Velocity Expert Community

1:1 Student Coaching: Get targeted advice tailored to your specific needs

Our experts

Our team has years of hands-on experience across various industries, offering tailored advice to meet your unique needs. We bring real-world expertise in fundraising, sales, leadership, product development, marketing, and more. With our flexible coaching, we're here to support you at every stage of growth, helping you succeed in today’s competitive landscape.
Cancellation policy
If you need to cancel an appointment with an expert, please make sure to do so at least 24 hours in advance by using the link in the invite or through a direct email to the expert. Those who miss more than two sessions without the required notice will no longer be eligible for sessions.
Check out our roster of experts below. Determine who may be able to best meet your needs and book your session.
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Alexander Mistakidis
Gaming, Consumer Software, Experience Design, Problem/Idea Formulation
Alexander is a gaming entrepreneur who has founded multiple game studios. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Computer Science.
Software
Problem Idea / Validation
Product Development
Ben Graham
Problem / Idea Formulation, Pitch Coaching, Market Research, AI Impacts
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.
Problem Idea / Validation
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Bjorn Dawson
Product Management, Hardware, Consumer, Executive Coaching, Fundraising
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.
Product Development
Hardware
Consumer / Retail
Fundraising / Grants
Christophe Biocca
SaaS, Software, Security
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.
Software
Cody Shirriff
Biotech, Pharmaceuticals
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.
Health
Derek Jouppi
Consumer, Social Media, Retail, B2C, Social Listening
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.
Consumer / Retail
Marketing
B2B and Sales
Desmond Choi
Marketplace, Ad-Tech, Product Market fit, MVP, Product Growth, AI
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.
Marketing
Product Development
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Jeffrey Petracca
IoT-Connected Robotic Hardware (Electromechanics, Embedded Hardware, Software), Product Management, Project Management, Strategy, and Non-dilutive Funding
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.
Hardware
Software
Product Development
Fundraising / Grants
Jeremy Wang
B2B & B2G Sales, All Things Operations, Non-dilutive Fundraising, Autonomous Systems, and Regulatory Approvals in Aerospace and Defence
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.
B2B and Sales
Fundraising / Grants
Product Development
John Dick
Early Stage Business Activities, Product Development and Research & Development, Manufacturing, Spinning out Technology From a University, Market Validation, Business Creation.
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.
Problem Idea / Validation
Product Development
Krysta Traianovski
Early Technology Development (Chemistry, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology), Business Model Validation, Customer Validation, Public Speaking, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, Health Technology
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.
Health
Product Development
Problem Idea / Validation
Lawrentina D’Souza
Improving your Pitch, Problem & Market Validation, Business Operations / Industry Experience: Product Management in Medtech, Fintech, Insuretech, SaaS
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.
Software
Health
Product Development
FinTech
Marine Dumontier
Marketing, Early Customer Discovery, Product-Market Fit
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.
Marketing
Problem Idea / Validation
Michael Miller
Software Engineering, Software Infrastructure, Software Architecture, Engineering Management, Web Dev, SaaS
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.
Software
Michael Phillips
Financing, IP, Regulatory, Medical Devices, FDA, Sales
Michael is co-founder and CEO of Vena Medical, which is bringing the world’s smallest camera to physicians to help them treat stroke.
Health
B2B and Sales
Mike Kirkup
Fundraising, Business strategy, Go-to-Market, Software
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.
Fundraising / Grants
Business Development
Software
Pat Martinson
Hardware, Prototyping, Problem/Idea Formulation, Pitch Coaching, Customer Discovery
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.
Hardware
Problem Idea / Validation
Rachel Pautler
AI Product Management, Product Development, Customer Discovery
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.
Product Development
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Ryan Brown
Deep Tech, Batteries, Chemistry, Go-to-Market in Real Estate, Energy
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.
Hardware
Product Development
Ryan Marchewka
Fundraising, Financial Projections, B2B Sales, Business Planning, Project management, R&D (Advanced Materials), Leadership Skills, Patents / IP, Pitches and Decks
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.
Fundraising / Grants
B2B and Sales
Business Development
Hardware
Sarah Landstreet
B2B sales, Non-Tech Businesses, Packaging, What YC is Like
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.
B2B and Sales
Business Development
William Zhou
Edtech, Fintech
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.
EdTech
FinTech
Zac Young
Environmental Technology, Water Treatment, (Mining, Oil and Gas, Utilities); Hardware, Business Development, Industry Matching Grants and Agreements
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.
Business Development
Product Development
Hardware
Fundraising / Grants