Startup Train was a great catalyst for the team at Vantage Analytics. We used the Train to not only connect with the broader Startup community but also to launch the first demo of our platform: a predictive analytics and data platform that helps business managers to leverage their customer and transactional data.
Leading up to the Startup Train, we had been making steady progress but now the afterburners kicked in. What we accomplished in the final week was nothing short of incredible. We overcame power outages, flooding, and lack of sleep to bring it all together. By the time we boarded the train to Montreal we could honestly lay claim to our value proposition:
Vantage Analytics helps business managers compete on analytics without becoming analysts.
Brandon and I avoided the crazy heat and grabbed a @car2goToronto ride down to Union Station and joined the excited gang waiting to depart.
Startup Train and Startup Fest are simply great environments; an instant community of friends and supporters – everyone trading pitches, feedback, and ideas. Everyone wanted to hear your pitch and you got a ton of chances to practice and hone your hook sentence. On the Train, new friends @ZakHomuth @KatherineHague @Bashome did not let us off easy, and they gave a lot of great feedback… our thanks to them. (Though to be honest, I think they had fun!)
At the Fest @DaveMcClure played devil’s advocate to everyone and disarmed critics wearing a set of big fluffy rabbit ears and sprinkling his feedback with his trademark f-bombs.
@DavidCrow @AprilDunford and @KenSeto helped get the story out and man did that help! We owe them a huge thank you, because within hours of our official launching the company on StartupTrain, we had a lot of people saying “Oh yeah – I’ve HEARD about you!”.
We snagged our appointed timeslot in the demo tent and started into high gear pitch mode. One of us would draw people into the tent and the other would run through the demo. Just as our energy was starting to fade a little bit from the sheer volume of pitches, I felt Zak Homuth pat me on the back and whisper: “You’re killing it! Keep it up!” and we doubled down!
The guys from Fasken Martineau (@JMDennis and @_Kev) were everywhere and talked to everyone. An incredible duo that obviously knows what they’re talking about, they had a lot of great advice to offer. They encouraged all teams to pitch them for an incredible prize: free participation in their Startup Program!
The Fasken Martineau Startup Program is open to any startup at the incredible price of $2k and includes the following benefits:
• Incorporation and organization of a corporation or registration of a trade-mark
• Access to templates, such as intellectual property assignments and non-disclosure agreements
• Kick-off meeting to implement an IP strategy and Fasken Martineau’s unique IP management structure
• 2 hours of consultation per month
• Access to Fasken Martineau’s Startup Community
• 10% discount on hourly rates for other services
We knew that we were up against a lot of smart people with great projects, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pitch Faskens and possibly win the chance to work with them. The pitch felt good, but their questions were bang-on, and they didn’t pull any punches. Thankfully we had considered the topics and we were prepared. It helped that we had received a fair amount of validation over the course of the Festival.
It was an incredible few days for us, and now starts the fun of following up and converting all of those introductions into business. It was great to launch surrounded by a wonderful group of eager entrepreneurs that were truly interested in what we are doing. This kind of a launch for @VantageAnalytic was ONLY possible because of the crazy hard work of @Brydon and @LisasPartridge to put on StartupTrain and get us to Startup Fest!
We spoke with everyone we could. It was amazing to engage with so many innovators and entrepreneurs, to ask what they were working on and to bounce around ideas. @Julien literally waved at me in a crowd and pointed at someone else and mouthed “Talk to him!” It was that kind of a supportive environment.
“Him” turned out to be @cgtheoret – and Claude was incredible. He sat us down and said “I like what you’re doing. We’re going to do business together.” Is there any better encouragement that a Startup company could get?
Sure there was – winning the Faskens contest!
And David Crow celebrating by partying it up in our company colours?!?!