illumicell AI (Techstars'23) reposted this
Co-founder at illumicell AI | Techstars'23 | x-McKinsey | WEF Speaker | Harvard i-Lab
Graduated from Creative Destruction Lab Toronto (#AI stream)! With about 30% graduation rate, illumicell AI (Techstars'23) became one of the finalists to complete CDL. During the Supersession in Toronto, we joined CDL graduates from all over the world. From our first session back in October [2023] that left me shattered to the festive Supersession, CDL has been a crucial catalyst for our progress, and I H I G H L Y recommend it to every tech/science founder: 👉Non-dilutive: CDL takes no equity or money 👉Sector-specific: Tailored to best fit your company’s industry 👉Remote friendly: It’s about the work you do, not where you are 👉Mentorship rich: Dozens of mentors from various fields 👉Competitive: Companies that fail to deliver are eliminated every two months 👉Supported for free by University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management MBA students: Heidi Wagner, MBA, PA’s industry expertise and Edison Zhu’s analytical skills were invaluable Here’s why I found CDL exceptional: 🗣️ Indirect Pitching We pitch to small groups of mentors who then pitch on our to dozens of others. The first pitch was an eye-opener; it was startling to see all the misunderstandings, especially since we were not allowed to intervene. We quickly realised it was crucial to make our pitch extremely simple. ♨️ Public Roast Think Tom Brady’s roast was rough? These mentors provide raw, honest feedback — publicly. It can feel mean, but ultimately, it’s a learning curve. This initially unpleasant experience pushed us to fundamentally rethink our product development and business model. 🐩 Goal Grooming We are all guilty of setting delusional goals. Thanks to our life sciences mentors, we were actively guided in setting goals appropriate for our stage and industry. During the Public Roasts, our progress was measured, and the goals were reviewed with a more diverse set of mentors. Mentors we initially thought were 'too generalist' ended up providing fresh perspectives we had overlooked. 👩⚖️ Up or Out If a company fails to reach its goals, it’s voted out, which I found thrilling. The goals felt more tangible and the spirit of competition stoked our ambition. Waiting to hear from the judges after each session felt like a suspenseful show cliffhanger, turning every win into a great team morale boost. Special thanks to Richard Foster, an emeritus senior partner at #McKinsey, who helped shape CDL and encouraged me to apply when we first met in NYC during illumicell AI's very early days. Thank you to the mentors who roasted us gently, groomed our goals and guided us through the jungle of knowledge: James Hardiman, Igor Jurisica, Brent Norton, Dennis Bennie, Reza Zadeh, Joel Finlayson, Jamie Bruce 🫶 The staff: Kiara K., Ally MacDonald, Igor Cunha, PhD, Mathew Platt ❤️🩹 And to the team that absorbed the shock of each session to produce outputs that surpassed our own expectations: Michel Bielecki MD MPH, Loup Cordey, Javier Barranco Garcia, PhD, Anna Kuzmina