Foundation Week 2024

Join us January 29 - February 2, 2024 for Foundation Week! This weeklong series of events will feature info sessions, workshops and meetups designed to bring our community of ventures and partners together to dive into the basics of entrepreneurship, meet our team and collaborators and create networks across communities.

Foundation week includes a series of events for our immediate venture community and wider ecosystem to partake in, ranging from branding basics and fundraising workshops, to meeting our longtime collaborators and more!

Foundation Week Events:

Monday, January 29

>> 5:00pm - 6:15 pm: HATCH Venture Builder Social - We will be welcoming the newest teams joining HATCH Venture Builder with a team social to introduce them to the program and celebrate their new achievement with fellow HATCH teams.

• Who is it for?: This session is invite-only for HATCH teams, Entrepreneurs in Residence and staff

• Where is it located?: In person at ICICS on UBC Point Grey Campus

Tuesday, January 30

>> 12:30pm - 1:30pm - Raising Early Stage Capital in 2024: What Ventures Need to Know
There are seven evergreen rules of building fundamentally fundable startups that all early-stage founders need to know. These rules allow ventures to raise at higher valuations, raise faster and raise from the top investors. In good capital markets, they are 'nice to have' but in a market climate like today, these rules are a 'must have' for ventures to successfully raise capital.

1. Takeaway 1 - What makes early-stage startups fundable and how to get them there
2. Takeaway 2 - How can founders leverage networks to increase fundability and findability of their startups 
3. Takeaway 3 - How can founders perfect the chemistry of fundraising & valuation

• Who is it for?: This session is designed for our venture community (early-stage founders - Pre-Seed, Seed, Post-Seed, and Pre-Series-A) and our wider ecosystem is welcome to attend
• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square in the Innovation Space (room 1900 opposite the skating rink) 
• Guest speaker: Maninder Dhaliwal, Managing Partner, Startup Studio - Accelerator & Venture Fund, Founding Chair, TiE Vancouver Angels, Steering Committee Member, TiE Global Angels (the largest angel investor network in the world)

>>RSVP Here.

>> 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Building Your Marketing Strategy: Branding, Digital & Storytelling - Uncover the best practices for creating and elevating your brand in this Brand Building Workshop led by Entrepreneur in Residence, Head of Venture Growth Strategy Michelle Sklar.

• Who is it for?: This session is private for our venture community who have been or are currently enrolled in programming with entrepreneurship@UBC
• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square in the Innovation Space (room 1900 opposite the skating rink) Get directions.

Information will be sent to participants in advance with instructions on how to best prepare.

>> RSVP Here.

Wednesday, January 31

>> 8:00 - 1:30 pm: Cohort Day - Join entrepreneurship@UBC Wednesday, January 31 for Cohort Day: our final session and celebration of the progress and advancements made by our 46th Cohort of Venture Founder CORE and Lab2Launch teams!

• Who is it for?: This session is exclusive for Venture teams part of Cohort 46, entrepreneurship@UBC staff/EiRs and mentors as well as selected invited guests.

• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square

>> RSVP here (invite only)
 

>> 2:00 - 3:00 pm: January Community Town Hall - Join us Wednesday, January 31 for our January Town Hall featuring a meaningful conversation around AI and Ethics, along with updates and announcements from the UBC Community!

Using next-generation technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence to scale our companies, optimize our school projects, and just do our work more efficiently, also means we scaling our risks. The impact of our desire to become more efficient, competitive and increasingly globally-minded, is equally met with fear, misinformation and anxieties over how we make our decisions to adopt these new technologies. In this session, you will hear about use cases and insights covering a range of topics from digital rights, data privacy and IP, to how companies are integrating AI into their operational practices.

Moderator: Dr. Shannon Bard, Climate Venture Studio Lead at entrepreneurship@UBC
Panelists:

• Liane Gabora, Profesor, Department of Psychology at UBC
• Brad Bycraft, VP of Operations at Sanctuary AI

• Who is it for?: This event is for entrepreneurship@UBC's community of ventures, Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs), Mentors, and UBC Community. Anyone interested in our programming and learning more is encouraged to attend.
• Where is it located?:  In person at UBC Robson Square Theatre Get directions.

>>RSVP here

Thursday, February 1

>> 12pm - 1:30pm - Mythbusting Government Procurement - Did you know that the Government of Canada buys billions of dollars worth of goods and services each year? Do you think they only buy from big companies? Would you be surprised to learn that many of these contracts are awarded to small businesses in Canada? Let us help you decide if selling to the Government of Canada is appropriate for you.

Join us to dispel some myths about selling to government and find out:

• What the government buys
• Who the government buys from
• How the government buys
• Where to find resources and free support for small businesses
   
• Who is this for?: This session is designed for our venture community and our wider ecosystem is welcome to attend. This is especially helpful for businesses looking for information to help decide if doing business with the government is an avenue they want to pursue.
• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square in the Innovation Space (room 1900 opposite the skating rink) Get directions.

>> RSVP Here.

>> 3:30pm - 5pm - IP Basics for Startups w/ Osler - Intellectual Property Basics for Startups, Founders, and Innovators. This 90-minute session will provide an overview of the Canadian legal intellectual property framework, with a practical focus on protection and items to consider as you move from an idea to commercialization. We will go over how patents, trademarks, copyright, and trade secrets interact, how (and when) to obtain registration, and what investors and funders might be looking for down the road. In partnership with:

• Who is this for?: This session is designed for our venture community and our wider ecosystem is welcome to attend. 
• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square in the Innovation Space (room 1900 opposite the skating rink) Get directions.

>> RSVP Here.

Friday, February 2

>> 9:30 - 11:00 am: Info Session with our Collaborators - Hear from our friends at BLANKSLATE PARTNERS, Osler, Switchboard Public Relations and Tandem Innovation Group on how we collaborate and how you as a UBC entrepreneur can benefit. Each partner will be presenting information on how we work together and best practices for early-stage ventures.

• Who is it for?: This session is private for our venture community who have been or are currently enrolled in programming with entrepreneurship@UBC

• Where is it located?: In person at UBC Robson Square in the Innovation Space (room 1900 opposite the skating rink) Get directions

>>RSVP Here (for ventures only)