McGill X-1 Accelerator: first week at a glance

Week 1 of the 10-week 2017 McGill X-1 Accelerator has come and gone. As participants readied their startups for the journey to investment and launch, they got to know the program and each other, as well as Bill Aulet’s seminal book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, which will be their roadmap through the program.

Dobson Cup winners turn food waste into gourmet mushrooms

Myco-Rise is a Montreal-area startup that uses food waste and vermicomposting to grow gourmet mushrooms for local restaurants and individuals.

The company definitely marches to its own drum: while other startup founders might dream of geographical expansion right out of the gate, Myco-Rise is consolidating its position as a Montreal-specific mushroom supplier, planning instead to expand into modular production, medicinal mushrooms, and maybe even mushroom beer.

Andrea Courey talks about granola, entrepreneurship and compassion

Andrea Courey (BCom’82) was newly divorced, with three kids to feed and no money in the bank when she started Grandma Emily’s Granola. She credits her BCom education with giving her the tools she needed to get through the early days of her business, but notes that real-world experience is a very different thing than classroom knowledge.

McGill Dobson Centre reveals 2017 X-1 Accelerator cohort

This year’s X-1 cohort has been announced. It’s a diverse group, and one that boasts participants from the McGill Dobson Cup and the McGill Lean Startup Program, as well as a higher number of women than men.

Dobson Cup judge on Montreal’s startup scene

Kristina Tomaz-Young knows a thing or two about startups. She’s been involved with several projects since 2007, both as an adviser and as founder of her own companies, including Venture Cap TV and Skill2Go. She sat with The Dobson Chronicles to discuss her development as a businessperson, how to garner success at home and beyond, and judging the McGill Dobson Cup. Of the Montreal startup culture, Ms.

From class project to the Grit Prize: one Dobson Cup team’s journey

CardioLink was the winner of this year’s Dobson Cup Grit Prize, which honours “outstanding dedication towards establishing [a] business venture.” The multidisciplinary team’s members are pulled from McGill University, Concordia University and the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS). The CardioLink team is working towards a new, affordable method for replacing heart valves, which also happens to be safer for the patient and less frustrating for surgeons.

Spotlight on McGill X-1 Accelerator

As part of its series on social innovations at different universities, Le Délit recently took a look the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship’s efforts, including the McGill X-1 Accelerator, which is a 10-week intensive that gives participants a chance at pitching their projects to the Centre’s network of entrepreneurs in hopes of landing funding.

Dobson Cup winners announced

From 136 initial pitches, 121 went on to compete. The semi-finals brought the field down to 40 finalists and now, the 2017 McGill Dobson Cup powered by National Bank has revealed the slate of winners. Up for grabs was a total of $106,000, which was awarded to the top teams in the categories of Social Enterprise, Health Sciences, Small & Medium Enterprise, and Innovation Driven Enterprise. This year’s slate of entries came from all of McGill’s faculties and schools.

Electric snowmobiles set to take centre stage

Next winter, Whistler Blackcomb and Canadian Wilderness Adventures will become some of the first companies to offer electric snowmobiles to clients. The machines are made by Quebec-based Taiga Motors, which built on its first-place finish in the 2016 McGill Dobson Cup’s Innovation Track to expand its technology and develop a revolutionary all-electric snowmobile from the ground up.

2014 Dobson Cup participant on how winning changed her

Montreal-based Lantinga Vita is all about merging functionality, a chic design and sustainability. The company’s Tempus bag is an Italian-made, multi-functional bag that boasts a compartment for a 15” laptop and a thermal pocket for food. The company’s founder and CEO, Nina Lantinga, recently spoke with The Dobson Chronicles about the entrepreneurial life, growing her business and winning the Grit Prize at the McGill Dobson Cup 2014.

Winning Dobson Cup team on entrepreneurship, plans for the future and head movement as disease indicator

Startup Saccade Analytics was the first place winner of the 2017 McGill Dobson Cup Health Sciences Track. The team’s pitch involved analyzing eye and head movement to help diagnose neural diseases. The team sat down with the Dobson Chronicles to talk about what made them dive into the entrepreneurial life, and eye-head movement as an indicator of disease — including, but not limited to, concussion.

Dobson Cup winners announced

The McGill Dobson Cup 2017 powered by National Bank is over, and the winners have been announced. From the initial 136 applications, 121 teams pitched their startups in the run-up to the semi-finals. Then, 40 of those teams moved on to the finals on March 22. All in all, $106,000 of seed funding was divided among the top entries across four categories: Social Enterprise, Health Sciences, Small & Medium Enterprise and Innovation Driven Enterprise.