Mark Skapinker's guest appearances

Mark Skapinker

Startup Canada

A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson

Raymond Luk

Allen Lau

Solon Angel

Jim Estill

Paul Jarvis

Matt Wilson

Chris Johnson

Ryan Holmes

Matt Cohen

Ashley Werhun

Jeremy Miller

Kelsey Ramsden

Devon Brooks

Justin Taylor

Michael Litt

OwlTail

You may have heard of Mark Skapinker as the managing partner at Brightspark. But what you may not know is that Mark has had four separate careers and that there are through-lines in those careers that have followed him throughout his life. Listen in to hear Mark explain how he ended up where he is and why that’s important. You’ll learn about the importance of passion in building a career, how Mark made a decision that led to the “freemium” model, and what it means to be a good venture capitalist.  Topics Discussed in This Episode   What Mark’s childhood looked like How Mark ended up in Canada The importance of passion in building a career The through-lines between Mark’s various careers Mark’s decision that led to the “freemium” model Why it’s important to “go big or go home” Becoming a good venture capitalist Patterns for success and failure in cultures and leadership teams that Mark has seen The success rates that Mark’s seen   Related Links  Mark Skapinker Brightspark  Quotes From the Show  “For one reason or another, I always knew I was leaving South Africa.”  “It’s no coincidence that the counterculture of the 60s and the Grateful Dead, and people like that grew up in Palo Alto and that Apple grew up in the same part of the world.”  “The beauty of our industry is that when something succeeds, you just ignore all the stuff that fails and make-believe that that didn’t happen.”

You may have heard of Mark Skapinker as the managing partner at Brightspark. But what you may not know is that Mark has had four separate careers and that there are through-lines in those careers that have followed him throughout his life. Listen in to hear Mark explain how he ended up where he is and why that’s important. You’ll learn about the importance of passion in building a career, how Mark made a decision that led to the “freemium” model, and what it means to be a good venture capitalist. Topics Discussed in This Episode <ul> <li> What Mark’s childhood looked like</li> <li>How Mark ended up in Canada</li> <li>The importance of passion in building a career</li> <li>The through-lines between Mark’s various careers</li> <li>Mark’s decision that led to the “freemium” model</li> <li>Why it’s important to “go big or go home”</li> <li>Becoming a good venture capitalist</li> <li>Patterns for success and failure in cultures and leadership teams that Mark has seen</li> <li>The success rates that Mark’s seen</li> </ul> Related Links <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markskapinker/?originalSubdomain=ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mark Skapinker</a> <a href="https://brightspark.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brightspark</a> Quotes From the Show  “For one reason or another, I always knew I was leaving South Africa.”  “It’s no coincidence that the counterculture of the 60s and the Grateful Dead, and people like that grew up in Palo Alto and that Apple grew up in the same part of the world.”  “The beauty of our industry is that when something succeeds, you just ignore all the stuff that fails and make-believe that that didn’t happen.”

Episode 29: Mark Skapinker

Leading Canadian serial entrepreneur and VC Mark Skapinker has tough love for entrepreneurs looking to expand on their big idea. “If you’re going to succeed in this business, you need to dedicate 24 hours/day for the next 5 or 10 years of your life. You need to throw absolutely every piece of energy into it so you may as well take on a big idea, because it’s as hard to do a small idea as a big idea.” Mark Skapinker is a Managing Partner at Brightspark Ventures, a Canadian venture capital firm focusing on early-stage tech companies. He has been an entrepreneur and seed investor in the Canadian software industry since the inception of the personal computer in the 1980’s. Mark is on a mission to help grow the best early stage companies in Canada, and pivot the traditional VC model to open new opportunities for individual accredited investors. In this week’s #StartupPodcast, host Rivers Corbett talks to Mark about new sources of capital and how to give back to the community. This podcast is brought to you by Quickbooks Online, Mastercard, Rogers, UPS, PayPal, Rebel.com and Scotiabank – your partners in growing your business. The post Planting the Seed for Canadian Investments with Mark Skapinker – January 17, 2017 appeared first on Startup Canada.

Leading Canadian serial entrepreneur and VC Mark Skapinker has tough love for entrepreneurs looking to expand on their big idea. “If you’re going to succeed in this business, you need to dedicate 24 hours/day for the next 5 or 10 years of your life. You need to throw absolutely every piece of energy into it so you may as well take on a big idea, because it’s as hard to do a small idea as a big idea.” Mark Skapinker is a Managing Partner at Brightspark Ventures, a Canadian venture capital firm focusing on early-stage tech companies. He has been an entrepreneur and seed investor in the Canadian software industry since the inception of the personal computer in the 1980’s. Mark is on a mission to help grow the best early stage companies in Canada, and pivot the traditional VC model to open new opportunities for individual accredited investors. In this week’s #StartupPodcast, host Rivers Corbett talks to Mark about new sources of capital and how to give back to the community. This podcast is brought to you by <a href="http://quickbooks.intuit.ca/startright/index.jsp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Quickbooks Online</a>, <a href="https://www.masteryourcard.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mastercard</a>, <a href="http://www.rogers.com/consumer/home" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rogers</a>, <a href="https://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/bussol/browse/cat/small_bus.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">UPS</a>, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/merchant?&amp;PID1=stCVxiUYJ%7Cdc;72593487282;paypal%20canada;e;;eu84e2fpi0&amp;kw=paypal%20canada&amp;adgroup=PayPal_Canada&amp;creative=72593487282&amp;matchtype=e&amp;PID2=tCVxiUYJ&amp;network=g&amp;adposition=1t1&amp;target=&amp;devicemodel=&amp;campaign=CA_TSA_SMB_TM_Search_PayPal_General_EN&amp;adtype=&amp;geo_region=NA&amp;geo_country=CA&amp;ct=SMB&amp;obj=Acquisition&amp;ch=SEM&amp;tt=&amp;mv=google&amp;gclid=CPDxk6-S_tECFd61wAodCA4C8g&amp;mpch=ads&amp;rftp=4&amp;srce=cnvr&amp;ercc=27723-207315-2056-1&amp;spid=811003433433101599" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PayPal</a>, <a href="https://www.rebel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rebel.com</a> and <a href="http://www.scotiabank.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Scotiabank</a> – your partners in growing your business. The post <a href="https://www.startupcan.ca/2017/01/planting-seed-canadian-investments-mark-skapinker-january-17-2017/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Planting the Seed for Canadian Investments with Mark Skapinker – January 17, 2017</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.startupcan.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Startup Canada</a>.

Planting the Seed for Canadian Investments with Mark Skapinker – January 17, 2017