Startup Grind Calgary, West Los Angeles and Toronto are teaming up to present a special event on August 5!
Égard Watches was created by Ilan Srulovicz to pay tribute to the bond between father and son. Not being able to find the perfect timepiece on the market that symbolized their relationship; Ilan resolved to create an inspiring luxury piece that embodied the bond’s depth of emotion. Their subsequent phenomenal growth has been based on leveraging social media, celebrity endorsements/collaborations and through publishing videos on social issues that Ilan felt passionately about.
These strategies started in 2014 when Ilan partnered with Star Trek star William Shatner to crowd fund a new watch design on Indiegogo. They raised $681,721, blowing past their goal of $75,000 by 900%. They were among the first to successfully use this strategy in the traditional watch market.
Since then, they have had some of the biggest stars in the world wearing and collaborating with them including: Jamie Fox, George St. Pierre, Jeff Daniels, Terry Crews, Sugar Ray Leonard and many more!
They have also repeatedly sold out their inventories and dramatically increased their sales through publishing videos on social issues that Ilan felt passionately about. This included a video challenging Gillette’s video on masculinity which has been watched over 5.4m times on YouTube and a recent video supporting police officers which has been watched over 1m times.
Ilan will be joining us on August 5th from his home in Los Angeles where Égard is co-headquartered with their Toronto operation.
Don’t miss this fascinating and inspiring story about innovating and carving your own path in one of the most traditional industries!
Egard Watches
CEO and Founder
Ilan Srulovicz was born in Baltimore, Maryland and spent his life equally divided between Canada and the US. He has appeared in numerous television shows as an actor including a recurring character on AMC's The Walking Dead, the Oscar winning film The Big Short, and as one of the lead cast on the Netflix Original Series Slasher. Ilan founded Egard Watch Company in 2012 as a way to pay tribute …
Ilan Srulovicz was born in Baltimore, Maryland and spent his life equally divided between Canada and the US. He has appeared in numerous television shows as an actor including a recurring character on AMC's The Walking Dead, the Oscar winning film The Big Short, and as one of the lead cast on the Netflix Original Series Slasher. Ilan founded Egard Watch Company in 2012 as a way to pay tribute to his father and start a legacy. Egard has grown to become a recognizable watch brand in that time due to Ilan's honest and value driven marketing approaches. He is also a gallery represented painter and a black belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu, Filipino Martial arts and a lifetime practitioner of Muay Thai.
Chad Ford is the founder of the Startup Grind Calgary Chapter. From his leadership, Calgary has become one of the most successful chapters of Startup Grind’s 600 cities around the world. He has interviewed some of Canada’s most prolific entrepreneurs including: W. Brett Wilson, Bruce Croxon, Manjit Minhas, Walker McKinley, Dan Themig, Nicolas Beique and Sandi Gilbert. He is a strong believer that successful entrepreneurship is the key to a vibrant economy and culture.
A prolific volunteer, in addition to his work with Startup Grind Calgary, he is also a Board Member of the Calgary Combative Sports Commission and mentor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's Energy Asset Management program.
A passionate entrepreneur himself, Chad founded Sunexo Solutions, a software company which developed the industry leading IRIS software. IRIS has been used by over 500 energy, resource development and infrastructure projects across North America.
The primary focus of his career has been based around regulatory and stakeholder engagement for major projects. He has worked directly with many of the largest resource development, infrastructure and energy companies in North America by helping them improve their stakeholder engagement efforts with technology. Additionally, he has direct on-the-ground engagement experience including being the main company representative in an indigenous community for a contentious energy program in northern British Columbia for almost a year.
In recognition of his contributions to improving the energy industry in both his professional and volunteer work, he was awarded the Rising Stars award for 2019 from the Daily Oil Bulletin.
He is also a veteran of the Canadian Forces where he served in the infantry which included a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006
Sharn Kandola is a data-driven tech guru with 20 years of experience in start-ups. Her expertise is in equipping businesses with actionable data in order to make game-changing decisions. Sharn is a familiar face in the Toronto tech scene - She is the COO for CTO Boost, and the Director of Startup Grind Toronto, a Global organization with over 2 million members. She also writes for Fortune, has made appearances on BNN, CHCH, CityTV, CBC, and been quoted frequently in Inc.com; Betakit; Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and The Financial Post.
"I've had the opportunity to do a lot of great things but everything always comes back to technology and data. Let's explore it, dissect it, analyse it and use it to make the world better!"
Startup Grind Calgary
Chapter co-Director
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Startup Grind Calgary
Chapter co-Director
See Bio
Startup Grind Calgary
Chapter co-Director
See Bio
Startup Grind Calgary
Chapter co-Director
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Tara is a successful entrepreneur who has spent nearly 20 years in design, art direction and media purchasing. She is the Lead Designer and Founder of Paper Crane, a Calgary based web and graphic design firm.
She is also an enthusiastic volunteer. As a co-Director with Startup Grind Calgary, she has helped grow the Chapter to one of the largest in the world. She has also helped community members connect through her role as the master of ceremonies at events and being a board member on the non-profit which oversees all activities. Prior to her role at Startup Grind Calgary, she founded Bureau of Apocalypse Wars, a volunteer organization which was dedicated to helping children's charities by holding unique, culturally relevant events. This organization grew to include international chapters.
Jason Wang is a lawyer in the Securities and Capital Markets Group in the Calgary office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Jason focuses his practice on corporate and securities law. Jason advises clients on a broad range of securities and corporate matters including mergers, acquisitions, and other business combinations of public and private issuers, including take-over bids, amalgamations, plans of arrangements, public listings via capital pool companies, and other corporate reorganizations as well as financing transactions, including public and private offerings of debt, equity and convertible securities.
Jason also represents a number of emerging companies involved in the development of new technologies and products, mostly in Western Canada, helping them successfully finance and grow their respective businesses.
BDC Capital exists to help turn great ideas into great companies. And great companies into engines of jobs, growth and wealth creation. The Growth and Transition Capital Group helps to place capital in the hands of established or high-growth companies looking to finance a new project or business transition.
BDC Capital provides either pure common equity capital (minority interest) or mezzanine (subordinate) debt financing at market interest rates, from $500k to $35 million to Canadian owned businesses. As the country’s leading provider of risk capital, and with more than $1.6 billion under management, BDC Capital takes a strategic, patient approach to nurture companies’ development over the long term.
As an Associate in this group I help to connect entrepreneurs with expertise and financing solutions while providing value add insight and guidance to transactions and ongoing operations.
Kelby is an experienced data and monetization expert in the startup industry with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. She has worked in senior positions with multiple technology companies in Western Canada and has experience engaging investors globally.
As a co-Director with Startup Grind Calgary, she has helped grow the Chapter to one of the largest in the world.
In 2017, Kelby was recognized as one of Canada's top ten women in technology by the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles, California. She is a Certified Professional in Investor Relations (CPIR), having achieved her designation from Ivey Business School in 2015.
Paper Crane Media
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