#4 UBC Venture Founder EcoBox-Biophilia
UBC Venture Founder Core is an early-stage entrepreneurship program run by entrepreneurship@UBC, the University of British Columbia’s innovation and venture-building hub. It is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs who are at the idea or pre-venture stage and are looking to turn a concept into a validated business opportunity.
Biophilia Ecobox: Automated Greenery for Modern Living
Created by a team of three—a marketer (Me), a bio-engineer (Josh), and a business-tech lead (Antonio)—Biophilia Ecobox is a smart indoor planting system that automates plant care. Tackling stress, space limits, and busy schedules, it features water-from-air tech, digital plant twins, and five-year self-feeding soil. Ecobox brings effortless, sustainable greenery to any space.
RESULTS
• Collaborated with Nafuture, a plant-tech company founded by experts from Tsinghua University (China’s top university, ranked #20 globally by QS). Their core innovation is a five-year slow-release organic substrate, enabling pest-free, fertilizer-free indoor plant growth.
• Completed the UBC Venture Founder Program with a full marketing plan, several public pitches and digital product demo. However, due to regulatory challenges related to plant shipments and difficulty sourcing engineers for hardware prototyping, the project was ultimately discontinued.
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Biophilia EcoBox Presentation
CONCLUSION
My experience in the UBC Venture Founder program was both eye-opening and transformative. From refining our market positioning to building a digital prototype and pitching to mentors, I gained hands-on exposure to the challenges and excitement of early-stage entrepreneurship.
One of the most valuable takeaways was the importance of teamwork. Our team faced conflicts—especially around task priorities and decision-making—but through honest discussions, we learned to respect each member's expertise and ultimately agreed that everyone should lead within their own domain, while aligning with the overall direction set by our team lead, Antonio.
Although the project paused due to legal and technical hurdles, the journey strengthened my adaptability, collaboration skills, and conviction to build solutions that are both creative and viable.