Community
Problem havers on stage, problem solvers in the room
Startup Grind Kitchener-Waterloo puts the buyers that founders in tough markets are trying to reach on stage. The founders in the room hear their real challenges first hand, in the buyer’s own words.
I’m Andrew Witchell, one of the chapter’s directors. This page is mine. Events and registration are on the official chapter page.
Why
Founders in tough markets get only a few shots with each buyer
If you sell surgical navigation to 50 hospitals in Ontario, or robotics through a 12-month sale with several decision makers, you can’t test your way to product-market fit. Every bad first impression burns a prospect you can’t replace.
So we bring the buyer to you: the hospital executive, the operations lead at a mining company, the plant manager deciding whether to adopt new inspection technology. On stage they explain how they decide, what keeps them up at night, and what vendors get wrong. It works as a customer interview for the whole room, without spending one of your shots.
It is for founders selling something new, to buyers who don’t say yes easily, in markets too important to get wrong: medtech, robotics, defence, construction, manufacturing and agri-food.
For speakers
Speak if your industry has problems worth solving
You get a room of founders building for your industry, a say in the pitches that will land on your desk, and an early look at what is coming. The conversation stays on your world: how you buy, what is broken, and what would make you take a meeting with an unknown startup.
The format is a prep call a week before, a 20 to 30 minute fireside, then 10 to 15 minutes of questions. Each fireside is recorded for YouTube.
Message me on LinkedIn with your role and the problem you would want founders to understand. Startup Grind’s speaker application works too.
For attendees
Hear the buyer, then apply it to your own market
After the fireside and questions, a short debrief asks what you heard that maps to your product. Two or three founders share, and the guest reacts. Then there is time to meet the room. Tickets carry a nominal fee that covers food and drink, because people who pay show up.
The record
Every problem named on stage, in the speaker’s own words
Each fireside adds to a public register: the problem, who is stuck, why it is hard, the speaker’s words and a link to the recording. The first two firesides, in July and August 2026, named 15 problems, from dexterous robot hands to clearing plastic munitions.
Help bring the next buyer to the stage
To volunteer, suggest a guest or host an evening, message me on LinkedIn. To hear about the next event, subscribe on the chapter page.