For over four years, Mike Kirkup was the director of
Velocity—the startup incubator at the University of Waterloo. It's been a huge addition to the Waterloo startup community since opening in 2008. He stepped down just over a year ago to become CTO at Encircle—a Velocity graduate—and on this week's show looks back at lessons learned from Velocity's growth (and how a huge space for Velocity Garage quickly became too small).
I also take a quick look at some new data on Canada's venture capital industry from a BDC report released last week, and catch up on the Canadian government's Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI) after attending a information session. Only five superclusters are going to be selected and the front runners seem pretty clear. Is there even any point for anyone else to apply?
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Links:
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Velocity
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Velocity on Twitter (@UWVelocity)
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Mike Kirkup on Twitter (@mikekirkup)
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Encircle
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Velocity Fund Finals (Livestream archive)
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Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI): Frequently asked questions
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Canada’s Venture Capital Landscape (BDC)
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VC & PE Canadian Market Overview 2016 (CVCA)
