Pitch Socials

Pitch Social Workshops

If you are a SFU student, staff, faculty, or recent alumni, join us for Pitch Socials with the Chang Institute & Coast Capital Venture Connection. This Spring, we are holding 2 general pitch practices open to folks at any experience level. The session will consist of a pitch workshop and an opportunity to practice with a small supportive audience. Learn to pitch, practice your pitch, or simply watch others.

Time: 1- 3 PM PDT

Dates and Locations:

• Friday, February 9, 2024 - SFU Surrey, Innovation Plaza
• Friday, March 22, 2024 - SFU Downtown, Charles Chang Innovation Centre

*Location details will be sent out to attendees closer to the date.

If you require assistance with registration or have any questions about the event, please contact Fiona Li at cip_changinstitute@sfu.ca.

FACILITATORS

Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas is a Senior Partner with Rocket Builders, Mentor in Residence at Simon Fraser University's Coast Capita Venture Connection and a guest lecturer at the New Ventures BC program. Thomas has worked with a series of start-ups over the past decade and was a member of the management team for four venture backed tech companies. He is currently an advisor to companies, an entrepreneur, an angel investor and a shareholder in angel seed funds.

* Dave Thomas will be Facilitating the Pitch Social on March 22, 2024.

Rachel Chase

Rachel Chase is a healthcare founder and innovator. She is a co-founder and former CEO of Zennea Technologies, a medical device company that developed a treatment and management system for mild obstructive sleep apnea using novel neuromodulation and sleep-tracking technology. She has a background in hardware and financial product sales. Rachel loves diving into problems, and through that passion, she was a teaching assistant for introductory entrepreneurship classes at SFU.

She learned how to build a business and scale a startup from world-renowned accelerator programs such as SOSV’s HAX, Google’s Inaugural StartUp Accelerator for Women, Johnson and Johnson’s JLABS, Creative Destructions Labs, and got her early start with SFU’s Coast Capital Venture Connection Incubator, eCoop, TechE and won Coast Capital Venture Prize in 2018. Rachel really enjoys working with companies interested in understanding the pain point to not only create a customer-centric product/service but to create informed marketing decisions.

Fiona Li

Fiona Li is the Incubator Programs Coordinator at the Chang Institute. She works with pre-incubation programs (Spark, Mentor Meet), incubation programs (Venture Connection incubator, SEA stream, eCoop), and supports general day-to-day operations. Being a recent SFU alumna, she understands the student perspective and how to best support students on their entrepreneurial journey.

She has a wide range of skillsets, including communications, graphic design, digital marketing, event management, data analytics, and project planning.

About Coast Capital Venture Connection

Coast Capital Venture Connection offers SFU startups the place to grow their business in an interdisciplinary community of experts, mentors and alumni. We help SFU’s most talented and ambitious entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into successful and sustainable businesses.

About Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship

The Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship is the academic and interdisciplinary hub for entrepreneurship and innovation at SFU. The Institute is creating Canada’s most comprehensive and inclusive continuum of interdisciplinary, experiential programming to develop the entrepreneurial mindset, working closely with all SFU faculties and innovation partners in one of Canada’s most supportive university ecosystems.