Winter 2013 Startups
Stylekick
ELEVATOR PITCH
Of all apparel bought online, 40% is returned and 75% of these returns are due to poor fit. This is a $6B problem for retailers and a pain for shoppers. Stylekick is a service that suggests a size based upon an item you have in your closet. You can also search for clothes based upon a specific attribute like sleeve length, waist, or material. Without any 3D scanners, personal body measurements, complicated machines or gimmicks, we can help anyone find the fit they want.
COMPANY VISION
Make online apparel shopping more natural.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
To bring our product to market and raise a seed round.
team
Anand Dhillon, Natalie Gray, Karn Saroya
- category Fashion, retail, data analytics, e-commerce
- website stylekick.com
- founded 2012
stylekick elsewhere
- Name: Anand Dhillon
Title/Role: Chief technology officer
Bio: Health and fitness nut. Avid meditator.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Top 15 VB developer in Canada in 2002.
Favourite Quote: “Keep the company of those who seek the truth; run from those who have found it.” – Václav Havel
Why are you an entrepreneur? I want to come up with novel solutions to unsolved problems.
Personal Social Media Links:
- Name: Natalie Eva Gray
Title/Role: Co-founder and CEO
Bio: Former marketing co-ordinator at Rush Communications in New York City for fashion and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Master of arts in marketing at New York University (paused), bachelor of commerce and bachelor of arts in math at Queen’s University.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Completed a four-year degree in mathematics in one year at Queen’s University.
Favourite Quote: “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.” – Dory from Finding Nemo
Why are you an entrepreneur? Because I am very good at managing career risk.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Karn Saroya
Title/Role: Co-founder
Bio: Worked as a management consultant for four years, interned at a venture capital fund, travelled and went to school in a couple of interesting places and mastered the art of moonlighting.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I won a Fulbright Scholarship to attend graduate school.
Favourite Quote: “To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.” –Abraham Maslow
Why are you an entrepreneur? There is something very fulfilling about dreaming things up and making them both real and useful.
Personal Social Media Links:
PUSH
ELEVATOR PITCH
PUSH is an app-enabled fitness device for analyzing, managing and tracking the progress of your weight training workout. PUSH's user-friendly smart device attaches to all common weightlifting equipment allowing anyone from a pro athlete to a casual fitness lover to track and analyze performance and progress using a smartphone. Vision: Prevent injuries and improve performance for all athletes through smart monitoring and intelligent design.
VISION
Prevent injuries and improve performance for all athletes through smart monitoring and intelligent design.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
Get our product out there in the hands of consumers and pro athletes and build the foundation to be the leader in smart athletic performance solutions.
team
Mike Lovas, Rami Alhamad, Suresh Joshi
- category Sports technology, fitness, mobile
- website pushstrength.com
- founded 2012
push elsewhere
- Name: Mike Lovas
Title/Role: Co-founder and chief design officer
Bio: Healthcare designer, industrial designer and biomedical engineer.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Founding and directing the Sustainable Design Awards.
Favourite Quote: "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." – Rumi
Why are you an entrepreneur? I am an entrepreneur because I have wildly broad interests, thrive on collaboration and love setting my own schedule. It also seems to be the easiest way to make change.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Rami Alhamad
Title/Role: CEO
Bio: An engineer who is into robots, spicy food, Helvetica and world domination.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I don't have an achievement that I would go back to so easily to say, “This is it—this is the one I want to show off.” I guess I'm just going to have to make my time at JOLT my most compelling achievement to date.My most recent achievement was taking an idea I had for a panel discussion and art exhibit tied to Syria (I was born in Damascus) and making it happen. I thought of the idea, worked hard to make it happen, got the right players engaged and four months later we had over 250 happy attendees, a lot of media attention and good feedback all around. The topic of the panel discussion was the future prospects for the Syrian nation post-Assad. The event was held at the Royal Ontario Museum on November 29, 2012. Check it out at visionsforsyria.com.
Favourite Quote: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton
Why are you an entrepreneur? We all know the expression “Don't talk about it, be about it.” I want to be an active player in the tech revolution that we're witnessing around us.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Suresh Joshi
Title/Role: Co-founder and chief technology officer
Bio: Amateur entrepreneur. Intermediate pastry chef. Professional software developer.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Learning enough French in two years to successfully defend my master's thesis.
Favourite Quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” – Marianne Williamson
Why are you an entrepreneur? What else would I do?Personal Social Media Links:
FlyerFlo
ELEVATOR PITCH
FlyerFlo is modernizing paper flyers with a free mobile app that allows consumers to discover new brands and receive personalized promotions from all of their favourite local retailers. For retailers, FlyerFlo increases return on the marketing dollar by providing a mobile platform and actionable analytics – engaging shoppers with contextualized offers is no longer just a pipe dream, but an accessible reality.
VISION
To be the preferred mobile platform for retailers to target and engage consumers, eventually supplanting print flyer distribution and becoming the single go-to source for shoppers looking for personalized deals and promotions.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
Grow our network of retailer relationships and build upon existing traction by delivering FlyerFlo to major markets across Canada and the US.
team
Clayton Tso, Joannes Chan, Mark Hopson
- category Retail, mobile advertising, mobile analytics
- website flyerflo.com
- founded 2012
flyerflo elsewhere
- Name: Mark Hopson
Title/Role: Co-founder and developer
Bio: Food. Movies. Tech. Travel.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I wrote my first app in 2004 on a Nokia Series 40 phone.
Favourite Quote: “Illegitimi non carborundum” – General Joseph Stilwell
Why are you an entrepreneur? Adventure.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Clayton Tso
Title/Role: Co-founder, business and product development
Bio: Sucker for anything digital or mechanical. Obsessed with DIY and finding different and unusual ways to do things better.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Became a senior consultant at Deloitte in less than three years and had a good time doing so.
Favourite Quote: “I'm never pleased with anything, I'm a perfectionist, it's part of who I am.” – Michael Jackson
Why are you an entrepreneur? To make my DIY lifestyle not just enjoyable, but sustainable, too.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Joannes Chan
Title/Role: Co-founder, technology and product development
Bio: Code monkey, musician and TV junkie with a penchant for all things digital. Known weaknesses include Netflix and poutine.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I started Runaway Cog Studios and successfully launched Bird Blaster, an indie shooter game for iOS devices.
Favourite Quote: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
Why are you an entrepreneur? Making stuff is fun. Making your own stuff is even more fun.
Personal Social Media Links:
Flee
ELEVATOR PITCH
Flee is a travel recommendation application that combines a streamlined booking process with highly curated original content. Flee cuts through the convoluted online travel booking process, allowing users to spend less time researching, and more time experiencing. Flee’s elegant and intuitive interface inspires discovery and encourages adventure.
VISION
To simplify travel discovery and booking, so that customers can spend less time searching and more time experiencing.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
Formally launch a first iteration, build native iOS applications and take advantage of the untold experience available in JOLT's network.
team
Zeïna Belouizdad, Byron Hawes
- category Travel, mobile, consumer Internet
- website setmeflee.com
- founded 2012
flee elsewhere
- Name: Zeïna Belouizdad
Title/Role: Co-founder
Bio: Aspiring CFA. #McGill. Past lives in communications, IR and finance. Fencer. Marathoner. Deep diver. Four languages, 38 countries, #Travel fanatic.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I ran a half-marathon on the Great Wall of China.
Favourite Quote: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch
Why are you an entrepreneur? I was never looking to be an entrepreneur. What I wanted to do was solve a problem. I've found a flaw in the travel industry and I've made it my mission to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas, minimal boundaries and a talented team.
Personal Social Media Links:
- Name: Byron Bo Hawes
Title/Role: CEO
Bio: Writer. Boulevardier. Peripathete. Polyglot. Dipso. Sprezzaturista.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Learning Mandarin free-form in the belly of Beijing's Maotai-tinged madness.
Favourite Quote: “We work in the dark. We do what we can. We give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” – Henry James, The Middle Years
Why are you an entrepreneur? We live collectively on a timeline of innovation and there's nothing worse than treading water.
Personal Social Media Links:
Singspiel
ELEVATOR PITCH
Most people who start learning an instrument quit within a few years. Singspiel is here to change this! The Singspiel learning platform and tablet application turns traditionally tedious music practice into a more fun and engaging activity for beginning music students. Singspiel features real-time personalized feedback to students while they practice through each music session. Compared to other learning software, Singspiel uses standard music notation and supports popular instruments such as piano, violin, guitar and voice to create the maximum impact while letting musicians use tools already familiar to them.
VISION
Help beginning musicians learn music more effectively and make practicing music a fun and social experience.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
Launch our beta, grow the team, increase user base and raise a seed round of capital.
team
Arian Rahbari, Ivan Cheung
- category Music, education, software, mobile
- website singspiel.ca
singspiel elsewhere
- Name: Arian Rahbari
Title/Role: Co-founder
Bio: A well-known seller and professional hustler. Technology enthusiast and entrepreneur. Taking on challenges and making things happen is what inspires me.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I’m a proud graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Systems Design Engineering program. Elective courses in human factors, psychology and economics all contributed to help me understand how interdisciplinary complex systems work, how to run a business and how to be successful.
Favourite Quote: “He stumbled over the truth, picked himself up, dusted himself off, and scurried off as if nothing had happened.” – Winston Churchill
Why are you an entrepreneur? From ideation to design of interdisciplinary technology products and from customer acquisition to generating profit, entrepreneurial projects sit at this crossroad. I'm here to push the limits, and I’m striving to make an impact through continuous learning.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Ivan Cheung
Title/Role: Co-founder
Bio: Musician turned engineer turned music entrepreneur with a keen interest in user experience design and the social impact of good design. Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu keep me sane.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Learning the art of making egg sushi (tamagoyaki) from a master sushi chef in Tokyo.
Favourite Quote: I don't have one and to Google one now seems less than genuine. Anything that emphasizes perseverance and humility sits well with me.
Why are you an entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship is the perfect vehicle to share my ideas and passion for music with the world and to see how they fare in real situations.
Personal Social Media Links:
Hypejar
ELEVATOR PITCH
Hypejar is an open, social platform powered by people who are passionate about upcoming product releases – the Pinterest of what's next. Discover, discuss, track and get notified of upcoming movie, music, game, book and consumer products you want and anticipate the most. Hypejar users collectively determine what product releases are the most hyped around the globe.
VISION
To make the future more searchable and accessible.
JOLT OBJECTIVE
Improve functionality, accelerate growth, gain traction, raise a seed round and leverage the wealth of experience offered by JOLT's extensive network.
team
Won Jun Bae, Mike Kwon, Grant Yim, Dylan Jude
- category Social networking, consumer web
- website hypejar.com
- founded 2012
hypejar elsewhere
- Name: Won Jun Bae
Title/Role: Chief operating officer
Bio: I’m a software engineer with experience in video game development. Applying the software approach to many things in life excites me.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Launching Hypejar was one of the biggest challenges to date. I hope we get a lot of scaling issues!
Favourite Quote: “I took a speed reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”. – Woody Allen
Why are you an entrepreneur? I love building something and seeing people collaborate at the scale that wasn’t possible 20 years ago.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Mike Kwon
Title/Role: Chief strategy officer
Bio: Independent. A dreamer and a freedom seeker. Interested in anything that involves strategy.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Launching Hypejar. After experiencing websites through a user's point of view all of my life, it has been eye opening to see how much thought is required even in the smallest details.
Favourite Quote: “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”. – Vincent van Gogh
Why are you an entrepreneur? Because I can execute my vision without someone's orders.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Grant Yim
Title/Role: Co-founder and CEO
Bio: Born in Toronto, raised in Montreal. Sports nut. Lover of tech. Attorney.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: Shot a hole-in-one in golf (which goes to prove that, sometimes, it's all luck).
Favourite Quote: “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Why are you an entrepreneur? The adventure. Risk does not have to come with reward because I actually get utility out of risk itself. I have a desire to be "in the game" not just watching it.
Personal Social Media Links: - Name: Dylan Jude
Title/Role: Chief technology officer
Bio: Just a surfboard-building, fluid-dynamic-modelling, snowboard-shredding, android-hacking, coffee-brewing, cookie-eating kind of guy… with a little web development in there somewhere, too.
Most Compelling Achievement to date: I'm 22 and I'm co-founder of Hypejar.
Favourite Quote: “If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.”. – Ludwig Wittgenstein
Why are you an entrepreneur? Software is a tool for users. If I can look at the source code of a project and make it better, I will, because I can and I want to. In turn, the software is improved (even if just for me) and I get the satisfaction of having been part of the development of that application.
Personal Social Media Links:
