Written by Lidia Vijga, a proud member of The Journey Community
Toronto-based startup community The Journey was formed by local founders who are passionate about helping each other build successful startups. The Journey community was originated by Zach Ronski and his team at InHouse Creative in collaboration with Alejandra Guerra, founder of Everly.
Over just a few months, The Journey community quickly grew to 100 founders from all walks of life. Members get together for in-person monthly events, create impactful collaborations, share knowledge and become each other’s customers.
We believe the journey is better taken together.
Toronto based startups that started the Journey community
The best way to describe a community is to highlight the community members who are shaping it. Here is to the startups who took the journey together and were the first ones to join the Toronto startup community The Journey.
HiredHippo
HiredHippo is a Toronto-based startup that matches high-potential talent with the top-growing companies in Canada. The platform features the most innovative and forward-thinking companies that are looking for top talent to join their growing teams. From sales and account management jobs to engineering and development positions, job seekers can find a perfect role that fits their skills and experience.
It is also worth mentioning that HiredHippo was one of the companies that created The Help List, a non-profit initiative to support those who lost their employment due to COVID-19.
Everly – Clean and waste-free candle kits
Candles are a popular way to add ambiance to any room, but they can also create a lot of waste. The clean candle kits by Everly offer a sustainable solution to this problem. These kits allow you to refill any vessel at home, so you can reuse your favourite candle holder again and again. The refills are made with non-toxic oils and coconut wax, and they come in a variety of scents to suit any preference. With Everly’s clean candle kits, it’s easy to make the switch from disposable candles to sustainable refills and take part in reducing waste to help protect our planet.
Couply – The app for couples
From date night ideas to curated relationship tips, Couply is the app for couples who want to keep the spark alive. Featuring articles, quizzes, and most importantly personalized daily questions, Couply is designed to help couples understand their partner on a deeper level and make their relationship stronger. Founders at Couply won a pitch competition at Collision Conference in 2021 and were the recipients of the Canada Starts Grant in 2020.
Vibehut – Vibe over video
Vibehut, featured as one of the Top 8 Video Startups to Watch in 2023, is one of the first social video companies to cross-connect social Web2 platforms and Web3 blockchains. This startup provides a unique space for users to meet and connect with like-minded people over live video. Users can host live events or join existing live video rooms. From office hours to co-working and crypto talks, Vibehut is a powerful place to join or build a highly engaging community.
Sparrow – A home-sharing startup helping Canadians live better together
Sparrow is a home-sharing startup that connects Canadians with spare bedrooms to those looking for budget-friendly accommodation for a minimum of two months. Homesharing provides benefits to both parties: hosts earn extra income, while housemates get a more affordable place to live. In addition, both parties benefit from an increased sense of community and companionship. The Sparrow team aims to normalize homesharing by making it easier, safer, and more enjoyable to share unused housing space.
Welcome Spaces – A collaborative platform for professionals and customers
Welcome Spaces is a Canadian startup that is shaking up the way SMBs and their customers communicate and stay organized. Featured as a product of the day on Product Hunt, Welcome Spaces is already making waves in the startup community. The platform enables businesses professionals and their clients to share notes and documents, request files, jump on video calls or just chat. Think Slack but for client relationships. Welcome Spaces is becoming a permanent place for professionals from various industries to deliver a smooth customer experience and stay close to their clients.
Townish- Escape the office and bond your team over getaways
Townish is a Toronto-based startup known for bringing teams together in a non-traditional office setting and cozy environment. With its curated list of various accommodations, Townish makes it easy to find the perfect meeting spot for any team-building activities and corporate retreats. By bringing teams together for gateways and intentional gatherings in new ways, Townish is helping teams to create stronger relationships and to bond like never before.
We-Watch – Making a community safer together
We-Watch is the next generation of neighborhood watch. By crowdsourcing the collection of evidence when something goes wrong, We-Watch is leveraging the power of smartphones to make our communities and societies safer. By making the app anonymous by default, We-Watch allows users to submit evidence of crimes or other issues without revealing their identity. This spurs more community involvement and creates a stronger network of supportive citizens.
Sonero – Better customer calls with AI
With Sonero, client-facing teams can more easily and quickly understand what happened during customer calls and take appropriate action. The platform provides a complete picture of every customer interaction by transcribing, analyzing, and attributing speakers. Moreover, it summarizes key points from customer conversations including Q&As, action items, and key topics. This provides useful foresight that can help teams prevent losing customers and identify areas of potential improvement. By leveraging Sonero, the client-facing team will have an edge over the competition by being able to deliver an outstanding customer experience.
Shippie – Fast and affordable same-day delivery startup
Shippie is a Toronto-based startup that helps brands build customer loyalty through same-day delivery. Shippie has a network of couriers who are available to pick up and deliver orders within a few hours. This allows merchants to provide their customers with the convenience of same-day delivery without incurring the high costs associated with traditional shipping companies. In addition, Shippie offers live delivery support and a tracking system that allows customers to track their orders in real-time, providing transparency and peace of mind.
DeckLinks – Share Video PDFs and Win Clients for Life
DeckLinks allows sales and marketing teams to turn a PDF into a video-narrated presentation that can be shared with others via a live link. Compared to other video tools, DeckLinks provides the most granular engagement analytics in real time. Sales teams can see how long a recipient watched each slide, where they clicked, and what actions they took. Not only can sales teams use this tool to close more deals, but marketing teams can leverage it for their video marketing initiatives by adding deck links as embedded videos on their website or sharing them on social media.
Dori – Canada’s first automated gift & speciality items store
Dori is a Toronto startup that is revolutionizing the way people shop for gifts. The company has developed a unique automated gift store concept that makes it easy and convenient for people to find and purchase last-minute gifts. With automated gift kiosks that carry a collection of the coolest and most delicious products, Dorit provides a unique and convenient way to shop for gifts without having to wait in line. This service is convenient for busy shoppers who don’t have time to browse through an entire store, and it’s quickly becoming the go-to destination for last-minute gifts.
ListEz – Advanced tech tools for advanced realtors
ListEz is a B2B PropTech startup for realtors and brokerages to manage and track listings, leads, social media campaigns and finances in real time through an integrated platform. It provides the medium for the realtors to collaborate with each other, track leads, and manage repetitive tasks which are currently being done offline or through inefficient spreadsheets.
Voiceform – Simplifying feedback for the world’s most customer-centric brands
Voiceform is the quickest and easiest way to collect and analyze voice and video feedback from customers and employees. The platform enables companies to share custom surveys that feel like a real conversation and makes it easy to analyze qualitative data that comes from the responses. The best part of using voice and video testimonials is that companies can hear the emotions, intent, and mindset of responders, which traditional surveys or forms cannot provide.
How to join the Journey and become part of Toronto startup community
The Journey Community is excited to welcome local founders from any industry! Whether you’re working on a direct-to-consumer CPG brand or a B2B SaaS startup, the community offers a unique opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs who are facing similar challenges and triumphs. From ideation to growth stage and scale-ups, regardless of the stage of a startup, founders can apply directly to join the community and take the journey together.
The WHY behind Toronto Startup Community The Journey
Achieving rapid growth is essential for any startup, but it can be difficult to do it alone. While helping startups to launch successful products and raise awareness for their brands to drive sales, the team at InHouse Creative has recognized that founders face similar challenges at each stage of their startup journey. To support startup founders further, InHouse Creative started a community where early-stage founders can meet more experienced founders to seek tactical and practical growth advice.
The Journey community offers a safe space for founders to share their challenges and celebrate success stories, learn from each other, and achieve professional and personal growth. By connecting 1st-time founders to more experienced founders running scale-ups, the community accelerates the success of founders and enhances the Toronto startup ecosystem as a whole.