Journey to CDL-Rockies Session 1: How the CDL-Rockies team spends the year preparing for the next cohort

Every year near the end of October, the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) - Rockies community – corporate partners, mentors, team members, ventures, and guests – gather in downtown Calgary for Session: an event where deep science and technology founders meet with business experts, industry leaders and renowned scientists who support them in building something massive.?

This first session marks the beginning of a new cohort year and sets the stage for what’s to come over the next nine months.?

While this marks the start of the cohort for the majority of the CDL-Rockies community, the CDL team, with support from legal and ecosystem partners, scientists, economists and investigators, have been working behind the scenes for months to achieve one goal: finding the highest quality science-and technology-based founders who require business mentorship to commercialize and scale their industry-changing innovations.?

Research and planning

The official recruitment season typically begins in April, but the Rockies’ team starts laying the groundwork long before then.

“Almost as soon as the cohort for the current year is finalized, we start planning for the next recruitment cycle,” says Natasha Tippett , Director, Ventures, CDL-Rockies . “During application evaluation and selection, we start taking in a number of data points that help us build a strategy for the following year. Attributes like industry verticals, financing and technology stages, and recruitment sources, all provide signals into what’s happening in our local and global ecosystems and indicate areas where our mentors and partners can provide the most impact.”?

The team continues to refine this strategy throughout the year, taking in information from Sessions, community and industry feedback, learnings from events, and more.

The venture team also spends the year building relationships, many of which have been formed through the Nurture program.?

“The Nurture program has given us the opportunity to support companies that align with the ‘CDL fit’ in terms of team, technology and market and prep them for the CDL application process and program,” says Spokes. “This allows us to offer them continuous value, whether they are ready for the program or not, as well as build our recruitment pipeline with ventures that will receive the most benefit from our program.”?

Founder-first recruitment

When applications open in April, the team ramps up recruitment efforts. Applications are accepted until the end of July, but the work doesn’t stop there.?

On average, CDL-Rockies receives more than 250 applications every year, for a maximum of 75 admissions. Each of these applications is reviewed by at least three Rockies’ venture team members, who assess and determine how strong of a fit the venture is for CDL-Rockies. If the venture has high potential but is not a fit for one of CDL-Rockies streams in Energy, Ag or Prime, they may be connected to another site within the CDL network where there could be better alignment.

“We all have to take that founder-first lens into account,” says Spokes. “The last thing we want is for a founder to end up in a room where nobody has the relevant experience or connections to help them. It’s our job to understand the strengths of each stream across the [CDL] network, so we can provide the founder with the option that is the best fit for them. At the end of the day, it's not about us. It's about the experience the founders are going to have.”?

Venture vetting

Once the applications are narrowed down per stream, the team hosts panel-style interviews with each candidate, often inviting ecosystem partners to be panelists.?

Following interviews, the Rockies’ team works to further shortlist the strongest candidates per stream,? then, CDL-Rockies’ scientists, economists and investigators are brought in to help validate the potential of each venture’s technology and provide insights into gaps and opportunities for development.?

Upon successful completion of these technical assessments, the team takes into account the application, interview responses, and factors including verticals and financing and technology stages before extending admission offers to ensure a diverse cohort is built. Once an offer is accepted, ventures meet with another important group of the CDL-Rockies community, our legal partners who provide deeper insights into each venture’s business and legal health and any areas that may require additional support.?

Depending on the stream, they will meet with representatives from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) , Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP or Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP .?

Onboarding and preparation

The onboarding process begins when each admitted venture is introduced to their Venture Leader, a member of the CDL-Rockies Venture team who coaches and supports the founders throughout their CDL experience,? from best practices in preparing for session to working with the program’s mentors, MBA students and corporate partners.

Showtime

Finally, after months of research, strategic planning, working with community members, recruiting, interviewing and preparing ventures, Session 1 begins. Session represents both a culmination of one year’s recruitment cycle and the beginning of the next through the constant learning and evolution of streams to ensure the CDL-Rockies program continues to provide maximum value for all stakeholders involved.?

“Creating a high-quality cohort takes an immense amount of planning, preparation and collaboration between our team, members of the CDL-Rockies community and the wider CDL network,” says Spokes. “We are grateful for the continued support of our partners, mentors, alumni, and entire community who allow us to help ventures build something massive.”?

Want to join the CDL-Rockies community? Send us an email at [email protected] and find out how you can get involved with us.