It’s been a great start to 2017. For one, we’ve seen some exciting updates to our IT consulting services. But most impressive were the participants in TechYukon’s Startup Checkpoint this past February. There is little that can validate our efforts to foster a supportive environment for budding entrepreneurs in the tech industry than to come across a field that makes it impossible to declare a frontrunner among them. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

What is TechYukon’s Startup Checkpoint?

TechYukon, a local association of technology-driven companies spearheaded by Make IT co-founder Chris Lane, launched Startup Checkpoint two years ago. The annual weekend-long event invites Whitehorse area entrepreneurs from the tech sector to bring their innovative ideas to a committee of industry leaders. Among them, is Bernd Petak, an entrepreneur, and  advisor with over three decades of professional and technical expertise. The panel also includes Alastair Smith (Proskida), Jonathan Baynes (Yukon College), and Ron Daub (Vuntut Limited Partnership).

The event is segmented into three phases;

• Participants receive advice and assistance to help them validate a product idea.
• Participants receive guidance and help to develop a unique “pitch” for the idea. 
• Participants get to deliver their pitch to a panel of local business leaders with expertise in marketing and product development.

Concepts that pass through the assemblage qualify for both business and mentoring assistance. The aim is to turn their concepts into realities. Bringing a new idea to market is one of the hardest parts of the process, but Startup Checkpoint helps facilitate this for passionate entrepreneurs from the tech sector.

TechYukon’s supportive mission is what has taken this event from infancy to a highly anticipated affair. And if the results from this year are to be an indicator, the future is looking even brighter.

A Win for New Technology (and the people behind it)

All participants were winners at the 2nd annual Startup Checkpoint. We mean that literally. You see, TechYukon was so impressed with the entire line-up that they changed up their protocol in selecting finalists.

This year’s crop of participants was remarkable in that, though they covered the whole span from initial-idea to in-market-and-selling levels, they were all such strong candidates that we had to abandon our first idea of choosing the top three or four for a majority of our follow-up support” (TechYukon)

That’s right. Of the six participants, six won (special shout out to Apprendo). We could not have agreed with the results more. You see, while the event may seem to be about technology on the surface, it’s really about the people behind it all, the entrepreneurs that will push the industry forward together as a whole.

Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” (Steve Jobs)