Starting a small business these days requires the cunning of a fox, not to mention patience, determination and – if you have one – a crystal ball to spot trends and act accordingly.
Some entrepreneurs, like Ottawa's Willie Bloom, hope to find government funding to carry the ship through rough, early waters. When that funding vapourizes, many like him turn their sights south of the border.
"All the federal government avenues have been explored, but other than (IRAP and Revenue Canada SR&ED) funding, there's been no help from the city or the country. All the work I've done has been possible because of United States interests."
His company, VLN Advanced Technologies Inc., uses sonically-forced pulse water jets to remove coatings like paint on bridges and concrete. It's a spin-off of the National Research Council, and while Mr. Bloom doesn't want to point fingers, he says a lot more could have been done to give his company a leg up.
"We're slipping through the cracks. There's no specific funding for what we do."
He added that help is available in the form of travel junkets and professional lobbyists, but both are too expensive for a small business.
"You know, they say to come on the junkets the government does to Japan and places like that, but that costs anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000. Startups don't have that kind of money. Where does anyone get that money?
"As far as dealing with the government, if you don't have a lobbyist working for you, you don't get the recognition you need to get ahead. The problem is I can't spare $50,000 a year to pay for one."
It's not sour grapes, he pledged, but simple mathematics. It seems the old saying about it taking money to make money holds true.
"How many aerospace companies get handouts? That money could go to smaller companies to help make them successful and into bigger companies."
Mr. Bloom argued that if the business is in the community and the employees live in and around the community, something should be done to help them rather than a faceless monolith like Bombardier, for example.
"We assemble here, we've been in the community for seven years, we own homes in the area, yet we're being forced to do business in another country. I'll tell you what's going to happen if we're not careful. A U.S. company is going to buy us and that'll be that.
"My job is to create opportunities for this company. I work the phones all day long and 95 per cent of my phone bill is to the United States. That in itself says something."
For Mr. Bloom and any other entrepreneur frustrated by the challenges of building some market presence there's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat and get the message out.
Someone with advice to offer is San Franciscan Shelly Harrison. She will be in town Thursday at OCRI's monthly Zone5ive luncheon meeting at Ben Franklin Place. As CEO and founder of Launch Pad, a firm that specializes in helping startups become successful through marketing, Ms. Harrison has advised many top high-tech firms, including Vermeer, Verity, Quack.com, Amplitude Software, TriVida, and Signio.
In addition to her success as a marketing consultant, she served as senior vice-president of sales, marketing and operations at Compressent Inc., a software company that went public in 1996.
Ms. Harrison says it doesn't take a lot of money to make money, but it helps. But if the CEO of a young company has a quick mind and a good plan, the sky is the limit.
"We've launched 150 startup companies, it's our bread and butter," she said. "We give actual case studies. For example, we say that colour is free, so think about it. What company is brown? UPS is brown. Did that cost them money to be brown? Aside from that, corporate brands are not being created by marketing companies, but by your customer service people, techs and receptionists. If you haven't trained them properly you have failed and your company will look the worse for it."
She said it's tough doing business these days from a startup point of view. Investors are more cautious, even skeptical, and those with little actual marketing experience behind them are often doing the marketing. That's why she gives about 10 speeches a year, so a little of her knowledge will wear off on her audiences.
"When I give a talk, I try to give them 20 things that apply to them and hope they take two or three things back home with them."
In reality, though, sometimes it's best to hire the source itself.
"In many cases, we become the marketing department for startups. We enjoy helping companies get off the ground, and it doesn't really matter what their budget is. Of course, if we had to choose between two companies, we would take the one that is financed the best, but we also are happy to be paid partially in equity. In fact, if you have too much money – and you can have too much money – you can become fat and lazy."
For Willie Bloom, though, that would be a nice problem to have.
