Tectorian of the Week

Zach Sousa

May 28, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

Zach Sousa just finished designing a low cost 3D printer called “Edge 3D”. And he’s 13 years old…

The printer will be sold as a kit or preassembled and Zach hopes it will be available for sale this summer for roughly $250 (so look out for it on crowdfunding sites).

To keep his creative juices and mechanical hands working, he likes to make projects for instructables.com. His latest “instructable” was instructions on how to make your own 3D printer for under $250 (you can view that here).

Victoria Makerspace (located at the Vancouver Island Technology Park), is a second home to Zach. He started frequenting the space when his family moved to Victoria in spring 2013. Since then, he’s learned about soldering electronics, micro controllers, 3D printing, laser cutting and biotech. And most recently, he teaches the Arduino class at makerspace! This class is aimed at makers with little to no experience with the Arduino. Makerspace-owned Arduino kits are available for use during the class.

“Everyone is helpful [at Victoria Makerspace] and share the interest of making things,” commented Zach. “You can share tools and ideas there, and everyone has a good sense of humour!”

Zach demoing to a full house at TedX Victoria 2014.

When Zach isn’t teaching, he’s attending Royal Oak Middle School. ” My favourite subject is tech ed.” commented Zach. “I really like hands on learning instead of the traditional type of learning which in my opinion, is outdated.”

As for what Zach would like to be when he grows up?

“I would like to own my own 3D printer company (Edge 3D Printers) and make low cost, high quality 3D printers.”

Ya, just your run-of-the-mill goal for a kid…

Zach knows what he wants and is making it all happen, which is why he’s our Tectorian of the Week!

Stocksy United

May 21, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

The stock photo industry has made a huge pivot thanks to local co-operative, Stocksy United, and they just became a finalist for the Innovative Excellence VIATEC Technology Award because of it.

The galleries on stocksy are jaw-dropping. The images are all unique, colourful, full of imagination and something you might rather hang on your wall then put in a brochure.

There are many differences between Stocksy and other stock image companies, one of which is Stocksy’s photographers are invited and curated into the collection. This means you don’t have to search through endless pages of images to find something good, they do that for you.

Stocksy also doesn’t stop at photography.

They feature one-on-one interview pieces, travel stories and even food recipes. All with stunning photos to back-up the well written content, of course. You can spend hours on this website.

To top it all off, Stocksy United is a multi-stakeholder co-operative, which means all of their photographers are also co-owners of the company.

“Almost every single person who works for Stocksy is also a photographer, from client relations to our lawyer,” commented Brianna Wettlaufer, CEO/Co-Founder. “When we say we love photography, it’s very personal to us.”

They’re collectively driven by their shared vision for creative integrity and sustainable business practices. The community behind Stocksy gains its strength through the open collaboration and support of ideas, experience, and artistic vision.

The Stocksy team (united)

“Share the wealth” could also be their motto. Their financial structure is designed to pay out the majority of profits, with 50% of the initial royalty ($5-$50) and 75% of every extended license going directly into the photographer’s pockets. At the end of each year, the co-operative’s profits are distributed back to its members, with their membership growing by 500 every year.

“We’ve worked really hard to be where we are today,” commented Breanna. “It’s been two years of grit and sacrifice while being crammed into a small office with workstations on top of each other. We’re just finally coming up for air and are making time for fun together.”

At the end of last year they moved into their new, custom-renovated office in Market Square.

“The transparency of being a co-op definitely shows in our day-to-day business,” commented Breanna. “We have an open floor plan, collaborative workspace, and a fairly flat hierarchy. Everyone knows what every department is doing, and we are accountable to each other and respect each other. And one day soon maybe we’ll get a ping pong table.”

The team is incredibly proud that Stocksy is based in Victoria, BC and they are really excited to see the tech scene taking off here.

“Stocksy isn’t the most ‘out there’ socially, but we are here to support the tech scene any way we can. If you need photos, let us know! Or even stop by Fridays after 3:30 pm to come say hi and have a beer.”

Their office is located in Market Square and their photographers are… everywhere!

www.stocksy.com

Red Brick Media

April 16, 2015 by Tectoria

They’re zany and creative, they jump into the cold waters of the Gorge and organize arm wrestling competitions to raise money for the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge, and they just happen to be one of Victoria’s fastest growing tech start-ups.

Red Brick Media focuses on innovative software development and advertising in the heart of downtown Victoria, and they have a blast doing it.

They are your one-stop-shop to simplify and scale. Their technology (web-based apps and downloadable programs), are built and managed in house with a mandate to eliminate clutter with cutting edge solutions. They bring intuitive products to users for a seamless browsing experience.

Red Brick Media worked with a Ph.D to create an advanced algorithm that determines the best advertising offers to show their users – processing millions of permutations in just a few seconds. They also built a geo-redirect, so their users can decide where they want specific offers to be sent. All of this means less wasted impressions and more time to relax.

Starting as a company of two in 2011, Red Brick Media now has over 36 employees in four different offices and is owned and operated by Victoria locals and UVic Alumni. They are constantly hiring and make an effort to adopt co-op students into their happy work-fam.

Red Brick Media’s arm wrestling competition fundraiser

They recently earned 2nd place in the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge for Greatest per Employee Contributor and they took home the “Freddy” robot trophy at last year’s VIATEC Technology Awards for Emerging Tech Company of the Year.

Red Brick Media has deep roots in Victoria. This was proved once again with the recent news of Co-Founder Tobyn Sowden investing in local tech company, Checkfront, along with 17 other investors, leaving Checkfront with a nice $1 Million in funding.

Red Brick Media has taken off and there are no signs of them slowing down. One thing’s for sure, they seem to always carve out time to give back to the community and work on building strong employee relationships that keep their business so solid.

If you come across this team at a future event, you’ve been warned NOT to challenge them at a Smirnoff Ice chugging contest… you’ll lose…