smarTalks – Shopify, Plank and Napkyn – an OCRI event

Awesome event about eCommerce coming up on
Thursday, November 25th from 4-6pm.
Learn more here: Upcoming smarTalk on eCommerce

Panelists:

Tobias Lutke, CEO, Shopify
Warren Wilansky, CEO, Plank
Jim Cain, CEO, Napkyn

Moderator:

Harley Finkelstein, Director & General Counsel, Shopify

Keynote Summary:

In the past few years, the concept and practice of eCommerce has shifted from a small niche market industry, cornered by the likes of Amazon, eBay, and Zappos, to a mainstream business practice that is at the core of almost every company. From service providers to wholesalers, eCommerce is no longer limited to a select few brands that had the foresight to beta test an online retail presence in the 90′s; today anyone who can effectively use “email” can launch an online shop and commercialize the business or hobby on the web.

The discussion will be focused on new trends – such as brick-and-mortar to brick-and-click conversions in the conventional retail model, the democratization of eCommerce (from students to retirees to mompreneurs), and what the landscape will look like in the coming years.

Shopify in the NY Times

You’ve probably heard that Shopify is holding a $100,000 dollar competition on creating an e-business. The NY Times just put up an article about this which you can find here: Shopify, a Start-Up, Starts Its Own Business Competition.

Check out the official competition page here. Competitions are an awesome way to do marketing. Shopify is also working with the famous author of the four hour work week, Tim Ferriss, to promote the competition. Make sure to check it out!

Check out Ottawa Startups!

Below is a video highlighting many of the amazing startups that you can find in Ottawa.  I’m constantly amazed at how many dynamic, awesome startups and entrepreneurs that we have in this city and I don’t think everyone is aware of just how many we have and how great they are.  For a (near) complete list of local startups, check out the Startup Directory – which we hope to improve over the next couple of weeks – or just sit back and enjoy this video!

First Innoventure backed Startup Launches

Harley Finkelstein from Innoventure Capital just sent me a note announcing the successful launch of the first startup that they have invested in called Smoofer.com.

Smoofer.com is a Canadian-based online shop that sells licensed shirts and apparel. They purchase old and new licenses and make them publicly available. Administratively, they operate out of Ontario; however, all their production and shipping is done from their Quebec-based warehouse. Another interesting note is that the website was built using local startup Shopify.com.