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鈥淲e didn鈥檛 go the business route at first 鈥� but then realized we were doing it wrong.鈥�

That鈥檚 what Vansh Sood, a fourth-year Computer Science student at pilipili漫画, says about his entrepreneurial journey so far.

Now with a redesigned, revenue-generating app, Sood is using his experience with artificial intelligence (AI) and entrepreneurship to help deliver sessions for a new program for Atlantic Canadian students: .

AI2Market
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AI2Market, a collaboration between Dal Innovates, Lab2Market, and ShiftKey Labs, mirrors the nationally recognized Lab2Market entrepreneurship program with a focus on training students in AI. It unfolds in three stages 鈥� Discover, Validate, and Launch 鈥� and is open to any postsecondary student in Atlantic Canada.

鈥淲e recognized a need for students to have the opportunity to experiment with AI tools,鈥� says Emily Fenton, manager of ShiftKey Labs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible collaboration between Dal Innovates, Lab2Market, and ShiftKey Labs, with input from sector organizations such as Volta. We鈥檙e excited to bring it to students.鈥�

Through the program, students receive training in AI, entrepreneurship guidance, and access to a community of innovators.

Starting up

Sood is from New Delhi, India. He knew he wanted to study on the coast, which brought him to Dalhousie.

鈥淚 still go to the ocean almost every day. I love it.鈥�

His interest in AI led him to take on various projects outside class.

鈥淚t started as 鈥榃hat鈥檚 in your fridge?鈥� where students could take a picture of their fridge and get a recipe,鈥� says Sood. After sharing it with a few thousand students and not getting paid, they realized they were approaching the project as project engineers instead of entrepreneurs.

Vansh and his co-founder, Pankrit Jindal, started over, diving into customer discovery and building a business model. They discovered a new customer base and relaunched as Bean 鈥� a meal planning app for busy families.

鈥淏ean checks your pantry, suggests recipes, builds AI meal plans, and auto-generates the shopping list 鈥� so Sunday meal prep takes 10 minutes, not two hours.鈥�

While the AI2Market project didn鈥檛 exist yet, Sood was connected to ShiftKey Labs and had informal mentors throughout his journey.

鈥淚 consider anyone who I ask questions to as mentor 鈥� professors like Dr. Sampalli, Dr. Sampangi, Dr. Poitras, Dr. Abidi, and Dr. Blouin, Emily at ShiftKey Labs, founders in the Volta ecosystem,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 shameless about asking about the problems I鈥檓 facing. If I鈥檓 ashamed of my skills right now, how am I going to grow and learn?鈥�

Now he gets to be a resource for other students and their ideas.

A natural fit
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Sood was first connected to ShiftKey Labs in his first year. He started as a student ambassador, then student technology coordinator, and now coordinator for the AI2Market program.

鈥淲ith AI2Market Discover, the idea is for students to learn a few things in AI,听have or find an idea, and have fun building it. When they find the right business model, they move into the Validate program.鈥�

While AI2Market is AI-driven, it鈥檚 not coding. 鈥淲e鈥檙e using AI tools and learning about them to build companies,鈥� he says.

Fenton describes Sood as passionate, talented, and ambitious. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been so lucky to have him at ShiftKey Labs,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 really rewarding, when I think about this suite of programs, is that Atlantic Canada鈥檚 tech sector has been growing for a long time. If we can bring programs and opportunities to students, hopefully they will stay in Atlantic Canada and continue to build their projects here.鈥�

until September 15 for the first cohort of AI2Market Discover beginning in October.

Students, staff and faculty are also invited to participate in from September 19-26, featuring a on September 18.