Hamilton entrepreneurs re-invent business networking

On Wednesday evening, a warm summer night, nearly 200 Hamiltonians meet to eat, drink, socialize.

They're local business leaders and entrepreneurs at the Innovation Factory's Innovation Showdown, a social pitch competition organized by the regional innovation centre.

When the crowd is settled and seated, David Carter stands on stage with a mic and introduces 13 entrepreneurs who will soon get up in front of the full house and present their business pitches. They range from tech start-ups to environmentalists to hockey skate designers.

"Who wants to hear from some innovators?" Carter, iF's executive director, asks the crowd, eliciting loud cheers.

Tonight, the entrepreneurs are treated like rock stars. And that's not the case everywhere. Before introducing anyone, Carter tells the crowd this city Hamilton is unique. We have a great community, he said, something other regional innovation centres struggle with.

'Collisions' of opportunity

Along with that community comes something entrepreneurs really need and what this summer event epitomizes face-to-face networking. Tonight, anybody and everybody in the room could be a business opportunity, a potential client, a way to meet someone who can help.

"Those collisions, those can change someone's business," Carter said. "Someone saying 'I want to introduce you to a guy who has a company that does this,' or 'I want to introduce you to a lady who is an expert in this.' Some of those partnerships or business opportunities, those can be the game changers."

Marie Pavone, a local entrepreneur in a seven-year-old venture, feels the effects of that community, and those accidental collisions, tonight.

"This is my first time doing this, I cannot believe how amazing this is," she said, during the designated "networking" time after her pitch. "The networking here has been phenomenal."

Pavone is the founder of menusonly.com, a social networking site featuring restaurant menus for foodies. Her next step is building a team her company consists of her and her brother right now and needs social business events.

"People I never would have met, SEO experts, reporters, bloggers," she said. "I specified in my pitch what I was looking for and those people came to me afterwards."

Challenges

Pavone pitched her businesses with ease, something not every entrepreneur can do. "Some hate public speaking. The first time you do it, it's never fun," said Carter. "I remember personally getting through the bad presentations made me a better presenter."

That's not the only challenge Carter points out.

"Entrepreneurs' time is short," he said. "They've got so much do to, working late hours and unless they've sold something, they don't see far ahead enough in the future to see the value of networking."

But tonight, no one is sitting alone in the corner. Groups of two, three, four or more are scattered, filling up the atrium at McMaster's Innovation Park.

As comfortable as everyone looks, this is still a new scene for Hamilton. Just three years ago, the city didn't have a regional innovation centre.

"Before that, there was no where for someone who has a start-up to go and get help and ask 'How do we do this?' and 'How to we do that?' said Jim Rudnick, a Hamiltonian with a long history of entrepreneurship. "You just talked to people you knew or you drove to Toronto or you drove to Waterloo.... The whole innovation community has blossomed because of this."

Rudnick, who spends a few days a week working as CEO of smartphone payment app Snap-pay at iF's office, overhears important conversation facilitated by the open-concept space.

"People are always [asking], 'Do you know a guy?' 'Yeah, what to you need?' It really does help. Networking is still one of the best ways to build your business," he said.

At the end of the night, Ethan Do, the near-field communications guru behind the company OverAir, takes the Showdown prize an iPad mini and bragging rights. He's the rock star entrepreneur tonight, with the "groupies" to prove it. Family and friends want photos with Do on stage; one of those photos will show Do in the middle of a line of about 10 women.

"[These events are] more important that I would admit or realize sometimes," he said after his photo shoot.

"This is what networking is. The more you meet people, you never know what collisions you'll have. Tonight, I've met with potential customers, potential investors and spread the word," Do said. "This is why we're here, not really for winning but to be exposed to all of these people."