The Catapult Tech Network Continues to Grow
Initiating a network of entrepreneurs isn’t easy, especially during the peak of a pandemic. But at Catapult Grey Bruce, we managed to make it work.
Launched at the start of 2022, the Catapult Tech Network (CTN) is a free program of Catapult Grey Bruce where tech professionals, enthusiasts, and newbies can network with other tech-minded individuals, share their own knowledge and experiences, and collaborate with one another on different projects.
The network is currently led by Chris Herbert, founder and manager of Mi6 — a tech-based marketing company — and Silicon Halton — a similar network of tech entrepreneurs and enthusiasts within the Halton region.
“Anybody is welcome to join the CTN, whether you are an entrepreneur in a tech company or are using technology in your business or personal life. It's open to anybody that's in tech or interested in tech.” Said Chris.
At the current time of writing, the CTN has hosted four events total as either CTN Meetups or Lunch & Learns:
CTN Meetup #1 was a discussion about security compliance, compliance software in general, and cybersecurity in the age of the Internet, held on January 22, 2022.
CTN Meetup #2 was held on February 17, 2022, and discussed application development and delivery in 2022.
The first Lunch & Learn session — then named Tech Tools Tuesdays — was held on February 22, 2022, and taught participants all about website and online store building tools, such as Wix, Wordpress, Squarespace, and Shopify.
The second Lunch & Learn taught participants different ways to strengthen their digital marketing skills via Google Analytics on March 22, 2022.
Megan Livingston, Owner Pure Glow by Meg, Kristan Revell, Owner Revell Cooperative Workspace Wiarton, Charlotte Chinn, NP CoWork Manager, Owner Look Locally Bruce Peninsula and Mia Toose, Vice Chair Catapult, Founder Truli Wetsuits participate in a recent Lunch & Learn from the Northern Peninsula CoWork location in Lion’s Head.
According to Chris, “The meetups are really focused on topics, such as cybersecurity, trends in software, and application development. . . . They're information sharing. We have subject matter experts presenting what they know about a specific topic. So, [they're] very much presentation focused types of events around advanced core technologies.”
In contrast to the meetups, he added, “When it comes to the Lunch & Learns, . . . this is where somebody participating will learn something that they can apply through the use of technology. . . . So, [they're] very tactical focused, something where I can learn from a subject matter expert and actually apply it.”
The CTN built on the foundation established as the Grey Bruce Tech Network (GBTN) by Catapult board member Mike Comello. The goal then was to find other tech professionals in the area.
“It's very difficult to find similar-minded people in tech through the traditional business groups and service clubs because you have a wide swathe of business owners and entrepreneurs across multiple industries. So, he [Mike] wanted to find other people who wanted to talk about tech to meet and network with,” Chris said.
The network paused when the pandemic hit, and when Catapult launched programming in 2021, it made sense to link the GBTN up with Catapult and rebrand as the Catapult Tech Network.
“What Mike started — and the other members that were involved in it, had done with the GBTN — kind of looked like what Silicon Halton was when we first started it,” Chris said. “That's how I made my initial connection with the network up here.”
Chris sees a lot of potential growing out of the CTN.
“I'm really impressed with the quality of the people I've met,” he said. “The people that I'm meeting — and thereby anybody involved in the CTN — are extremely talented gifted people, which is really neat to see.”
However, the next step is providing members more opportunities to connect with one another, so they could lead collaborative projects and events on their own.
“Any good network out there provides opportunities where people can connect with each other more frequently. That's how trust is built. That's how strong relationships are built. And that's what a network needs to do. That's what we're working on with these events.”
- Chris Herbert
One of Chris’ biggest achievements while leading the CTN is securing an event with the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII), scheduled for June 22. In addition to partnering with the NII, CTN has signed an MOU with the Town of Hanover to establish tech hubs in Saugeen Shores and Hanover.
But overall, Chris just wants to elevate the tech sector in Grey Bruce through the CTN to become just as respectable as the region’s agriculture, tourism, and energy sectors.
“One day, [I hope] technology is equally seen as a growing industry,” Chris said. ‘[It's] not just [for] people who are coming to Grey Bruce — which is important — but [for] the people in Grey Bruce, maybe they'll go away to Waterloo to take computer engineering, but [hopefully] they'll know they can come back here, start a technology company and work in tech.”