Thanks to a new Wilfrid Laurier University student start-up, businesses will be able to better design their websites. First-year students and Teknically co-founders Andrew Paradi and Brandon Chow recently won Canada’s Business Model Competition at Dalhousie University on March 15.
“It was pretty exciting to win. It was a big validation for us, just to see that the judges and people within the business community got it,” said Paradi, a bachelor of business administration (BBA) student. Chow is a BBA and computer science student.
Their business idea, Teknically, will allow for businesses to translate information on the web in a much simpler fashion to create more efficient websites.
“We translate complex web analytics into easy-to-use and accessible information. We run information through our algorithms, and we are able to present it to business owners with graphs, easy-to-understand summaries and clear, concise steps on specific ways they can improve their website that will actually lead to improving their business,” Paradi continued.
Paradi and Chow are both currently enrolled in Laurier’s LaunchPad program, where they heard about the competition.
“We have been a part of Laurier LaunchPad since November. They selected us out of a number of different teams within the program to represent the university at this event.”
Paradi said the competition brought together 15 semi-finalists at the two-day event. From the 15 teams present, it was then narrowed down to four finalists. One of the big things the judges were looking for was a business with real-world applications and demands.
“It was about using the business model canvas to really create a valued proposition, ensuring you do all of the research and customer discovery before you go and throw money at some problem that might not even exist.”
Winning the competition also brought with it a $25,000 first prize, with Paradi and Chow both proceeding to the international finals at Brigham Young University later this spring. The prize money is going back into the business according to Paradi.
“A lot of the cash is going back into the business, and looking at bringing on some developers, designers, and building on our sales team once we launch into beta so we can keep it moving at a smooth pace.”
The program is set to launch in full sometime in the summer.
