Comments on: Idea: Proud Edmonton Tech Company badge

By: Branden

Branden — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:57:06 +0000

Mack.

Indeed…Edmonton deserves a bit more love for its tech scene. I’m with you. However, I’m not so sure its a bad thing that we don’t shout our geography from the rooftops.

You were right in suggesting that we havn’t intentionally left out “Edmonton”. Instead, we’ve intentionally kept any address from the spotlight. Why? Our thinking is that its simply not relevant or important for our visitors. And…they come first.

If someone really wants to find out where we live they can – we don’t hide it. But for the 99% who could care less, we’d rather focus their attention on the stuff that helps solves their real problems.

By: Jared

Jared — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:12:27 +0000

Why would the site want to pigeon hole themselves to a specific city. Theres nothing wrong with saying they are a Canadian company, some people have $ signs in their eyes and not YEG pride.

By: Mack D. Male

Mack D. Male — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:46:26 +0000

Ah, understood. Thanks for the clarification.

By: Chris LaBossiere

Chris LaBossiere — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:44:26 +0000

When they can look at Canadian Companies equally I would be happy. It’s not an Edmonton problem, but a US problem.

By: Mack D. Male

Mack D. Male — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:35:46 +0000

That’s a shame Chris. It’s precisely that issue that we’d hopefully overcome with something like this.

“You’re part of the Edmonton tech scene? Nice, I’ve heard great things.”

That’s the goal!

By: Chris LaBossiere

Chris LaBossiere — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:23:13 +0000

Great intentions but would be bad for most web-application companies that are providing any B2B service component. We have a hurde to get over with many larger US based organizations already as a Canadian company let alone being from a City that many have not heard from.

We have lost deal opportunities from being a Canadian company.

By: Slepp

Slepp — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:00:07 +0000

I like the idea, but I do believe it would make more sense for most tech companies to put up something that was a ‘Edmonton Headquartered’ instead of ‘Edmonton Based’. The change in words makes the meaning a little more clear and would probably have more a little more impact. As for the ThinkTel website, the new drafts have that we’re based in Edmonton, as does the boilerplate on all the press releases we have done.

As for where it should link to, I believe ENTS wouldn’t mind :>

By: Mack D. Male

Mack D. Male — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:56:34 +0000

Brian: I figured as much! Yeah that’s a good idea, linking to a list of companies that use the badge. I like it.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:51:48 +0000

Hi Mack,

We’ve never intentionally hidden the fact that we are Edmonton based, we simply didn’t create an About page for our launch. I think the idea is a good one though, and would add it to our site if someone creates it.

It would be great to have the badge point to a site that lists all of the companies that are using the badge to help promote the tech scene in the city.

By: Mack D. Male

Mack D. Male — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:45:04 +0000

Kevin: Definitely makes you unique and memorable, I think! It must be refreshing for people to learn about a social networking site based somewhere other than the Valley.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:34:18 +0000

Yeah, I personally agree, and if it were up to me I would have us sport such a logo… but I’m essentially the lowest rung on the totem pole there and I am speaking as much from how I know the idea would be received by those who are higher on it than me as I am anything else.
(rungs on totem poles… mixed metaphor? Neither lowest rung on the ladder and lowest on the totem pole sound as nice so I’m posting it as written)

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:34:04 +0000

Good idea Mack, and thanks for understanding our position. In social networking, if we put a label for Edmonton front and center, most traffic would assume that the site was only for people in Edmonton, which is obviously not the case. Glad you did catch the mentions of Edmonton a little deeper in though. We also have our address on the footer of all outgoing emails, which amounts to thousands a day.

I have to admit that whenever we deal with other companies in the East or the United States, people are interested when they hear where we are located. Doesn’t necessarily gain us an advantage, but I think it makes us a little more unique and memorable.

By: Cam

Cam — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:31:57 +0000

Grant – I’m not sure that would be something that would undermine you. Most companies in Silicon Valley are happy that people know they are there, to doesn’t mean that they are just focused there though. Edmonton-based doesn’t mean that you only do business here, it’s a way of supporting the tech community which makes it better for everyone in the tech industry here.

By: Grant

Grant — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:08:10 +0000

I think it’s more difficult for tech companies because, due to the nature of the business, they will often do business globally or at least have a few more remote customers. Even at the company for which I currently work, where our client list is almost entirely made up of municipal and provincial government departments or Alberta-based industry, I doubt we could really put up such a badge as we have a satellite office in Winnipeg and do some work out there too. There’s a situation where we’re clearly currently Edmonton-focused and probably always will be, at a ratio of probably 30:1, but that other stuff kind of undermines us advertising ourselves as “proudly Edmonton-based” or that kind of thing.
I do think it’s a great idea to have that kind of campaign, just not sure who would get on board with it.

By: bingofuel

bingofuel — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:00:52 +0000

That’s something dub5 has always mentioned in proposals, but not on our site (which we’re in the process of re-developing anyway). I think this is a cool idea. Would be even better if tech companies in edmonton just, you know, owned up to it.