This is the fourth edition of Start-ups to watch I have written. Previous versions can be found;
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2008 Start-ups to Watch
2007 Start-ups to Watch
2006 Start-ups to Watch.
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I have decided to move the posts to The Road Less Travelled from my other blog “Blogmatic”. This year’s crop of start-ups hosts an incredibly talent rich pool to draw from and narrowing it down to just three has been a real challenge. Anyway here are my picks for 2009 Start-ups to Watch in alphabetical order;
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Brad Stewart and Mark Northcott are the dynamic duo that make Adjoy tick. The company had originally started out with the name PayMail but, as the idea evolved so did the name. Brad was going to be our first tenant at TheCodeFactory, however, when the initial location lease negotiations fell through (long sad story) they had to find a new home. Brad is the sort of person that brings a tremendous amount of positive energy into any room he enters you can literally feel that positive vibe. Mark is great compliment to Brad and a very capable CTO ready material. The two make a great combination and we look forward to great things from them in the years to come. Good kharma and much success to Adjoy for 2010.
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Blindside Networks has been a tenant at TheCodeFactory for almost a year now and it has been great to see them grow. Fred Dixon is the seasoned start-up leader of the team having already achieved start-up success several times before. Fred also has a strong supporting cast including; Richard Alam, Denis, Tyler and Ian. The report card for Blindside Networks would read something like work hard and play well together. Blindside spun out of Carleton Universities TIM program based on a project initiated by Richard Alam called “Big Blue Button”. The premise of the start-up is that doing a video conference should be as easy as pressing one button. Plans to conquer the world are well underway.
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Jay Lawrence is founder of Infonium a software company specializing in governance for the health care industry. Jay spoke in February this year at TheCodeFactory session on Boot Strapping for Success and participated in Students & Start-ups 3 where he meet and later hired Chris Saunders from U of O as a summer student. Jay is OBJ Top 40 under 40 for 2009 and one determined entrepreneur. Jay has a strong team, a great product and that entrepreneurial killer instinct. I am certain that more accolades for Infonium are in the works as we speak.
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Congratulations to these first class start-ups … wishing them much success and prosperity in the year to come.
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Ian Graham

Filed under: Featured, Ottawa, Start-up, The Code Factory by Ian
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