York University’s Schulich School of Business and Techstars Toronto have formalized a new annual talent partnership, with six top Schulich MBAs assigned to support the accelerator and its cohort of 24 startups.
The MBA students will assist in developing marketing plans, lead generation, financial forecasting and modelling, and will also support Techstars startup founders with achieving their in-program benchmarks and milestones.
“As we look to deepen our engagement across the country, we quickly realized the Schulich School of Business would be the perfect partner for us based upon their deep footprint in the Canadian business community, fast-growing reputation in the tech ecosystem and their ability to rapidly innovate,” says Alisha Golden, investment manager at Techstars Toronto.
The partnership also provides the six Schulich MBA students with access to Techstars workshops, resources and their community of founders and venture capital leaders. The students will work from both the Techstars Toronto office at OneEleven and at Schulich’s Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship on York University’s Keele Campus.
The first five Schulich MBA students hired are:
- Aasma Pratap Singh (MBA ’24 – former senior consultant at EY and PwC India);
- Harjot Singh Juneja (MBA ’24 – former investment analyst with Dexter Angels in India);
- Abhishek Bapat (MBA ’24 – past intern at Define Capital);
- Kumar Shanu (MBA ’23 – past intern with Telus Ventures); and
- Payal Aggarwal (MBA ’23 – former founder institute program manager).
“We couldn’t be more thrilled and prouder of our students for securing these positions and pleased with our new partnership with Techstars Toronto,” says Schulich Dean Detlev Zwick. “This alliance reinforces the value of Schulich’s Entrepreneurial Studies program and our Schulich Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, while also providing our students with valuable, real-world experience.”
“Our office has worked hard over the last few years to establish ourselves as the go-to source for top-notch student talent in the startup and venture capital space,” says Chelsea Gray, associate director of Schulich’s Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. “Techstars adds to the tremendous growth we’ve seen in our work-integrated learning programs, and we are excited about the real-world experience and learning opportunities this partnership will unlock for our students.”
Today’s news continues a string of announcements from Schulich as the school becomes further embedded in Toronto’s tech ecosystem, having recently launched the Schulich MBA in Technology Leadership program, the Schulich Venture Studio (in partnership with OneEleven) and the Schulich Venture Academy (with a new series of MasterClass Venture Certificates in Capital, Talent, Finance and Operations).
Techstars is the world’s leading pre-seed and early-stage venture capital firm, investing in a diverse, global pool of entrepreneurs and high-growth companies with investments in over 3,500 early-stage startups. They have a highly diversified portfolio ranging from HealthTech and Fintech to Web3 and CleanTech, with startups from Miami and Silicon Valley, Calif., to Lagos, Portugal, and London.
Techstars Toronto also announced it has signed on as an official sponsor of the Schulich Startups VIP Series, which connects Canadian tech leaders with the school’s “Schulich Startups” community.