Sunil Sharma
Managing Director and Chief Connector | Extreme Startups
Toronto, ON, CANADA
He always loved Lego! A natural fit for your event is Extreme Startups Chief Connector extraordinaire and mentor to budding entrepreneurs
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Biography
Sunil Sharma is Managing Director and "Chief Connector" for Extreme Startups, a world-class venture-backed tech accelerator based in the heart of downtown Toronto. Sunil has an eclectic and distinct background. He has served as a diplomat in Canada’s Foreign Service where he has had the pleasure of representing the awesome country of Canada abroad.
He has served as the International Director for Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) – the country’s leading organization representing the alternative investment industry where his work has been focused on building strategic relationships with venture capital and private equity funds and institutional investors across the world while at the same time positioning Canada’s brand as it relates to investment, innovation and opportunity.
Sunil is the skillful ecosystem guy – you will find him actively involved in many of Canada’s most important business, technology and investment networks.
Sunil takes leadership roles within organizations such as the Canadian Innovation Exchange or CIX (Sunil has been appointed as the CIX Evangelist), the Banff Venture Forum, the France Canada Venture Forum, the MaRS Innovation Summit, Global CONNECT, the VerdeXchange, the Quebec City Conference and many other elite programs across the country. Sunil is a Charter Member of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and is actively involved with the TiEQuest Venture Competition.
In addition to several Board appointments, Sunil also co-organizes Startup Weekend Toronto (Kauffman Foundation) which has become one of the most successful Startup Weekend programs anywhere in the world.
Having lived in 6 provinces (all before he started jetting around the world), Sunil is the consummate Canadian. That said, Sunil loves living in cosmopolitan and international Toronto – a place he considers to be one of the best cities in the world.
Sunil possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Victoria and a Master’s of Industrial Relations degree from the University of Toronto.
Industry Expertise (5)
VC and Private Equity
Investment Management
Capital Markets
Market Research
Management Consulting
Areas of Expertise (4)
Venture Capital
Private Equity
Entrepreneurship
Management Consulting for Startups
Accomplishments (3)
Mentor – TiEQuest Venture Competition (professional)
TiEQuest is an annual business venture competition held in Toronto to encourage entrepreneurship, engage emerging entrepreneurial talent and to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship. Many aspiring entrepreneurs today don’t know where to start. TiEQuest provides them with the tools to develop a promising business venture, and a competition judged by venture capitalists to give them a forum and a link to the experts in the industry.
Chief Evangelist – Canadian Innovation Exchange (professional)
Sunil will be working with key players from Canada and around the world, enabling the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) to surface more hot companies and optimize its role in facilitating new relationships and transactions. CIX is the foremost destination for key leaders in the innovation economy to learn from one another, explore new relationships and accelerate the development of the ground-breaking technologies, products and services propelling the Canadian economy into the future.
Chief Connector – Extreme Startups (professional)
Extreme Startups is a premier tech accelerator located in Toronto, Ontario. We provide up to $200,000 per company, a collaborative environment, and deep access with companies so that accepted startups can integrate the tools they need from the ground up. Extreme Startups is the epicenter of innovation in Toronto and is dedicated to providing everything it takes to see its startups succeed!
Education (2)
University of Toronto: MA, Industrial Relations
University of Victoria: Bachelor of Arts, Economics
Links (3)
Event Appearances (5)
Three Canadian Start-Up Case Studies
MaRS Innovation Summit Toronto, Ontario
2010-10-28
Venture Capital
Canada - India Innovation Summit Carleton University
2011-06-21
Access to Brazil
nextMEDIA Conference Toronto, Ontario
2011-12-05
Venture Incubators & Startup Accelerators
Partner Connect 2012 New York City
2012-04-04
Spurring Entrepreneurship: Incubators and Accelerators
Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) 2011 Toronto, Ontario
2011-12-01
Sample Talks (1)
Spurring Entrepreneurship: Incubators and Accelerators
There has been an increase in incubator and accelerator activity in the last couple of years and the concept has become hotly debated. Technology startup incubator programs let new startups benefit from the proximity of other startups, mentoring and capital and by putting these emerging companies on a defined program to determine if they are a success story in the making or not. This workshop will address how incubators have truly changed the way tech entrepreneurs innovate and contribute.
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
- Host/MC
- Corporate Training
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