Hacknight #118

Dropbike

with Afraj Gill

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The intersection of government and technology has been explored heavily through a public policy lens. However, how can startup founders positively disrupt government administration through innovative products? What does it mean to work with and sell to governments? What does technology-enabled government administration and/or democracy look like? Why do so many tech entrepreneurs shy away from tapping into one of the largest, most ripe-for-disruption markets in the world?

Speakers

Afraj Gill

Afraj Gill is a technology entrepreneur and community advocate based in Toronto. He is currently the Vice-President of Business Development & Government Affairs at Dropbike, a venture-backed smart bike-sharing company. Under Afraj’s leadership, Dropbike has entered multiple markets in under 6 months and also became the first smart bike sharing company in North America to launch in partnership with a city. Previously, Afraj led strategy and operations initiatives at Polar; founded two software startups; worked at Google's global headquarters on the Special Projects team; wrote as a National Contributing Columnist for The Globe and Mail; and served 23,000+ students as an elected Senator of Queen's University. He sits on the Board of Advisors of Venture for Canada, and was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers on behalf of the Governor General.

The intersection of government and technology has been explored heavily through a public policy lens. However, how can startup founders positively disrupt government administration through innovative products? What does it mean to work with and sell to governments? What does technology-enabled government administration and/or democracy look like? Why do so many tech entrepreneurs shy away from tapping into one of the largest, most ripe-for-disruption markets in the world?

Presenter: Afraj Gill is a technology entrepreneur and community advocate based in Toronto. He is currently the Vice-President of Business Development & Government Affairs at Dropbike, a venture-backed smart bike-sharing company. Under Afraj’s leadership, Dropbike has entered multiple markets in under 6 months and also became the first smart bike sharing company in North America to launch in partnership with a city. Previously, Afraj led strategy and operations initiatives at Polar; founded two software startups; worked at Google’s global headquarters on the Special Projects team; wrote as a National Contributing Columnist for The Globe and Mail; and served 23,000+ students as an elected Senator of Queen’s University. He sits on the Board of Advisors of Venture for Canada, and was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers on behalf of the Governor General.

Notice: We have an attendance limit this month! Our venue sponsor this month can only accommodate a maximum of 65 people.

That means that - unfortunately - some people may get turned away at the door.

Until 6:20, we will only be admitting people who have RSVP’d on Meetup.com (unless we hit the attendance limit before that).

If there is still room at 6:20, anyone who hasn’t RSVP’d can get in until we hit the attendance limit.

Also, please note that you will be asked to sign in on your arrival.

Don’t forget - there’s always a live stream of the presentation, and you can collaborate with other CivicTech members on our Slack channel!

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Hosts: Gardiner Roberts