Do you have any past experience with entrepreneurship and innovation? If so, please let us know. This may include courses taken, events attended, past projects/startups, or other entrepreneurial activities. I’ve been an inspiring entrepreneur for over 2 years now. I launched my first service back in 2022 after finding A gap in the research participation system for psychology students (more info here: https://github.com/psycho-baller/open-seat-notifier) My next venture happened just see you later where I spent over 6 months building a browser extension that helps people capture And retrieve information from YouTube videos with the help of AI (more info here: https://sniptube.vercel.app/) My most recent ventures have been in the app development space where I I’m in the process of building an app that helps empower University students In the process of finding and making meaningful friendships (more info here: https://github.com/psycho-baller/convo-topics)
Why do you want to participate in the Launchpad program? (150 words) Be surrounded by like-minded people and hopefully be able to meet someone who shares a similar vision/purpose as mine to potentially become co-founders Meet like-minded people in the hopes that I can also find a co-founder that share similar motivations as me. In general I also just wanna be surrounded by like-minded people who have this entrepreneurial spirit in them.
What are the top 3 things you hope to learn from this program? (150 words) How can I make the best of my time in University. How University of Calgary would be able to support me through my process of launching the app with the target audience being first-year students. Knowing how to better understand and find my target audience
What is the problem you are trying to solve? (150 words) On a high level, it’s loneliness. Which is a huge problem faced by a lot of people. Especially Gen z and people who grew up on social media. There’s something fundamentally wrong with the way we connect these days (social media, dating apps, etc..). We have forgotten what true connection means and how to feel it. We wanna help people feel more connected (the real kind of connection) with the community around them (e.g. campus)
What makes your idea different (value proposition)? (150 words) Given my past struggles of making friends and my deep purpose to help people going through the same struggles as I did, I believe I am what makes it different. Regarding the product itself, there exists several applications that try to solve the problem by showing them a list of events that are happening around them. That could work, and is enough for some people, but for a lot of people, it doesn’t solve the root of their problems. A lot of people have very niche interests/hobbies. that have no one to talk about
Have you had any traction (pilots, user testing, funding, sales)? (150 words) I’ve conducted several interviews and surveys and the consensus was that there is a need in the market. It won’t be the most popular app, And it won’t be used by general audience, but there is a niche group of people who need my app to assist them in their journey of finding meaningful friendships during their time in University.