Qasim Virjee

Qasim Virjee Email and Phone Number

StartWell - Offsites & Media Production (Toronto) @ StartWell
Qasim Virjee's Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Canada
About Qasim Virjee

As an entrepreneur with experiences running businesses between Canada, East Africa and India, I apply a unique lens on how people live and work. I'm a serial entrepreneur who got started in business reselling Internet access when it came to East Africa in 1995; teaching people what the Internet was and why they needed it, armed with a bag of modems walking around downtown Nairobi after high school.I've founded a number of companies since the '90s - including Design Guru (a creative studio whose portfolio of clients included cause-based organizations like the Stephen Lewis Foundation to large multinationals like the Coca Cola Corporation), the BBC-partnered global music brand Indian Electronica, GetFilmi (a digital distributor of Indian cinema) and other software startups. My passion for enabling innovation through technology has led to creating the Founder Deck playing card game, WeTeachStartup ideation bootcamps, Startup Safaris global pitch sessions as well as running IBM’s startup program across Canada, before founding StartWell in 2017.Now in its 7th year of operations, StartWell's downtown campus has evolved into 3 buildings occupying 20,000 square feet - designed and furnished to enable turn-key corporate meetings and events as well as professional film shoots.My high value for hospitality begins with complimentary barista service at reception and extends to our integrated studio model at StartWell. The StartWell approach to producing corporate content incorporates a bleeding edge software and hardware tech stack built into multiple film studio spaces with staffed crew. Our shoots are booked on-demand from a website - giving agile companies a professional content engine that is easy, quick and affordable.

Qasim Virjee's Current Company Details
StartWell

Startwell

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StartWell - Offsites & Media Production (Toronto)
Qasim Virjee Work Experience Details
  • Startwell
    Founder
    Startwell Mar 2017 - Present
    Toronto, Ontario, Ca
    A purpose-built downtown Toronto campus that has hosted thousands of collaboration sessions for all types of organizations - in every industry. With integrated media production, our clients can instantly stream and record stage presentations at meetings/events... and our closed-set studios produce killer video podcasts and scripted content.
  • Startup Grind
    Chapter Director - Toronto
    Startup Grind Aug 2022 - Jul 2023
    Palo Alto, California, Us
    Startup Grind is the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators. With over 6,500 local members the Toronto chapter has historically been an important source of opportunity for Canadian founders and in 2022 it will be relaunched as a hybrid event series - raising a global stage to our amazing local startup ecosystem with discussion panels, fireside chats and more live-streamed and available on demand from StartWell.
  • Design Guru
    Principal
    Design Guru Sep 2005 - Apr 2017
    Toronto, Ontario, Ca
    - Founded this studio to bring community inclusiveness online through context sensitive interface design approaches, strategic planning and development using Open Source Software. - Developed/Incubated SaaS startups Tripping.co (collaborative travel planning) and introduction.io (online creative portfolio platform) as well as Open Source distribution startup Seedling (the first project ever to commercialize Joomla CMS distribution.)- Worked with an international client base including the IDRC, Liberal Party of Canada, BBC, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, California Institute of the Arts, OCADu and many more.
  • Skrumble
    President
    Skrumble Aug 2016 - Feb 2017
    Toronto, Ontario, Ca
    - Co-ordinated the efforts of all business units whilst developing partnerships and consultant relationships to enable a larger network to support growth efforts.- Helped raise a $1.8M seed investment round (brought in $500k personally.)- Led a re-branding effort to humanize the company and its products, moving away from an 'enterprise' aesthetic to one more focused on small/medium sized business - with custom illustrations, soft colours, open space etc... worked into marketing materials and the product itself.
  • Indian Electronica
    Director
    Indian Electronica Dec 2002 - Jan 2017
    - Founded IE as a music zine in 2003 & grew monthly readership to 10s of 1,000s globally within 2 years- Worked with 100s of artists around the world to release their music live on stage as well as through digital broadcasts and commercial releases.- Created/operated our own music festival with dates through 2006-2009 in NYC, Toronto, Bombay and London in partnership with the British Broadcasting Corporation.- Launched a mixed music podcast which grew to over 50,000 subscribers via iTunes by 2014
  • Startup Safaris
    Program Director
    Startup Safaris Sep 2015 - Jun 2016
    - Founded this project based in Canada to forge alliances amongst the global startup ecosystem whilst establishing a sustainable value chain for all stakeholders. - Hosted event programming in East Africa bringing investors and entrepreneurs together - the winning pitch of our 2016 session in Nairobi was invited to our partner festival, Metabridge in Kelowna BC Canada, and was the only company there to be offered a term sheet after pitching on-stage.)
  • Ibm
    Manager (Canada) - Ibm Global Entrepreneur Program
    Ibm Oct 2015 - Apr 2016
    Armonk, New York, Ny, Us
    - Represented IBM within/across Canada's startup ecosystem - negotiating partner agreements & sponsorships with festivals, event organizers, accelerators, incubators and others. - Sourced high growth startups across the country to bring onto IBM's cloud infrastructure through direct mentorship and access to cloud credits (free hosting on Bluemix/Softlayer for up to $100k/yr.)- Grew the program in Canada to over 300 companies across the country (bringing on pre-seed stage companies to later stage venture funded ones like Meta, now part of the Chan-Zuckerberg Partnership.)- Designed and developed a custom intranet solution for the global program to bring 1,000s of incubated companies into contact with our team, each other and partners.
  • Softlayer, An Ibm Company
    Manager, Catalyst Program (Canada)
    Softlayer, An Ibm Company Nov 2014 - Oct 2015
    Us
    - Grew the Catalyst program across Canada, sourcing & on-boarding cloud based startups (mainly SaaS) - giving them high touch mentorship (business and technical strategy & network access) & cloud credits (up to $100k/yr)- Developed Softlayer's exposure in Canada (US Based top-tier cloud hosting company)
  • Getfilmi
    Founder & Ceo
    Getfilmi Jan 2012 - Oct 2015
    Toronto, Ontario, Ca
    - Licensed 100s of films for global digital exhibition/distribution from Disney/UTV, Shemaroo Entertainment, Rajshri, Overdose, Virgin Produced India and more. - Built a custom SVOD platform & launched a digital channel streaming to the web and iOS mobile/tablet devices with 1,000s of subscribers (paid & trial/free.) - Pivoted into a B2B play facilitating digital distribution to multiple exhibitors and digital distributors.
  • Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
    International Programming Associate
    Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival Mar 2014 - Nov 2014
    - Developed South Asian feature and documentary programming - including selecting titles to screen, planning for industry programs and more.
  • Design Exchange
    Communications Consultant
    Design Exchange Oct 2005 - Apr 2006
    Toronto, Ontario, Ca
    - Created outreach and promotional strategy for DX's annual festival of digital media ('DigiFest')- Produced video segments for 'Connecting the World Through Canadian Design' - a series of learning activities and case studies for Canada's Virtual Museum (http://virtualmuseum.ca) illustrating the international impact of Canadian design on issues such as natural disasters, sustainability, trade and globalization.
  • Project For Public Spaces
    Communications Manager
    Project For Public Spaces Oct 2004 - Sep 2005
    Brooklyn, Ny, Us
    - Extrapolated PPS' approach to planning physical spaces into the digital realm; creating a new methodology for engaging people through web properties.- Created a new communication strategy involving email and the web which helped propel the momentum already developing behind PPS' thought leadership in the urban planning and policy space.
  • Dotsavvy Limited
    Associate Web Designer/Developer
    Dotsavvy Limited Jan 2004 - Aug 2004
    Nairobi, Nairobi, Ke
    - Helped this agency move away from proprietary systems and static approaches to web development using the Joomla (then called Mambo) Content Management System. - Developed a new sustainable approach to client work through promoting Open Source software.
  • Yellow Pages (Kenya)
    Director, Digital Communications
    Yellow Pages (Kenya) Jan 2004 - Jun 2004
    - Developed a business plan to venture into digital services - creating a web version of the physical Yellow Pages book plus a micro-agency for custom web development/design work. - Modelled potential for the Yellow Pages to become an ISP.
  • University Bytes
    Web Development, Pc Sales & Repairs
    University Bytes Apr 1999 - Feb 2002
    - Built custom PCs for student customers plus the University itself and other commercial clients of the store.- Serviced student computers.- Maintained and developed the store's website.
  • African Regional Centre For Computing
    Marketing/Community Development Consultant
    African Regional Centre For Computing Oct 1995 - Nov 1997
    - Worked with an in-house sales team and the Managing Director to create cohesive marketing strategy entailing strategic alliances with technology firms for this, the first ISP in East Africa.- Developed programs for leased-line installation to rural communities and educational institutions. - Created teaching materials for sales staff to help explain what the Internet was and how access to it would improve the lives of Kenyans in Nairobi and elsewhere.- Directly sold Internet access to & conducted training for end-user customers as well as businesses (including financial firms like Diamond Trust Bank and Jubilee Insurance as well as smaller safari companies and others.)
  • Form-Net
    Authorized Independant Reseller
    Form-Net Jul 1996 - Feb 1997
    Independently selling Internet access, installing modem hardware and associated software plus training customers to use various Net technologies (Web, IRC, FTP etc...) and generally understand what the Internet was.

Qasim Virjee Skills

User Interface Design Digital Media Social Media Web Development Strategy Wordpress Web Design Drupal Start Ups Cms Business Development Digital Strategy Management Creative Direction Social Media Marketing Entrepreneurship Business Planning Coworking Community Sites Joomla Content Strategy Multimedia New Media Open Source Venture Capital Angel Investing Openx Mobile Applications User Experience Design

Qasim Virjee Education Details

  • Mcgill University
    Mcgill University
    Humanistic Studies
  • Premier Academy
    Premier Academy
    Economics
  • Hillcrest Secondary School
    Hillcrest Secondary School
    Biology

Frequently Asked Questions about Qasim Virjee

What company does Qasim Virjee work for?

Qasim Virjee works for Startwell

What is Qasim Virjee's role at the current company?

Qasim Virjee's current role is StartWell - Offsites & Media Production (Toronto).

What is Qasim Virjee's email address?

Qasim Virjee's email address is qv****@****ibm.com

What is Qasim Virjee's direct phone number?

Qasim Virjee's direct phone number is +141630*****

What schools did Qasim Virjee attend?

Qasim Virjee attended Mcgill University, Premier Academy, Hillcrest Secondary School.

What are some of Qasim Virjee's interests?

Qasim Virjee has interest in Djing, Post Colonialism, Music Production And Promotion, Design, Sociology, Downhill Skiing, Culinary Arts, Broadcasting Technology, Diaspora Identity, Communications Theory.

What skills is Qasim Virjee known for?

Qasim Virjee has skills like User Interface Design, Digital Media, Social Media, Web Development, Strategy, Wordpress, Web Design, Drupal, Start Ups, Cms, Business Development, Digital Strategy.

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