To mix things up a little and expand beyond the Silicon Valley startup world, this week’s episode features a Canadian startup called Vitrium Systems. Vitrium has two key product offerings: Protectedpdf, a digital rights management solution for preventing illegal redistribution of electronic content; and their latest product, Docmetrics, a tool for electronic document tracking and analytics.

In this interview, I had the opportunity to speak with Peter Nieforth, Co-Founder & CEO of Vitrium. Our discussion focuses on Docmetrics, a flash application that can be integrated with any PDF and used to track key usage statistics, including when the document was read, how many pages were read, the time spent on each page, if the document was printed, etc. It also includes an optional embedded form to capture responses directly from the reader, allowing document distributors to learn more about their customers and collect sales leads. There are currently over 30,000 published PDFs that utilize Docmetrics, which is impressive considering that the product launched less than a year ago.

In addition to discussing Vitrium’s products and technologies, Peter shares his perspective on the entrepreneurial climate and venture capital environment in Vancouver vs. Silicon Valley. He also discusses his personal background and gives some advice on balancing work and family, so be sure to check out the video!

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In Part 2 of this series on Replay Solutions, Jonathan Lindo first covers his tips for funding a startup, which involve starting with angel investors, networking extensively, and ultimately closing a round of venture capital funding.  He mentions that in today’s economic climate, it’s crucial to be able to demonstrate an exceptionally unique technology, a large user base, or corporate profitability before approaching VCs for funding, in order to create a more compelling case for your startup. Replay just recently succeeded in securing an additional $2M in VC funding, an impressive feat in this economy.

Jonathan also shares his personal background as an engineer and entrepreneur, and provides advice on what it takes to succeed in the startup world, which includes perseverance, stubbornness, and the development of a network of mentors to support you along the way.

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Replay Solutions has created a debugging tool that allows developers to record and replay any type of software execution, regardless of complexity, and effectively reproduce any issue that occurs.  In this interview, I had the opportunity to speak with the Co-Founder & CEO of Replay, Jonathan Lindo, who describes their product as “like TiVo for software.“  He describes how the Replay technology works, and also discusses their pricing, monetization strategy, and broad range of targeted sectors, which include gaming, on-demand applications, financial services, and ISVs. He also talks about his early career as a programmer, when he personally experienced the pain of debugging complex software and struggling to reproduce software issues; this ultimately was the inspiration behind the founding of Replay.

For a great overview of Replay’s technology, check out this 3-minute demo. If you’re hooked, check out this in-depth demo.

In Part 2 of this series, Jonathan shares some great advice on VC funding and other topics for entrepreneurs, so be sure to check back!

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