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Meet the University of Waterloo dropouts living the digital dream

Young entrepreneurs in the bustling Kitchener-Waterloo tech hub — including two recipients of the coveted Thiel Fellowship — are pursuing startup success on their own terms.

8 min to read
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Hongwei Liu suspended his electrical engineering studies at the University of Waterloo to focus on MappedIn, now a multimillion-dollar company whose clients include Cadillac Fairview and Canadian Tire.

WATERLOO, ONT.—Hongwei Liu is standing in his office wearing head-to-toe black: crisp poplin shirt, jeans, suede sneakers. The co-founder and CEO of MappedIn, a multimillion-dollar company that crafts touch-screen directories for shopping malls and retail stores, is a University of Waterloo dropout who oversees a staff of 26.

He is 24 years old.

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Rachel Friesen, right, co-founded EyeCheck, which makes an app to help people in the developing world get their vision tested. In her fourth year of a business and development degree, Friesen is considering leaving school to work on her business.

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"It’s never been cheaper to build a company and so the opportunity for young people has never been better," says Mike Kirkup, director of Velocity Garage.

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Harry Gandhi is one of two University of Waterloo students awarded a $100,000 (U.S.) Thiel Fellowship last year to drop out of school and pursue a tech project. He's the co-founder of Medella Health, which is developing contact lenses that can monitor the blood glucose levels of diabetics.

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Liam Horne, a 2015 Thiel fellow and chief technology officer at PiinPoint, which helps businesses find the best locations for expansion.

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Harry Gandhi, a 2015 Thiel fellow and co-founder of Medella Health, which is developing contact lenses that can monitor blood glucose levels to help manage diabetes.

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Rachel Friesen co-founded EyeCheck, an app aimed at helping people in the developing world get glasses.

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William Zhou and Ryan McKay-Fleming of Chalk.com, an educational platform.

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Hongwei Liu, co-founder and CEO of MappedIn, which creates touch-screen directories for shopping malls.

Daniel Otis
Daniel Otis
A former Toronto Star staff reporter, Daniel Otis is currently a freelance contributor covering trials, travel and (almost) everything in-between.

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