Gary Will - Latest Comments

Re: Gary Will: Leamington`s challenge: bouncing back despite low educational attainment

Tim Rogers — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 20:01:10 -0000

Have you quit updating the pro wrestling obituary page? I haven't seen anything on it since 2013.

Re: Gary Will: Canadian tech sector isn't vanishing, but its mainstream halo is fading

Mark — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 20:12:51 -0000

There's obviously a huge shortage of well capitalized employers relative to the amount of talent available in the Canadian marketplace looking for jobs in the tech sector. Well capitalized firms, such as telecoms and utilities, looking for engineers, receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of applications for a single or a small handful of positions. Hundreds of startups is all find and dandy, but when most of them are just 2 or 3 man outfits, with little capital to actually pay people, that's a problem. New grads have significant student loans, and generally want to own their own homes before they are 50 years old. Many grads, even top grads, can submit hundreds, if not thousands of applications to these employers and not even receive the courtesy of a response.

Re: Gary Will: My lean (ugh) startup guru

lborsato — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:09:12 -0000

Once every decade or two some management consultant comes along, revives and existing process tool, retools it a little bit, renames it, and makes a fortune reselling it to people looking for the next big thing.

In the late 80s I was doing Rapid Application Development (RAD), grabbing some customer requirements, building prototypes, getting customer feedback, fixing and adjusting, in two week cycles.

Twenty or so years later we are introduced to this magical thing called Agile development.

Welcome to the 80s folks. There's really nothing new here. It's just the sequel.

Re: Gary Will: No, most tech startups are not built around new research discoveries

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Re: Gary Will: FedDev formally announces new regional loan fund for small "knowledge-based" businesses

Gary Will — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:09:12 -0000

Good point! I had intended to give an update with that info but never did.

Re: Gary Will: FedDev formally announces new regional loan fund for small "knowledge-based" businesses

Lscott — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:38:47 -0000

Hi Gary.
RE; eligibility update comment:
The max term of the loans are 5 years and max 10 year amortization. This fund is not directly from Fed Dev but delivered through Western Ontario CFDCs so the fund will be continuing through their incorporated organization ie. not two-year per Fed Dev's mandate. Thank you.

Re: Gary Will: Canadian tech sector isn't vanishing, but its mainstream halo is fading

Marianna Dubovyk — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:14:21 -0000

Expensive mail is killing all online trade. It costs $5 to send a package from China to Canada and $50 (the cheapest) back to China. Twice more to US than back and 3 times so to Australia.

Re: Gary Will: Canadian tech sector isn't vanishing, but its mainstream halo is fading

Jason Hanley — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:14:19 -0000

Internet, mobile, and software tech companies will always have a huge disadvantage in Canada unless something is done about the telecom situation.

Re: Gary Will: Farming and food processing in Southwestern Ontario

Unirock — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:22:50 -0000

Thanks Don!

Re: Gary Will: Farming and food processing in Southwestern Ontario

Unirock — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:22:27 -0000

Anything west of Bathurst was foreign to me when I lived in Toronto!

Re: Gary Will: Farming and food processing in Southwestern Ontario

Mike — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:09:16 -0000

thanks for the interesting post. Sure is different away from the GTA where I am convinced that people think we are all farms if west of Milton ;)

Re: Gary Will: Farming and food processing in Southwestern Ontario

Don — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:04:35 -0000

Great data here. Thanks, Gary.

Re: Gary Will: Some FedDev fundings from January, February, March

Unirock — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:14:06 -0000

Yes, I think this would be a good time to go see Brian again. It would be a loan, so they'll still have the usual assessment. Interest rate might not be the lowest.

Re: Gary Will: Some FedDev fundings from January, February, March

Derek Silva — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:32:58 -0000

Hmmm, it might be time to hit up the Middlesex CFDC again to see if I can get my hands on some of that cash for Orpheum.

Re: Gary Will: IRAP Q4 contributions for Digital Extremes, Sumagen, Polyanalytik, Miovision, Communitech

zaiking — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:08:12 -0000

Good News

Re: Gary Will: Income and housing expenses in Southwestern Ontario

Gary Will — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:25:44 -0000

They would be counted where they live.

Re: Gary Will: Income and housing expenses in Southwestern Ontario

Greg392 — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:28:31 -0000

Interesting. If someone works in Toronto and lives in Waterloo (for example), where do they get counted in these numbers?

Re: http://blog.garywill.com/2012/05/moving-ahead-in-london-new-vision-and.html

Shawn Mcewen — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:57:08 -0000

Great post Gary - Awesome to see a ground swell of grassroots initiatives acorss the province. Would love to catch up and compare notes on some of activities in this space (cultivating Start-ups and Student communities)

Best,

Shawn McEwen

Re: Gary Will: Some recommendations for the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund

unknown — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:02:43 -0000

for max impact some value should be given to sector initiatives or projects with collaboration - particularly given the magnitude of $upport

Re: Gary Will: Southwestern Ontario Development Fund: Challenges and decisions ahead (part 1)

Unirock — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:26:54 -0000

I know! I was amazed -- lived in Waterloo for ages and never knew. I thought it was something goofy they came up with for the consultation paper, but a Google search found dozens of matches, mostly from Government of Canada sites.

Re: Gary Will: Southwestern Ontario Development Fund: Challenges and decisions ahead (part 1)

Darcy Casselman — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:47:11 -0000

"Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie is actually defined as an economic unit in many government studies, especially at the federal level."

Really? You can't even get to Barrie from here without great difficulty or at least going through Toronto. I think that should be part of the definition of an "economic unit": you need to be able to get there.

Re: Gary Will: Is this the best way to meet potential investors?

Chloe — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:08:44 -0000

This sounds like it could be a make or break deal for some - very much like the TV show Dragon's Den. Still, a show such as this gives you a great opportunity to meet some movers and shakers.

Re: Gary Will: SR&ED changes don't seem as dramatic as feared

SR&EDMan — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:26:25 -0000

Nothing has changed and everything has changed! We are certainly getting more audits and they are getting more and more brutal. Most of my clients are in software development, which has always been the most problematic area to evaluate. CRA has thrown away their own "rules' on what qualifies in this sector, and auditors (CRA likes to use the euphemism "reviewers") have been directed to be more draconian. New auditors are being trained this way, so it is hardly surprising that they have no problem hacking to pieces claims that formerly sailed through audits.

Re: Gary Will: No, really it isn't the IP policy!

John Strupat — Tue, 17 May 2011 08:39:19 -0000

Keep chipping away at that message, Gary. London believes that university IP is the secret to future success. It may be to grow the research community but not to create new technology businesses. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Re: Gary Will: SR&ED changes don't seem as dramatic as feared

Ryan — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:13:29 -0000

Our experience is that the number of SR&ED audits being performed by the CRA has increased significantly. A number of RTA's hired in the last couple of months is probably one of the leading factors. The last CRA sponsored discussion I attended, it was very clear that the CRA is looking for detailed, linked SR&ED tracking and documentation.

Ryan
Precision SR&ED