Background

In 2014, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to fulfill a lifelong dream and raise $1500 for Amnesty International in the process.

During the 8-day trek, I really got to know my mountain guide, Jerome Kileo. He shared stories about his life and upbringing, and told me how he wanted to one day start his own tour company. When asked what was stopping him, he explained that he had no way of getting customers.

At the time, I wanted to learn web development, so I offered to build him a website for free. It took weeks of work, but I managed to build a rudimentary website using HTML and CSS. (Pictured)

For weeks, the website did not attract a single visitor other than me and Jerome. But I continued improving the website and its SEO, and visitors began trickling in. Then one day it happened: I received an email notification saying that someone had deposited $1000 into my PayPal for their trek.

That was only the start. In 2016 we leased a vehicle and began offering safaris. Combined with our core Mount Kilimanjaro trekking business, this allowed our revenues to surpass $200k in 2018.

Kileo Tours didn’t succeed because of me. It succeeded because of Jerome’s determination and perseverance. I created opportunities for him, and he jumped on those opportunities and did whatever it took to succeed. It was an unlikely partnership, but the perfect one.

When Elon Musk first announced the hyperloop pod competition in 2015, hoards of engineers from the University of Waterloo congregated to make a team. Two years later, they had 60 members, a workshop, a prototype, and a tangled mess of financial records.

I was brought in to clean that mess and create a finance team from scratch. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the project and devote all my free time to it. Within a month, I had proven myself to such a degree that I was nominated and elected to be the Team’s Co-Lead.

I was now managing 30 of the brightest students across the Finance, Sponsorship, Logistics, Web, and Safety teams. We were building something new, complex, and unproven, and that gave us flexibility to think big and try new things.

At the same time as I was spending 30 hours a week on Waterloop, I was also working as a full-time accountant at BlackBerry. Needless to say, I was busy. But I became obsessed with what our team was trying to accomplish, and it became my mission to support them in any way I could. I quickly realized that everyone on the team was intelligent and self-motivated, and that the best thing I could do was get out of the way.

— Top 5 Accomplishments —

1. I orchestrated a launch event for our Goose I pod that was filmed by Discovery Channel, CBC, and CTV. (pictured)

2. I raised $40,000 for our Goose I and Goose II pods and gathered support from the President’s Office at UWaterloo.

3. I designed a Facebook post that went semi-viral after UWaterloo shared it on their Facebook page. Two years later, it still remains their most-liked post. (pictured)

4. I led the administrative teams that supported the engineering teams, allowing us to compete at SpaceX’s first pod race in Hawthorne, California.

5. I convinced the President of Communitech to let our team into the tech hub, giving us free office space in Google’s old Canadian HQ.

— Top 5 Lessons Learned —

1. Find talented teammates, and give them complete freedom — Nothing beats having a teammate who is self-motivated and passionate about what they do.

2. Tool migrations can be deadly — We tried switching from Slack to TaskWorld for better project management, but it was poorly executed and we ultimately switched back to Slack.

3. Design is everything — We had a team of architecture students who created beautiful renderings of our pod. That gave us lots of sponsorship material, and helped convey our team’s mission.

4. Foster future leaders — By the time I left Waterloop, the stars of the team were in second year. They had be closely mentored by their leaders and were dedicated to the team. They subsequently brought the team to new heights.

5. Learn to love learning curves — Everything we did was new and complex. We developed a culture of “diving into complexity,” which was hugely beneficial as we realized how easily complex material could be understood.

Maximizing Turnout

At every one of the 12 hikes I organized and led, between 20-60 people would show up. They’d meet me on campus, and we’d take the public bus to the edge of town. I’d then lead them on a 2.5 hour hike through the hills, forests, and swamps around Waterloo. The return buses came every 30 minutes, so I had to time our arrival perfectly.

I think a big part of why the UW Hiking Club was so popular was because of my carefully thought-out process behind every event. Here’s how I learned to maximize turnout:

— Top 5 Tips —

1. Make the Experience Seamless — I realized early on that a three-hour hike with strangers was intimidating, and that would prevent a lot of people from coming on our hikes. I always made it a focus to set out clear, simple logistics so people would feel at ease that everything would go smoothly. Here’s an example

2. Create a Snowball Effect — For my first few hikes, I noticed that if I created a Facebook event, people were hesitant to be the first ones to click “going”. As a result, the portion of “maybes” would always outpace those who clicked “going”, setting a trend others would follow. I realized that if I had 5 friends click going before I made the event public, far more people would click “going” rather than “maybe”, and the event would attract far more people.

3. Promote Across Many Channels — I did everything I could to promote the club and our events. On Club’s day, I walked around with mountaineering backpack and hiking boots to sign people up. And when I’d create an event, I’d share it in every Facebook group I could. This helped us reach more people and grow the club.

4. Build a Community — We built a community of regulars who came out to every hike. That ensured we’d have a good turnout at every event, and made for a more fun environment people looked forward to.

5. Understand the Why — I developed an understanding of why people were coming on our hikes, and later used that messaging to great effect in our marketing materials. The main reasons people came were: 1) To meet people and make friends, 2) To explore nature and wanted to get outside, 3) To see Canada (since 1/3 of attendees were international students).

From concept to reality, I oversaw the end-to-end development of Heroes of Stanley Park, handling everything from game mechanics and artwork to marketing and fulfillment.

Key Highlights:

• Kickstarter Success – Raised $15,500 from 150 backers across 11 countries, funding the first production run.

• E-Commerce Growth – Sold an additional $18,000 through a self-built online store, using targeted digital marketing strategies.

• Brand & Design – Designed all graphics, packaging, and marketing materials using Photoshop and Lightroom.

• Profitable Advertising – Ran high-ROI social media campaigns, growing the customer base efficiently.

• Manufacturing & Logistics – Partnered with a factory in China, managing production quality and global fulfillment.

• Media Recognition – Featured on City News and Vancouver is Awesome as an innovative Vancouver-based game company.

Heroes of Stanley Park blends strategy, fantasy, and dynamic dueling mechanics, offering an accessible yet deeply engaging experience for new and seasoned tabletop players alike.

Want to see the game in action?
👉 Check it out here