Nurturing the growth of high-tech startups

CALGARY, AB, November 8, 2008/Troy Media/ -- If you are an entrepreneur with an advanced technology company, or even if you just have a great idea and you’re wondering how to turn it into a company, STIRR wants to hear from you.

In early 2006 a group of high-tech entrepreneurs in California decided it was time to create a networking environment targeted for founders that weren’t sit-down-and-listen affairs. Calgary-based Entrepreneur in Action, Patrick Lor (formerly of iStockPhoto.com), attended one of the STIRR events and was immediately sold on the concept, and decided to launch a Calgary chapter.

“The first STIRR event that I went to was very interesting because it wasn’t open to just anyone. They wanted to attract only founders and funders,” says Lor. “They had an application form, and if you were part of a founding team, or you were a senior VC or angel investor, you could get into this event for free. But if you were a service provider, they’d charge you $50 to come to this event. If you were an entrepreneur without credentials, you couldn’t attend at all no matter how much money you paid.”

The STIRR Canada organization operates in much the same way. An organization run by local volunteering entrepreneurs, its purpose is to nurture the growth of high-tech startups, and encourage more “young guns” to commercialize their technology concepts, by connecting them with experienced entrepreneurs and investors. The result is that startup entrepreneurs learn from the advice and experiences of those who can advise them about the challenges, and know what it takes to commercialize a technology.

Lor says one of the real advantages of STIRR is that it filters out all those people who often attend networking events who are not involved in startups. STIRR events are run by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs so they are very focused on building a high-tech entrepreneur community in Calgary.

STIRR organizes three types of core events. The main events invite up to 125 of the most interesting founders and funders to a networking event with speakers who address topics of particular interest to entrepreneurs. The speakers only talk for five minutes, then ad hoc conversations are initiated with the audience. Lor says, when you limit the time to that extent, speakers tend to focus on their most important messages.

Second are the Founders’ Tables where STIRR invites 10 entrepreneurs with various levels of experience to dinner to talk about the main issues of growing a company. The discussion is semi-moderated in order to maximize the benefit for everyone at the table.

Finally, STIRR organizes Pitch Labs, where top advisors are matched with a selected company to develop a top notch investor pitch and address strategy issues the company is experiencing.

“This format allows us to really dig in. It’s a little bit like drinking from a fire hose, because as soon as you get three experts in a room, you’ll come away with six opinions,” says Lor. “The number one thing you want these companies to understand is that there are no right or wrong answers. The best advisors make a company aware of all possible situations that a company could run into and the probability of each happening.”

Lor says his main objective in launching the STIRR chapter in Calgary was to create an ecosystem where the tech sector could thrive. Like many others, Lor and the rest of the STIRR organizers would like nothing better than to stay involved in tech startups, but in Calgary, not California.

“I’d love to make this my home forever. If you look at my skill set and ask whether I should be working here, that’s not obvious. So I’d love to create an environment here where the next generation of great companies feels like they have enough connections and enough smart business advisors that they can stay and establish their companies here,” says Lor.

Lor’s mission with STIRR is to find the next StumbleUpon - a company founded by University of Calgary students who were struggling to build their business in Calgary. Their first investor, a StumbleUpon user from Silicon Valley, contacted them by e-mail. They ultimately moved to California to be closer to their advisors and were later acquired by eBay. Lor says he wants to retain these companies by introducing them to sophisticated angels and advisors, thus building a stronger tech community in Calgary.

Even if they miss these companies in their early stages and the founders exit the company, Lor would like to engage them in the Calgary high-tech community to become mentors for other startups. “What that does is create an ecosystem for us to pull in more experts and entrepreneurs, more advisors, and more money, to build a critical mass of people for Calgary to be THE place to fire up your technology startup.”

Founders and funders interested in finding out more information about STIRR Canada in Calgary, or to apply to attend a STIRR event, visit www.stirr.ca. Companies interested in sponsoring STIRR events are also welcome to contact the organizers through the web site.

Keywords: STIRR, networking for startups, mentors, StumbleUpon, early stage startups, angel investors, Alberta

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