SENSATIONAL

PEOPLE“We’re looking for world-changingtechnology. The average investoris looking for a 10-times return.That is the reality.”- Ron Warburtonmanaging director ofventure capital, bDcAs part of his last 48hrsin the Valley event, JimBarr delivers his pitchfor Seekers Mediabrands SnowSeekersand FestivalSeekers to agroup of venture capitalinvestors and other48hrs participants.to the bootstrapping that brought the company to SanFrancisco, he gave the impression that even knocking onthem – if not getting a foot in – had offered a better viewof his future.“I don’t feel the same,” he said, just hours beforeleaving for Edmonton. “I feel so much bigger andenthusiastic. I’m so excited to get back to Alberta.”Randy Thompson’s view of the future for SeekersMedia is also optimistic, at least within certainparameters. “Is Jim going to be a global media brand?Probably not,” says the serial entrepreneur. “But is hegoing to be the leader in his space? Absolutely.”Barr is fine with that. “All of a sudden we’re a billiondollarbusiness and I can’t go snowboarding as muchanymore.”But he knows that even becoming a multimilliondollarbusiness is going to take work, along with a newplan. California’s on the back-burner, but Washingtonand Montana are new priorities – after tighteninghis focus on the local market by seeking investmentback home to finance two new positions: a businessdevelopment officer and a chief technology officer.“What we do now is make sure this is the bestproduct we can make it,” says Barr. “Are we there yet? No.“But we will be.”46 techlifemag.ca