During 50 hours, over 60 competitors came together to create innovative startup MVPs from June 3rd to 5th at the 11th RampUp Weekend.

Three of those startups received cash prizes totaling $16,000 this year! If you didn’t have a chance to join us, you can watch a recording of the live feed on Twitter.

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First place: Inspect-Ear

Team members: Team Captain – Allan Scott, Jamie O’Neill, and Christian Madsen.
In Photo from left to right: Joelle Foster – CEO of North Forge, Kathryn Gerrard – Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Hon. Cliff Cullen – Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Christian Madsen, Jamie O’Neill, Allan Scott, RUW22 Judge Jeff Quail – CEO of Shocknife, RUW22 Judge Brenda Frisk – Managing Director of Lab2Market, and RUW22 Judge Dan Belhansson – Founder & CEO of Neovation Learning Systems.
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Allan Scott, a certified Engineering Technologist, bridge inspector, and team captain, describes this innovation as “an acoustic bridge inspection software that runs on a mobile device. It helps bridge inspectors perform a hammer tapping technique to identify non-visible defects in timber & concrete bridges. Our software listens to the hammer sound, correctly identifies the bridge defect, and records the data for reporting. It removes the “guesswork” to save time and improve bridge safety.”

For many, this was their first RampUp Weekend experience. “This was my first Ramp Up weekend, so I didn’t know what to expect other than learning about startups, meeting new people, and pitching ideas,” Allan explains. “But somehow, my first pitch survived Friday night, and two strangers stepped up to help create a business out of my crazy idea.

Those two strangers quickly became incredible teammates who took ownership of the idea and worked tirelessly to build a business model. We got through a literal mountain of work in 2 days, minus a bit of sleep.

There was so much incredible support all weekend that it went by fast. The North Forge team was constantly running to ensure everyone was well fed and had all the support they needed. The mentors provided invaluable knowledge and feedback that we applied to our business model. The pitch scrubbers helped us chop up our first pitch and forge a better one.

On Sunday night, the weekend came together for a grand finale of nerve-wracking 3-minute pitches. Outstanding, talented teams were pitching fantastic ideas at this event. They all deserve massive respect for their hard work and courage.

Ramp Up was a bit stressful and tiring but 100% worth it for the weeks of entrepreneurial experience packed into two days. If you didn’t participate this year, you must be there next year!”

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Second place: Connextions on the Spectrum

Team members: Team Captain –Demetre Balaktsis, Chris Hall, Sarah London, Hussein Agoushi, Joselyne Balaktsis.
In Photo from left to right: Kathryn Gerrard – Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Hon. Cliff Cullen – Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Demetre Balaktsis, Hussein Agoushi, Chris Hall, Joselyne Balaktsis, Sarah London, RUW22 Judge Brenda Frisk – Managing Director of Lab2Market, RUW22 Judge Dan Belhansson – Founder & CEO of Neovation Learning Systems, and RUW22 Judge Jeff Quail – CEO of Shocknife.
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Team captain Demetre Balaktsis, a social and emotional intelligence instructor, pitched the idea for a social therapy app. “It helps people on the autism spectrum seek out meaningful social connections by guiding them through the process. As a result, they can safely seek out and cultivate friendships, go out on dates, or just meet people to hang out with. It also has features like a chat-box conversation coach, a trusted guardian angel wing person, and AI Safety features.”

Demetre is a father of a 24-year-old daughter, Joselyne, on the spectrum who took on the role of subject matter expert. “It’s no secret that people on the autism spectrum struggle with social connection,” Demetre said. “Numerous RampUp participants approached us and disclosed that they were on the spectrum or had someone close to them. This was the strongest validation that we were meeting a specific need that other dating-type apps were not. 75% of autistic people never experience dating, 5% will ever experience marriage, and 47% still live with their parents.”

Building a rock start team is essential to creating successful startup MVPs. “We had a solid team with diverse backgrounds and personal connections to the autism community,” Demetre explained. Our team had an amazing experience. During the RampUp weekend, we were provided with sage advice from many mentors who helped rapidly iterate our project. 95% of end-users told us they loved it. Three organizations agreed to partner with us. When it was time to scrub our pitch, the coaches agreed our idea had legs. Getting to the final pitch was stressful but highly gratifying.”

The idea of a safe digital way for those on the autism spectrum to meet each other is gaining community traction. “Moving forward, we will be entering discussions with various local autism support programs to collaborate and partner together,” shared Demetre. “We plan to seek grants and build out the team. None of this would have been possible if we did not participate in RampUp!”

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Crowd Favourite: The Little Greenhouse That Could

Team Members: Team Captain – Trina Semenchuk, Jessica Watson, Angel Esteban Labrador Rivas, Naimur Rashid Maher
In Photo from left to right: Joelle Foster – CEO of North Forge, Kathryn Gerrard – Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Hon. Cliff Cullen – Minister of Economic Development, Investment and Trade, Angel Esteban Labrador Rivas, Jessica Watson, Trina Semenchuk, Naimur Rashid Maher, RUW22 Judge Jeff Quail – CEO of Shocknife, RUW22 Judge Brenda Frisk – Managing Director of Lab2Market, and RUW22 Judge Dan Belhansson – Founder & CEO of Neovation Learning Systems.

Everyone in the audience and those watching the Twitter live feed voted for their RampUp Weekend 2022 Crowd Favourite. The team they felt had the best energy, enthusiasm and innovation.

Trina Semenchuk, an environmental engineer in training and team captain of The Little Greenhouse Who Could, pitched an indoor agriculture-focused e-commerce platform called Farmiley. “The platform will be a central location where manufacturers of new indoor technologies can connect to customers. Customers interested in indoor growing can go for education, local connections, and equipment purchases,” Trina explained. “The mission is to fix the disconnection in the emerging indoor agricultural sector so that we can help grow the industry collectively.”

The energy and enthusiasm Trina had throughout the weekend were contagious. “Joining RampUp Weekend was amazing, and my team and I are so thankful for the entire North Forge Team and everyone involved in making this a reality,” shared Trina.

“The best part about the weekend was working on a team with smart, hard-working, and cooperative individuals. By working together, we were able to take in the collective wisdom of all the mentors who attended and make smart, fast pivots,” Trina explained. “Although there were a lot of resources and tasks to take in, the energy of everyone who attended helped motivate us to keep hustling–and have so much fun while we were at it! RampUp Weekend taught me that it’s so much better to be working on a company in a team-even if the direction you take isn’t exactly what you started! If I can think of one sentence as a takeaway from RampUp Weekend, it would be; If you want to go far, and have fun while you are at it, then go together.”

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If you were not able to attend RampUp Weekend but have an idea you would like to turn it into a business; we would love to hear from you!

Tell us about your idea (don’t worry if you don’t have the answers to all the questions yet), and our Programming Team will contact you to set up a meeting to chat about it.

* All North Forge employees sign non-disclosure agreements.