A decade ago, McGill Dobson Cup participants Mohamed Hage and Lauren Rathmell set out to change the way that Montrealers get their fresh produce through their innovative venture, Lufa Farms.
Since then, they have grown to a 200-person operation and have attracted the attention of many, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who toured Lufa's newest greenhouse in the Montreal suburb of Anjou.
This year’s McGill Dobson Cup finals saw 40 teams from across the University competing for a portion of over $100,000 in seed funding.
As in the past, the startups were competing across four tracks: Social Enterprise, Health Sciences, Small & Medium Enterprise, and Innovation Driven Enterprise, which ensured a wide diversity of ideas.
For the winners, victory is sweet, but the road ahead remains arduous, as they prepare to take their startups to the next level.
Taiga Motors, founded by McGill Engineering grads and winners of the McGill Dobson Cup, is preparing to launch the very first electric snowmobile — a vehicle that can go from zero to 95 kilometers per hour in three seconds and boasts zero emissions.
The company has already collected a few hundred preorders, with hopes to reach 1,000 by the end of the summer.
Chic Marie - 3rd place winner of the McGill Dobson Cup 2015 - was on Dragon's Den last week!
If you want to learn how to negotiate like a boss and strike the perfect balance between conveying your story yet keeping it concise, look no further. Watch how Marie persuades the Dragons to give her what she wants.
For Tessa Battistin, founder of Asset Designs and former Dobson Cup semi-finalist, knowing how your clothes are made is just as important as knowing where your food is coming from.
This belief, coupled with her passion for design, is what prompted her to take her sustainable fashion business to the next level.
Battistin’s garments are made with materials that are 100 per cent fair wage and fair labor abroad, or from materials made in Canada.
Taiga Motors, founded by three McGill Engineering grads and winners of the McGill Dobson Cup, are gearing up to launch the first ever electric snowmobile, the Taiga TS2. They recently invited media to Mont-Tremblant to unveil their product prototype, which did not disappoint.
While Taiga continues to refine their design, the snowmobiles already have two major advantages over competitors: zero-emission and significantly less noise pollution.
The Dobson Chronicles interviews Daniel Van Acker, member of the Dobson Cup finalist startup CandyCutlery, about what motivated him to become an entrepreneur and what it takes to succeed. For Van Acker, the recipe for success includes a lot of hard work; “there are no shortcuts”, as he says.
In a recent interview, Taiga Motors, founded by three McGill Engineering grads and winners of the McGill Dobson Cup, sits down to talk about what spurred their electric snowmobile idea, its innovative design and the path to commercialization.
Following successful testing this past winter, Taiga is due to unveil the production model of its first electric snowmobile in the next couple of months and plans to begin delivery to customers in 2019.
On February 7, the McGill Dobson Centre hosted a Startup Financials Workshop to expose this year’s McGill Dobson Cup teams to the basics of Finance that will serve them well as they advance to the finals.
The presentation was led by Rabih Atallah – Senior Manager, Commercial Banking, SME Market (National Bank), as well as by Anthony Ferrara – Senior Manager and Market Lead, Life Sciences and Health, Business Banking (National Bank).
After receiving many compelling applications, the list has been narrowed down to 84 startup teams who will have a chance at advancing to the final round of the 2018 McGill Dobson Cup powered by National Bank.
The finals of the Dobson Cup are scheduled for March 28.
Natasha Saviuk, BSc'12, a doctoral student at McGill, and Shonezi Noor, BCom'14, had the same target audience in mind when they pitched startup ideas at McGill's Dobson Cup. They joined forces and today, with the support of the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, their startup Will + Zack has clients in Canada and the U.S., and they've only just begun.
Taiga Motors, founded by McGill graduates Gabriel Bernatchez (Beng'16), Sam Bruneau (Beng'15) and Paul Achard (Beng'14), have developed the world’s first electric snowmobile, eliciting interest and enthusiasm from local and international snowmobilers and investors alike.
On October 18, the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship hosted its third workshop of the fall season, which focused on the technological innovations that are shaking up the business world.
The two invited guest speakers were Matthew Boerum from Audible Reality, winner of the 2017 McGill Dobson Cup, and Yves Guillaume A. Messy, founder of insurance startup QGS Technologies Ltd.
Both speakers led discussions on the opportunities enabled through technological advancement, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.
McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship Associate Director Renjie Butalid appeared on the PNR podcast to talk about his development as an entrepreneur, and how it led to his current position.
When asked about the programs he is managing, Mr Butalid outlined how the McGill Lean Startup Program is where a brand-new team lays the groundwork for a hopefully-successful run at the McGill Dobson Cup, and how the X-1 Accelerator helps Dobson Cup winners to further develop their startups.
With their revolutionary earplugs, Kristina Pearkes (BEng’17) and Sean Kaiser (BEng’17) aim to end insomnia without medication. The duo is the brains behind Orbityl, the company that just received Next Canada’s Outstanding Next 36 Venture Award. The Next 36 is a young-entrepreneur accelerator run by Next Canada, which offers seed capital as well as mentorship opportunities.
