Jay Shah - a former startup co-founder and University of Waterloo alumnus - is the new director of Velocity, Waterloo’s flagship entrepreneurship program. Shah joins Velocity from Google, where he worked since the tech-giant acquired BufferBox, the company he co-founded in 2012.
BufferBox, founded by Shah alongside Aditya Bali and Mike McCauley, began as a fourth-year Engineering Capstone Design project to create lockers for parcel delivery. The company worked out of both the University’s Accelerator Centre and the Velocity Garage; won the Velocity Fund Finals and attended Y Combinator, before ultimately being acquired by Google. Shah starts his role in September with a vision to spread innovation and entrepreneurship across campus.
“With his background at Waterloo, in a startup and at Google, Jay Shah is uniquely positioned to guide the next wave of world-changing entrepreneurs emerging from University of Waterloo,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
We sat down with Jay to share his insight on the Waterloo region tech scene, his passion for startups, and advice to future entrepreneurs.