we're making Halton a high tech hotbed!
The Silicon Halton Story (so far!)
Who is Silicon Halton? Co-founders Chris Herbert of Mi6 @B2Bspecialist & Rick Stomphorst of SearchVelocity @StompR from FocusFrameFade Films on Vimeo.
What is Silicon Halton?
We are a grass roots hi tech community of people who make a living, make meaning, and make things happen in technology in Halton Region. We're about three key things:
Technology. We are passionate about technology and how it can make our lives and our planet better, more fun and meaningful.
Community. We are committed to connecting and creating a social network of strong relationships for IT professionals, hi-tech entrepreneurs and executives, educators, students, companies and technology enthusiasts.
Growth. We are focused on helping people, companies and the hitech industry grow and become known globally as the best place for people in technology to live, work and play.
What Do We Do?
We do all kinds of great things to help our members connect with the hi-tech community in Halton, and create opportunities for business growth and partnerships. We are providing a platform for Halton tech companies to dream, discuss, develop, test, and launch their business ideas.
We’ve created a vibrant private LinkedIn Community for our members to share ideas, discuss opportunities, and find other Silicon Halton members to connect with.
We’ve created this Silicon Halton website as a vehicle to showcase all the great things our members are doing. We also encourage our members to use this site to gain greater visibility and reach by blogging on topics of importance to them and their businesses. And, we provide the opportunity for members to use the @siliconhalton twitter feed to post on topics of importance to them and their business. Two great channels to reach potential customers and partners.
We run monthly meetups for members in Halton, rotating between Oakville, Milton, and Burlington where members present their businesses, their knowledge, and network to help each prosper. These meetups currently follow four tracks: Business Growth; Innovation, Business Optimization, and Networking. On average, 40-60 of our members come out to each event.
We also run a number of Tech Tribes – aka peer to peer groups, from CEO Peer-2-Peer to Solopreneur Peer-2-Peer – so our members can connect with their peers in Halton to discuss business ideas, share challenges, and find or share solutions.
Who Are Our Members?
Our members are hi-tech solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and professionals that either live or work in Halton region.
They own or work in all sizes of organizations, from startups, to small, to mid-size, to multi-national corporations. They are committed to creating a vibrant hi-tech community in Halton region - live in Halton, work in Halton, and do business anywhere around the globe. Meet some of our members here.
How Did Silicon Halton Get Started?
Silicon Halton was cofounded by Chris Herbert and Rick Stomphorst in October 2009. They believed that there was a need to establish a grassroots community that connected people and companies in the hitech industry together.
They believed:
- That a thriving hitech industry in Halton was critical to the economic success of the region and the quality of life of it’s citizens
- That no one was as passionate as they were about technology and the Halton region. They were wrong, there’s many who are!
- That building a community was what was needed and not starting an association that depended on dues, government funding and corporate sponsorships.
- That there already were hundreds of high tech companies and entrepreneurs doing amazing things but not enough people knew about it.
- They knew that thousands of people were commuting to Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo to work at high tech companies but secretly wishing they could work and live in Halton.
They dreamed:
- That it would be cool if Halton Region was creating the next RIM, Facebook, Google and Cisco.
- That people knew that the chances of having a successful high tech company were high if they were in located in Halton.
- That there was a great chance that you’d bump in to a person in high tech that you knew at the local coffee shop. That you could point to a young woman in that same shop and say “she started the next RIM” and both her and I are members of Silicon Halton...and she’s my client!
- That high tech professionals were able to work, live and play in Halton region. Making it possible for them and their families to have a great quality of life and reduce the impacts on our environment by working and living close together.
- That the next generation high tech products, professionals, leaders and companies all came from Halton....Silicon Halton that is.
Today
We are relentlessly focused on our core purpose which is to create a thriving community of people in technology that live and/or work in Halton region. The goal is to help individuals, companies and the high tech industry grow in Halton with our community being a key catalyst in making that happen.
Chris Herbert and Rick Stomphorst
Co-Founders - Silicon Halton
