Ever tried to find the specific bylaws for a backyard fence or the rules for keeping chickens on a city website? If you’ve felt the frustration of digging through endless PDFs and broken search bars, you aren’t alone. Even the experts find it daunting.

In this episode of Tech About Town, hosts Alex Kinsella and Matthew Klassen sit down with Kristy Guthrie (Co-Founder & CEO) and Kerry Fraser (Co-Founder) of municiPal AI. They discuss the origin story of their startup—born from a realization that traditional municipal websites often act as barriers rather than bridges between residents and their local government.

What we cover in this episode:

• The "A-Ha" Moment: How building a shed in Kitchener led to a breakthrough in digital service delivery.

• Problem-Led AI: Why Large Language Models (LLMs) are the perfect tool for turning a "filing cabinet" website into a meaningful conversation.

• The Multi-User Impact: How municiPal AI empowers not just residents, but frontline customer service staff and elected officials.

• Safe & Secure Tech: Navigating PII (Personal Identifying Information) and the unique requirements of municipal IT.

• Selling to Government: Advice for tech founders on procurement, building trust, and showing up with empathy for the public sector.

Whether you are a municipal leader looking to innovate or a resident who just wants to know where to skate for free, this episode explores how smart technology is rebuilding community trust, one search at a time.

About the Show: Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

The physical keyboard is back, and it is arguably cooler than ever. In this episode of Tech About Town, hosts Alex Kinsella and Alison Piel are joined by the minds behind the breakout hits of CES 2026: the Clicks Communicator and the new Power Keyboard.

Jeff Gadway (CMO at Clicks) and Joseph Hofer (Founder of Hofer Studio and former lead industrial designer at BlackBerry) discuss how they are channeling the engineering DNA that put Waterloo on the global map to launch a tactile revolution. They reveal the "anti-CES" strategy that earned them massive media coverage without a show floor booth, and dive deep into their vision of "complementary computing"—positioning new devices not just as phones, but as purpose-built tools for focus in a noisy, AI-filled world.

In this episode, we cover:

• The "Anti-CES" Playbook: How Clicks used a hotel suite and a creator-first environment to generate outsized buzz and secure spots on the Today Show without a traditional booth.

• Complementary Computing: Why the Communicator is designed as a "second phone" to separate signal from noise, rather than replacing your main flagship device.

• Design DNA: Joseph Hofer on reimagining the iconic BlackBerry silhouette for 2026 without relying on nostalgia or making a carbon copy.

• Hardware Meets Software: How the Niagara Launcher and the device’s unique features create a distraction-free user experience.

• Startup Strategy: Lessons on purposeful product design, partnerships, and punching above your weight class as a hardware startup.

Guest Links:

• Clicks: https://clicks.tech/ca

• Hofer Studio: https://hoferstudio.com/

Tech About Town is brought to you by Communitech, the hub for Waterloo Region’s tech ecosystem. Whether you’re a startup founder or a tech enthusiast, we connect you with the people and ideas shaping the future. Visit us at communitech.ca.

Kick off 2026 by turning the "saddest day of the year" into the loudest! In this episode, host Alex Kinsella sits down with Ruth Casselman (CEO of the Accelerator Center) and Rick Andrade (Senior Communications Manager at Magnet Forensics) to discuss the second annual Battle of the Bands: Tech Edition.

Discover how the Waterloo tech community is coming together on Monday, January 19, 2026, at Maxwell’s Concert Works to raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

We talk about the surprising link between engineering and musical creativity, the reality of founder mental health, and why you might see a "tech giant" or two shredding on guitar.

Plus, Ruth shares details on the upcoming cohort for AC:RevLab, a program helping founders master the art of the sale.

In this episode, we cover:

• The origins of Battle of the Bands and its $8,000 impact in Year 1.

• The 2026 lineup

• Why 72% of tech founders report mental health challenges and how community support helps.

• The creative overlap between coding, designing, and harmonizing.

• Details on how to get tickets (and be home by 10:00 PM!).