Last evening, nextMontreal featured a post about an unusual upcoming boxing match that will see an LP and a GP of a Venture Capital Fund go at it, in the ring!

These Knockout Entrepreneurs! are Jacques Bernier of Teralys Capital and François-Charles Sirois of Telesystem. Sounds crazy to hear that two major players in the Canadian Entrepreneurial and investment community are going at it, with gloves? Well at least, it’s for a good cause.  It’s an “Invitation-Only Event” and all proceeds from the event will support both St-Justine and the Centre of Excellence for Cellular Therapy of Hôpital Mainsonneuve-Rosemont.

It should be a memorable match.

Here is an excerpt of the blog post by Chris Arsenault on the nextMontreal web site October 28th, 2010.

Canadian GP & LP put-on the Gloves for a great cause on Nov. 18th

Do you remember the last time you got into a heated argument that culminated with your adversary laying down the proverbial gauntlet by issuing those infamous three words – “I dare you!”? Then, without even a shadow of a doubt and before you can even comprehend the seriousness of the situation, you responded with a testosterone-tinged “Sure, I’ll do it – name the time and place!” More often than not, the consequences of such actions end up being more than you wished for.

Now, to be honest, I’ve given more than my share of cocky replies over the last 20 years in the business. That being said, I can also say none of my “quick replies” ever landed me in a prize-fighting ring versus a trained boxer who also happens to be Canada’s largest VC and PE fund investor!

Yes, ladies and gentleman; Jacques Bernier, Managing Partner at Teralys Capital, has dared the VC community to face him in the ring. He is wants to go at it, one-on-one and show what it what he’s made up of.

Personally, stepping into a ring is already something I consider a little crazy. Furthermore, to go out and face one of my future potential investors in a boxing ring is almost suicidal. It’s definitely a lose-lose proposition…Or is it?

François-Charles Sirois, a dynamic young entrepreneur (and also President of Telesystem – one of Canada’s most active entrepreneurial investor through its numerous funds), heard the calling in October 2009. When Jacques threw out his “I dare you” in a friendly meeting, François-Charles rapidly evaluated the odds of winning or losing, the time he needed to train, the muscle-mass he needed to gain to face Jacques, identified Jacques’ main weaknesses, calculated the difference in age and speed, and rapidly (because all of this happened within a micro-second) answered back: “Sure, I’ll fight you. Give me a year to prepare. Oh, and by the way, I care tremendously for a specific foundation that gives support for kids and want to give 100% of my winnings to the Fondation Sainte-Justine.” “My winnings” – talk about a bold statement! Jacques quickly replied: “Perfect – but to be clear, my winnings will go to the Centre of Excellence for Cellular Therapy of Hôpital Mainsonneuve-Rosemont, which is a cause close to my heart”.

Definitely, François-Charles is walking into this adventure with but one objective in mind – to win! While Jacques already knows he has won!

Please checkout the nextMontreal web site for the full article (clik here)

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This is a repost from the amazing video-blogger Kristina Tomaz-Young of Venture Cap TV

Welcome to our THREE part video cast series of the Canadian Venture Capital 2010 Conference. And, what an event it was! Check out the must see videos below, here for the link to file of all speaker bios and here for the link to the picture gallery.

Prominent leaders from the private equity and venture capital community participated in record breaking attendance! It’s speaks much to the energy that the CVCA passionately commits to the industry.

Sleeves were rolled up, ideas were churning….you could literally feel the exciting energy pulsating throughout the crowd at the panel discussions and in the hallways. Lessons & opportunities were shared, valuable contacts were made, and fun was also most definitely had at the evening gala with their Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the hilarious Rick Mercer show, not to mention the Scotch tasting event and great mingling!

This year’s theme was Driving Innovation. And we were privileged to learn from impressive keynote speakers like Glenn Hutchins co-founder and co-CEO of Silver Lake and red carpet panelists including Jacques Bernier (Managing Partner of Teralys Capital), Chris Albinson (Managing Director of Panorama Capital & co-founder of the C100), Paul V. Lee (Managing General Partner of Vanedge Capital and so many more who shared their perspectives and sector possibilities to explore. If you’d like a full line up of the presenters and their bios, please click here. Conference Chair David Adderley of Celtic House Venture Partners and his organizing committee certainly put on an unforgettable, valuable conference for the private equity and venture capital community.

So if you’re raring to go…come check out:

• Part 1 features Day 1, Part 1 where we’ll meet brilliant, innovative thinking venture capitalist and conference Chair David Adderley who shares a great recap of this incredible event as well as one of the CVCA’s highly valued sponsors, the eloquent Ann Bowman of RBC.

• Part 2 features the rest of Day 1. Come here what Chris Albinson (Panorama Capital) and KenKen Cheveldayoff (a Ministry of Enterprise at the time of the event) have to say about what our Canadian companies do very well, what we need to fix and our opportunities here and abroad.

• Part 3 covers Day 2 looking at innovative ways to approach new markets globally, what the future holds and breeding success with entrepreneurs. Check out our interview with Jacques Bernier (Teralys Capital) about rebooting our system to be the best, what we do right and what we need to improve. We also had a chance to meet up with Paul V. Lee (Vanedge Capital) who spoke to us about the closing of his exciting new fund and the exciting opportunities available.

• And for those of you who’d like access to Jacques’ reboot analogy, for an entertaining depiction of our industry scenario! Ah, yes, it’s never boring with Jacques!

Before we dash, a few words of thanks for the accomplishments, kindness and generosity of our colleages..so:

• Thank you to Richard Remillard (CVCA Executive Director), Lauren Linton (CVCA Marketing Director), the CVCA team and the conference Chair David Adderley for an outstanding event.
• A big thank you to all our featured guests for taking the time to share their rich advice and experiences.
• A special thank you Christian Zabbal of Black Coral Capital for opening doors and encouragement ever since vc-tv was a spark in my eye!
• Un gros merci beaucoup to the energetic, brilliant Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital the CVCA’s 2008 Conference Chair (which was also a record breaker!) for being a relentless, passionate champion for the venture capital/start-up community and growing eco-system. We’re privileged to have you at the helm with your fellow leaders.
• Thank you to the video production start-up company FFwd Films for your talent and delivering on your promise to produce a professional product. Challenges, obstacles and extraordinary circumstances & all, we kept on going and we did it!!!
• Much gratitude to Embrace and your wonderful fellow sponsors for your kind sponsorship and valuable support.

And, thank YOU for visiting VC-TV. Come back again real soon!

(*Please note that out video casts are normally posted very soon after each event or interview. This was the first time we were delayed. We’re a start-up, and like many start-ups, we ran into some start-up challenges. But, solutions were actively sought, situations were co-operatively resolved, and we’re so pleased to share our coverage of the event with you. And this time, rather than one videocast released at a time, here’s all three! We hope you enjoy them!)

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And now VC-TV extraordinaire Kristina Tomaz-Young gives us Day 2 of the CVCA Annual conference which looked at how investors get their edge in an evolving market, with growth opportunities in the cleantech sector, and increasing fund raising challenges and opportunities for VC’s and private equity players alike. This is the second video cast of a 3 part coverage of this year’s CVCA 2008 Annual Conference held in Montreal Quebec, at the Fairmont – The Queen Elizabeth Hotel on May 28-30^th.

Part 2 of 3 features highlights from the final day of the 2008 CVCA annual conference: Face of Change. This video cast features an interview with this year’s organizing committee’s chairman, Chris Arsenault of iNovia Capital, and a chat with conference participant, Grant Kook of Golden Opportunities.

Please check out this coverage and meet Kristina at VC-TV Venture Cap TV blog at www.smartinitiatives.com

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Chris Arsenault sits down with VC-TV (Venture Capital TV) about the upcoming CVCA annual conference “Face of Change”. You can meet Kristina and the VC-TV team at the CVCA Annual Conference.

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