Welcome to Pitch Deck
It is hard to believe NBR only just began in January 2020. Our team has worked tirelessly to overcome myriad challenges, from securing funding to pivoting when COVID-19 disrupted our publication timeline. To take a line out of my favourite F. Scott Fitzgerald book, we had truly “beat on, boats against the current.”
With the support of our UBC Sauder Faculty Advisors and President Santa Ono, we published our first issue in four months, much to the acclaim of industry professionals and experts. It was the first step towards executing our mission of fostering student thought leadership at UBC. Our first issue proved that good business ideas could in fact be incubated in dorm rooms, libraries, and campus cafes.
That is why we are very excited to welcome you to Pitch Deck, NBR’s official blog. Building on our mission of fostering student thought leadership, our goal is to promote and highlight innovation at UBC and beyond. Our first series of Start-up Profiles intends to explore the unique challenges, needs, and strengths of Western Canada’s Startup Ecosystem.
Our first few posts will highlight UBC Alumni leading captivating start-ups that are developing Vancouver’s innovation economy specifically, which has seen tremendous growth over the past few years. The growing success rate of start-ups in Vancouver has encouraged more talent within the industry and attracted a 150% increase in financing in the past decade. Further, Vancouver leads the top 30 U.S. and Canadian tech markets in high-tech job growth, with a growth rate of 29.2% over the past two years.
The team has worked hard over the past few months to roll out Pitch Deck in addition to our bi-annual issue. We look forward to posting frequent short form content that compliments our Strategy and Op-ed articles published at the end of each semester.
A big shoutout is extended to the NBR team and the UBC Alumni who graciously agreed to an interview with us. And of course, I would like to thank you, the reader, for your interest and continued support. I hope Pitch Deck allows you to get a closer look at start-up life in Canada, encourages your creativity, and is a source of inspiration.
Sincerely,
Saavin Lidder
Founder, Editor-in-Chief
