Mount Royal University Innovation & Entrepreneurship

LaunchPad Update: CarBerri
Victories -Beta has been open for selected people and the new and improved CarBerri platform will be launching on March 25, after spending over 6 months on development. -In early Feb, they launched a brand awareness campaign.
... Roadblocks -Spreading himself too thin. "You think that you're getting a lot done but in reality, it made things much more confusing and unmanageable." - Ormhel Manuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpS6LidUs 2A
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LaunchPad Spotlight
During her time at Mount Royal, Aislinn founded Aisy, a sustainable bath bomb company. After over 4 years in operation, Aislinn closed Aisy’s virtual doors to launch Trout + Taylor, an edgy marketing firm that builds beautiful brands for businesses all over the world. Their clients included Lululemon, TD Bank, Anthropologie, Earls, and Salted Cycle. Through her time starting and running Aisy, she learned the guiding principle to the industry she works in t...oday; the importance of having a beautiful, consistent and compelling brand. Today Aislinn is the Founder of Grant Designs and dedicates time to mentoring students in business strategy and is a judge + pitch advisor at UofC and MRU.
Where will your venture idea launch you?
Apply today for the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Spotlight
As a student, Paul wanted to find out where our food comes from. A simple passion project turned into Deepwater Farms, an aquaponics farm with the mission to radically improve the food ecosystem in our communities by providing the highest quality, sustainably grown, and freshest produce to local restaurants and grocery stores. In 2015 Paul competed at the JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition, walking away with $25,000.
Today, Paul and his team want to help Cal...garians learn where their food comes from and to help ensure local food security. What's your story?
Apply to compete in the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Update: Lobo Developments Ltd.
"After launchpad, I continued with my business plan but began to realize the biggest pain point in my business was the reliability of contractors. That was my biggest roadblock because it was extending my project timelines and causing me to lose money every month that it was delayed. To combat this, I have pivoted my business model to essentially eliminate contractors and cut my timeline from 4 months to 1 month. I do this by instead of renovating the old run down mobile homes, I remove them off the lot, purchase newer (2005-2012) mobile homes from motivated sellers, and then move them onto the lot." - Landon Clost

LaunchPad Spotlight
In his last year of university, Landon Clost was buying run-down mobile homes and flipping them, make a profit both for himself and investors in the projects. He didn’t see his business as the type of innovative venture that could make it to the LaunchPad stage.
Through the LaunchPad Accelerator Course, Landon begun to see that he wasn’t just doing flips, he was creating a unique real estate option for buyers looking for affordable, sustainable and downsiz...ed homes. Even more, the market for tiny homes and comparable options was on the rise.
Landon pitched in the 2018 JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition and walked away with $17,500 in cash to continue building his innovative development company. How could you think bigger?
Apply to the 2019 LaunchPad today: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Update: Swearit
Victoires & Roadblocks
"After winning 20K in branding services and capital at the MRU LaunchPad pitch competition, I'm still suffering from manufacturing issues. I'm on my fourth (and hopefully final) sports bra manufacturer and it has been a tough journey to say the least. Hundreds of hours have gone into research, design, communication and coordination to get Swearit to a point where I feel confident to bring it to market. Thankfully, I've had immense support from friends and family, and great feedback from women at the Startup Open House Event and the Calgary Woman's Show. Product launch is expected April 2020— exactly one year since taking the stage at LaunchPad. Onward and upward!" - Elissa Grohne

Announcing the 2019 Showcase Showdown finalists! Join us on February 28 at 5:30PM to watch and cheer on 7 Mount Royal University Computing Students sharing their projects.
Roli Edema-Omatseye - STEMgem Coulton Fraser - Phonetic Translator Hamid Hemani - IoT Real-Time Hardware Control ... Terrence Plunkett - MRU Class Monitor Brett Miller, David Contreras, Raj Dutta - This or That Giohanny Moros, Mike Walker, Erl John - Coin-Remmit Brandon Chan, Leris Arandia, Jamie Wong, Peter Morrison - Mentor-ship Community
Thank you to the sponsors of the event, ATB Financial and the BUSY Foundation. Thanks to their support, we are excited to be giving away $3,500 to MRU’s technical talent!
Mount Royal Computer Information Science Showcase Showdown
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LaunchPad Spotlight
Derek and Stefan met in the introductory innovation and entrepreneurship course. Derek was a business student and pro-golfer and Stefan was a computer science student with the ability to build. Together they founded TLink, The World's Lightest GPS Golf Wearable. TLink connects to your iOS device using Bluetooth to help golfers navigate the course and determine how far away you are from the green by providing front, middle, and back yardages. Along with yar...dages, the TLink can track all your golf stats to see if you are improving over time. It also works as a pedometer and tracks current steps, distance walked, and calories on the golf course.
Derek and Stefan pitched in the 2014 JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition and walked away with $30,000 in cash and in-kind services. What are you building?
Apply today for the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Update: Burgundy Oak
Victories -Locked down a licensing deal with Jack Daniels and sold out of their first official Jack Daniels products -Broke 1M in revenue in 2018... -Locked down first order from Canadian Tire
Roadblocks -Managing cash flow with bigger customers that like to have longer payment terms -Maintaining high-quality standards with a growing team
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LaunchPad Spotlight
After converting a wine barrel into a smoker, Zac founded Smoke Barrel. Zac pitched on the 2016 JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competiton stage and in 2018, Zac and his team successfully pitched on Dragons Den. The business, now called Burgundy Oak, employes 13 people and is in 500+ stores across North America.
... Where will you go after LaunchPad?
Apply today for the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Spotlight
It’s hard to deny the pains of buying and selling a used car. After gaining an in-depth understanding of the challenges, Abby and Ormhel launched CarBerri. Their online platform made buying or selling a great car simple, fast and fun. Since pitching in the 2017 JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competiton, Carberri has pivoted to focus on one of the biggest pain points of buying a used car, securing auto financing.
Abby and Ormhel pitched their venture and walked away ...with $30,000 in cash and services during the JMH $70,000 LaunchPad Pitch Competition. Now it’s your turn.
Apply today for the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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LaunchPad Spotlight
Cell phone breakage, sweat damage and theft are among the challenges active women face when they store their phone’s in their bras during a workout. Not to mention the danger cell phone radiation poses for breast health. S’wearIT, founded by a Public Relations student, Elissa, is on a mission to solve these problems and create the best sports bra women have ever seen. Complete with a secure, convenient and cell phone (RF) radiation protected place to store... your phone, S’wearIT is taking the activewear industry by storm.
Elissa pitched her venture in the 2018 JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition and walked away with $20,000 in cash and services. What are you on a mission to do?
Apply today for the 2019 LaunchPad Pitch Competition: http://bit.ly/mrulaunchpad2019
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Join ATB Financial on Tuesday, January 22 at the Steven Ave branch to learn more about ATB 101 Student Program; their student work experience and engagement program. They hire more than just finance students and have an entire team dedicated to exploring innovation and disruptive technologies.
There is also a live webinar on Jan 25.
https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLScnV3y R6ng2w-zuy2…/viewform

Interested in the Calgary startups and entrepreneurial organizations that hire Mount Royal's most innovative talent?
Come chat with alumni who now work for companies like Benevity, Deepwater Farms, atVenu, Calgary Economic Development and more and find out how an education in innovation and entrepreneurship can launch your career.
MRU Alumni #mrulife #mruentrepreneurs #BND2019
... https://www.facebook.com/events/336100843 610694/
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Looking for a weekend course on how to launch a startup? Then this Startup Calgary event might be perfect for you.
https://www.facebook.com/events/376553223 098354/

If you are an early stage startup entrepreneur this is a great opportunity for you! Bonus the event is FREE.
The sessions is ideal for those looking to:
- Identify paying clients... - Solve a problem people will pay to have solved - Create a compelling value proposition that gets them to buy
Register for the event through the Eventbrite link provided
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/startup-satur day-take-your-idea…
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"Spoiler alert: What made you successful in university may not work in your career. When I entered the university world four years ago, I was struck with how different the environment was compared to the private sector where I spent the previous 25 years." -Ray DePaul
Continue reading:
http://www.mtroyal.ca/‚Ķ/InstituteInno‚Ä ¶/Blog/IIE_BLOG_UNLEARN

"While I respect anyone who is entrepreneurial, I am thoroughly impressed with some of these individuals who seek out advice. Here are a few common attributes of early entrepreneurs that I have found impressive." - Ray DePaul
Continue reading:
http://www.mtroyal.ca/‚Ķ/InstituteInnov‚ Ķ/Blog/IIE_BLOG_ADVICE