Instagram story viewer> @christiannachow> Posts

Christianna Chow

@christiannachow

416

followers

724

following

CEO and Co-founder @octopoditechnologies
Prof & Venture Coach | Speaker & Facilitator
Chronic Illness Girly
For Inquiries: [email protected]

POSTS STORIES REELS

Hi, I’m Christianna 👋

I had my first “career crisis” 5 years ago when I realized I didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder anymore. So I quit my job and went back to school. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I haven’t looked back since.

I am a professor and venture coach at Conestoga College as well as Co-Founder & CEO of Octopodi Technologies, where we’re rethinking how coding assignments are evaluated by focusing on how students think, not just whether their code runs.

Some things you may not know about me:
✨I am an introvert at heart
✨I LOVE to travel, road trip, and camp
✨ I read every night before bed. Thrillers are my favourite.
✨Do not ask me what my favourite food is, I could not possibly choose from all the delicious options. And I am ALWAYS down to try new foods.

This page isn’t polished highlight reels. It’s real thoughts, real lessons, and real behind-the-scenes of building something from the ground up.

If you care about education, startups, or just like following the chaos, welcome! 🤝 by @christiannachow

I took a month off from being a founder. And the world didn't end. ❤️

What I haven't shared much about until recently is that I live with endometriosis, and I made the difficult decision to travel abroad for surgery because waiting for care in Canada was no longer an option for me.

For years, I've learned to function through debilitating pain, extreme fatigue, and symptoms that most people never see. I've shown up to meetings, events, and everyday life while struggling behind the scenes.

And like so many women with endometriosis, I've spent years advocating for my health, only to hear things like "your labs are normal" or "it's probably IBS."

This year, I finally received my diagnosis. But after being told I'd have to wait at least a year just to see a surgeon, and having two referrals rejected because their waitlists were full, I knew I couldn't keep waiting.

So I pressed pause on my business and prioritized my health.

I'm grateful I had the resources and support to seek surgery abroad, but I know many women don't have that option. And that's a much bigger conversation we need to be having about women's healthcare.

As I recover, I've been reflecting on what it means to be a founder while living with a chronic illness.

We celebrate resilience, hustle, and pushing through challenges. But sometimes, pushing through isn't a choice. It's what we've learned to do because we don't feel we have another option.

I'll be sharing more about this journey, the realities of entrepreneurship with chronic illness, and why I'm rethinking what it means to be resilient.

Just because we've learned to function through something doesn't mean we should have to. ❤️

#EndometriosisAwareness #ChronicIllness #WomenFounders #WomensHealth #FounderLife by @christiannachow

I took a month off from being a founder. And apparently the entrepreneurial ecosystem survived without me. 😂

Jokes aside, I stepped away to prioritize my health and undergo surgery for endometriosis.

As someone who is used to constantly doing, building, planning, and solving problems, stepping away was harder than I expected.

But it was necessary.

I'm still recovering, still figuring out what returning to work looks like, and definitely rethinking a few things about entrepreneurship.

So I'm starting a little series about what happens when a founder has to put their health before their business.

There will be some lessons, some uncomfortable truths, and probably a little sarcasm.

Because if we can't laugh at founder culture occasionally, what are we even doing?

#FounderLife #Entrepreneurship #WomenFounders #endometriosis by @christiannachow

Another day, another grant you don't qualify for. On to the next 😂

#FounderLife #bootstrapped #bootstrappedbusiness #techfounders #womenfounded by @christiannachow

Be honest… how quickly do you scroll past the feedback to find the grade? 👀

Last week at Waterloo Tech Week, we challenged students to look at feedback a little differently.

Instead of just looking at the grade, look at:
✅What keeps showing up?
✅What am I getting better at?
✅And what does my feedback tell me about the skills I'm actually building?

Basically, we convinced students to voluntarily go back and read old assignment feedback.

As former professors, we're counting that as a win. 😅

Beyond the Grade 🎓 by @christiannachow

Founder life, chronic illness edition 🤕

I've gone back and forth a lot on if I wanted to share this publicly. But after talking with a lot of founders on a more personal level, I've come to realize that there are a lot of us trying to build companies, show up for our teams, hit deadlines, chase opportunities, and be a “good founder” while also dealing with chronic illness behind the scenes.

There are days when I can do everything on my to-do list, and days when my body has very different plans for me. There’s guilt. There’s frustration. There’s cancelling things I really wanted to do. There’s trying to figure out when to push through and when pushing through is actually the worst thing I could do.

It’s a part of my founder journey that I haven’t really shared before. So, I’m going to start talking about it because this is what building a company looks like for me too.

So… Founder Life: Chronic Illness Edition. Here we go.

#FounderLife #ChronicIllness #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #FounderThoughts by @christiannachow

Friday founder reminder: it's an ever changing process! Don't forget to take a moment to celebrate the wins and learn from the mistakes 🎉

#buildinpublic #entrepreneur #founderlife #edtech #womenintech by @christiannachow

Being a good co-founder sometimes means being pretty annoying. 😂

You need people around you who are willing to challenge your ideas, ask the question you don’t want to answer, push back when something doesn’t make sense, and say “I don’t agree” instead of just going along with it.

That can be… annoying. Especially when you’re convinced you’re right. 😅

But I’d much rather have co-founders who challenge me than ones who agree with everything I say.

Apparently, I’m doing my part. 💅😂

#FounderLife #CoFounders #StartupLife #Entrepreneurship #FounderThoughts by @christiannachow

In a world that teaches you to move as fast as you can, this is your reminder that it's okay to slow down and take things at your own pace. That includes your business. ❤️

#foundertips #FounderThoughts #FounderLife #StartupFounder #buildinpublic by @christiannachow

Startup life can change really fast.

Last week, it felt like nothing was going our way. By Friday, things turned around.

The rejections still happened. The ghosting still sucked. The no’s are still no’s.

But a bad few days aren’t always a sign that things aren’t working.

Sometimes it’s just Tuesday.

#FounderThoughts #StartupLife #founderjourney #buildinpublic by @christiannachow

Our @waterlootechweek event is TOMORROW! If you're a student, this event is for you! Join us for Beyond the Grade where we will teach you to turn your assignment feedback into career data that you can use in job interviews!

#WaterlooTechWeek #waterlooregion #universitystudent #collegestudent by @christiannachow

It's FUNDING FRIDAY! And it's an exciting one because with the start of a new month comes the start of new opportunities to apply to.

#entrepreneur #FundingFriday #startupfounder #startupfunding #buildinpublic by @christiannachow