WaitWell Queue Management Takes Home MNP Innovation Award at Calgary Chamber Small Business Awards Gala
Calgary-based WaitWell empowers organizations to deliver exceptional customer experiences by allowing customers to join a line from anywhere
WaitWell was awarded the MNP Innovation Award at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards Gala on Friday October 22, 2021. The Awards Gala is the culmination of Small Business Week in Calgary. According to the Calgary Chamber, the MNP Innovation Award is presented to “the Calgary small business that is pushing conventional boundaries and is disrupting and reshaping their industry through ground-breaking achievements in bringing innovation to market”.
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WaitWell was founded in Calgary in 2020. Its flagship product, the WaitWell Virtual Queue Solution, eliminates lineups by allowing customers to join a virtual lineup remotely. Most users scan a QR code to access a join page and get status updates on their phone so they can move freely and use their wait time productively. To date, more than 1.7 million people have used WaitWell and have saved a collective 611,000 hours of waiting time. WaitWell helps to provide a better customer wait experience at government offices, post-secondary institutes, large scale events like the Calgary Stampede and national retailers such as Glentel.
The other finalists in the Innovation category included Goodlawyer and Stagehand. “We were in great company for this award. Goodlawyer is doing amazing work to make legal services accessible for startups, which is so important for ensuring the health of our tech ecosystem here in Alberta. And we are also fans of the work Stagehand is doing to reimagine music in public spaces. To build our tech community in Alberta, we need events like the Calgary Chamber Awards Gala, so we really appreciate the Chamber bringing people together and giving us an opportunity to socialize and build those relationships,” said Chairman of the Board and COO, Steve Vander Meulen.
Judges for the MNP Innovation Award included Jillian Murdoch of MNP, Megan Gupton of the Calgary Airport Authority and Brian Hierath from Servus Credit Union. The Awards Gala was attended by many supporters of the Calgary business community, including George Chahal, recently elected MP for Calgary Skyview, Doug Schweitzer, Alberta Minister of Jobs, the Economy and Innovation and newly-elected Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek. “It’s really encouraging to see representatives from all levels of government at this event. It’s going to take cooperation and support from municipal, provincial and federal governments to unlock capital and support small startups like WaitWell on their journey to becoming sizeable tech companies that will help to diversify Calgary’s economy,” said Alina Martin, CEO of WaitWell.
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“We started WaitWell just over a year ago with a vision to create exceptional customer experiences by solving the pain of in person lineups. The growth we have seen in this first year is just phenomenal, but we are just getting started. With the addition of Alina Martin as our CEO, we’ve got aggressive plans to grow, are hiring and have just secured our first office space. The future couldn’t be brighter,” commented WaitWell co-founder and CMO Shannon Vander Meulen.
