Last night I walked the few blocks to the new home of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum at the Vancity Theatre. Previous events have almost always been over at Science World, so I was curious to see how the new venue worked out. Officially there are four reasons why they have moved to the new venue, two of which I could see straight away: it's downtown and probably cheaper. Of the other two, one was it is meant to better for networking (jury still out) and the other one I forget!

The focus this season is on Financing, from early stage to exit. Starting at the beginning with this event there were three preliminary pitches before the main event.

Turnout was good and by the time Bob Chaworth-Musters stood up there was standing room only up in the modest gallery I found myself sitting. Bob talked about the Angel Forum and his upcoming seminars, the next one I will sadly miss. I recommend attending Bob's seminars, they are a wealth of information and a good insight into the local market.

Next up was an out and out sales pitch for Acetech and their CEO programme. At five grand, it's no small investment for about 12 days, but like the Angel Forum a good opportunity. I could have done without what was a poor presentation though, I might have expected it to have been a higher standard.

The third preliminary presentation was in the style of the normal 5 minute pitch from a new company. This one was interesting as it was from the Sustainability Prize winners from the Telus New Ventures BC competition last year. Janice Cheam of Energy Aware Technology Inc provide a easy to use device that tells you how much energy your house is using at anytime. The device is really neat and I'm surprised these guys are still looking around for funding. I also missed the big traffic light they used to have at Science World - it reminded me on an animated countdown I once saw at a pitch competition way back in the dot.com era.

The 'Main Event' was hosted by David McIntyre of Ventures West. I've seen David present a couple of times and he chaired well. First up was an ex-brit: Tanner Philp, Finance guy, who incidentally, also does stuff for the New Ventures Competition. A very polished speaker, done his Toastmasters I suspect and he rattled through a bunch of good stuff. I must ask him for a copy of his slide deck. Impressed. Tanner works for Lions Capital, know to many as the BC Advantage Fund (VCC) Ltd. I didn't write down a quote as such, but I do remember Tanner urging you not to shotgun the VCs - apparently it just irritates them having the plough through the business plans they have zero interest in.

Next came Rizwan Sheraj who did a competent job of talking about IRAP. One little stat has stayed with me. There are around 1 million SME businesses in Canada. According Rizwan there is an amazing $26 Billion of grants, contributions, tax reliefs and assorted support. It really is good use of your time to look more into this as early as you can in your business.

Finally, Andy Wright, who amongst other things is CTO at Aegis Mobility. A much more personal story this one, but fairly engaging. Andy gave a great example of how the Pizza shop down the road is a Good Business, but not a particularly Good Investment - at least from an Angels' point of view. He also strongly recommended the book "Winning Angels" by David Amis & Howard Stevenson. I might take a look at that one. I love the idea of Aegis, it would address one of my pet hates - people who talk on their cellphone when driving.

That wrapped up the formal part of the evening and I have to say it was worth the entry fee. There are not too many networking opportunities of this size/type in the city. I suspect I will continue attending every so often, much as I have done over the last couple of years. Check out the VEF website for more information.

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