Sahil Ahuja
Ecosystem builder and operations generalist supporting early-stage founders across Canadaʼs innovation ecosystem. Proven track record designing and running cohort programs, coordinating multi-stakeholder events, managing applicant pipelines and serving as the operational backbone for startup support organizations. Experienced interfacing with founders, investors, government partners and corporate sponsors. An early adopter who seeks out and experiments with emerging technologies, bringing the end-user perspective founders and builders are ultimately trying to serve.
Experience
ECOSYSTEM NAVIGATOR, ATLANTIC
OCEAN STARTUP PROJECT
National collaboration of 8 partner organizations building a world-class ocean technology startup ecosystem in Canada.
● Redesigned Airtable-based workflows for processing $700k+ in annual non-dilutive startup awards – cutting processing time by ~50%, increasing transparency and giving relevant team members greater visibility into each request.
● Built Airtable application forms and review interfaces to streamline evaluation of 100+ startup applications annually, operationalizing intake workflows and improving consistency across reviewers and cohorts.
● Designed and executed on the Ocean Startup Activator from scratch – a one-day in-person hackathon-style event where participants tackle real ocean sector challenges and pitch solutions for prizes. Built the event framework in year one; the Activator has since run 3 times with a 4th currently in planning, each attracting 10 - 30 founders and deliberately hosted in second-tier cities underserved by traditional startup programming.
● Built from scratch the Startup Resource Bank, a publicly accessible, curated hub featuring an upcoming events/deadlines calendar, non-dilutive & dilutive funding databases, relevant support organizations and a credits & perks directory for portfolio companies.
● Supported 50+ early-stage ocean technology founders, connecting them to funding, mentorship, programs and ecosystem partners.
● Led end-to-end coordination of cohort programs, showcases, workshops, in-person events and 1-on-1 founder check-ins.
● Conducted outreach to new entrepreneurs, industry contacts and potential partners to raise awareness of OSP programs and identify new collaboration opportunities.
PARTICIPANT v2 COHORT
NETWORK SCHOOL
Network School is Balaji Srinivasanʼs startup society that aims to build a frontier community for techno-optimists.
● Competitively selected to join the Network School v2 as a participant, a crypto-native startup society built by Balaji Srinivasan drawing applicants from 80+ countries.
● Actively engaged with other members from web3 building tools, blockchain protocols and events ranging from hackathons to AI/crypto workshops.
● Contributed to community-organized events and ecosystem-building activities as part of a cohort enabling a permanent startup society campus.
SENIOR COORDINATOR, STRATEGIC PROJECTS AND STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCE
VOLTA LABS
Halifaxʼs leading innovation hub supporting hundreds of startups and founders across Atlantic Canada.
● Developed and nurtured relationships with 20+ corporate sponsors, ensuring seamless execution of contracts and successfully renewing partnerships annually.
● Led planning, development and execution of 10+ cohorts of community-focused programs, including Volta Academy, BOOST, LEAP and Global, supporting over 100 founders.
● Designed and managed the startup intake pipeline for Volta, implementing a screening process to ensure alignment with Voltaʼs criteria and foundersʼ expectations.
● Communicated with external founders weekly to understand their challenges and connect them with tailored resources.
● Served as Voltaʼs primary ambassador to external stakeholders including government representatives, corporate executives, board members and ecosystem partners – conducting facility tours for hundreds of visitors.
● Delivered impactful presentations on Voltaʼs programs and offerings, emceed high-profile events such as the Volta Cohort and annual DemoCamp HFX, showcasing public speaking skills.
● Acted as a cross-functional liaison between programs, events and marketing teams – ensuring consistent messaging and collaborative executions towards shared goals.
Events Coordinator
VOLTA LABS
● Managed end-to-end execution of 20+ annual events including Global Game Jam, Volta Cohort, DemoCamp HFX, Hackathons and Voltaʼs inaugural conference, Innovate Atlantic.
● Oversaw the DemoCampHFX selection process, curating 10 tech startups per cycle to showcase to an audience of ~200 tech enthusiasts.
● Managed annual event budgets, negotiated vendor contracts for AV and catering to deliver high quality events within budget.
Education
SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
BACHELOR OF COMMERCE
Graduated from Saint Maryʼs University with a double major in Accounting and Finance. During my time at Saint Maryʼs University, I was involved in several extracurricular societies and initiatives such as Grad Class Society, Halifax Dump and Run and SAGA (Students Acting for Global Awareness).
Skills
VENTURE FOR CANADA - 2018 FELLOW
FELLOW
VENTURE FOR CANADA
With the mission of fostering entrepreneurship, Venture for Canada recruits, trains and supports recent graduates to work at Canadian startups in need of talent. Selected from a competitive pool of applicants from across Canada to participate in this two-year fellowship.