Group tackles entrepreneurship at grassroots
Venture Creations educates new entrepreneurs
By Brian Salisbury
Ottawa Business Journal
June 17, 2002
A grassroots initiative aimed at bridging the gap between ideas and businesses is gaining momentum within the walls of St. Anthony's Soccer Club.
The Venture Creations Group (VCG) was founded in October 2001 by former Nortel Networks and Accelight Networks project manager Rick Cuthill. Its objective is to help local entrepreneurs launch new startup ventures.
The group meets every Tuesday night at St. Anthony's Soccer Club for an evening of networking, speaker presentations and, occasionally, to receive investor feedback about startup ideas. On average, VCG gets about 60 people out per meeting.
It's different from other venture-catalyst type outfits in that there are no membership fees, the organizers are all volunteers and they rely solely on word-of-mouth advertising. The meeting space is donated by St. Anthony's as well.
Cuthill got the idea while helping VenGrowtb Capital Partners' Pat Dipietro organize another weekly networking group called The Ottawa Network.
"I thought, 'It’s great to get together once a week and drink beer (at The Ottawa Network gathering), but we should try and get these guys going on something,'" he recalls.
With that in mind, Cuthill organized an offshoot of The Ottawa Network called the "ideas group." Originally, the plan was to start a single company, he says. To that end, he assembled a group of 25 ex-Nortel workers for the first meeting.
"Initially, I was looking for opportunities myself. It wasn't completely selfless," admits Cuthill. After a few fruitless meetings, however, he decided the group would instead be used as a forum to educate potential entrepreneurs. The "ideas group" then distanced itself from The Ottawa Network by branding itself as the VCG in December.
Today the VCG leadership team members are Michael Borza, Alan Bryenton, Anita Caputo, John Rombough and John Shannon. Cuthill has since pulled back, having joined a startup himself.
Weekly seminars generally follow a consistent agenda: networking followed by a guest speaker and then an active workshop session. Recent speakers include former Celtic House VC Debi Rosati, Ogilvy Renault lawyer Andrew Foti, Fraser Milner Casgrain lawyer Eric Smith and Entrepreneurship Centre director Stephen Daze. Upcoming speakers include Inno-Centre's Hugh Dysart (June 25).
Workshops are devoted to brainstorming business ideas, practical application of skills or other activities.
As new enterprises emerge, VCG convenes experts from the community to form a community review panel, which provides feedback. In the past, experienced executives, such as former Bell- Northern Research director Tony Bailetti, have sat on the community review panel.
As these ventures mature, they are sponsored into a more formal industry review panel, which includes members of the early stage investment community. In the past, investors such as VenGrowth Capital Partners Pat Dipietro and Katsura Investments' Coralie Lalonde have sat on the panel.
From there, business teams can flow into existing collector programs, such as OCRI's IdeaFlow initiative or directly into Ottawa's venture capital and business development community. The VCG had three teams participate in the most recent IdeaFlow: ImGenie, BiDamic Broadband and Phenomena Technologies.
Like many VCG members, Pat McCabe heard about the VCG while attending one of The Ottawa Networks' weekly gatherings. The former Nortel project manager was downsized after 20 years of service last summer, and now he's looking for a start-up to apply his skills at.
"I really haven't found that thing to get passionate about yet," admits McCabe. "But if I want to start a business, now I know more about the startup process."
Going forward, the VCG is looking to beef up its volunteer list. Organizer Anita Caputo says the group needs more volunteers to remain sustainable.
And while she doesn't think the VCG will ever transition into a for-profit initiative, there is a possibility some of its leaders may go full-time down the road.
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