Saif Altimimi is the CEO/Co-Founder of NoteWagon.com, a platform that enables students to trade course notes and other study material in a social manner online. NoteWagon has grown to over ten thousand students in four months. He is currently in his 3rd year at the University of Guelph studying Environmental Engineering with a passion for entrepreneurship.

According to CrunchBase, NoteWagon recently received $50,ooo in seed funding.

What motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?

I am motivated on a day to day basis to create experiences that can change people’s lives. Just the mere fact that whatever I do could potentially influence thousands of people holds great responsibility to pursue greatness. I have a responsibility to the citizens of NoteWagon to not only fulfill their studying needs but ensure that they have an awesome experience doing it.

If you had 30 seconds to impart your wisdom on a classroom of soon-to-be graduates, what would you say?

Well… still being in my undergrad I can’t say that I am necessarily the wisest person.  I think people need to learn that school isn’t everything. Differentiating yourself in some shape or form is important. Also, I encourage soon-to-be grads to pursue what they love. Don’t do things you are not good at. Focus on what you are exceptional at and just iterate that for the rest of your life.

In your opinion, what has been one of the most important technological developments over the past 12 months?

I would say the most important developments are the different mobile platforms that have launched. Now a wider variety of apps are enabling people to experience some pretty fantastic features. I am especially interested in location based apps, I find that they enable some pretty interesting changes to the way we interact.

If you had a crystal ball, what would you say will be the most important technological development over the next 12 months?

The rise of Tablet technologies is something I am looking forward to . I believe tablet technologies will advance in their computing capabilities and offer the same experience as a laptop would. I can just picture students studying for their Monday exam on NoteWagon using a tablet.

Who is one of Canada’s tech stars and why?

It’s been exciting to see new tech stars emerge from across Canada over the last couple years. Just saying one is tough, but I would have to commend Waterloo’s Ted Livingston. The creator of Kik, he is a product mastermind. He has shown passion and motivation even through some tough road blocks. I really wish him the best of luck.