Velocity Expert Community

Alexander is a gaming entrepreneur who has founded multiple game studios. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Computer Science.

Ben is passionate about developing programming and opportunities to support students at the earliest stage of innovation through problem analysis. He has worked on initiatives and projects with Canadian organizations and corporations where he researched commercial problems affecting industry.

Bjorn Dawson is a serial entrepreneur and tech enthusiast. He was founder and CEO of Grobo in Waterloo for eight years and is now a product lead at Shopify. He has a passion for startups and is excited to continue supporting entrepreneurs with investment, connections and advice.

Christophe co-founded Encircle, and took on a variety of development roles as it grew from a three-person startup to an established player in the restoration contractor software space from 2012 to 2023.

Cody Shirriff is a scientist entrepreneur who founded Serenity Bio in 2017 with nothing but an idea after his graduate degree. As Serenity Bio’s chief executive officer, he successfully raised venture financing, developed an IP portfolio, transacted with pharmaceutical partners, and led the business development team. Cody is now forming his next venture in biotech and helping the next generation of Canadian biotech/deep tech leaders.

Derek is the founder of Advite an AI monitoring solution for social media and founder of Toronto’s biggest founder network, Founder Poker. Previously he co-founded Suncayr which launched UV detection sticker SPOTMYUV, had 1.5B+ impressions and was acquired.

The founder of Mappedin (2013) and SparkGig (2015). Specializing in marketplace, website funnel optimization, B2B strategies, and product-market fit. Desmond successfully scaled UpNest from $2B to $4B GMV, leading to its acquisition by realtor.com. Currently, he leads product at Samsung Ads, driving expansion into new industries. Additionally, he is the creator of AI-Driven Advertiser, exploring the future of advertising with AI.

An entrepreneur and engineer, Jeffrey brings extensive experience in product and venture development. He previously co-founded LabsCubed and is now
dedicated to scaling innovative robotics startup Forcen into a leading company globally.

Jeremy is an aerospace engineer and entrepreneur with experience founding and leading B2B/B2G companies in aviation and defence. Execution is his strength, testing ideas quickly and systematically to obtain feedback and adjust broader plans accordingly. He has served as the CTO of one of Canada’s leading commercial drone operators, and is currently co-founder and COO of Ribbit, building self-flying cargo planes to resupply hard-to-reach areas.

John oversees the strategy of Velocity programming on University of Waterloo campus and is in charge of creating inspiring experiences for students who are interested in business and innovation. He was cofounder of Nicoya where he led its R&D efforts for seven years as CSO from start to Series A.

Krysta supports early-stage teams with both their business and technical development through Velocity science (ESC 232). She graduated from the University of Waterloo with a BSc in Chemistry and Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. In 2016, Krysta co-founded BrightGuide, a software company in the healthcare space.

Lawrentina has supported founders at the University of Waterloo through Velocity Science & GreenHouse, moving on to work at various medtech and fintech startups, while also winning the Velocity Pitch Competition in Spring 2020. You can find her at campus startup events – either judging pitch competitions or coaching early-stage student teams.

Marine spent a decade working in various marketing roles in Waterloo, Canada and in Paris, France, where she is from originally. She worked with and advised bootstrapped businesses, venture-backed fast growing start-ups, large public corporations and then some in between. When she is not helping others with marketing needs, Marine runs her own software company.

Mike is a software engineer with experience building SaaS startups. He provides advice to early-stage teams on how to build products and iterate quickly.

Michael is co-founder and CEO of Vena Medical, which is bringing the world’s smallest camera to physicians to help them treat stroke.

Mike Kirkup is the CTO of EnPowered, a software company that is revolutionizing the energy industry by providing easy access to funding, energy market insights and enormous savings opportunities.  He is the former Director of Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s world-renowned startup program where he helped mentor hundreds of startups.  He is a big supporter of Waterloo Region and startups in general and is a growth coach at Communitech helping startups shape their fundraising strategies.  He has also participated on a number of boards including the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation, Golden Triangle Angel Network and Intrideo.

Pat has co-founded or been an early employee at 4 hardware startups, wearing many hats including hiring & recruitment, project management & supply chain. He loves to help validate the problem you’re solving, and is always open to hearing & giving feedback on pitches.

Rachel has spent the past 5 years in startups, starting from being the CEO of an engineering fourth year project turned company, to marketing and sales, and finally to product management. She’s passionate about customer discovery and ensuring that the product you’re building is something that people actually want.

Ryan has a background in Nanotechnology Engineering and has worked in a variety of roles including Founder and CEO at an advanced materials startup, and R&D positions in both academia and industry. His experiences range from working in a chemical lab to managing a team, raising funds from VC and signing $100M+ partnership deals with major corporate partners.

Ryan is passionate and extremely nerdy about deep tech innovation, especially when it’s related to fighting climate change. He founded a battery company while studying at University of Waterloo and now works as a climate tech investor.

Mechanical engineer (McGill), MBA (Ivey), owned a bakery in Northern Ireland then a packaging company (Georgette Packaging) back in Canada and went to YC with this one. Currently an entrepreneurship lecturer at Ivey Business School.

Tamer provides technical support and mentorship to early-stage student teams that are working on their digital technology ideas, including hardware and software support. Prior to joining Velocity, Tamer worked in multiple roles leading engineering design teams.

William Zhou is a creator, adventurer, and mentor. He has been passionate about entrepreneurship from a young age, founding his first company in high school and selling his first SaaS business in 2010, at the age of 18. Most recently, he co-founded Chalk.com, an education software company focused in K-12. Chalk was acquired by PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) in 2022.

Zac is a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of H2nanO, an environmental technology start-up creating sustainable, low-energy water treatment solutions for the resources industry. He has led H2nanO’s operations and business growth from start to field implementation of its technologies, working with Canada’s largest mining and energy companies. H2nanO is a spin-off of the University of Waterloo, where Zac studied Nanotechnology Engineering, with operations in Ontario and Alberta.