Techstars Edmonton Startup Week 2021
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
✨ FEATURED✨ ML in the Wild with Amii
You’ve seen artificial intelligence and machine learning portrayed in the movies, TV shows, and books for generations but what is machine learning really? What can machine learning do, what can it not do, what happens when it fails, and what is it being used for right here in Edmonton? Join experts from one of Canada's AI centres of excellence to learn what machine learning looks like in the wild!
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Building an Employee Value Proposition to attract the right talent for your team with Harvest Academy
Join Kate Rosen, Talent Acquisition Lead at Harvest Builders, as she shares how to attract the best talent in a competitive market by building a strong Employee Value Proposition.
Leveraging the Immigrant Talent Pool to Grow Alberta Startups with Immigrant Techies Alberta
Alberta's tech sector is growing rapidly, so is our need for sustainable talent. On the other hand, we have a young, vibrant, competent and resilient immigrant talent pool that we're not making the best of.
What would it look like if we can redesign and optimize the newcomer-economy interface and once again make Alberta the first choice for new Canadians?
Join Immigrant Techies Alberta in this panel discussion as we explore this topic.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
100 No's and 1 Yes: Closing Your First Sale with Innovate Edmonton
Every start up needs that first sale, but how do you get that first sale? How do you close the deal? All the marketing efforts, all the pitches, you need to be able to close the deal. What does it take to get that first sale? After a 100 No's how do you get that first Yes.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
From start-up to scale up, Alberta’s new business Accelerators are getting ready with Innovate Edmonton & Alberta Innovates
Join us for an information session with the four accelerator programs.
Learn more to understand which program you should apply for to take your company to the next level.
This event is a partnership between Innovate Edmonton & Alberta Innovates.
Avenge Your Startup - Strategies to Build a "Thought-full" Community with Unbounded Thinking
Learn from Tony Stark.
You don’t get as far in your quest for success without having the right team and network of Avengers to save the world from destruction. Learn how to build a team and network of people for your startup to help you think through ideas, solve problems, and make decisions in a holistic manner.
We will explain the psychology of how we think and acknowledge biases, and how to make them work for you so you can build a community of cognitively diverse people to support you on your quest.
Startup Finance 101: A Legal Perspective with Dentons
From the “Bank of Mom and Dad” to venture capital, this presentation will cover the funding lifecycle for a growing startup business and how an experienced startup lawyer can provide the legal assistance you need, as you raise capital to start, grow or scale your business.
Lessons Learned as First-Time Founders with FLIK
Michelle & Ravina, Co-Founders of FLIK, sit down to reminisce over their journey together as co-founders and first-time founders. We'll talk about all the lessons we've learned in building this community of 10,000+ women from 70+ countries worldwide, the ups and downs, and how we got through it all together.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Global Morning Keynote with Odun Eweniyi
Roll out of bed, grab your coffee, and start your morning with an inspiring chat with a global entrepreneurial leader highlighting their unique journey and disruptive startup.
We all need a good pick-me-up in the morning and listening to those who have been through the process, know the struggles, and can remind us that there is a light at the end of the 16 hour days…well that’s a good morning!
This morning will feature Odun Eweniyi who is the Co-Founder of PiggyVest in West Africa.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Recruiting 101 - Attracting Top Talent with Jobs Alberta
Win the war on talent. Insider tips on how to attract and retain great people.
Fireside Chats: Startup F**k-ups and How to Avoid Them with Goodlawyer
It's Small Business Week throughout Canada, and we can't think of a better way of celebrating than getting cozy with Brett & Josh as they share some fun anecdotes about their times as lawyers and entrepreneurs.
Join the conversation as they share the startup lessons we've learned along the way that can help you prevent legal decisions from coming back to haunt you.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
How can we make innovation more inclusive with Startup Edmonton
How can we ensure underrepresented potential founders pursue entrepreneurship? The question of what prevents these potential founders from succeeding as entrepreneurs is of vital importance to not only the innovation ecosystem but our economy and society as a whole.
What are the barriers and what are the crucial next steps?
Join us for a discussion on inclusive innovation.
This event is made possible thanks to the generous support of Parlee McLaws.
People and Pipelines: Building a Scalable Data Strategy with Showbie
Showbie, a mid-stage startup, has seen tremendous organizational growth in the last year. But what do you do when more decision-makers join the team and the demand for data exceeds capacity? Is growing your data team enough? Or is building a scalable data pipeline the answer?
Join us as we share our data journey from one analyst to a team of six, and how we modernized our data architecture to increase scalability.
Showbie is the hybrid learning platform empowering millions of educators to quickly and easily manage classroom workflow and deliver personalized feedback to students of all learning abilities on any device.
Avoid needless failure in entrepreneurship with Hubble Incubator
In entrepreneurship, there are a few big ideas that if you get right, will massively increase your ability to succeed. They are not easy, but when understood they will save you a ton of time, energy, and resources. You will walk away with three tools you can immediately implement in your life and business that will make a difference. While designed for the early-stage entrepreneurs, it’s surprising how they are not well defined in established businesses.
This session kicks off Hubble's 4 part series on Hiring, Cash-flow & Budgeting, and Product-market fit. Colin has been in and around business for decades and had his share of big wins and big losses. Navigating the minefield was a disaster at first but it got easier over time. He serves as MacEwan University's Entrepreneur In Residence, has ownership roles in 6 companies in Renewable energy, Building materials, Apps, Social enterprise, and Acceleration. He spends most of his time helping entrepreneurs avoid needless failure.
Join us for fun and a ton of energy around entrepreneurship.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Strategies to Support Mental Health in the Workplace with Startup Edmonton
Tiana Field-Ridley
Mental Health Commission of Canada, Implementation Specialist, Workplace Mental HealthBecome a wellness ninja! Learn about strategies that can support mental health in your workplace and how you can build a culture of wellness in your startup or organization.
Topics include:
- What is Mental Health?
- Difference between Mental Health and Mental Illness
- Building Mental Health into Daily Operations
- Why being proactive is necessary
- How to maintain teams as your company expands
- Tools and Resources available for individuals and organizations
Navigating the AI Resources in Your Ecosystem with Cybera
Over the last few years, the AI and cloud ecosystem in Alberta has grown rapidly. There are lots of organizations that are ready to support you in your tech journey, however, sometimes it is hard to tell if they are the right match.
This panel discussion on local AI resources is aimed at innovators, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem support providers who are seeking the know-how, tools, and support to develop their artificial intelligence projects and DIY capacity. Following this panel, attendees can expect to have a better understanding of the fit of Alberta’s AI service providers/not-for-profits and how they can better leverage them.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
A Deep Dive into Local Neurotechnology Development with NeurAlbertaTech
We will start with a quick introduction to the NPO, NeurAlbertaTech, with a recap of projects we have supported since our founding in February of 2019.
Then we will dive deep into the specifics of one of our current projects, "Koalacademy" (submission to the Russian Neurotech Cup 2021), and how we are scientifically validating a Brain Computer Interface-accelerated language learning platform through traditional academic research avenues at the University of Alberta.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Launch Party 12 🚀🚀🚀 Sponsored by Parlee McLaws
Join us online for the twelfth annual edition of Launch Party! 🚀🚀🚀
Launch Party is Startup Week’s flagship event that celebrates and showcases the hottest startups in town on Thursday, October 21, 2021.
Launch Party showcases our city's brightest entrepreneurs, their tech-enabled products and celebrates everything that our startup community has to offer. Since 2010, more than 100 technology, Edmonton-based, companies have launched products at the event, including rapidly growing teams like Jobber, Drivewyze, Vertical City, Medo.ai, and Showbie.
Thank You To Our Selection Committee 👏
- NATHAN IP – STARTUP EDMONTON
- ALLIE KNULL – RESUMEFREE
- TIM KWOK – PANACHE VENTURES
If Remo is full at any point in the night, you can head to our Youtube broadcast of the formal program. Once the program is done, try again to get into Remo (through the "Join Stream" button at the top of this event) as we expect there will be additional room following the event.
Launch Party 12 is made possible thanks to the generous support of Parlee McLaws.
Friday, October 22, 2021
Parade, Meet Rain: A Fun Chat With Lawyers About Everything That Can Go Wrong with Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP
Yes, lawyers can be killjoys. But when consulted early, your lawyer can help you overcome obstacles. Or better yet, avoid the obstacles altogether. This session will introduce early to middle-stage startups to some important issues they should be thinking about, and why they should be thinking about them, including:
- Choosing to incorporate … or not
- Naming your organization (and understanding the difference between a corporate name, a tradename, and a trade-mark)
- Properly structuring relationships between founders (and what happens when things go sideways)
- Equity arrangements
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Intellectual property
- Service agreements
- Employment/contractor contracts
While these may not be the flashiest topics, they are essential to ensuring your business avoids pitfalls down the road. Thinking about and understanding these issues now can save you many headaches later.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
How to start a VC fund/Angel Network to invest in startups with StartupFuel Inc.
Attendees who are aspiring VC fund managers will learn how to set up a fund/network to invest in startups. Startup founders will learn what investors look for when making early stage investments.
✨ FEATURED✨ AI Seminar with Amii & UAlberta
The AI Seminar is a weekly meeting at the University of Alberta where researchers interested in artificial intelligence (AI) can share their research. Presenters include both local speakers from the University of Alberta and visitors from other institutions. Topics can be related in any way to artificial intelligence, from foundational theoretical work to innovative applications of AI techniques to new fields and problems.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Forward, Faster, Free- how the ERIN Coach Program can help founders flourish with Innovate Edmonton
Do you have a project or startup that needs expert help to move forward? Hear from founders and advisors in the ERIN Coach program to learn how to move your project forward, faster, for free.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
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