No idea is a bad idea, particularly when $10,000 is there for the taking.
On Wednesday (November 6) at Market Hall in Peterborough, 10 forward-thinking and passionate entrepreneurs — graduates of the recent second cohort of LevelUP, a 12-week business accelerator program offered by the Innovation Cluster — outlined their respective ventures, growth strategies and future ambitions as participants in the LevelUP Pitch Competition.
As judged by a panel of four, Alex Bilyan, chief sales officer of Mississauga-based WorkScore.ai, was named the recipient of a $10,000 prize for the venture that he co-founded.
WorkScore.ai, explained Bilyan, is an platform powered by artificial intelligence that “turns warehouse inefficiencies into measurable results” via real-time performance tracking.
That’s achieved by integrating smart wristbands for workers with warehouse management systems, resulting in actionable insights that help managers reduce inefficiencies and boost productivity.
After accepting the top prize, Bilyan told kawarthaNOW he wasn’t all that surprised.
“Not to be too pompous, but we are very confident in the quality of our product,” he said. “We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year, so I think we deserved this.”
Confidence, added Bilyan, anchors any successful pitch.
“If you don’t have confidence in what you’re selling, you’re not going to be able to sell it,” Bilyan said, adding “It’s just sales, right? And you have to believe that you are bringing some value to the customer.”
His participation in the LevelUP business accelerator program, said Bilyan, proved crucial to his presentation.
“When you get a lot of feedback from different people, when you’re getting their perspectives on your pitch, that helps you gain more confidence. When you have different people listening to your pitch and they all say that they perfectly understand what you’re trying to do and what your value is, that gives that last bit of confidence you need to go on stage and sell it.”
The cash prize, said Bilyan, will help cover costs related to integration of the WorkScore.ai platform with the systems of clients on their wait list.
“The next big step for us is converting our pilot into fully paying customers so we can start generating revenue. We’re very focused on scaling up quickly. We have projects we’re already working on. We just need to build our customer base and break into the market so we can innovate further and bring forward new products.”
Judging the pitches were Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) account manager Madeleine Hurrell (former manager of Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development’s Business Advisory Centre before it was transferred to Community Futures Peterborough), Pethealth Inc. and Adopets co-founder Gilberto Gandra, GreenSky Capital principal Moien Giashi, and LaunchPath founder and managing partner Ehsan Daneshgar.
Each judge asked questions of the presenters, drawing out more details of their ventures — including how they empower clients looking to progress — and their future plans.
Besides naming the overall winner, the judges also selected Kinen Ocitti of Kuwota as the runner-up and the recipient of a branding package valued at $10,000, provided by Peterborough-based Mega Experience Inc. Kuwota is an AI-powered application supporting mental health that allows users to journal and share their entries confidentially with licensed therapists.
Also awarded was Andrew Nokes of Creativity By Code who was voted “best in show” by the audience and received $750 worth of Expert-in-Residence sessions from the Innovation Cluster. Creativity By Code is a software development company offering software as a service (SaaS) solutions for clients with SaaS platforms.
The LevelUP Pitch Competition, sponsored by LaunchPath, Prima IP, Innovation Venture Farm, and Mega Experience, brought together the finalists from a pool of 17 accepted accelerator program applicants.
Besides the three prize winners, the following entrepreneurs also made pitches as part of the competition.
- Hadi Jakmora, CEO of Quest It, a marketplace app that connects users with providers of daily chores such as snow removal, cleaning and moving. Users create custom requests, set prices and find flexible solutions to meet their needs.
- Shah Naseed, CEO of Hireddd, a digital hiring platform transforming recruitment via video CVs, portfolios and filter options for employers.
- Federico Arellano, CEO of PitchJams, a platform by which users develop and validate ideas through pitches, aided by an Artificial Intelligence assistant that analyzes originality, theme and tone.
- Brian Densham, founder of ImagineWind Turbines, the provider of quiet and modular wind turbines made from recyclable materials that are safe for wildlife and tailored for easy integration.
- Nasim Naderi, a professional engineer with INTOCHARGE, an initiative that provides consulting and installation services for EV charging and solar solutions.
- Ahmad Abdi, CEO and founder of Bee Invent, a platform that empowers beekeepers to track inspections, schedule tasks and monitor hives, enhancing beekeeping efficiency and productivity.
- Marzieh Lakzaei, CEO of EmcryM, a messaging platform that delivers secure communications solutions that prioritize user privacy and data protection.
Following the naming of the prize recipients, Gandra said, as a judge, he was impressed by the diversity of the ventures that were pitched.
“There was a bunch of different start-ups, from climate tech to logistics to marketplace,” he said.
“It’s good to see there’s a lot of diversity in terms of innovation because all areas need innovation. The things that I look for when I invest usually tend to be transformational in nature — some kind of crazy new discovery or some massive velocity in adoption by a market. There were some very interesting IP-related and IoT (Internet of Things) device things, climate tech things, that could be potentially investable.”
Gandra added programs like LevelUP are important in terms of “supporting the founder journey … because they’re not yet ready, in most cases, to be venture backable.”
Asked what was the determining factor in naming the overall winner, Gandra said that’s “a trade secret.”
“We were scoring on various areas, from traction to communication of the pitch and problem set. VCs (venture capitalists) tend to be very used to a prototypical pitch. There’s a bias in their heads. They want to hear all these things.”
“In the end, (the judges’) deliberation was about consensus. Workspace.ai, overall, had the best pitch, communication-wise and also market size. It’s probably the most investable company at the super early stage.”
Asked if he sees a bit of his own early journey reflected in those just starting out, Gandra quickly answered “Always.”
“Being able to be at the right place at the right time very early on and help mitigate some of those founder journey mistakes is what I really enjoy.”
At the conclusion of the event, Innovation Cluster board chair Nicole Stephenson announced that the third LevelUP business accelerator program will begin in spring 2025. She invites technology-based businesses with an MVP (minimal viable product) who are ready to scale up and innovate, to apply. For more details and an online application, visit innovationcluster.ca/programs/levelup-accelerator/.
Also in attendance at the event’s outset were Peterborough County Warden Bonnie Clark and Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal. Both spoke from the stage, praising the pitch participants for their vision, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Innovation Cluster Peterborough and the Kawarthas is a non-profit organization that supports clean tech, healthcare tech, agtech, and digital IT entrepreneurs in launching, commercializing, and scaling their businesses. The organization provide programming, mentorship, workshops and networking opportunities to help entrepreneurs achieve their business goals and grow the local community, job market, and economy.
The original version of this story was updated to correct an error in the name of Innovation Cluster board chair Nicole Stephenson.
