Category: Uncategorized
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Watch out for venture financing scammers
We’ve all had the emails. Either a Nigerian prince wants to send you money or a British relative has died and willed their fortune to you. All you need to do is send a small amount of money as a sign of good faith and your fortune will be delivered in a few days. It…
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When is the right time to go for funding?
When starting a business, a common problem is a lack of cash. In fact, many of our clients believe simply having enough funding would solve their problems. While it can be partially true, this kind of thinking can be disastrous for a startup. Here’s why. What lenders and investors look for When assessing lending or…
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Finding Your Competitive Advantage
Before investing in a business, one of the most important things to identify is your competitive advantage. Answer the question “why would customers choose your product/service over competitor offerings?†What makes you stand out from the competition? I’ve found that not enough thought goes into what a company’s real competitive advantage is and many companies…
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Some Tips For Successful SDTC Applications
The Federal Government’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Tech Fund is designed to help technology developers get funding in the hard to finance pre-commercialization phase. This $550 million fund supports technology supporting “products and processes that contribute to clean air, clean water and clean land, that address climate change and improve the productivity and the…
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What’s Better, Infallible or Successful?
While working with a client recently, an interesting issue arose. While generating reports, I was given specific instructions on what information was to be shared. More to the point, I was told what was not to be shared. The concern was the information would cast some people in a poor light. In other words, the…
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Some advice for new MBA Students
Last week I was asked to address the incoming MBA class at the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan. I was one of the speakers along with Peter MacKinnon, President of the University of Saskatchewan and Daphne Taras, the new Dean of the Edwards School of Business. While their comments were welcoming…
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An Open Letter to New Supervisors
Congratulations! You are about to begin an exciting chapter of your career. Your power and responsibility have surged. Regardless of how much training you’ve received, there is no substitute for experience. I’ve seen a lot of supervisors get off on the wrong foot. Some survive this, others don’t. Here are some of the most common…
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Do You Have What It Takes To Be An Entrepreneur?
There are many reasons people look at going into business for themselves. It could be that they hate their current job and yearn to be their own boss. Maybe a tradesperson feels that he or she could run a better business than the company they work for. It’s important that people go into business for…
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Lean or TOC?
When looking at ways to improve businesses, managers have resorted to many methodologies over the years. People around long enough remember Total Quality, Just In Time, Manufacturing Resource Planning and their modern counterparts: Six Sigma, Lean and Enterprise Resource Planning. While we have heard of the companies that have benefited greatly from these efforts, it’s…
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Some Business Advice From an Olympic Champion Coach
Most people don’t know Marcel Lacroix’s name, but anybody who watched our Canadian Speed Skating team at the Olympics saw him coaching our athletes. My kids are at the Olympic Oval in Calgary this week in a speed skating camp. He is giving talks to the kids about what it takes to get to the…