Startupfest $100k Investment Prize: Intelocate

On-Stage Pitch Prize: Beagle

CBC Media Prize: Dash MD and Weave Got It Canada 

Highline Beta: MedStack

StartUP HERE’s Business BOT Challenge: Success.ai

Mercedes-Benz with the DMZ: DataChilli, Visbrain and Beam Messenger 

Fujitsu with the DMZ: iMirror by Nobal

Thomson Reuters + The Globe and Mail: Rewordly and Zoom.ai

Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: Stay tuned for the video!

IBM: Rewordly

TWG: Acetera

MaRS Future of Work Challenge: Synervoz

Rogers: Humi

Congrats again to all our winners!

Spanning over three days, the content will be broken down into keynotes, followed by both a Startup and Enterprise track. The Speed Dating zone will feature prizes and opportunities like:
– Startupfest’s $100k Investment
– $25k for StartupHERE’s Business Bot Challenge
– $25k and acceptance into Highline Beta’s new program
– Free airfare and access to the Fujitsu World Tour for the startup to improve and customize Fujitsu’s retail experience
– Exclusive mentorship within the IBM Innovation Space for 6 months where IBM will provide direct business development and technology assistance to the winning company along with 24 hour access to the office with two free desk spaces
– Paid proof of concept, paid trials, or partnerships with the Globe and Mail and Thomson Reuters.

See all prizes and opportunities!

Opportunities at the event aren’t the only opportunities to look forward to. The organized Roadtrips make the trip as exciting as the destination. If you’re coming in from Montreal or Ottawa, check out these amazing deals!

To resolve to do something has a few different meanings, and they boil down to this:
1. Find a solution to an existing problem
2. Decide firmly on a course of action
3. Possess a firm determination to do something

Maybe, instead of making this starting line January 1 of every year, the best course of action is to apply these components to our day to day lives, and make consistent progress towards our bigger picture.

At the end of January, we’ll kick off ResolveTO. Aptly named to inspire people to spend these three days finding solutions to existing problems, deciding firmly on the course of action, and keeping our firm determination to do something daily about it. Startupfest is the epicentre where startup communities globally come together, ResolveTO is where real world challenges are articulated, and solutions are found.

This year, today, let’s resolve to transform ourselves in the face of radical, constant change, on a global stage. After all, it may be a new year, but today is a new day.

You do not need to apply for this prize, you just need to find the investor judges in the “$100k Prize” zone, and pitch to them. You have until 5pm on Thursday, Jan 26th, to convince at least one of the judges the money should go to you. If you’re shortlisted- you’ll be invited to pitch at breakfast with all of the investors Friday morning (Jan 27th). The winner will be announced at Friday’s closing ceremonies!

The investment is based on the standard terms used for Startupfest. The sample Investor Rights Agreement, and Convertible Loan Agreement will be posted soon.

Meet the Judges you need to impress:

Phil Telio

Phil may have an engineering background, but this seasoned entrepreneur got a taste of the startup world fresh out of university. His journey started in the early 90s pre-internet era when he joined Public Technologies Multimedia—a startup that grew from a handful of people, to hundreds of people in just a few short years. In 2003 Phil decided to start his own chapter with Embrase, a business-consulting firm centered on bringing innovation to the enterprise market. Despite his 20+ years of executive experience driving strategic business development, his heart was always in startups so he created a series of events that have now come to be the largest events in Canada for entrepreneurs. Phil is also a board member of the OSMO Foundation and is the President and Chairman of the Montreal Startup Foundation. As the Founder of Startupfest, ResolveTO, and the Elevator World Tour, Phil has taken the opportunity to invest in every one of the investment prizes- including in Paris, Tel Aviv, and most recently Hong Kong.

Eva Lau

Eva has extensive knowledge and experience in building Internet products and online communities. Before starting Two Small Fish Ventures, she was Wattpad’s Head of Community and Content. She helped nurture and scale the Wattpad community from its infancy to become one of the largest online communities with tens of millions of monthly users around the world. Prior to Wattpad, she was Director of Product Development of Brightspark Labs, a Toronto based accelerator. During her tenure at Brightspark Labs she mentored and helped many tech startups in Toronto.

Tom Williams

Born and raised in Victoria, BC, Tom now lives in San Francisco, where he is the Founder of BetterCompany, an anonymous career advice community for every career and is an angel investor in more than 30 companies. He is one of the most active investors in funding early-stage Canadian startups.
A serial innovator whose proudest professional accomplishments include helping pioneer modern-day crowdfunding, Tom has a legacy of investing in and creating world changing ideas and organizations.
Now a father of two young children, he has coined the term the “Survival Economy,” to describe his thesis for the companies he looks to invest in. Tom and his family return to their home on Vancouver Island as often as they can, especially in the summer.

Neha Khera

Neha Khera is Venture Partner for 500’s Canada fund, investing in startups from the Great White North. A Waterloo Engineer by background, Neha has worked in banking, telco, software development and non-profit before landing in venture several years ago. When not venturing, Neha can be found dragon boating or downward dogging.

Cary Goldwax

Cary Goldwax – COO, SPORTLOGiQ
Cary is an experienced entrepreneur and hands-on senior executive. After co-founding and successfully bringing Web APM company Coradiant to exit, he’s managed several prosperous ventures, including SPORTLOGiQ, where he currently leads operations for the global leader of applied computer vision technology in sports. Cary also advises companies, including Montreal-based Cloudops, and Motorleaf, mentors for FounderFuel, and is an avid angel investor. His success in both the brick-and-mortar and the high-tech startup worlds includes over $250M in acquisitions and exits. Cary’s tough-love approach to mentoring is key to his formula for success.

Jesse Kaplan

Jesse Kaplan is a Managing Partner with Seek Capital Management in Toronto, a private investment company. He is also an active angel investor in the Canadian market. He previously spent time working in the financial markets in New York City, before seeing the light of day of the venture community in Canada.

Sanjay Singhal

Sanjay Singhal is the Canadian Venture Partner for 500 Startups, the most active seed investor in Silicon Valley, and aiming to be the largest in the world. Sanjay has personally started five businesses, and has been an angel investor in over 30 others. Joining the world of early-stage venture capital, he hopes to help other Canadian entrepreneurs achieve their own dreams of success.Sanjay’s largest entrepreneurial win has been as founder of Simply Audiobooks, aka Audiobooks.com; however , he has had his share of failures as well, the results of which include a divorce, personal bankruptcy, and chronic paranoia. Sanjay is a founding board member of Angel One, one of Canada’s most prolific Angel investment groups, and also serves on the boards of a number of companies in which he is an investor. Sanjay has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from UNB and UBC respectively, and an MBA from Cornell University.

Neil Follett

Hi there, I’m Neil. I have been doing internet and advertising stuff for a long time, almost 20 years actually, which is shocking to me. For the past 11 years I have been running an agency called Brightworks that I founded. It has been a pretty wild ride.

We now have a team that is about 80 people strong, and in the last 12 months we’ve delivered more than 500 projects for clients in Canada, the US, and other exotic locales. Over the years we’ve evolved to be a full service agency, working on everything from branding, to tradeshow booths to virtual reality. It keeps us on our toes, that’s for sure, and we seem to be ok at it as we’ve won more than 75 awards. Mom is proud.

I have done some pretty cool things in my career and have met great people both through the agency, but also sitting on boards and committees at interesting places like the Canadian Marketing Association and the Art Gallery of Ontario. On the cool list, I am very exited to be a judge for Startupfest, and look forward to meeting everyone in Montreal.

Andrew Harrison

Andrew’s main gig is building teams and giving them the tools & latitude they need to create software that users love. He started his career in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in NYC before joining Solera, a provider of software and services for auto, home and digital identity management in 80 countries, in 2009. Andrew has completed over 10 acquisitions with total deal value exceeding $10B and is a firm believer that a team’s curiosity, resolve and aptitude outweighs any idea or product suite. Andrew has built businesses greenfield as well as rebuilt stagnant legacy entities into growth platforms. His peers label him an intrapreneur, and he’s experienced firsthand the challenges of igniting disruptive innovation in a large organization. Outside of work, he’s both a formal and informal adviser to several startups ranging from seed to Series C stage. Andrew has lived in New York City, St. Louis, San Diego, Sydney, Melbourne, Portland and Toronto. Andrew is new to Canada as of three months ago & is excited to connect with the local community!

Michael Hollinger

S Electrical Engineering – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1988; MCI Telecommunications Corp., 1988-1991; H.W. Hollinger (Canada) Inc. Insurance Brokers, President, 1991 – Present

Gary Pudles

Gary A. Pudles is a “serial entrepreneur” who focuses on helping organizations execute better and become more profitable all while having fun. He is the Founder and CEO of AnswerNet, and the co-founder of TextGen, SA Billing, Splendtastic, and Subout. He is a winner of the SmartCEO Best-Run Companies award and the prestigious “Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year” for business service providers and has led AnswerNet to the 21st spot on the Inc. 500. He also teaches Entrepreneurship at the University Of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School Of Business and is a regular participant in Startup Camp and the Intl’ Startup Festival. Pudles’ philosophy is that every project he is involved in must be with the intent of helping companies run their businesses more efficiently and profitably. However, it must be according to their unique style – not by forcing them into a predetermined template, but by replicating proven processes and adding that custom twist unique to their needs.

We sat down this week with the speaker, author, motivator and President of Environics/Lipkin to learn about the ideas he will be sharing at his ResolveTO talk in January.

“I’m going to very much talk about the how. The how as it relates to communication, the how as it relates to packaging, and most importantly, the how as it relates to bringing your best message in those clutch moments where you’ve got 5 or 10 minutes sometimes in which to win or not win. And all the years that you’ve spent preparing for that moment and anything that follows is going to be a function of how well you do in those 5 to 10 minutes.”

Mike pairs decades of high level management and coaching with Environics research insights to bring a unique perspective on what it takes to thrive in today’s business environment. Lipkin’s upcoming book is a hands-on guide to presenting your business, project or idea to C-Suite decision makers.

Mike answers our five questions:

What are you working on right now that you are really excited about?

I am working on a new book and program on “speaking truth to power”. This is what I will talk about at ResolveTO. It’s about how to communicate with people at the C-Level in such a way that they choose you as their preferred partner.

Was there a pivotal moment or decision that set you on the path to your current career?

I was asked by a client to share my insights with her team in return for a fee. I realized that I could make a living by talking about my passion: sales, leadership and marketing.

If you could give one piece of advice to a tiny, freshly-minted startup, what would it be?

No matter how small you are, communicate your offering like it’s a smash hit in advance. Enable your prospects and stakeholders to see its impact and power in advance. Radiate a powerful confidence even if you feel the inevitable fear of launching something that is daring and new.

What can legacy organizations learn from startups to keep up with the fast pace of innovation required in today’s economy?

The desire to reinvent the existing status quo and the energy that comes from being always-new. All-in Engagement is the secret sauce of champions.

What do you foresee as the biggest tech innovation to impact business in 2017?

It will be the evolution of “PA — Predictive Anticipation.” Smart technology will evolve into increasingly sentient technology that anticipates our needs, senses/calculates context, predicts outcomes and suggests ways of getting there. This will combine with technology that enables us to consume products and services seamlessly — we’ll go in stores and “shoplift” legally as RFID enables us to pay automatically. Tech will also enable us to focus by curating the information we want and blocking the rest. It will remind us to focus on the things most important to us and interrupt our negative thinking with empowering thoughts and vision.

See Mike Lipkin’s talk How to pitch your promise like a champion at at ResolveTO at 11:20 AM on Jan 27th.

Toronto – November 22, 2016- The most influential minds in startups and enterprises will gather in Toronto, on January 25th, 2017, for three days of unconstrained thinking, and a unique, collaborative mashup of innovation, disruption, adaptive cultures, and emerging marketplaces at the newly launched ResolveTO event.

ResolveTO is produced by Startupfest, Canada’s largest startup event, held in Montreal every July. Startupfest is Canada’s defining event for entrepreneurs, with attendees from around the globe. Past speakers include Alexis O’Hanian (Founder, Reddit), Kara Swisher (Executive Editor, Re/Code), Tim O’Reilly (President, O’Reilly Media), Tobias Lutke (Founder, Shopify), Danae Ringelmann (Founder, IndieGoGo), to name a few.

This inaugural Toronto event will combine the trademark energy of Startupfest with new enterprise thinking. Both startup and enterprise are invited to collaborate and share insights on innovation, disruption, fast company culture, and digital transformation. ResolveTO will also offer “speed dating” zones – lounge zones where corporate innovators can invite startups to collaborate with them. There will be some 15 zones, including one where ResolveTO will offer a $100,000 investment prize, and one where Highline BETA will offer a minimum $25,000 investment prize, support, and partnership opportunities with their corporate customers. Each zone will host experts, and offer hard hitting content with a compelling contest, prize, or initiative for the most innovative startups in attendance.

“Toronto is leading the charge to create a truly innovative hub in Canada. The talented individuals who are creating new ideas and new industries have a world of options in front of them. To keep them here, to benefit from the wealth and jobs they create and the ideas and industries they spawn, we are taking action,” said Mayor Tory. “ResolveTO will bring together the most influential minds in startups and business from around the world to Toronto to consider starting up here, investing here, and creating jobs here.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the City of Toronto on this new event.” Says Philippe Telio, Founder of both Startupfest and ResolveTO. “When the agility, energy, and unconstrained thinking of startups, meets the capital, market access, and brand power of the world’s great companies, the result is not just surviving, but flourishing, in the face of digital upheaval.”

The event will include content from both startup veterans, and enterprise leaders, with a winter village showcasing relevant themes in the industry. A Startup track will focus on scaling, acquisition, and enterprise partnerships, while an Enterprise track will explore how companies should use a startup mindset, innovation, and self-disruption to survive and thrive in today’s high-change business environment.

ResolveTO will be held at 505 Richmond Street West; Startups, corporates, and service providers can apply for a speed dating zone, or demo table, in the Winter Village at www.resolveto.com, and tickets are now available online.



About ResolveTO
For six years, global founders, funders and industry veterans have gathered at Startupfest in Montreal, Canada’s largest startup event, to learn, launch, and grow. This coming January 25-27, will see the first ever ResolveTO. An event held in Canada’s largest city, combining Startupfest’s unique vibe with the latest enterprise thinking. The event will bring together the best of young startups and large organizations, for a look at innovation, disruption and emerging markets.
Next year, let’s resolve to transform ourselves, and business as we know it, in the face of radical, constant change on a global stage. Learn more at https://www.resolveto.com

About STARTUPFEST
Startupfest is Canada’s largest Startup event. Held every July, in Montreal, for the past 6-years, it has grown into a global gathering of the world’s best entrepreneurs, founders, investors, and mentors. The event features world-class content, from back-of-napkin ideas to champagne-popping exits, across three days of keynotes, interactive how-to sessions, thought-provoking predictions, and a healthy dose of irreverence. Learn more at http://www.startupfest.com



Media Contacts:
For ResolveTO or Startupfest
Julie Melanson
Julie@startupfest.com

Historians will look back on the beginning of the twenty-first century as a time of unprecedented change. We’re in the midst of a shift that outstrips even the Industrial Revolution: the shift from atoms to bits. It’s hard to overstate the impact that a digital world has had on individuals, organizations, society, and even the human species.

In the business world, that transformation has been gradually, inexorably, exponentially growing. Slow at first, today digital is unavoidable. And the shift has given us a Cambrian Explosion of innovation.

On the one hand, digital has been an extinction-level event. Half a century ago, the average company on the Fortune 500 or the S&P 500 survived for over fifty years. Today, it’s lucky to be there for fifteen. If companies were people, this would be a global health crisis to parallel the Spanish Flu.

On the other hand, for every barrier and advantage that digital has stripped from old incumbents, it’s created opportunities for new upstarts. Just look at this chart from the Visual Capitalist:

Today’s greatest companies didn’t exist a few decades ago, in large part because the mechanisms on which they rely didn’t exist. Marketing was controlled, one-to-many, broadcast, and expensive. Feedback took months. Transactions were complex, controlled by banks. Whoever had capital had advantage. Budgeting and business plans mattered.

On the other hand, a startup thrives in a many-to-many morass of interactions with customers and competitors. Analytics makes real-time insight and adjustment possible. Anyone can set up a storefront, outsource a back office, and experiment. Burn beats capital; a business idea and some attention makes a five-year plan outdated as soon as it’s written.

For the past six years, Startupfest has charted the course of this innovation. Great founders, funders, veterans and thinkers from dozens of countries have gathered in the glorious summer sun of Old Montreal to learn, launch, and lick their wounds. Startupfest combines world-class content with a unique festival vibe, and has quickly become Canada’s largest startup event.

And yet, despite all its growth, Startupfest has focused on only part of the story. Because a new breed of startups, and the most agile, forward-thinking incumbents, are finding new ways to work together: Corporate accelerators focused on a specific industry or vertical; internal incubators to launch new ideas; innovation “garages” to tune up ailing lines of business with new thinking; corporate acquisition; company co-creation.

Early next year, we’re launching a new event: Resolve TO. It’ll combine the trademark energy and attitude of Startupfest with this new enterprise thinking in, Canada’s largest city. We believe that when the agility, energy, and unconstrained thinking of startups, meets the capital, market access, and brand power of the world’s great companies, the result is not just surviving, but flourishing, in the face of digital upheaval.

Resolve TO will bring together the best and brightest from startup and enterprise for a can’t-miss look at innovation, disruption, exponential growth, adaptive cultures, and emerging marketplaces.

You’ll see household names and global powerhouses next to rookies and unknowns—those who’ve changed the world already, alongside those who, as Steve Jobs put it, are crazy enough to think they can.

When we created Startupfest, we didn’t know what to expect. Six years later, it’s become the defining event for Canadian entrepreneurs and thousands of attendees from elsewhere. So it is with Resolve TO: We don’t know what will happen. We’re sure there will be partnerships, financings, customer development, co-creation, acquisition, and the launch of new projects and ideas.

Next year, let’s resolve to transform ourselves, and business as we know it, in the face of radical, constant change on a global stage.

Early next year, for the first time ever, we’ll combine the unique energy and festival vibe of the global Startupfest community with the spirit of enterprise in Canada’s largest city. In one of the greatest cities in the world- Toronto, Canada- Startupfest presents ResolveTO.

ResolveTO will combine the trademark energy and attitude of Startupfest with this new enterprise thinking. It will bring together the best and brightest from startup and enterprise for a can’t-miss look at innovation, disruption, exponential growth, adaptive cultures, and emerging marketplaces. We’re resolving to transform ourselves, and business as we know it, in the face of radical, constant change on a global stage.

Startups + Enterprise = Strategic Innovation and Growth

Startups have an undeniable energy and tempo, unconstrained by convention, striving to innovate, designing and developing new ideas, disrupting traditional business and industries, and changing the world.

As the rate of change continues to accelerate, business cycles compress, technologies and customer demographics rapidly evolve. Leading enterprise companies are constantly challenged to become more entrepreneurial, to stay agile in response to changing markets, and evolve to attract and retain top talent.

Imagine bringing together the best people, ideas and practices of both startup and enterprise, to collaborate and share insights on innovation, disruption, fast company culture, and the digital transformation driven by the new millennial marketplace.

ResolveTO will bring together today’s great companies, the names you already know, with the rookies, the newcomers, the disruptors – as Steve Jobs put it “the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world” – to collaborate together on innovation, new ways to serve customers and grow, what works, what doesn’t and what’s new.

Why? What will happen? We never know. Partnerships. Customers. Financing. Acquisitions. Ideas. Projects. Change!

Startups- meet the most established companies of the international business community, and together let’s resolve to innovate, collaborate, and grow.