Toronto's hottest young entrepreneurs
Small Business
Toronto's hottest young entrepreneurs
Globe and Mail Update
Published
Last updated
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Toronto's hottest entrepreneurs under 30
Young, talented and brimming with entrepreneurial zeal. The Report on Small Business presents some of the most exciting, fresh-faced business owners in the T-Dot. Click here to watch related videos
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Hailey Coleman, 23
Title: Owner of Damn Heels Inc.
Year founded: 2009
Company: Damn Heels has introduced sexy, fold up flats tucked into a small pouch that expands into a trendy tote bag. Women can throw their Damn Heels into their purse and slip their sore feet into the soft-sided flats and their (beloved) heels into the tote.
Goal: I have a number of goals, but I'll share two with you. I'd like to be the market leader of foldable flats. We're also very passionate about supporting women and I'd like to use Damn Heels as a platform to build a foundation to support a women’s confidence program. Expect big things from us!
Why I became an entrepreneur: I never planned on becoming an entrepreneur, I fell into it when the opportunity presented itself.
Employees: Only moi.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/damnheels
Twitter: @damnheels
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Dave Wilkin, 23
Title: Founder of Redwood Strategic
Year founded: 2009
Company: Redwood is one of the fastest growing youth marketing companies in the country, working with the most respected brands to engage youth influencers and student leaders. Through their proprietary platform, they connect brands with thousands of advocates, events, and activities to run social media, experiential, and integrated marketing programs.
Goal: Fundamentally change the way brands and young people connect.
Why I became an entrepreneur: After launching a national youth marketing program at 20 years old, I began speaking with a number of brands to help them understand how they could more effectively engage young people. I also knew there had to be a better way to work with the most influential demographic other than "brand ambassadors" and one-off marketing campaigns.
Employees: 12
Facebook: www.facebook.com/campusperks
Twitter: @CampusPerks
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Ray Cao, 24
Title: CEO of Loose Button
Company: Loose Button runs a monthly membership program called the Luxe Box where consumers can try out luxury beauty products before deciding to buy it at full price. Each month, three-to-five deluxe-sized product samples are mailed out to paying members in an elegantly designed box.
Goal: To become a global market leader in helping consumers discover great products.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I love working with great people who want to do extraordinary things.
Employees: 8 plus a great advisory board
Year founded: 2011
Facebook: www.facebook.com/loosebutton
Twitter: @loose_button
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Lauren Friese, 28
Title: Founder at TalentEgg
Year founded: 2008
Company: TalentEgg connects students and recent grads with career-launching resources, and connects employers with career minded students for recruitment purposes. TalentEgg.ca is Canada's leading online career resource for students and recent grads.
Goal: There are two sides to my company: Business and our social mission. Business comes first, and my business goal is to be the best - to be the leader in our industry and to blaze new, uncharted trails in the industry. Our social mission and goal is to improve the school-to-work transition for Canadian students and recent grads.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I am motivated by achievements and milestones, I am at my best when given autonomy over my work, and I am ambitious, persistent, relentless. Entrepreneurship was a career that allowed me to be all of these things.
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/TalentEgg
Twitter: @TalentEgg @LaurenFriese
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Anthony Rinella, 24
Title: Founder of SkedX.com
Year founded: 2007
Company: SkedX builds software that helps retailers and food service companies engage their employees by using the work schedule in a very cool and social way.
Goal: We see a lot of growth potential in employee engagement, so we plan to go public.
Why I became an entrepreneur: My grandfather is my biggest inspiration in my life. He was an entrepreneur who pushed himself to succeed regardless of the barriers. He taught me that to be successful, you should never know how much money you are making each week, because a paycheque limits your abilities to push harder and farther. It was because of his lessons and inspiration, that I chose to become an entrepreneur.
Employees: 7
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SKEDX/28445862452
Twitter: @SkedX / @AnthonyRinella
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Greg Overholt, 26
Title: Executive director at Students Offering Support (SOS)
Year founded: 2005
Company: SOS is a charitable sustainable social venture that develops and supports SOS chapters residing within post-secondary schools across North America. Each University SOS chapter raises money to raise roofs through raising marks during our ‘Exam-AID’ group review sessions, taught and coordinated by student volunteers for university and high school students.
Goal: To be a critical resource for first year students working to get through their first year of university. To provide our volunteers the most impactful leadership experience, on campus and in our Latin American partnering communities in the summer following.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I became an entrepreneur to leverage the power of effective business models to enable sustainable positive social change.
Employees: 3 full-time, 1 part-time, 4 co-op students, and 1000+ active volunteers
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StudentsOfferingSupport
Twitter: @SOSnational @goverholt
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Sunny Verma, 27
Title: President of TutorBright
Year founded: 2008
Company: TutorBright is an innovative and dynamic supplemental education company. We provide customized in-home mentorship, tutoring and education plans for students who are struggling in school and those who want to catch up and get ahead.
Goal: I want TutorBright to be the leading supplemental education provider internationally. We recently launched our franchise business model and soon we will be launching our e-tutoring program.
Why I became an entrepreneur: To take control of my destiny while adding value to my society. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be my own boss. It never felt like a risk, but more so an opportunity. Since I started, I could never look back. Yes, the stress can be intense, but there is nothing like getting out of bed in the morning to do what you love. Work is not work, it's life.
Employees: 60
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TutorBright/169873129734496?ref=ts
Twitter: @tutorbright
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Sin Kim, 26
Title: Founder of Sinoeun Kim Jewellery
Year founded: 2010
Company: Sinoeun Kim Jewellery creates handcrafted custom fine jewellery
Goal: To evoke emotion and instill sentiment to every piece of jewellery made
Why I became an entrepreneur: I have always been quite passionate about jewellery. Having grown up with a seamstress mother and a chain making father, I knew that I wanted a career that allowed me to work with my hand. There is something really gratifying about making something and having others appreciate it. The only down fall is there aren't many jobs that exist give artist as myself the security and creative space. I hope to one day open my own jewellery studio and offer aspiring goldsmiths a platform grow on or launch off of.
Employees: 1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sinkimjewellery
Twitter: @sinkimjewellery
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Tegan Mierle, 26, and Lauren Barless, 25
Tegan: Owner of Pilot Interactive
Year founded: 2008
Company: Pilot Interactive is a boutique design and development studio, a collective of young people who are passionately dedicated to building creative solutions for web, print and other media.
Goal: I hope to explore new and exciting technologies and expand the business to 12-15 of the best people. The most important thing will be to keep our tight-knit intimate atmosphere that allows us all to be creative and be ourselves.
Why I became an entrepreneur: One of my original reasons to start my own business was that I could sleep in everyday - but that totally backfired as now I work longer than a 9-5 day! I've always loved strategizing, and building a business from the ground up was always appealing to me. Other reasons were to have the freedom to work on projects that I care about, and learning different skills outside of my graphic design degree (such as accounting, project management, and various programming languages).
Lauren: Designer at Pilot Interactive
Why I love this company: Our brilliant, talented, hilarious team members have incredible camaraderie; late nights, tight deadlines and other day-to-day headaches are not nearly so bad when you're working with your friends. It also means that we're always collaborating, putting our heads together to come up with better solutions than we could individually.
Employees: Seven full-time employees (from three, one year ago), as well as several part-time freelancers
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pilotinteractive
Twitter: @pilotcrew
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Julian Brass, 28
Title: CEO and founder of Notable.ca
Year founded: 2008
Company: Notable.ca is Canada's first online resource and lifestyle guide dedicated to young professionals. We publish content every day that speaks to young Canadian professionals in terms of their work life, social life, charitable giving, and other facets of their life such as fashion, tech, health, and etiquette.
Goal: To engage and inspire young professionals across Canada to do better and be better, every day. To offer a rewarding place for my employees to work. To offer advertisers the most engaging and cost-effective medium to reach their target market in Canada. And, personally, to enjoy the thrill of accomplishing this more and more each day.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I knew it was my time to do it, plus I wasn't getting any younger ...
Employees: 3 Full time, 12 contractors, and several incredible freelancers
Facebook: Facebook.com/Notableca
Twitter: @NotableCA @julianbrass
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Samantha Maker, 27
Title: Founder of Cilque bedding
Year founded: 2010
Company: Cilque offers the most fashionable and sensual silk bedding. Our mission is to transform the sleeping experience through silk products for your boudoir.
Goal: To become a well-known brand across Canada.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I was in Israel last summer and went to a kibbutz that was situated on the border of Israel and Lebanon. There I saw first hand a glimpse of war and hate that exists in the world. It made me realize how fortunate I am to be a Canadian citizen and how much opportunity this country has to offer. I realized that life is a fragile gift and if I didn't start my business that I would be wasting it away.
Employees: 2 (interns)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CILQUE
Twitter: @thecilque
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Monica Mei, 29
Title: CEO at WhatImWear.in
Year founded: 2010
Company: WhatImWear.in is the visual Twitter for fashion. It is the easiest way for fashion fans to share their style story onto multiple social networks with one click - instantly.
Goal: I want to disrupt the $1.7 T fashion industry and change the way it promotes itself, sells product, spots trends and creates market leaders.
Why you became an entrepreneur: I love the organic process from conception to execution to actualization that I experience as an entrepreneur - it's a gratifying yet exhausting profession.
Employees: 6
Facebook: www.facebook.com/whatimwearin
Twitter: @whatimwearin
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Kanika Gupta, 24
Title: Co-founder of theSoJo.net
Year founded: 2011
Company: theSoJo.net is a comprehensive online platform that supports youth passionate about creating social enterprises (and projects for social change), by connecting them with the tools, information and resources needed to begin their journey and effectively execute their ideas.
Why I became an entrepreneur: I saw an opportunity to fill a much needed gap in the online community and creating SoJo seemed to be the most logical solution to meeting this need.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSoJo.net
Twitter: @_SoJo_
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Alyssa Richard, 26
Title: Founder of RateHub.ca
Year founded: 2010
Company: RateHub.ca is a mortgage rate comparison website which also offers educational tools to help consumers make better financial decisions.
Personal goal: To help mortgage brokers and consumers see the online mortgage market potential in Canada, build a profitable business and be able to work from Hawaii one month per each year.
Why I became an entrepreneur: Challenge, passion, lifestyle (Ha!)
Employees: 3 + 2 fabulous interns
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RateHub
Twitter: @RateHub_Canada
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Justin Hein, 26
Title: Founder of Spenz
Year founded: November 2010
Company: Spenz is a "where did your money go" app. We help young people figure out where that $100 they had on Friday night went; making it fun and rewarding to do so.
Goal: To build Spenz to 5 million users.
Why you became an entrepreneur: Been building companies since a young age. It's an addiction.
Employees: 7
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spenz/130624797004407
Twitter: @teamspenz
