L-Spark’s SaaS Showcase is just more than a week away, when the Kanata accelerator touts the best of its cohort of companies in an event that is both pitchfest and celebration.
But that’s next Tuesday, and this is today. We brought in Member365 co-founder Stephen Foley and Quickily co-founder Jared Floyd to break down for us how the SaaS accelerator programs have affected their firms.
For Member365, a member of the fall 2016 cohort, the impact has been obvious: $1.3 million in seed funding landed just a few months ago, and 1500 per cent growth in its customer base since joining the program. He says the difference between Member365 and Pixelera, his first company founded with his brother Michael, was the isolation that came with the original.
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Like many entrepreneurs, Foley says “he didn’t know what he didn’t know.” As a member of the L-Spark community, he says he has connected to experts and peers who can show him what’s beyond his bubble.
Floyd says that Quickily, a Tinder-style application to help job seekers and employers connect on mobile, began when he was working as a teenager in his father’s restaurant. One of the main things he’s learned about pitches and presentations is that it’s not so much about selling a product, it’s about telling the story of your company.
Floyd will be in storytelling mode on Tuesday, June 13 when he, Foley and the other L-Spark cohort members take the stage at the Ottawa Little Theatre for the Canadian SaaS Showcase.