February Update: Sharing Founder Stories and Creating New Ones
Students connected with some local legends in tech, founder lunches share some stories of building companies in Waterloo and SFO, DevHouse packed Den1880, and MondayClub!
Successful founders connect with future founders
With much appreciated support from the Faculty of Engineering, a small event was hosted this month that brought together some successful alumni with students who are in the early stages of building something. A range of undergrads and grads, hard-tech and software, spent a day expanding their network in a meaningful way.
The meetings were under the Chatham House Rule, I won’t be listing who attended the meetings… but a Distinguished Professor Emeritus (and a founder of the tech community in Waterloo), Don Cowen, spent some time learning from the students and sharing some stories that day.
Looking forward to the next event in the Spring!
DevHouseWaterloo packed the newly opened Den1880 in Waterloo
A very fancy DevHouseWaterloo happened at the new Den1880 space in Waterloo. We had walnut chairs, smoke and lights, lions, and an Apple Vision Pro setting the atmosphere. But it was still DevHouseWaterloo. Lots of code up on the screen!
The attendance numbers were over 80 this time and it’s so much fun to meet so many new faces in the community. Be sure to check out the next one and bring something to demo!
Founder lunches
On Wednesdays at Communitech is a lunch for founders to meet successful founders in our community. It is an opportunity to ask some questions, hear some stories, and eat some great pizza. This has been primarily open to those participating in the Concept to Company workshop series and we also opened it up to tenants at Communitech.
With so many new founders in the community, a chance for them to learn about how and what has been built locally from those who have done helps them develop a better understanding of what is possible.
More will be planned in the spring. Keep an eye out for a sign up!
The Monday Club at Communitech continued through February with demos on some new products that people are working on ranging from AI and design tools. The purpose of Monday Club is to take advantage of the free day pass offered by Communitech that day and provide an opportunity to get some feedback on what you are working on in a friendly environment.
Anyone is welcome to join.
Huge thanks to Communitech for the support.
Coworking in the Region
With Communitech, Catalyst, WorkHaus, and Den1880 (plus some I missed) in the region. People looking for coworking have a bunch of options. All of them are great. From a community perspective, I hope to see all these spaces full and buzzing by the spring!
Each of them offers something unique. Find the spot that works for you!
Finally, if you are early stage company you should take a minute and sign up for a free membership at Communitech. You can work wherever makes sense to you and still be a member. It’s free.