When he entered university in software engineering, Tristan Toupin, by his own admission, had a hard time managing his schedule.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Which
“When I was at university, I was not the best organized student, it really took me a long time to structure myself,” says the co-founder of Peera. It was then that his current partner, Mika Weissenberger, contacted him. Visibly more in control of his schedule, he had started creating schedules for other students. Initially, he simply emailed them an Excel file that could help them get organized. By founding the company Peera, in April 2021, the two young men in their twenties have evolved the concept.
innovation
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Students sometimes have difficulty managing their schedules. Peera is there to lend them a hand.
“Peera’s mission is to help students get organized: to be more productive and not to forget important dates,” explains Tristan Toupin on the phone. We create schedules for students with all homework, all readings, exams, labs and what needs to be done before class. We are going to put as many details as possible so that a student, only with Peera, is able to do everything on time and prepare for the weeks to come. »
The service costs $6.99 per month. The procedure is simple. A student tired of doing scheduled gymnastics need only create an account on the peera.ca site. He then uploads his lesson plans. In less than 24 hours, he will receive his schedule in the form of a calendar. Every Sunday, students are also sent a summary of their week. Added to this is a notification service that serves as a reminder. “If they have a big exam that counts for 35% of the session, the student will receive an email or a text message a few days before to let them know that it’s time to prepare. »
During the fall semester, some 900 McGill students used the services of Peera. These were enrolled in different programs: chemistry, physics, mathematics, economics, political science. To meet demand, the two business partners had to hire outside people to help them create schedules.
The future
“We want to grow. We want to help more students,” says Tristan Toupin, when asked what he wants for the future of his business. While Peera was primarily focused on McGill students, the platform is now accessible across Canada.
The duo is currently working on the translation of its site into French, since it is only in English.