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Coast Capital Speakers Series

The Coast Capital Speaker Series is designed to inspire you to consider an entrepreneurial path and learn how to navigate the winding startup journey. We invite founders of leading Vancouver startups to share their stories of success, struggles and industry quirks.

The events are free of charge and open to any Simon Fraser University student, any current post-secondary student, and recent SFU alumni. This is also an opportunity to network and mingle with speakers and fellow attendees after the main event.

 

Be INSPIRED by successful ventures

NETWORK with other student entrepreneurs

LEARN how to grow a business

Upcoming Events

Past Events

2022

March 28 2022 - Fireside Chat
with Sumreen Rattan (Moment Energy)

February 24 2022 - The Future of Artificial Intelligence for the Community
with Hassan Murad (Intuitive AI), Nipun Goel (Artenal), Paige Tuttosi (Haiven), Jenny Huang (Haiven), Kristen Bystrom (Haiven)

2021

March 4 2021 - Life After Winning Idea Prize 
with Christina Wong (Employ to Empower), Rene Blanco (Labora), Tawanda Masawi (GameSeta), and William Brenner (Venture Connection)

March 31 2021 - Getting Started with Entrepreneurship 
with Marzia Sager (Glow Within Foundation), Raaj Chatterjee (MeaningfulWork), Annie Lo (MiTravel), Kaito Cunningham (ThriftSo)

November 25 2021 - The Creative as a CEO
with Michael Cheng (Lumen5), Bassam Mirghani (LIVSHOWS)

2020

March 12 2020 - Careers in Communications - The Workshop with Andrea Ng (Glo Media Co.)

November 18 2020 - Innovating in Sustainable Energy Engineering: How to Get Started & Success Stories with Steve Oldham (Carbon Engineering Ltd.), Sumreen Rattan (Moment), Devpreet Bhullar (Novion), and Maryam Yazdanpour (Corvus Energy)

2019

July 11 2019 - Startup Journey Panel Talk 1.0 with Christina Chiu (CareCrew), Owen Ingraham (Intiveo), Dan Sutton (Tantalus Labs), Jordan Gutierrez (Wishpond), Max Burke (UrbanLogiq)

May 10 2019 From Freelancer to Founder: A Marketer's Guide to Building a Business
with Alex Wan (Periphery Digital), Atif Saad (Co-llective Marketing), Kaitie Bakker (OXD, formerly Open Road Communications)

February 25 2019 From Coder to Founder: Turning Code Into a Business
with Jaime Tastubana (Footystats.org), Geoff Groos (Empower Operations)

2018

October 29 2018 - Doug Fast, Fireside Chat: Business Failure
with Doug Fast (Dark Water Tek)

March 21 2018 Govermany Funding for R&D, Innovation and Growth
with Jaap Siekman (NorthBridge Consultant)

2017

October 10 2017 Why Big Data Matters (For Startups)
with Chris Neumann

2016

March 30 2016 Tech and Science Commcercialization
with Master of Ceremonies, Professeor Elicia Maine, (Science & Technology Commercialization at SFU), Speaker, Andrew J. Rae (iCo Therapeutics Inc.), Expert Panelists, Jeanette Jackson (Foresight Cleantech Accelerator), Gabe Kalmar (Genome BC) and more!

2015

November 3 2015 Science Startups
with Eric Atkinson (NRC-IRAP), Karen Chiang (Team Fit), Ernest McEachern (Alectos Therapeutics), Eugene Suyu (Tinkerine Studios Ltd.)

2014

November 24 2014 Design, Innovation, and Technology
with Eugene Suyu (Tinkerine Studios Ltd.), Jin Fan (GWS Design&Solutions Inc.), Joseph Rangel (Coast Capital Savings), Herb Bentz (Form3 Design Inc.)

October 2 2014Entrepreneurship 101
with Kelly Graves, ( Investors and Owner - Ideas First.), Roger Flowerdew (Compass Star Strategic Advisors), Hearther Rayment (Coast Capital Savings), Yan Hong (Offerri)

March 20 2014 - Science Startups
with Oliver Buck (ITM Isotope Technologies Munich GmbH), Christopher J. Campbell (Business Development Consultant) , Austin Lee (
Shield Diagnostics), David Vocadlo (
Alectos Therapeutics), Byron Thom (Optigo Networks)

2013

October 7 2009Student Startups
with Matias Marquez (Buyatab Media), Milun Tesovic (Metrolyrics [Acquired by CBS in 2011]), Howie Wu (Layerboom [Acquired by Joyent in 2010])

July 18 2013 Engineered at SFU
with Doug Wiggin (Switch Materials), Max Donelan (Bionic Power)

January 31 2013Digital Media Startups
with Keith Ippel (Invoke Media/Labs), Warren Anthony (FCV), Michael Fergusson (Ayogo Games), J Joly (OverInterActive Media/CineCoup), Mike Torillo (V7 Entertainment and SFU Alumnus)

2012

November 16 2012Big Data, a Conversation
with Chris Neumann (DataHero), interviewed by VC alum Arash Afrooze (HiretheWorld)

July 5 2012Women in Technology (Plus one Guy) 
with Judi Hess (CopperLeaf Technologies), Shannon Susko (Subserveo), Arash Afrooze (HiretheWorld), interviewed by Catherine Jacobs (McQuarrie Hunter)

March 29 2012Success, One Tab at a Time with Matias Marquez (Buyatab.com and VC Alum)

January 21 2012How to Validate your Technology in the Marketplace 
with Matt Ferguson (Progressive Health Innovations)

2011

November 22 2011Starting and Scaling your Creative Studio
with Leah Nelson (Giant Ant Media)

August 2 2011Adding Business Value through Sustainability
With Lisa von Sturmer (Growing City)

July 5 2011T is for Tea
How 8 Young Entrepreneurs Built an International Company. With Lana Sutherland 

June 21 2011Is Franchising Right for you?
with Jeff Cooley (Booster Juice)

April 5 2011The LayerBoom Story
From Zero to Acquisition in 13 Months. with Howie Wu (LayerBoom and VC Alum)

March 1 2011How Does a Visual Artist Get to be Running a Healthy Meal Delivery Service and Retail Company?
with Katie Rodgers (Licious Living Inc.)

February 1 2011How Can a University-trained Software Guy Open a Successful Food Business?
With Brent Kyle (Indishpensable)

2010

August 3 2010Setting up Your Business and a Brief Look at Business Models
with Ross St. George (Buyatab)

July 6 2010Solidifying Creative Ideas into a Business
with Gordon Manson of MAPT Media

June 15 2010Landing your First Client
with Christie Anderson and Diana Kidd (NuXD)

March 30 2010Resources and Funding for Students Forum
with Hafeez Shaikh, Bob de Wit, Tess Menges, and Joshua Zoshi as Moderator 

March 16 2010 - Operating a Business as a Student
with Minna Van 

March 2 2010Building your Passion into a Business
with Graham Buksa 

February 2 2010Reaching your Target Market with Social Media
with Kemp Edmonds

2009

November 19 2009Successful Ventures
with Joe Timlin (Growthworks)

November 5 2009Making $ from your Services
with Mayur Jobanputra (Full Motion Group)

October 22 2009Perfecting a Pitch
with Ed Levinson (Analusis Consulting Inc.)

October 8 2009Team Development
with Ryan Fetterly (EasyPlug)

October 1 2009Concept Evaluation
with Brad Palmer (Jostle Corporation)