PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
In front of a room full of investors and colleagues, Pangnirtung-founded Pinnguaq will have to pitch that its business model can thrive in the open market on March 3.

Pinnguaq founder Ryan Oliver, standing, teaches at a Pangnirtung Code Club camp in 2014. The company will be pitching to potential investors on March 3. - photo courtesy of Pinnguaq

The tech company is one of 12 chosen around Canada to pitch in the 2016 Canadian Crowdfunding Summit, which puts business owners on a stage directly in front of big-time venture capitalists and investors, yearning to gain their financial support.

Since founding with an Inuktitut language applications for iPads in Pangnirtung in 2012, Pinnguaq has expanded to British Columbia and Ontario with virtual reality, games and interactive exhibits.

"At its core, it's about creating technical experiences," said founder Ryan Oliver.

"What started as a nice idea about doing something good for the Inuktitut language has been able to grow into something larger that allows us to do a lot more around culture as a whole and not just language."

For a company that got its start from government grants and working on a project-by-project basis, transitioning to a sustainable, profitable business model in the free market is the next challenge.

"It's going to be a really good opportunity to test out the business model that we've taken the last three years to develop and see if it has the ability to impress and have staying power in a purely capitalist framework," said Oliver.

"This is really about that next step. We're taking what we've done and being able to stand up in front of a venture capitalist and if they can see the light that we think we can see, then we know we're on the right track."

When he talked to Nunavut News/North on Feb. 22, Oliver was still working out exactly what he was going to say in his pitch.

Pinnguaq has its basis in indigenous languages, but Oliver thinks he can prove to investors that the model can be expanded to some of the larger languages on the global scale.

"The hope is to pitch the technology as a whole with the idea that it can sustain both sides of the equation, both the stuff we do with indigenous communities, because I think we do it well, and at the same time start to break into the mainstream market," he said.

Asked if he was more nervous or excited, Oliver leaned to the latter.

"It's out first push into this kind of audience in terms of strictly venture capitalists," he said. "For me, I think that's a step we have to take in terms of our own ability to stay sustainable and to grow at the rate we want to grow at, so I'm really excited to see what the response is going to be to that."

But he's not going in with any expectations and says he will use it as an opportunity to see what works and what doesn't.

For would-be Nunavummiut entrepreneurs, Oliver says finding strong allies is crucial.

"What people of Nunavut specifically can bring to the table is extremely unique in business, just as what people from other fields and other walks of life can bring is extremely unique," he said.

Looking beyond the 34,000 people in Nunavut and to the world of the Internet, said Oliver, will help to fill out a team that covers a wide range of skills.