Cameron MacKinnon

QMIND is a student-run AI club at Queen's University. It was founded with the intention of giving undergraduate students hands-on experience with developing AI/ML. In my fourth year of university (and QMIND's third year since inception), I joined the club as the Director of Partnerships, where I was tasked with raising money and finding partners for our national conference. I led a team of four that raised $90.0K in sponsorships in 6 months and helped organize a 300-person, 2-day conference. We also formed strong partnerships with AI professionals across the country; my personal highlight was securing Geoffrey Hinton, the Godfather of AI, as our keynote speaker.

In the summer following my second year of university, I worked at iGan Partners, a VC fund focused on early-stage investments in disruptive healthcare companies. During my four months, I performed due diligence for start-ups in the fields of B2B SaaS, Healthcare IT, and Medical Imaging. This included competitive analyses, market sizing, and analyzing financial models. I conducted 50+ meetings with management teams and KOLs to assess investment opportunities.

In my second year of university, I founded a tutoring service that served first-year students across all faculties (sciences, engineering, arts, etc.). I hired 28 tutors and 5 executive members, along with 6 first-year representatives that helped with marketing and brand awareness. Over our six months of existence, we facilitated 100+ tutoring sessions and four exam workshops. We earned 2,500 CAD in revenue (and profited a tiny bit too). It was no Airbnb or Facebook, but it gave me an introduction to the challenges of starting your own company and leading large teams.