Top Current Articles
Alberta’s Nanotechnology Companies 2008
Cool Companies magazine 2008 Vol.4 Issue 1
Alberta is Canada’s fastest growing nanotechnology and advanced materials cluster and home to some world-class innovator leaders in this space. As of May 2008 the cluster was 42 companies strong: 31 are active Alberta-based companies (profiles start p.10), 6 have corporate R&D programs in Alberta (p.34), and another 5 are not yet ready for publicity. Of the 37 companies profiled in this article, 20 are nano-based (54%), 13 are MEMS-based and 4 have a composite or ceramic technology. [Full article]
Inside Dragon’s Den
Cool Companiesmagazine 2007 Vol.3 Issue 1
The TV show Dragon’s Den features Canadian entrepreneur hopefuls pitching business ideas to angel investors called the Dragons. The source of the show’s controversy has been the sometimes scary interaction between entrepreneurs and Dragons, as well as the sometimes poor quality business ideas that appear to be for TV entertainment purposes only. The question Cool Companies magazine wanted to know was: Is the Dragon’s Den serious in offering real value to Canada’s entrepreneur community or is it taking advantage of want-to-be entrepreneurs for TV entertainment? To investigate, we asked 3 groups with different perspectives: entrepreneurs that appeared on the show this season, a Dragon, and Canada’s experienced and successful Canadian entrepreneurs who read Cool Companies magazine. [Full article]
Cool Companiesmagazine 2007 Vol.2 Issue 2
New research has found that, of all the factors that influence the success of an entrepreneurial company, there is one that dominates: the creativity of the entrepreneur driving the company. Why? Because many times along its journey, an entrepreneurial company finds itself stuck between a rock and hard place, and it takes a lot of creativity to figure its way out. Entrepreneurial creativity has several dimensions that we touch on briefly. Surprisingly, there is currently no conclusive evidence that business education, best practices and business plans are significant determinants in entrepreneurial success. [Full article]
What’s Your Company’s Stages of Growth?
Cool Companiesmagazine 2007 Vol.2 Issue 2
There is no doubt that a company and its CEO must evolve for the company to survive and grow. Are there common milestones of growth? We present a research study of high-growth Ontario companies that suggests there are. The stages of growth are marked by employee size: 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 100+ employees. We take a look at the characteristics of each stage and the milestones the company needs to reach before they enter the next stage. Entrepreneurs of high growth companies from across Canada comment on their growth experiences. [Full article]
Profit-driven is a must; Mission-driven is a higher goal
Cool Companies magazine 2007 Vol.2 Issue 1
It has become a meaningless cliché, but it has never been more relevant. So what exactly is a socially responsible company? It is more than one that recycles its garbage! Jill Bamburg has researched 30 companies that describe themselves as socially responsible and finds that profit is only part of the mix for them. They are mission-driven. They have a triple bottom line – people, profit and planet. As she explains in her book, Getting to Scale, there are 9 characteristics of mission-driven companies that make them different from profit-driven companies. [Full article]
