V13: Member Stories

From Cobourg’s VentureZone to Ontario’s Hospitals: How Community Support Sparks Innovation 

By Andrew McBurney 
 
Andrew is a tech entrepreneur from Northumberland that has been in and around the Venture13 space since 2018, and has accessed multiple services and opportunities that are available throughout the building. Here is his story. 

When I first rented an office at Venture13, I wasn’t thinking about startups, investors, or scalable products. I was simply running a small service-based business, helping other entrepreneurs with their websites. What changed my path wasn’t a single idea or stroke of luck - it was people. 

The mentors, peers, and programs I found inside Venture13 showed me what was possible. That’s what Venture13 has always represented: people helping people and the sparks of innovation that follow. 

Building Foundations in Cobourg
In December 2018, I was in my rental office space at Venture13 and there was a knock on the door. It was John Hayden from NVenture (known as the CFDC back then), introducing me to an innovation-focused funding opportunity he thought I’d find interesting. Within minutes, his enthusiasm had me hooked, and the “back-burner” internal tool I’d been building suddenly took centre stage in my business.  

Until then, I had built internal tools to launch and host websites more efficiently for my clients, but hadn’t considered turning them into a product. The N1M program changed that. Applying forced me to write a real business plan, pitch my vision, and treat the idea like a startup rather than a side project. It forced me to grow - fast - if I ever wanted a shot at accessing the generous funding opportunities that had been brought to the Cobourg community through intentional economic development efforts.  

I was ultimately accepted, and was able to pitch investors and the N1M grant matched 1:1 dollar values. It opened a world of opportunity in terms of boosting my risk tolerance, and accelerating my time to market. Alongside funding came mentorship, office hours, and countless hallway conversations that reshaped my thinking. Through my time applying for and going through the N1M program I learned to pitch, raise capital, communicate value and most importantly: think in terms of scale and product market fit, not just service delivery. Even when the pandemic interrupted things, the foundation had been built, and it continues to support everything I do today. 

Elderado: AgeTech with Impact
That foundation eventually allowed me to join forces with Daniel Clarke, founder of Elderado. Elderado ultimately acquired the codebases that were born in the halls of Ventrue13, and brought me on-board to integrate the tech to instantly hit significant milestones on their roadmap. Elderado’s mission is clear: continue to bridge the gap between hospital discharge planners and families searching for retirement or long term care options.  

We aggregate critical data and make it easy to search and filter through an intuitive interface. Some of our partnerships include Canadian Blood Services, Family Councils Ontario and more than 25 other health or retirement focused organizations in Ontario. 

Our flagship tool, the Availability Registry, is now used by hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area and expanding province-wide. It lets discharge planners instantly see which retirement homes have openings across categories like memory care, assisted living, independent living, and respite, along with optional starting prices. Homes update this data directly, creating a trusted, real-time resource. 

At its core, Elderado is still about helping people: giving families timely information at critical moments and giving health-system partners the tools to reduce delays and stress. 

The Spark that Continues
Years later, Venture13 remains part of our story. At a recent Business Blend session, Daniel Clarke and I bumped into Heather from the NVenture team, who shared insights about closing conference sponsorship deals that directly reshaped our sales strategy at Elderado.  

That’s the ongoing value of Venture13 - the collisions and conversations that lead to tangible change, whether it’s a better business model, a new collaboration, or innovation within Ontario’s health system. 

Looking Ahead
Elderado is tackling one of society’s biggest challenges: how we age, and how families, retirement homes, and health systems work together to support older adults.  

The skills, connections, and confidence I gained at Venture13 continue to echo through our work every day. Communities thrive when people share ideas, resources, and encouragement, and Venture13 is living proof that when people support one another, innovation follows.