TeamCamp

It easy to compare yourself to your closest competitor and say “I can do it better” or “I can do it for less”. But what makes you think you can do it better or cheaper then the incumbent who’s been at this game far longer than you have? You better have some “secret sauce” at your disposal that your biggest competitor doesn’t have and can’t easily replicate.

Don’t settle for the same but cheaper or better. Instead, change the rules of the game. For example:

• If your competitors’ software is overkill and complex offer a simple “no frills” version, e.g. Basecamp vs. Microsoft Project
• If your competitors’ offer a usage-based service, offer a flat rate instead, e.g. old long distance plans vs. new long distance plans
• If your competitors’ offer a low entry fee and but then over-charge for add-ons, charge a higher base rate and then offer the add-ons for free, e.g. TELUS, Bell and Rogers vs. Globealive wireless
• If you competitor makes money from advertising, offer an ad-free service and charge for the service instead

Don’t simply settle for offering the same thing your competitor offers – change the rules of the game.

The first annual TeamCamp Christmas was a smashing success last night. We had a great discussion about what will be big in 2010. Here are our predictions:

Eric – Google Web Toolkit will take off making it easier to develop web apps.

Mike – 1. Oracle will have a challenging time trying absorb the Sun (and mysql) 2. Mashups.

Bryan – 1. HTML5 – Flash and Silverlight applications will start moving to HTML5. 2. ChromeOS

Fred – Real time video will start to appear on wireless devices. Other countries already have it, why not Canada?

Ian -1. The economy will “double dip”. 2. Twitter will figure out how to monetize its service – or suffer a steady decline in valuation.

Jean-Claude – Content on video sharing sites will get better because more users will have access to tools used by the professionals.

Cory – 1. There will be more angel and VC money and as a result more startups will stay in Ottawa rather then relocate to Silicon Valley. 2. The web will leverage people-power to to greatly improve recommendation engines. 3. Google’s biggest threat will be the US Justice Dept.

Len – Social networks will dramatically change the way people search for and find work.

Chris – Hyperlocal web ecosystems will take off.

Ok, now everyone is on record. Let’s check back to see who was right next Christmas!

- Chris

Bootstrapper or not, at some point in time you’re going to be interested in finding some external funding for your startup. There are a number of government programs that you can tap into and despite what you hear in the news there are angel investors willing to invest in your company if you’ve got what it takes. But learning the ins and outs of funding can be a bewildering process.

TeamCamp very pleased to have John Shannon (@me_now) as a speaker at our next meeting.  John is a well-known personality in the Ottawa startup community and will be sharing his insights into some of the “tricks and traps” of funding.

John Shannon is one of Ottawa’s quintessential entrepreneurs. Early in his career he worked in Canada and Europe developing low-level software, systems and mobile networks with Bell Northern Research and then Nortel. In 2000 he left Nortel to be CTO and co-founder of the company that became Bill Me Later, ultimately acquired by eBay in 2008. John has also been a co-founder and early contributor to at least half a dozen other Ottawa startups and one of Ottawa’s active Angel investors. Besides helping raise significant venture capital for several companies, he’s orchestrated millions of dollars of angel investment and government programs. In addition to his experience applying technology to business opportunities, John is an expert at early stage financing and business development (from http://www.theottawanetwork.com/).

We’ll be starting a little early for this meeting because John will be racing off to a Founders and Funders event immediately following his talk.

When: Thursday Dec 3rd 2009 at 5:30PM to 8:00PM
Where: The Code Factory, 246 Queen St. Ottawa (ring the buzzer to come up to the 2nd floor)

While it’s not necessary to register for the event, it would be great if you could let Twegather “bot” know that your coming:
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Hope to see you there!

- TeamCamper Chris

PS – don’t forget about the “cookie jar”