The launching of new start-up company Interngration is the most recent success of U of T Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery. It went live officially on Tuesday, October 15, 2013.

Started by recent Electrical and Computer Engineering grads Anirudh Ganti (ElecE 1T3), Hargun Suri (CompE 1T3) and Ian Xiao (ElecE 1T3), Interngration is a software service designed to help match students to employers for potential internships and employment opportunities.

The idea was inspired by the chaos and the frustration with long lines and crowds at job fairs, says Ganti. He and his two partners came up with an idea to alleviate that problem, and on the advice of a professor, took it to the Hatchery. There, they received advice and guidance on how to develop the idea into a business, and had mentors who had started up businesses themselves share their experiences.

It was a steep learning curve, but the three learned about business plans, testing the viability of the idea with metrics, adjusting the idea for the real world, how to approach potential investors and much more. Then, of course, there was creating the framework which took a lot of time. It was a steep learning curve, says Ganti.

The end product is a web application that is free for students to use, but supported by businesses that use it in their quest to find talent for their companies. At this point, Interngration is limited to small companies and start-ups – places that are often overshadowed in large job fairs, Ganti said.

The project attracted the attention of the City of Toronto which presented Suri with the International Student Excellence Award in the entrepreneurship category.

“Interngration is a terrific example of what the Hatchery is all about,” said the Hatchery’s executive director, Joseph Orozco. He is also Adjunct Professor of the Centre for Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship (CMTE).

In fact, the new start-up is one of two success stories to come out of the Hatchery in its first year of operation. The other is Cytospan, a new company based around a technology to better measure the life span of living cells.

The Hatchery is open to students from all disciplines at the U of T. But there is a requirement that at least one engineering student be on each team. The Hatchery fosters multidisciplinary teamwork, Professor Orozco says.

“The Hatchery is about defining business models, creating viable products, finding opportunities that are real and hopefully generating revenue and jobs,” he says.

There is little that can inspire someone to take their first steps towards actual entrepreneurship better than a helping hand that offers expertise and guidance.