Megh Patel, the co-founder and CEO of Build ZERO, a construction and renovation company that focuses on reducing and reusing construction waste to make the construction process more efficient. Build ZERO also provides DIY solar kits and permit designs to help families afford renewable electricity.In this episode, Megh and I discuss a range of topics, including renewable energy, solar power, and Megh's start-up journey. But our conversation quickly turns to more philosophical subjects, such as the innate characteristics of human beings, coping mechanisms for heartbreak, finding purpose in life, dealing with self-doubt and a lack of worthiness, and the impact of meditation and honesty on our lives. We also delve into the role of ego in decision-making and the different types of happiness that can come from acts of kindness and a sense of accomplishment.I learned a lot from Megh's experiences and I think you will too. Tune in to hear our fascinating conversation.Here's the topic that we've covered: Selling Spiritual Bracelets at a young ageWhat it’s like to renovate a Subway Sandwich shopUsing construction as a way to deal with heartbreaksImpact from his grandfather on SpiritualityHonestyMeditationSelf-doubt and worthinessEgoAct of Kindness & Sense of accomplishmentHow Build Zero is addressing the construction wasteSolar panels & BatteriesMore about Megh: Megh have earned $20K in Awards and Scholarships:($10,000) William Muir Edwards Citizenship Award($1,000) 1st Place Enactathon($2,500) 1st Place Innovation Rodeo Regionals($2,500) 3rd Place Innovation Rodeo Nationals($2,500) Alexander Rutherford Scholarship($1,000) Board of Governor’s (BOG) Scholarshiphttps://www.ualberta.ca/engineering/news/2022/april/2021-william-muir-edwards-citizenship-award-nomination---megh-patel.htmlFounder and CEO of 3 startups and Host of a Youtube Channel.Omns Bracelets  - Sold ~200 Spiritual Bracelets through my website, In-store displays, social media dm's, and Etsy.https://omnsbracelets.weeblysite.com/BuildZero - Helping building owners afford renewable electricity and reduce their carbon footprint. We provide DIY Solar Kits, General Contracting, and Permit Design Services ($90K.Year 1 revenue)  https://buildzero.ca/Smartof - Healthy Alternative for Oral-Fixations. Breathing Necklace with a soft chew tip that is designed for anxiety relief and self-soothing. So many people are suffering with bad oral-fixation habits like nail-biting, overeating, smoking, drinking, chewing gum, and candy.https://Smartof.ca/ - (Website under development)Mindful Megh - Youtube channel where I share my knowledge and passion of meditation.https://www.youtube.com/@mindfulmegh

It’s rare to see an Asian household saying "I love you" to each other, but  food is the media and the love language between Iris and her parents growing up. During the 2020 pandemic, Iris noticed that lots of people lost their jobs, and food security has been an issue, not only that, many restaurants are closing their operations. So Iris starts to build Openmeal to fundraise for the restaurants to enable them to distribute free meals out to people in need. After the success and huge impact of OpenMeal, Iris decided to do something bigger. She went on to found another project called Neutrify where they empower consumers with carbon footprint data on food to make informed decisions through online food shopping.Iris is a solo female founder leading a team of 30+ people who are passionate about sustainability and believe in our mission to make a social impact. Neutrify was featured in The Future of Food SXSW 2021, 2nd Place @ Climate Change Fund ($2500), Startup Pitch Winner @ 10K Entrepreneurs ($1000), 3rd Place @ Climate Change Innovation Discovery ($1000), Finalist @ Global Venture Catalyst ($100), Concept Cornerstone Accelerator, Thought For Food Global Food Systems Accelerator, Social Shifters Digital LaunchpadIris is also a Product Manager at Scale AI, she’s previously worked at Microsoft, Google X Robotics, and BlackBerry.Here's what we discussed in our conversation: Twitter Layoff Role at Scale AI Interests in Product Management OpenMeal How Hackathon can be the place for your next project How Netrify is helping consumers be more conscious of the carbon footprint of food What it’s like to be a social impact entrepreneur Here's her Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iris-guo and other socials: https://linktr.ee/irisguo

In early 2016, Arda was already investing in cryptocurrencies. He wasn’t only investing in Bitcoins, or Ethereum, he was also looking at Altcoins that were issued by now what we called DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations. What Arda realized about those coins, is that they are actually more like the shares of public companies, the tokens of DAOs are representing the underlying value that the DAOs are providing from the product or services that they offer. However, Arda was not able to find a way to discover new DAOs, and that made his investment discovery very difficult. So Arda decided to solve the problem himself by creating DAOHub, a marketplace to make DAO discovery, voting, and portfolio management.Previously, Arda also co-founded ROLL a shared electric scooter company that was a part of the TechStar program in Toronto.Here's the topic that we've covered: Starting of Roll - Shared E-Scooter start-upImportance of NetworkingMistakes made during his time at ROLLPessimism and OptimismThe benefit of having a Culturally Diverse TeamAccept an acquisition offer? or TechStars?Investing in cryptos & altcoins in 2016Investing In DAOsStarting of DAOhubFuture of DAOs, and DAO investingAdvice for young founders

Drone Delivery might be cool, but what problem does it actually help us solve? Ever since the burst of COVID, the delivery industry has been in a boom. We’ve all seen the rise and fall of the 15-minute grocery delivery industry, and the ever-rising economy of gig workers. However, there are still tons of problems that’s remaining, for example, driver safety and the raising cost of delivery. Cameron Rowe, a recent graduate from Queens University, started Hover a drone delivery company to solve the last mile delivery challenges. In our conversation, we talked about the problems of the existing delivery industry, how Drone delivery can bring changes to how we deliver, and what the world would look like when drone becomes mainstream.Here's what we discussed in our conversation:Falling in love with remote-controlled toys since a kidHow did Cameron get into DronesStarting of HoverThe hardship of his start-up journeyWhat problem can Drone delivery SolveSafety & Privacy Concerns on DroneGovernment RegulationsWhat the world would look like if Drone Delivery is widely adoptedAdvice for founders starting outCheckout Hover at: https://www.hover.direct/

Brandon suffered from 2 autoimmune diseases from age 13-18, but he was not able to find any solution to cure his disease, and Michael lost many of his family members due to cancer during his teenage time; the unfortunate experience Brandon and Michael been through has motivated them to learn more in biology, and one-day creating useful solutions in biotech to save lives. In their second year of University, Michael and Brandon came together. They created BioDojo, now Nucleate Dojo, a community and training ground for the next-generation biotech innovators to connect, grow and build in BioTech together. Branden is a 2x Founder (iAscend, Nucleate Dojo),  Analyst (Winning Together Fund) Consultant (Onova, ex-KPMG) and a Laidlaw Scholar (UofT)Michael is a visiting research student at McGovern Institute, MIT, Cofounder of Nucleate Dojo, and Project lead on REMEDI repository (remedirepo.org)Here's the topics that we've covered:What is BioTech?Cellular agricultureUnfortunate experiences in their teenage lives that lead them to BioTechHow Michael met BrandonStarting of BioDojoRobotics & the power of cross-collaborationFuture of BioTech & How will it change our livesAdvice for Community Builders

Ghalia is the Founder of TalkMaze, 1-1 virtual public speaking & debate training for kids. Ghalia is the  EO GSEA National Champion 2021, YEG Student Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Board of Directors at Junior Achievement Northern Alberta. She's also a Cansbridge Fellow, and a 4x TEDx SpeakerWhere is what we've discussed in our conversation:Growing up in an immigrant familyStarting a tutoring business at 13 years oldPower of DebateFrom a Shy Kid to starting a public speaking companySteps Ghalia took to start TalkMazeThoughts on the future of communication

Leejoo Hwang, Co-founder @ MeaningulWork, an employee volunteer program management tool that bridge the corporate and nonprofit world in volunteerism. Leejoo is the BC 30 Under 30, and won the 1st place @ EO Vancouver GSEA in 2021Unlike many others who graduate with the mandatory 40 hours of volunteer hours, Leejoo finished with 2000+ hours of volunteering by the end of high school. Through hours of volunteering, Leejoo developed his personal value of Curiosity, Adventure, and Passion. With the burning desire to share his passion for volunteering, he dropped out of University and co-founded MeaningfulWork to enable companies to start thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility by engaging organizations and their people in volunteerism.Here's the topics that we've covered:“Pen Business” as a KidGrowing up & Relationship with VolunteeringBuilding confidence through DancingWHY Everyone should do VolunteeringDropping out of UniversityStarting Story of MeaningfulWorkFuture outlook - Impact Investing

Shawn Pang, co-founder@matterverse, a cloud-rendered Metaverse platform trusted by many creators and top brands, backed by MiraclePlus(previously YC China) and LD Capital. He’s a graduate of the Ivey Business School at Western University. Before Matterverse, Shawn was a software engineer at ByeteDance, a Tech Consultant at EY, a venture fellow of Ripple ventures, and a member of the NEXT 36 Entrepreneur.In our conversation today, we talked about:Shawn’s Previous Start-up experience & What he learnedFrom a 3D home-interior visualization tool to entering the MetaverseRecruiting TalentsHow CPGs are adopting the MetaverseFuture of shopping & commercePivot to Web3Integration of the Metaverse & BlockchainDAOs, NFT, and the Token Economy

Clair grew up on Vancouver Island, Claire was raised with a passion for the outdoors and all things sustainable. Composting was a daily practice of hers growing up and she is passionate about it. Claire completed her Commerce degree at MacEwan University while competing on the Women’s Varsity Volleyball team. Clair started Friendly Composting in 2020 to provide organic waste collection, local food delivery, compost soil distribution, education, and more. Since then, they have diverted 733 040 lbs of Food Waste and help Avoided 667 436 lbs of C02 EquivalentEmissions. Clair was also selected as the BC business 30 Under 30 in 2021 and won the Globe and Mail Change-maker Award in 2022.Here’s what we’ve covered in our conversation:Growing up in a family of academics;Volleyball, and how it has influenced Claire’s mindset.;Finding co-founder through Volleyball, and “Drama”;Brainstorming Ideas;“WHY isn’t there composting in Kamloops?”;“If the city doesn’t care, why can’t we start collecting composts?”;733 040 lbs of food-waste Diversion later, the future….

Eric is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto, specializing in Computer Science and Economics. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Sanctuary sneakers, the leading sneaker price aggregator that has raised over $150,000 to build predictive analytics for future sneaker prices. Eric has one of the most uncommon stories in his early life. He grew up as a “Problem child” where he held a nihilistic view of the world. However, as he grew older, he had a mindset shift from “Things don’t matter, I’m not gonna do anything” to “Things don’t matter, I could do ANYTHING”. That has motivated him to start learning about programming, working in big tech, and starting his own company.Here’s what we talked about during our chat:Dropping out of Elementary School.   Dropping out of Middle School.   Mind-set shift from “Things don’t matter, I’m not gonna do anything” to “Things don’t matter, I could do ANYTHING”.   Inspiration from saving the environment.   Starting Story of Sanctuary.   Story of meeting his co-founders at Sanctuary.   Power-lifting.   Future plans.