Craig Hunter 
Leader | Y Combinator + Stanford University
Canada, CANADA
CEO at Bitmaker Labs, Advisor @ Venture for Canada & Teach for Canada
Biography
These days I’m fortunate to be running point at Bitmaker Labs, Canada’s largest coding bootcamp. As a two time drop out (both university and college), I’m incredibly passionate about reshaping traditional education to better suit both students and the evolving workforce.
I also moonlight as an investor and startup dealmaker; arming emerging technology companies with the capital they need to accelerate growth. I spend a large portion of my free time working with Canadian companies I believe in.
Prior to Bitmaker I was at Uber, joining the company around employee 50 when we were in just a handful of cities. Since then, Uber has expanded into hundreds of cities, over 45 countries, over 2000 employees, and has grown to be the most valuable private internet company in the world. I was fortunate enough to get a variety of experiences there having both launched the city of Vancouver and working out of the Canadian HQ in Toronto focused on growth.
My past projects (TEDxUWO, London Vote Mob, etc) have reached over 80 countries worldwide and have been featured in national and local publications such as The Globe and Mail, MSN.ca, CBC's The National, Metro News, and many more.
Industry Expertise (7)
Professional Training and Coaching
Design
VC and Private Equity
Computer Software
Public Policy
Education/Learning
Corporate Leadership
Areas of Expertise (8)
Technology Careers
Hacking Education
Career Hacking
Technology and Regulation
Education
Growing Business
Startups
Technology Industry
Accomplishments (3)
Nspire - Innovator of the Month (professional)
2011-11-01
Nspire Innovation Network is Canada’s largest student-run non-profit organization in the business and technology space.
Nominee: 2011 Pillar Community Innovation Awards - Leadership Award (professional)
2011-10-01
Pillar Nonprofit Network supports nonprofit organizations in fulfilling their missions in our community. We provide leadership, advocacy, and support to the nonprofit sector through the promotion of volunteerism, professional development and networking opportunities, and information sharing.
Finalist, Notable Awards - Education Award (professional)
2014-10-01
The Notable Awards recognize young professionals (YPs) who are leaders across Canada. The recipient of the Education Award is teaching our next generation of thought-leaders through immersive, innovative and motivational strategies – they’re the mentor we all will one day want our children to have growing up.
Education (2)
Ivey Business School at Western University: Entrepreneur 1.0, Business
Ivey/TechAlliance Entrepreneur 1.0 program. Taught by Ivey Professors and successful Canadian entrepreneurs.
The University of Western Ontario: Political Science & Film Studies, Minor in Philosophy, Dropout (2 credits short)
Affiliations (4)
- TEDx
- Western University
- Venture for Canada
- Teach for Canada
Links (2)
Event Appearances (3)
Panelist alongside Head of Public Policy and Government Relations from Google, Blackberry, and Department of Foreign Affairs
Munk School of Global Affairs Career Week University of Toronto
2014-10-22
Keynote: Software Is Eating The World
DevTO Toronto, Ontario
2014-11-24
Panelist: Technology & Entrepreneurship
WISE National Conference 2015 Toronto, Ontario
2015-03-21
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Host/MC
Fees
Articles (2)
Culture Club: Craig Hunter of Bitmaker Labs
Perch2014-12-05
What makes a culture great and why does it matter? This week, I caught up with Craig Hunter in Toronto, ON Canada. I met Craig a couple of years ago when he helped launch the incredibly popular ridesharing service, Uber in Vancouver, BC. Setting up Uber in Vancouver was no easy feat, and since Uber Vancouver and Perch shared the same office back then, I witnessed firsthand just how hard Craig can hustle. Since that time, Uber has expanded to over 50 countries and has 2500 employees. Today, Craig is “running point,” aka the CEO of Canada’s largest coding bootcamp, Bitmaker Labs. As someone who dropped out of university, Craig is incredibly passionate about reshaping traditional education and empowering individuals to build their own ideas. Knowing this is what drives Craig, I connected with him to learn more about what life was like at Bitmaker, what his plans were for reshaping traditional education and inspiring more gender diversity in tech.
Toronto Tech School Comparison: Bitmaker Labs
Quantifire2014-11-09
One of the beautiful things about the Toronto tech ecosystem is not only the rise in terms of high quality startups that are started and based in Toronto or the venture capital that is flowing into Toronto from world class investors. What I’m referring to is the foundation that has developed in the last few years that helps support and continue feed into those world class companies, namely the tech schools (or coding bootcamps as some might call them). They produce competent and resourceful junior level technical and design talent with the real world skills that those companies are exactly looking for. craig hunter ceo bitmaker labs Bitmaker Labs CEO, Craig Hunter In this first instalment we have Craig Hunter, CEO of Bitmaker Labs who took the time out of his busy schedule for this interview.
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