ICUBE.CA/STUDENTPITCH

ICUBEM.CA/STUDENTPITCH

Icube UTM Student Pitch Award was held on September 18th 11am in the ground hall of University of Toronto, Missisauga. I accompanied as an intern that day and actually it was my first time joining a pitch competition! 

 I was wondering whether it was a presentation or something else, however, the concept was a little bit different. You probably already know, but just in case, I’ll explain a little bit about that.The word, pitch, was born in the Silicon Valley in the United States and it means a brief presentation by engineers who are aiming to gain some funding at their startup. They can obtain a fund if they succeed in getting investors hooked.

In the large ground hall at the campus that many students go in and out all at once,
there was a stage in the middle for candidates and seats for listeners.

I thought the event must be a strained mood since it was kind of like a competition, however, it was being proceeding in a friendly manner and candidates were getting know each other at the beginning. I got some Monopoly money to use for the event at the reception desk. The rule at the pitch was: all listeners give those currencies to a candidate who made the most impressive pitch and five people on the top can get $1000 at the end of the session. I could see various types of audiences, such as students at Toronto university, some investors and people who are just curious about listening innovative ideas besides candidates, and everyone looked excited. 

 

 

It was totally a rare experience for me observing the pitch. I never had an opportunity being in the place such as sharing an idea for solving a wide variety of social problems by using technology, and it was totally like a new world for me!

All the ideas they were talking about are something that doesn’t exist the current world yet. The contents ware various and I got excited by all of them because I could see their ideal world through the pitch and it must be helpful for people.

The most impressive thing for me was candidates who decided to share their business.

They were passionate, confident, and kept attracting audience though some of them had a technical problem with their power point slides, and lots of students who just finished their class suddenly came out during the pitch. went in and out Though people can notice a social problem and have opinions, most of them do nothing. However, they are trying to make a system that addresses the problem. I was very glad that I could observe their first stage and now I hope all the ideas will come true… :)

Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche is a huge art event held on the first Saturday of October. The event name comes from French and it means “the white night”. In other words, this is an opportunity for enjoying arts overnight and the day that the city of Toronto becomes an art museum! It was my first time going to Nuit blanche and I was really excited.

Goldstruck Coffee

Goldstruck Coffee is like a secret hideaway to enjoy espresso drinks, teas and some baked pastries. Since it’s located in the semi-basement near Bay station which has a number of shops around, I didn’t even notice the cafe at first, however there were many customers inside and all tables were almost full when I opened the door. I usually want to keep experiencing the new cafe and never go back to the previous one, but I became a regular customer here and enjoying a cup of london fog is one of my most favorite moments of my life.

I’m going to write about all attractive points about Goldstruck coffee today. Let’s explore with me! :)

TYPE BOOKS

Type books is a privately owned bookstore loved by man and women of all age. Located in Queens Street West known as lots of cool retail stores, you can feel the unique and friendly mood once you enter the store.

There is a cute shelve for the recommended books in the middle. It is carefully selected by book-lover staffs and each book has a bookmark written their name to figure out who recommends the book. This is very popular among customers and everyone relies on their sense of picking books, according to my friend who often goes to the store.
It can be a good opportunity to try different genre and open the new world.