The Venture Spotlight: Entrepreneurs in Residence edition
entrepreneurship@UBC has some amazing ventures in our ecosystem, from concussion management software and chronic snoring devices to wine barrel management and solar solutions for big industry. Every month, we get to share with you the many accomplishments, successes and milestones achieved through their tireless efforts and dedication as UBC entrepreneurs.
Behind the scenes, however, we have an exceptional fleet of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs) guiding venture teams through the tumultuous journey of company building, lending their own expertise as seasoned entrepreneurs and executives to move teams forward and launch successful, game changing businesses. They’ve done it themselves, time and time again, and are living examples of what can be accomplished through entrepreneurship and innovation.
Integral to our program, we thought it was about time to shine the spotlight on them.
Meet (some of) our Entrepreneurs in Residence:
Sarah Applebaum
Sarah is a Partner at RenewableTech Ventures, a Cleantech VC that invests in early stage companies in Canada and the US. With extensive experience in venture capital and investing, she was previously an investor with Pangaea Ventures, an advanced materials VC, where she developed and launched their seed-stage investment vehicle. A community activator, Sarah hosts quarterly meetups for Vancouver founders and start-up leaders, paving the way for up and coming entrepreneurs.
Does she sound familiar? Sarah was the first guest on our podcast, evolution by entrepreneruship@UBC, and for good reason. Her deep ties to the Canadian investor ecosystem and knowledge about fundraising was in dire need after COVID struck, and we looked to her for guidance through unprecedented times - and she delivered. Listen to the episode, here.
Karen Boodram
Karen’s 30-year+ career has focused on the commercialization of new medical technologies to improve patient health outcomes. In the Pharma industry, Karen managed the advancement of key drug products and franchises through the commercialization process, including regulatory, clinical development, marketing and reimbursement. In the financial industry as a Life Science analyst, Karen focused on helping public Life Science companies advance their medical technologies to commercialization or acquisition through the support of the equity markets.
Karen works with our Lab2Launch portfolio, helping ventures to mobilize their knowledge into fundable and scalable businesses. Research based innovations require a rare combination of business savvy and scientific expertise. This makes Karen an incredible resource for research backed ventures, taking them from lab to market so they can drive impact for the company and more broadly, the world.
Jon Cartwright
Jon is a serial entrepreneur and advisor. As Chairman and Founder at Foodee (an online marketplace for office meals working with the likes of Artizia and Amazon AND a 3x Deloitte Fast 50 company) as well as Chief Growth Officer at Zolo Realty (Canada's largest online real estate brokerage) Jon has a range of core skills including sales, go to market strategies, fundraising, team building and business strategy which he leverages to help further the experience of UBC entrepreneurs.
Jon is passionate about process innovation, serving customers, and working with entrepreneurs, helping to catapult their ideas into scalable business solving real problems. His robust e-commerce and tech experience has helped lead entrepreneurship@UBC ventures to success, providing invaluable insights and personal learnings into their venture building experience.
Tiffany Hamilton
Tiffany led mobile initiatives at Subway Restaurants, launching their first nationwide mobile app across the U.S. and Canada to over 25,000 franchise locations. Formerly, she was a Client Partner at Blast Radius, a digital agency, driving new digital marketing initiatives. She lived in Germany for six years working at Bertelsmann, Europe’s largest media company, on new opportunities in disruptive media technologies in Europe and North America.
Tiffany works with venture teams ranging from SAAS solutions and operations innovations to tech applications, using her extensive knowledge in building out new technologies to the benefit of UBC entrepreneurs. Her global experience offers ventures a unique insight into varying market opportunities, shedding light on avenues for their technologies to thrive.
Paul Needham
Paul is a Fintech and Cleantech serial entrepreneur with over 19 years of experience as founder, CEO and board member, leading companies from inception to successful exits. Paul currently serves as board member and senior advisor to energy access enterprises, financing facilities and social impact investment funds that are accelerating the energy transition. Paul cofounded and led Simpa Networks, the leading rooftop solar leasing company in India which was acquired by ENGIE in November 2018. A dedicated and thriving social entrepreneur, Paul is working tirelessly with our Social Venture cohort, lending his unique global perspective and expertise in building environmental solutions to solve the problems of tomorrow’s world, today. Most recently, he was a guest on our podcast, evolution, discussing how COVID has presented the opportunity to overhaul the current systems in place to make room for climate solutions to come first. Give it a listen, here.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg….can’t wait until our next EiR spotlight?
Meet the rest of our stellar team, here.
This content was originally shared through our May 2020 Venture Spotlight, a monthly series sharing the latest news coming out of the entrepreneurship@UBC community. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop for all things entrepreneurship@UBC, from upcoming events and announcements to venture success stories and ways to get involved, here