None Found

What is incorporation and why do I need to incorporate my business?

Incorporation is the process that legally creates a corporation – a form of organization that is probably the most common form for technology businesses.  There are many reasons for this, but the three most important are probably the tax advantages one gets from incorporation; the corporation’s independent, perpetual existence; and the corporation’s limited liability.  The latter two mean that a corporation is a separate legal person, distinct from its owners, and that in general the owners do not have anything at risk other than their investment in the corporation.  For obvious reasons, these characteristics facilitate operating, financing and selling businesses.

Not every business needs to incorporate – sole proprietorship and partnership, for example, are popular vehicles in many contexts.  But the typical life-cycle of a technology business involves activities and relationships with third parties that make incorporation the best choice in most cases.

Where do I incorporate?

Incorporation is done in Canada under one of our many provincial and federal incorporation statutes. These statutes used to be quite different in important respects, but in recent years they’ve mostly been conformed and they’re now very similar (though there are still some differences that can matter for specific needs).  In Ontario, the Business Corporations Act is probably the most common statute used, but many businesses based in Ontario are incorporated under the federal Act, the Canada Business Corporations Act (”CBCA”).  Generally, because of cost and duplication of effort considerations, most businesses in Canada incorporate under their home province’s statute or under the CBCA.  Here is a recent paper from Wilson Vukelich, co-authored by my friend Jordan Dolgin, explaining some of these considerations.

How do I incorporate?

Incorporation is a pretty simple process.  There is a government fee to pay and forms to complete, but that’s about it.  Here’s a slightly dated but still useful outline.  And here’s Industry Canada’s guide to incorporating under the CBCA, and a couple of guides for Ontario.  There are a few services now that will do your incorporation online.  Or you can consult a lawyer, who can do it for you.

What about the company’s name?

I usually advise clients to defer picking a name until the dust has settled on choosing the brand. Most of the clients I work with will change their vision of the brand several times before they settle on their final choice. As a result, I usually suggest quickly locking down relevant domains on any possible choice, but staying with the default numbered name (eg., 1234567 Ontario Inc.) until the choice is settled and the brand is ready to be used in public.  Once you’re ready to pick a name there is a search process that must be undertaken to ensure that the name can be used as the corporate name.

Picking the name is obviously a longer discussion, but before it’s settled it’s a good idea to do an exhaustive search, including in trade-mark registries, for similar names.  And if the business is carrying on business or identifying itself to the public under a name other than its corporate name (eg. a brand name different than the corporate name), that name should be registered under the Business Names Act.  Finally, trade-mark registration, while costly to the typical startup, offers some advantages, and should be considered at some point.

None Found

We’re looking for contribution from smart, opinionated people who understand the venture capital industry in Canada, and can offer insight into where it is now and what can be done to fix it.  If you’d like to participate, or know someone who should, or have ideas about what issues we should address, please let me know in the comments here or by replying to me on Twitter at @rhh.  I’ll also be looking for tweets tagged with #themarkvc.

The Mark has emerged as a superb destination for smart, thoughtful news, commentary and debate in Canada.  We’re hoping to create a lively and provocative discussion about this important topic.  Will you join us?

Please watch this blog or my twitter feed for more news as we develop this project! And please feel free to help us spread the news.

None Found

If you have any constructive observations, I’m all ears – please post a comment or email me at rob at robhyndman.com.

None Found

There is no black and white here. Whether the Board’s slavish adherence to the bullying line taken by US legacy film and music interests is deliberate or arises out of ignorance is largely irrelevant. These are profoundly important public policy issues, and as citizens we rely on people in positions of impartial authority, whether because they are in government or because they present as impartial experts, to participate in policy development with courage, honesty and competence. I think we are owed an explanation. Here is a draft of an email I sent out today. I urge you to do the same – you can get the links on Michael’s post.

Update: The Conference Board has answered Michael with a response that is little more than a half-hearted attempt to deflect the issue. They sent me the same response. It was inane.

I have every confidence that somewhere on the hard drive of every PR agency flack working for the industry there is an action plan on forcing Canada to surrender its copyright laws (the annual deluge of industry association this-and-so reports is well under way of course, like the annual return of the swallows to Capistrano), and that right in the middle of that plan is this Conference Board report, likely with notations and talking points on dealing with the controversy it might create.

It’s enormously frustrating to have to continually deal with the intellectual bankruptcy of positions put forward by those under the spell of the money and power of legacy media industries. This is why Lessig stopped working on open culture and started working on corruption. Sooner or later the acolytes, consultants, lobbyists and hangers-on to US film and music legacy industries are going to have to deal with the rest of us. Thank goodness the web never forgets.

Updater: The Conference Board has recalled all 3 reports. Oh well – I was hoping we would get to have a debate. Well done, Michael.

Updaterest: Denouement. Mea culpa and the road ahead.

………………………..

Ms. Golden, Mr. Toope, Ms. Samarasekera and Mr. Wilkerson,

Please add my name to what is I hope a fast-growing list of Canadians who have informed you that they are profoundly disappointed that the Conference Board, with the aid of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, has chosen to align itself, presumably for political expediency, with legacy film and music interests in the United States, instead of performing the increasingly easy exercise, for the benefit of sensible policy development in Canada, of debunking their wild-eyed and fantastical claims of injury from Canadian intellectual property laws. Your report defies common sense, good policy and honest, impartial intellectual inquiry.

Dr. Michael Geist ably summarizes these issues: [link]

And frankly, shame on the Conference Board for holding such a one-sided public relations opportunity for US film and music interests: [link]

There are many very smart people doing hard work and making considerable personal sacrifices to ensure that Canadians can evaluate these issues in a balanced and sensible manner, far away from the moneyed influences trying so hard to skew our laws in favour of their financial interests.

The Conference Board, with the aid of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, has done enormous damage to his process, engaging in acts of seemingly breathtaking intellectual indifference and dishonesty, and frankly, you have much work ahead of you earning back the trust you have so cavalierly frittered away by these actions. I hope you begin this process by responding immediately to the questions Dr. Geist has directed to you.

Yours truly,

Rob Hyndman

None Found

Here’s part 1 of my keynote conversation with Jessica Jackley of Kiva to get you started.

None Found

None Found

And we did it all in less than 2 weeks. Using Twitter.

For a moment after I woke up the next day I wondered – did it even happen at all? It seemed to come together and pass *so* quickly. Well, yes it did happen:

Joey was there. Andrew was there. And many of our other friends were there too. There was a lot of dancing. *A lot*.

And while the frenzy has now subsided, and Jay Goldman, Lee Dale and the rest of the all-nighters have now gone home, for a while #HoHoTO seemed to be all that any of our friends were doing or talking about.

DJs Duarte Da Silva and Ryan Taylor presided. We played video messages from a whole bunch of tech and Toronto notables including David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto; Biz Stone (a founder of Twitter); Tara Hunt; Nora Young and the rest of CBC’s Spark team, and many others (much love to Michael O’Connor Clarke for making those videos happen). We also streamed twitters to screens in the Club – you can see an example here (and yes, the DJs did rickroll #HoHoTO).

How did we do?

@meghatron: Had a blast at #hohoto. Now in post-afterparty decompression, although it sounds like some of you are still trooping on

@RohanJayasekera: Happy to have been at #hohoto till the very end. OH “best party ever”. Well done, all organizers!

@Igniter: goodnight to all the #hohoto folks – great night – great thanks to all who contributed and created!

@remarkk: I absolutely LOVED #hohoto Best manifestation of the amazing tech/media community of Toronto that was given life by @davidcrow and Barcamp

@larrylarry: FBstatus: Had an awesome time at #hohoTO and am glad we raised so much money for Daily Bread Food Bank!

@robtyrie: #hohoto that was one great Toronto party…. best, can’t wait for the next @rhh…. we’re in

@charlesfinley: #hohoto was so much fun!

@emenel: Arriving home after #hohoto – amazing night

@Evendir: What a night, already can’t wait for the next #hohoto! My dancin’ feet may have recovered by then

@rlangdon: Oh, what a night! #hohoto

@OliverRanch: @photojunkie You did a great job at #hohoto have photo of me and my beautiful daughter, thank you so much

@astroboy: Tired. Friend did not answer the door as planned. Heading back to Barrie. #hohoTO was AWESOME!!!!

@MichelSavoie: Finally home from #hohoto! Going to bed. I have to be up in 4 hours. Eugh. Had an amazing time with @ilovecpstyle and @rlangdon

@scrawledinwax: Thanks much to the #hohoto team. Amazing! Even a wallflower like me met people and had a great time (and, erm, got a little toasted).

@larrylarry: Too much fun at #hohoTO i must now pass out :)

@boyreporter: had fun at #hohoto and now has a few more fashion blogs to add to the old RSS reader

@JBreckenreid: http://hohoto.ca/ was fun! Yeah! I am inspired

@nicopop: Attendees, sponsors, and especially planners (!), of #hohoto should sleep well tonight. Yay!

@fuzzz: Can you imagine the trouble we could get in if #HOHOTO was on a Friday or Saturday night?

@paul_henman: is heading home after#hohoto – lots of fun!

@davefleet: Fantastic night at #hohoto last night. Congratulations to all the organizers – you pulled-off an amazing feat

@traderzed: Good morning. Sort of. #hohoto was pretty fn awesome. Was dancing until 1am with @ksavo <3

@cherylmckinnon: OH My God! Why does this morning of all mornings need to be the monthly office fire alarm test. Ow my head #hohoto

@bbuset: What a beautiful morning – but could someone please turn down the brightness #hohoto-aftermath

@josephdee: #hohohungover :) #hohoto

@lorikong: @photojunkie Thanks again for the wonderful memories from #hohoto p#hohohotobooth! You’re truly an amazing photographer!

@krisreyes: #hohoto great time at the Mod Club, so proud that a small group of people organized such a cool event, for a good cause so quickly!

@irisng: #hohoto 2009 should be on a Friday or Saturday so we can all recover the next day instead of being walking zombies at work

@dpjanes: Breaking news: #hohoto causes 1 million dollars in hangover related damage to the Canadian economy.

@astroboy: I am thinking that today has turned into a day off for me. I’ve yet to do *ANY* actual work thus far. Still enjoying the post #hohoTO glow!!

@dwf: Thanks to #hohoto, today is probably going to be one of the least productive (Tues)days in Toronto tech industry history

and my personal favourite, from co-organizer Michael O’Connor Clarke (from whom a remarkable number of our accomplishments came):

@michaelocc: Think I’m still in mild shock. #hohoto

Me too.

Ryan has an amazing wrap-up video on the party. And Michael has a great wrap-up post.

There will be lots of photos about #HoHoTO posted over the next few days. Many of them will incriminate people you know. A lot of them will be here and here.

Lots of the pictures were taken by one of the team – Rannie Turingan set up the p#hohoto booth and took pay-what-you-can photos of our guests – and pay what they could, they did. Here are his shots (this one’s near the end of his pics).

Here’s one of my favourite pictures – taken by our friend Heather Williams – that’s Calum McGuigan of the Daily Bread Food Bank accepting the cheque.

Our guests came with money and food and left with great memories and hopefully a lot of pride over what they helped accomplish. People gave very generously – many made cash donations to the Daily Bread Food Bank while they were buying their tickets.

And we had *fantastic* sponsors – really decent folks who put their hands up right away – you can see who they are at the site.

And finally, here are the people who put #HoHoTo together:

Leila Boujnane – CEO, Idée Inc.
Alexa Clark – Managing Partner, Plethora Press
Ryan Coleman – Chief Community Evangelist, VizThink
Duarte Da Silva – Senior Manager, Communitylend.com
April Dunford – Director, Incubation Marketing, Nortel
Peter Flaschner – Founder, The Blog Studio
Sheri Moore – Partner, Creative Director, MCC Planners Inc.
Michael O’Connor Clarke – Vice President, Thornley Fallis Communications Inc.
Michael Penney – El Presidente, Afterlight Films
Michele Perras – Manager, Mobile Experience Innovation Centre
Corey Reid – Chief Cat Herder, FreshBooks
Ryan Taylor – Goldsmith, Adventurer, The Fair Trade Jewellery Co.
Rannie Turingan – Photographer, photojunkie.ca
Elena Yunusov – Founder, communicable.ca

I’ve written already about the wonderful chemistry we had as a team and how important being generous with each other was to this success.

But what I didn’t say was how genuinely decent everyone on that list is, and how proud I feel to have been part of this team.

See you next year!

Update: And when it was all over, they called in the Army.

None Found

A great example of this is a group of people I’ve been working with lately. This group has, in a matter of days, put together a holiday party we’re calling #HoHoTo, to be held on Monday December 15th at The Mod Club here in Toronto (sorry, it’s sold out!!).

That’s right: sold out – in a matter of days. And The Mod Club’s capacity is over 600 people. How did this happen?

Well, there are a lot of answers to that question, but I think the best one is that it happened because of creativity. First, and most important, is the community that’s involved in this party – as we say on the site, “It’s for geeks, phreaks, webheads, twitterfiends, techies, media, marketing, and PR types and all their friends.” So, we were appealing to a group of people who are exceptionally open-minded and supportive of new ideas. They recognize a creative effort, and respond to it with understanding and enthusiasm. But also very important was the creativity of the organizing group itself (you can see a list of these wonderful people here). At every step of the way this group said “yes” to new ideas. There was no ego on display, no position-taking, no territoriality and no negativity. The team treated the exercise as a giant whiteboard – it filled the board with ideas and then arranged them into what we now have. I’m convinced that this attitude was core to our ability to take a pretty complex challenge and make it happen efficiently – and have a lot of fun doing it.

I’m more convinced than ever that knowing how to say “Yes”, and treating others with the generosity of spirit that this requires, is vital to meeting challenges well – in your business, and in life.

None Found

I really can’t say it any better myself – take it away, Leila:

None Found