On the TechVancouver stage ×1
First seen on the TechVancouver stage in 2017. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Sarah ↗
In their words
I'm 23 and I started my startup while I was in university with no tech background, no business background and no work experience.
My route: basically I had an idea, I then went and built a team, but most importantly I built an advisory team. And the most important thing there was I established credibility for my name, because I had no experience.
If you actually have an in-house, which I recommend every single person to do — don't contract. But I obviously learned the hard way.
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
What did Sarah Main build?
Reach Social, a Vancouver platform for postsecondary students running group projects — messaging, a shared deadline calendar and file sharing, organised into groups that expired when the project did. She co-founded it with Brent Hussey after hitting the problem herself at McGill.
How did she start a company with no experience?
In reverse order, as she described it on the TechVancouver stage in April 2017: an advisory board first to establish credibility, then letters of intent from BC university CTOs to prove demand, then a place in The Next Big Thing's 2015 cohort, then $150,000 from friends and family — and only then a product.
How was the product built?
She pitched a UBC engineering capstone class, whose students built the mobile app over six months at no cost, alongside contract development funded by the friends-and-family round and an IRAP technology validation grant. Her own verdict on stage: build in-house, don't contract.
What is Sarah Main doing now?
Not established. Her identity and her role at Reach Social are documented, but no citable source establishes what she does today, and this page does not publish from LinkedIn or contact-data aggregators.