John Major, The Ottawa Citizen / Dave Curley, vice-president, sales and marketing, at Bridgewater Systems Corp. says startups that land significant venture-capital funds should avoid ritzy digs and concentrate their efforts on marketing and their corporate game plan. He and other executives spoke yesterday at an OCRI luncheon.

Companies that secure massive amounts of venture capital might find themselves in very unfamiliar surroundings, says Dave Curley, the vice-president of marketing for Ottawa's Bridgewater Systems.

Mr. Curley said that with investments come new responsibilities a company must be ready to face.

"We have all these dreams about having lots of money and being able to spend it," he said. "But, once you get money, you start to get people who want to see results."

Speaking at yesterday's Ontario Centre for Research and Innovation luncheon, Mr. Curley talked about his own experiences in attracting venture capital and what a company should do with that money once it has it in hand.

"As a general rule, you have to multiply your marketing budget," Mr. Curley said.

"A friend once told me that marketing is a lot like going to war. It is marketing's job to bomb the beach ... so that the sales guys are then clear to move in."

He used his time to speak about the $4 million Bridgewater attracted in 1998, a figure that at the time was enough to make headlines and attract public attention. "That won't make the news today. You rarely get any news coverage unless you raise $100 million," he said. "It's up to you to reach a new noise level overnight."

He said many startups will have to market themselves to attract the attention of the media. Mr. Curley said not all companies can be like Ottawa's Catena Networks Inc., which to date has secured more than $150 million in venture capital and had a very easy time attracting attention.

"We used this funding event as an example to give the company more visibility," said Catena president Bob Machlin. "You have some positive news, you want to leverage it. Clearly every company needs to market themselves. They need to market themselves to numerous constituents, the press, analysts, suppliers and customers."

Mr. Machlin said a company should not think of landing venture capital as a starting point for its marketing campaign. Rather, it should always be marketing itself.

But, for many high-tech start-ups, spending on marketing is the last thing on the agenda.

"If you take a look at the business construct of a technology- driven startup, in a number of cases it is safe to characterize them as being technology led, with relatively little experience in operational issues," said James Frodsham, chief operating officer of Innovance Networks Inc.

Innovance Networks recently grabbed public attention of the public after it raised more than $140 million in venture capital funding.

Mr. Curly also used his speech yesterday to emphasize the importance of having a business plan that stresses a corporate brand a company can stand behind. When the money does come, he said, the company will have a game plan and know how to carry on with its marketing strategy and spending.

"Trust your plan as a common point of change," Mr. Curley said. "You have to know your brand and be consistent with it ... and then engage in water-torture marketing."

Mr. Curley said that is the process of regularly bombarding an audience with the company's name, brand and product. "It's all about picking the right horse," he said. "Big offices with new furniture and conspicuous spending should be avoided. I know it's hard because we have been there."