BC Business: Top 30 Under 30
With its , B.C. Business Magazine celebrates B.C.鈥檚 鈥測oung guns, who excel in their respective industries, give back to the community and planet and who will lead business in this province for years to come.鈥�
Venture Connection is proud to have three clients and alumni from the program named among B.C. Business Magazine鈥檚 Top 30 Under 30 for 2014:
CEO of and a client, Lisa began with an insight she had while teaching special needs children to swim: hugs help.
For her final project at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, she designed the Snug Vest, a therapeutic garment that inflates to provide pressure, like a hug. Derived from a practice called 鈥渄eep pressure therapy,鈥� it has a proven calming effect on children with autism, ADHD, and sensory disorders. She had never planned to commercialize the Snug Vest after graduating, but the positive feedback convinced her there was demand.
Cheng, co-founder of WittyCookie Digital Agency and more than a dozen other ventures, was in 2013 named one of Maclean鈥檚 magazine鈥檚 future leaders under 25, as well as the 2013 cohort for Next36.
He has received a litany of other awards, including the Surrey Board of Trade鈥檚 Top 25 Under 25, 丁香园AV鈥檚 Student Entrepreneur of the Year and the Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize.
You can read more about Michael in this .
A Venture Connection success story, Milun is best known as the founder of MetroLyrics, the song-lyrics website that was acquired by CBS Interactive Music Group in 2011 for what Tesovic describes as 鈥渨ell into eight figures.鈥� At the time, it was the third-largest music site in the world, behind and Yahoo Music, with more than 45 million hits a month.
However, MetroLyrics is just one of a dozen startups Tesovic has launched since his teens. Although not all were successful, two others鈥擡cholima Hosting Solutions and Arcadebanners .com鈥攚ere also acquired in smaller deals. Today Tesovic retains an unofficial management role 鈥渁cross a couple of properties鈥� at CBS, but spends the bulk of his time helping other startups. That commitment to the local startup scene includes investments through three venture funds, including Boris Wertz鈥檚 Version One Ventures. He has also invested directly in a handful of local startups, including Recon Instruments and Food.ee, and is an adviser to several more.
Awards will be presented to the winners on April 30th at a special cocktail reception. You can find more information on the awards, the reception, and other winners on the .