On December 8^th we at the Accelerator Centre were thrilled to have four more graduates from the Accelerator Program. Clearpath Robotics, CrossChasm, Enflick, and LoyaltyMatch are the latest companies to pass through the business services and mentorship that make up the Accelerator Program.

What exactly does graduating from the Accelerator Program mean and what happens next, you may be asking yourself.  At least I hope you are asking yourself that question because I'm about to answer it.

All…

The G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit (G20YES) is currently taking place in Nice, France. We, at the Accelerator Centre (AC), are thrilled to have been recognized in two prestigious reports that will be used to guide world leaders and policy makers at the G20YES and beyond.  I am also happy to share that we have three AC Clients that are participating in the Summit in France:  Avenir Medical, I Think Security, and Qwalify.

The first report to include us was passed on to me by our friends at the Ca…

If you have ever watched an NHL game with another person, you have inevitably been told a story about the multi-million dollar paid, highly skilled player that just scored a goal on TV. "I used to play against that guy" someone will say. "Well, my neighbour did.  He told me they were playing in a tournament with 23 other teams about 10 years ago and one of the teams had a guy who knew a girl whose brother once played road hockey on the same street as that guy who just scored for the Leafs."

My…

Is there a better month than October? Let's start at the end of the month with Hallowe'en, fun for children and adults alike. Now let's talk about sports. The NFL is in full swing, unless you're a Miami Dolphins fan like me as it seems like they forgot the season had started and haven't won a game yet. Major League Baseball has started their play-offs and the Toronto Blue Jays are well represented. By that I mean a lot of their players are now on other teams in the play-offs.  And don't forget…

Normally I wouldn't be thrilled of being asked to be at the Accelerator Centre on a weekend, BUT this past Saturday was definitely an exception. Our staff and Board of Directors were invited to attend a special reception, and nobody complained. Why? Because Canada's Governor General David Johnston had agreed to stop by for an hour while he was in Waterloo and allow us to show our appreciation for all that he has done.

I first met Mr. Johnston at a large reception about four years ago, while he…

The latest Artist Meet & Greet, held on a quarterly basis as part of the art partnership between us at the Accelerator Centre and our friends at The Communitech Hub, was a huge success. 

I will start by mentioning the star of the show, artist Laurie Wonfor Nolan. Laurie was on full display at the center of our networking area as she did a live painting of the event. A huge "thank you" goes out to Chris Meidell and his team at Modevation Media for filming the event and creating an…

For those of you that read my blog on the Accelerator Program's Client company GooseChase, I have a pretty cool update on their progress. If you have not read it, I'll wait a minute to give you the chance to click here. Seriously, you need to read it or you'll never understand my future references to our COO's wonderfully hairless back.

Okay, back to GooseChase. Last month I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of people involved in the widely popular website Crackberry.com, including the…

Full disclosure: I am perhaps the most unartistic person you will ever meet. In my teaching days I used to struggle through diagrams on the blackboard much to the delight of the students but only because it was more of a guessing game to figure out what the end result really was. Despite my lack of artistic talent, I can certainly appreciate the work of a passionate and creative artist such as we currently have on display at the Accelerator Centre and The Communitech Hub by Laurie Wonfor Nolan.

I entered the Accelerator Centre this morning at 7:45am. We officially don't open until 8:30am so the main foyer was still dark but coming from our main boardroom was a beacon of light drawing my eyes towards the VIPs of our audit committee. There was our CEO sitting next to the Chair of our Board across from our CFO down from our senior accountant representative. What an opportunity!  I could casually walk by the open door before they start the meeting and eavesdrop on what will assuredly be…