Launch Academy 6.0
In the past six years, Launch Academy has grown from a small co-working environment to one of Western Canada's leading tech incubator. We've incubated over 600 companies who have collectively raised over $150 million dollars and created more than 1000 jobs for the local economy. We are very proud of these success metrics, and we want to congratulate all our alumni and current members for their successes. Launch Academy is constantly evolving and this sixth year has brought many changes which we have taken as opportunities to evolve.
We’ve been fortunate enough to witness four of our oldest members transition into their own private offices. A big shoutout goes out to FansUnite, Victory Square Technologies, CoPilot, Stanley Park Ventures, and Lighthouse Labs. We’re sad to see you go, but we’re thankful for all you’ve brought to our community, and we know there’s big things ahead for all of you.
That being said, we’re extremely excited to host a brand new wave of entrepreneurs that will continue to help shape our tech ecosystem. When we started six years ago, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat weren’t public companies, Pokemon could only be played on Nintendos and emulators, Oculus VR was but a myth, and Uber, well Uber still wasn’t in Vancouver. The point is, times have changed, and so must we. We’re proud to stand behind our mantra: “made for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs” and through talking to our thousands of members and alumni, we’re proud to present our brand new program — Launchpad.
Launchpad 🚀
Launchpad (formerly our membership program) was created to help startups looking to launch their product, find their market fit, and scale their companies. Specifically, we’re looking to work with companies in the following categories because that’s where we’ve found we can be the most help: Artificial Intelligence, VR/AR/MR, Blockchain, Financial Services, Data Science, Quantum Computing, Health Tech, CyberSecurity, and Sales as a Service.
All members will receive access to our exclusive events, workshops, lunch and learns and internal community weekly newsletters. By focusing on the categories of companies listed above, we’ll be able to bring you more relevant resources and content than ever before.
We will continue to have some of the best startup perks (over $100,000 worth) in the business, thanks to our partnerships with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, and many others. In addition, we’re also introducing lifestyle perks, including benefits such as EVO Car Share memberships, discounted gym memberships, and more. And just as always, unlimited coffee will still be available for all members.
Just as well, we are putting a bigger emphasis on peer-to-peer learning. Some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned as entrepreneurs have been after hours in the trenches, beers in hand, and we’ll be looking to build more programming to encourage this type of behaviour through our in house events such as StandUp and Lunch Academy (and much more to come). We’re acutely aware that the biggest strength of Launch Academy is our network, and we plan on sharing this with our new members.
Members will have the option to choose from either a 9–5 Hot Desk or a 24/7 Fixed Desk, along with a bunch of different add-ons our past members have found helpful. We’ve altered our pricing model to have a base price plus a desk option and other add ons, so and your final monthly fees will depend on what you need. We’ve found this solution to be the most flexible depending on entrepreneurs who have ever changing needs.
Launchpad memberships start at $300/mth and we’re taking new members starting today. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please inquire more here.
New Looks 👀
Web
If you’ve ever built a website, whether personal or business, you know that it’s one of those things you’re never quite satisfied with. Once you’ve shipped, you’re already thinking ahead on how to alter it. When we approached the daunting task of updating our website, there were no doubts many directions we could have taken, and ideas aplenty. We could have debated all day until we were orange in the face, but there were a couple of things the entire team agreed on:
- Our members/alumni need to be front and center.
- It needs to be as easy as possible for visitors to come and get the help they need for their businesses.
Like any startup founder, we’re going to continually tweak and iterate ‘til the day we die, but we’re extremely proud of the people that have come through our doors in the past six years, and we’re happy that we’re finally able to showcase them front and center. Check it out, and let us know your thoughts.
Social
We’ve also made it must easier to find us on social networks with one consistent handle: “LaunchAcademyHQ”. Now you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, all under the same name. Make sure you’re following us on all the accounts as we try to give unique content on all the platforms, especially our daily behind the scenes on Instagram, our live podcast on Facebook, and the latest industry event discounts on Twitter.
Launch Academy®
While seemingly small, trademarking Launch Academy is a big milestone for us, and it further cements our place as a fixture in the tech ecosystem here in BC. When we first started six years ago, we never dreamed of how far we could come, especially our impact globally. One of the proudest metrics is that we have supported entrepreneurs from over 35 countries, and we’ll continue to not only support the ecosystem in Vancouver, but willingly pass on what we have learned to others around the world through LEAP, Maple, and now Launchpad.
Thank you 🙏
Thank you to all of our members, alumni, mentors, partners, and sponsors for your ongoing support. If you’ve ever attended a webinar, liked one of our photos, or tuned in to our podcast — thank you. As a non profit, we don’t have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and your participation, encouragement, and stories are what keeps us motivated to keep on building. Just as well, we want to give a big shoutout to our sponsors, without you, none of this would have been possible. If you’re reading this and want to participate as well, feel free to contact us.
We are excited to enter this new chapter with all of you, so let’s go get shit done.
