On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2020. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about CG ↗
In their words
Let's really spend time with people, let's go into the community, let's listen to what the problems are. Probably for the first like six to eight months we did that.
Really spend time understanding the problem at a macro and a micro level. We spent a lot of time listening to people, but we also did our secondary research.
The second thing is figure out who's already in the ecosystem, and I would say we didn't do a good job of that. We came in very tech startup — hey, we're going to do this. We found out there's a lot of people in the community doing great work.
Around the web ×3
Quick answers
Who is CG Chen?
A designer and repeat founder. She founded Ample Labs, the Toronto non-profit behind the Chalmers chatbot for people experiencing homelessness, and is now building Aelios, an AI voice agent for product demos.
What is Ample Labs?
A Toronto tech non-profit CG Chen founded in 2018. Its chatbot Chalmers helped people find free meals, shelter beds, clothing banks and other services in real time. It raised $1M and wound down in 2022.
What did CG Chen talk about at TechTO?
In a June 2020 TechTO Together fireside with Jason Goldlist she gave her lessons for building a venture around a social problem: understand it at macro and micro level, map who is already doing the work, and partner rather than displace.
What did CG Chen do before Ample Labs?
She designed IoT experiences at ecobee and retail software at Tulip. Earlier she sold motivational t-shirts on Shopify after being kicked out of her undergraduate program.