PayrollHero Angel Investor And Venture Capitalist Comes To Whistler

It’s May, it’s 27°C outside and there’s wall-to-wall sunshine – we couldn’t have asked for a better week to welcome our good friend and angel investor, Nic Lim, to Whistler.

Weather in Whistler

To give you a little introduction, Nic is a venture capital investor from Malaysia, who was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur. In 1999, Nic and his partners started their first dot com international investment company, Catcha, whose long line of success is down to their simple and effective strategy “take proven new media ideas from Western markets and execute them in Asia”. Now, as a shareholder of Catcha, Nic and his business partner Brian Wee built a new venture capital investing company, 8Capita whose portfolio includes mobile customer loyalty app, Perx; mobile game studio, Frenzoo; and e27, a media company focused on growing Asia’s tech startup ecosystem.

Whistler Crash Course: Poutine, Ziptrek and Mountain Biking

“I’m in Whistler for work…but when you’re in somewhere so beautiful it’s not so hard to squeeze some fun in every now-and-then”. – Nic, Partner at 8Capita

This was Nic’s first time to Canada and he admits to being taken in by the spectacular beauty of Vancouver.  However, when asked what he thought of Whistler, before commenting on Whistler’s breathtaking mountain-scapes, the Sea-To-Sky Highway or even the wildlife, Nic said:

“I really like the food here in Canada!” and proudly followed up with “and I’ve even had poutine…but I had to get a doggy bag. I don’t understand how you eat all of it.” –  Nic

We agree that the food in Whistler is great, but felt we needed to show him more of the outdoor lifestyle and what better way than biking to the office through the rainforest. The next morning Nic joined Mike (PayrollHero CEO and President) and Adam (Product Development & Co-Founder) for the 9.9km cycle from Nesters to the Payroll Hero office in Function Junction. “Not only did I ride 10km to work this morning, I also had to walk the 2km to Mike’s house before we set off” said Nic.  But even after admitting that it had been over ten years since he had last pedalled a bicycle, Nic said:

“This is such beautiful place, why would anyone drive!”. – Nic

Like the rest of us here in Whistler, Nic is not stranger to adventure and loves nothing more than a burst of adrenaline in his veins. Nic is a seasoned bungee jumper and seeking a similar thrill he sought out the high speed, high-wire fun of ZipTrek. We offered the possibility of a company bungee jump, but in his words, “at 38 I need to slow down, I’ve had enough of vertical free-fall for now”. We didn’t mention that at in Whistler we regularly see downhill mountain bikers in their late 50’s.

Nic Lim Ziptrek

How did PayrollHero Meet Someone Like Nic?

Nic says his path first crossed with PayrollHero when he and Mike were sat next to each other at the Echelon awards in June 2012. “We got chatting and it turned out we had mutual friends” said Nic, “then I saw their their pitch, and it was their intensity and preparedness that really attracted me to Steve, Mike and PayrollHero”.

Now as angel investor in PayrollHero, Nic is an integral part of helping us achieve our goal of ‘Optimizing Work Productivity with Happiness’. After nine months with PayrollHero, Nic now calls himself the ‘Payroll Hero Cheerleader’ – interesting for a guy who thinks he’s now too old to bungee jump.

It has been exciting having Nic here in Whistler with us, he really is a good guy, a good laugh, a good friend and an excellent business man!

Get Clarity – Get Advice From Entrepreneurs, Support Charities

I have had the opportunity to meet up with fellow Canadian Dan Martell a few times while in San Francisco and at one point, Dan showed me his new venture – Clarity.fm.  The idea is simple – bring together people willing to give advice, with people looking for advise, and charge a fee that goes to charity. “Clarity makes it easy to connect with others looking for advice over the phone. The service is all mobile, is private and secure, has some amazing features that make it fast and delightful.”

Want check it out?  You can see my Clarity profile here.  Interested in speaking with Dan Martell, you can reach him here.  How about Jason Billingsley, Saul Colt or Hiten Shah you can reach them all here.  There are tons of entrepeneurs involved and the system works really well.  It is a simple way to quickly engage with someone in your field or in the area of expertise that you are looking for.  Check it out and sign up here – http://clarity.fm

Reading List: Venture Deals

I’m currently reading “Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist” by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson including a foreword by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

It is a solid read (thus far) and provides some great insights into the world of venture capital.  I’m just about a third of the way through and am enjoying to easy reading style of the book.  If you are thinking of raising money or are curious as to how the process works, check out Venture Deals, its a great place to start.

Side Note: Brad Feld is working on another book, this one is all about startup communities and how to create a great one in your city.  You can see more details of the book here as well as submit your thoughts to potentially be included in the book.

50 Coffees: Dan Martell and Christopher Golda

Today Mike Stephenson and I met up with fellow Canadians Dan Martell and Christopher Golda at the Samovar Tea Lounge in downtown San Francisco.  Dan is a proud Canadian entrepreneur who has been living in Silicon Valley for quite a few years.  I emailed Dan to see if he had some time to meet up and he agreed as well as brought along fellow Canadian Chris Golda.

Dan recently sold his company Flowtown to Dreamforce and Chris was the founder of BackType which Twitter bought earlier this year.  It was great to meet up with them as they both had unique views on Canadians living in the US and how the VC world perceives tech startups from Canada or with teams straddling the boarder.

(L – R) Stephen Jagger, Michael Stephenson, Christopher Golda and Dan Martell

(50 Coffees)

50 Coffees: Loic Le Meur of Seesmic

I emailed Loic Le Meur, the founder of Seesmic, co-founder of LeWeb (the largest tech conference in the world) and OTD client to see if he had some time to meet up for a coffee.  Loic responded quickly and suggested that Mike and I pop by the Seesmic offices and then grab some lunch down the street.

When we arrived at Seesmic, Loic introduced us to his team and show us around their San Francisco headquarters.  They have a fantastic space and just steps from many of the Silicon Valley powerhouses (Zynga is a couple blocks away).  We walked from the Seesmic offices to a cool little restaurant behind one of the many warehouse type buildings in the area.  It was great to chat with Loic, learn what Seesmic was up to as well as hear the fantastic developments going on at LeWeb and what attendees can expect from this years conference.  Over 4000 attendees have registered for LeWeb thus far!

(L – R) Michael Stephenson, Loic Le Meur, Stephen Jagger

(50 Coffees)