CVCA 2008 Conference: Daring VC and PE Players to be the Face of Change

Chris promised and he delivered… in full force!

The unstoppable Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital was the chair of this year’s CVCA Annual Conference held this past May 28th-30th at the prestigious Fairmount Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. Chris and his team have certainly outdone themselves. They’ve thrown down the gauntlet and challenged the venture capital and private equity communities to come up with ideas and solutions for how they can be an effective face of change.

This record-breaking, sold-out, premiere networking and professional development conference was like being at the Canadian venture capital and private equity communities’ version of Woodstock with the who’s who and what’s what’s attending and being covered during these three very eventful days. This year’s theme, Face of Change, featured many well renowned speakers and panelists from North America and beyond including the ever edgy, no nonsense Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, the “tell it like it is”, brilliant Andrew Waitman of Celtic House Venture Partners, and many more. 

The CVCA stirred the pot, launched lively debates (not only just on stage but in the corridors as well!) and ignited some interesting discussions between attendees. We were also treated to the release of a special report (the first of its kind!) on the private equity industry and buyout investors (click here for a copy).

In a nutshell, the private equity scene is faring well, especially in terms of buy-out returns and benefits for the economy, investors and the invested. For VCs, the fire is burning a bit low and needs to be re-ignited. And although many of the VC stats were grim, speakers and panelists rattled the cages, shared valuable advice and got people thinking about how they can be the face of change and improve the future.

And, it wasn’t about all work and no play either as the CVCA offered participants a day of golf, a fun gala evening including the announcement of their Entrepreneur of the Year Award (we’ll tell you who won in Part 2 of our video cast…), a Scoth-Tasting event and a rock concert featuring Moonalice. 

It was an action-packed programme. And you can click on the PLAY button above to get a taste of the first half of the conference featuring: Rick Nathan (CVCA President), Jevon MacDonald (Startup North and Firestoker….Listen up VCs, angels: check out his interview to hear how he says you can get a first pass at the right deal-flow before the competition does), John McIntyre (Birch Hill Equity Partners) and William Woods (CNQ, Canada’s NEW stock exchange…For you start-ups seeking to raise funds:  their site is worth an exploration!)  

Come back next week to see Part 2 covering the rest of the conference and Part 3 featuring the dynamic keynote speaker, Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners. That video will have you taking notes and running to the drawing board!

For more coverage, check out Heri’s Montreal Techwatch  (am a big fan of Heri’s) and Karen Mazurkewich’s columns at the Financial Post  on May 29th and May 30th as well as at CanadaIT.com

Thank you for visiting VC-TV and come back again real soon!