It All Begins With An Idea, And An “Uncertain Time”.

2020 was rough, to say the least.

I can remember where I was when the first case of Covid was announced in my city of Hamilton.

I was waiting for one of my clients to finish an application at a local college. Flipping through online news articles, trying to pass the time, I saw the article that would soon become a much bigger deal than people were prepared for: First Case of Covid-19 confirmed in Hamilton.

A couple of days later, my colleagues and I got the announcement that we would have to shut down our office and work from home (I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t stoked to work in my pyjamas from home for a bit.)

“I guess I’ll see you in a week?”, my one coworker said.

Nope. I had been following the pandemic on Reddit since 2019. I saw it make the international jump, and watched it grow with a fury across the world.

“I don’t think so… I think this may be much longer than that”, I replied.

Spoiler alert, I never saw her in-person again.

Becoming a hermit at home, we were introduced to a term that now makes us shudder … “Social Distancing”. We were encouraged to practice it.

And damn, it was hard.

Reflecting on it now, this new practice changed the way that businesses operated forever.

Since 2020, we’ve seen beloved local businesses not only close their doors, but turn off their lights for good. Instagram has been flooded with posts that start with “It is with mixed emotions that…”.

Sometimes, it all feels heartbreaking; like we are losing our sense of community.

I see more big-box stores popping up in places that once were home to beloved local spots. And it bothers me.

You see, I’ve always been big into the concept of community. Having worked in homeless shelters and treatment facilities, I have seen the way that communities build from the ground up.

What is a community, anyway?

It’s defined as a group of people who share the same characteristics. For cities like Hamilton, the community I’ve always loved has been the small business community.

I have great admiration for small business owners who can take an idea from conception and run with it. How do they do it?!

I can tell you that it takes guts, it takes sacrifice, and it takes an unwavering belief that what you are doing is making your city even better.

So, when I saw the way a pandemic was hurting the walkability of local businesses, I knew there had to be a way to help. Businesses were forced to sell their products without a brick and mortar space to do it. And many of them couldn’t continue on this way.

I knew that if businesses were to continue reaching customers without the walkability aspect, technology would have to play a part in it.

It just so happened that I had become enamored with a new technology while house hunting — virtual tours.
Gorgeous, 3D, to-scale digital twins that could be viewed from anywhere in the world.

Could I use this technology to help the small business community? Could I make my own small business that helped other businesses become more accessible? We were about to find out.

And in May 2020, a new community was born.