The best way to learn about building a startup is from those who have done it.
We’ve developed a fantastic network of campus coaches who are available to work with you one-on-one. Our coaches are either founders themselves or were one of the very first startup employees–so they have been there and done that.
This is a unique opportunity for you to learn from someone with hands-on experience.
“Henrique was easy to talk to and every meeting was like a small step towards a bigger outcome. Coaching helped me understand the problem in detail and figure out a pathway to fulfillment!”
aishwarya Bansal, Engineering student
“My favourite coach so far is Lichen. She listened thoroughly while I explained my idea, played devil’s advocate by bringing up reasonable concerns, and offered to help me set milestones to keep me accountable.”
Anonymous, Mathematics student
“Rachel Figueiredo provided invaluable information and resources about industry performance, market competition, emerging technologies, and on-campus groups.”
Please Note:In order to help combat the spread of COVID-19 all coaching sessions will be virtual sessions until further notice.
Read about our friendly coaches below. Schedule a 30-minute session with the person you think can best answer your business questions!
Unless stated otherwise, coaching sessions will take place on the 2nd floor of South Campus Hall (SCH) on the main University of Waterloo campus.
Coaching is open to current students and postdocs only. If you are a student that lives in a Waterloo Residence you can also meet with a Student Entrepreneurship Coach.
Think you would be a great coach to students? We’re always looking to add to our network. Learn more about becoming a coach and apply if you think you’re a good fit.
Please Note: Students who miss more than two sessions without at least eight hours notice will no longer be eligible for coaching sessions. If you need to cancel an appointment with a Coach, please make sure to do so at least 24 hours in advance by using the link in the invite or through a direct email to the Coach.
They’re Friendly, We Promise
Our Coaches
Abdallah El-Falou
Abdallah loves strategizing to validate ideas, assess feasibility, create minimalistic prototypes, and find product-market fit. He’s also trying to perfect a pour-over cup of coffee.
Brad is experienced in building and launching both hardware and software products as a founder. He also knows how to create award-winning pitches.
Expertise: Hardware, software, prototyping, talking to users, pitch coaching, business development
Eric Blondeel
Eric is passionate about entrepreneurship in medicine and biotech and solving real-world problems. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, is a Y Combinator alum and co-founded ExVivo Labs where he was previously CTO.
Expertise: Science, problem/idea formulation, customer discovery, hardware development
Henrique Dias
Henrique is a sales and marketing consultant who helps technical founders find early adopters. If you need to reach out to your market, Henrique will help layout a step by step process that gets results.
Expertise: Sales, customer discovery, talking to users, pitch coaching
Jamie McQuay
Jamie is the Director of Software Innovation at PerkinElmer. He runs the Waterloo Innovation Outpost, global AI and UX/UI teams. Prior to this, he founded a scientific software company.
Pablo has founded 3 payment startups in the areas of 3D printing, FinTech and content creation.
Expertise: Software, fundraising, sales
Pat Martinson
Pat has co-founded or been an early employee at four hardware startups. He’s worn many hats including roles in recruitment, project management, and supply chain.
Rachel is an Entrepreneurship Librarian. She has a degree in research and has spent 5 years developing a collection of market and industry tools to support UWaterloo entrepreneurs.
Expertise: Research, problem/ideation formulation, IP & patenting
Rachel Pautler
Rachel has spent the past 5 years in startups, starting from being the CEO of a Capstone project turned company, to marketing and product management.
Zach is the CTO and Co-founder of Kopa and has been through multiple accelerators including YCombinator. He has a strong background in building software startups.
Ian founded Sesame, an education SaaS company with customers across K-12 and post-secondary. He was also a Product Manager at Shopify Plus focused on enterprise merchants and now works at Mattermost.
Cole is passionate about the people side of entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder of IntelliCulture (an agriculture tech startup) and has a mix of experience in pitching, customer discovery, and building tech.
Ashley is passionate about solving big problems that impact people around the world. She has an interdisciplinary background and enjoys connecting with entrepreneurs, in all fields of any level.
Additional Coaches for The Pandemic Challenge
Paul Heidebrecht
Paul directs an incubator program for peace-focused start-ups, and also facilitates participation in Oxford’s annual Map the System challenge and Conrad Grebel University College’s PeaceTech Living Learning Community.
Kevin Li
Kevin is a Researcher/Student Coach at UWaterloo’s Problem Lab. He enjoys helping student entrepreneurs understand and articulate the problem they are trying to solve and challenging them to think beyond the obvious.
Brendan Wylie-Toal
Brendan loves analyzing problems and working through the milestones required to unlock the innovation opportunities within them. Main strengths centre around helping students refine their vision and strategy with respect to new products, services, and policies.
