2012: Report to our Community
It's been an exciting first year building Startup Edmonton. We wanted to share some of the highlights so you can see how we're working towards fulfilling our mission to activate a new generation of startups in the city.
Why we exist
Startup Edmonton is a campus, co-workspace and accelerator that kickstarts and activates local startups. Our role in the local startup ecosystem lies at the earliest stages, as ideas evolve into action, where startups form and gain initial traction. Our vision is to make Edmonton a hotbed for creativity and entrepreneurship. Our mission is to create collisions between developers, designers, creators, makers and entrepreneurs to activate a new generation of startups.
How we've done
By the numbers, here's what's happened in 2012:
- 1 new space
- 18 projects demoed at DemoCamps
- 32 apps and games built at hackathons
- 26 founders went through our Preflight program
- 50 resident members working in our co-workspaces
- 10 meetup groups meeting up at Startup
- 4 TEDxEdmonton events to spread ideas
- 2,200 attendees, participants, and students
- 3,200 Twitter users who follow @startupedmonton
- 10 startups featured at Launch Party 3 including: Jobber, Login Radius, Monogram, Mover, Sendioso, Showbie, Geniepad, Granify, PlanHero, and Poppy Barley
- $9M in capital raised by member startups in 2012
- Supported initiatives like Global Entrepreneurship Week and Startup Canada
What we're working on for 2013
Creators Studio. Opening in January, this is a new co-workspace built specifically for creative entrepreneurs, content creators and designers.
More Intensive Courses. We're ramping up more intensive, hands-on courses and workshops focused on programming, design, and getting your startup off the ground. Smaller classes, more intensity.
Student Startup Program. Our new student startup program will provide an intensive entrepreneurial experience for students through access to free workspace, mentorship and resources.
Startup Labs. We're developing a new program with several major companies to create a year-round, prototyping and accelerator program to tackle problems in education, government, finance, and health.
The Startup City Project. It's a new development and investment initiative to transform Edmonton's downtown warehouse district into a hub for entrepreneurs, makers, artists and change makers.
What we want to improve
Improved communication. We spent most of this year in start-up mode, setting up tools and processes, and figuring out exactly what was working and what wasn't. We're looking to increase our team size so we can be more responsive and spend less time planning and more time engaging with our community.
Giving you more notice. Finding out about an event or program last minute sucks. So we're really going to work on getting details out there sooner, long before we run something.
Better follow up. Startups are all about momentum, so it sucks when we don't get a chance to follow up with every single participant and attendee that comes to an event or program. We're hoping to be much better in the coming year so you can continue your momentum.
More opportunities for students. There's a new generation of talent that's coming up through our schools, so we want to do a better job making sure students and young people have all sorts of access to be inspired to start a company and built a product. That means more discounts and programs aimed directly at students.
Sharing startup stories. This year was all about laying the groundwork, figuring out our path and direction, and getting our partners excited about our mission. We're working to turn the focus less on us and more on the founders, creators and entrepreneurs who we work with, and the amazing things they're building.
Looking ahead
This first year of our five year plan to build and kickstart the startup ecosystem in our city was a roller coaster ride. What makes it all worth it has been seeing a one hundred year old warehouse sprout back to life, watching the community gather in our space, and best of all, seeing more and more entrepreneurs take those first steps to move a great idea forward. Looking forward to our next year!
P.S. If you had some other feedback for us, comment below or drop us a line at info@startupedmonton.com.
