“Don’t try to get it perfect. Just start. Do something that gets you your first dollar in revenue,” says Mark Guest, regional director for Futurpreneur in Alberta.
It’s advice he often gives to the students and young founders he works with, and it will guide his approach as host of the Studentpreneur Showcase at Edmonton Startup Week on Oct. 6.
Beyond Edmonton, it reflects a bigger shift in how Canada’s next generation is building businesses. Young founders are entering the ecosystem earlier, keeping their first ventures lean, and treating entrepreneurship as a skill to practice rather than a single big bet.
Guest has spent his career at the forefront of Alberta’s startup scene. He was part of the early leadership teams at Granify and Neo Financial, and later built the sales function at Absorb LMS. All three companies went on to major exits or valuations.
In addition to his startup experience, he has worked as an executive coach with entrepreneurs across North America. That work has given him a front-row view of the patterns that trip up early founders, and the practical steps that set them on a stronger path. For Guest, the lesson is universal: companies grow by finding customers and proving value, not by chasing scale too soon.
It is a message that matters well beyond the classroom. Alberta’s economy is grappling with a long-term decline of oil and gas, and the province’s future depends on new forms of growth.
Guest’s focus on fundamentals, how to test ideas, build confidence, and learn to sell, offers insights for anyone navigating change.
In that sense, the Studentpreneur Showcase is not just about students. It is a reflection of the broader innovation strategies Alberta and Canada need to compete in a shifting global economy.
Learning to start small
At Futurpreneur, Guest uses this experience to help early-stage companies land their first customers and guide entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39 as they launch or acquire businesses. What he sees most among students is a tendency to think too big, too soon.
“Very often, people skip the first initial growth stage and think right about how you’re going to have an online platform that revolutionizes the world,” Guest says.
Anyone starting a business needs a path to growth, not a hope for overnight success. He points to Uber, which didn’t start with global ambitions, as a counterpoint.
What began as a limousine service in San Francisco only grew into a global ride-hailing giant by first proving a narrow concept and then scaling outward. Guest uses this example to remind students that even transformative companies start with a modest scope before growing into something larger.
Big breakthroughs rarely come from one giant leap. They come from small steps, tested over and over, until something finally sticks.
Events like the Showcase provide students with something business plans and classroom projects cannot: live feedback and practice under pressure.
“Hopefully, through this showcase, people can get some really constructive feedback from judges and from the other entrepreneurs that are there,” Guest says. “It can be challenging when you’re 20 years old to take up space in a room. And this is a great opportunity for them to learn how to take up that space, how to belong in a business conversation.”
For Alberta’s startup scene, that kind of practice matters. These showcases are about learning how to build, test, and regroup, which is the same muscle big corporate teams need as much as first-time student founders.
A changing Alberta economy
Alberta’s economy is undergoing a long-term shift away from oil and gas, a sector that no longer guarantees steady jobs as it once did. Guest says the entrepreneurial mix has changed with it.
“If you went to an event in Edmonton 30 years ago, everything would have, in some way, related to oil and gas,” he says. “The last event I was at that involved students pitching, there wasn’t a single business that was even tangentially related to oil and gas.”
Instead, students are trying out service-based businesses that require little more than sweat equity, product-based ventures like apparel, or early tech concepts.
Others are exploring acquisition as a path to business ownership. With many owners approaching retirement, Guest calls it a “silver retirement tsunami,” where young entrepreneurs see opportunities in buying established businesses with clients, staff, and cash flow already in place.
For established companies and policymakers, this trend points to a looming challenge (and opportunity) in succession. Canada faces a large intergenerational transfer of business ownership, with around one-third of small business owners in Canada planning to sell their business by 2030. How younger entrepreneurs step into these roles will shape not just local economies, but national productivity.
He will also be leading a separate Startup Week session on this topic, helping participants understand how to approach buying a business and what kinds of ownership structures best fit their goals.
Trades also play a strong role in Alberta’s entrepreneurial picture. Guest says many loan recipients in the Futurepreneur program are plumbers, electricians, or construction workers using financing to buy equipment or a truck to strike out on their own.
Supports that didn’t exist before
Guest grew up in Edmonton and remembers a time when student entrepreneurs had little formal support. He says the landscape looks very different now, with events, mentorship, and other resources giving students opportunities that simply weren’t available a generation ago.
That infrastructure of accelerators, mentorship programs, and pitch nights is part of a maturing innovation ecosystem. It’s what Canada has long been criticized for lacking, and what Alberta is now working to build.
For him, the value of the Showcase is less about producing polished pitches than about what students learn along the way. He encourages them not to get attached to a single concept but to focus on finding customers and testing ideas.
“Don’t get married to the idea. Get married to the process of trying to find customers for a business,” he says.
As Startup Week unfolds, the Studentpreneur Showcase offers a window into that broader shift. It captures how Edmonton’s startup community is growing, how students are entering the ecosystem earlier, and how the city’s approach to entrepreneurship is expanding beyond what was in place a generation ago.
Final Shots
- Growth comes from testing, not leaping. Even the biggest companies started small and proved their model before scaling.
- Resilience is built through practice. Students pitching on stage are learning the same skills executives need as they take feedback, regroup, and try again.
- Succession is strategy. With many Canadian businesses set to change hands this decade, leaders need to see acquisition as both a risk and an opportunity.
- Ecosystems matter. Strong networks of mentorship and support help students and also shape how entire regions adapt to economic change.
Digital Journal is an official media partner for Edmonton Startup Week.
