We shot a video the other day in Whistler, Canada with some of the C100 crew that was in town after the Grow Conference in Vancouver. We wanted to get their thoughts on the benefits of building a startup in Canada.
PayrollHero has a foot in Canada and a foot in the Philippines. We shot a video about the Philippines just the other day as well.
PayrollHero was one of 23 companies invited to take part in the C100’s annual 48Hrs In The Valley conference. It was 2 days and it was jam packed.
On the opening night, the team at Mozilla hosted us at their offices for a cocktail party and networking session so that the companies, sponsors, mentors and C100 Charter members could meet each other informally as a warm up to the next 48 hours. Gary Kovacs, CEO of Mozilla and a fellow Canadian spoke to the group about thinking big and how as Canadian’s we have a different outlook on the world than our American counter parts.
Nearing the end of the night, the C100 made the sponsors do a “reverse pitch” where they get up in front of the companies and pitch their company. Some of the sponsors take it quite seriously including Brock Smith of Clark Wilson, who is the returning champ, I know this cause he mentioned it quite a few times. 🙂 Brock was up last and did a startup version of “The Hockey Song” and got the whole crowd involved. He did a fantastic job and was awarded first place, again.
The next day started at Rocket Space where we had a few panels and talks in the morning, followed by mentor sessions where each company was partnered up with 2 Candians in the valley to have one on one sessions to talk about the companies, their direction, problems, challenges and goals. It was a great way to get more outside feedback from people with huge experience in the tech industry.
Later in the afternoon of the first day, we moved over to Zendesk’s new office for a cocktail party, more networking and a talk from Zendesk COO Zack Urlocker who is also Canadian. This was a much larger party than the first night as the C100 crew invited quite a few more Canadians. There were Canadians from all of the major tech firms in San Francisco including Twitter and Facebook.
The next day we were off early in the morning on a bus to Silicon Valley for a few speakers at Nest GSV followed by lunch and then pitches at 8 different VC firms on Sand Hill Road. Each company was given 2 VC firms to pitch and get feedback from.
The afternoon ended at Rudy’s Patio in Silicon Valley where C100 co-founder Lars Leckie spoke while we had drinks and appetizers to close out the event.
All in all it was a fantastic event and worth it for all Canadian founders to apply. It was well run, fantastic speakers and mentors and an overall awesome time. Here are some pictures from the event thanks to Kris Krug, and you can see the rest here.
Twice a year the C100 invite “20 of Canada’s most promising startups to the Silicon Valley for two days of mentorship, workshops, investor meetings, strategic partner visits and networking.” This premier event is called “48 Hrs in the Valley”
