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The Ottawa Business Journal: The venture market in a world of Eeyores instead of Tiggers

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:50:06 -0400

The venture market in a world of Eeyores instead of Tiggers By Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal Staff Mon, Apr 21, 2008 12:00 AM EST Andrew Waitman (photo supplied) Tough times still ahead, but innovation remains strong in Ottawa, says Celtic House's Andrew Waitman While the storm clouds still don't appear to be clearing for the local venture scene, transitions within fashionable areas of technology, bootstrapping and innovation means local companies could still "survive and thrive," according to Andrew Waitman, managing partner of Celtic House Venture Partners. Mr. Waitman, who is speaking at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation's Technology Executive Breakfast this Thursday, talked with the OBJ about clean tech, the effect of the U.S. downturn on the venture market, and why it could still be a good time for companies to get started. OBJ: Tell us a little bit about what you'll be talking about at the Technology Executive Breakfast. WAITMAN: I'm going to give my perspective on the current venture environment in Canada/Ottawa, what the implications are for building businesses, and I'm going to give some insight for what I think successful startups do. It's a bit of a macro discussion of how I see the environment evolving and how companies can respond to the venture environment. OBJ: So what is the venture capital market like today, especially in Ottawa? WAITMAN: Broken – it continues to be an echo of the boom-bust cycle, but it's currently exacerbated by the significant increase in perception of risk, which in the current macroeconomic environment is driven by the whole housing collapse and the subdebt crisis. So there's two things in mind: there's a micro environment which is specific to Canada and Ottawa, and there's a macro environment in which the perception of risk has gone up dramatically. Those two forces have created and will continue to create, probably through a U.S. recession, a difficult time. The venture industry component is being driven by an overinvestment during the late '90s, the echo of which is still being felt in terms of investors feeling for returns from venture investments. In Ottawa specifically, we're talking several billion dollars and very few positive outcomes, so what you're going through now is kind of a right-sizing or a Darwinian housecleaning with regards to what venture firms are going to survive and what startups are going to survive and thrive. I will be talking about the need to rethink the kind of businesses that entrepreneurs build, and the money and the investments will really need to come from angels and customers. There will, of course, be venture money ... but it will be a lot harder; you're not going to see a lot of venture money because of the investment success rate. So it's going to be some lean years, but once ... companies like Diablo, Third Brigade, dna13, Overlay.TV demonstrate their potential, people will start to become optimistic about the ability to build companies and you'll see more investment, both domestic and foreign. OBJ: What's new with the downturn in the U.S.? WAITMAN: Buying from a startup tends to be a risk proposition (in general) from a purchasing manager's perspective, and with the whole mood being that the world is full of Eeyores instead of Tiggers, it just gets harder and harder (for startups). There are, of course, fashionable areas – virtualization is a very hot area in technology right now, clean tech I think has had a bit of an overinvestment in the last couple of years, but it's still a relatively fashionable area thanks to the whole green movement. The thing to understand is that while issues locally need to work themselves through, there are major food chains going through significant disruption and creating opportunities, so the entire entertainment food chain, premium content television and online video, whether it's user-generated or premium content, those food chains are all transitioning. Also, there's always a great deal of randomness in the world that people don't appreciate, and that randomness is what allows a Microsoft to be created when IBM thinks they own the PC world. It's what allows a Google to be created when everyone thinks Microsoft is the only player. There's always spaces for new companies because the world is too chaotic, too random, too unknown to be completely understood by the big companies. There's lots of innovation going on in Ottawa, it's actually a very vibrant community ... but venture capital is one sort of capital that if you demonstrate returns then it flows into the city like it did back in the late '90s and it will. It just takes time. But the M&A environment has suffered, the IPO market is almost nonexistent right now. There's a complete parallel in the biotech world, because if you pay attention to the valuations in the biotech world, IPOs, M&As, everything has gone down in the last three to six months and it's all related to the big concern about the flowing of the global economy, exacerbated by the U.S. problems created by the housing bubble. OBJ: What's the trend you see going forward? WAITMAN: The trend is tough, from a financial perspective. It's interesting: Canada's a tale of two worlds. On the one hand, food prices are going up, commodity prices are going up, oil and gas prices are going up and so the country and most of the provinces that benefit from those things are all booming, absolutely booming ... the country's probably never been in better financial shape from a federal financial perspective and unemployment. But, on the other hand, there are pockets that are very U.S.-sensitive, and the venture market is highly correlated with the Nasdaq, so when the Nasdaq is down, flat or going sideways, that affects the venture market. I don't see that turning around dramatically in the next 12 months, so I think companies with a fair bit of cash are obviously going to weather the storm, it's going to continue to be tough to raise money, but ... there are always great companies started through good and bad times. All that really happens is during good times there are a lot of companies – many of which shouldn't be started – getting started, and during tough times they are fewer, but they tend to be the stronger, better companies. It can be done, it will be done. There's the fashionable areas, the hot areas, and then there's the "grinders" that kind of work their way slowly and quietly. Then one day, they're a $100-million company and everybody goes, "Who knew?" For more information on the TEB, visit www.ocri.ca/events/teb.asp

The Ottawa Citizen: New age clipping service

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:17:24 -0400

New-age clipping service At Ottawa's dna13, speed and connections are required to track down the mountain of data its clients need daily. Jeff Buckstein reports. Jeff Buckstein, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Saturday, April 12, 2008 Officials at the Bank of Nova Scotia are keenly aware of the mountain of daily information they need to track. And they know the lightning speed with which news about Scotiabank, its competitors and the financial services industry will travel around the globe. "Today's world is infinitely more connected than it was only a few years ago," says Frank Switzer, director of public affairs for the large Canadian bank with a growing international presence. "You need to have a good tool to be able to respond effectively to make sure you're on top of these issues." For the past three years, an Ottawa company called dna13 Inc. has been that tool for Scotiabank. To pull relevant information for its clients and provide news bulletins and alerts as quickly as possible, dna13 monitors more than 600 Canadian and U.S. broadcast TV channels; in excess of 12,000 newspapers, magazines, newsletters, trade publications and wire services; over 25,000 Internet sites; and more than 70 million blogs. And with most media, the turnaround from this modern clipping service is very quick indeed -- within four minutes of air time on television, for instance, where dna13 digitizes closed-caption text and video in real-time. The print, Internet and blog response generally varies from 30 minutes to three hours. "They automatically give us a choice of all the top stories that feature Scotiabank, our competitors and the financial services industry in general," explains Mr. Switzer. His staff picks the ones it thinks are most relevant for worldwide distribution to some 300 senior people in the organization. "There's an e-mail that goes out every day that says, 'Here's the electronic clip book for the day.' With that clipbook we've saved a lot of money -- probably tens of thousands of dollars in reduced paper and photocopying costs." The company specializes in two products -- dnaMonitor for media monitoring, and dna- Enterprise, which provides corporate clients with a co-ordinated communications strategy. The price range for dnaMonitor ranges from $15,000 to $100,000 a year. A rough annual charge for the dnaEnterprise module would be $60,000 to $350,000 a year. Besides Scotiabank, other major clients include RBC Financial, Iogen Corp., Nestlé Canada and WestJet. "We help those companies protect their corporate brand and reputation," says dna13 chief executive officer Chris Johnson. Clients can log into these software products from anywhere. The products are also modular: a client purchasing dnaMonitor "can instantly turn on dnaEnterprise if they want to pay for it." Mr. Johnson founded dna13 in 2001 and chose the corporate name with care. "I thought, 'What do we do for clients and customers when we build software for them? We look at what I would call their corporate DNA, and build our software around the business requirements of the work flow surrounding that'." The firm's dnaMonitor product allows clients to monitor sources around the globe through a search engine interface. For instance, notes Mr. Johnson, "I could have a search using the terms, say, 'Bell Canada' and 'quarterly results' that queries television news, print, Internet and web blogs." Or that search could be honed down to focus on just a few sources. For example, if a client wanted to know what coverage was being generated about the firm on television, its staff could program the software to alert them if a particular search term matched content on any television station. "That alert could hit your BlackBerry, or corporate e-mail box, which would then tell you, 'I've got a hit.' From there, you see which channel it's on," Mr. Johnson said. dnaEnterprise allows clients to automatically co-ordinate a response inside or outside the organization. "You want to synchronize all your teams so everyone's got the same message. Confusing messages just cause problems," Mr. Johnson said. At Scotiabank, for instance, dnaEnterprise provides information that is used to generate a response "in one centralized location for people to access" if, for instance, journalists want to know how the bank is dealing with something like the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis, said Mr. Switzer. It is important to have a web-based system like dna13 "that key people can tap into and look at and say, 'OK, here's the issue and here's our response to that issue,' so everybody's singing from the same hymnbook," he said. The information generated from dna13 may be especially effective in a crisis-management situation, said Mr. Johnson. For example, "if I'm a big telco and I've got really terrible financial results, I may need to share it across the organization to other public relations people in the company so they know what to say when a journalist calls them," he said. For an advertising or public relations firm competing for a corporate client, dnaMonitor can give the competing agency a comprehensive picture of how that prospective client is portrayed throughout the media, which they can then use in a sales pitch. For existing clients, dna- Enterprise can be used to formulate a specific corporate communications strategy based on how favourable that media coverage is, says Mr. Johnson. The dnaEnterprise software also contains intelligence designed to analyse coverage. It allows information arising from key quotes in the press to be 'scored' or 'toned' to determine if the media coverage represents a positive, negative or neutral reaction. This can also help formulate a corporate response if, say, damage control is needed, Mr. Johnson explains.

PRWeek: Global media monitoring becoming business necessity

Wed, 2 Apr 2008 18:55:55 -0400

Media coverage doesn't stop at the border. For executives, knowing how their brands are viewed around the world is critical to the expanding geography of business. Globalization has made the need for international media monitoring more pressing. "Large companies [with] operations around the world need to understand different markets," says Chris Johnson, CEO of dna13, a communications software manufacturer. One of the major reasons for international media monitoring is so corporations can keep an eye on the value of their brands, especially on non-traditional news sources. "Large companies are not really prepared for the fact that there's so much new media being generated," adds Johnson. "[Monitoring] social media sites and blogs that are a starting point for difficult news gives advanced warning where issues are arising." Moreover, monitoring international media also provides insight into trends happening elsewhere. That information can be used in global communications strategies. "A lot [of international monitoring] is for understanding the macro-trends in pockets [of the world], rather than to respond right away," says Valerie Coombs, PR director for BuzzLogic. "There is a wealth of information that you can glean - a way to position something, things to avoid." Report International believes that cross-border monitoring provides "news intelligence," rather than a set of clips. "It's important to understand how to place a story that is relevant to our client in the context of the larger media market," says MD Mike Daniels. That context includes translating things like sarcasm and irony, which may be country- and language-specific, and grouping comparable coverage. "You know your market," notes Daniels, "but how many international PR managers have gaping holes in their knowledge of other markets? From our perspective, why wouldn't you monitor media internationally if you're an international organization?" Key points: Entities doing business in foreign markets can monitor global media to keep tabs on how their brand resonates locally Monitoring not only helps comms pros identify problems, but offers solutions for global strategy When checking global media, be sure to take into account cultural variance

The National Post: Foreign Capital Moves In

Karen Mazurkewich — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:54:58 -0400

Foreign Capital Moves In; High leverages and valuations drove deals and news during the first half of last year. As the market morphs, the Financial Post will be there with a new private-equity column that will dissect deals and report news that slips... If you have liquidity, there is opportunity. With the labour-sponsored funds in decline, the traditional VC companies have had more choice and better valuations, according to Andrew Waitman, managing partner of Celtic House. Despite the doom-and-gloom scenario, Celtic House has pumped about $75-million into eight new deals over the past two years, including Morega Systems Inc., dna13, and NOVX Systems. The company is poised to make a new investment in a Waterloo-based company. Ditto for Ventures West. The company invested $70-million in nine new deals last year. "It was one of our busiest years," said Ted Anderson of Ventures West.

The Ottawa Business Journal: Startups to Watch

Jeff Pappone — Fri, 1 Feb 2008 09:45:33 -0500

In Part I, we profile Acron Capability Engineering, Context Discovery, CRYPTOCard, Diablo Technologies and dna13.

Founded in 2001, dna13 burst onto the Ottawa start-up scene in May with a $5-million venture capital deal with Celtic House Venture Partners and Propulsion Ventures.

Since then, the company has continued to expand its customer base and develop more features. It recently integrated the solution with Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program....

Click to read more.

NCB taps dna13 and Media Watch to measure its outreach

Tonya Garcia — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:23:19 -0500

NCB taps dna13 and Media Watch to measure its outreach Tonya Garcia November 30, 2007 OTTAWA and JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA: Mindful of the limits of Saudi Arabia's current media landscape but with an eye towards the future, The National Commercial Bank (NCB) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has enlisted help from Canada-based dna13 and their partner, Media Watch Middle East, to measure the effect of their PR efforts. “With newspaper and internet reach being lower than North America, reputation management amongst the audiences that have internet connections and access to print media is of the utmost importance,” wrote Chet Galpin, CMO of NCB in an e-mail from Saudi Arabia. “By keeping a close eye on opinions and views that form in these outlets, we will look to adjust our message as quickly as we can.” Click link to view entire article....

WebMasterRadio.fm: An Interview with dna13 live from the PRSA International Conference Floor

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:59:37 -0500

Brandy Shapiro-Babin, host of WebmasterRadio.FM interviews Vice President of Marketing, Andy Church, live from the PRSA International Conference Floor in Philadelphia. LIsten to this interview to hear Andy explain what DNA 13's core focus is as a PR and Stakeholder Management software organization.

O'Dwyer's PR Report: dna13 starts measuring early

Jack O'Dwyer — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 14:24:21 -0500

Nov. 6, 2007 dna13 STARTS MEASURING EARLY dna13, a system built so that the largest companies can track 50 to 100 issues in media worldwide (including the blogosphere), starts gathering data before reporters have started to write their stories. PR pros using the system log in all incoming and outgoing press calls and e-mails including their time and nature. This data is combined with real time mentions in media, blogs, and any events or news breaks related to the subject. Issues that have caught the attention of reporters, even before stories are filed, are monitored by the system. "We believe this closes an important gap in the monitoring of issues," says Chris Johnson, CEO of the six-year-old Ottawa-based company which also has offices in New York and Atlanta. Clients can no longer wait for clips to come in 24 hours later, he says. "You want to identify any inaccuracies immediately to prevent pickup by other media."

PR Week: dna13 and Media Watch Middle East selected by Saudi client

Tonya Garcia — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 14:23:33 -0500

dna13 and Media Watch Middle East selected by Saudi client Author: Tonya Garcia OTTAWA: The National Commercial Bank in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has selected dna13 to manage and monitor its outreach efforts. Media Watch Middle East joins dna13 as news content provider (a list that includes Thomson Corporation and LexisNexis, among others) to aid with the client. Media Watch Middle East is one of the largest media monitoring and analysis services spanning 27 countries across the Middle East, including Dubai, Cairo, and Beirut.

The Ottawa Business Journal: dna13 nets contract with major Saudi bank

Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal Staff — Mon, 5 Nov 2007 09:22:43 -0500

News Story dna13 nets contract with major Saudi bank By Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal Staff Mon, Nov 5, 2007 1:00 AM EST Stakeholder management software company dna13 has won a contract with a major Saudi Arabian bank and added a Middle Eastern news content provider to its list of media partners. The Ottawa-based company said the National Commercial Bank, the first bank established in Saudi Arabia in 1953, has selected its web-based dnaEnterprise software to manage, monitor and measure its media outreach and reputation. Click to read more.

The Ottawa Business Journal on dna13's "gut-wrenching growth"

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:04:30 -0400

'The state of venture capital in Ottawa is a tale of two stories,' said Celtic House Venture Partners managing partner Andrew Waitman. 'On the one hand, there is currently a bull market in technology, the Nasdaq hitting 2,800 and startups with great products like Diablo, dna13 and Third Brigade are experiencing gut-wrenching growth.'

Bulldog Reporter: Stakeholder Networking: The PR Response to Social Networking

By Andy Church, VP Marketing and Product Management, dna 13 — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:48:08 -0400

Today, thousands of external stakeholder networks are forming inside Facebook and MySpace to name a few locations online. People are quickly connecting, ranting or raving about your brand. These people are generating an exponential amount of stories that can quickly become good or bad news. Within Facebook, for example, both BMW and the GOP have well over five hundred groups that are talking about their experiences, impressions and perspectives. Filmmaker Michael Moore's 2007 movie, "Sicko," has generated over three hundred groups and related events.

Bulldog Reporter PR People on the Move: Gwin Joins dna13 as Chairman

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 09:47:32 -0400

dna13 (www.dna13.com), a provider of on-demand communications and stakeholder management software, announced the appointment of software industry leader, Howard Gwin, as chair of its Board of Directors. Chris Johnson, CEO and founder of dna13 said, "Howard's software expertise and guidance will be of great benefit to us as we look to advance dna13's position in the communications software market. Howard is a well-respected executive and has the right combination of technical expertise, management skills as well as industry knowledge and expertise to take on this challenging role."

PR Week (USA): Expert Q&A with Andy Church, VP Marketing and Product Management

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:02:51 -0400

Expert Q&A Andy Church, VP, marketing and product management, dna13 Please give a brief description of dna13's work. AC: We have been developing on-demand PR and stakeholder management software for global Fortune 100 companies, PR agencies, professional organizations and government environments for over seven years. Our product suite, consisting of dnaEnterprise, dnaProfessional and dnaMunicipal, is designed to help professionals manage, monitor and measure their outreach and the relationships that impact upon their brand and corporate reputation. Media directories, email and phone call logs, editorial opportunities, journalist pitching tips, global media monitoring content and insider commentary all feed into the application and are presented alongside related information in a campaign-centric approach.

O'Dwyers PR Report: Managing brands in the shifting media landscape

Chris Johnson — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:30:19 -0400

Managing Brand in the Shifting Media Landscape By Chris Johnson O'Dwyer PR > Guest Commentary To say that there have been changes in the media landscape within the last 20 years would be a huge understatement. The number of news outlets has significantly broadened to cover every aspect of our lives at home and at work. In addition, the formats in which this content is delivered are expanding. Traditional or mainstream media such as daily newspapers and print magazines are the usual suspects when it comes to accessing news...

ComputerWorld Canada: Why IT departments will survive Web 2.0

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:29:26 -0400

Why IT departments will survive Web 2.0 Computer World Canada (15 Aug 2007) PricewaterhouseCooper's Canadian director of emerging technologies discusses the concept of "ubiquitous participation" in the enterprise and the impact on technology professionals. Plus: Stakeholder networking?...

National Capital Scan: dna13 expands broadcast search capabilities

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:28:28 -0400

dna13 expands broadcast search capabilities Public relations software company dna13 Inc. adds the 25 top Nielsen markets to its search capabilities, enabling its software to monitor over 300 U.S. and Canadian broadcast television channels. Stakeholder relationship and reputation management software dnaEnterprise allows companies to manage their corporate image and respond to issues by tracking media coverage and inquiries on the Internet and in 13,000 print outlets, as well as on television

ItWorldCanada.com: RBC, Fidelity make use of broadcast search tool

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:27:38 -0400

RBC, Fidelity make use of broadcast search tool Communications execs go beyond print in monitoring media 6/11/2007 4:50:00 PM by Kathleen Lau A single platform for searching across different mediums—broadcast, print, Internet—can greatly reduce the labour associated with reputation management, especially for large organizations like Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

Ottawa Business Journal: dna13 expands TV monitoring capabilities

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 12:27:04 -0400

dna13 expands TV monitoring capabilities By Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal Staff Mon, Jun 11, 2007 12:00 PM EST Local stakeholder relationship and reputation management software maker dna13 Inc. has added the top 25 U.S. Nielsen markets into its television broadcast search capabilities, bringing its total monitoring capabilities to more than 300 U.S. and Canadian broadcast television channels. The company's dnaEnterprise software helps large companies manage their brand and reputation and co-ordinate how they deal with corporate issues such as quarterly results, product releases and even company scandals by tracking media coverage and journalist inquiries. It has more than 75 customers including Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank.

ItBusiness.ca : Communications execs go beyond print in monitoring media

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:24:57 -0400

The Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa firm to use funds to expand sales, marketing

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 12:23:54 -0400

DNA13 raises $5M in venture capital. Ottawa firm to use funds to expand sales, marketing By Bert Hill, The Ottawa Citizen A new Ottawa business software company has raised $5 million in venture capital in its first round of funding after several years in stealth mode. Called dna13 Inc., the company has quietly attracted customers like Scotiabank, Manulife and Sunlife with an internal portal that helps companies manage their public profiles.

ItBusiness.ca: The next-generation press clipping

Tue, 31 May 2005 12:22:20 -0400

Media monitoring has long been a necessary evil, but it doesn't have to be. We talk to dna13's Chris Johnson about why you should consider your enterprise communications management software.

The Branham Report: Top 25 Canadian IT Up and Comers: dna13

Tue, 1 Mar 2005 12:19:54 -0400

Now in its twelfth year, the Branham300 continues to highlight the top Canadian IT companies. It represents a truly insightful piece of intelligence on the Canadian information technology market. Canadian companies are ranked based on worldwide revenues whereas multinationals are ranked solely on revenues earned within Canada. In 2005, dna13 was listed as one of the 'Top 25 Up and Comers IT Companies'.