What is a culture of innovation? In the process of drafting my PhD dissertation, I posed this question to members of Ontario’s research and innovation ecosystem. While some found the phrase overused or empty, many shared their experience in the innovation process.

Based on my interviews, I’ve arrived at the following definition.

• A culture of innovation is an environment that supports creative thinking and advances efforts to extract economic and social value from knowledge, and, in doing so, generates new or improved products, services or processes.
• A healthy culture of innovation has a shared set of values and mutually reinforcing beliefs about the importance of innovation as well as an integrated pattern of behaviour that supports research and innovation.
• A thriving culture of innovation can leverage the existing strengths of a given research and innovation ecosystem.

Ontario’s culture of innovation

From 2003 to 2011, Ontario made notable strides toward developing a culture of innovation. Intermediary organizations like MaRS and the Ontario Centres of Excellence were set up to provide local entrepreneurs with support to advance their innovative ideas and ventures.

Ontario’s research institutes, hospitals, colleges and universities ramped up efforts at partnering with intermediary organizations, local businesses and international firms to cultivate research in key areas. The province’s angel network and venture capital community engaged with industry partners and intermediary organizations to invest where early-stage funding was (and remains) critical.

The provincial government’s efforts at implementing a culture of innovation has been demonstrated in a range of strategies, including Ideas to Market Strategy, 2006; Strategic Plan, 2006; and Life Sciences Commercialization Strategy, 2010. It has established funding programs such as the Ontario Research Fund, Premier’s Awards and the Innovation Demonstration Fund. Institutional structures such as the Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE) were designed to promote these goals. (The ONE supports entrepreneurial activity, encourages collaboration between research and innovation partners, enhances regional competitiveness, increases productivity and fosters job creation.)

What’s missing in Ontario?

But here’s what’s missing in Ontario: the qualitative tools necessary to evaluate our success in actually establishing a culture of innovation. Without these measures, how will Ontario identify the full range of its shortcomings, learn from past mistakes and truly build on its strengths?

Stay tuned for the next blog in my series to read about the advancements that I think are imperative for achieving a robust research and innovation ecosystem in this province.

A call to the school’s chief executive, Alastair Wilson, ensued, and our engagement with the SSE soon began.

While visiting a series of best practice initiatives in the UK, a quick visit to the school (which was then co-located with The Young Foundation in London’s Bethnal Green community) to see the program in action led us to believe that the SSE was on to something. The school’s action-learning approach offered a unique program design to support social entrepreneurs, particularly those from marginalized communities.

As it does with many great initiatives in this province, the Ontario Trillium Foundation agreed to fund a feasibility study to see if the SSE program would, in fact, be applicable to Ontario. With this funding, MaRS hired MASS LBP to conduct a province-wide study. The results clearly indicated that, although we would need to “Canadianize” certain components of the SSE program, we should definitely explore the opportunity further.

A consortium was formed and further funding was secured from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to hire staff and launch the first cohort of the School for Social Entrepreneurs Ontario (SSEO). The school remains a SiG@MaRS client to this day, and we are proud to serve on its advisory board.

With the first SSEO cohort ready to graduate, I recently had the chance—with a few other experienced colleagues in the social impact sector—to meet with many of the students and to offer advice on their ventures and their prospects of achieving both economic and social impact. I would like to highlight a few of these ventures here.

• Just Access is a “crowdfunding for justice” venture that is designed to find a novel way of increasing access to justice—and offering new opportunities for civic engagement and social empowerment—by facilitating crowdfunding to legal cases. This was one of the most polished of the SSEO pitches. With a strong team of professionals and a strong network of advisors, this group is well placed to use the power of the crowd to tackle the discrepancies in access to justice.
• Gashanti Unity is made up of a group of young Somali women in Toronto whose mission is to provide girls and young women with a safe atmosphere to develop their gifts, abilities and positive relationships. One of their many accomplishments is their ability to capture weddings by training young women to act as videographers and disc jockeys. The group’s work in mobilizing support from not only the women, but also the men of their community has been nothing short of inspiring. This is a group of young women to watch.
• The final venture is called Peopleshare and it is an innovative staffing service for non-profit organizations and small businesses that cannot hire all of the people they need. The venture’s founder is seeking a cure for the “many-hats syndrome” of many people who work in the not-for-profit sector. She not only wants to provide interim staffing support, but she also wants to change the ways that the not-for-profit sector uses limited resources to achieve even greater impact.

However, the ventures are secondary to the real success of the SSEO program. The program works with people who often have had challenging life experiences and helps them try to understand those experiences, learn from them and share their newfound perspective with others.

I was moved to tears more than once while listening to the students’ stories, their desire to help others and their motivation to understand their journey and to think about new and innovative ways to impact the lives of others who are faced with similar life challenges.

The approach used by the SSE helps the participants to not only create businesses, but also to find themselves as they attempt to find ways to make money and make an impact. As we well know, ventures come and go, and creating a venture with a double bottom line is not an easy thing to do. But if you can learn about yourself through the process and reach out to others to walk with you, then it seems as though it just might be worth the effort.

The call for concepts was launched in November at the Social Finance Forum organized by the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing. It is noteworthy that in less than three months (including the Christmas break), a host of individuals and organizations marshalled their energies toward putting forward proposals that would use social finance methods.

The results demonstrate that Canadians across the country are thinking about how to apply innovative financing methods and partner across multiple sectors in order to revitalize traditional ways of funding and delivering public services.

More than half of the self-identified respondents were based in Ontario alone, and over three-quarters of them were from the non-profit or charitable sector. This makes it clear that more work needs to be done to support broader engagement with social finance.

There was also recognition that many of the challenges we face today are interconnected and deeply complex. Of the 154 proposals submitted, no one issue area stood out as a priority; rather, a third of all proposals incorporated multiple issues. The community identified youth, health, Aboriginal Peoples, housing and homelessness as particularly important issue areas.

There has been significant coverage and commentary regarding the report since it was published. Much of the conversation has focused around the idea of getting the private sector involved in delivering social services, and more still on a specific social finance instrument, the social impact bond. Adam Jagelewski of the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing was part of a conversation on a recent segment of “Power and Politics” on CBC as well, discussing the concept. Watch the segment here, beginning at the 1:20:35 mark.

Examples of social finance ideas

While the social impact bond model is indeed a very interesting one, it is only one of the instruments that were referenced in the ideas proposed by Canadians. Here are some examples of other social finance ideas (see the full list here).

• Housing funds (Habitat for Humanity Toronto)
• A network of social innovation hubs (David Phipps)
• Targeted rent supplements (Mental Health Commission of Canada)
• Impact infrastructure exchange (Tessa Hebb)
• Social performance derivative (Sean Geobey)
• Independent living account program (Social and Enterprise Development Innovations)
• Business accelerator for social entrepreneurship (PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise)

These ideas truly convey the breadth of approaches that social finance encompasses. The discourse around social finance is not limited solely to impact investing or social impact bonds.

The real story of the report released by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada is that Canada is witnessing a larger cultural shift to the idea that no one single sector can provide the solutions that are required, and that it is quickly emerging as one of the global leaders in impact investing.

According to Brian, crowdfunding can be defined as “an event that harnesses networks for funds, awareness and feedback.” Historically, crowdfunding can be seen as part of a long-term trend of “democratizing innovation,” as described by Eric Von Hippel in his 2005 book by the same name. In the world of funding, crowdfunding fits somewhere in between “The Long Tail” as described by Chris Anderson in 2004 and microfinance as done by Grameen Bank and Kiva.

The Pebble effect

Considering that current security regulations prevent equity from being raised through crowdfunding events in Canada and the United States, what exactly is the appeal of crowdfunding to the current class of entrepreneurs?

One word describes it all: Pebble.

When Pebble Technology was unable to raise venture capital funding to develop and market their smartwatch, they decided to run a pre-sales campaign on a crowdfunding platform in an attempt to obtain orders totalling $100,000 so that they could begin production. The campaign launched in April 2012 and reached its initial funding target within days. When the campaign wrapped up, 68,928 buyers had placed orders for a total value of $10,266,844—more than 100 times the initial funding target.

As other entrepreneurs struggle to raise risk capital from traditional sources, such as angel and venture capital investors, the Pebble campaign has shown that pre-sales through a crowdfunding platform can be a very attractive alternative to raising the capital required to get commercial operations started. After all, Pebble’s founder raised more money than he was looking for and did so without having his ownership share watered down.

Is crowdfunding for you?

In his talk, Brian presented some statistics that should cause people to think twice before launching a crowdfunding campaign.

• A typical crowdfunding campaign attracts between 50 to 500 funders.
• On average, each transaction is $75.
• On average, overall campaign revenue ranges from $3,750 to $37,500.

In other words, the typical crowdfunding campaign is very different from the Pebble campaign. Lean startups that are hoping to use crowdfunding as a way to validate their solutions and business models should ask a few critical questions to determine whether crowdfunding is, in fact, the right way to go.

• Deal size: If the average transaction is $75, does that fit with what you are offering? What kind of goods and incentives can you put together to entice people to place an order?
• Network size: Do you have enough potential customers in your network? Do you have well-connected “evangelists” in your network who can take your campaign to their own networks so that you can break outside the typical 50 to 500 backers if required?
• Project type/quality: Does your project grab people emotionally? Do you have an eager fan group like the cult TV show “Veronica Mars” had? (Over 91,000 backers contributed $5.7 million to fund the making of a “Veronica Mars” movie.) Does your project have a feel-good factor that travels well through social networking sites?
• Risks: Do you know enough about your product and the timelines and costs involved in developing and manufacturing the volumes you are seeking so that you can get the price right and manage the expectations of the backers?

If your responses to these questions are positive, Brian offered further advice in the form of a project checklist to make sure that you’re truly ready for a crowdfunding campaign.

• Does your project have a catchy title?
• Has a financial goal been established?
• Has a time frame for reaching the financial goal been set?
• Do you have quality photos of the goods/incentives?
• Do you have a two- to three-minute-long video that promotes your project in an authentic manner?
• Do you have audio that echoes the video storyline?
• Do you have a written description of your venture?
• Have you calibrated the rewards that you will offer potential backers?

This checklist alone does not ensure success. Once a crowdfunding campaign is launched you need to have a game plan in order to engage with potential backers, to get your first “wins,” to build and maintain energy in the campaign and to communicate actively with potential backers throughout the campaign.

Crowdfunding for lean startups

While lean startups may plan to use crowdfunding as a way of validating their solution and business model, they must resist the temptation to jump in too early in the customer development process. Crowdfunding should not be considered until some fundamental pieces are in place.

• First, the customer problem must have been validated. Without the insights generated from validating the customer problem properly, there are too many unknowns to run an effective crowdfunding campaign.
• Second, a minimum viable product solution must have been designed and priced properly, a process that may involve negotiating with suppliers. Some successful crowdfunders have encountered supply chain issues when their campaigns finished, leading to delivery problems, unhappy customers and bad publicity.

Only when these two points have been resolved would we recommend that a startup consider a crowdfunding campaign.

Watch this space

Meanwhile, we are waiting for both Canadian and American regulators to move forward with new market rules that will allow crowdfunding platforms to facilitate the raising of equity and debt for startups and projects. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission was supposed to issue new rules earlier this year, but the new rules have been delayed and are not yet known. The Ontario Securities Commission has engaged in a consultation process, but has not yet issued new rules or a timeline for when such rules should be expected.

For more information about crowdfunding and the potential crowdfunding exemption being considered by the Ontario Securities Commission, see the following resources:

• Crowdfunding: Is it right for your startup? (part 1)
• Crowdfunding: Have your say on possible changes in Ontario legislation (part 2)
• MaRS’ response to the potential crowdfunding exemption

Check out this five-minute “Hot Tips for Startups” video:

Check out Brian Meece’s full presentation here.

On May 15, 2013, nine finalists will compete in the eighth annual Up-Start! Competition for a chance win $10,000 along with a pitch video production package from MaRS Media with a retail value of $4,000.

Under the mentorship of MaRS volunteer advisors, the finalists have spent the last few months working hard to prepare their pitch presentations. Individuals or teams will give a 10-minute presentation on a business idea in the following categories: IT, communications and entertainment (ICE), cleantech, social venture and life sciences.  Competitors are expected to apply concepts from the course to make a compelling case.

Watch this quick video to learn more about the competition and hear from last year’s winner, LIFEbike:

Meet this year’s finalists

Luevo (@luevofashion)
Luevo, a tech startup based in Toronto, is launching the first crowdfunding platform targeted at aspiring and emerging fashion designers. A blend of crowdfunding and traditional e-commerce, Luevo’s platform will help fashion designers receive pre-orders from customers and help raise the funds needed for production.

Heal.X Innovation (@healxinnovation)
Heal.X Innovation is a revolutionary immobilization system for bone fractures and sports injuries. It provides better support than a traditional cast while reducing the side effects and the costs for the patient and the healthcare system.

Telewella (@telewella)
Telewella helps consumers to socialize by voice. The company enables businesses to capitalize on the popularity of their brand and to deliver their ads directly to related interest groups. Use the power of social networks to drive your revenue!

Matalo Productions Inc. (@myhandylittle)
Matalo Productions Inc. is developing personal health recording systems to help women who are health-conscious but lack the tools to properly manage their health and wellness. Matalo plans to launch an introductory app to accompany the release of their book, My Handy Little Health Journal, in the fall of 2013. Women will have better health at their fingertips.

Find My Itin (@findmyitin)
Designed to empower the do-it-yourself traveller, Find My Itin inspires, creates and shares trip itineraries. This web platform helps you save time planning your trip and leverages others’ experiences.

TrendyMED Inc. (@RonnyBarrelli)
TrendyMED has invented the MobileIV™ infusion device. This small and lightweight product delivers intravenous (IV) infusion liquids to patients from any size bag and does not need gravity or poles. No power source is required (not even batteries), and the MobileIV™ can be mobilized safely and easily anywhere, any time and in any position. MobileIV™ costs a fraction of traditional devices, yet offers much greater value to both patients and healthcare providers.

The Social Art Movement (@artismovement)
Helping starving artists connect with art lovers worldwide, The Social Art Movement is developing online and mobile tools to help independent artists take their minds off of the business of being an artist, and to focus on what really matters―being creative. The platform will brand and market artists by leveraging the art community’s ever-growing online presence.

Coverpitch
Coverpitch is an app that helps unemployed and underemployed graduates amplify their cover letter. It creates a digital mosaic of micro-videos to get them noticed and land interviews. The solution gives job seekers a platform to SHOW and TELL prospective employers who they are and why they are the best person for the job―in ways a traditional cover letter and resume cannot.

Sployment Inc. (@sployment)
Sployment is an employment suite that connects students with local employers. It enables them to find co-op, internship or part-time positions based on their availability and interests. It offers services through mobile and online applications, including S-Journal, S-Mentor and S-Connect.

Meet this year’s judges

• Peter Evans, founder and CEO, Speakerfile
• William Brown, managing director, BCW Ventures
• Sonia Sanhueza, practice lead, Life Sciences & Healthcare, MaRS
• Rob Scully, Investment Manager, Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF)

Past winners

See what our past winners have been up to: LIFEbike, The Hot Plate and Eve Medical.

To see the pitches in person, register here.

In his talk, Peter reminded us that pitching is about seeking other people’s money—going beyond you and your family and friends. This new level of investment creates a whole new dynamic. For many investors, investing is a numbers game, and their shields go up as a defence mechanism because they can’t say yes to everything.

Entrepreneurs need a “Yes.” Investors need creative ventures that have great potential in the market. They want to be excited by an entrepreneur’s passion and credibility.

Getting a “Yes” requires three levels of engagement: emotional, rational and financial. In your pitch, it’s important to connect on each of these levels. Involve your investors and put them in the picture as partners.

Peter explained that investors understand the power of teams and want to be part of good ones. Teams pivot better and faster, they can overcome market challenges and they can navigate better to keep lean startups moving forward. A team’s composition is very important to potential investors.

Building a 4H team

When it comes to building a team, Peter recommended building a “4H” team:

• Hackers at the code level
• Hipsters—that is, design thinkers, such as product managers
• Hustlers or visionaries who can sell the deal
• Helpers, such as good advisors and mentors

You are pitching an executive summary. You are laying out the components of your venture for potential investors to consider so that they can make the best decision for their involvement, time, expertise and funds.

Four components of a good pitch

Peter shared the four components of a good pitch:

1. A real problem: You want to solve a real pain point for a market that wants to pay.
2. An attractive market: There should be lots of room in the market to scale a business.
3. A unique advantage: This might be the team or the patent.
4. A compelling investment: You should have key metrics that explain the bottom line for investors.

Peter also cautioned entrepreneurs against pitching the “Google Earth” model of their venture. Don’t take your investors right down to “street view.” Instead, show them what planet you are on, what category you are in,  where you are playing and who is adjacent, and take the investor through a day in the life of your venture.

The point of the pitch is to connect. Show potential investors your passion and make them excited about joining you (emotional engagement). Reassure them that your venture has a market, that it is credible and that you have a great track record (rational engagement). And then present very good numbers (financial engagement). If you show them that your venture is just what they have been looking for you may just get a “Yes.”

Produced by MaRS Media.

Join us this week for the Up-Start! competition

Join us on May 15, 2013, for the annual Entrepreneurship 101 Up-Start! Competition where our nine finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges for a chance to win $10,000, along with a pitch video production package from MaRS Media with a retail value of $4,000. Click here for more information.

The Entrepreneurship 101 series will begin again in September 2013. In the meantime, catch up on previous lecture videos here.

Resources from the Entrepreneur’s Toolkit

• Article: How to identify an investor for your business
• Article: Elements of a pitch deck
• Article: Elevator pitch
• Workbook: Financing Workbook 4: Developing and Delivering a Winning Investor Presentation
• Video: Raising Money from VCs
• Video: Terms of Investments

Want to connect?

• Join the LinkedIn Group.
• Follow the conversation on Twitter: #ent101.
• Get updates on Vimeo.
• Download the course schedule.

I say eagle because an eagle’s perspective is truly necessary when organizing a business venture: you have to see long, you have to see far and you have to know when to dive, gut in your mouth and eyes pierced on your goal.

I say inchworm because sometimes, even though you’re working very hard, it feels like the distance you’ve travelled is measured in inches. And I say robin because you really do have to be up early to make the most of each wonderful, beautiful and challenging day and each opportunity held within that day.

My mémère (grandmother) was a schoolteacher who ventured North to make her way. She taught, ran the farm hands and the gas station, and had her kids in toe working beside her. My pépère (grandfather) worked as a “bucheron” (logger), so there were lots of times when my mémère took over caring for the family. In listening to her rich stories I always felt that you didn’t choose between work and family. Work and family were what life was about and they were intertwined.

Used with permission under Creative Commons licensing

When we began planning for a family I moved my legal practice into our home. I just knew that being near the children we were hoping for was how I wanted to parent and work. We bought a large home with a separate area and entrance for a spacious office and greeting area. This is where I now work on our Fly Technologies (ad)venture.

I come from a line of strong, adventurous women, and I never really thought that balancing a family with a venture was a questionable choice. They’re just different “babies” of sorts. Pondering this, I wondered how many similarities there actually were between the two (ad)ventures.

Similarities between being a mother and being an entrepreneur

First, it helps to have a supportive spouse. I have one in spades: a man who trusts my instincts and backed my choice to leave my career as a lawyer to lead a new company. As a parent, you can’t have a risky career and a new (ad)venture without one partner holding a steady job.

Likewise, you need supportive business partners, which I’m also lucky to have. Brent Cordner and Glenn Hibbard have been known to attend meetings with my twins in the room, and to hold a baby while we discuss strategy or technology. Brent has probably done a feeding or two and we sometimes break from meetings to put the kids to bed. My children are sure to be adept at strategy, law, accounting, corporate taxes, intellectual property, business plans, manufacturing licenses and more.

Second, patience and resilience are two necessary characteristics for being both a good parent and a good entrepreneur. We’ve had our knocks—our expectations shattered, our plans revisited—and you have to take those knocks and keep at it. It’s the same steely grit that you need to feed that baby after she’s vomited for the umpteenth time because of an incompletely formed esophagus. It can be frustrating not to be where you’d like to be, whether that’s in business or in parenting. I can tell you that when the alarm goes off at 2:00 a.m. my first instinct is to swear, but then I move my limbs and by the time I see my daughter, Madeleine, I’m so grateful to have the energy to hold and love her and feed her that damned bottle.

Third, I’ve found that both jobs are milestone oriented. We’ve recently improved the manufacturing of our polypropylene honeycomb, creating predictability in its formation, which has led to a new patent co-operation treaty application and the promise of scale manufacturing in the foreseeable future. This allows us to boast another advantage over products that are currently in the marketplace. This was one of the milestones we set for 2013 and we have met it in the first quarter. Now, when Madeleine sleeps through the night, I’ll have hit my next quarter milestone.

Fourth, you never stop thinking. You’d be amazed at how consuming a new business is and what kinds of issues need to be addressed. It’s a character trait that I’ve always had: I never stop thinking. I used to read my math problems, go practice the piano and then sit down and write out the answers without knowing when I’d solved them. It’s like that in business. You wake up and you’ve found a way to address a problem with the assignment consent you’re negotiating or you take a shower and think of another way to feed the twins the food they prefer to throw. “Kaizen” has become a new motto for me.

Fifth, the risk-reward scenario could be similar. I certainly felt that the future was unpredictable when I found out that I was pregnant again only 10 months after giving birth to our beautiful twins! But let me tell you how much heart I had when I saw my daughter in the ultrasound or felt her kick, seven months pregnant in business meetings, or saw, heard and held her for the first time. I’d like to have comparable, if less intimate, rewards with Fly Technologies.

My kids are never far from me. Alesandro loves a calculator and pens and paper. Sienna loves a phone and pretends to have her own conference calls. They both know my lawyer voice and my mommy voice, they follow instructions and we spend our coffee and playtime breaks together.

People have asked me how I manage right now, with a one-month-old baby and two toddlers. Sometimes I don’t bother answering the question. I’ve evaluated that the energy I’d expend explaining probably isn’t worth it. What I can tell you is that I work out every morning for my sanity and I can multi-task like a diva. If the bottles need to be sanitized or the laundry done while I answer emails or read patent applications, so be it. The caller on the phone doesn’t have to know that you have baby spitup on every other square inch of your “outfit.”

Finally, you make sacrifices for both of these (ad)ventures that you would likely never think you could do. I’ve given up personal time, there’s no such thing as lounging and my dancing days are to a fit-mom video or some Teletoon with the kids.

I’ve never really liked the word “mompreneur.” It has such a sexist orientation to it. Evaluate me in business if you’d like, my kids and husband will let me know how I’m parenting. I keep my two identities separate even though I’m tough minded and the same woman all the time. I’m a mom, I’m an entrepreneur and life is an adventure! I’m just pretty lucky to be able to have great business partners, a great life partner and the opportunity of the job of a lifetime being a mom.

We’re seeing what is known as a “shift left”: a shift in care from the high-cost hospital setting to a lower-cost community setting. This shift—along with new solutions that leverage data and mobile technologies—has created ideal conditions for innovative companies to disrupt the existing healthcare model.

MaRS’ healthcare IT sector has been growing steadily for the past two-and-a-half years, and today we have a burgeoning client cohort that is capitalizing on these opportunities.

In our newly released report, titled New Business Models in Digital Health, we feature six outstanding clients who are upending the traditional approach to healthcare.

• MetricAid:MetricAid’s software and methodology drastically decrease wait times in hospital emergency departments without the need for additional resources. (MetricAid was also featured in last Tuesday’s blog post!)
• DMAR: The Dialysis Measurement Analysis and Reporting (DMAR) system provides dialysis programs with high-quality benchmarking information to improve their practices while lowering costs.
• Liberate Health: Liberate Health’s platform helps healthcare professionals create and share educational content with patients to inform them about their conditions, treatments and ongoing disease management.
• Sensory Technologies: Sensory Technologies’ care-centred wireless smartphone and web application system transforms home care into an electronic data collection and real-time information system.
• Evolution Health Systems: Evolution Health Systems improves adherence to treatment plans and optimizes patient outcomes.
• VitalHub Corp: VitalHub’s software platform and mobile applications allow clinicians to rapidly access patient information from multiple clinical information systems.

Check out the report to learn a little more about game-changing ideas like these!

Funded by the government, Start-Up Chile is different from typical accelerator programs such as Y Combinator, TechStars and MaRS’ own JOLT because Start-Up Chile entrepreneurs give up more of their time than typical accelerators require and do not give up equity in their startups, in exchange for $40,000 in seed capital.

Three times a year, approximately 100 startups from more than 30 countries arrive in Chile to spend six months working on their ventures. This concentration of entrepreneurs working together in a co-working space promotes peer mentorship, rather than the typical mentorship networks found at other accelerators.

Through a mix of mandatory and optional demo days, entrepreneurs share the progress they have made on their startups. Entrepreneurs also dedicate time to help stimulate entrepreneurship in the local community. For instance, I helped organize Chile’s first English Startup Weekend event, which had 100 participants, and I also mentored Chilean entrepreneurs. My chief technology officer, Peter Newhook, taught programming workshops and participated in several local hackathons, including AngelHack and Wowzapp.

Similar to any startup community around the world, we also attended meet-ups and talks from global speakers. During my time in Chile, Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, and Saul Singer, the co-author of Start-Up Nation, were among the many visitors to the Start-Up Chile program.

Demo day in the co-working space. Photo by Peter Newhook.

Now in its third year, Start-Up Chile is beginning to see positive outcomes from its program. There are a number of entrepreneurs who stay longer than the mandatory six-month period, continuing to build their businesses from (and in) Chile. A portion of each $40,000 grant is spent in the local community, going toward paying rent and purchasing food. Many startups also hire local developers, designers and student interns, and I think that this is one of the most important ways that entrepreneurs have impacted the local community, through employing and working directly with Chileans.

Several of Start-Up Chile’s startups have gone on to participate in other accelerator programs, such as 500 Startups or TechStars. Some companies have gone on to raise capital and there have been a few acquisitions.

The Chilean government is also taking steps to reduce bureaucracy for entrepreneurs, recently passing a new law that enables businesses to incorporate a company online, for free, in just one day. Positive enhancements such as this one are important to growing an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Other accelerators springing up around the globe

Another interesting development is that Start-Up Chile appears to have prompted other countries to establish programs to attract global entrepreneurs to their regions. Start-UP Brasil is an $18 million public-private partnership with nine accelerators in the country. Billed as a “people accelerator,” TechPeaks in the Italian Alps is a €13 million program that accepts individuals as well as teams from around the world. Similar to Start-Up Chile, both programs provide entrepreneurs with visas and working capital to facilitate moving to build businesses in these countries.

The sunset over Santiago. Photo by June Avila.

Six months is both a long and a short time for a startup. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to work full time on my project. The adventure of doing it in another country with more than 150 other people from around the world has been memorable.

Is Start-Up Chile for you?

The Start-Up Chile program is an amazing opportunity for startups that want to expand to Latin America or for entrepreneurs who have a sense of adventure and who need time and seed capital to build their product. If your startup is a good fit I encourage you to apply. The next round of Start-Up Chile applications will open this summer. If you would like to learn more about the Start-Up Chile program, please feel free to contact me via Twitter @juneavila.

Saurabh Mukhi, the founder of fliiSolutions Inc., had a great career as a software engineer and, most recently, as a management consultant at a top global consulting firm. However, he left the corporate world out of a desire to simply do more.

“I love technology and I wanted to have an impact on people,” says Saurabh. “My family had recently been impacted by cancer, and I desperately saw the need for better patient support and communication. I wanted to build tools that support patient self-management. I believe that people want to do the right things for their health, but sometimes need a little assistance to get started and remain committed.”

His first product, fliiTherapy, is a remote patient management tool that helps develop and administer personalized care plans for patients. It creates a two-way link that allows care providers to view real-time reports, intervene when necessary and offer feedback and instructions to patients in the form of text or video messaging.

The need

Although there are many consumer-focused technologies that help patients organize rehabilitation exercise programs, provide proper exercise instructions and track patient outcomes, such as pain, the majority are targeted at consumers who know what they are doing. These existing programs do not help when a patient’s rehabilitation and recovery need to be carefully guided and supported by a healthcare professional. That’s where fliiTherapy comes in.

The solution

With fliiTherapy, care providers can administer care plans and track their patients’ compliance, including rehabilitation programs, medication schedules, vital signs and other relevant metrics, all while supervising their patients remotely. Care providers can also intervene to better support at-risk patients at their exact time of need rather than waiting for them to return to the clinic.

The Hacking Health connection

Saurabh began tinkering with a remote patient management idea in 2012. He built a very basic preliminary beta version of the product and tested its functionality with a small group of personal trainers and physiotherapists. With the support and encouragement of his brother and girlfriend, Saurabh attended Hacking Health @ MaRS, a weekend-long event designed to transform healthcare at the grassroots level by connecting healthcare practitioners with technical expertise to develop solutions to real healthcare challenges. The event was made possible by a community of dedicated supporters and partners, including Nightingale, the Business Development Bank of Canada and The Health Technology Exchange (HTX).

Saurabh pitched his idea at Hacking Health and worked tirelessly over the weekend to fine-tune his prototype, culminating in a demo at the end of the weekend.

What happened next…

It’s what happened next that is most exciting: At the event, Saurabh connected with Ben Matthews, the business development manager at HTX. The two established a relationship and Ben worked one on one with Saurabh, going above and beyond to ensure the success of his concept. Ben was instrumental in connecting Saurabh to a customer (a physiotherapy clinic) and, eventually, a future acquirer.

Exposure from the Hacking Health event also introduced Saurabh to larger potential customers, such as insurance agencies who were interested in leveraging the platform to better connect their network of rehab providers and clients.

Getting the most out of MaRS’ services

Saurabh also leveraged resources at MaRS, including the MaRS Market Intelligence program and Advisory Services, working with senior advisor Veronika Litinski. Saurabh continued to build his platform, with direct feedback from initial customers, taking into account their need to redefine personalized rehab programs and patient empowerment, and the company continued to grow organically.

The acquisition

Saurabh’s innovative tool ultimately attracted the attention of PatientOrderSets.com, which announced the acquisition of fliiSolutions earlier this week. The acquisition will enable Saurabh to reach and help many more people, as the company’s solutions can be found in over 260 hospitals and healthcare organizations. Saurabh will be joining the PatientOrderSets.com team as vice-president of business development, emerging technologies, and will continue pursuing his vision to support and empower patients anytime, anywhere.

Entrepreneurship is hard work, but “it is an amazingly fun and challenging journey,” says Saurabh. “You need to remain focused, but flexible. Knowing you are solving a real problem and helping people makes it a lot easier.”

Having helped entrepreneurs for the past few years at MaRS, I truly believe that successful ventures all start with a drive to make an impact and change the world—and with people like Saurabh. If you have that drive—coupled with an amazing ecosystem of support (such as Hacking Health, HTX, MaRS and many others)—there is no excuse to not do what you really love and potentially go from inception to acquisition in less than a year!