Propel ICT’s recent announcement of its latest cohort of tech startups illustrates just how quickly Atlantic Canada is developing a huge pool of expertise in launching and scaling high-growth companies.
The regional accelerator this month announced that 38 companies will participate in its first course of 2016, including nine in its elite Build program, which is tailored to more advanced companies. What’s interesting about the group of entrepreneurs in the Build course is that the participants include authorities in their own right in a range of different fields.
Al Sturgeon, the Propel exec who will oversee the Build program, will no doubt bring in a range of mentors to teach this group. But the peer-to-peer mentorship (one of the key benefits of any accelerator) will be fantastic.
It’s great for the nine entrepreneurial teams going through this specific program, but it also demonstrates a positive development in the economy of Atlantic Canada. In the past half-decade or so, there has been a steady march of people from universities and traditional businesses into the startup segment, and they have been experimenting, failing, trying new things and seeking guidance from others.
Through it all, the regional startup community has developed a body of expertise and – this is key – an eagerness to share it with one another. It’s difficult to over-state how happy startup entrepreneurs are to help each other out. So when the Build program convenes next week, the participants will have a range of talent, experience and networks to draw on.
Propel Names 38 Startups to Latest Cohort
The group will include Heather Anne Carson, a previous Propel mentor. Carson is entering the course as the Co-Founder and CEO of Moncton- and Toronto-based Repable, which provides analytics for the gaming industry. She previously was a founding partner of the public relations and marketing firm, Onboardly, whose clients include startups around the continent. She brings a huge network to the program.
Another member is Alastair Jarvis, the Co-Founder and CEO of WoodsCamp of Lunenburg, N.S. Jarvis has a deep background in gaming and tech, and is an authority on using a lean canvas to develop business models. His last startup, Orpheus Interactive, produced the successful Sons of Anarchy game.
As well as Propel, Kelly Lawson is also taking her Saint John-based startup Ella Online Marketplace Inc. through the Fashion Zone at the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University in Toronto. Her husband is Jeff Roach, the head of social media marketing firm Sociallogical.
Then there are brothers Kousha and Ehsan Nakhaei. Their company MouseStats is now based in Halifax, but six months ago it was headquartered in Iran. The tool for analysing online user interaction once won an award for the best English-language website in Iran. These guys, who came to Canada in the immigrant entrepreneur program, grew a global client base in a country subject to international sanctions. Don’t tell they can’t teach other entrepreneurs about sales and scaling.
Others in the group include another team of brothers, Drew and Coady Cameron, the co-founders of Fredericton-based TotalPave, winners of the 2013 Breakthru competition in New Brunswick, and Colin MacInnis and Brian Best, whose company Phased.io grew out of the UIT program at Cape Breton University. It also includes WellTrack, which went through the first cohort offered of Launch36, the previous Propel accelerator.
All these people embody one of the revolutionary features of startup communities – the way that they provide sustenance for themselves and spontaneously develop business expertise. And accelerators are one way that this business knowledge spreads.
Disclaimer: Propel is a client of Entrevestor.
