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Young entrepreneur drawn to the epicentre of technology development

MONCTON - A successful New Brunswick technology entrepreneur is hoping to build a knowledge bridge between the province and Silicon Valley.

Dan Martell, the 28-year-old founder of Moncton-headquartered Spheric Technologies Inc., a professional services company that specializes in developing social network technologies for corporations, left New Brunswick over the weekend.

"One thing I've always been thinking about, that's been on the back burner, is to build a product," he said, adding there are limits to the business of billing people based on providing knowledge on an hourly basis.

Martell said he was drawn to San Francisco's famed Silicon Valley because it is an epicentre of technology development.

Martell said it is easier to found a high-tech company in the San Francisco area than it is to do so in New Brunswick.

"I feel like it's going to be seven times easier for me to do it here because "¦ all the expertise I need is here, within a 20-mile radius," he said.

"I like to say that the lights are green more often here in regards to people who understand what you're trying to do. The subject matter expertise for building a company the way I want to do it, venture-backed, that has really strong proven leadership team "¦ those people are here in abundance, where they are not in New Brunswick."

Martell founded Spheric in 2004. The innovative firm grew to 27 staffers by 2008 after starting with four employees. It has a presence in seven provinces in Canada. He decided to leave in April 2008 and his last day in an official capacity with the firm was in June. Martell has stayed on as a senior advisor to the young company after selling his interest in the firm.

Martell said he was able to leave the young company because it had successfully outsourced functions such as finance, human resources and even sales and marketing, leaving just the technical work to full-time staffers.

That, along with a solid management team, means the company will be able to continue to run as it has done in the past without him, Martell said.

Martell declined to say how much he earned from the sale of his firm.

He stressed that his decision to leave shouldn't be seen as a loss or as a negative for New Brunswick.

Martell said while he left the province to seek out a new challenge and try something new, part of his motivation for leaving is to build a bridge between expertise in Silicon Valley and the IT industry in New Brunswick.

"If it's raising capital or building a management team or understanding a new area of technology, be it mobile or online video, hopefully I can connect those people with the information or the person that's best suited."

Martell said he likely won't be a permanent resident of the U.S. West Coast.

"I am here but I don't plan on staying here. I do plan on coming back to New Brunswick."

Martell said when he does return to the province, he'd love to mentor technology companies.

"I think New Brunswick has every reason to succeed," he said. "I always thought it was sad that at one point we were one of the most innovative and high-tech provinces, if not geographies, in the world "¦ I'd like to see New Brunswick get back to that level and I think this is just is one small step in a larger plan to hopefully make that happen some day.