McMillan, the respected national law firm, has been a long-time supporter of Acetech. Here’s why in a story told by the McMillan team:

“While we are now part of a larger national law firm, with all the benefits that carries, our Vancouver office remembers its roots. A strong local/regional firm helping small and medium sized enterprises with the current businesses and supporting them if they seek to grow to more substantial enterprises. We see and assist companies in all phases of their life cycles, every day.

“We were able to bring the breadth of our abilities to bear in assisting one Acetech member in its sale to a strategic buyer. The company had grown to be a successful small business with attractive technology.  We began acting for them, less on day to day matters but more to address certain special issues.  But with the founder nearing retirement, we were engaged to assist on exit strategies.  After considering alternatives, including a senior management buyout, a sale to a strategic investor became the settled course.

“The sale transaction had both common and unique features – in other words, something we see all the time.  In addition to the usual purchase price adjustment and indemnity/holdback features, we dealt with some unusual purchase features given certain cross-border aspects of the client’s business.  Our team provided corporate and employment advice.  We also supported the work of the company’s auditors in providing both corporate and personal tax advice. 

“We assisted in the preparation of a full suite of documents: memorandum of understanding, non-disclosure agreement, purchase agreement, key employee employment agreement, non-competition agreement, and escrow agreement. While senior counsel provided strategic advice, specialized draft skills and oversaw the entire process, most of the heavy lifting was undertaken by senior associates and paralegals, mindful of the size of the transaction.

“In the end, the transaction closed in a successful and timely manner with no surprises. And that is the goal—less stress and predictable outcomes in a stressful time.

“Being able to assist Acetech members with matters such as these and help support tech leaders in BC throughout our 18-year partnership with Acetech has been a privilege. We look forward to many more years of assisting Acetech in its efforts to support the growth of the tech community in Western Canada and beyond.”

More about Acetech

For 30 years Acetech has helped CEOs of technology companies become better leaders through peer roundtables, executive training, and an annual Leadership Summit.

Acetech originated over informal get-togethers driven by a basic need – talking to other like-minded CEOs who understood the tech industry. It wasn’t long before the early founders expanded their dinner conversations to engage a growing group of tech leaders. That’s when Acetech and the Annual Summit were born and, eventually, a member-based model that would better serve our community by providing ongoing engagement, learning and support to help tech companies achieve commercial success.

Our passion is supporting tech leaders and their teams to lead better, grow faster and get connected. Acetech has thrived over the last 30 years because of the passion of a group of committed leaders who care about the tech community and economy, and know what it takes to succeed.

Today, Acetech continues to be a premier not-for-profit organization created by leaders for the advancement of growing tech companies. When you join Acetech you become a member of one of the most connected, supportive and high-performing communities of tech leaders.

Acetech continues to deliver the content, connections and community needed to support both strategic and operational leadership growth. We offer a winning combination of peer networks, an annual leadership summit, and executive training curriculum derived from the top business training centres in the world.

"I participated in my first meeting as a member of an Acetech roundtable this month. I can't speak highly enough about the benefits of the program. I would strongly recommend that any CEO looking to level up their corporate strategy consider an Acetech membership." ~ Kevin Dagenais, CEO at Cascadia Scientific.

If you are the leader of a technology company and want to find out more about becoming a member, please reach out to info@acetechleadership.com. We define a technology company as any company generating intellectual property that would qualify for the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (“IRAP”) and/or Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credits (“SR&ED”).

As a not-for-profit organization, we can offer all of these membership benefits at an extremely competitive annual rate.