Introducing Version One’s new analyst: Angela Tran Kingyens
With approximately a dozen Seed and Series A investments, it has been a busy year since the initial launch of Version One Ventures. That means it’s time to get some help and I’m excited to announce the hiring of Version One’s first analyst, Angela Tran Kingyens. Angela will be joining the team as of September […]
Bicycles, gears, and the future of education
At the recent GROW Conference, I caught up Aidan Nulman of Fleetbit. We were talking about one of Version One’s portfolio companies…Talentbuddy. If you’re not familiar with Talentbuddy, it’s a platform where programmers can post and solve programming challenges, covering all different areas and difficulty levels. It’s exercise for a programmer’s brain. During our discussion, Aidan reminded […]
Something special is happening in the Toronto-Waterloo area
It has not been a great couple of weeks for the Toronto-Waterloo area as BlackBerry, the big anchor tech company of that region, is struggling with its turn-around and just put itself up for sale. But where a giant tech company struggles, one of the most exciting startup ecosystem in North-America has emerged over the […]
The engagement threshold: transforming one-time customers into repeat business
Are you focused on new sales or bringing in loyal, repeat customers? Whenever a business is completely dependent on new customers, it’s vulnerable. Not only are customer acquisition costs high, but new customers are just as likely to turn to any new competitor that enters the market. The better a company is at turning one-time […]
Four founders share what they’ve learned
People say that hindsight is 20/20. After working knee-deep in the trenches for a year or two, you gain a better appreciation of where to focus, what to let go, and how you can do things (or should have done things) better. There’s no shortage of advice out there for startup founders. But since entrepreneurs […]