Toluu

Mark Evans

Insight and Analysis from North of the Border

The New Akoha is UnveiledYesterday

One of the major challenges facing many start-ups is what to do when their initial idea doesn’t work as well as expected. It’s difficult to recalibrate strategically once you have headed far down a particular path. Many startups simply can’t recover after investing so much time and effort.

For Akoha (a client), this was a reality it had to tackle. Launched at TechCrunch50 in late-2008, Akoha was a social game that used “mission cards” to do good things for other people and your community. Akoha users completed thousands of missions in more than 65 countries but the company realized that to really execute on the opportunity, it needed a new strategic direction.

After months of development, the Montreal-based company is relaunching today with a refreshed Web site, an iPhone app and, as important, a brand new approach that makes the service more fun and interesting. The cards have disappeared so the missions are easier to play individually or with other people. For every mission completed, players get awards – much like they do with servic

Foursquare + Google Maps = FourWhereYesterday

I’m not a Foursquare user (at least for now) but I do find the popular location-based service intriguing as it continues to evolve beyond simply being a tool to broadcast your location. In particular, Foursquare strikes me as becoming a lot more interesting as its users begin to add more comments and tips, while Foursquare partners with companies such as Zagat to offer value-added content.

One of the challenges facing Foursquare is making this information easily accessible to its users AND people who don’t use Foursquare. Stepping into the breach is a new service called FourWhere, which mashes together locations and content from Foursquare with the Google Maps API to create a user-friendly tool to help bring Foursquare’s content front and centre.

Created by Sysomos (a client), FourWhere is easy to use. You start by providing your location (city or address) and then right-click on the map to see the places where Foursquare users have b

Is This Foursquare’s Coming Out Party?March 7

In 2008, SXSW conference in August marked the coming out party for Twitter. It was then and there that the digital elite embraced Twitter and cool concept of micro-blogging with so much enthusiasm that it started to spill out into the mainstream.

With SXSW kicking off on Friday, the question is whether the major theme this year that location-based services capture the spotlight. Will SXSW be the moment in time that Foursquare goes from the digital elite’s newest shiny toy into a service that starts to resonate with a much larger audience?

At this point, I’m not convinced Foursquare has enough appeal to more than a niche player. For now, Foursquare is a fun novelty that lets you broadcast your location by checking in. Hey, I’m at Tim Horton’s! Hey’s I’m at Starbucks? Hey, I’m the mayor of the Sunset Grill.

The reality is the novelty starts to wear off because there’s not much value in telling the world where you’re located or whether you’re such a creature of habit that you get become the “mayor”.

While I’m sure the SXSW crowd will find ways to use Foursquare because, after all, it’s new bauble. But it’s going to take more than just the gang in Austin to make Foursquare become significantly more than what it is now.

For Foursquare to jump to the next level, it has to offer more value for users and non-users. The value of Foursquare isn’t

The Recession: A Victory for Canadian StartupsMarch 5

While the economic recession has been tough on many people, it has arguably been a good thing for Canadian start-ups.

What? Yup, bad times = good times for Canadian start-ups.

Here’s why: One of the realities of the recession has been that many companies have slashed their workforces to control costs. Many of these employees are smart, productive and talented but were turfed because corporate survival became paramount. These people are developers, programmers, designers, business analysts, communicators, marketers, salespeople and accountants.

With dim job prospects, many of these people started to take on project, contract and freelance work. The rates they have been charging are relatively modest given it’s been more important to get work than squeeze out every last penny from clients. In the process, these people have discovered they like being their own boss rather than working for someone else. The lifestyle freedom, flexibility and, as important, new professional challenges have proved to a good thing.

At the same time, customers are happy because they’re getting work from skilled and enthusiastic suppliers at lower costs than hiring a full-time employee or hiring a full-service age

Canadian Seed Capital Sprouting UpMarch 3

Since I started covering Canada’s technology sector, a common theme has been the lack of start-up capital – something that has continued to be a source of frustration for many people despite all the attention it has attracted.

For all the talk about the New Economy, it has been a major disappointment to see smart entrepreneurs with good ideas not able to even get modest amounts of capital to develop them into products. Meanwhile, we look to the U.S. where YCombinator and TechStars are providing seed capital to a variety of cool start-ups.

There are, however, signs the Canadian start-up financing market could be emerging with the launch of Mantella Ventures, a $20 million investment fund that will support early stage technology ventures.

Mantella joins two other high-profile start-up investors, Rogers Ventures and Extreme Venture Partners, in what it is hopefully the start of more news for the start-up landscape, which is oozing in enthusiasm but lacking in dough, ray, m