This project asks whether a modest amount of value-added wood processing can occur closer to existing inventory and local demand in North Carolina — and whether doing so would create new local value or simply shift value and burden among existing businesses and workers.

Students will not begin from a blank slate. The project provides two existing bodies of work as its starting point: published North Carolina research on the forest-products economy, secondary wood manufacturing, and industry geography; and a detailed public research and simulation architecture developed by 3D Solutions LLC that proposes one way project information could be resolved before material moves and bounded operations could be performed closer to demand.

The student research question sits between those two bodies of work. The technical architecture exists, but its economic and community assumptions have not been established. Students will investigate whether the proposed model could strengthen independent lumberyards and other local businesses, support greater useful use of wood, create accessible workforce pathways, and broaden participation in value-added activity — including potential opportunities for women, minorities, jobseekers, and small businesses — or whether the evidence suggests that benefits would instead be limited, displaced, or outweighed by new burdens.

Field research will focus on independent lumberyards and other relevant North Carolina stakeholders. Students will build from supplied research and a draft lumberyard interview instrument to examine where value-added work currently leaves local businesses, what existing assets may be underused, what barriers would affect participation, and what economic or operational conditions would make a small local capability worth testing.

The workforce component will also examine an existing woodworking skills and credential framework already recognized in North Carolina as a possible reference point for identifying skills, training pathways, and barriers to participation.

This is an exploratory research project, not a request to validate a technology or advocate for increased wood consumption. A well-supported negative finding is as useful as a positive one.

Learners will extend an existing body of published North Carolina research into a present-day applied study of localized value creation, workforce participation, and sustainable use of wood.

The project will begin with supplied research on North Carolina's forest-products economy, the geography and operating conditions of secondary wood manufacturing, and existing woodworking skill standards. Students will connect that evidence base to current stakeholder research with independent lumberyards, workforce and educational organizations, workers and jobseekers, and other relevant community participants.

The principal outcome will be an evidence-based assessment of whether modern project information and a modest increment of distributed processing capability could allow more useful economic activity to occur closer to existing materials and local demand without requiring small businesses to become factories. The assessment should examine not only potential economic and material benefits, but also barriers to participation, workforce accessibility, sustainability implications, and whether opportunities could be made meaningfully accessible to women, minorities, jobseekers, and smaller local businesses.

Learners should distinguish value creation from value displacement and identify unintended burdens or conditions that could make the proposed approach impractical. The objective is not to validate a predetermined solution; negative and mixed findings are equally useful.

Deliverables:

1. Evidence and environmental scan connecting the supplied North Carolina research to the present-day research question.
2. Stakeholder map identifying businesses, workforce participants, educational and community institutions, potential beneficiaries, participation barriers, and possible unintended burdens.
3. Stakeholder discovery summary synthesizing interviews and identifying recurring needs, constraints, and opportunities.
4. Workforce and equitable-participation analysis examining existing skill pathways and barriers to broader participation in value-added work.
5. Sustainability and local-value framework for assessing material utilization, local economic retention, distributed infrastructure, and relevant tradeoffs.
6. Final report and presentation identifying what the evidence supports, what remains unresolved, and the most defensible next steps for further research or a bounded real-world test.

Proposed Plan:

1. Team Setup: 2-3 students working on tasks.
2. Timeline: Two (2-week) sprints over the 6-week period.

Project deliverables can be augmented based on students' skills and interests as it relates to the company's needs.

Skills Seeking:

value creation

displacement (fluid)

advocacy

economics

operations

research

(Multiple Projects Available!)

NOTE: students will be asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement

Details

This project involves developing a strategic outreach plan to connect Growth Partner AI with key decision-makers in startup ecosystems across Canada and selected U.S. markets. Learners will research and segment potential partners, focusing on accelerators, incubators, and other relevant organizations.
 

Additionally, the team will create a LinkedIn-focused content strategy to enhance Growth Partner AI's visibility and promote workshops. This strategy will convert the company's expertise into engaging content for founders and ecosystem leaders.

Core tasks:

- Research and segment potential ecosystem partners

- Analyze partnership opportunities and stakeholder needs

- Develop a LinkedIn content and communication strategy

- Create a workshop promotion plan

- Design outreach materials and templates

Deliverables

The project will result in a comprehensive set of deliverables that support Growth Partner AI's outreach and visibility goals. These deliverables will provide actionable insights and ready-to-use materials for immediate implementation.

Deliverables:

- Ecosystem partner and decision-maker database

- Prioritized partnership pipeline

- LinkedIn content and thought leadership strategy

- Stakeholder outreach toolkit

- Six-month communications calendar

Growth Partner AI helps early-stage founders find a clearer path to revenue by making better decisions about customers, positioning, pricing, market validation, sales channels, and growth priorities.

Founders often have limited data, conflicting market signals, and many possible directions. Growth Partner AI combines customer research, structured commercial analysis, AI-powered workflows, and expert judgment to help founders uncover customer needs and buying signals, identify the decisions creating the greatest business risk, and focus their resources on the opportunities most likely to generate revenue.

Since launching, Growth Partner AI has supported more than 25 startup clients across different industries and business models. Its work has included customer and market validation, commercialization, positioning, pricing, go-to-market strategy, and revenue growth.

In 2026, Growth Partner AI was named by Scale Up Canada as one of Waterloo Region’s 50 most scalable startups. The company has also supported two other companies recognized among the Waterloo 50.

Growth Partner AI is now transforming its proven service methodology into a scalable, AI-enabled decision-support system. The platform will help founders analyze market evidence, identify commercial risks, prioritize the right actions, and move from uncertainty to focused execution more efficiently. This will allow the company to expand its impact from individual consulting engagements to a repeatable solution serving founders at scale.

The company was founded by Vivian Wang, a third-time founder and growth strategist with more than 10 years of experience in growth strategy, marketing, positioning, and commercialization. She has directed more than CAD $50 million in marketing and growth budgets, including multimillion-dollar initiatives for global brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Danone, as well as extensive work with agencies, startups, and entrepreneurial teams.

Vivian is also an Instructor at the University of Waterloo, where she brings current entrepreneurship, growth, and commercialization experience into the classroom.

Interns joining Growth Partner AI will contribute to real business and product-development priorities at a fast-growing early-stage company. They will gain hands-on experience in customer intelligence, market research, applied AI, data analysis, commercialization, product development, and growth strategy. Their work will directly support the development of a scalable platform and influence decisions made by real founders and startup teams.

Project: Marketing Strategy for a National Trauma Recovery Program
Client: Reflective Soul Therapy & Wellness | Duration: 8 weeks

NOTE: students will be asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement

Reflective Soul Therapy & Wellness, a BC-based clinical practice, has built a three-phase Trauma Recovery Intensive for people whose jobs put them at serious risk of PTSD. It was originally designed for police, fire, EMS, physicians, and nurses, but the program's design isn't limited to those professions, and the client wants to know who else across Canada it could genuinely help. The clinical side is done and the program is ready to run. What doesn't exist yet is a real marketing strategy, and that's where this team comes in.

Students on this project will research which other high-risk occupations across Canada face elevated PTSD risk on the job, beyond the obvious first responder list, figure out how to reach the unions, employers, and associations who could refer people into the program, map the wider competitive landscape and figure out what would make this program genuinely stand out, and help build a realistic, phased plan for growing a single BC practice's reach nationally, without promising more than the practice can currently deliver.

This is real, open-ended research. The client does not already have the answers and is planning to act on whatever the team recommends. It's a strong fit for students interested in healthcare or wellness marketing, market research, and growth strategy for a small, specialized business.

What the project looks like:

• Week 1: Kickoff session with the client, program walkthrough, Q&A
• Weeks 2 to 7: Research and strategy development, with a mid-project check-in
• Week 8: Final presentation to the client, plus a written report

Deliverables: a list of high-risk occupations to target, a prioritized referral-source list, a channel and outreach plan, a competitive positioning and differentiation strategy, and a phased national launch recommendation.

We are a mental health and wellness clinic that empowers wellness inside and out. Our focus is to help the clients become the best versions of themselves by addressing mental and physical challenges. We currently offer counselling & psychotherapy services, nutrition coaching, personal training, naturopathic and acupuncture services. 

Mentorship

Expert Perspective: 
Sharing our deep understanding of the industry to help guide the project’s direction.

Skill Development: 
Equipping students with the technical "know-how" and methodologies they need.

Active Mentorship: 
Rolling up our sleeves to provide real-time guidance and support on project tasks.

Enablement Tools: 
Ensuring everyone has the resources and technology to work efficiently.

Ongoing Alignment: 
Meeting regularly to stay connected, celebrate wins, and tackle hurdles together.