2019 Accelerator Weekend
•
January 18-19, 2019 • Fields Institute and University of Toronto
Organizers: Mimi Hao and Joseph Orozco (University of Toronto)
The only one rule at the
Hatchery Accelerator weekend
is that there are no rules.
Fuelled by coffee, snacks and
sage advice, teams of up to
four students worked furiously
to transform their wildest
entrepreneurial ideas into viable
business models in just 28 hours.
The 2019 competition, hosted by
The Entrepreneurship Hatchery,
was kicked off by a special panel
presentation from Silicon Valley
seed accelerator Y Combinator,
the incubator that launched
companies such as Airbnb,
Dropbox, Reddit, and Thalmic.
Accelerator Weekend 2019
was a huge success with 81
student participants, 18 teams,
six finalists, and two prizes.
The 28-hour process sees
young entrepreneurs go from
idea to startup, as they move
through the stages of their
ventures—all conceived within
the span of a few hours.
As in the real world, students'
models and ideas were judged by
a panel of industry experts and
entrepreneurs, which included
Isi Caulder (EngSci 8T9), Richard
Helbig (GeoE 7T3), Michael
16
Augustanavicous (ElecE 7T6), Dag
Enhorning (Siltech Corporation)
and Richard Louttet (Canadian
Professional Sales Association).
The top team took home a grand
cash prize of $2,000, and the
runner up won $1,000. Students
across U of T disciplines were
invited to join this challenge that
brought together multidisciplinary
teams, who with the guidance
from successful entrepreneurs,
developed a business model
around an idea. The final journey
concluded with a pitch that was
presented to participants and
mentors at the 28th hour.
About The Entrepreneurship
Hatchery: We create startups.
Founded in 2012, The
Entrepreneurship Hatchery
provides a comprehensive
suite of programs and services
designed to help students with
entrepreneurial ambitions
form teams, develop new
competencies, and launch their
companies. Over the last seven
years, The Hatchery has helped
to launch over 80 new startups,
which collectively have raised
about $40 million in seed funding.
Students start by attending
events in the Evangelism stage
— the Hatchery offers Idea
Markets, Virtual Idea Market,
Speaker Series, Coffee Days,
Cofounder Day, Hatchery Circle,
Accelerator Weekend – events
that nurture a strong culture of
entrepreneurship on campus.
From there, teams apply to one
of the Hatchery's four processes:
• Hatchery NEST, fostering the
creation of startups and the
entrepreneurial mindset
amongst all U of T students.
• LaunchLab, enabling graduate
and faculty level research
driven startups.
• Start@UTIAS + Hatchery,
University of Toronto Institute
of Aerospace Studies student-
led start-up companies.
• Hatchery Social, Enabling
Social Impact Startups (non-
for profit, solving social critical
challenges).
Each team accepted into any of
the Hatchery processes is matched
with an advisory board including
dedicated mentors, and gain
access to resources such as work
space, 3D printing, prototyping