They say it’s a small world, but in Waterloo Region, it’s even smaller. In this episode of Tech about Town, Alex Kinsella and Alison Piel prove that you’re never more than a few steps away from a tech founder, an Olympian, or a world-class fundraiser.

We’re joined by Jennifer Appleby Vines (CEO of Georgette Packaging) and Troy Murray (Director of Philanthropy at the Waterloo Regional Health Network Foundation) to map out some of the incredible web of connections that power our community.

What’s inside this episode:

• The Tannery Time Machine: From rehearsal spaces and paintball arenas to a boxing gym, we look at the evolution of the space Communitech calls home.

• The 16-Week Grind: Jennifer shares her journey of stepping into the ring for Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity, discussing the grit it takes to go from the boardroom to the boxing ring at 53.

• A Once-in-a-Generation Build: Troy discusses the massive shift in local healthcare as we prepare for a new hospital campus at the University of Waterloo and the urgent need for a new pediatric echocardiogram to keep kids' care close to home.

• The "Unemployable" Entrepreneur: A look at Jennifer’s path through the Wildcraft restaurant, the launch of The Crumby Cookie Dough Co., and how she eventually took the helm at Georgette Packaging.

Whether it’s a shared history at Wildcraft or a mutual mentor at Communitech, this episode is a testament to the "pay-it-forward" culture that defines our ecosystem.

Donate and get the Champions for Charity livestream link: wrhnf.ca/champs 

Champions For Charity 50/50 Raffle: https://kw5050.ca/ 

Jennifer’s fundraising page: https://hhsf.akaraisin.com/ui/championsforcharity2026/p/jav 

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at⁠ communitech.ca⁠.

In this episode, we are joined by two founders who are taking a sledgehammer to the 'status quo.' 

Ren Navarro, founder of B Diversity Group, has spent years changing the face of the craft beer and beverage industry by making space for everyone at the table. 

Stefanie Bruinsma, founder of AutoCate, is on a mission to put the power back in the hands of car owners—specifically those who have traditionally been marginalized or patronized by the automotive industry. 

Together, we’re going to talk about what it looks like to disrupt legacy 'boys' clubs,' the power of education as a form of equity, and how to build businesses that prioritize people over gatekeeping.

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

We often talk about 'product-market fit,' but we rarely talk about 'people-founder fit' at the executive level. Today, we’re diving into the human engine behind high-growth tech. 

Joining us on the podcast is Kristina McDougall, the founder of Artemis Canada. Kristina has spent her career in the trenches of the Waterloo and Toronto tech scenes, helping some of the country’s most successful startups find the leadership they need to scale from 'scrappy' to 'global.' 

We talk about why the 'human element' is becoming more valuable as AI takes over the boring stuff and the specific mistakes founders make when they start building out their C-Suite.
About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

What does it take to create a hyperlocal internet radio station?

We found out when Deren Atkins joined us LIVE in the Communitech Hub to talk about Midtown Radio. The station is a community-building initiative run a small, dedicated group of volunteers.

The goal? To develop and grow a community-based, online radio station, that plays local music and podcasts, as well as small amounts of community information to promote local artists, creators, small businesses and public events.

This mini episode was part of our Hub n' Grub: How to Podcast workshop on February 3, 2026.

Want more info on how to book the Communitech Podcast studio? Check out our Tenant page to learn more!

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

How do you move a medical breakthrough from a lab bench to a hospital bedside?

In this episode of Tech About Town, Jill Mills and Alex Kinsella sit down with Elliot Fung, Executive Director of the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX). Founded to bridge the gap between startup graduation and commercial scale, MIX is the heartbeat of the Waterloo Region’s med-tech ecosystem.

Elliot pulls back the curtain on why health-tech is fundamentally different from software, the "billing code" hurdle that stalls innovation and how a new Innovation Pathway is finally giving Canadian founders a fighting chance in their own backyard.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Procurement Puzzle: Why even the best medical tech fails without a billing code.

• The MIX Model: How the 45,000 sq. ft. facility allows founders to co-locate, manufacture onshore and mentor the next generation of innovators.

• Waterloo’s Next 100 Years: A look at the new hospital campus coming to Waterloo Region and the "Care Next" collaboration.

• Beyond the Hype: Practical applications of AI in predictive analytics and the mind-bending potential of Quantum and Nano in healthcare.

• Scaling Up: How the "pay-it-forward" culture is helping Ontario compete with global hubs like Boston and others.

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

Ever tried to find the specific bylaws for a backyard fence or the rules for keeping chickens on a city website? If you’ve felt the frustration of digging through endless PDFs and broken search bars, you aren’t alone. Even the experts find it daunting.

In this episode of Tech About Town, hosts Alex Kinsella and Matthew Klassen sit down with Kristy Guthrie (Co-Founder & CEO) and Kerry Fraser (Co-Founder) of municiPal AI. They discuss the origin story of their startup—born from a realization that traditional municipal websites often act as barriers rather than bridges between residents and their local government.

What we cover in this episode:

• The "A-Ha" Moment: How building a shed in Kitchener led to a breakthrough in digital service delivery.

• Problem-Led AI: Why Large Language Models (LLMs) are the perfect tool for turning a "filing cabinet" website into a meaningful conversation.

• The Multi-User Impact: How municiPal AI empowers not just residents, but frontline customer service staff and elected officials.

• Safe & Secure Tech: Navigating PII (Personal Identifying Information) and the unique requirements of municipal IT.

• Selling to Government: Advice for tech founders on procurement, building trust, and showing up with empathy for the public sector.

Whether you are a municipal leader looking to innovate or a resident who just wants to know where to skate for free, this episode explores how smart technology is rebuilding community trust, one search at a time.

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

The physical keyboard is back, and it is arguably cooler than ever. In this episode of Tech About Town, hosts Alex Kinsella and Alison Piel are joined by the minds behind the breakout hits of CES 2026: the Clicks Communicator and the new Power Keyboard.

Jeff Gadway (CMO at Clicks) and Joseph Hofer (Founder of Hofer Studio and former lead industrial designer at BlackBerry) discuss how they are channeling the engineering DNA that put Waterloo on the global map to launch a tactile revolution. They reveal the "anti-CES" strategy that earned them massive media coverage without a show floor booth, and dive deep into their vision of "complementary computing"—positioning new devices not just as phones, but as purpose-built tools for focus in a noisy, AI-filled world.

In this episode, we cover:

• The "Anti-CES" Playbook: How Clicks used a hotel suite and a creator-first environment to generate outsized buzz and secure spots on the Today Show without a traditional booth.

• Complementary Computing: Why the Communicator is designed as a "second phone" to separate signal from noise, rather than replacing your main flagship device.

• Design DNA: Joseph Hofer on reimagining the iconic BlackBerry silhouette for 2026 without relying on nostalgia or making a carbon copy.

• Hardware Meets Software: How the Niagara Launcher and the device’s unique features create a distraction-free user experience.

• Startup Strategy: Lessons on purposeful product design, partnerships, and punching above your weight class as a hardware startup.

Guest Links:

• Clicks: https://clicks.tech/ca

• Hofer Studio: https://hoferstudio.com/

Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

Kick off 2026 by turning the "saddest day of the year" into the loudest! In this episode, host Alex Kinsella sits down with Ruth Casselman (CEO of the Accelerator Center) and Rick Andrade (Senior Communications Manager at Magnet Forensics) to discuss the second annual Battle of the Bands: Tech Edition.

Discover how the Waterloo tech community is coming together on Monday, January 19, 2026, at Maxwell’s Concert Works to raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

We talk about the surprising link between engineering and musical creativity, the reality of founder mental health, and why you might see a "tech giant" or two shredding on guitar. 

Plus, Ruth shares details on the upcoming cohort for AC:RevLab, a program helping founders master the art of the sale.

In this episode, we cover:

• The origins of Battle of the Bands and its $8,000 impact in Year 1.

• The 2026 lineup

• Why 72% of tech founders report mental health challenges and how community support helps.

• The creative overlap between coding, designing, and harmonizing.

• Details on how to get tickets (and be home by 10:00 PM!).

How does a city of nearly 300,000 people stay ahead of the technological curve? In this episode of Tech About Town, we sit down with Nicole Amaral, Director of the Digital Kitchener Innovation Lab, to discuss the evolution of Kitchener's digital strategy.

Since its inception in 2017, the Digital Kitchener Innovation Lab has served as an experimental hub within the Communitech Hub, bridging the gap between municipal government and the local tech ecosystem. Nicole shares her journey from communications to IT and provides an inside look at the upcoming Digital Kitchener 2.0 Strategy, set to launch in April 2026.

Commuting by bike helps the environment and is great for your health, but getting from point A to point B isn’t always easy. That was part of the motivation for Mark Connolly and team behind Cycling Guide, a mobile app that shows cyclists the least stressful paths to get where they need to go.

Mark joins us on the podcast to talk about the inspiration behind the app, which uses community-maintained OpenStreetMap data to find low-stress, bike-friendly routes, including those secret neighborhood shortcuts and connecting paths that other apps miss.

Communitech’s Isibeal Ryan is in the cohost set to share her perspective on how Cycling Guide addresses the critical issue of confidence when navigating traffic, roundabouts, and disconnected infrastructure.

So, what do we talk about?

• The Non-Profit Model: Why Mark chose to make the foundation a charity to protect user privacy and avoid monetizing data.

• Community Data: How local enthusiasts keep the map up-to-date (sometimes faster than officials!).

• Accessible Cycling: Moving the conversation away from "sport" and toward everyday transportation, like grocery runs and commuting.

Learn how the app is expanding its reach across Canada and how you can support their mission to make cycling safe, fun, and accessible for everyone.

Links:

• Download Cycling Guide on iOS and Android

• Support the Foundation: cyclingguide.org