Events

Flexible Funding Opportunities for Hiring Students

The Government of Canada’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) has temporarily made its funding more flexible. Join the virtual information session on June 11 to talk with SWPP partners and learn more about their COVID-19 updates and flexible funding options for hiring students.

Managing Project Management with Don Thompson and Steve Fyke

Join us as we hear from Don Thompson and Steve Fyke as they explore how to create a project management system that works for you, your team, deliverables and product.

Your Guide to Virtual Hiring with Kristina McDougall

Join us as we hear from Kristina McDougall, founder and president of Artemis Canada, as she explores some best practices for the virtual hiring process.

Virtual Fireside Chat with Kurtis McBride of Miovision

Come ready with questions for our a virtual fireside conversation with AC Grad Kurtis McBride, Co-Founder and CEO of Miovision.

Building Strong Brand Values with Jackie Lauer and Ellyn Winters-Robinson

In this session, AC Leadership and Culture Mentor Jackie Lauer and Marketing and Communications Mentor Ellyn Winters-Robinson talk about the yin and yang of great brands, and how even the smallest of startups can benefit from early exploration of brand values across market, culture and product boundaries.

Raising Seed Money and Managing Growth with Axonify's Carol Leaman

Join us virtually as we hear from AC grad Carol Leaman, President and CEO of Axonify, to learn about her journey raising seed money and managing growth alongside investment.Axonify is the world’s first eLearning platform that delivers knowledge in a fun, bite-sized and personalized way. Its unique approach identifies and closes critical knowledge gaps in real time, improving long-term retention and achieving significant financial outcomes for customers.

How to Build a Sales Playbook with Kevin Hood

Join us as we learn from Kevin Hood, Accelerator Centre's sales mentor as he walks us through how to build your sales playbook. Defining and documenting your sales process is crucial. Kevin Hood will share his methodology and be your ultimate guide to building your playbook and a framework for closing those deals!

Product Development in a Crisis – Continuing the Innovation

Join us as we tackle product development in a crisis with the Accelerator Centre's product management mentor, Don Thompson. Learn project management communication strategies, how to communicate with your team in a crisis and planning tactics for managing business execution.

Opportunities and Problems - Web Traffic in This New World

Opportunities, problems and attention to detail regarding traffic, social traffic, paid traffic, and websites in this new world.‍ Bring your questions and assumptions and let's take advantage of this unique time with Rob Farnham, the Accelerator Centre's digital demand mentor. Join us virtually with plenty of time for Q&A.‍

Handling Objection and Closing Deals with Kevin Hood

Join us with the Accelerator Centre's very own sales mentor Kevin Hood as he teaches us the ins and outs of overcoming objections, focusing on BANT, and ultimately closing the sale! Join us via Zoom.

Communications and PR in a Pandemic – Fireside chat with Ellyn

In this Zoom fireside chat, the AC’s communications and PR mentor Ellyn Winters will lead a group discussion around the current communications dynamics and communications and PR best practices. Bring your questions and we’ll learn together.

Calming in a Crisis with Jackie Lauer and Robin Bender

Join Accelerator Center mentor Jackie Lauer and her guest speaker Robin Bender, founder of Mega Health at Work, for this one hour session focused on mental health and providing tools and strategies to self regulate during times of stress.

Being Together but Apart – Tips for Leading Newly Formed Remote Teams with Jackie Lauer

This online webinar will take place over 90 min, to cover the foundations of remote work, and some best practice tips for the ways we lead, and participate, in these spaces.

Voice Design Workshop

You have been invited to an online meeting, powered by Amazon Chime. This workshop is designed to provide founders, leadership teams, as well as production and engineering teams background on designing conversational experiences in order to be adaptable, personal and relatable while also providing information on the processes, tools, SDKs, products, and services available to build a delightful customer experience with voice.

Raising Seed Money and Managing Growth with Axonify's Carol Leaman

Accelerator Centre clients are invited to an exciting Lunch & Learn with the incredible Carol Leaman: AC grad and President + CEO of Axonify.

What to expect when you move out w/ David Hussey

Are you currently stationed at an incubator or accelerator? Is your space starting to feel a little cramped? It may be time for a move... David Hussey, COO of SolveCOO, is here to help guide you through that process.

Founder Hour – with Hugo from The Owl Solutions and Jamie from Derisk

Join us as we hear all about two AC client founders’ companies and experiences: Hugo of The Owl Solutions and Jamie of Derisk!

Know your EVP and Win the War for Talent!

As innovation continues to excel at a rapid pace (requiring a highly talented and sought-after workforce), it is likely that talent attraction will remain a significant challenge for startups. However, with a little planning and strong sense of your unique Employer Value Proposition (EVP), you can position your company to secure the right talent – even on a tight budget.

Why Bother With An Advisory Board? With Kevin Thomason

Come learn how an Advisory Board can be your secret weapon to bring essential insights, advice, experience, and connections to your startup while providing you with important confidantes, mentors and coaches. Find out how to attract all-star advisors, how much to compensate them, and common mistakes made by many entrepreneurs.

AC JumpStart Showcase: SPARK

Join us as we celebrate and showcase the diversity and high potential of startups across southern Ontario during our annual showcase event.

Information Security - The Biggest Risk to your Business You're Ignoring

Costing $200,000.00 on average, 60% of small businesses go out of business within 6 months of being hacked.

Legal Problems and Solutions Workshop with Gowling

Workshop Session with Gowling to get all your Startup Legal Questions ANSWERED

From Funnel to Flywheel | How to grow better in 2020 by reducing friction

The marketing and sales funnel as a growth model is broken, we'll work on understanding the process of developing a flywheel model to grow your startup better and faster.

Employment Standards Act 101

Mandatory event for all Phase 2,3 and 4 clients.

Sources of Funding and Cash Flow Projections with EY

Government and business tax incentives; sources of financing and preparation of forecasts and cash-flow projections.

Cyber Liability and Employee Benefits

Join the Accelerator Centre and Cowan Insurance Group for this 2 Part Workshop Series!

Tips for Managing Your Finances and Getting Money for Cleantech Growth Firms

The session will have tips and examples provided by Rick Findlay and discussions and Q&A with the participants throughout the session.

LEADERSHIP IN THE CLEANTECH SECTOR: What does it really mean? How do you reach for it?

Learn about strategies to move closer to leadership in the sector and inspiring stories of companies who are leading the way.

Learn How to Fund and Hire Postsecondary Students

Accelerator Centre and Communitech clients are invited to attend this presentation and networking opportunity to learn about funding programs and resources to hire postsecondary students.

Mitigating Environmental, Social and Governance Risks with EY

EY’s ESG and Climate risk lunch and learn will look at the current landscape of risk, the impacts on business and what can be done to turn challenges into opportunities.

Commercial Management - The Sequel! w/ Louise Kaiser of Clearpath Robotics

Back by popular demand, another lunch and learn with Louise Kaiser, Commercial Relationships Director at Clearpath Robotics

Corporate Responsibility: Building a Brand with Purpose with TD

As part of this session, we'll discuss the evolution of TD's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) work over the years, as well as some of the successful (and not so successful) initiatives they've taken on in an effort to build a successful CSR strategy and communicate core values to employees, customers and to the general public.

One-2-Many w/ Don Thompson: Lean Startup & Product Prioritization | PART 1

We’ll spend some time reviewing the scientific approach stepping through planning with hypothesis led product management. We will discuss the fundamentals of the Lean Startup movement as it relates to software or hardware product development and how we can dovetail these methods into our next launch to support growth.

Fundamental Legal Questions? We've Got Answers!

This interactive session, presented by our partners at Gowling WLG, will focus on fundamental legal challenges faced by every start-up.

Get Your Finances Investor Ready with EY

A group of service line specialists from EY Waterloo Region will be joining us to take an in depth look at the business life cycle, investment alternatives and making yourself ‘financing ready’

Developing and Executing a Pilot Project

After this interactive lunch session, you will have a much better understanding of how to approach getting a pilot up and running to support your drive to commercialization and specific tools that you can put to immediate use.

AC Graduation: Expeflow and Rapid Novor

Join us to celebrate the incredible startup journeys of Expeflow and Rapid Novor as they graduate from The Accelerator Program. Light refreshments and a beer and wine bar will be provided.

AC JumpStart SPARK Showcase

Join us for a special announcement with FedDev Ontario as we celebrate and showcase the diversity and high potential of startups across Southwestern Ontario during our annual AC JumpStart showcase event

uXperience Design Camp 2018

This high-intensity day provides an immersive hands-on design experience for post-secondary school students of any background (or discipline) to tackle complex challenges through design.

Establish Your Sales & Marketing Foundation with HubSpot

This workshop is designed to help startups understand who their customers are, how to communicate to them, and best practices for establishing a strong foundation for sales and marketing. Led by Corey Dolik from HubSpot, he will also cover some practical tools for implementing these strategies.

Funding Strategy for Startups with Eugene Bomba

Join us for a lunch and learn session with entrepreneur and finance leader, Eugene Bomba, for insights into building a funding strategy for your startups.

AC Lunch & Learn: Designing a Career in Design

Please join Carlos Perez, Product Designer at Kiite to learn about designing your own career as a designer!

AC Lunch and Learn – How to Avoid Early Legal Mistakes and Navigate Common Startup Challenges

Join us for a lunch session with our partners from Gowling WLG to discuss the common mistakes founders make early on and learn best practices to avoid those problems.

I Hate Networking! Give Me DJs And Pizza!

LeadBlox in the cleantech industry and DaDJ in the music industry have partnered up to host a networking event, with a twist. There will be some fun interactions, and you will be able to learn about Cleantech, before the DJs start playing. Pizza will be provided.

The Accelerator Centre and PwC Present: Beat Your Bias and Build a Better Team

Join us for an interactive training workshop that will leverage the tech ecosystem’s appetite for change and demonstrate the value of combating unconscious bias in the workplace and provide practical advice on implementing best practices.

Research 101

This event will focus on different approaches and techniques to gather research. The speakers will be Kevin Hood and Jordan Parker.

IP Strategy: Securing Shareholder Value in Your Startup

In this session, learn how to successfully navigate and avoid common pitfalls with an IP strategy designed to secure the full value of your IP rights and lead to a successful commercial launch.

Utilizing co-op students with UW and Conestoga College

Please join us for an information session the University of Waterloo and Conestoga College to learn about their co-op programs and how you can utilize student resources.

Presentation Day

At this event clients will be giving pitches in order to advance to Phase 2. The speakers for this event will be Marium Kirmani and all of the mentors.

Pitch Feedback

At this event Kevin Hood and CEC will provide feedback to clients on their PowerPoint and pitch.

HackerNest Kitchener-Waterloo August Tech Social

HackerNest Tech Socials (http://hackernest.com/cities/) are a fun, relaxed way to connect with your local tech community. Atmosphere: chill, friendly, unpretentious, agenda-free (no sales pitch, yo), and brimming with UltraSmart(TM) people.

The Lowdown on Financing – Who you need to know

This event will provide you with information and insight on who you need to know and approches on how to make these connections. The speakers for this event will beTrish Barrow and the Finance Panel.

The Lowdown on IP-Navigating Legal Waters

This event will provide you with informaion on different aspects of intelectual property. The speakers for this event will be Alexis Black and Jim Hinton.

Entsoc Mixer Spring 2018

This is your opportunity to hang out with the people that make Waterloo great — its entrepreneurs. EntSoc’s Mixer is open to everyone; we’ll have food and drinks, so bring a friend and get ready to network with startup founders, chat with entrepreneurs, and meet others interested in starting their own venture.

Marketing for Start-ups – Your Brand and Culture

This event will focus on marketing for startups, more specifically your company's brand and culture. The speakers for this event will be Ellyn Winters-Robinson and Jackie Lauer.

Mid-Way AC Pathfinder Review and Presentations

At this event each company will give a short update in their research thus far and then we will discuss what requirment 3 should look like. The speakers for this event will be Kevin Hood and Jordan Parker.

Build a product people want to buy – Experience Design

At this event you will gain insights on design strategy and design lead product development. The speaker for this event will be Steven Fyke and Dayton Pereira.

Product Session

This event is a product session that will include information on Lean startup methodology, product requirments, development intorduction and much more.

Marketing/Sales 101

The topic of this event will be an introduction to marketing and sales. The speakers for this event will be Kevin Hood.

Lunch and Learn: Where to Play – Discovering your most valuable market opportunities with Marc Gruber

Join us for a lunch session with acclaimed researcher and author, Marc Gruber, to learn his top three tips for discovering your most valuable market.

Business Model Design Camp @AC Stratford

The Business Model Design Camp is a one day event using design-thinking techniques to design better business models to solve complex business challenges. In teams, participants will work alongside mentors and industry professionals to create innovative solutions.

Thinking Big

This event will focus on the concept of thinking big. This will involve leadership for new entrepeneurs and designing a fundable company.

AC JumpStart Cohort 8 orientation

This event is an orientation for our Cohort 8 JumpStart reciepents. You will learn more about the AC, how the program works and how to find resources when needed.

Orientation Day and AC Pathfinder

Introductions will be given by Paul Salvini and Clinton Ball. The Speakers for this event will be Jordan Parker.

Cohort 5: PRESENTATION DAY

At this event clients will be giving pitches in order to advance to Phase 2. The speakers for this event will be Marium Kirmani and all of the mentors.

Compliance by Design: Hardware Innovation Networking Event with Swift Labs and Nemko

Please join us for pizza, beers, and an informal chat about compliance for hardware companies

Waterloo Wellington LHIN Board Meeting

Waterloo Wellington LHIN Board Meeting. May 2, 2018 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Pitch Feedback

At this event Kevin Hood and CEC will provide feedback to clients on their PowerPoint and pitch.

Cyber Security for Startups: Managing Your Risk and Protecting Your Customers

Join us at the Accelerator Centre for a lunch and learn session and learn the critical factors you need to consider as a startup and how to manage your risks.

Venture for Canada Waterloo Entrepreneurship Mixer

Join Venture for Canada and Accelerator Center for a conversation about our Fellowship Program and how you can bring and retain top entrepreneurial talent in Waterloo, and to your Waterloo-based startup.

The Lowdown on Financing – Who You Need to Know

This event will provide you with information and insight on who you need to know and approches on how to make these connections. The speakers for this event will beTrish Barrow.

Announcing: DashMD with the Waterloo Wellington LHIN

Please join the Waterloo Wellington LHIN & DashMD for an announcement about an innovative digital health solution that will help patients take charge of their recovery after leaving hospital.

The Lowdown on IP – Navigating Legal Waters

This event will provide you with informaion on different aspects of intelectual property. The speakers for this event will be Alexis Black and Jim Hinton.

Digital innovation is disrupting the life sciences value chain with EY Canada

Join us for an insightful panel discussion moderated by Giselle Commissiong, Advisory Partner and Canadian Life Sciences Advisory Practice leader, around how to capitalize on the digital agenda.

Marketing for Start-Ups: Your Brand and Culture

Mid-Way AC Pathfinder Review and Presentations

At this event each company will give a short update in their research thus far and then we will discuss what requirment 3 should look like. The speakers for this event will be Kevin Hood and Jordan Parker.

Build a Product People Want to Buy- Experience Design

At this event you will gain insights on design strategy and design lead product development. The speaker for this event will be Steven Fyke and Dayton Pereira.

BLND 2018: Business & Design

Join us for an interactive day that brings together the worlds of design and business. With a truly diverse range of speakers and attendees, BLND will spark unexpected ideas, exceptional conversations and valuable connections through a series of talks, workshops and even an after party in the charming City of Stratford.

Product Session

This event is a product session that will include information on Lean startup methodology, product requirments, development intorduction and much more.

GTAN:Raw

Marketing & Sales 101

The topic of this event will be an introduction to marketing and sales. The speakers for this event will be Kevin Hood.

Research 101

This event will focus on different approaches and techniques to gather research. The speakers will be Kevin Hood and Jordan Parker.

Thinking Big

Orientation Day and AC Pathfinder

Introductions will be given by Paul Salvini and Clinton Ball. The Speakers for this event will be Jordan Parker.

ESA Update

Join us while Mentor Jackie Lauer and guest speaker Jill Zappitelli review the ESA and highlight the changes that are important fo you to implement into your HR policy.

Business Model Design Camp @ AC Stratford

The Business Model Design Camp is a one day event using design-thinking techniques to design better business models to solve complex business challenges. In teams, participants will work alongside mentors and industry professionals to create innovative solutions.

AC Pub Night – Beer Tasting with Abe Erb

Our friends from Abe Erb will be coming to do a tasting event featuring some of their most popular beers.

Hardware Misadventures and How to Avoid Some of Them

Join us on January 17th at Noon at 44 Gaukel (2nd Floor!) for a cool presentation on common mistakes made building hardware devices and how to avoid them.

Building a Hardware Development Strategy with Steve Fyke and Don Thompson

Building a hardware product can be more complex than it seems. Come learn about what it takes to take your hardware product to mass production, how long that will take and how to avoid the common pitfalls.

Lead with Courage and Compassion – Brene Brown: The Call to Courage Watch Party and Discussion w/ Jackie Lauer

Join us for a special screening event of Brene Brown’s Netflix special Call to Courage and a facilitated group discussion with Jackie Lauer, Accelerator Centre HR and Leadership Mentor.

Lunch and Learn with EY: Are You Prepared for the Next Steps in Your Corporate Lifecycle?

Join us for an insightful look at the world of government and business tax incentives; financial reporting; corporate tax compliance; and financing readiness. The session will provide the crucial details to ensure your business is prepared for the next step in your corporate lifecycle.

PRESENTATION DAY

At this event clients will be giving pitches in order to advance to Phase 2. The speakers for this event will be Marium Kirmani and all of the mentors.

Presentation Feedback

At this event Kevin Hood and Marium Kirmani will provide feedback to clients on their PowerPoint and pitch.

Lunch and Learn – Winning Contracts: Commercial Management for Startups

Commercial management is the common thread that runs through the business life-cycle of strategy, sales, procurement, marketing, negotiation, contracting, commitments, cost and revenue, profit and loss, risk and change management, and opportunity identification.

The Lowdown on Financing- Who you need to know

This event will provide you with information and insight on who you need to know and approches on how to make these connections. The speakers for this event will beTrish Barrow and Kevin Elop.

Government Relationship Building: Key to Attracting Capital with Mary Granskou

Have you ever wondered what you should do first, second and third when it comes to raising funds from governments? Come on out and learn from an expert on the art of cultivating excellence when it comes to building government support.

Navigating the Regulatory Landscape with EY’s Chris Chipman and Jigna Shah

EY will take a specific focus on business and tax incentives for small and start-up companies. During the session, EY will focus on the benefits and incentives available not only to startups but specifically for startups in the environmental technology space.

The Lowdown on IP- Navigating Legal Waters

This event will provide you with informaion on different aspects of intelectual property. The speakers for this event will be Alexis Black and Jim Hinton.

Marketing for Start-ups – Your Brand and Culture

This event will focus on marketing for startups, more specifically your company's brand and culture. The speakers for this event will be Ellyn Winters-Robinson and Jackie Lauer.

Mid-Way AC Pathfinder Review and Presentations

At this event each company will give a short update in their research thus far and then we will discuss what requirment 3 should look like. The speakers for this event will be Kevin Hood and Marium Kirmani.