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The highly competitive and fast-paced technology industry is known for the typically short lifespan of its startups; some claim the majority of startups will not make it through the first six months, while other experts cite only an eight percent chance of success. Even technology mogul Bill Gates suffered the failure of his first company Traf-O-Data before his success with Microsoft. How can entrepreneurs succeed in a sector with such a high rate of failure? The Next Web asked similar questions of tech entrepreneurs experienced in failed startups. These interviews reveal lessons for startups from four technology entrepreneurs:

Don’t Let Ego Get in the Way

Flexibility is a crucial trait for entrepreneurs; founders must be able to find lessons in criticism and failures, and change the business plan or product accordingly instead of holding on to something that does not work. “The right person won’t be disappointed… because there’s going to be a lot of roadblocks” (Alain Paquin, whatsnexx).

Choose Your Co-Founders Well

Leadership is essential to get an idea to market and keep it there. Seek out a partner who shares your entrepreneurial school of thought to create a unified core team. “People need to be really passionate about building a company with you, not just building a product” (Alisha Outridge, TapTank Inc.).

A Business Plan is Essential

A comprehensive business plan is your first impression when it comes to securing necessary funding and contacts; potential investors need something substantial to hold on to. A good plan will also keep you focused on the big picture. “If you don’t have a business plan, you have nothing” (Grant Cardone, Cardone Training Technologies).

Culture Beats Speed

Rather than rushing to create the most experienced team possible, find someone with the attitude and talent that fits your company vision and develop them. “In the long run, you have to focus on building that long-term perspective and a unique team who can execute something” (Trevor Owens, Lean Startup Machine).

If you are an entrepreneur looking to take on the technology market, the Altitude Accelerator can help you construct a business plan and provide access to sector-specific mentoring services to bring your business to success.

Leah is completing her final year of the Visual Culture and Communications specialist program at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College. She is interning at the RIC centre, bringing her experience in digital, print and website design. Leah is eager to begin a career in corporate communications after her graduation in June.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal & professional experiences. Visit Altitude Accelerator for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

The post 4 Lessons Learned From Failed Tech Startups appeared first on Altitude Accelerator.

The 2013 Women in Leadership and Business Conference (WIL-B) proudly presented by Results Continuum Inc., is Canada’s 2-day national learning forum designed for leaders, managers and entrepreneurs who want to advance their career or grow their business by proactively pursuing their own professional and personal development.

• Strengthen your leadership skills
• Have greater influence and impact in your role and team
• Market your skills and your business
• Be heard in meetings
• Get noticed by clients, peers and your industry
• Gain valuable influencing skills
• Grow your business and market share by differentiating
• Increase your likelihood for promotion

Speakers
Our speakers and presenters include some of the most recognizable women in business today, along with acknowledged experts, popular business writers and sought after speakers. We are thrilled to have Amanda Lang, senior business correspondent for CBC News and anchor of The Lang & O’Leary Exchange as our Keynote Speaker.

Workshop Format
While we love inspiring keynote speakers, the focus of WIL-B keynotes and sessions are presented in workshop format, and are designed to focus on the real-life, real-time information, actions, ideas, products and resources responsibilities. We’ll focus on taking away ideas, practical techniques and new approaches – tools designed to extend into your career and business.

Click here to view the speakers. Click here to register.

For more information, please contact the WIL-B Event Team at ildi@resultscontinuum.com or 905-988-5555.

The post Women In Leadership & Business Conference 2013 appeared first on Altitude Accelerator.

By: Fatema Fatakdawala

Raising money is probably the single most important thing that is always on an entrepreneur’s mind. Naturally, the skill to be able to do just that with little or no effort is as good a place as any to start. The CFO Consulting Portal did a really nice job of summarizing how to get an investor on your side; below are six take home messages on how to “hit the nail” when it comes to delivering a business pitch.

1. Keep it Brief – In practice, a pitch is very much like a cover letter. You want to get to the point as soon as possible and show investors what you’re all about in a succinct way. If you drag it out, you may lose their interest or confuse them, making it that much hard to get off the ground.

2. Have a Clear Direction for Your Business – Have a strong business plan in place before you even think about making a pitch. Whether you plan a formal presentation in a meeting room or an impromptu elevator pitch, answering the question of how to pitch to investors should include an ironclad plan that can answer questions about your business.

3. Know What Others are Doing – When making your appeal to potential investors, its inevitable that someone is going to ask how your business is going to be different from someone who does something similar and you’ll need an answer. Whether that difference is a unique team, a new spin on a long-standing product, or anything else, it needs to be highlighted in your pitch.

4. Know Who Your Customers Are – No discussion on the question of how to pitch to investors would be complete without talking about the customers. Make sure you clearly outline what kind of customer you’re targeting and why. Your investors will want to know what kind of need you’re addressing and why, so you will need to put a face to those sorts of questions.

5. Point Out How They Will Benefit – Your showing of the benefits can go beyond the usual monetary gains to show things like social or cultural impact, depending on what your business does. It’s all about knowing the audience that you are appealing to, bringing up the things that matter to them, and showing how you can have some impact in that area.

6. Be Plainspoken – Many people wondering how to pitch an idea to investors can easily get lost in the details and have a presentation filled with jargon and buzzwords as a result. Keep your speech simple, keep your terms general, and make sure your presentation is structured well enough that it holds attention, but easy enough to understand that a person with no connection to your industry will get it on the first try.

Read more

Fatema joins the RIC team as the Communications Officer responsible for marketing, social media, event and web management. She is a graduate student pursuing her final year in the Master of Biotechnology program at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

The post Six Steps to Successful Pitching appeared first on Altitude Accelerator.

I read a quote the other day that caught my eye. It embodied the essence of my consulting practice.

“Making Judgment Calls Is The Essential Job of a Leader”

* With good judgment, little else matters
* Without good judgment, nothing else matters

It’s expected that effective leaders know how to sort the important from the trivial. That they can routinely manage relationships with key constituencies and align team members for support.

But how and from where do the business leaders acquire the skills associated with this decision-making process? Three domains of decision making involves; the people we work with; the strategies that underpin our business plans and the numerous and varied crises that our businesses strive to overcome.

It’s a thing of beauty to observe the charismatic leader who shoots from the hip with style and grace and watch his staff lean closer with commitment and support.

Equally intriguing to watch is the CEO who is over his head, as he / she bellows veiled threats “we’ll be in serious trouble if we can’t get this project done on time and to budget”.

Whether you are running a small department or a global operation, relying on an effective judgment process will give you a framework for evaluating any situation, making the call and making corrections if necessary.

I teach business owners that leadership and judgment are intimately connected. That each and every facet of their business requires making judgment calls.

Many think that senior CEOs such as Roberto Goizueta, who ran Coca Cola, are smarter than the rest of us. But if you Google Roberto you will learn he was demonized for launching “New Coke”; the product so many of us disliked. Few remember that he redeemed himself for launching the incredibly successful “Coke Classic.”

How many of us remember Carly Fiorina? I met her a few times and thought that she was a pioneer in the ranks of female executives. But she is remembered for “destroying HP’s culture” – a comment made by others and not me.

And everyone seems to love Jack Welch. Few recall that he left GE after failing to complete the $47 billion acquisition of Honeywell.

Did these people succeed or fail? It’s a matter of judgment.

Throughout our lives each of us makes thousands of judgment calls; from the cereal we eat to the person we marry and the places we work. In business, the cumulative effect of our judgment calls determines the success or failure of our businesses and ourselves.

I teach that good judgment is based on a three phase process; the preparation, the call and the execution.

That good leadership judgment is supported by the contextual knowledge of one’s self, our social network, the organization in which we work and the stakeholders who look to us for achieving specific business goals.

A “leadership judgment framework” should be a tool that leaders use to develop the ability in their Executive Teams.

Even though judgment seems to be a singular achievement when a given issue is examined, it’s actually is a blend of management wisdom and leadership action.

For me however, judgment will always be about how leaders put their energy into Vision and Strategy.

Comments? I’d like to hear about an example of when you lived through the result of an extremely positive or negative judgment call.

Steve Sheils is the CEO of Authentic Vision for Change. Steve’s passion is helping companies make the difficult decisions required to achieve profitable growth in this tough economy. He can be reached at 416-819-2004 or by email steve@sheils.com. Visit www.authentic-vision.com.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers provide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit Altitude Accelerator for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

The post Judgment: How Leaders put the Energy into Vision and Strategy appeared first on Altitude Accelerator.

Implicit in past writings about Dysfunctional Senior Management Teams (SMT) were the key skills of a CEO and that building an effective and healthy SMT, requires the CEO to expel self-serving leadership tactics and to aggressively adopt and drive a servant leadership point of view throughout the organization.

Consider the Theory of Business that a progressive CEO / Owner signs up for.

* What’s our mission?
* What are our competencies?
* Who are our customers and non customers?
* What do we consider results for the enterprise?
* What does our operational theory consist of?
* What is the focus of Senior Management for opportunities and innovation?

Of course the new CEO has investigated how the investors and shareholder define “creating Shareholder value” and assess financial performance, the strength of the SMT and business processes, competitive threats, market opportunity, cash flow and so on…

From the company’s side however, the CEO’s leaderships style is just as important.

CEO personality and leadership style can be as much based on the assignment as it is on the Theory of the Business as explained in the book “The Leader of the Future”.

1. The Theory of Business is the staring point for setting objectives. Managing By Objectives (MBO) is a well defined method of setting objectives to achieve the mission – short and long term. MBO’s bring together aspects of executive leadership and management. MBO’s embody practices that supports and facilitates teamwork. Communication – up – down and sideways is essential in accomplishing objectives. MBO’s require self control and must achieve alignment between individual needs and the goals of the organization.

2. It is the role of the CEO Executive to organize the above and unquestionably, these organizing efforts require sharp analytical skills. Let’s agree that “decisions, relationships, classifying activities and getting these activities happening in efficient, client facing ways while making suitable profit is difficult.

3. Managers regardless of seniority, require effective social skills, to establish trust with his / her teams. A balance between offering mentoring and education while measuring performance and balancing the needs and merits of the individual within the organization can be challenging.

A favorite leadership style of mine is based on “follower-ship”. Not “follow me and let’s take that hill”. But a leadership style that embodies competent, confident, selfless, tough, determined and principled leaders who believe in positive mentoring of their staff. Changing a company to meet a new challenges is everything about people.

In business, tactical visioning is about change and excellence while considering the associated risks. Those that lead change are the visionaries and must be bold enough to be organizationally agile and decisive.

In this economy you can either lead change or have it thrust upon you. AND, if you dislike change, you just might dislike irrelevance even more.

Think of profit like applause – the noise your company makes when it’s working seamlessly.

There is a broad a mosaic of winning leadership styles. Hopefully your CEO exhibits one of them.

Steve Sheils is the CEO of Authentic Vision for Change. Steve’s passion is helping companies make the difficult decisions required to achieve profitable growth in this tough economy. He can be reached at 416-819-2004 or by emailsteve@sheils.com. Visit www.authentic-vision.com.

The RIC blog is designed as a showcase for entrepreneurs and innovation. Our guest bloggers pro vide a wealth of information based on their personal experiences. Visit Altitude Accelerator for more information on how RIC can accelerate your ideas to market.

The post What is your Leadership Style? – Is it Based on “Follower-ship”? appeared first on Altitude Accelerator.