Article content

In the fall of 2016, Katherine Regnier met with a group of venture capitalists from Toronto with the aim of securing funding for her fledgling technology startup, which she had founded years earlier with little more than a $5,000 loan.

They turned her down.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'Silicon Prairie': Saskatoon's tech sector shines bright Back to video

“Katherine came in and saw us at the office and took us through her story. She was an incredibly compelling presenter and got us really excited, but at the time, frankly, she was too early for us,” recalled Dave Unsworth, a co-founder of Information Venture Partners.

“VC funds invest at different parts of the journey or stages. We said, ‘There’s nothing we can do for you today … but go away and execute against your plan, get some earlier-stage financing, and then come back and see us.”

Photo by (Morgan Modjeski/The Saskatoon S / Saskatoon

Regnier, who had spent the last eight years building her appointment-scheduling software company to a reported $1-million in sales, was undeterred. A year later, after raising $700,000 in seed funding, she came back and said, “Let’s chat,” she recalled with a laugh.