Fundica Roadshow Success Story: Russ Baker, VP of Avalon Holographics (Views: 2302)
Thu, 05 Apr 2018
Even the most self-sufficient, resourceful entrepreneurs rely on the support of investors, partners, media, mentors, and the government; but connecting with these resources can be a confusing and laborious process. Fortunately, the Fundica Roadshow provides Canadian startups with a unique opportunity to attract the attention of public and private investors and the tech community at large.
Many of our past participants have achieved considerable success in the years since they presented at the Fundica Roadshow, and we are proud to feature their trials, tribulations, and triumphs on our site.
One such participant is Russ Baker, VP at Avalon Holographics. Avalon Holographics is developing next-generation display technology that will solve many of the problems impacting current 3D, volumetric, and holographic displays.
Russ pitched at the Fundica Roadshow in 2017, and Avalon’s President and co-founder Wally Haas has successfully bootstrapped the company for the last three years. As a pre-revenue startup, they employ a team of over 30 employees and have raised several million in personal and matching non-dilutive government funding.
Here’s how our conversation went:
Tell us more about the early days of your venture. How did you come up with the idea for your company?
I organized a day-long meeting with my co-founder and another friend to brainstorm a venture that we could pursue, since we were all experienced startup veterans with some seed capital. We ended up exploring several options and were inspired by science fiction concepts in movies like Iron Man, Minority Report and others to ask ourselves “why don’t these things exist already?” After a fair bit of research, we identified key competencies in the holographic display space where we knew how to solve the most difficult known problems they had in ways they might not consider.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while attempting to raise funds?
Location and scope. We're based in St. John's, Newfoundland, and we're pursuing a large, expensive, hardware-based project that takes years to develop. Not the most attractive proposition for the larger investors in the major Canadian and US VC centers. Nevertheless, having seed capital coupled with an abundance of government incentives, we can still build our company at our own pace. And the cost of living (and therefore labour) in Newfoundland is a significant advantage over places like Toronto or Silicon Valley – which is a common investor trade-off.
How did the Fundica Roadshow help you grow your business?
It was a valuable experience that helped us refine the pitch by practicing in front of a live crowd. The engagement and networking opportunities were quite valuable.
Join Avalon Holographics and hundreds of other successful startups by pitching at the 2018 Fundica Roadshow.
Haven’t launched your startup yet, but still want to check out the scene? Don’t fret—you can still attend the Fundica Roadshow by buying tickets for our Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver stops.
Montreal, May 1st, 2018: Tickets here
Vancouver, May 31st, 2018: Tickets here
Toronto, June 28th, 2018: Tickets here
Finale, Montreal, July 12th, 2018: Tickets here
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