Monthly Newsletter
December 2014
AceTech Ontario 2014 in Review

As you all know, a year and a half ago AceTech Ontario set out to grow our membership more aggressively. We are happy to announce that so far this year AceTech Ontario has added 21 new CEO members and 18 new Executive members with more on the way! This brings our total membership to 127 people (73 CEOs + 54 Executives). 

 

A larger membership has also allowed us to develop relationships with a few great community partners. In 2014, we were able to offer AceTech Ontario member's a special Roundtable with the Minister of Finance, a discount to CIX and a Power Session with North of 41. In 2015 your companies will receive discounts to attend CollabCon and the DX3 conferences. We also have a few more exciting partnerships in the works!

 

We also want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to those of you who have helped us grow by making referrals to new members and introductions to new partners. 2014 was a great year, and we look forward to an even better year in 2015!

In This Issue
Sticky Branding - Be Your Customer's First Choice
 

Duking it out with your competition is exhausting and unnecessary. Let your competitors fight over features and price. Your opportunity is to rise above the herd, and grow your company into a Sticky Brand.

 

Join us at our Quarterly Dinner on December 3rd as Jeremy Miller shares ideas, stories, and strategies on how to make your brand stand head and shoulders above your competitors and be your customers' choice.

 

Jeremy has spent time talking to some of our AceTech Ontario members, and knows your customers and your challenges.  You will gain practical, actionable ideas to make your brand stand out, attract customers, and drive sales.

 

Invitations will be coming out this month - be sure to register to attend!

 

(The talk is based on Jeremy's upcoming book, Sticky Branding - available January 2015) 

SaaS Happiness - A Guide To Measuring and Managing What Matters And Avoiding The Pitfalls
 

The true value of SaaS companies and their operation health is difficult to measure using traditional financial statements. To more accurately gage financial and operational performance, one needs to look revenue churn, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime  value and other operational metrics.

 

The beauty of SaaS companies from an investor perspective is that they lend themselves to data driven approach to measuring business performance (more so than other types of companies), making it easier to forecast their growth and therefore valuation.

 

Often overlooked by a SaaS company focussed on high-paced growth, a strong contracting strategy and effective service agreement terms and conditions are essential to success.  There are many pitfalls that can be avoided with some forethought on the part of SaaS companies as they establish standard terms and conditions for customer and other important agreements and set guidelines for negotiating these agreements.   Poorly managing service agreement programs for a SaaS company can lead to undue business risk.  It can impact how efficient and cost-effectively a SaaS company can run its business.  And poorly thought-out agreement terms and business processes can negatively impact the value of the business - both in the near term, as part of a next round financing or at the time the SaaS company is considering a sale transactions.  The good news is that all of this can be avoided. 

 

ALKARIM JIVRAJ of Espresso Capital will walk you through the essential metrics used by leading SaaS investors and SaaS operators companies to measure operational and financial performance, and manage growth investments. 

 

 W IAN PALM of Gowlings will delve into some practical tips that any SaaS company should be able to implement as part of its legal contracting practices and touch on a number of the key pitfalls and how to avoid them.  

IN THE COMMUNITY
AceTech Ontario is a sponsor at next year's CollabCon! Register before January 31st with discount code ACETECH to receive both early bird and AceTech Ontario discounts. Click here to register.
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
Eliot Muir, CEO, Interfaceware

Roberto Salerno, CTO at Rivit Technology Partners
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