Our First Year

Year One

We are approaching our one year mark since opening up the company and we have to say, the first year has flown by. We’ve had ups and downs but luckily mostly ups. Going from employees to employers was a big stepping stone for us but we are very happy we took the chance.

The Beginning

We had many talks over many beers, always discussing what we would do if we started our own company, how we would do it and why we wanted to do it better. After months of procrastinating and thinking of a plan, we finally decided to take the plunge, quit our jobs and start our own company.

The Few First Months

So what did we want to do? Well, our first order of business was legally creating the company. We brainstormed for ideas over snacks and local beer, took a vote and voila! Calico Logic was born.

We hired lawyers who helped us turn our name into a corporate company. We made our website, opened up a bank account, and we were off and running.

Next, we needed cash flow. We needed to start working on projects to bring us enough income so we could afford to feed ourselves and maybe have some fun every once in awhile.

Luckily, with our many years of experience in the industry, we had some contacts to work with to create some business for ourselves.

For the first few months in business we worked solely for our corporate clients. We started networking to get our name out into the Vancouver tech scene.

After putting ourselves out there, we started getting contacted by individuals who had cool ideas for mobile and online applications.

We learned a lot about taking on smaller ventures, which is a whole other topic that we’ll eventually write about.

A Few Months After That …

When we got sick of working out of our apartments (that didn’t last long) we decided it was time to get an office. This was a big step!

Once we got an office the ball started rolling. Two out of the three of us were working in-house for our corporate clients so we decided it was time to hire someone to help with the extra work we had coming in.

After hiring our first employee we decided ‘hey, why not incorporate some co-op students’. Not only does this bring in affordable employees but it also makes you eligible for grants! Nothing better than some grants to help out our growing operation.

Happily Ever … Ongoing

We are at our one year mark and we are happy and fortunate to be in the position we are in. We are still a small company with high hopes and dreams of growing, but we’re told these things take perseverance and time.

We learn more every day on how to run our business better and perform as a well oiled machine and we’re getting there!

Some of the important things we learned are:

1. Network, network, network (how else will you get your name out there?!);

2. Do your research and find out what government grants you may be eligible for. There are a lot of grants for co-ops, new technologies, small companies, etc.

3. Don’t limit yourself - be open to new ideas. Some of our favourite projects have come from ideas brought by friends or family members.