The Startup Garage is an initiative of  the University of Ottawa's Innovation Support Services to foster and support youth entrepreneurship in the Ottawa area.

 

The program offers youth-led ventures the opportunity to accelerate their business by working full time over the course of three months during the summer. Startup Garage provides each participating company with four essential tools: cash, office space, mentorship and support.

 

The program is delivered through the generous support of the University of Ottawa, Gowling WLG, the BMO Startup Garage Fund and Logan Katz LLP.

Who is Eligible?

 

• The applicant must be a current full-time or part-time student at the University of Ottawa, or a recent graduate (within the past 2 years) from the University of Ottawa.
• The applicant can be an undergraduate or graduate student, or a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa.
• The applicant must be physically present in Ottawa from May through August.

 

 

What is the Process?

• Think about your business. (Useful tools include the Business Model Canvas and the instructional videos from the Kauffman Foundation).
• Come talk to us. We love hearing from potential applicants!
• Ask your potential customers to validate your idea as early as possible.
• Fill out the online application form by January 28th, 2019. No applications will be accepted after the deadline, no exceptions.
• Your application is reviewed and ranked by a group of external reviewers with strong startup and business backgrounds. Up to 5 individuals may review your application. The review and rankings are confidential. The individuals reviewing your application may make their comments available to you.
• Once the review is complete, the top ranked applicants will be asked to interview for their final positions in the program. If you are not invited to join the program, you will be informed that you have not been selected.

 

 

What is Startup Garage looking for in my application?

 

• Startup Garage is looking for companies that need help taking their business to the next level, whether this means building a great product, launching a beta product, ramping up sales, expanding to new markets or gaining the appropriate traction to secure additional funds.

• Individual applicants are discouraged; teams are encouraged! Teams that have strong domain expertise, coupled with business and technical backgrounds as well as a clear understanding of the “hustle” it takes to be an entrepreneur have a distinct advantage.

• Your company’s product should be tailored to meet a specific need, significant enough to warrant that a customer pay for it. Speak to your potential customers before completing the application form!

• Your company’s product should be innovative and have a clear differentiating factor with respect to other currently available solutions that answer the same need.

• The number of customers willing to buy your product (i.e. the market) should be large enough to allow the company to grow.

 

 

Funding

 

• To be confirmed.