Ali Asaria founder and CEO of Well. ca, Canada’s largest online health and beauty store, visited the VeloCity residence last night to talk about ways of building a lean business. Ali shared personal stories of the trials and tribulations associated with profiling your target customers while keeping the costs “lean”. As Ali puts it: “great companies are always measuring and learning”. This speaks directly to the ability for small start-up companies to compete directly with large company X- they are small, agile and able to react quickly- or at least they should be!

Also of major discussion was the need for a strong company culture. Ali discussed the core competencies of a lasting company and the need for a strong set of values and beliefs to diffuse throughout the organization. “When companies talk about their culture, they are able to build, learn and grow as a team- this facilitates success in the long run especially when growth is fast.” His talk brought about a great discussion amongst the residents and helped set the tone for a successful start-up weekend. Some students were so inspired that they stayed up coding until 6 am this morning! That’s dedication and a recipe for success!

Students are now in the Accelerator Centre working on what is the beginning of their projects and business ideas. Coming up next, a look at what these projects entail and the talent that is leading them!