www.bcbusinessmagazine.com/bcb/top-stories/2007/09/01/t -
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Last Visited: 9/27/2007
The vision for the Renaissance Fund, says B.C. Technology Industry Association president Rob Cruickshank, is that the VCs attracted by the ministry's $90 million will be able to bring in additional smart, savvy money from outside the province.The B.C. tech companies would not only get funding but be able to use the expertise of these sophisticated external investors to bring in more experienced management than is available in B.C.
As well, says Cruickshank, outside investors could start to see additional opportunities that would encourage them to dole out even more money to B.C. firms than they initially intended.
"The other thing it does is bring new expertise into the province and the relationships that these people have with venture-capital firms in the rest of the world," Cruickshank adds.
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"That's terrific because it says that people are saying, ‘Gee, good concept,'" says Cruickshank.
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"We've tended to be very good entrepreneurs and cowboys and inventors but not good at building larger, more sustainable firms that turn into what we call anchor companies - ones that spin off other companies out of them," says Cruickshank.
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Secondly, says Cruickshank, some Crystal people who left the company are now working on second-generation business-intelligence software.
As well, he says, when ALI was bought there were about 250 people there."If memory serves me correctly, they're employing over 800 people now at their location in Richmond."He adds that the BrightSide acquisition could, over time, turn out to be a plus."They're going to retain the centre of excellence here, so there's a recognition that the BrightSide guys have developed an interesting, unique technology," he says."Now they've got a larger company that's got better access to capital and better access to the kind of partners they're going to need."
And, Cruickshank admits, if someone comes along to make an offer for a company, there's nothing anyone can do to stop them selling it."But you have to step back from that and say, ‘Well, okay, what do we need to do to try to encourage people, to make it easier for them to see a path to growth in this province?' And, in our opinion, there are two things: one is access to capital and the second is access to talent."This, says Cruickshank, is what the Renaissance Fund will offer.
What the BCTIA would like to see as a result of more money from the likes of the Renaissance Fund - along with the chance to build a killer corporation like Google - is a change in the fact that 95 per cent of its tech companies have fewer than 50 employees."Maybe we could have 75 per cent of our companies with less than 50 employees and 25 per cent that are on the radar screen globally," says Cruickshank.
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