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Ep 07: Lessons Learned Running the Velocity Incubator with Mike Kirkup

June 13, 2017 By Gary Will

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For over four years, Mike Kirkup was the director of Velocity—the startup incubator at the University of Waterloo. It’s been a huge addition to the Waterloo startup community since opening in 2008. He stepped down just over a year ago to become CTO at Encircle—a Velocity graduate—and on this week’s show looks back at lessons learned from Velocity’s growth (and how a huge space for Velocity Garage quickly became too small).

I also take a quick look at some new data on Canada’s venture capital industry from a BDC report released last week, and catch up on the Canadian government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI) after attending a information session. Only five superclusters are going to be selected and the front runners seem pretty clear. Is there even any point for anyone else to apply?

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Links:

  • Velocity
  • Velocity on Twitter (@UWVelocity)
  • Mike Kirkup on Twitter (@mikekirkup)
  • Encircle
  • Velocity Fund Finals (Livestream archive)
  • Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI): Frequently asked questions
  • Canada’s Venture Capital Landscape (BDC)
  • VC & PE Canadian Market Overview 2016 (CVCA)

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: canada, clusters, incubators, venture capital, waterloo region

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