The last event of the year for CIN went off with a bang! The evening comprised of our biggest Unthinkable Thursdays event to date as well as a festive evening celebration at E:Ne restaurant.
Many local start ups got up on the chair at Swans Pub to introduce themselves and give some insight about their business and story. Great chats were had and new connections formed over local beers in Swans’ atrium with views of the blue bridge and holiday lights.
After Unthinkable Thursdays, guests ventured over to E:Ne on Pandora, a short walk away. There were amazing Japanese tapas served throughout the course of the evening and many specialty cocktails were enjoyed.
The special guest speaker, Hunter Macdonald, co-founder and CEO of Tutela is a born entrepreneur who is passionate about challenging and innovating the mobile industry. Hunter discussed his recent experience with Comlinkdata, a North American leader in telecom market performance analytics that recently purchased Tutela. Tutela collects and analyzes anonymous mobile network coverage and experience statistics from millions of mobile devices to deliver actionable insights to telecoms and other mobile companies.
Hunter was welcomed to the stage with a bagpipe performance courtesy of Nicholas Wemyss. Special thanks to Nicholas (a man of many talents) for dressing fully kitted out for the occasion!
Jordan Schley set the tone by leading an engaging Q & A session that provided viewers with some enlightenment about Tutela’s recent exit story and about the journey they went through as a business to get there.
Some key takeaways from the session and wise insight points included:
- Invest locally to be more involved and gain increased potential to nurture the start up
- Expect pivots/changes
- Invest in the person rather than the idea
- Give businesses time to develop their brand and product before moving to sales
Reflecting back on 2019, we are proud of this year’s line-up of pitch events, investor yacht cruise as well as newly launched initiatives like Unthinkable Thursdays and Victoria Vipers. We look forward to seeing everyone as we gear up for more awesome events in 2020! Thank you so much for supporting our efforts and for being part of our community.
Be sure to get your tickets for the 2020 Western Angel Investment Summit at Victoria’s stunning Oak Bay Beach Hotel.
Thank you to our sponsor Viatec who has been a key supporter of CIN from the beginning!
