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. After selling his company in 1981 he decided to work with entrepreneurs in building new companies. In B.C. he spent a number of years as Executive Director of the BC Advanced Systems Institute, and then as Director of Simon Fraser University's Innovation Office. He founded TIMIA Capital as a public company that invests in young growth companies. Today he is CEO of WUTIF - the Western Universities Technology Innovation Fund - an "angel" fund for start-ups. Mike is President of the Vancouver Angel Network, VANTEC, and the Vancouver chapter of Keiretsu Forum. He's a director and past-chairman of 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.
Two other websites that Mike created are: www.hitechbc.com and www.moneylinks.ca.
October 3rd, 2010
Mike
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
Mike
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 11th, 2010
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. Most recently, he was the director of Simon Fraser University’s Innovation Office. Now he is CEO of SF Univentures Corp. 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 is a series of notes prepared by Mike on business matters relating to technology companies. A guide for writing a Business Plan is featured. Mike has taught courses on entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto. Recently, he was the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CERT in Abu Dhabi, the commercialization arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates.
In 2009, the National Angel Organization named Mike, the “Canadian Angel Investor of the Year”. In the same year, the B.C. Angel Forum voted him, the “B.C. Angel of the Year”.
September 10th, 2010
Mike
There’s a lot of talk and discussion about what we can do in Canada to stimulate more innovation and commercialization of research.
September 9th, 2010
Mike
We’ve got some great news on our latest project – GreenAngel Energy Corp – a corporate “angel” that is working with entrepreneurs to commercialize green energy technologies. ANYONE can invest in GreenAngel and participate in the green future because GreenAngel trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol, “GAE”.
September 9th, 2010
Mike
This is an overview of the very popular and successful British Columbia Investment Tax Credit program that gives investor a refundable tax credit of 30%. Why not make it a national program?
September 9th, 2010
Mike
In the U.S., government encourages innovation using the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). In Canada, we used to have something similar – the Unsolicited Proposal Program – but now the popular SRED tax credit has supplanted it.
Mike
Good corporate governance – having an active board of directors – is essential in building a good company. Assembling a capable board should be done sooner than later. Why?
