IDEA Mississauga

Startup Bootcamp brought to you by IDEA Mississauga and Altitude Accelerator! We welcomed: Pallett Valo LLP, Bereskin & Parr LLP, and MNP today! 🔥   Session 1: Andreea Muth, Partner, Pallet Valo 🌟   Andrea Muth presented a session on addressing growth-stage issues and avoiding key legal mistakes.   Key insights: - Governance issue 1 : as companies grow, founders eventually relinquish some CONTROL of the business. How do you do this while effectively managing the day to day business.  - At the growth stage, control does not necessarily mean share ownership. Voting shareholders can elect BoD. Limited voting rights will not guarantee control of the business. - Governance issue 2 : ACCOUNTABILITY: as the business grows how do you delegate, identify roles and deliverables but still remain oversight over the business. - Issues of broken trust and communication issues arise because setting up informal/formal process and expectations from the start. - Governance issue 3 : EXIT PLANNING - Think about the end in mind. Potential misalignment on timing, price, etc because this is not considered early on. Consider areas like purchase sale structures, buy-outs in the planning. - All the above must be addressed in the Shareholders agreement   Shareholder agreements are private agreements and there are two types 1) Standalone - ESOP 2) Unanimous shareholders agreement across all voting or nonvoting shares   If there are two or more shareholders will require a unanimous shareholder agreement that consider the following 1) composition of the board 2) decisions requiring s/h approval 3) capital requirements 4) buy-sell rights 5) rights upon death/incapacity 6) rights upon third party offer   Employees - No written agreement is required for condition of employment but would be highly recommended - in Ontario, very difficult to fire employees for cause - In Ontario, statutory minimum severance required = 1 week for a year of service - Common law requirements can be up to 1 month for every year of service - Employment agreements must be given prior to start of employment and must agree to them to be binding #Startup #Governance #Legal #Shareholders

Startup Bootcamp brought to you by Altitude Accelerator and IDEA Mississauga 📣   Session 3: Tyril Froese, Partner at MNP MNP is the 5th largest accounting firm in Canada and focus on mid-market clients. Ty presented the importance of bookkeeping, how it works, and provided an overview of bookkeeping process, and financial statements.   Who are the constituents when it comes to bookkeeping? Internal - management, owners, accountants External - CRA, Bank, creditors/vendors   Proper bookkeeping will help companies avoid interest and penalties when and if they’re audited, and help secure necessary funding to effectively grow your business.   Bookkeeping is the data entry of the financial transactions vs Accounting which is the summarization of the financial transactions. Facts (bookkeeping) vs. Estimates (accounting).   Bookkeeping process: Data origination - from the bank statement, a purchase order or point of sale. Keep on top of your expenses. Classification - where is your transactions recorded? Balance sheet vs income statement and determine whether it is an income or expenses, asset vs. liability Recording - use a ledger, excel, quickbooks - organized in a structured matter Filing (records, pay stubs, receipts) - important to mitigate double payments, or confirm payments   Balance Sheets is a snapshot of assets, liabilities and equity at a certain point in time Current items are items that will be sold in a one year period Non current liabilities - mortgage, long term loan   Income Statement is a record of all transactions that have occurred throughout the year. Includes sales, costs of sales, operating expenses, tax and net income. Go through the exercise to operating expenses vs. those tied directly to the sales to help you Retained Earnings (RE) is an accumulation of the annual business transactions. RE also reports other transactions which are not income nor expenses .   Cash flow statements - remove the accrual items from other financial statements to report on a cash basis. Includes direct vs indirect items. Categories include operating, investing and financing activities.   Some Financial ratios: Liquidity ratios - of all assets do I have enough to pay off liabilities? Good: 1:1, the higher the better Asset Turnover - 1) Receivables turnover and 2) inventory turnover. How quickly are you turning over inventory vs revenue collection. e.g. 30 days? Financial leverage - debt ratio (based on debt: assets) and (debt: equity ratio) Profitability ratios - how much of every sale is going towards operating expenses ie return on assets; profit margin tells you how much your inventory you need to obtain a target profit #Startupbootcamp #Entrepreneurship #Finance

Startup Bootcamp brought to you by Altitude Accelerator and IDEA Mississauga! 🌟   Session 2: Joanna Ma, Partner, Bereskin & Parr LLP   Joanna Ma, Partner at Bereskin & Parr presented a session: How to get your Venture’s IP underway 🗒️   Forms of IP protection: 1) Trademarks to protect brands 2) Copyright to protect expressions eg. artistic, literary 3) Industrial design, trade secret patents to protect inventions - covers the functional code of a software but with trade secret, ensure that more security is required to protect the trade secrets; industrial design e.g. design patent   IP strategy is a plan to protect your business to reinforce your competitive advantage. It is a living document that should be reviewed from time to time.   Questions to consider: - What does your company do best? - What makes your company unique? - How does your business distinguish yourself from competitors?   IP Strategy Framework:   Offensive - block competitors Defensive - protect competitor IP Improve financial position using IP assets Licensing - Generate revenue Strategic - create and control market (e.g. standards) wrt to IP assets   Trademarks - Are exclusive right to use the mark in association with specific goods/services - ensure it’s as expansive as possible, and does not infringe on anyone else’s trademark - Common law right (TM) is restricted to the jurisdiction for which you’re developing that trademark and limited legal protection vs. Registered (R) - registered with the government stronger legal protection - E.g Crocs have a utility patent, 3d shape trademark, design patent — how it looks and feels is synonymous with their brand and were successful in obtaining 3D shape trademark = Trade Dress - What is a patent right? It prevent others making using or selling the patented invention. Term = 20 years, and publicly published   GoPro - Founded 2001 - and developed difficult products in 18 years, and included drone technology. In the first decade, GoPro dominated the market, and in 2017, introduced drone technology and initiated utility patents against unique visual, audio capture/processing. This IP strategy helped them develop next version of their cameras. #Startupbootcamp #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

Startup Bootcamp brought to you by Altitude Accelerator and IDEA Mississauga! ⚡️ Session 4: Will My Idea Make Money? with Kosta Panagoulias, Founder of Jobtable This fireside chat explored the insights and experiences of Kosta Panagoulias as he turned his ideas into a profitable venture.🔥 #Startupbootcamp #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

We at eL8 Consulting Ltd. are thrilled to extend our heartfelt appreciation to the Start-Up Bootcamp, an initiative powered by IDEA Mississauga and Altitude Accelerator. This program has been instrumental in providing us with profound insights that have significantly propelled the development of our innovative Coaching app. A special acknowledgment goes to our distinguished speakers, Andrea Muth, Joanna Ma Ma, and Tyril Froese. Your expertise and the wisdom you imparted have been invaluable. Your contributions were not merely informative but transformative. The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the privilege of engaging with Kosta Panagoulias, a venerated entrepreneur whose experiences and knowledge are a treasure trove for aspiring innovators like us. Kosta, your willingness to share your journey is deeply appreciated. Our gratitude extends to Donna Heslin Henslen, Rutuja Jori, Alieu Jallow, PMP®, CSBS.D , and Sneha Punwani, MBA for orchestrating such a stimulating and enlightening event. Your efforts in creating an environment conducive to learning and growth are commendable. We eagerly anticipate continued collaboration and support from this incredible team. Here’s to future endeavors and the mutual success that awaits us!

Thank you IDEA Mississauga and Altitude Accelerator for an awesome event this morning. Pavan Yecham and I met so many great founders and got the chance to listen to industry experts.

What an amazing day at the Startup Bootcamp! We're thrilled to have facilitated such a dynamic event in partnership with Altitude Accelerator. A heartfelt thank you to our esteemed speakers Andrea Muth, Joanna Ma, Tyril Froese, and Kosta Panagoulias for sharing their invaluable knowledge. Special thanks to all the participants for their active engagement and contribution to the success of the event. We look forward to continuing to support and empower the entrepreneurial community in Mississauga. Stay tuned for more exciting initiatives! #StartupBootcamp #IDEAMississauga #AltitudeAccelerator #Entrepreneurship #Innovation

LAST CALL Mississauga Entrepreneurs! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to accelerate your business growth. The Starter Company PLUS program provides valuable support and resources to help you take your business to the next level. With the opportunity to receive a $5,000 grant, this program is perfect for aspiring business owners. Register for our mandatory info session tomorrow: https://lnkd.in/g7XuqQcR

Are you an aspiring business founder or part of an impact start-up team looking to take your idea into reality? Are you ready to design the business model to support your venture, create prototypes and explore sustainable ways for your idea? ⁠ ⁠ Register for Ideation Lab, Fall 2024 edition by heading to https://lnkd.in/g2mFfxvF ⁠ Applications close on Sept 13th, 2024.

Last week, our Summer Company entrepreneurs wowed us at the IDEA Connect Summer Market. From confident client connections to successful sales, these young entrepreneurs truly impressed us. With over 10 Mississauga businesses showcased, the event was a fantastic mix of networking and inspiration. Let’s continue to support these rising stars and their bright futures! #IDEAConnect #SupportLocal #SummerCompany