Here’s Mike:
Michael Volker is an Entrepreneur active in the development of new high technology ventures. A University of Waterloo Engineering grad, Mike started his own company (Volker-Craig Ltd) in 1973. He sold this company in 1981 and then decided to work with entrepreneurs in building new companies. He is presently the director of Simon Fraser University's Innovation Office. Check out his latest two projects: Greenangel Energy Corp, [GAE.V] a public company that invests in green technologies and WUTIF - the Western Universities Technology Innovation Fund - an "angel" fund for start-ups. To further encourage tech entrepreneurship, Mike runs the Vancouver Angel Network, VANTEC and he's also quite active with New Ventures BC - an annual business competition. Mike was also chairman of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum for several years.
Business Basics for Engineers is a series of notes prepared by Mike on business matters relating to technology companies. A guide for writing a Business Plan is featured. This includes reprints of various articles and columns. Mike teaches a basic business course (ENSC201) and an Intellectual Property Management course (MBA-MOT) at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. He is also Entrepreneur in Residence at CERT in Abu Dhabi, the commercialization arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates.
Mike's Columns on high tech and high tech stocks:
T-Net: www.bctechnology.com (go to bottom of home page)
Technology Futures: On-Line Columns HiTech BC list: www.hitechbc.com
January 10th, 2012
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This week, I made my annual pilgrimage to the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show & Conference in Las Vegas (CES) – an annual event that I’ve been coming to for many years (actually, I came to the first COMDEX in 1979 as an exhibitor and when it disappeared in 2003, I started attended the CES which filled some of the void.) Today, there are more exhibitors in attendance than there were attendees back then.
September 7th, 2011
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A “Term Sheet” is a document that summarizes the terms of an investment. It’s usually proposed by the investor(s) and spells out what they want in order to proceed with an investment. I’m not sure why it’s not called a “Terms Sheet” since there are many terms in it. Perhaps that came about because the terms offered by an investor were good for a specified term (time period).
May 30th, 2011
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This article discusses the pros and cons of stock options vs shares for employees of Canadian – private and public – companies. The taxation issues are poorly understood and can be very confusing. Current tax regulations can make it difficult for companies to bring new employees and partners in as shareholders.
March 17th, 2011
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Over the years, I’ve written a number of articles to assist entrepreneurs, especially tech entrepreneurs, with an understanding of business matters. On the Simon Fraser University Website, much of this can be found at www.sfu.ca/~mvolker/biz. These articles are in the process of being updated, with new ones added, and will gradually start showing up on this website.
January 30th, 2011
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Innovation is a popular subject these days. It was raised by Obama in his State of the Union address as a major challenge for Americans. Here, in Canada, many think tanks, committees, interest groups, etc are rallying to the call for more Innovation.
October 30th, 2010
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At the October 28, 2010 Vancouver Greentech Exchange, Mike talked about investment options for investors, challenges for entrepreneurs, incentives and impediments to innovation and finally explained a new investment vehicle – GreenAngel Energy Corp – could benefit both investors and entrepreneurs. Here is a summary of Mike’s talk:
October 13th, 2010
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The Globe and Mail reported today (Oct 13, 2010) that a blue-chip panel of experts (including me, so maybe it’s not entirely blue-chip) has come up with recommendations to turn Canada into a “nation of innovators”. (see story). The complete report is available on this website by clicking here.
October 3rd, 2010
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Recently (Sep 28,2010) I went to a presentation in Bellingham by Rob Wiltbank of Willamette University in Oregon. Wiltbank does research on angel investing and the returns enjoyed by angels. He looked at 1000 “exits” in North America – i.e. companies that gave a payback to their investors (however large or small, including zero return for failed deals).
September 18th, 2010
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BC’ers voted against the HST last week (Aug 26, 2011) in favor of re-instating a double tax system. According to many press articles, it appears that those who voted to keep the HST were better educated, more prosperous, and self employed business people. Did the others not get the big picture? Or did they vote against the HST because a haircut or MacDonald’s tab went up a little?
September 10th, 2010
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There’s a lot of talk and discussion about what we can do in Canada to stimulate more innovation and commercialization of research.
