Calgary Entrepreneur: Uber’s Calgary origins and PandaHaus (VIDEO)
For decades, Calgary has been seen as primarily an oil and gas town by outsiders, and probably for good reason. But two years into a recession, many are exploring Calgary’s potential in another industry: technology.
See also
- Calgary Entrepreneur: Brett Wilson and Wean Green owner Melissa Gunning (VIDEO)
- Calgary Entrepreneur: From the ashes of Calgary's bad economy rises Poop Heart
What some may not know, however, is that Calgary actually has a long history with technology, including being the birthplace for javascript, iStockPhoto, the USB stick, and Uber.
The Story of Uber’s Calgary Origins
In 2009, Calgarian Garrett Camp and his friend Travis Kalanick were in Paris, when they had a difficult time hailing a taxi. It was then that Garrett said, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could just push a button on my phone, and a car would come pick me up?”
Garrett, who had studied mechanical engineering at the U of C, then got to work with Travis on Uber. They went back to San Francisco, and quickly added another Calgarian to their team, Conrad Whelan.
Fast forward a few years, and Uber is worth over $40 billion, and is one of the most popular apps in the world.
Calgary’s Potential to be a Technology Hub
With such cool technologies that have come out of Calgary, it doesn’t seem hard to believe that our city could have a real future in tech. For local startup PandaHaus, they made a conscious decision to build their business in Calgary, and are viewing the downturn as an opportunity.
Calgary is filled with entrepreneurs and innovators, putting their mark on not only our city, but the world. If you want to be a game-changer like Uber or Pandahaus, sign up for Early Access to our entrepreneur e-Learning platform Launch, which kicks off in early 2017.