The method and magic of finding a co-founder

Perspectives and advice from Velocity company founders

July 31, 2023

The road to building a company with advanced technology from the ground up can be winding. 

For those who choose to travel that road in good company, meeting a co-founder can be methodical: taking on extracurricular projects while in school, attending professional networking events, tapping into family and friendships, and networking. But whether that relationship formalizes into a solid foundation that works in the startup’s favour can depend on more nebulous components. 

Alroy Almeida (BASc ‘13), Velocity’s director of deep tech, is one of four co-founders of alumni company Voltera, which develops machinery to print circuit boards. 

He met two of his co-founders, Jesus Zozaya and James Pickard, when working together on their fourth-year design project in mechatronics engineering. Their fourth co-founder Katarina Ilic, a graduate of nanotechnology engineering, joined when the group decided to transform their design project idea into a product and a business. 

He says co-founders are bound to run into difficulties and differences of opinion, just like in any other relationship, especially when there is high stress and high risk involved. 

“What always worked [at Voltera] is we had tremendous amount of respect for each other, which came from seeing how hard each other was working on making this dream a reality. You will have differences of what is the best path forward, but it should be coming from a place of wanting what’s best for the business with no personal agendas.”

Alroy Almeida, Velocity director of deep tech

Read more on Waterloo News about how to find a co-founder with perspectives from Velocity companies Ground News and Blackbird.

Read more about how Velocity founders are helping other founders