From starting his own club, Technovus, to competing in a prestigious international hackathon, John used his time at SFU Beedie to cultivate the business skills needed to launch a thriving technology startup.

My experience at SFU Beedie

I was fortunate enough to get into the Entrepreneurship Co-op program, where I received money and resources to work on my own business. I had free office and co-working spaces, as well as access to mentors. If you are trying to build a business, these are such amazing resources. It allowed our team to commit full-time, focus only on the startup and run with our ideas. Those resources are unequaled and something I haven't seen at other schools.

I was also impressed with how supportive and welcoming the teachers are at Beedie. The Director of Entrepreneurship, Sarah Lubik, opened up the world to me. Any idea I had, if there was someone who I could meet who could mentor me, she would connect us. All the professors were encouraging and willing to nurture you and connect you to the people and resources you needed.

The program gave me the knowledge I needed about how a business is supposed to function so I could go out and build one myself.

My Journey

My main goal was always to start a business centered on using technology for good, and the BBA program fit with that goal. Initially, I was at Capilano University in the engineering transition program. I learned that SFU has a dual degree program that brings together engineering and business and I liked the idea of being able to pursue both.

I enrolled in the Double Degree with Mechatronics at Beedie but realized along the way that I was much better at business than I was at building stuff. What I was really passionate about was the business side of technology. I switched and pursued the Business of Design and the Technology and Entrepreneurship@SFU (Tech e@SFU) programs instead.

Highlights

In the Technology and Entrepreneurship program, the goal is to solve a meaningful problem and then build a business case out of it.

My team and I participated in the Enzen Hackathon; a global hackathon focused on energy and environmental challenges. We pitched a water management solution for high-rise buildings to help them reduce water usage, track consumption and protect the buildings from building damages. They brought us to India where we made it to the final round. They then flew to London where we placed third.

The experience and the networking opportunities were incredible. Working with the host of the event, a global engineering organization, helped us expand our international connections.

I also decided to start my own club called Technovus and applied all the project management skills I gained from the program and my work with Enactus. It was an engineering style club where students from any background could come and learn technical skills to work on hands-on projects in robotics. The idea was that you don’t need to be an engineer to build cool stuff. We hosted Hackathons and grew the club from five people up to 50-60 people within two years.

Where I am today

In addition to working for Centric Software, I founded a technology startup, Novion, with friends I made in the program. We apply our business and technology skills to develop solutions that will help building owners be more sustainable and better manage their water infrastructure.