The dance choreography app StageKeep, that got its start out of the Hub, has caught the attention of television producers who contacted the company to audition for the CBC series Dragons Den.
Dragon’s Den is a Canadian reality series where entrepreneurs are invited to pitch business and investment ideas to a panel of venture capitalists with the goal of reaching a deal.
“We don’t know how they heard about us. They sent us an email saying ‘Hey, we are contacting small businesses in the area. Thought you’d be a good fit. Come to the audition’” says Axel Vilamil (BSc, 2017), the company’s CEO and Founder.
At the audition, Vilamil and the StageKeep team were one of about 60 businesses auditioning that day for the series 13th season, set to air later this year. According to Vilamil, the audition went well and they were asked to run through their dance routine twice.
StageKeep was officially launched March 1st during the startup showcase at Entrepreneurship@UofT Week . Vilamil and his team gave an interactive demonstration where the app’s features were presented through a live performance. The presentation had one surprise attendee.
“I didn’t think Arlene Dickinson was going to actually hangout in the audience. I was like okay she’s just sitting there. I’m like ‘Great she’s going to look right at me’ and she was!” says Vilamill.
The Canadian businesswoman and Dragons Den panel member was one of the networking event’s esteemed speakers.
“I spoke to her very briefly and said ‘Thank you for your words, it was really great to hear things like that,’” says Vilamil. “She said ‘Great app idea, amazing job. Great presentation.’ And I was like wow, that right there was huge.”
Things weren’t all business though.
“She jumped into our photo and photobombed it, which was really cool, I was dying,” says Vilamil.
StageKeep launches their next campaign titled “Anywhere, Everywhere” in June, which will introduce the dancer portion of the app.
