John Schaub: We Really Help Take Young Entrepreneurs From An Idea To A Prototype That They Can Use To Gain Seed Investment

Zen LaunchPad is a hardware based incubator based in Vancouver Canada. We focus on taking early stage founders from an idea to investable company.

Tell us about yourself?

I’ve been fascinated by startups for a long time and saw this as a way to be involved at a deeper level.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

This is a hard question as a lot has happened in the last few years. My major piece of advice which is always applicable is to start on things sooner because it is so much more work to try and put things together at the last minute.

What problem does your business solve?

We really help take young entrepreneurs from an idea to a prototype that they can use to gain seed investment.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

It is incredibly difficult and time consuming for new founders to start a business and people often get trapped by the notion that they need to be able to do everything. We fix that problem by giving them access to a team of experts and a wider network who can help make their ideas reality.

What is your magic sauce?

Our focus on hardware related startups is quite unique but really our secret sauce is the experienced team that supports our clients.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

The plan is to continue to grow out our network and potentially grow our physical footprint beyond Vancouver into other cities in Canada.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

The biggest challenge is always in getting others to move as fast as you would like to.

We recently launched a partnership to access the Canadian Startup Visa program which will allow us to bring promising startups to Canada. You can learn more at our website.

The big challenge with any program like this is working with the government entities to make it happen.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

You can learn more about us on our website – www.zenlaunchpad.com