Want to know what an entrepreneurship journey looks like?
Need to find funding and unsure of where to start? Startup 101 will kickstart your business knowledge with our simple hour long (sometimes more) themed sessions. Hosted by founders for everyone. This session's focus is on how to effectively talk about your startup and persuade people to help you – when you’re not on a stage.
Hosted by
Alroy Almeida
Director of Deep Tech at Velocity
Alroy’s goal is to make Canada the global leader in Deep Tech. Waterloo Region in particular has the talent to build strong businesses underpinned by extremely challenging technologies – materials science, robotics, computer science, photonics. Breakthroughs in these technologies demand more resources and time for development and commercialization compared to other businesses. Alroy is building out programming and partnerships to support and accelerate these companies. He also enjoys calling on his prior experience to advise startups.
Previously, Alroy was CEO and Co-founder of Voltera where he worked with a world class team to revolutionize electronics. They reduced traditional circuit board manufacturing time from weeks to hours and introduced scalable manufacturing processes for circuits that are flexible, stretchable, moldable, biodegradable, and biocompatible – features that will forever change how we all interact with the devices around us. Alroy was a frequent speaker at industry events and continues on the board of directors of Canada’s printed electronics industry association.
Krysta Traianovski
Senior Manager, Velocity Science
Krysta is the Senior Manager of Velocity Science, a creator space and program for science innovation at the University of Waterloo campus. She supports early-stage teams with both their business and technical development in the Velocity Science lab. Krysta believes in making entrepreneurship accessible to everyone, and that the most successful founders can be those who never even considered it as a path. In 2016, she co-founded BrightGuide, a software company working to support persons living with dementia and their family caregivers with activities of daily living. Having three years’ experience as an early-stage startup founder has given Krysta a wealth of experience to draw on when coaching teams. Afterwards, she helped small businesses with their digital marketing and online presence through the pandemic via her consulting company Weave Digital. Her combination of working in software, deeptech and local industries gives her a unique perspective on entrepreneurship. Krysta holds a BSc in Chemistry and an MBET from the University of Waterloo.