Embrase

Embrase Launches the Second Edition of Startup Camp Montreal
Montreal, Canada, March 15th, 2008 –March 15th, 2008 - Following the success of the first Startup Camp Montreal, we are happy to announce the second edition of the event scheduled for May 15th, 2008.

The first edition was held this past January 23rd, with the intent of gathering 50 or so startups interested in the business side of starting a company. The event clearly struck a cord with the startup community, because 180 people showed up (140 entrepreneurs, 30 VCs and industry experts, 5 students and 5 organizers), representing some 15 cities in Quebec, Ontario and parts of the US.

At the end of the first event we sent out a survey and got lots of positive feedback and suggestions.  The second edition will be similar in format to the first with the following changes:

1) The top five startups selected to present at the event will have the opportunity to participate in a one-day pre-event workshop session.  The goal being to have “pitch” experts help the companies prepare ahead of the event. The workshop will be hosted by Austin Hill, John Stokes, Vincent Guyaux, and 2 other VC / marketing experts.
2) Presenting companies will have 8 minutes to present, with 10 minutes of follow-up questions from the event Gurus and the audience.
3) We will have ambassadors on hand prior to the event and during the event to help with match making and networking.

The complete details for the event are posted at www.startupcampmontreal.org, however the basics are:

Date: Thursday May 15th, 2008
Time: 6pm-10pm (or later)
Location: SAT (www.sat.qc.ca)

Registration is required, so please go to http://startupcampmontreal2.eventbrite.com to register:

Thank you to our sponsors BDO Dunwoody, BCF, EMBRASE, SAT, Globalex, Microsoft and JLA Ventures, all of whom are committed to supporting the startup community in Montreal.  Any other interested sponsors can send us an email at ptelio@startupcampmontreal.org.

Embrase President Invited to Speak at McGill Graduate Business Conference
Montreal, Canada, March 5th, 2008 – Philippe Telio, President of Embrase, presents “Branding a startup” at the 15th annual McGill Graduate Business Conference (MGBC). The presentation focuses on tactics startup technology companies use to effectively and inexpensively brand themselves. The presentation covers basics of high-tech marketing strategy and in particular the principles surrounding “Mystery Marketing”.

About MGBC
In 1993, a group of students gathered to create a major, community-inclusive event that is planned and hosted by McGill MBA students: the McGill Graduate Business Conference (MGBC). Topics in the past have included Leadership, Hypercompetition, Ethics, and Emerging Markets, just to name a few. The conference seeks to join students, academics, business leaders, and the wider community to network and discuss topics that are relative to doing business in the modern era. www.mgbc.mcgill.ca

Embrase Sponsors Blitzweekend
Montreal, Canada, February 11, 2008 – In keeping with the spirit of supporting the Montreal startup community, Embrase has signed on to be an official sponsor of Blitzweekend. Blitzweekend is an unique event-experience where designers, developers, and entrepreneurs are challenged to create a working product in 48 hours. The event will be held March 1st and 2nd, 2008 in Montreal, Canada. Blitzweekend was inspired by events and initiatives like StartupWeekend, Rails Rumble, Startup Schools, BarCamp and Metalab. If you are an entrepreneur, Blitzweekend provides a platform for launching a startup. Every team will be presenting their project at the end of the event, and will receive feedback from a panel made of serial entrepreneurs, marketing gurus, and investors, which will assess the viability of each team’s product. Embrase is co-sponsoring Blitzweekend with iNovia Capital, BDO Dunwoody, Globalex and Guru Energy Drink

Embrase Organizes and Sponsors the First Edition of Startup Camp Montreal
Montreal, Canada, January 6, 2008 – The first Startup Camp Montreal will take off on January 23rd at 6:00 PM at SAT, in downtown Montreal. This event is dedicated to everything Startup. It is a forum where early stage companies, investors and on-lookers alike can share information and validate pitches live. A “Camp” event is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, presentations, and interaction from participants. The “Camp” event concept is inspired from Bar camp and Foo camp events originally started in California, but now held worldwide.

Graham Hill, Founder of TreeHugger.com (acquired by Discovery Channel) and Vice President, Interactive Media, Planet Green, will be the keynote speaker. The initiators of this event are: Vincent Guyaux and Philippe Telio from Embrase, Jevon Mac Donald and Jonas Brandon from StartupNorth, Sylvain Carle from A Frog in the Valley, and Heri Rakotomalala from Montreal Tech Watch. The sponsors of the event are BCF, BDC Venture Capital, Embrase, Microsoft and SAT.

Embrase at StartupCamp Toronto
Toronto, Canada, December 6, 2007 – Vincent Guyaux, Embrase Chairman, was invited to join a panel of investors and gurus at StartupCamp Toronto. The format is relatively simple. There will be five pitches by existing or soon-to-be startups. Each pitch is limited to five minutes and it is expected to cover the extent of a company’s existing business plan. The five companies are: Defensio, CakeMail, Workspace, FreshBooks and Investmate. After their pitch, the companies will get advice from the gurus and investors of the panel. All the announcements about StartupCamp Toronto at http://www.startupnorth.ca/category/startupcamp/

Embrase New Office
Montreal, Canada, November 15, 2007 - Embrase officially opens today the doors to its new office, located at 1361-2 Greene Avenue in Westmount, Quebec, Canada.  At the location, an open central area can accommodate a group of 20 people around a table, making it a perfect location for seminars or business meetings. Also at Embrase, a “Greenhouse” room is shared by some of Embrase’s local and international clients.

Embrase Partner Invited Speaker at Réseau Capital Annual Meeting
Montreal, Canada, October 8th, 2007 – Adam Wasserman, Partner at Embrase, presents “Why business plans targeted to early adopters always fail” at the annual Réseau Capital meeting in Gatineau. The presentation describes the high-tech adoption cycle and the reasons why business plans that assume all buyers will behave as early adopters have limited chances of success.
 
The presentation covers basics of high-tech marketing strategy and in particular the principles surrounding the Chasm framework. Embrase has built positioning, marketing and sales methodologies and tools around many of the core Chasm principles, and is pleased to share its expertise with the members of Réseau Capital.
 
About Reseau Capital
Réseau Capital is Quebec Venture Capital Association. More information about Réseau Capital is available at www.reseaucapital.com

Embrase and Parela Merger
Montreal, Canada, August 1st, 2007 – Embrase and Parela announce the merger of their business activities. As a result, Vincent Guyaux takes the role of Chairman of the Board while Philippe Telio becomes President. Both are now Directors of Embrase Business Consulting. Parela was an independent consulting firm specialized in offering marketing and business development services to both technology and traditional industry companies.

“I am extremely excited to be joining the Embrase Partnership. The quality of the Partners, and the depth of expertise and methodologies available, assure a common goal of building long term growth for our clients.” says Philippe Telio.

Vincent Guyaux adds, “I have known Philippe for many years, first as a supplier of mine, then as a colleague and always as a friend.  Together we will continue to offer and improve the best practices in business consulting.”

Embrase Brings Chasm Institute Training to Montreal
Montreal, Canada, April 26, 2006 - Embrase will host a Chasm Institute two-day training course in Montreal on May 23rd - 24th, 2006. Quebec entrepreneurs, portfolio managers and investors have been invited to the formal training led by Chasm Institute's Founder and Managing Director, Mark Cavender and Michael Eckhardt, Senior Instructor. The course focuses on principles from world-renowned books written by Geoffrey Moore titled: Crossing the Chasm, Inside the Tornado, The Gorilla Game, as well as The Chasm Companion written by Paul Wiefels. Mark and Michael will share what they've learned based on hundreds of consulting engagements with high-tech companies, both large and small. www.chasminstitute.com

Embrase President Vincent Guyaux states, "The Embrase team took the Chasm training and is pleased to invite the Chasm Institute to Montreal. Embrase's use of Chasm principles since its inception brings value to customers to achieve market success through an understanding of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (TALC). This understanding facilitates the creation of a strong go-to-market positioning related to company and products that is then used to develop winning marketing and sales strategies to grow revenue."

Course attendees will receive:
"The Chasm Companion" book, full of great marketing tools and practical hints
Seminar workbook with newest slides and content
30-day access to the Chasm Institute "Foundations of High-Tech Marketing" on-line course
Insights and tools that will make your marketing job more successful, not more complex!
For registration: info@embrase.com

Embrase Team Completes Chasm Institute Training in Boston
Montreal, Canada, February 23, 2006 - The Embrase team attended the Chasm Institute's "Fundamentals of High-Tech Marketing" training in Boston to further support their practice of using the methodology with clients. The range of Geoffrey Moore books like "Crossing the Chasm," "Inside the Tornado," and "Living on the Fault Line," are especially well known in the high technology industry. The books outline Moore's visionary way of seeing how industries and products evolve over time. The Chasm Institute, led by Founder and Managing Director Mark Cavender and Senior Chasm Instructor Michael Eckhardt, was created to extend the principles of the books into ready-to-use tools and best practices that can be easily applied. Upon attending the training, Embrase President Vincent Guyaux said "Since inception, Embrase has used the Chasm methodology. The training reinforced and strengthened our understanding of how it is applied and we transfer that same knowledge to our customers when we work with them."

About the Chasm Institute
The goal at Chasm Institute is to be the best in teaching strategy to employees of high-tech companies. They do this by leveraging the proven models and techniques developed over ten years of consulting with hundreds of high-tech companies. www.chasminstitute.com

TI Contact 2005 Invites Embrase President as a Member of the Jury Evaluation Board
Montreal, Canada, March 30, 2005 - Embrase President, Vincent Guyaux, has been invited as a jury member to select the companies that will participate in the TI Contact 2005 event held in Quebec City from May 4-6, 2005 at the Quebec City Convention Centre. As an external, unbiased representative, Mr. Guyaux will evaluate the business plans of Quebec City technology companies looking for capital resources and partners to develop projects. TI Contact 2005 is a unique networking opportunity to match venture capital investment companies and IT related firms. Past events allowed more than ten emerging firms to obtain financing agreements despite the industry's economic conditions. Highlights include:

Over 300 guests and over 63 investment firms Business presentations by Quebec's best IT firms searching for financing. Discussion forums led by North America's most reputable lecturers and venture capital investors. Panel of experts on marketing and financing's best practices and up-to-date information technology trends. Development of partnerships of R&D and firms with foreign organizations and businesses. For further details, visit www.ticontact.com

Embrase President to Speak at AMEQ about Turning Product Ideas into Commercial Successes
Montreal, Canada, February 15, 2005 - Vincent Guyaux, President of Embrase, will speak at an AMEQ (Association Des Manufacturers En Electronique De Quebec) conference on the subject of how to take a technology-based product idea and turn it into a commercial success. Mr. Guyaux's presentation will focus on describing how product marketing is at the heart of an enterprise plan and that proper implementation of a good product marketing plan can lead to success. With effective and proven methods, as well as practical tools, attendees will quickly be able to apply these concepts to their own products and profit from the results.

Mr. Guyaux and his team work with a range of start-ups and large technology companies to assist them with internal company and product positioning, go-to-market strategies, product planning as well as external business development and sales execution. Mr. Guyaux strongly believes that "Quebec is one of the best locations in the world to develop and get support for new technology ideas but there must be a need for a product and if so, the idea must be developed with a product marketing focus in order to succeed."

About AMEQ
AMEQ is a non-profit technological and commercial organization based in Quebec City's electronics environment. AMEQ was founded in 1984 and is funded by its members to promote technological needs and offer world-class design and production services in multiple industries, AMEQ has over 35 companies in such fields as aerospace, military, instrumentation and medical electronics, industrial and general public. www.ameq.org

Embrase President Gives Keynote on "Expanding Sales into the U.S." at the VETIQ
Montreal, Canada, September 8, 2004 - Quebec-based VETIQ invites Embrase President, Vincent Guyaux, to speak on how to expand sales into the U.S. The Quebec region boasts a large of number of high tech companies. Many of them take advantage of R&D tax credits to fuel the development of products and are then able to grab a fair amount of the Quebec and/or Canadian market for their offering. However, to reach their potential, these companies must expand to new markets and regions. This is the critical point where Quebec high tech companies are challenged as they venture into developing the U.S. market. Finding the right people, implementing the right plan, selling direct or indirect, are just few of the key elements that will lead to business success. Mr. Guyaux uses his extensive business development expertise in North America, Asia and Europe in Telecom and high tech industries to provide a targeted and practical presentation to support Quebec companies with their biggest challenge.

About VETIQ
The Voice of Contractors in I.T. of Quebec (VETIQ) represents the interests of contractors working in the information technology industry in the Quebec region. VETIQ outlines I.T. industry needs to inform economic development organizations and appropriate ministries of on-going requirements. The organization collaborates with regional and national partners and works to set up activities and services dedicated to regional industry.

Embrase President Invited as a Quorum RCT Panel Member
Montreal, Canada, June 16, 2004 - The Quorum Group of the RCT held a panel-based conference in Quebec City highlighting four entrepreneurs and four consultants. The purpose of the conference was to give four business owners an opportunity to present their offerings and current business challenges to the other four panel members, each an expert consultant in technology. Embrase President, Vincent Guyaux, was invited to be one of the representative consultants. The mixed panel served as a real-time brainstorming session and allowed both the audience and business owners to get practical tips and ideas on how to grow business and create strategies. Vincent Guyaux remarks, "Entrepreneurs often don't have the resources to hire full time senior managers. As consultants, we must add immediate value as we act as an extension of a current business team and ultimately speed time-to-market for products and services."

About Quorum RCT
Founded in 1999, the Quorum Group of the RCT is the link between its expert members, the advisers of the Canadian Network of technology, and the leaders of SME businesses. Its mission is to facilitate the bond between SME and the suppliers of private services. The RCT is a network of advisors from public organizations, parapublic and associations whose mission is to help SMEs make a success of their technological or innovative projects.

Embrase Takes Off
Montreal, Canada, July 18, 2003 - Vincent Guyaux and Pamela Rasey recently formed Embrase, a business consulting firm that provides strategic and tactical services for positioning, marketing and sales of high tech products. In order to increase its customers' revenue and reduce their time to market, Embrase bridges the gap between technology-based products and market segments and accelerates the transition from an early adopter market to a mass market.