Free Student Talent for Bootstrapped Startups

By: Billy Vrbensky, RIC Centre Communications Intern

You think you have what it takes to build your business idea into something big. You’re willing to put in the hard work, but at a certain point, you can’t continue to be all of the departments. You’ll need the right people to help your startup succeed and the necessary capital to do so.

One of the first challenges entrepreneurs face is the ability to raise seed money and efficiently spend funds to support their startup. Many bootstrapped startups tend to spend funds on particular areas within an operation that could have been saved using free local student talent.

If your startup is trying to keep spending at a minimum and looking to recruit talent to develop viable solutions, Sheridan College invites your startup to team up with free student talent as a part of its annual Call for Capstone Projects from September to December 2015. The program looks for opportunities where students can work together with entrepreneurs to develop collaborative and creative solutions for real world problems.

Sheridan students trained in mechanical and electromechanical engineering have the potential to assist your startup in areas such as:

• Prototype development
• Automation systems
• Workstations
• Test apparatus’
• Tool design
• Product redesign or enhancement
• Robotic stations

These senior students have the necessary practical skills required to develop original solutions for your startup while providing some financial relief on your budget with their free technical expertise.

Meet Charlene. Charlene founded a startup called Amintro, a social network for adults. She worked together with four Sheridan students on a capstone project based on her startup. Here’s what she had to say about the capstone program:

“The Capstone Program at Sheridan College is an incredible opportunity to help the next generation prepare for their careers and at the same time be of benefit to one’s own business venture. I highly recommend applying to the program.”

Charlene Nadalin (fourth from the left) and her capstone team.

A team of four students of Sheridan’s Pilon School of Business selected RIC Centre startup Amintro for their capstone project. “Prior to meeting the students, I met with their professor, Mr. Wael Ramadan, to discuss the students’ studies and in-class capabilities and Amintro’s needs in order to determine what project to request of the students. The goal being to challenge the students and give them real world experience prior to graduation,” Charlene notes about her experience.

Team Amintro’s capstone project involved the development of a business and marketing plan. “After four months of communications and regularly scheduled, enjoyable meetings, this team of impressive young adults not only presented their findings and recommendations during an hour-long presentation to their professor and me, but also provided me with a well written and detailed, 55-page Business and Marketing Plan.”

If your startup wants to save money, reach its market faster, outshine the competition, acquire modern talent and build a diverse network in the skilled community, be sure to check out Sheridan College’s Call for Capstone Projects and get ready to leverage the potential of todays in demand student talent.