It was another successful “Basement to Boardroom” event by Digital Alberta in Calgary. This time it was Patrick Lor, co-founder of iStockPhoto and president of Fotolia.com.
The atmosphere of Seven Restolounge was awesome as always. Room was filled with over 50 people, mostly entrepreneurs. After a short intro by Rene and Larry, Patrick started with “a story of my life within 60 seconds”. These are the key points covered through the presentation:
- Whether you are in California or Alberta, pitching is difficult.
- Take all the opportunities you can to practice your pitch. The first time you need to pitch, you will need to be well rehearsed.
- Heart, brain, wallet; pitch by winning in this specific sequence. Most of the time people do the opposite: wallet, a bit of brain, rarely heart.
- Starting up a business is hard. Be prepared to limit your personal expenses within the first two years. Convince you spouse that your idea is worth limiting your personal expenses.
- While starting up, feel free to consult on the side. That’s what Patrick and many others did.
- Have mentors, they are important. Patrick’s mentor, Dr. Bob Schulz – Haskayne School of Business, was at the event. The importance of having a mentor was reinforced by Larry Jacques.
- Starting a business is like creating a religion and converting people around you.
- The first person you have to convert is your partner, co-founder. If you can convert him / her, there’s a better chance your idea takes off.
Last night’s event was definitely one of the most successful ones. Great keynote, great networking opportunity and stylish atmosphere of downtown’s Seven Restolounge.
It’s likely that I missed a few things about the event, so whoever attended, feel free to add in the comments to this post.
