Waterloo is truly a GREAT place to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to are not aware of the local resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Waterloo Founder Institute now open, we are excited to release the Waterloo Startup Ecosystem Canvas, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Waterloo Founder Institute and local leaders Jordan Jocius, Madusha Cooray, and Sunil Sharma.

This is just a DRAFT, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

Are you looking to build a startup in Waterloo? Then apply to the Waterloo Founder Institute today!

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

Startup Stages

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There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

A. Inspire

• Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters, Startup Digest)

1. Accelerator Centre News
2. BetaKit Kitchener-Waterloo
3. Communitech News
4. FP Startups
5. Startup Digest Waterloo
6. StartupNorth
7. Techvibes
8. The Logic

• Inspirational Events: Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. EntSoc
2. Fluxible
3. LAUNCH Waterloo Meetup
4. Startup Open House
5. Startup Weekend Waterloo
6. StartupTech Unleashed-KW
7. TechWaterloo Region Meetup
8. True North 2019
9. WatCamp
10. Waterloo Fintech and Crypto Meetup
11. Waterloo Innovation Summit
12. Women In Technology Waterloo Region
13. Women Who Code Waterloo

B. Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like 1 Million Cups, Startup Grind, Startup Founder 101, etc).

1. Agile/Lean P2P
2. Canada's Technology Triangle .NET User Group
3. Data for Good - Waterloo Region
4. DesignChats
5. Elasticsearch Meetup - Waterloo/Kitchener
6. EOS Waterloo
7. Internet of Things Waterloo Region
8. Kitchener Waterloo DevOps Meetup
9. Kitchener WordPress Meetup
10. KW Cyber Security Meetup
11. KW Ruby Developers
12. KWJavaScript
13. Lean Product Waterloo
14. Manufacturing and Operations P2P
15. NetSquared Kitchener/Waterloo
16. Rust KW
17. Startup Founder 101 Waterloo
18. Startup Grind Waterloo
19. Startup Laurier
20. uxWaterloo
21. Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Community
22. Waterloo Blockchain Meetup

• Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)

1. Bridging Entrepreneurs to Students (BETS)
2. Code Squad Camp
3. D2L Night School
4. Digital Product Design with Signal UX
5. Docker Waterloo
6. Fierce Founders Bootcamp
7. Founder Institute
8. GDG Waterloo
9. GPUG PHP User Group
10. iOSKW
11. Kitchener node.js Meetup
12. K∩W - Intersections KW
13. KW Big Data P2P
14. KW Content Strategists
15. Lean Startup Machine
16. Microsoft Ventures Startup Bootcamp: Waterloo
17. NeuroTechKW
18. Product Management P2P
19. Shopify Sessions
20. StemLabRobotics
21. Tech Savvy
22. Technical Communication P2P
23. Technical Support Innovators P2P
24. The Revenue U
25. The Zeitspace Sessions
26. UX Book Club KW
27. Waterloo Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning
28. Waterloo AWS User Group
29. Waterloo Data Science and Data Engineering
30. Waterloo Region Small Business Centre Programs
31. Waterloo Technology Chautauqua
32. WatPy
33. Web Developers P2P
34. WWITPRO User Group

C. Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching)

1. Android KW
2. BNI Canada
3. CoFoundersLab
4. DevHouse Waterloo Meetup
5. Ethereum Developer Meetup (Waterloo)
6. Founder2be
7. FounderDating
8. GeekMeet Kitchener/Waterloo Technology Meetup
9. Kitchener Small Business Meetup
10. Kitchener Waterloo Business Women's Association
11. Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs
12. Southern Ontario Automation and PLC Programming Meetup
13. Startup Waterloo
14. Startups and Beer

• Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)

1. 2018 NASA Space Apps Hackathon - Kitchener-Waterloo Region
2. Catalyst137
3. CivicTechWR
4. ETHWaterloo
5. FaithTech Labs - Working Group
6. Hack the North
7. HACK4HEALTH
8. HackerNest Kitchener-Waterloo Tech Socials
9. Hacking Health
10. Indie Game Development P2P
11. Kotlin Waterloo P2P
12. Kubernetes and Cloud Native Kitchener-Waterloo
13. KW Go Developers
14. Kwartzlab Makerspace
15. MyShop Makerspace
16. OpenHack Waterloo
17. StarterHacks
18. Waterloo VR/AR - Virtual and Augmented Reality Meetup
19. WPL Tech Events

2. Launch Stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

A. Start

• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups

1. Bereskin & Parr LLP
2. BMO Bank of Montreal
3. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
4. Gowling WLG
5. HSBC
6. Manulife Bank
7. McCarter Grespan
8. Miller Thomson LLP
9. National Bank
10. PCK
11. Phillips Lytle LLP
12. RBC Royal Bank
13. Scotiabank
14. TD Canada Trust
15. VersaBank

• Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)

1. BRCH
2. Freedom Cafe Coworking Space
3. Kitchener Waterloo Innovation Center
4. Regus
5. Spur Innovation Center
6. Terminal
7. Treehaus Collaborative Workspace
8. Workplace One

B. Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.  

1. AppStudio
2. BDO Canada
3. Bwired
4. Dedicated Bookkeeping Solutions
5. Digital Chaos Inc
6. Eyelight
7. Liberty Staffing
8. MAC LLP
9. Mad Hatter Technology
10. Mulrooney & Associates Inc.
11. Northsail Software
12. Padgett Waterloo
13. Pollard Gagliardi Navickas LLP
14. Prime Management Group Inc
15. REM Web Solutions
16. RLB LLP
17. Vehikl
18. zfactor

• Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS, Startup Next, etc)

1. Communitech
2. Conestoga C4E
3. LaunchPad Incubator
4. Velocity
5. Waterloo MedTech

C. Launch

• Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. Clean Tech Accelerator
2. Fierce Founders Accelerator
3. Rev
4. SmartStart Seed Fund
5. Techstars Toronto
6. The Accelerator Centre

• Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)

1. Communitech Fierce Founders Bootcamp Pitch Competition
2. Communitech: Pitching to Investors
3. Corridor Demo Day
4. Golden Triangle Angel Network - RAW
5. Startup Pitch Nights Waterloo
6. Velocity Fund Finals

3. Growth Stage

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

A. Recognition

• Investor Networking:  Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors)

1. Angel Investors Ontario
2. Canadian Investment Network
3. Golden Triangle Angel Network
4. Keiretsu Forum
5. Southwestern Ontario Angel Group
6. Waterloo Alumni Angels

• Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)

1. Canadian Business
2. CBC
3. CTV News
4. Exchange Magazine
5. Financial Post
6. Kitchener Post
7. The Record
8. Waterloo Chronicle
9. Snapd KW

B. Funding

• Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors

1. Aditya Bali
2. Alex Kolicich
3. Alex Leyn
4. Andrew Parker
5. Andrew Wright
6. Anton Polski
7. Benton Leong
8. Brian Hunter
9. Cameron Hay
10. Darrell MacMullin
11. David Chilton
12. Devon Galloway
13. Highline BETA
14. James Appleyard
15. Jim Estill
16. Joseph Fung
17. Karamdeep Nijjar
18. Kartik Ram
19. Kevin Thomason
20. Laurent Bernardin
21. Matt Schlotzhauer
22. Michael Mahon
23. Mike McCauley
24. Mike Stork
25. Prem Kalevar
26. Panache Ventures
27. Sol Algranti
28. Steven Woods
29. Steven McCartney
30. Two Small Fish Ventures
31. Yousef Khraibut

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. BDC ICE Venture Fund
2. Extreme Venture Partners (covers Toronto-Waterloo corridor)
3. FAIRVentures
4. First Ascent Ventures
5. Garage Capital
6. Golden Ventures
7. Information Venture Partners
8. inovia Capital
9. OMERS Ventures
10. Quantum Valley Investments
11. Tech Capital Partners
12. Timia Capital
13. RBC Capital Partners
14. Real Ventures
15. Relay Ventures
16. Ripple Ventures
17. ScaleUP Ventures
18. White Star Capital
19. C. Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Axiom Performance
2. BrokerLink Insurance
3. Colliers International
4. Donovan Insurance
5. H2R Business Solutions
6. Hays Canada
7. HCI Consulting Inc.
8. Kijiji
9. Loopnet
10. Mumby Insurance Brokers
11. Randstad
12. Regal Insurance Brokers
13. Regus
14. Spacelist

• Expansion: Growth accelerators/consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Advanis
2. Deloitte
3. Ernst and Young
4. Grant Thornton
5. KPMG
6. Open Options
7. Overlap Associates
8. PeaceWorks Technology Solutions
9. PMG Intelligence
10. Protiviti
11. PwC

4. Success Stories

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. Aeryon (acquired by FLIR)
2. Auvik
3. ApplyBoard
4. Axonify
5. BlackBerry
6. Bonfire (acquired by GTY Technology Holdings)
7. Bridgit
8. Clearpath Robotics
9. DarvinAI
10. D2L
11. Dejero
12. Demeure
13. eSentire
14. Faire
15. Igloo
16. ISARA Corporation
17. Kiite
18. Kik
19. Magnet Forensics
20. Maluuba (acquired by Microsoft)
21. Meya.ai
22. Miovision
23. Nicoya Lifesciences
24. North (formally Thalmic Labs)
25. OpenText
26. PiinPoint
27. Plasticity Labs
28. Plum.io
29. Sandvine (acquired by PNI Canada Acquireco Corp.)
30. SkyWatch
31. Sortable
32. Terminal
33. TextNow
34. TribeHR (acquired by NetSuite)
35. Tulip Retail
36. Routethis
37. Vidyard
38. Prospect
39. AvidBots
40. Cicer One
41. Bartesian
42. Palette Gear
43. MappedIn
44. Focus21
45. Traffic Soda
46. Structur3D
47. Encircle
48. Smile.io
49. SSIMWAVE
50. Local Line
51. Eleven-x
52. RideCo
53. IGNIS Innovation
54. Tangam Systems
55. BrockSolutions
56. FleetCarma (now a division of GEOTAB)

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. Evangelists

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.

1. Alex Kinsella
2. Amaris Gerson
3. Amit Mehta
4. Andrew Leest
5. Benton Leong
6. Bjorn Dawson
7. Brian Zubert
8. Bryan Peters
9. Brock Dickinson
10. Calvin Leyon
11. Cassie Myers
12. Chase Denomme
13. Chris Farrell
14. Chris Wormald
15. Christine Maiolo
16. Chukwuemeka Uche Onuora
17. Dana Fox
18. Don Thompson
19. Ella Hilal
20. Evan Clark
21. Frank Erschen
22. Grace Bartz
23. Hana Hassan
24. Howard Armitage
25. Iain Klugman
26. Ilona Dougherty
27. Jackie Lauer
28. Jay Shah
29. Jennifer Moss
30. John Baker
31. Jordan Jocius
32. Joseph Fung
33. Kurtis McBride
34. Laura Allan
35. Lisa Cashmore
36. Madusha Cooray
37. Mark Connolly
38. Michael Lazaridis
39. Michael Litt
40. Mike Kirkup
41. Nabil Fahel
42. Norm Malloch
43. Olga Lioudvinevitch
44. Patrick Martinson
45. Paul Salvini
46. Prem Kalevar
47. Popy Dimoulas-Graham
48. Ramy Nassar
49. Reza Chaji
50. Rina Carlini
51. Robert Langlade
52. Rod Foster
53. Rob Douglas
54. Robert Bruski
55. Ryan McCartney
56. Sarim Haque
57. Simon Chan
58. Sunil Sharma
59. Tricia Gruetzmacher
60. Vinit Nijhawan
61. Wayne Chang
62. Wes Worsfold
63. Zach Weston

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development (ex. Start with the chamber of commerce, “Invest in XXX”, “Economic Ministry of XXX” , “Innovation”, R&D, etc)

1. Cambridge Chamber
2. Cambridge BIA
3. Cambridge Economic Development
4. Canadian Innovation Centre
5. Kitchener Economic Development
6. Kitchener-Waterloo - Greater KW Chamber of Commerce
7. Prosperity Council of Waterloo Region
8. The Corridor
9. Waterloo BIA
10. Waterloo Economic Development
11. Waterloo Economic Development Corporation
12. Waterloo Region Small Business Centre

3. Talent

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

• Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. Conestoga College
2. University of Waterloo
3. Wilfrid Laurier University

• Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices, “major technology companies in XX”)

1. Ansys
2. BlackBerry
3. Christie Digital
4. D2L
5. Dejero
6. Electronic Arts
7. Google
8. IBM
9. Kik
10. NCR
11. NetSuite
12. Nuance
13. ON Semiconductor
14. OpenText
15. Oracle
16. Rogers
17. Sandvine
18. Shopify
19. SSIMWAVE
20. TextNow
21. Unitron
22. Vidyard

 

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Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Waterloo Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in Waterloo? Then apply to the Waterloo Founder Institute today