University of Calgary
Entrepreneurial skills
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Concept to commercializationThree University of Calgary students have gained the entrepreneurial skills necessary for helping them commercialize their technologies. Gordon McKinlay, Justin Waghray and Darius Remesat all have innovative ideas that are moving forward thanks to solid business plans developed during recent student business plan competitions.Gordon, Darius and Justin have all received mentorship from local entrepreneurs and grown accustom to the hot seat thanks to a judging panel who helped prepare them for meetings with investors and identify potential obstacles to commercialization within their business plans. All three students are now reaping the rewards of these interactions. Gordon, a master of engineering student, recently won TEC VenturePrize’s Student Business Plan Competition for KennelSeek.com, a website that enables boarding kennels and cattery operators to grow their businesses by accepting real-time reservations and reservation requests from millions of pet owners online. KennelSeek.com has been receiving more than 3,000 visitors a month since launching in March 2008. This summer, Gordon plans to develop an improved marketing campaign and use the pitch he perfected during the competitions to help secure more financing. “This year’s goal is to get 200 pet care providers and many more pet owners using my system, he says. “The final goal is to develop KennelSeek.com into the Expedia of pet accommodations.” Darius, a recent chemical engineering PhD graduate, and his company, D&R Optimization Services, has created HOOK (Heavy Oil/Bitumen Optimization Key), a software tool for improving oil upgrading and refining performance and profitability. The competitions helped him find a likely business partner, and he is now focused on carrying HOOK from concept to commercialization. Justin, an undergraduate biomedical and geomatics engineering student, recently won STIC (Student Technology Innovation Challenge) for Neurologic Medical Solutions and its development of a brain plug designed to reduce the procedural risk of chronic subdural hematoma drainage. Justin is currently investigating intellectual property protection for the plug. Their new entrepreneurial skills and business savvy will stay with Gordon, Darius and Justin far beyond these current projects; “These competitions got me to focus not solely on the features of this particular project but how I can make a business successful. I learned how to develop dynamic marketing and operational strategies as well as realistic budgets,” says Gordon. Justin agrees “the education provided by these competitions has been invaluable for future opportunities and successes.” For more information on STIC, please visit www.stic.ca For more information on TEC VenturePrize, please visit www.tecedmonton.com/ventureprize.cfm
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June 11, 2009