A Task Force, Not a Roster

Jeremy Laidlaw is the Managing Director and Technical Lead of Plujo Venture Studio. With over 25 years of experience across business and interactive technology, he guides co-founders and partners through every stage of the venture process - leading from both a strategic and technical perspective. Jeremy is the primary point of contact for all Plujo ventures, coordinating the right people, processes, and tools to quarterback each idea from concept to market-ready product.

Edgar Alvarado is a designer with over twenty years of experience building intuitive digital products. Edgar combines deep UX/UI craft with a marketer's instinct for what actually converts. He's shaped the visual and experiential identity of numerous software products and websites. At Plujo, Edgar informs the design of POCs and MVPs - ensuring every venture ships something users immediately understand and want to use.

Dean Askin is an award-winning communications strategist and brand storyteller with a career rooted in radio journalism. For the past five years, he has served as Communications Strategist for the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN), where he leads flagship campaigns, ghostwrites for executive voices, manages earned media relationships, and co-hosts You Can't Spell Inclusion Without a D - a podcast now in its fifth season and recognized as a leading voice on disability and employment in Canada. Dean's instinct is to find the emotional truth in a story and make it land. At Plujo, he brings that same discipline to early-stage ventures - helping founders shape the narrative that turns a good product into a brand people actually talk about.

Michael Bickerton is the Principal of RAVEN5, North America's leading contest and sweepstakes agency. Google, iab Canada, and CMA certified, Michael has spent his career helping some of the world's largest brands design and execute digital and physical promotions that build audiences, generate leads, and convert them into customers. At Plujo, Michael and the talented team at RAVEN5 bring that playbook to early-stage ventures - helping startups grow their waitlists and pre-launch communities in ways that are engaging, fun, and built to convert.

Rich Bouchard has been deeply invested in building stronger communities for over 20 years. As co-founder of Hashtag Local (#local), he has pioneered a platform that connects citizens, businesses, and charities in ways that actually make a difference. Rich has always innovated at the intersection of community leadership and technology - and his ongoing partnership with Plujo and Hashtag Local continues to push that work forward, currently working to scale that model to many communities across the country.

Jim Emerson has spent his career at the intersection of ceremony, community, and technology. As a seasoned wedding officiant with thousands of ceremonies to his name, Jim brings an unmatched understanding of what couples actually need when it comes to creating meaningful moments. He partnered with Plujo to co-found Ceremony Builder - a platform built to help officiants and couples alike design truly unique, personal ceremonies that create lasting memories. His wife Renette is also a co-founder on ceremonybuilder.com and expertly leads the marketing efforts behind the platform.

Michael Koehler is a serial digital entrepreneur with a track record that speaks for itself. He built CrossDaily.com from a hobby index site into a community of over one million members and eight million page views per month - then sold it to a major US media company. He's co-founded Puddding, the premier marketers community, and has partnered with Plujo on many ventures over the last ten-plus years. His most recent collaboration is Household Resilience - a platform helping families prepare, connect, and thrive. Michael brings deep experience in understanding market demand, building online communities that scale, and developing the financial models that turn a promising idea into a proven, investable business.

Derek Lackey is the Managing Director of LACKEY Advertising and one of Canada's foremost authorities on direct marketing and brand positioning. With decades in the industry, Derek has helped organizations across North America move from fuzzy positioning to communicable brands that resonate with their intended market. He brings his signature Wrap, Bag & Tag™ process to Plujo ventures - taking founders from raw concept all the way through to a brand that's ready to go to market.

Craig Stark is a business strategist and systems thinker with over 30 years of experience bringing complex technologies to market. Through his work at Vectored Value AI Labs and as Managing Director, Canada at Strategy of Things, he helps mid-market companies build the structure needed to turn AI initiatives into real enterprise outcomes - not just pilots.

Craig thinks in long cycles - policy shifts, ecosystem effects, structural change that compounds over years. His view: Canada's competitive edge isn't in infrastructure spend, it's in intellectual property and the ingenuity to activate it. At Plujo, he brings that perspective to early-stage ventures, helping founders build businesses designed to last.