Problem

We’ve been having some telephone growing pains here at Bootup Labs.  I am not a big fan of phone systems in general. They fall in the same category as fax machines and printers.  Old school, heavy tech, that requires skilled IT people to install, operate, and support.  Everything at Bootup Labs is done in the cloud, except the phones and printers.  Luckily, i’ve been able to get away with faxing with MyFax, and scanning and emailing most of the time.  I realize that we could have used a cloud based PBX system, like Primus, but I wasn’t prepared to sign a long term contract with a bigger player, or trust a smaller player.  As much as I try to encourage the use of corporate cell phones instead of desk phones, I had to succumb to the basic requirement for a corporate phone number.  People that call a company, expect the professionalism and security you feel when you’re greeted by an automated attendant saying “Thank you for calling NewCo. If you know your party’s extension, please dial it now, otherwise press 4 for the directory”  Argg.  If someone actually answered the phone, the reaction should be “wow, you have great service” but it’s more often met with the feeling of, “wow, if you can afford to have people answer the phone directly, you’re probably too small to work with us.”

Solution

We have purchased a Sutus Business Central 200 box for each portfolio company.  When the company leaves Bootup, they take their phone system with them.  All they have to do is plug it in at their new office and they’re ready to go.  It’s already configured with their babytel VoIP line, so no need to call any phone companies.  Obviously, they need to have a good internet connection, but they’ll need that anyway.  ahh, sweet simplicity.

Unboxing pics

Great article in Business Week today: ‘Super Angels’ Shake Up Venture Capital except we may not “shaking” venture capital up, we’re just reacting to the changing conditions of how investors are making money today.  Traditional VCs with $1B funds are just caught in the tough position of trying to find deals that are looking for many millions of dollars in funding.  The new generation of seed funds are nimble and fast and can do things the old boys can’t.

IPO exits are dead, but acquisitions are still happening:

I watch the Crunchbase Acquisitions page and see there are still a lot of companies being sold.

First seen on VEFMomentum’s twitter stream.

David Cohen’s post on Colorado Startups shows just how much Brad’s efforts in the entrepreneurial community are appreciated.  It’s actually a perfect lead-in to tomorrow night’s event here in Vancouver, where Bootup Labs is hosting Beers with Brad Feld.  Sponsored by W Media Ventures, BCIC, Yaletown Venture Partners

Get your tickets here

Another Bootup Labs like model that we’re watching closely is Betaworks out of New York.   Bit.ly’s $2M on $7M financing continues to prove that Bootup Labs, YCombinator, TechStars, and LaunchBox, have now become the new standard for accelerating web startups.t

We’ve always struggled to find a name for what we do.  What we do know is that “incubator” is not the right term. “Accelerator” — maybe.  Lance suggested “Startup Factory.” I kinda like that one.  I’ll try it out for a while and see how it takes.  What do you guys think?

As we have said many times, Bootup Labs is most similar to TechStars in the way it operates.  We can’t say enough how much respect we have for what they’ve accomplished.

Today, Brad blogged about more TechStars portfolio company action with the merger of Limbo into BrightKite and a $9M financing.  And, of course, here is the obligatory TechCrunch article.

This marks the third exit from TechStars’s Class of 2007—the other two being SocialThing to AOL and IntenseDebate to Automattic.

Congrats to the Brightkite crew!

My brother sent me this, but don’t know where it’s from. If this is yours, let me know so I can link to you and give you credit for some pretty entertaining translations

VC Glossary

UPDATE: Thanks to Divesh this was originally posted by OVP, a Seattle based VC who I have a lot of respect for and apparently has a good sense of humor.  Their record: 52 out of about 100 deals have resulted in an IPO or Acquisition - not bad.

It’s not clear who Canada Heritage will choose to administer the $134.7 million Canada Media Fund, but I’ll bet that Telefilm Canada will get the honors.

See this article in the Toronto Star for more information.

Riz spoke at VEF Momentum last night, March 11st, 2009. Which, I sadly missed. Thankfully the Government of Canada has increased their support of the IRAP Program

Roger Ehrenberg just wrote a post entitled: “The Pyramid Principle: Venture Investment in a Capital-Efficient World”  I think it’s very much worth reading if you’re as passionate about making Vancouver a world class tech center as we are.

It will require a culture that pushes rapid assessment and admission of mistakes, rewards innovation and compensates heavily for successes that can be broadly applied. Most large venture firms find this activity too time-consuming and capital inefficient to warrant much attention. In the future I believe that getting the base right will be the key to success in the large-scale venture field.

Bootup Labs is the base of the Pyramid.  We live to serve the rest of the Venture Capitalists who don’t feel like changing their model or letting go of their management fees.  Help us, help you.