Get to Know: Phil Telio – Community Leader and Entrepreneur
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Author:
Ben Yoskovitz
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embrase get to know notman house phil telio startup camp startup festival
Most people in the Montreal tech community know Phil Telio, or at least know what he’s done to help the scene. One of his biggest contributions has been Startup Camp, by far the biggest tech startup event in the city. After seven consecutive events over a few years, Phil has established Startup Camp as a fantastic event for tech entrepreneurs.
Phil’s also busy building his consulting business, Embrase. The two go hand-in-hand in a number of ways, but he’s clearly doing what he’s doing with events and community projects such as Notman House because of his love for technology startups and entrepreneurship. His most recent project is his biggest yet: the International Startup Festival. A 2-day event in July that will draw people from Canada, the US and Europe is aiming to be a huge event focused on the business of startups. It’s a massive undertaking that will shine a fantastic spotlight on Montreal.
One of the reasons Montreal is recognized as the hottest Canadian city for startups is because of the community leaders that consistently promote it, and Phil is definitely one of those leaders.
NextMontreal: What’s your background?
Phil: I studied civil engineering and started my career as a programmer analyst. Being really bad at both I found myself naturally migrating towards a career in marketing and sales. Turns out I’m better at these. I worked for one of the first multimedia companies in Montreal (Public Technologies Multimedia). We grew the company from 6 people to 300+ in just a few years. I then got hired into a VP Marketing role at Locus Dialog, one of three leading speech technology companies in the world. We got bought out by InfoSpace, a Seattle based tech firm, and I stayed on as an evangelist of sorts. Loads of fun, and probably the easiest work I’ve ever done. Following InfoSpace, I chose to go out on my own and offer my services as an independent consultant, until the day I was convinced to join Embrase as a Partner. After a short few months I was given the opportunity to buy out my partner Vincent Guyaux. Here I am 5 years later.
NextMontreal: What does Embrase do?
Phil: The Embrase Group is an international consulting firm highly focused on the B2B communications sector. Since 2003, we’ve worked extensively in this vertical with early stage companies, high-growth startups and a host of market leaders. With startups, for the most part, we’re focused on getting them funded and to market as efficiently as possible. With those clients in more mature phases of business, we provide the expertise required to make better strategic decisions, particularly those that can bring meaningful impact to both revenue potential and shareholder value.
NextMontreal: You started Startup Camp in Montreal – when was the first one? Why did you do it?
Phil: The first Startup Camp Montreal event was held in January of 2008. The goal was simple – bring together Embrase’s corporate network with the up and coming startup community. Little did we realize how much this would resonate with both communities. Our original ambition was to bring together 50 people, but to our surprise 150 people showed up to the first event. I’ve never hidden the fact that our original intent with Startup Camp was to create an event as a marketing tactic for Embrase. It quickly became much more than that, but clearly our original intent had the desired effect.
NextMontreal: Any great stories come out of StartupCamp for you? Have you seen tangible results (for others) as a result of Startup Camp?
Phil: I am always excited to hear about the connections made at Startup Camps. We do not have a formal process for gathering success stories, but I often see references to the value of the event (ex. George Favvas and 500Startups; Chris Vinson and David Dufresne at Bandzoogle; Marc Gingras and his board of Tungle advisors.) I don’t seek out these stories, but it always makes me feel warm inside to hear about them. If anyone reading this article wants to leave a comment on the positive impact Startup Camps have had on their business I will of course read them with a huge smile on my face.
NextMontreal: Startup Camp has grown quite big now … how do you manage the growth?
Phil: Every time we run a Startup Camp (now 7 in Montreal, 2 in Miami, and 1 in Los Angeles), the event seems to grow by 100 participants. Our latest event in Montreal was about 700 participants. Its never been our intent to grow the event, so managing the growth has been relatively easy. All we need from event to event is a bigger space and more food. The rest of the event has pretty much stayed the same. When I talk to “real” event planners they are always surprised that the event is pretty much organized part-time by two people (David Chabot and myself), with great support from Sylvain Carle (Needium) and John Stokes (Real Ventures) and others from event to event.
NextMontreal:Now you’re launching Startup Festival, an even bigger event. Why?
Phil: Call me crazy, but yes we are launching a new event called International Startup Festival, which will be held July 13-15, 2011.
The spark of the idea: Following the last Startup Camp event, it was clear to me that Montreal is ripe for taking a world leading spot in tech entrepreneurship. Startups here are engaged and innovating, VC money is available, and the larger business community is extremely interested in entrepreneurship.
The drive: Why do Startup Festival? Someone has to. There are plenty of technology events and pitch events around the world, but there is no Startup event that aims to bring together people from around the world interested in “The Business of Startups.”
We currently hold events in Montreal, Miami and Los Angeles. We decided to host the first International Startup Festival in Montreal for a few reasons. Montreal in summer is an awesome festival city that is sure to attract an international audience. Montreal is well located between Europe and North America, and Montrealers rock as hosts.
NextMontreal: What are the main goals for Startup Festival?
Phil: The International Startup Festival is a two-day conference on the business of startups. It brings together industry veterans and fresh faces, thought leaders and technology giants from around the world, for a series of lean, fast-paced events. It includes startup launches, inspiring keynotes, and deep-dives into hot sectors like mobility, social networking, and gaming. The festival brings a global audience together to cover the entire startup lifecycle: early-stage innovation; scaling the business; and achieving a successful exit.
We’re all about the business of startups, from the first spark of an idea to the last signature on a liquidity event.
NextMontreal: Did you ever imagine after the first Startup Camp that you’d be in the event organizing business, running some of the biggest tech events in the city?
Phil: No. I never thought it would come to this. Events are not a business at Embrase (not formally at least). It may sound cliché, but the reality is that I am simply doing what I like in life, and part of that is connecting people. If I had set out to create the largest tech event in Montreal I probably would have failed. Startup Camp Montreal has become what it is thanks to the startups that show up and put themselves out there, the keynote speakers that generously give of there time to our community, and all those that have something to get out of connecting and networking.
We are now launching the International Startup Festival, but let me be clear, Startup Camp Montreal is here to stay. The community would have it no other way.
NextMontreal: How do you balance your event work with Embrase?
Phil: When it comes to events, balance is not the right term. Events have huge peaks and valleys when it comes to effort. So the reality is that when I work on events, Embrase mandates suffer, and when I work on Embrase mandates the events suffer. The only way I can manage the up and down is through my partnership with Larry Lisser, Thomas Howe and David Chabot. When I leave slack in spots they take it up. Without them there is no way I could do both.
NextMontreal: You’re also involved with Notman House, correct?
Phil: Yes, I am on the Board of Notman House. This project is a true passion for me. What I love about events is that they are opportunities for like-minded people to get together, learn from each other, and help each other go farther faster. Events are great but they come and go. Notman House on the other hand is a physical and permanent version of a Startup Camp event. Tech entrepreneurship evolves so quickly that it is virtually impossible to teach it in any structured format. Learning happens between the entrepreneurs at lighting speed, what is typically called peer-to-peer learning. Notman House aims to be this physical space where entrepreneurs can get together, innovate and grow.
Notman House is now open and in operation, but we still have huge challenges when it comes to funding the purchase of the house. We have fabulous support from the City of Montreal and the VC community, but we are still working hard to convince governments and corporations to support our efforts. The journey is not easy, but I am convinced we will get there.
NextMontreal: Any other hobbies? What else should we know about Phil Telio?
Phil: Hobbies, who has time for hobbies? I love to play chess, golf, go boating and fly single engine planes, but I just don’t have enough time to do any of these as a true hobby. I try to get home every night for dinner to be with my wife and 3 kids, and when everyone goes to bed, I jump back on my computer and plug away at the many details of planning events and working on mandates. Truth be told I love my Mac products, I guess they are a hobby of sorts.
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