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 Technology Santa
It's timt to hand out goodies, and also not-so-goodies for my technology industry list of who has been good and who has been naughty. This process is like Bill Murray in the movie Scrooged, where he was read a list of people and said VCR or towel depending on how much he liked them. My gifts are a cigar for the good people (of course it is an organic, non-greenhouse gas emitting cigar made with proper labour codes observed in their manufacturing) and a lump of coal for the naughty ones (the lump of coal representing a tonne of greenhouse gas… bad, bad, bad).
Dan Friedmann, MDA – Cigar – Whatever you are doing over there Dan, keep it up. Your company grows larger and larger and is becoming a cornerstone of our industry in BC.
SAP – Coal – Go away you big German company… we were just getting used to French at our largest technology employer in BC, Business Objects, which by the way, is pronounced Beeeznees Objay.
Club Penguin – Cigar – Wow. All we can say is Wow. $350M and a possibility of $700M for a kids website… Let’s hope Disney can leave well enough alone and Lane, Rockhopper and his friends in Kelowna can keep up the magic. I see lots of Puffles in stockings this year.
Federal Government – Ministry of Finance, Tax Policy – Coal – We have a huge problem getting foreign investment because of a little publicized "gotcha" called the 116 filing. It withholds partial proceeds from a sale to foreigners. As if our early stage companies needed another hurdle to clear to get US investors! I’m so mad at this one, they get another lump of coal. Ha! Put that in your post-Kyoto plan!
Microsoft Canada – Cigar – Thank you Redmond for putting a development centre here instead of sucking the talent out of Waterloo and BC to your mother ship.
Microsoft Corp. – Coal – Vista stinks. Backward compatibility is the biggest problem. You are forcing a "backhoe" upgrade for small companies because mixing versions of Windows on a network is a migraine.
Angel Investors in BC – Cigars all around – You did well in Blast Radius and Brightside. You funded companies with larger and larger amounts, stepping in where the VCs fear to tread or are just not investing. We need you in 2008 more than ever. Snap up those EBC tax credits and keep pouring it on.
Fuel cells – Coal – Deliciously ironic, isn’t it? Well, the promise of the fuel cell has not delivered. Clean tech has expanded to include much more than alternative energy sources and the sector is booming. But it appears that fuel cells will not take over in the biggest industries like automobiles until a hybrid middle step towards alternative fuels takes place.
Of course I would be remiss to not offer a cigar to Corporate Recruiters and their leader Don Safnuk… great job in 2007 (can I keep my spot in the newsletter now?). Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever is more correct for you.
By Brent Holliday, Partner, Greenstone Venture Partners. He can be contacted at bh@greenstonevc.com
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