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New FP blogger: Tech startup’s advice to get you past year five

posted by Steve Hulford on 11.12.11 This article appeared on the Financial Post Blog on December 8th, 2011

December 8th, 2011 - Toronto. It’s no secret that starting and operating a business is a complex, expensive and emotionally draining task.

But for technology entrepreneurs, some of the most common entrepreneurial challenges are amplified. Not only are you competing with other firms, but if you’re a B-to-C company, you have to navigate the rapidly evolving and highly fickle consumer tech market. On the B-to-B side, which our Toronto-based interactive online software development firm Filemobile Inc. serves, customers demand constant innovation, but are also highly price sensitive, especially in a tough economy.

When we founded Filemobile in 2006, it wasn’t our first tech startup, but it was by far the most challenging. Needless to say, there were days when — like so many entrepreneurs — we could have easily thrown in the towel. Instead, we hung on and managed to carve out a solid niche supplying our rich media platform to the likes of Fox News, the World Bank, Condé Nast, Disney, Molson Coors, Deloitte and more than 150 other clients.

As we enter our sixth year in business, we decided to share some of our mistakes, lucky breaks and a few wise moves we’ve made along the way to help other tech entrepreneurs start, manage and grow their businesses. We have the luxury of drawing from three partners’ diverse backgrounds and operational specialties, so we’ll be sure to include tech sector insights that reflect our individual experiences building Filemobile. We hope the expertise we provide in this blog will help you avoid some of the mistakes we made — or at least understand when you’ve made them.

So, to kick off this blog series — and because this tends to be a particularly reflective time of year where tech entrepreneurs look back on the year that was and plan for the one ahead — we came up with the five reasons why we almost didn’t make it to our fifth anniversary:

Find out what the five reasons are at Financial Post.com


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Filemobile Inc. places 21st on PROFIT Magazine’s 10th annual HOT 50 ranking

posted by Kristen Bunting on 08.09.09

Toronto, Ontario—September 8, 2009—Filemobile Inc., a leading developer of proven and flexible interactive online software platforms, was named one of Canada’s emerging growth companies by PROFIT Magazine today.

Earning a position on the influential HOT 50 ranking for the second consecutive year, Filemobile was ranked 21st by PROFIT magazine editors with a two-year growth rate of 508 per cent. “We are extremely proud to be placed in such esteemed company alongside some of this country’s most dynamic innovators,” Filemobile CEO Chris Becker said. “Despite the difficult economic climate of the past year, our dedicated team has continued to find exciting ways to breathe new life into our suite of social media products and services—I’m looking forward to another great year of fast growth.”

Published in the October issue of PROFIT magazine and online at PROFITguide.com, the PROFIT HOT 50 ranks young firms by two-year revenue growth. “The PROFIT HOT 50 have achieved phenomenal growth rates despite a battered economy,” PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth said. “Their success is a testament to their innovative approaches to satisfying the demands of the marketplace and managing their own companies.”

About Filemobile:

Filemobile Inc. is Canada’s leading producer of interactive social media software. Our user-generated content, social networking, video and online community management products enable major brands, media companies and enterprise to power profitable online experiences. Our proprietary Media Factory platform has been deployed by the likes of MolsonCoors, CTV, SunLife Financial, CBC, Kraft, Pepsi and Microsoft to engage with clientele, build brand awareness and expand their client reach exponentially. Visit Filemobile online.

About PROFIT Magazine:

PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success, is Canada’s preeminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. Published six times a year by Rogers Publishing Ltd., PROFIT is distributed almost exclusively to the chief executives of companies with 5 – 250 employees and annual revenue of $1 million to $25 million, reaching more than 300,000 readers across Canada. Visit PROFIT Magazine online.

Media inquiries: Contact Chris Atchison at 416-616-8968 or chris@shockwavesc.com


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Molson Unveils Olympics 2010 Mural Project

posted by Jayson Ambrose on 22.02.09

February 17th, 2009 -- Last Tuesday, Molson unveiled their Molson Canadian 2010 Mural Project in Vancouver. The giant mosaic mural, starting with 250 Molson employees will eventually form a larger, olympic themed image.

Toronto Agency Henderson Bas is managing the campaign, and are using the Media Factory API to ingest images of all formats from the molsoncanadian.ca mural microsite. All of the images are being moderated in Media Factory by ICUC.


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Filemobile ranked #8 on the Profit HOT 50 Emerging Growth Companies

posted by Chris Becker on 19.09.08


Leads the way for new Software as a Service (SaaS) companies in Canada

Toronto, Canada, September 22, 2008 - Filemobile, a leading social media and networking platform provider, has emerged as one of Canada’s fastest growing companies according to the 9th annual PROFIT HOT 50 ranking.

“We are honored and delighted to be named to the PROFIT HOT 50 list as the eighth emerging growth company in Canada,” said Chris Becker CEO, Filemobile. “As a self-funded company, we recognize the need to manage our growth and yet expand our business quickly to enable customers to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in the social media space.”

Filemobile provides services and tools for media companies, brands, and digital agencies. It enables clients to collect, manage and monetize content, making it simple to leverage social media and engage customers. Filemobile software powers some of the most popular online campaigns in Canada, including CBC's Canada Hockey Anthem Challenge, a cross-country search calling on all Canadians to be part of hockey history by composing the next theme song for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

The result has been the most successful user generated contest in Canadian history. 14,685 songs were submitted for this recently launched project, powered by Filemobile's Media Factory. There have been over 12 million page views, over 600,000 unique visitors, and 1.2 million site visits. Media Factory powers and tracks several other campaigns across the web for clients including:

“The PROFIT HOT 50 companies illustrate the ingenuity and vitality of Canada’s entrepreneurial sector,” said editor Ian Portsmouth. “Anyone who wants to start or grow a business can draw much inspiration and many lessons from the HOT 50.”

The PROFIT HOT 50 is the definitive ranking of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies. Published in the October issue of PROFIT magazine and online at www.PROFITmagazine.ca.



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From pool deck to PoolExpert swim team mates win gold selling online business

posted by Steve Hulford on 07.08.08

Toronto, Canada, August 3, 2008- PoolExpert Inc, one of Canada's leading fantasy sports providers, today announced its acquisition by Rogers Media. The value of the acquisition was not released. Also known as a rotisserie or roto, a fantasy sport is a game in which fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport. More than two million Canadian’s play fantasy sports on-line and off-line.

PoolExpert Inc. entrepreneurs Ron Watson and Steve Hulford met on a pool deck in their teens while swimming for competing teams. In the early nineties, they both swam for the University of Toronto and the Canadian National Swim team. Formerly, Watson held positions in corporate finance and started a software development organization, while Hulford pursued a sports media internet career with companies such as TSN and Sportsnet.  In 2005, Watson and Hulford acquired PoolExpert.com and grew it into one of Canada's largest fantasy sports providers.

 "The last three years have been an unbelievable experience working with such a passionate community at PoolExpert," said former co-owner Ron Watson. "Rogers is the perfect company to continue the rich history of building a cutting edge hockey pool management experience."

"Rogers' breadth of sites and brands will leverage the PoolExpert technology and offer a better service and experience to customers," said Steve Hulford, former co-owner of PoolExpert.

Watson and Hulford are already well into their next venture, Filemobile, an on-demand social media platform company. Today, Filemobile is a fast growing and profitable business working with leading broadcast and online content providers including CTV, TSN, CBC, MTV, MuchMusic and Molson/Coors.

 

About PoolExpert (PoolExpert.com) Launched in September 1999, PoolExpert is Canada's largest bilingual provider of online fantasy sports pool management software, draft kits, and real time stats. Currently PoolExpert provides league management for hockey, baseball, and Formula One (F1). PoolExpert provides an online service for pool managers to manage the stats and rosters for their pools. The company has hundreds-of-thousands of registered members and active game players.

 

About Filemobile (Filemobile.net) Filemobile is an on-demand (software as a service) social media platform company specializing in user-generated content, social networking, and broadband video. Media Factory is Filemobile’s platform product: content management, user management, widget publisher, and application development environment for rich media. It is a central place to manage and distribute media (user-generated and commercial content) anytime, anywhere. Filemobile is a recent nominee for “most promising company of the year” at the Canadian New Media Awards.


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Earth Hour - Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8PM EST

posted by Chris Becker on 25.03.08

On March 29, 2008, cities across Canada, and around the world will turn off their lights for Earth Hour, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) event to raise awareness about climate change and symbolize that by working together, the people of the world can make a difference in the fight against climate change.

Earth Hour has grown from a single event in Sydney, Australia in 2007 to a global phenomenon that will occur across six continents in 2008.

Filemobile supports clients such as Molson who are actively supporting efforts in Canada for Earth Hour. Filemobile is participating by ensuring we do what we can to minimize our carbon footprint. Whether that is through ensuring the efficient use of energy in our office, to supporting people powered modes of transit, to encouraging the participation of our employees, clients and suppliers in Earth Hour activities.

For more information about Earth Hour, or to sign up as an individual, please visit www.earthhour.org. Visit this site to find useful downloads, tools, tips and news updates or get creative and visit Earth Hour's Facebook, youTube, Flickr and MySpace pages to add your video and Earth Hour pictures

Youtube - Earth Hour | Flickr - Earth Hour | Myspace - Earth Hour | Facebook - Earth Hour

Download EarthHour2008_MakingItHappenInYourTown.pdf

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