Finally got a chance to see the recent Next Up feature interview I did for the July 2009 issue of Alberta Venture magazine (the one that features Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People). Next Up is a regular feature in Alberta Venture that profiles emerging leaders in Alberta’s business community and public life. I was excited and honored when they called a few months back to do the feature. I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to talk about CIE, RED and to reflect on how far we’ve come since the start-up days of Hotrocket. It was also a great chance to talk about growing Alberta’s creative community through initiatives like artsScene and Digital Alberta. Most importantly, it was a chance to share many of the things I’ve experienced in the ten or so years being at this. Hopefully, another entrepreneur or two out there can take that and shave a couple years off their start-up life.

I thought Michael Hingston did a great job considering all things we talked about during our interview (and we talked about a lot!). The photo shoot in the Aboriginal Gallery at the Royal Alberta Museum was fun too, as it’s where I worked in university in the education and public programs department.

In June I was asked again to moderate a panel at the recent Banff World Television Festival. This year, our panel theme was ”The Art of Immersive Entertainment”. I had an awesome panel made up of David Gale, Executive Vice President of New Media at MTV, Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, and Dante Anderson, VP of Product Development for Kuma Reality Games. Our discussion focused around the concept of “transmedia”, essentially the art of storytelling across multiple platforms – whether it’s broadcast, online, and in the real world. Check out the Techvibes recap of the panel here.

Photo: Jeff Gomez (Starlight Runner Entertainment), David Gale (MTV), Dante Anderson (Kuma Reality Games), and me (looking a little serious)

A few weeks ago, we finally launched artsScene Edmonton and artsScene Calgary! We were fortunate to be joined by the Honourable Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, along with Nichole Anderson, President/CEO of Business for the Arts (and of course, my Edmonton co-chair, Michael Brechtel!).

Here’s some photos along with my introductory speech at the media launch that took place at the Citadel. It provides a good overview of what we have planned for artsScene Edmonton and artsScene Calgary. (Pics by 3TEN)

“I’m an entrepreneur, creative director, and member of a growing community of connected Albertans under 40 who call Edmonton and Calgary home. I’m part of a grassroots committee of young professionals across the arts and business community, all with a passion to transform Alberta into a world class center for artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators.

Last year, I was invited to speak on a panel of next geners at the Canadian Arts Summit, which brings together board chairs and senior executives from the largest arts and cultural organizations across Canada. Moderated by Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, we discussed how the “net generation” of young people under 40 are shifting the role of audience, patron, and supporter of the arts and creative industries.

It was at the Summit that I was fortunate to meet Nichole Anderson, the President and CEO of Business for the Arts, from who I learned about the national initiative called artsScene that we would eventually bring to Alberta.

At its core, artsScene is about engaging young people to grow the arts through volunteerism, patronage and support, while fueling a new generation of arts leaders in Canada. With artsScene, we see an opportunity to not only expose young Albertans to the arts, but also to activate and connect a community of young people through great events in both cities.

Over the past ten months we’ve been assembling organizing committees in both Calgary and Edmonton, mapping out events, engaging partners, and most importantly, establishing a manifesto for artsScene in Alberta. It’s our call to action for young people in our community, and it has three main points.

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Over the years, we’ve worked on several interactive projects for kids and youth on different platforms. Along the way, we’ve created a set of guiding principles that informs our design approach for kids content.

I thought I’d share:

Blur the line between entertainment and education.
Today’s audiences have more choices in the content they consume and in the experiences that they participate in. They want to engaged and entertained. To be successful, our products must be designed where entertainment value is at the forefront, supported by a foundation of educational and highly relevant content that compels audiences to continuously visit, participate and consume.

Be everywhere audiences are.
We live in an increasingly multiplatform, multitasking world. So today’s audiences expect to be able to access information and content through the channels that are most relevant to them. This includes digital channels such as web, email, and mobile, along with traditional channels such as print and television. Our products need to be designed in a way so that we can reach audiences across these channels while providing a consistent experience.

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It was one exciting day for Seek Your Own Proof. About a month ago, we were named a finalist in the seventh annual TEC VenturePrize Competition, hosted by TEC Edmonton.

After several weeks of bootcamps, mentoring, intense investor panel presentations, and an elevator pitch in front of the business community at today’s luncheon we took the grand prize in the Fast Growth Award category! Included in the grand prize was $90,000 in cash and in-kind services (which we plan to use all of).

Photos: Jason and I with the big novelty cheque and trophy.

For several years TEC VenturePrize, Alberta’s best business plan competition, has offered assistance to entrepreneurs through a six-week business planning seminar series, followed by mentorship, the competition, and professional feedback. Through these efforts, TEC VenturePrize has contributed to Alberta’s entrepreneurial culture by boosting small businesses, creating ties between established business leaders and start-ups, and developing high-growth businesses that are making an economic impact and bringing investment dollars to our province.

Congratulations are also in order for our fellow finalists SmileSonica and Swiftclips. We got to know each other well during the process and we wish them continued success as they bring their products to market!

Was fortunate to get some front page action in the Business section of the Edmonton Journal recently. It was a follow up article related to the speech I gave at the incubator event. I was surprised to find out a few weeks later that the article went national and ran in the Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Province, Calgary Herald and Regina Leader Post! It was great exposure for our company and project, and I was glad I could share our experiences with other entrepreneurs around the country! My parents would be proud.

I was recently asked to speak at an event that featured an MOU signing between five local business incubators in Edmonton. I was asked because of my experience working through several incubator programs in Alberta over the past ten(!) years… here was my speech:

“My name is Ken Bautista, an Associate Creative Director at RED and CEO of Hotrocket, a producer of original interactive entertainment properties. I’ve been an entrepreneur for over ten years. I’d like to think I’ve gained wisdom and experience, because it’s been quite the ride with plenty of highs and lows. During that time I’ve been fortunate to have had the support of incubators in Alberta, including NABI, the Accelerator Program at the Banff New Media Institute, and TEC Edmonton.

These organizations have provided my company with more than cheap rent or free marketing. They’ve empowered us and accelerated our development through mentorship, resources, and connections. They’re among our biggest champions and we’re lucky to have them behind us as we continue our development. Read the rest of this article »

Over the past seven years, we’ve grown Hotrocket into one of Canada’s most promising interactive companies, producing both client-driven projects and original creative properties, including “CIE”, our multiplatform spy-fi science series for kids ages 8-12. We’re pleased to announce that Hotrocket’s interactive strategy division has been acquired by RED The Agency.

Since 2001, RED has become one of the largest and fastest growing independent marketing communications agencies in Western Canada, with a staff of 20 full-time advertising professionals located in Edmonton and Vancouver. RED’s client list includes Work Safe Alberta, Capital Health, OK Tire, Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oil Kings, Canadian Western Bank, Edmonton Airports, Alberta Motor Association and West Edmonton Mall. Over the past 3 years alone, RED has been recognized among Alberta Venture magazine’s Fastest Growing Companies, along with national recognition in PROFIT Magazine and Applied Arts for its creative and business achievements.

After some exploration over the last few months, it became clear that RED was the perfect fit for us. Through the acquisition, we’ll combine our strengths in both traditional and digital media to create even more engaging, consumer-driven brand experiences and campaigns. While all our client-driven activity will move under the RED brand, we’ll continue to produce a select number of original intellectual properties through Hotrocket (specifically CIE).

Jason and I are quite excited about what the future holds and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with our clients in our new capacity at RED!

It’s been an amazing few weeks – lots of travel and exciting news.

I started this recent road trip in New York at the 2008 KidScreen Summit. We got great exposure after last year’s win for our cross-platform kids game CIE, so we had a busy week of meetings in the Big Apple with new projects, clients and production partners.

After KidScreen, I flew to San Francisco for meetings at the Game Developers Conference with Jason, and then headed to Vancouver to pitch at the Fusion Digital Media Venture Forum. Fusion is the only financing event in the west dedicated to digital media, so we were excited to have the opportunity to pitch to investors from Vancouver, Seattle and Silicon Valley very familiar with the digital entertainment space. After an 8-minute pitch, and a barrage of questions, the judging investors awarded us with the Best of Show award. As a result of this recognition, we won a trip to Seattle and Silicon Valley for follow up meetings with several top-tier venture capital firms.

A few weeks later, I headed to Calgary as a finalist for the Marketing Award of Distinction at the Alberta Business Awards gala event (hosted by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce). Up against stiff competition from Micralyne (Edmonton), Calgary Public Library, and Community Savings (Red Deer), we won the award, which was presented by Ruth Kelly from Alberta Venture. Being personally congratulated for our achievements by Premier Ed Stelmach was a pretty sweet highlight and a great honour too.

Yep. That’s me. A pic from inside the main gate at Pixar Animation Studios in sunny Emeryville, California.

From July 16-22 I was in San Francisco, mostly for vacation. It was the last of many business trips I’ve been taking to Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, Banff, and Toronto all within the last 8 weeks. Since we were in the San Francisco area, I thought I’d hook up with my friend and colleague Ronnie del Carmen, a rockstar story supervisor over at Pixar. I last saw Ronnie in Banff last March when he presented at a storyboarding workshop we organized. It was great seeing and chatting with him again. And, it’s no secret that I’m a Pixar fanatic… Read the rest of this article »