Alumnus Among Top 40 Worldwide in Entrepreneurship Competition
From Student Government vice president to participant in the Archangel’s Den finals to his recent success of winning the 2024 Red Bull Basement Canada competition, St. Michael’s College School (SMCS) alumnus Ryan Stephen’s ’23 leadership and entrepreneurial spirit continues to grow as he embodies the Basilian mission.
Red Bull Basement is a contest aimed at inspiring and supporting young innovators in kickstarting their ideas that positively impact their communities. The competition begins locally in participating cities – in Stephen’s case, at Dalhousie University, where he’s a second-year commerce student – with winners then moving on to nationals and finally the world final.
Image courtesy of: © Red Bull
“Winning for Canada was amazing,” says Stephen, who along with his teammate and classmate, Buddy Arbuck, were recently able to showcase their idea on the world stage in Tokyo, Japan from December 2 to 5, 2024. “Making it to that stage meant we were one of the top 40 teams out of over 110,000 ideas worldwide. But there was also a bit of imposter syndrome. We went from just having an idea to suddenly going to Tokyo. Most of all, we looked forward to meeting the other national winners, hearing their ideas and being around people who had the same entrepreneurial mindset that we do.”
A Winning Idea
Their winning idea, dubbed Estate Lynx, is a platform created to assist the everyday person in breaking into the world of real estate investing and demystifying it.
“Estate Lynx is an AI-powered platform designed to make real estate investing simpler and more accessible,” says Stephen. “It helps users make smarter, data-driven financial decisions when comparing properties, while allowing younger generations to break into the market with less money than they may think they’ll need.”
He adds, “Estate Lynx is like a dashboard. It instantly evaluates properties, calculating key metrics in seconds. An AI-powered assistant provides step-by-step guidance, transforming complex real estate jargon into understandable insights. Users can input their criteria and receive a ranked list of the best properties tailored to their goals, saving them countless hours of manual research. In a nutshell, it’s like a Wealthsimple for unsophisticated real estate investors.”
The pair’s friendship dates back to their middle school years when they met while attending different schools.
“Buddy and I met in Grade 8 because he played hockey with some of my SMCS classmates,” says Stephen. “We became good friends and always had a goal-oriented relationship. We’d set goals together—like getting better at a certain sport or trying something new—and then we’d check back every six months or so and set new ones.”
The two reconnected at the beginning of the academic year when Arbuck came to Dalhousie.
“He is also in the commerce programme and we had both seen the Red Bull Basement competition promoted on campus. We each planned to enter it separately, but then decided to pitch as a team.”
The Makings of a National Champion
Stephen’s success in the Red Bull Basement competition was far from his first experience in the world of entrepreneurialism. Since his SMCS graduation, he’s been engaged in the field and even launched a few other businesses with classmates and fellow alumni.
“The summer after graduating from SMCS in 2023, I launched a boat detailing business with SMCS classmate Beck Carsley ’23, networking with local boat owners and marinas to generate leads,” says Stephen.
In 2023-24, Stephen and business partner Henry Wilson made it to the SMCS Archangel’s Den Alumni Entrepreneur Contest finals with Nootra – a cognitive performance enhancement beverage.
“The mentoring I received throughout the process was great and really helped us sharpen our idea. I also loved the whole creative side of coming up with an idea and figuring out how to bring it to the market,” he says.
More recently, and ahead of the Red Bull Basement competition, Stephen spent his summer working as a sports marketing intern alongside another fellow alumnus, Stas Mironov ’23, at a 50-year-old family-owned business.
With his most recent venture bringing him to the world stage, Stephen recalls feeling a mix of gratitude and excitement following the experience.
“I recognize that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I learned so much in such a short period of time. The lessons I take away from it will help me launch Estate Lynx, but can also be applied to launching future ideas down the road. That’s what makes it truly exciting. It’s like learning a playbook.”
Continuing to Make an Impact
Looking back on his SMCS education, Stephen explains that one teacher helped inspire him and push him down this path of innovation.
“In Grade 11, I took leadership with Mr. Giancola. It was the best class I’ve ever taken in my life,” he says. “One lesson in particular about challenging the status quo, has always stuck with me. When I was in Tokyo, I attended workshops with leaders from different industries, including Microsoft and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices Inc.). At one point, it dawned upon me that a lot of the concepts being taught in these workshops were things I had already learned from Mr. Giancola in Grade 11.”
Stephen also credits his SMCS background for helping him be the most prepared for his studies at Dalhousie.
“When I got to Dalhousie, I felt very prepared academically in terms of study habits and coursework. My first year wasn’t as overwhelming because I’d already seen some of the material before, and I was able to juggle extracurriculars, like playing intramurals and joining the Dalhousie Investment Society.”
With the launch of the Alumni University Chapters programme, he has been able to stay even more connected to his alma mater as a Dalhousie alumni mentor.
“My brother is the chapter lead for Dalhousie, so I’ve attended the events since I knew many of the incoming students from when I was still at SMCS.”
On advice he’d share with current students, Stephen encourages them to dream big.
“If you have an idea, make it happen. If you’re afraid of the unknown, live in the fear. That’s where success happens,” he says.
After attending the world finals for the Red Bull Basement competition, Stephen and his teammate are continuing to work on Estate Lynx.
“In the near term, we’re hyper-focused on building out our MVP, or prototype, so we can get feedback from end users. We’re working with developers on the business requirements so we can start training the algorithm. But I wouldn’t rule out another pitch competition down the road. I find pitching exhilarating and love figuring out the best way to sell a vision.”
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