BcBUsiness.ca march 2018 BCBusiness 43
Cindy
Gu
foUnder and
ceo, vitali
Wear
Cindy Gu was
like a lot of uni-
versity students:
overwhelmed. "I was just
kind of being a Type A and taking a lot
of courses and also trying to •t in my
time beyond classes. I just wanted to do
everything," the
UBC mechanical engi-
neering grad recalls at a co-ee shop in
Vancouver's Yaletown. "Being young
and living that lifestyle, it made me very
stressed out."
Having already worked with some
large companies—a stint with a Calgary
oil and gas producer, and a summer
at a Volkswagen factory in her native
China—as part of her program, Gu
didn't want to spend a career feeling
strained. Discovering yoga, she set out
to incorporate the feeling she got from
A DEvICE THAT PRomISES To REINvENT lifeguarding, an app
that makes lone workers safer, a community of renters, a smart
bra—what do these B.C. innovations have in common? For one,
they all harness the power of technology to make people's lives
better. They all have stories connected to the lives of their female
inventors, and each of those women has used the Pitch for the
Purse competition to propel her business forward.
Launched in 2017, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs' annual
event has given the female founders of more than 100 compa-
nies a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize. The four women
you're about to meet all reached the top 11 in their respective
years, making their pitches to a panel of judges and an audience
of potential investors. Although none ended up taking home the
cash, they've enjoyed other rewards. Now considered part of the
Pitch for the Purse family, each regularly connects with competi-
tion organizers and the mentors assigned to them as finalists.
"We provide the education and mentorship so that these
women entrepreneurs can have more confidence and informa-
tion and knowledge to go out there and pitch their businesses to
investors," says FWE founder and chair Christina Anthony. "They
are making that happen for themselves," adds Anthony, vice-
president, director and portfolio manager at Vancouver-based
investment firm Odlum Brown Ltd.
iN it
tO
wiN it
FINALISTS IN ThE PITCh FOr ThE PurSE
COMPETITION, ThESE FOur FEMALE
ENTrEPrENEurS LEAd gAME-ChANgINg
TECh BuSINESSES
by NathaN Caddell
