Fusion Digital Media Venture Forum and was hosted by New Media BC with support from Telefilm Canada and the National Research Council of Canada and took place February 20-21, 2008. This forum proved that BC is a leader in the New Media industry. Over 20 new media companies pitched their ideas in two formats: either eight minute pitch with 2 minute Q&A for more advanced stage ventures or five minutes pitch only to numerous investors, and later presented demos of their innovations. Investors and well established CEOs also presented on a range of topics from financing innovation to entry through to exit strategies. A most notable keynote speaker was Adeo Ressi, the founder of The Funded. Watch for his full interview coming soon.

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Visit an earlier blog post on Fusion that includes mention of the winners.

Fundfindr.tv recently covered New Media B.C.’s Fusion Event and we really enjoyed the 20 or so pitches at the event - they were all delivered in either a 5 minute or 8 minute format. A big shout out to Adam Gooch and the New Media B.C. team for a first class event. On a whole the presenters were well prepared, had good visuals, stayed on time and engaged their audience.

Some though ran out of time before they could even deliver their punch line on “what they were looking for,” some had visuals that were too busy or hard to follow and others spent too much time talking about product rather than market. Fundfindr passes on pitch kudos to Paul Gertz of www.zeroes2heroes.com and Jasmine Antonick of Cambrian House and Steve Bocska of Gwabs for their kick-ass presentation on Gwabs desktop fighter and we really enjoyed meeting Adeo Ressi, the maverick founder of the VC Rating site, www.thefunded.com.

Watch for upcoming posts on best-in-class Powerpoint tips from some of our favourite sources like my old Procter & Gamble colleague, Dr. Andrew Abella of Extreme Presentations, Presentation Zen (both which we are adding to our blogroll), Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.

Awards were given to several of the companies who presented at Fusion based on their innovative presentations, with the “Best in Show”award going to Ken Bautista of Hot Rocket. Ian Andrew Bell of Something Simpler was runner up for Best in Show, with a tie for 3rd place going to Paul Gertz of Zeros to Heroes and Jasmine Antonick and Steve Bocska of Cambrian House’s new game company featuring Gwabs Desktop Fighter Game. Winner Bautista was presented with a trip to Seattle and San Francisco for meetings with groups of notable venture capital firms. Firms interested in being a part of this or future events can find additional information at www.thefusionforum.com.

Stay tuned to www.fundfindr.tv for more from the event and some of the presenters including Danny Robinson of www.strutta.com, interviews with some of the leading players in digital media and interviews including keynote speaker, Adeo Ressi, serial entrepreneur who anonymously started www.thefunded.com and went by his pseudonym of “Ted” until recently being unmasked and featured in Wired magazine. The funded now boasts 6000 CEOs as members and we definitely recommend it as a resource to those looking to raise funding the right way. And, as always, stay tuned for many more resources, tools and services that will ensure that your venture realizes it’s potential!