How to start a start-up 5 most important links

1. Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup - from Sam Altom Yconbinator (lecture CS183B)
2. David S. Rose: 10 things to know before you pitch a VC or an Incubator
3. Great book: Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed
4. How to better phase your startup vision
5. Why not start a Startup (Dave McClure @startup500)

Alarming stats in economic development conferences in Quebec

When I heard that the ratio of International Startup Festival tickets bought from Montreal related people is rising and has reached 50%, my was first question was who are does people?

• The increase is mostly due to economic development related organisation you see everywhere like: EQ (Emploi Quebec), CDL (Centre Local de Developpement Economique de ...), SDEVM, Fondation du Maire, SAGE, CEIM, CRSNG, NRC/CNRC, NSERC, RealVenture ...
• consultant firms like:  Pwc, KPMG, Fasken Martineau, Deloitte, ....

Its the same behaviour you see everywhere, another good example is iexpo.ca (Salon Haute techno et Média Sociaux).

We in Quebec are heavily subsidizing organisation that are suppose to help SMB but now it seems we reach a point where indirect/direct economic development is just too big for the market its suppose to serve. Quebec society has to stop increasing graht to those organizations, a better move will be to help startups directly who are struggling financially. As mentioned in my post on "Strategie Québecoise de l'entreprenariat: what's in it for startups", most money to strength entrepreneurship is drain by inefficient organisations who just see government as a cash cow.  

I think some organisations have reach the level of parasite state, I might be wrong but its what I see from data, sorry. 

Hire personality, train talent or Hire for Skills, Not Attitude?

I am annoyed everytime I am contacted because someone is looking for skills either for my or my network. I use to remind them this principle "Hire personality, train talent". Lately I got challenged about that idea about innovation and been pointed to forbes article "Want Innovation? Hire for Skills, Not Attitude" which was quite interesting. 

Here are the highlights of the argument: 
....
But, attitudes will only get you so far, and when real change is needed —innovation, for example — then attitudes are not likely to be enough to get you to where you want to go. In such situations, you need skills, and lots of them.
....
Hiring for skills, instead of attitude, changes everything. For one thing, if you do it right, and that means hiring the best obtainable, rather than simply settling for the best available, you’re going to be looking at a team of ambitious high-performers, not a team of happy-campers. 
...
So, here’s a new mantra: For everyday work, hire for attitude, train for skills; but when big change, such as innovation, is envisioned, then hire for skills (because you need them) and figure out how to deal with the attitudes (because, all too often, they come along with the skills).