From February, 2003 - You heard me speak of the “thin” middle of the technology industry in BC in my last column. I also told you that it was largely anecdotal evidence that lead me to the conclusion as the data on this industry is tough to track down. In fact, the only good data was on financing and those companies financed by venture capital. So, I went in search of companies that make up the middle of the industry, the survivors of early stage… the growth companies. But I added a twist: I wanted companies that would have been missed completely by the VC data I referred to last time. I wanted to find the success stories that didn’t raise a nickel of VC and didn’t go public. Why? Well, they would have a meaningful story to tell that today’s entrepreneurs need to hear and they also don’t get featured in a VC-centric world of early stage companies.

From July 2002 - The summer is never slow for news. You'd think that people would just kick back, relax and wait for September. They do it in Europe, don't they? Apparently not. At least not in Paris, France near the Place Georges Pompidou. Home of Business Objects SA, a $500M a year business software maker. The new headquarters for Crystal Decisions, bought last week for US$300M in cash and roughly US$520M in stock. What happened? Where did the bellwether IPO (initial public offering) go? Why isn't Crystal Decisions its own company with a fresh US$170M in its jeans ready to take on the world and make its new public shareholders happy? Why did our local success story, organically grown in Vancouver to 1,700 employees and over US$200M in revenue decide to become a branch office for its slightly larger competitor?

From August 2000 - A year ago, a small company of some 60 people was bought by a US technology juggernaut and I gushed about how it was the deal that put BC on the map. HotHaus was bought for US$280 M by Broadcom, making it the largest private technology company purchase in Canada to that point. A few months later, the Albertan pig farmers at docSpace trumped HotHaus with a US$562 M purchase by Critical Path. If you are keeping score at home, we have a new leader: Abatis Systems of Burnaby, bought for US$636 M on Monday by Redback Networks. That's almost a billion (with a B) US greenbacks spent acquiring just two companies in the Vancouver area in 12 months. If BC made the map last year, this deal helps solidify its presence as a "place to be". Batten down the hatches, Martha, this place is about to get crazy...

From May 1998 (Radical almost went belly-up in 1999 and then successfully sold to Vivendi in 2002) - I'd like to tie together a couple of points that I have made in some of my previous columns. To do this I will use a local company and its industry as an example. The company is Radical Entertainment (Disclosure: BDC Venture Capital is an investor in Radical and I am on the board of directors). A few weeks back, I argued that developing a critical mass of expertise and infrastructure for high technology in BC might require an anchor company, a billion-dollar cauldron of innovation and knowledge. I argued that the company could be Ballard Power Systems. I am pleased to share a couple of tidbits that have happened in the past week leading towards that end.