door I had just walked past, and I was able to join in and take down some notes about raising investment:

• The Canadian Angel investing community is not as established as in the US
• Tech startups are getting more popular -- getting harder to find developers here
• Canada is "a couple steps behind" but heading in the right direction
• Investors are looking to invest immediately and get their returns in 5 years
• Currently near the end of a 5-year cycle -- little money available
• Something to check out: Angelist
• Canadian companies get government matching and SRED, so big financial advantage
• It's not beneficial to hold back on communicating the details of an idea
• What is the right time to approach investors? Probably not the idea stage
• Government grants, funding, etc. can work at the concept stage
• Having solid market research can help with grants
• There are grant writing companies who will help you apply for a cut of the cash
• Board of advisors
• Not easy to establish
• What's in it for them?
• Angels place a large value on your board
• Angels tend to be on the team more than the idea

Glad I finally found everyone this morning. Next time I may need a pre-LeanCoffee coffee :)

See you then!

Annual Planning

My weekly notes from this morning's Lean Coffee Toronto on "annual planning":

• When to plan:
• Before your fiscal year, or
• Before the calendar year
• Strategic vs. Financial -- which one first?
• Goals and Vision:
• Does it include longer term goals?
• Does your team know them?
• Review:
• Monthly?
• Every 3 months?
• Review the previous year's goals and results?
• "Doing" lists:
• What to start doing
• What to stop doing
• What to continue doing
• Employee 1-on-1's
• Know their goals
• Make sure they understand your vision
• Goals and vision need to be aligned with company's

We also talked about some goals and visions for Lean Coffee itself:

• Learning, supporting, networking
• Sharing of specific information (ie. real problems, real numbers)
• All advising each other
• "Group therapy"
• Case studies
• Want honest critique and feedback
• Establish a standard format

Really enjoyed the "Café Americano" and the great discussion. Always such a great way to start the day! :)

If you're interested, check out the HTML5 Meetup tonight. I'll be doing a brief intro presentation, followed by discussion and networking.