evolution: a podcast by entrepreneurship@UBC

In this episode of our podcast evolution, Entrepreneur in Residence, Head of Venture Growth Strategy Michelle Sklar speaks with Kookai Chaimahawong, ESG Partner at UpperStage.Capital, on building financial literacy skills - where to start and how to advance your confidence - to the trends she is seeing across the investment landscape. Listen to get Kookai's perspective on what changes she is seeing in industry, her advice for early-stage founders and why she thinks community will change the future of how we do things. Kookai Chaimahawong Throughout her career, Kookai Chaimahawong has been known for her curiosity, bold vision, and constantly pushing the boundaries of the existent. Her work expanded from launching an award-winning technology start-up, forming impact partnerships at the United Nations, and most recently investing in breakthrough technologies in climate, food & agriculture, and health at an impact Venture Capital fund. Kookai's recommendations and resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VhOWCOiSVoXfIpF62pkf7nFim4oPX6lm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107318224356123846357&rtpof=true&sd=true

How can mining become a solution to climate change instead of a contributor? In this episode of evolution, hear from Dr. John Steen, Director of BRIMM, The Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining, on the future of mining and how it can wield solutions to the climate opportunity. Led by entrepreneurship@UBC's Climate Venture Studio Lead Dr. Shannon Bard, the two discuss Dr. Steen's origins as a ‘rock loving kid' to his experience bridging academic research with industry to leverage discoveries into action.About Dr. John SteenDr. John Steen has served as the BRIMM Director since July, 2020. Before that, he spent a year as the BRIMM Ambassador from the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering.He is skilled in developing collaborative research with industry and has 15 years of experience in managing industry research and commercialization partnerships.About BRIMMBRIMM creates multidisciplinary teams of leading researchers to work with industry to find solutions to the biggest challenges facing the mining industry and trains the next generation of multidisciplinary professionals.

 evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. Leadership in a time of crisis: As women stand on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, both the strength of their contributions and disproportionate burdens they carry, amplify the significant gaps in gender equality. Who are the leaders in our communities we can draw inspiration from and how are they leading in their organizations, institutions and communities?Adapted from our International Women's Day event, #IWD2021: Leadership in a Time of Crisis, we present to you an inspiring discussion unpacking the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators and learn how we, as an ecosystem, can move forward and take action. Featuring Kristina Bergman, Partner, Pender Ventures, Rohene Bouajram, Associate Director, Strategic IBPOC (Indigenous, Black and/or People of Colour) Initiatives at UBC, Nazneen Damji, Policy Advisor, Gender Equality, HIV, and Health, UN Women, and Michelle Sklar, Head of Brand and Marketing and EIR, entreprneurship@UBC.

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. On this week's episode of the evolution podcast, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist MJ Araujo speaks with Valerie Song, Co-founder and CEO of AVA Technologies. AVA strives to let anyone grow anything, anywhere, shifting society's preference away from cheap, mass agriculture tomore local, nutritious, and sustainable options with their smart indoor gardens. Learn how Valerie grew AVA from 5 to 15 people in the last year, scaling AVAs team culture to match their values driven principles and the new innovations coming down their pipeline.About Valerie SongBC 30 Under 30 winner Valerie Song, CEO of AVA, a startup making smart indoor gardens to help people get growing. Valerie is a passionate and bold leader that loves growing both plants and people. While working in brand management at blue-chip consumer product companies, she found a passion for brand building. She launched and marketed products from organic granola to craft beer. Under her leadership, AVA has gone to file 3 patents, raise $3M in funding, and win 15 different awards. Outside of work, Valerie is a proud advocate for diversity in STEM and youth entrepreneurship.

What makes someone an entrepreneur and how can we champion this mindset across our ecosystem? Dive into the latest adapted session from entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week titled “Entrepreneurial Thinking: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur in today's world?” featuring Valerie Song of AVA Technologies, Emre Akkas and Hanna Golota of GlobalMe, Harrison Brown of HeadCheck Health, Kim Kaplan, formerly of Plenty of Fish and Pieter Dorsman of Angel Forum to learn about their entrepreneurial journeys: what inspired them to pursue entrepreneurship, how they nurture culture and how YOU can create a business that drives impact.Moderator: Pieter Dorsman, Director, Angel ForumHost: Chang Han  EIR, entrepreneurship@UBCSpeakers:Hanna Golata and Emre Akkas, Co-founders, GlobalMeKim Kaplan, previously VP Product with Plenty of Fish/Match.comValerie Song, Co-founder & CEO, AVA TechnologiesHarrison Brown, Co-founder & CEO, Headcheck Health

A Bold Green Recovery Roundtable Discussion with Toby Heaps Adapted from Fall 2020's entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week  evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. The topic that should be on everyone's mind? Climate change. A Bold Green Recovery Roundtable Discussion with Toby Heaps, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Corporate Knights, is another incredible live session that came from our entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week, with speakers Jeanette Jackson, CEO, Foresight; Janice Larson, Strategic Policy, Planning & Partnerships, Muse & Effect Consulting; John Steen, Director of the Bradshaw Initiative in Minerals & Mining; Terri Lynn Morrison, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Communications,Indigenous Clean Energy; and EiRs and Co-leads of our Climate Venture Studio at entrepreneurship@UBC, Paul Needham and Shannon Bard. These experts discuss the report co-written by Toby Heaps, Building Back Better with a Bold Green Recovery to further dive into how innovators can be a force for change and the role of entrepreneurs in creating a better future.

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. Finding the right team players to help build your company speaks volumes towards the growth of your organization. But how do you start? This week, we had an opportunity to hear from a remarkable CEO, who is not only a big supporter of entrepreneurship@UBC, but an entrepreneur that understands the importance of building a winning team. For this episode, How to Get From Zero to Hero: Six Tips for Developing a Winning Team, we were privileged to speak with Graham Lee, President and CEO of GSL Holdings, hosted by Michelle Sklar, EIR and Head of Brand Marketing at entrepreneurship@UBC.About Graham Lee Graham Lee is President and CEO of GSL Group, one of Canada's leading commercial/ recreational development and operations companies. After founding several businesses in his teens, Graham created a business plan while working on his UBC degree in the commerce undergraduate entrepreneurship program, which set the stage for RG Properties, a unique start-up real estate development company that he founded in 1989 at the age of 25. GSL has long-term real estate holdings in properties developed by GSL, including Planet Ice recreational facilities, multi-use arenas, hotels and shopping centres, residential mixed-use developments, major industrial buildings, construction, the Victoria Royals WHL hockey team, a private airplane charter business, and blueberry farming, as well as operations in food and beverage, concert production, ticketing, ice arena operations, outdoor music festivals, and online fantasy sports (officepools.com).About Michelle Sklar Michelle Sklar is a performance driven marketing and communications leader with over two decades of comprehensive achievements in digital marketing, PR, strategic partnerships, community management and numerous entrepreneurial endeavours. She has focused her professional career development on bringing ideas from inception to execution in the Emerging Technology, Digital Media, Events and Nonprofit industries. Her broad cross-functional expertise is in brand and digital asset management, content creation, B2B SaaS, team building, project management and analytics. She thrives in Startups and fast paced environments, where culture and vision match the desire to be transformative. When not working, Michelle can be found travelling, cooking great meals and enjoying live music. Michelle and her partner recently acquired a UVIN (wine making business) and are the new proprietors of the Wine Factory in New Westminster.

What does it take to get a startup off the ground and how can you find the resources to get you there? Adapted from our entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week (EIW) session, "What it takes to get started with us", hear from 3 ventures a part of entrepreneurship@UBC's program on how they began their entrepreneurial journey, what they've learned so far and how they've grown from idea to fully fledged company. Featuring Ina Na of DECAP Research & Development, Yajur Sondhi of Nyoka and Mirjam Mai of Fibrilex, and moderated by Thealzel Lee of VANTEC and E-Fund.

What does it take to get a startup off the ground and how can you find the resources to get you there? Adapted from our entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week (EIW) session, "What it takes to get started with us", hear from 3 ventures a part of entrepreneurship@UBC's program on how they began their entrepreneurial journey, what they've learned so far and how they've grown from idea to fully fledged company. Featuring Ina Na of DECAP Research & Development, Yajur Sondhi of Nyoka and Mirjam Mai of Fibrilex, and moderated by Thealzel Lee of VANTEC and E-Fund.

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. On this week's episode of our podcast, evolution, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist MJ Araujo speaks with TasteAdvisor Founder and CEO, Alyssa Farr. TasteAdvisor is a technology platform that matches individual consumer taste preferences to wine, with a matching accuracy greater than 80%. Alyssa shares how she set out to solve one of the industry's most complicated problems and how TasteAdvisor is creating wins for the entire wine ecosystem.  About Alyssa Farr Alyssa Farr is Founder and CEO of TasteAdvisor, the Okanagan-focused wine app that helps people discover their new favourite wines, in amazing venues, all while enjoying a local wine experience that was custom-crafted for them. Additionally, Alyssa acts as a business coach, is the owner of Unlimited Contracting (a social enterprise residential and commercial maintenance renovation company) and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Purppl. About TasteAdvisor TasteAdvisor  takes the guesswork out of buying wine. TasteAdvisor is a venture that was part of entrepreneurship@UBC Okanagan. Learn more about e@UBCO, here.Interested in furthering your own entrepreneurial journey? Join us September 8th at our Community Town Hall and sign up to be the first to register for our first ever entrepreneruship@UBC Immersion Week, September 28th to October 2nd, where we will demystify entrepreneurship in the innovation economy. 

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. On this week's episode of our podcast evolution, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist MJ Araujo speaks with 3 entrepreneurial experts in this special episode highlighting varying perspectives on building a tech and disruption-based venture in our CORE program. Hear from entrepreneurship@UBC's Program Director Blair Simonte, Skylab Co-founder TJ Rak and longtime CORE Mentor, Kyle Cheriton, as they share their insights and experiences as entrepreneurs and members of our CORE community. The CORE program is for ventures driving innovation through disruptive technologies, ideas and trends.Applications for CORE are open until August 10th. Apply now! The fall 2020 CORE venture building program will be held online. Listen to the 9th episode of evolutionAbout our GuestsBlair Simonite teaches entrepreneurship and innovation at the Sauder School of Business, and is Program Director of entrepreneurship@UBC. Blair has over 30 years of hands-on operating experience in a variety of technology businesses from startups to multinationals, and is an active advisor and board member for BC tech firms. At UBC he has helped more than 250 ventures to learn how to validate their markets and begin to build their businesses. Blair holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University, and is a registered Professional Engineer.TJ Rak is a born entrepreneur who happened to enjoy the process, challenge and rewards of photography. Post Undergrad travels took him to Asia where he founded a photography production studio with the intention to finish off his degree and learn Mandarin. Following Asia came Silicon Valley where the idea of A.I. was implanted, leading TJ  back to Vancouver. Now he is eager to seek out some support from the first business' and school that lit his entrepreneurial fire. Skylab is a leader in A.I. portrait photo editing. They empower businesses, freelancers, and hobbyists to succeed in the digital age.Kyle Cheriton has extensive international experience working for global companies including Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, The Walt Disney Company and United Airlines. He has also been involved in start-up companies including Rakuten Linkshare, Arista Networks and Martiniburger. ​His career and curiosity led him to live and work in Canada, California, Japan and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Since moving to Vancouver he has served in a volunteer role as a mentor, advisor and investor at the University of British Columbia's entrepreneurship@UBC program.

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. This week on our podcast evolution, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist, MJ Araujo, chats with 3 leaders in this special episode highlighting varying perspectives on building a research based venture through our Lab2Launch stream. All integral to our ecosystem and the program at large, hear from Associate Director, Lab2Launch Sean Lumb, Co-founder of venture ABOzymes Spence Macdonald and Mentor, Dr. Geoff Houlton, as they share their unique experiences and insights as part of our Lab2Launch community.About our GuestsSean Lumb is passionate about translating research innovation into transformative startup opportunities and working with entrepreneurial researchers. Trained as a research chemist (PhD'99, UBC Dept of Chemistry), Sean's career spans technology licensing and commercialization, startup founding and fundraising, seed-stage investment analysis, and mentoring entrepreneurial researchers to investigate and develop new ventures based on their research innovation. Currently, Sean is an Associate Director at entrepreneurship@UBC, leading the Lab2Launch Venture Building Program.Spence Macdonald studies high-throughput enzyme discovery as a Ph.D. candidate in Stephen Withers' lab at the University of British Columbia. During his Ph.D. Spence has focused on developing translational research to solve real world problems, which lead him to co-found ABOzymes Biomedical.ABOzymes is making blood types obsolete. Built upon the discoveries of Dr. Peter Rahfeld and Professor Stephen G. Withers of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia, their innovative technologies utilize enzymes from our own microbiomes to convert the ABO blood surface antigens to the Universal Donor Blood Group.Dr. Geoff Houlton qualified in medicine from Ninewells Medical School at the University of Dundee. Following residency training in anesthesiology, he joined CIBA-Geigy (now Novartis) in the UK as a medical advisor in product development. In 1986 he was recruited to Canada to lead the development of the Medical Affairs Department of Glaxo Canada Inc. now Glaxo SmithKline (GSK). The success of his product development activities enabled his transfer in 1989 to venture capital with MDS Health Sciences, later MDS Capital Corporation. He was a Founding Partner, Director, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of BioCatalyst Yorkton Inc., a venture management company.  Dr. Houlton also worked as a Health Sciences Analyst for a number of Canadian investment banks and was appointed CEO and a Director of Heart Force Medical Inc. in 2009. Now, Dr. Houlton provides mentoring, consulting and advisory services.

On this week's episode of our podcast evolution, guest host and entrepreneurship@UBC EiR Sarah Applebaum chats with Pieter Dorsman of Angel Forum on how to find your champion, demystifying founder and funder relationships. Pieter talks about the importance of entrepreneurs creating investor connections early on in their venture building journey, emphasizing the ways founders can gain value from investors -beyond money- and why this is absolutely crucial to their long term success.Want to learn more? RSVP for our July 8th Community Town Hall on Finding Your Champion with Pieter Dorsman who will chat live in an AMA-style conversation with Aspect Biosystems' Co-founder and CEO, Tamer Mohamed. RSVP HEREAbout Pieter Dorsman Pieter Dorsman is a seasoned advisor, investor and mentor who is President & CEO of Redpeaks Management Inc., a consulting firm focused on advising technology companies on capital raising, M&A and restructuring activities. He has also taken on interim management roles at a number of Canadian tech companies. Additionally, Pieter is director and CFO at E-Fund, a Vancouver-based angel investment fund.About Angel ForumAngel Forum is one of the longest serving angel networks in Canada and since September 2018, has been under new management. They are a non-profit organization and connect promising start-ups with accredited angel capital. At the same time, they offer workshops to both entrepreneurs and investors. They provide a community for new or seasoned investors with our wealth of resources, knowledge, and opportunities.Angel Forum has access to and works closely with angels from all over British Columbia, the rest of Canada and the USA and collaborates with local organizations and is part of Canada's National Angel Capital Organization. Membership of Angel Forum is for accredited investors only and private meetings are exclusive for pre-registered investors and a select group of companies and event sponsors. We organize in-person events in Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna and Whistler as well as regular Zoom meetings where companies pitch.

 During the past few months, COVID has identified many vulnerable populations in our society, including demographics, business models and general frameworks that are at risk. But, how has it impacted people who were already underserved and in need? On this week's episode of evolution, entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist, MJ Araujo, speaks with Brave Coop Founder and CEO, Gordon Casey. Brave strives to center the voice of the person who uses drugs in everything they do, through a framework called Design Justice. Find out how COVID has impacted people who use drugs and how Brave's remote supervision app, BeSafe, is helping to keep the community safe from accidental overdose. About Gordon Casey A former lawyer and entrepreneur, Gordon Casey is the founder of Brave Coop. After his career in law and finance, Gordon moved to Vancouver determined to use technology to reveal that help is always nearby, as long as you can ask for it. He soon realized that the most pressing need for this kind of tech was in overdose prevention and response. He has been working in Vancouver's downtown Eastside ever since.About Brave Coop Brave is a multi-stakeholder cooperative, working out of Vancouver, BC, and Columbus, Ohio. Their sole focus is preventing overdose death. Their technology tools have been co-designed with people who use drugs, respond to overdose, and build community resilience in the face of the overdose epidemic. They are designed to connect people at risk of overdose with help they need: an ally they can talk to, a human supporter to help them stay safe, and digital monitoring technology to help them when they're in danger by connecting them with a community of overdose responders, and professional emergency first responders.  

evolution is a podcast shining light on our ecosystem's stories of innovation, impact and hustle throughout their venture building journey. Join us as we build community and knowledge related to entrepreneurship during the course of COVID-19. At the end of 2019, UBC declared a climate emergency, and everyday it seems the world is placing a growing value on technology and systems that solve environmental problems. In our 5th episode of evolution, entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist, MJ Araujo, speaks with Entrepreneur in Residence Paul Needham about his experience as a serial entrepreneur and how COVID has urged government and society to overhaul our current systems, making room for climate solutions to come first.  About Paul NeedhamPaul is an economist, FinTech and CleanTech serial entrepreneur with over 19 years of experience as CEO and board member, leading companies from founding to successful exits. Paul currently serves as board member and senior advisor to energy access enterprises, financing facilities and social impact investment funds that are accelerating the energy transition. Paul co-founded Simpa Energy India which provides rooftop solar solutions to low-income households in rural India.

This week, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist, MJ Araujo, speaks with Steph Sharp, Co Founder and CEO of 3DQue. 3DQue has created an automation suite for 3D printers to produce parts 24/7, on demand, rivalling current manufacturing systems dependent on outsourcing production at scale. Their team has been pivotal in helping deliver parts for PPE for frontline workers, keeping communities safe while broadening their operations to serve local businesses impacted by broken supply chains. About Steph Sharp: A finance expert and serial entrepreneur, Steph Sharp founded 3DQue to disrupt the low volume manufacturing market. She is committed to establishing long-term relationships and business practices that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.About 3DQue: Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, 3DQue offers an autonomous 3D printing service for the mass production of critical high resolution plastic components and parts. 24/7 on demand scheduling provides control over inventory and effectively eliminates the need for outsourcing. 3DQue is changing the way 3D printing is performed with innovative technology that delivers complex plastic parts at scale with speed, cost and quality not achievable with traditional 3D printing techniques.3DQue is a venture currently a part of entrepreneurship@UBC's Incubator program

This week, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist, MJ Araujo speaks with Geoffrey Ching, a UBC med student and one of the founders of the BC Student Medical Service Response team, a medical student-led initiative to support BC physicians and Public Health Authorities in their efforts against COVID-19. About Geoffrey ChingGeoffrey Ching is a 3rd year UBC medical student who has worked with his medical school classmates to serve frontline workers, the public health response, and the community as part of the BC Medical Student Response Team. In addition to research foci in cornea, medical simulation, and teleophthalmology, he focuses much of his non-medical work in the angel investing space. He is currently the Vancouver chapter lead for Hatching Health, a by-physician angel for-physician angel investment network, and works concurrently with VANTEC, a BC-based angel investment network, to improve presenting company and angel investor experience. In addition, he is currently involved in a digital teleophthalmology startup, Augos, and a digital medical education startup, CyberPatient, that has reached medical schools worldwide. 

This week, host and Creative Specialist MJ Araujo speaks with entrepreneurship@UBC's Senior Manager of Operations, Monica Vucko. Monica was instrumental in moving the organization and 150+ person network online in a matter of days amidst the world's move indoors, transitioning entrepreneurship@UBC's entirely in person program into the virtual world. BIOMonica M. Vucko is an entrepreneur and operations professional who serves as entrepreneurship@UBC's Senior Manager of Operations, where she is in charge of ensuring that all program operations and services run seamlessly, on time and within budget. Prior to this, she was the founder & CEO of tech start-up LookLab which aimed to bring the sharing economy to the fashion industry. Monica completed a MSc. Sustainability & Social Innovation with a focus on Impact Entrepreneurship at Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris), holds a BA(H) in Health Studies from Queen's University and was a fellow at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. When she's not working at entrepreneurship@UBC, she's moonlighting as a founder for Speak for Success, a company that provides communication skills training to women who are early in their professional careers. Monica's passions include impact entrepreneurship, gender diversity and supporting founders.

In our first episode, host and entrepreneurship@UBC's Creative Specialist MJ Araujo speaks with Sarah Applebaum who shares her expertise as an investor, trends she is seeing in the investing scene and how to approach company building in a period of uncertainty. Check out this resource Sarah recently penned outlining how your startup can move forward during uncertainty.About Sarah ApplebaumIn addition to being an Entrepreneur in Residence at entrepreneurship@UBC, Sarah Applebaum is a Partner at RenewableTech Ventures, a Cleantech VC that invests in early stage companies in Canada & the US. She previously was an investor with Pangaea Ventures, an advanced materials VC, where she developed and launched their seed-stage investment vehicle. Sarah is also a community activator - hosting quarterly meetups for Vancouver founders and start-up leaders.