COVID-19 has changed my consumption habits – I don’t listen to as many podcasts anymore, but the ones I do, I enjoy immensely. My three recommendations include: Patrick O’Shaughnessy – Invest Like The Best (Finance and Investing) Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway – Pivot (Tech and Business) Andrew Miller – The Foreign Desk (Monocle 24) (Foreign...
After a series of trials and missteps over the Christmas holidays, I’ve finally found a spot for Notion in my arsenal of productivity apps. Here’s my preferred productivity stack: 📋Notion – Reference 🗳Evernote – Collecting & Archiving ✍️Ulysses – Writing 🧳G Suite – Collaborating What is Notion good for? Notion is best suited for curated content that...
It seemed like all of Twitter was posting about their past decade, in emoji format. Naturally, I piled in. Notable events: 🏨 Made lifetime Marriott elite💰 Began angel investing🦄 Founded & sold first tech company— Ian L. Paterson (@ianlpaterson) January 1, 2020 Tabulating the miles Travel is fun to quantify, mostly because the stats are tracked in various frequent flyer programs. On the...
I moved to Victoria, BC in 2009 and it took me quite a while to really ‘plug in’ to the community. I’ve listed out the key resources, events and locations that I wish I had had back then. The Town Square (Slack) First things first: the Slack community. This is one of the key communities where a lot of the tech workers in town hang out. Sign-up is available by filling out a form. YYJTech Slack...
The most active and vibrant online watercooler for the Victoria tech scene is the #YYJTech Slack community.
Employee compensation is a hot button issue there. So much so that the community self-organized and created a salary survey that saw 200+ respondents anonymously submit their salary data, along with details about their role and company.
I analyzed the data, and here are the findings.
One of the peculiarities about early-stage investing in BC is the 30% EBC (“Eligible Business Credit”) tax credit for investors.
Qualifying investments can see 30% of their principal investment returned as a tax credit within the year.
This means that an investor who invests $100k gets $30k back via a tax credit. It’s great!
We’re seeing challenge coins pop up in the cybersecurity industry as a swag/keepsake item.
Today, coins are given out to show affiliation with certain groups and having been through special events.
I travel.
A lot.
Which means lots of plane trips, and usually the sort of planes too small (or too cheap) for WiFi.
While I pack light, one of my non-negotiable travel items is a fully-charged Kindle Paperwhite. It’s enabled me to learn about the military-industrial complex that I now work in.
Here are the top 6 books covering espionage, cyber warfare, and corporate skullduggery.
Every month, I send an email out to our shareholders letting them know the key performance indicators. This monthly was a habit drilling into me by a former board member turned advisor.
Over the years, I’ve picked up a few tricks to get the most out of these communications.
Guide to SR&ED Loans for Canadian Tech Companies (Updated Oct 2019 with new lenders) The Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive (SR&ED) is a staple in Canadian startup financing. It can provide an annual cash infusion for qualifying tech companies. But the lag from filing a claim to getting cash can be long: 12–18 months isn’t uncommon. As a result, a cottage...