Being an Entrepreneur | Sep 2025
- Chris Herbert
- Sep 26
- 4 min read
Covered in this Round Up: TECHNOLOGY | MUSIC | INDIGENOUS
Powerlink’s Evolution: From Office to Community Hub
Powerlink in Saugeen Shores has reimagined its role—from being purely office space to becoming a full‑on community hub. Now it offers coworking, flexible office rentals, event hosting (like Loft 1020), and experiences that draw together entrepreneurs, non‑profits, local charities, and residents. Through the AREA 81 rural entrepreneurship accelerator, Powerlink also connects local innovators to regional resources and networks.
Actionable Insight: If you’re a business, non‑profit, or entrepreneur in a small community, consider engaging with spaces like Powerlink: using shared work areas, hosting small events or cultural experiences, and tapping into regional accelerator programs to build visibility and network connections. | Read More
Disclosure: Powerlink is a member of AREA 81
TECHNOLOGY
Smart Trees, Smart Tech: Korotu’s Billion-Tree Vision
Korotu Technology, led by Sean Rudd, helps Canadian farmers reforest without sacrificing productivity by combining satellite data, drones, and a mobile app to plan, map, and fund tree planting. Insights from 135+ farmers reveal key barriers: inaccessible funding, tree maintenance challenges, and a need for tools that fit farm realities. Korotu’s platform enables shelterbelt recovery, promotes agroforestry, and supports Canada’s Two Billion Trees program by focusing on farmland’s untapped potential.
Actionable Insight: If you're in agri-tech or rural development, collaborate with farmers to pilot localized tree-mapping tools that simplify funding and scale canopy coverage. | Read More
Disclosure: Korotu is a member of AREA 81
AI Infrastructure as Strategy: Cohere’s Enterprise Playbook
Canada's Cohere’s $7B valuation jump—just a month after its last raise—signals strong investor confidence in enterprise-focused AI platforms. Its bold move to partner with AMD over Nvidia shows a strategic pivot: enabling companies to run large language models on alternative hardware while maintaining control over their data. For AREA 81 members building tools in sectors like defense, industrial AI, or regulated data environments, Cohere’s emphasis on sovereignty, modular deployments, and enterprise readiness offers a blueprint for scaling beyond the hype and into long-term contracts.
Actionable Insight: If you're building enterprise-grade AI or data tools, prioritize hardware-agnostic design and private deployment options to attract clients with strict security and infrastructure needs. | Read More
MUSIC
Announcing AREA 81 ACorp
Musicians often earn only a sliver of what their work actually generates because of value “leakage” through intermediaries. The AREA 81 ACorp project wants to test a new model in Grey Bruce where creators, entrepreneurs, and fans align to give artists clearer, faster value capture. It’s not a finished system—it’s a shared experiment: studying structures for artist corporations, learning from case studies like Alice Cooper, and helping local creators with tactics like direct‑to‑fan, premium formats, merch, and touring.
Actionable Insight: Musicians and music entrepreneurs should join or form small local pods to experiment with one area of revenue capture (e.g. premium merch drops, direct‑sales, or fan‑subscriptions) to test what works in their community. | Read More
Disclosure: ACorp is a venture development project being accelerated through AREA 81.
To Be a Musician Is To Be an Entrepreneur (2018)
The 2018 Forbes article frames modern musicians as entrepreneurs who must self-fund, self-market, and build businesses around their art using digital tools. With traditional gatekeepers losing control, artists like KOLARS show how DIY touring, fan-driven investment, and even crypto can fund growth. Success now demands more than talent—it requires business strategy, tech-savvy, and relentless audience building. Touring remains essential, and early mistakes are part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Actionable Insight: Reassess your business model—are you treating your music career like a startup with diversified income, fan-powered capital, and direct sales strategy? | Read More
Note: This article is from 2018. Is this still true in 2025—or has the model evolved?
What Makes a Music Entrepreneur?
A music entrepreneur builds more than just a performance or teaching gig—they create income streams that aren’t strictly tied to trading time for money. Unlike freelancers, who usually get paid for each hour or task, music entrepreneurs design scalable offerings: products, regional or global programs, curricula, or models that permit revenue when they aren’t actively working. They spot a need or a problem, offer something new, and build a business around it—not just a career.
Actionable Insight: If you’re a musician, start by identifying one thing you uniquely do well, package it (e.g. online course, curriculum, digital product), then test a way to sell it passively to scale beyond your time. | Read More
INDIGENOUS
Mass Timber Prefab Homes from Local Wood
A British Columbia startup, in partnership with Nak’azdli Development Corp, Deadwood Innovations, academics, and Indigenous‑led businesses, is building a new prefab housing model using locally sourced wood (including low‑value timber) for rural and remote communities. The system uses nail‑laminated mass timber panels (walls, floors, roofs) produced locally, designed to be assembled in days. Research from UNBC and support from Mitacs helps automate design and speed production.
Actionable Insight: If you’re involved in regional housing or forestry, explore forming local prefab/housing clusters that use under‑utilized local timber, incorporate community‑driven design, and leverage research to automate and scale production efficiently. | Read More
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