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MaRS District Collaboration Centre in Toronto CIBC Presents Entrepreneurship 101. March 4th re-webcast of the session titled: How to Get Money From a VC Every entrepreneur wants to know the secrets for successfully pitching a VC or an angel. Join guest lecturer Peter Tolnai from Orchard Capital along with Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital and Michael Midmer of Rosetta Capital, all prominent VCs who tell you their secrets for making a successful pitch.  They also host a Q&A session in which the panel  answers your questions directly without saying, "Come back in a few months when you've made some more revenue traction!"   http://www.marsdd.com/Events/Event-Calendar/Ent101/2009/what-investors-look-for-03042009.html

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of participating in one of the MaRS District courses up in Toronto – CIBC Presents Entrepreneurship 101.

Charles Plant of MaRS Discovery District, the innovation hub in Toronto. Charles communicates a rather negative view of venture capital, but it has the merit of presenting some of the important things to consider before seeking VC money.

I especially like the call to focus on customers first. This is not always possible, but designing for a defined market certainly is, and anyone involved with tech commercialization will tell you it’s often the exception rather than the rule.

If you're a prospective mobile entrepreneur keen to take your idea or business to the next level, you just might get your chance at MaRS on Monday, March 2nd.

MobileMonday Toronto, the mobile industry-networking group, will open the floor for prospective mobile entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to some of Canada's leading VCs. The focus of this session will be raising capital for mobile ventures. It will include participation from Sean Wise of Wise Mentor Capital, Ted Anderson, Managing General Partner from Ventures West, Marc Faucher from JLA Ventures Fund and Matt Golden from RBC Venture Partners Fund.

Canada's economy is outperforming the rest of the developed world

willingness to embrace a strong role for public investment in innovation,

Another example of public, private and university collaboration is the MaRS discovery district, a nonprofit innovation center that brings together biotech researchers, VCs, and social entrepreneurs in the same part of downtown Toronto with several research hospitals. 

"The size of what Quebec did caught our attention," says CVCA president Gregory Smith from the association's tiny office in Toronto's MaRS Centre, a renovated 1913 hospital now a facility to house tech startups.