Toronto Startup Tagtivate: Follow Any Content By HashTag

After checking out Toronto startup Tagtivate for a little bit we thought the best way to describe it is a Digg or Reddit for 2012. If Digg or Reddit had come out this year, it may be organized and searchable via hashtag. Everyone is using hashtags these days on Twitter, Instagram, heck even Facebook.

The hashtag is a peculiar little thing, you simply but a # sign in front of something and it’s easily searchable on any of the existing social networks.

What Tagtivate has done is taken the socially driven hash tag and put it on a content recommendation site for organization.

The Tagtivate team does a great job of providing examples in our interview below, the concept is fairly simple though.

Instead of a bunch of html links that can look like jibberish or instead of trying to come up with that all important Reddit, Digg or Hacker News headline, you simply find the content you want to share and hashtag it. If I wanted to post good startup stories to the Tagtivate platform I would simply add a #startup to the piece of content.

Check out our interview with Tagtivate below.

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Calgary Startup: TypeWhale Connects Journalists To Expert Sources

Over the last decade the 24 hour news cycle has quickly sped up to less than 15 minutes. Heck in the age of blogging, and specifically tech blogging, 15 minutes can be a luxury. That makes it extremely hard, or time consuming, to go out and vet expert sources. Most journalists, myself included, have a stable of 10-20 sources we can call on, on a regular basis, to vet out stories, but when a topic goes beyond our inner circle of sources journalists need experts.

This is a major problem in the online news and blogsphere. It’s the problem that Calgary startup TypeWhale aims to fix.

TypeWhale is a community where academic experts from top universities and journalists can collaborate on media queries. In the beta phase, TypeWhale is focusing on the education sector, as a “natural pool” of credible expert sources. Universities are identifying their expert sources and connecting them directly to the media via TypeWhale.

“TypeWhale is not about who has paid a PR rep to pitch their story, it’s about who is the most qualified to answer the media queries,” explains co-founder, Kylie Lakevold. “TypeWhale came from a passion for getting expert voices heard. This is what encouraged us to build a community where journalists and experts can collaborate live on the web.”

TypeWhale aims to take the media manipulators out of the equation. Lakevold came up with the idea when she came across a service that many journalists use where they can put a question out there and any “expert” can comment for a piece. The problem is that popular system has no way of vetting the “expert source”. You could get a response from someone who has no idea what they’re talking about. Or even worse, a PR hack on a mission to drive just one client.

We got a chance to interview the TypeWhale expert, Lakevold, directly. Check out the interview below.

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We Talk Mobile Payments With Canadian Startup Payfirma

Payfirma is an early adopter in the mobile payment space. This Vancouver based startup is credited with being the first company to bring mobile payments to Canada.

Mobile payments are the way of the future, and for many the future is now. In the US we have Square, Paypal, Google Wallet and the forthcoming ISIS available in several mobile platforms for consumers to pay for services and goods.

Like others, Payfirma makes it extremely easy for merchants to take payments from customers in a variety of ways. Payfirma offers an online platform, point of sale software and a mobile app.  Payfirma started out in 2011 and quickly became an industry leader in mobile payments. Back in December of last year they had passed the $1 million dollar per day transaction mark, and were already being called the “Square of Canada”.

The company was also named Canada’s best startup in 2011 at the KPMG startup awards. Payfirma has built a US presence as well, opening offices in Chicago and San Francisco.

On the mobile side Payfirma looks a lot like Square or Intuit’s mobile offering with a card swiping dongle that attaches to the top of an iPhone or Blackberry. Information is read from the dongle and transmitted via the smartphone to give merchants the ability to take credit card payments on the go.

Merchants who vend at swap meets, flea markets, craft fairs and other events were often faced with a tough choice. They could either choose not to accept credit cards at all or take them the old fashioned way by hand, for processing later. Processing credit cards by hand and then running them later can easily result in fraudulent sales.

We got a chance to talk with the team behind the award winning Payfirma platform. Check out the interview below:

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Waterloo Canada: What Do You Do When Your Tech Giant Fails?

RIM,Waterloo startups,Canadian startups,startup,startups,startup newsWaterloo Canada is the home to Research In Motion (RIM) the creators of the Blackberry. For nearly twenty years the Canadian company was the leader in the smartphone space, basically because there were no decent challengers. Palm/Handspring tried to compete with their Treo line and then the Pre line. Several companies tried to implement the original Windows Phone into some kind of Blackberry contender but time and time again Blackberry prevailed.

Until 2007.

Depending on what sites you read, or who you ask, many people believe that RIM felt unstoppable. There was no way that this “smart phone” with a touch screen was going to be able to displace the top seeded Blackberry. Once Google released Android on several different OEM’s the writing on the wall was clear, RIM needed a new game plan. RIM stuck to their guns though because they thought they had the enterprise market cornered. They didn’t.

But this isn’t the story of a falling tech giant. It’s the story of a great city in Waterloo Canada. It’s the story of an incredibly solid startup eco-system that until a few short years ago, lived in the shadows of RIM.

Sortable published an amazing infographic (below) that highlights some of the amazing things going on in Waterloo Canada. You’ll probably read this article and look at the infographic and be just as surprised as we were.

Waterloo serves as the Canadian headquarters for technology giants; Google, IBM,McAfee, Oracle and Electronic Arts (EA). From that, and Waterloo’s thriving tech startup community, over 30,000 people in Waterloo are employed at tech firms.  All of that combined is good for $25 billion in revenue from Waterloo’s tech sector. Wow!

  • 550 tech startups call Waterloo home
  • 850+ tech firms call Waterloo home
  • 531 new companies started in the last three years
  • 1,000 open tech jobs
  • VC and private equity investments have gone from $7 million in 1997 to $300 million today

Shocked?

Canada has great entrepreneurial pockets throughout the country. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and of course Waterloo have all graced the pages of nibletz.com with startup news stories and interviews.  That’s why Waterloo is known as Canada’s innovation hub.

While it wasn’t cited in this particular infographic, RIM has served as a  breeding ground for great startup founders, similar to the way Google does for Valley startups. It’s apparent though that solid people in the tech industry should have no problem finding work as RIM continues to crumble.  It was reported back in August that RIM is laying off 3,000 employees.

Waterloo Tech Infographic
Sortable Waterloo Region Tech Infographic

Linkage:

Check out our Canadian coverage here

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Montreal Startup: Hypejar The Wikipedia Of New Products? INTERVIEW

Hypejar,Montreal startup,Canadian startup,startup,startups,startup interviewGrant Yim and his team of co-founders at Montreal startup Hypejar are hoping that their startup becomes the “wikipedia of new products”. Hypejar aims to help manufacturers and startups with new products, generate buzz and excitement before a products official launch.

The web based platform promises to feature new and exciting products before they hit the market. Hyperjar users will be able to keep track of the upcoming products that they’re interested and get notified when those products officially hit the market. Users will also be able to vote products up and down in reddit style to indicate which products are more popular and which ones are more highly anticipated.

Hypejar is also targeting those smaller startups, and independent inventors. Inventors will be able to add their own products to Hyperjar and update their products “wiki”, to notify potential customers of new features, pricing and availability.

While Yim realizes there are plenty of sites out there that post reviews and product information after a product is released, there aren’t many sites that post information before a product is released. We know from our previous website that many manufacturers do vet out “review units” of products before a release, however Yim sees one of Hypejar’s main differentiators as the fact that users will have access to information on a large number of products before they get released.

Hypejar will become a vehicle for those early adopters who love to find out about the newest things first. It will also be a great vehicle for manufacturers, and inventors who need to gain traction for their products before they are released.

We got a chance to talk to Yim about Hypejar and the startup scene in Montreal.  Check out the interview below:

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Toronto Startup Picatic Launches; Protects Event Organizers By Crowdfunding Tickets

Toronto startup Picatic has an excellent proposition for event organizers,”Never lose money on an event again”. They can guarantee this proposition for event organizers that use their platform for their events.

Picatic’s EventTilt platform is a crowdfunding site to fund events. Users take to the traditional crowdfunding model and essentially purchase tickets early for an event that an organizer has posted to the site. If the event gets enough early tickets from the crowd, those that crowdfunded the event will receive discounted tickets based on their contribution. Should the event not get enough commitments than the user’s card isn’t charged and everyone walks away happy.

With EventTilt event organizers can finally host events without worrying that they won’t sell enough tickets to break-even or make the profit they expected. The platform eliminates all of the financial risks of hosting an event by offering a preset number of early tickets at a discount. Once discounted tickets are sold the event Tilts and tickets go back up to full price — the event is on! For events that don’t Tilt within the time allotted, EventTilt will refund buyers 100% of their ticket price.

Picatic,EventTilt,Toronto startup,Canadian startup,startup,startups,crowdfundingJust like other crowdfunding sites Picatic can also offer other incentives to those that purchase their tickets early. Incentives like early admission, VIP access,T-shirts and other swag can be used as incentives to the buyers.

“EventTilt is changing the way we plan and market events. Our goal is simple, create a platform that not only ensures events get the funding they need to be successful but also helps organizers engage with their most loyal supporters.” CEO and Co-Founder Jayesh Parmar said in a statement.

There are a few other crowdfunding startups in the ticketing and event space like GigFunder and Queremos. While many view Picatic as a way to eliminate risk for event organizers, others wonder if it’s worth backing or committing to an event that may or may not happen.

Picatic has raised $200,000 in seed funding and their site is up and running.

Linkage:

Check out Picatic on the web here

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Share Your Docs With QR Codes Using Canadian Startup: TagMyDoc

Tagmydoc,Canadian startup,startup,startups,DropBox,BoxCanadian startup TagMyDoc has introduced a new way to share documents. With the use of 2D tags (QR Codes), users can now share documents from DropBox,Box and Microsoft Office. The easy to use tagging system can be added to virtually any document including Word, Excel, PDF, Images, PowerPoint, Open Office and more.

TagMyDoc works exactly as you would expect it to. You add the tag to your doc and anyone who has access to the QR Code can scan the code and instantly retrieve a virtual copy of the document on their device.

TagMyDoc is perfect for offices. They can post signs, posters or memos with a group of TagMyDoc QR codes and then employees can download the documents when they scan the code. It’s also great for people trying to link information to others. For example a lost dog poster could now contain the important bullet points on the sign, with the QR code linking to more information.

Their system would also be great for events, conferences and even school assemblies where people could scan a QR code to get more information on a topic from a speaker. The QR codes could easily be added to paper event programs and eliminate extra paper for descriptions, white papers and other supporting documents.

Not only is TagMyDoc an greener way to share documents, it also makes documents social. End users who scan a QR code for a document can also elect to follow the document. Users can make comments on documents and follow the document to see additional comments. This is another great feature that could be utilized in big group settings where if one user had a question about the material in the document they could share that question and then the answer would be shared as well.

TagMyDoc is connecting readers, authors and documents in a whole new way. TagMyDoc is like the social network for documents.

Linkage:

Check out Tagmydoc here at tagmydoc.com

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Montreal Startup: GigTrip Social Meets Music Tourism INTERVIEW

Gigtrip,music tourism, Montreal startup,Canadian startup,startup,startups, Jean Pierre Levac, founder interviewCanadian serial entrepreneur and startup aficionado Jean-Pierre Levac is working on solving the pain points involved in musical festivals, tours and shows. To do this right, Levac found early on that all three stake holders would need to be involved. Musicians, fans and venues. Without all three pieces in the process one stakeholder would end up with an unfair advantage, while another may be left out in the cold.

Levac has spent much of his career in the IT Industry, with the last fifteen years spent in startups. He’s always been interested in the music business, but not necessarily the way everyone else is. Levac wants to take his skill sets and those of his co-founder Artem Mindrov, and fix the back end of the music industry.

Levac and Mindrov are attacking the fan angle first. To that end they are looking for beta testers, especially people who attend music festivals and make travel excursions out of them. To us it seems that there are so many people out there attacking the event discovery problem from the aggregation side, Levac and Mindrov seem to be on the right track to integrate all three stakeholders before the events pour into search engines and aggregation apps.

We got a chance to talk with Levac about what they’re working on at GigTrip. Check out the interview below:

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Montreal Startup: MatchFWD Socially Connecting For The Job Market

MatchFWD is a startup based in Montreal that is hoping to change the paradigm in the job hunting game. They want to cut out the middleman by leveraging social media and sharing. MatchFWD provides a platform that allows hiring managers to share new job opportunities with people and then down the social landscape, in a word-of-mouth style that will hopefully connect good candidates with great jobs.

MatchFWD works both ways though, job seekers can leverage the same social media networks to promote themselves to potential hiring managers and jobs. The pinnacle of MatchFWD is when, through social networks, a person that’s seen and shared a job can connect a person that’s looking for a similar job.

While recruiters are sure to frown on the concept behind MatchFWD the power is granted back to the people and the hiring becomes a smoother process. Also, hiring managers benefit by seeing the real time recommendations that are coming through shares.

MatchFWD is using the sharing economy to disrupt the job changing experience and make it a more level playing field. Job seekers will love this platform because they won’t waste their time applying to blind box ads where recruiters are just fattening their talent pool.

The startup launched this sharing platform back in March even before Washington DC based startup “Barrel of Jobs” launched. Barrel of Jobs is also using the social economy to help place candidates but in a different way.

We got a chance to interview MatchFWD co-founder Phil Gauvin about their new approach to the job hunt. Check out the interview below:

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Canadian Startup: BufferBox Had Amazon Locker Idea A Year Earlier, INTERVIEW

By now we’ve all hearda bout Amazon’s new locker service. Amazon Lockers is a system of lockers at public locations that Amazon customers can use for picking up their packages in a safe, secure and more private area. These lockers are a great idea for people who aren’t home and can’t get home for a daily delivery, and also can’t get personal deliveries at work. They’re also great for those of us that shop for nosy kids and spouses around the holidays. Of course you can read between the lines for other reasons that you may not want your Amazon shipments going to your house.

A Canadian startup called BufferBox, actually had the idea a year earlier. The difference between BufferBox and the Amazon Lockers though, is that online e-commerce channels outside of Amazon can use the service.

When BufferBox co-founder Mike McCauley first heard about Amazon Lockers he was disheartened and felt their idea had been ripped off. He was later able to turn it into a much more positive spin when he said: Amazon “put credibility behind the technology,” McCauley said. “Now there’s a big new market Amazon has created. Because Amazon controls 30% of the e-commerce market, you need a third party to offer the service for everyone else.” to the Wall Street Journal

We got a chance to talk with McCauley ourselves about the service that could easily be utilized by the other 70% of the e-commerce industry.

Check out the interview below:

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Canadian Startup: SWVLE Talent Discovery Tournament Style INTERVIEW

Talent discovery is a tough nut to crack. How can you judge whether someone is truly talented or not. There are a few startups in the talent discovery space and most of them are based on recommendations. Now of course recommendations are great, especially if you can get top shelf people in your industry to recommend you, but how can you tell your personal story?

You can make as many self YouTube videos as you would like, and those are great, but the next question then is how much talent do you have over the next guy?

SWVLE, a new startup brewing in Nova Scotia, is tackling that problem in a head to head, video to video bracket system. It’s like an all out talent tournament.

In terms of talent you can be talking about the next marketing rockstar or the next actual rockstar. When you use SWVLE it doesn’t matter what kind of talent you have you can put yourself up against someone else in your space, and let SWVLE work it’s magic.

What magic is that you ask? Well we needed to find out so we went right to the source and we interviewed SWVLE co-founder Sam Doyle. Check out the interview below:

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Toronto Startup Venio Is All About Healthy Meals & Healthy Lifestyle INTERVIEW

Toronto startup Ven.io is all about healthy meals, and healthy lifestyles. This new meal plan startup, helps users set up structured meal plans that are personal, scientific and valuable.

Setting up your meal plan via Ven.io is a simple three-step system that learns your habits, tastes and dietary needs. This is a really great platform for those who have regular dietary constraints like diabetes and lactose intolerance. Ven.io can give you great suggestions for every meal that will help you reach all of your goals.

The Ven.io team is an international tapestry of talent. In fact in our interview below they answered the questions about where they were based by saying they were Georgian and Iranian, and yes the headline is correct they live in Toronto. Their marketing guy Karim El Rabiey suggests that it’s this patchwork of different nationalities that creates a special flavor (you see what we did there) for the Ven.io team and the Ven.io product. They actually have one of the best about pages we’ve seen in a while, you should check that out here.

We got to interview El Rabiey about Ven.io and how they’re unparalleled in the world of specialty meal planning platforms. Check out the interview below.

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Save Your Dog From The Heat With This Canadian Entrepreneurs App And Invention

Aaaron Starkman, an entrepreneur in Toronto, has created a very useful invention for dog lovers everywhere. The invention came out of a close call with Starkman’s own dog Hefty.

Starkman told the Toronto Star, that he had gone into the store for what he thought was going to be a quick two minute in and out trip. It was also pouring down rain when he went into buy a camping stove. When it was all said and done the trip into the store had taken 20 minutes and when Starkman came out it was bright and sunny.

Hefty wasn’t so bright and sunny and had been trying to get out of the car. Luckily for Hefty and Starkman, Hefty survived the 20 minutes in the car. Starkman immediately went to work on a warning device for dog owners.  Starkman did make sure to tell the Toronto Star that he was in no way advocating to leave dogs in the car or other heat situations, but when something occurs he’s hoping his dog collar monitor can help.

The high tech collar is really rather simple. It consists of a few LEDs, a coded chip, a thermistor and a SIM card. The dog collar uses the sim card and telephony to send a text message to the owner when it gets too hot for the dog. If the dog is stuck in the car or perhaps if the power goes out in the house and the dogs temperature rises, the owner is notified by text and can immediately fix the situation.


The project was developed in conjunction with a team at Rethink an ad agency in Canada where Starkman is a partner. The dog lovers at Rethink quickly embraced the side project.  They also created a campaign called “Doggy Havens” which included a web presence, and an advertising campaign. Through “Doggy Havens” pet owners can find dog friendly stores where they can take their pets inside, outside of traditional pet stores, to escape the heat or just take along as a shopping buddy.

As for the dog collar, Starkman and Rethink plan to take it to Kickstarter, where I’m sure it will be warmly received. After that they plan on selling the collars for $20 which is a great price to save an animals life.

Linkage

Source: Toronto Star via Mashable

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Meet TellBob He’s A Canadian Startup Rewarding People For Taking Surveys On Their Mobile Device

Getting customer feedback can be tricky. Almost every kind of survey engagement tactic has been tried time and time again. It’s hard to get someone to take a survey for a chance to win $10,000 or even a free meal the next time you visit a restaurant. Companies need this valuable data, and the survey platform that can pull it off is going to win.

That’s where TellBob comes in. This Canadian based startup with a really cool name is all about having customers take surveys on their smartphone and then getting rewarded instantly for participating.

So TellBob isn’t really a guy named Bob in fact it’s two guys Trevor Howie and Dan Renaud. They came up with the idea back in 2007 after visiting a Home Depot and thinking how great it would be if you could get some kind of instant gratification for completing their customer service survey.

With TellBob’s reward program the customer is rewarded instantly and they can save or trade their rewards with their friends and even share the entire experience on Facebook. It’s a win for their survey customers as well. TellBob can give back some great information and even confirm that the person completing the survey was actually at the location.

We got a chance to interview TellBob, well actually Howie, check out that interview below.

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