Creating the Space for Startup Possibility
Posted on
April 30, 2015
Picture a mobile application for people with severe food allergies – one that would connect them instantly with retailers and restaurants that could accommodate them. That’s the concept behind Mood2Food, which took second place in a recent Startup Calgary weekend where more than 70 entrepreneurs worked over 54 hours to refine a pitch to local venture capitalists. The prize for the team behind Mood2Food was a weekend Creative Entrepreneurship Residency at The Banff Centre to refine the idea and explore opportunities.
Part of the challenge was to connect creativity with leadership and the idea of a technology startup, working with local Banff artist Jane Newman, and Banff Centre ceramics facilitator Ed Bamiling. The weekend focus was to experience arts practices that disrupt thinking, to gain fresh perspectives and new applications. Ultimately, the retreat helped the team to slow down, and understand the challenges from various angles.
“Creating the space for possibility to emerge is one of the most important actions in any creative venture, and one of the most difficult,” said lead faculty Ian Prinsloo.
One of the team members was Patrick Leslie, Director of Technology and Innovation at Integrated Sustainability Consultants Ltd. “I think entrepreneurship is taught very differently than art is,” he said. “But some powerful concepts that we went through connect really well. I think exploring the human condition would be a great tool for entrepreneurs.”
Leslie was also interested in the retreat’s exercises in acting, and applying those lessons to creative thinking. “It’s a profession that’s very familiar in one sense but also totally foreign.” He added that learning something about acting made him open up his own approach to problem-solving, bringing in more abstract thinking and open interpretation.