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The Ledger of Grit: Erich Ko's Journey from Government Red Tape to Revolutionizing Employee Transportation

Nov 27, 2025

Captain Startup

The Ledger of Grit: Erich Ko's Journey from Government Red Tape to Revolutionizing Employee Transportation

2018.

Markham, Ontario. Three friends sit in a bar, complaining about the same thing they've complained about for years: getting to work in the Greater Toronto Area is a nightmare.

Between them, they've lived every commuting horror story. Long waits. Multiple transfers. Buses that never show. The financial suffocation of needing a car just to reach a job that barely covers the car payment.

Most bar conversations die with the tab. This one didn't.

Erich Ko was 24 years old. He'd spent seven years learning business from his father's consulting company. He'd watched government bureaucracy crush good ideas. He'd helped build a startup from three people into something real.

Now he was about to build something of his own.

This is the story of Hop In Technologies—not a unicorn, not a billion-dollar exit, but something rarer: a company built to solve a problem the founders lived every single day. And how a frustrated conversation between childhood friends became transportation infrastructure serving some of Canada's largest corporations.

Chapter 1: The Bookkeeper's Son

Greater Toronto Area, 2010-2017

At 16, while his classmates focused on exams and social hierarchies, Erich Ko sat in his father's consulting office learning how businesses actually work.

Not theory. Reality.

For seven years, from 2010 to 2017, Erich balanced education with bookkeeping, office administration, and the unglamorous mechanics of keeping a small business alive. He learned financial literacy not from textbooks but from invoices. Operational discipline not from case studies but from deadlines.

Most importantly, he learned that businesses are built on details. The small things that most people ignore. The processes that seem boring until they break.

Growing up in the Greater Toronto Area, Erich watched something else: the daily struggle of workers trying to reach their jobs.

The GTA sprawls across 7,100 square kilometers. Public transit connects some of it. Cars connect the rest—if you can afford one. For workers in suburban industrial zones, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities, the math was brutal: spend hours on multiple bus transfers, or spend money you don't have on a vehicle.

Many chose a third option: don't take the job at all.

Erich filed this observation away. He didn't know yet that it would become his life's work.

Chapter 2: The Red Tape Revelation

Ontario Ministry of Finance, 2017

After completing his studies in Law and Business at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), Erich believed government was the path to meaningful change.

He was wrong.

Working with the Ontario Ministry of Finance and in legal services, Erich encountered the infamous red tape problem—the bureaucratic quicksand that swallows good intentions and drowns innovation.

"I ran into the red tape problem, something you hear about, but don't believe until you see it," Erich reflected. "I figured there has to be a faster way and a better way for me to have an impact."

Ideas that should take weeks took months. Initiatives that should move forward got stuck in approval chains that seemed designed to prevent movement. The machinery of government ground slowly, indifferent to urgency.

Erich realized something fundamental: if you want to change the world quickly, government isn't the vehicle.

"I turned to startups. It seems to be the best way to change something in the world."

This wasn't youthful impatience. It was strategic calculation. Erich had seen how his father's small business could adapt and respond. He'd watched government do the opposite. The contrast was clear.

He needed to build, not wait.

Chapter 3: The Three-Person Education

Curexe (Later Cevnn Payments), 2017

Erich's first startup job wasn't glamorous. It was better: it was comprehensive.

Curexe, a payments company that would later rebrand as Cevnn Payments, had exactly three employees when Erich joined in a marketing role.

Three people means no boundaries. No "that's not my job." No hiding behind titles.

"There were only three of us at the time, so I did everything and anything and developed my skills that way," Erich explained.

Marketing became product development became customer acquisition became operations became fundraising became crisis management. Every startup emergency landed on three desks. Every problem required everyone.

This wasn't inefficiency. It was education.

Erich learned the complete anatomy of a startup—not the sanitized version from business school, but the messy reality of making something work when resources are scarce and stakes are high.

He continued consulting with the company even after moving on, helping them scale their team and refine their business model. The relationship proved that Erich wasn't just passing through startups—he was building capabilities.

By 2018, he was ready to use them.

Chapter 4: The Bar

Toronto, 2018

The best startups often begin with complaints.

Erich sat with Boyd Reid and Erwin Komguem—childhood friends who'd grown up navigating the same transportation nightmare. Between them, they'd experienced every GTA commuting failure: buses that never came, transfers that didn't connect, schedules that existed in theory but not practice.

"One night while drinking at the bar, we were discussing how we had all lived every problem possible when it came to commuting," Erich recalled. "That's when we decided we would try to build an app to solve commuting issues."

The insight was simple: In the Greater Toronto Area, it seemed almost impossible to commute to work without having a personal vehicle.

But the friends noticed something else. Transportation capacity existed across the region—buses, shuttles, vans, taxis. What didn't exist was coordination. Employers wanted to help workers get to work. Workers wanted reliable options. Transportation providers wanted more business.

The pieces were all there. Nobody had connected them.

That night, Hop In Technologies was born—at least in concept. The real work was about to begin.

Chapter 5: The Year of Questions

2018-2019

Erich and Boyd didn't rush to build. They spent an entire year asking questions.

They talked to workers struggling with commutes. They talked to employers losing candidates who couldn't reach their facilities. They talked to transportation providers with empty seats. They talked to urban planners who understood the systemic problem.

What they discovered validated their bar conversation: the problem wasn't lack of transportation. It was lack of logistics software to coordinate existing resources.

A factory in Markham had workers who couldn't reach it. A bus company had vehicles sitting idle during commute hours. These two facts existed side by side, unconnected.

Hop In would be the connection.

The platform would partner with local transportation operators, design custom corporate shuttle routes, and create seamless commute solutions for employers and employees alike.

As co-founder Boyd Reid articulated: "Hop In Technologies understands the immense barrier that transportation challenges pose on people, and our mission is to unlock the potential of mobility for everyone."

The basement in Erich's parents' house in Markham became headquarters. The founding team got to work.

Chapter 6: The Credibility Gap

Durham Region and Eastern Ontario, 2018-2019

Young founders face a brutal paradox: you need customers to prove your solution works, but customers won't try an unproven solution.

Erich and Boyd were in their early twenties. Their track records were thin. Their company existed in a basement.

Large corporations were supposed to trust them with employee transportation—a mission-critical function. If workers can't reach the factory, the factory stops. The stakes were enormous.

The skepticism was rational. The rejection was constant.

"Our primary challenge was accessing opportunities to showcase and pilot our software," Erich recalled. Every conversation required proving themselves from zero.

They turned to the startup ecosystem. Spark Centre, an organization with a track record of helping entrepreneurs scale, opened doors to early pilots. In 2018 and 2019, Erich joined the NEXT Canada accelerator cohort, gaining mentorship, network access, and credibility.

He also entered the DMZ Incubator at Toronto Metropolitan University, where design thinking became a foundational tool. "The DMZ taught me design thinking, which proved essential for validating the business concept," Erich explained.

Each accelerator, each program, each mentor added a layer of credibility. The basement startup was building a reputation.

Then came the first customer.

Chapter 7: The First Ride

2019

Nutcracker Sweet Gift Baskets needed to move employees. Hop In needed to prove they could do it.

The first ride was small. A single route. A handful of workers. Nothing that would make headlines.

But it worked.

More importantly, it generated data. Hop In's platform collected real-time information on employee transportation needs, designed custom routes, and measured results. Each ride made the next one better.

Word spread. Maple Lodge Farms signed on. Then Bird Construction. Then the municipal governments of Markham and Vaughan agreed to pilot programs.

The results were consistent:

Employers accessed larger talent pools—workers who previously couldn't reach facilities could now be hired.

Employees gained reliable, comfortable commutes that saved time and money.

Transportation providers gained new revenue streams and operational efficiency.

Everyone won.

Then the giants noticed. Bombardier—one of Canada's largest industrial companies—signed on as a customer. So did Roche, the global pharmaceutical corporation.

The basement startup was now serving some of the biggest names in Canadian business.

Hop In had momentum. Then the world stopped.

Chapter 8: The Pandemic Pivot

March 2020

COVID-19 didn't just slow Hop In's business. It vaporized the market.

Workplaces closed globally. Commuter transportation demand dropped to near zero overnight. The tech companies Hop In had been courting all switched to remote work. Nobody needed rides to offices that were empty.

For many startups, this would have been fatal. Erich made a different choice.

"For the first couple of months, everyone was just trying to figure out their place in this world now," Erich explained. "We took that time to help those in need."

The team realized they weren't going to generate revenue for months. They could panic, or they could pivot.

Hop In partnered with restaurants in Vaughan, Markham, and Brampton. Over the following months, Hop In Covid Relief delivered more than 100 meals and free rides to healthcare workers fighting the pandemic.

They donated over 20,000 disposable masks across Canada over eight months.

The goodwill was real. But so was the strategic thinking.

While tech companies went remote, essential workers still needed to reach factories, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities. These employers were desperate—their entire operations depended on workers showing up.

"We did pivot, but nothing too big for us. Our core model stayed the same," Erich noted. "We doubled down on the essential factories and manufacturing facilities that had to stay open."

By maintaining customer relationships, preserving cash flow, and continuously iterating on the product, Hop In didn't just survive the pandemic. They emerged stronger, with a client base that had proven they needed the service when it mattered most.

Chapter 9: The Recognition

2020-2022

The awards came in waves.

2020: MBT YPN Aspire Awards for Professional Excellence from the Markham Board of Trade.

2021: Business Excellence Award for Innovation from the Brampton Board of Trade. Named among the CIX Top 20 Early Stage Startups in Canada.

2022: Business Excellence Award for Innovation from the Markham Board of Trade. Acceptance into Techstars, one of the world's most prestigious startup accelerators.

Techstars wasn't just validation—it was infrastructure. Access to top-tier mentors, investors, and a global network of founders who had built real companies.

The basement startup was now recognized nationally and connected globally.

But Erich wasn't building for awards. He was building for impact.

Chapter 10: The Six-Year Mark

2024

In 2024, Erich posted a reflection:

"Today is a big day at Hop In Technologies. We are 6 years old! It's crazy to think that Boyd Reid and I started this company back in 2018 in my parents' basement. It's even crazier to see how far we have come."

The numbers told the story:

Clients included the City of Markham, City of Vaughan, Toronto Region Board of Trade, and the Brampton Honey Badgers professional basketball team.

Corporate giants Bombardier and Roche remained active customers.

Hop In had helped employees travel their first 10,000 kilometers safely to work.

The platform had reduced an estimated 76-80 metric tonnes of CO2 by consolidating commutes that would otherwise require individual vehicles.

By peak operations, Hop In was coordinating approximately 450 rides per day.

None of this made Erich wealthy. Hop In isn't a unicorn. It hasn't raised hundreds of millions. The confirmed funding is modest—$20,000 from Techstars.

But thousands of workers get to their jobs every day because of what three friends built after a bar conversation.

Chapter 11: The Expanding Mission

2024-2025

Erich's impact extended beyond Hop In.

He became Entrepreneur-in-Residence at York University's YSpace, advising startups navigating the same challenges he'd faced. He worked with organizations including the UNDP in Cambodia, bringing his operational expertise to global development contexts.

In March 2025, he took on an additional role as Senior Channel Partnerships Manager for SME and Growth at Airwallex, the global fintech platform. The position demonstrated his continued influence in the startup ecosystem while maintaining involvement in Hop In's mission.

For Erich, these weren't distractions from his founding work. They were extensions of the same purpose: helping people access opportunity.

Transportation barriers. Financial barriers. Knowledge barriers. The specific problem varied. The underlying mission remained constant.

Chapter 12: The Philosophy

What Hop In Actually Built

Erich's signature line captures his approach: "I'm here to help you start loving your commute one ride at a time!"

It sounds simple. It isn't.

Hop In doesn't just move people. The platform addresses systemic economic development challenges:

Workforce access: Connecting employers in suburban and industrial areas to workers without vehicles.

Economic inclusion: Enabling lower-income workers to access better job opportunities regardless of car ownership.

Employee retention: Improving work-life balance and reducing turnover by removing commute stress.

Environmental sustainability: Reducing single-occupancy vehicles and emissions through consolidated transportation.

As Boyd Reid explained: "There are transportation options like Uber, Lyft, charter buses, but the reality is people don't use these services to get to work or school daily. Our platform and apps help employers fill their shifts by designing custom commute travel options for employees to get to work."

The mission statement captures the holistic vision: "It is our mission to not just move people towards their destination but towards a healthier, more productive and fulfilling life through our services."

This isn't corporate speak. It's the philosophy of someone who watched transportation barriers limit human potential for his entire life—and decided to do something about it.

Chapter 13: The Cultural Builder Pattern

What Captain Startup Observes

Erich Ko's story exemplifies a specific type of Cultural Builder: the local infrastructure founder.

Not every important company becomes a unicorn. Not every meaningful innovation scales globally. Some founders build infrastructure that transforms specific communities—and that infrastructure matters as much as any billion-dollar exit.

The Personal Problem as Foundation:

Erich didn't discover the GTA transportation problem through market research. He lived it. His childhood friends lived it. The frustration was visceral before it became entrepreneurial.

This is the pattern: founders who solve problems they've experienced have conviction that hired executives cannot replicate.

The Apprenticeship Model:

Seven years in his father's consulting company. Time in government understanding bureaucracy. A stint at a three-person startup doing everything. Each phase built capabilities that the next phase required.

Erich didn't rush to founder status. He accumulated skills until he was ready.

The Ecosystem Strategy:

Spark Centre. NEXT Canada. DMZ Incubator. Techstars. Erich systematically accessed every resource the Canadian startup ecosystem offered.

This wasn't luck. It was strategy. Young founders without track records need external credibility. Erich built it deliberately.

The Crisis Response:

When COVID destroyed demand, Erich didn't panic. He contributed (meals, masks, free rides for healthcare workers) and pivoted (essential manufacturing clients).

The companies that survive crises are the ones that respond rather than react.

The Patient Build:

Six years from basement to serving major corporations. No explosive growth hacks. No viral moments. Just steady execution, customer by customer, route by route.

This is how real infrastructure gets built.

Epilogue: The Lessons in Grit

What does Erich Ko's journey teach founders building today?

Early work experience builds entrepreneurial foundations. Those seven years as a teenage bookkeeper weren't detours—they were preparation. The financial literacy, operational discipline, and business mechanics Erich learned became the foundation for everything after.

Government and corporate experience inform better solutions. Understanding bureaucracy helped Erich build faster alternatives. The frustration wasn't wasted—it was education in what not to do.

Personal frustration reveals market opportunities. The best problems to solve are ones you've lived. Bar complaints became business plans because the pain was real.

Ecosystem support accelerates growth. Accelerators, mentors, and networks aren't optional extras—they're essential infrastructure for founders without established credibility.

Adaptability trumps perfection. Pivoting through crises is survival. Hop In's pandemic response preserved the company for the opportunities that followed.

Purpose-driven missions attract customers and talent. People want to be part of something meaningful. "Unlock the potential of mobility for everyone" resonates more than "transportation logistics software."

Not every important company becomes a unicorn. Hop In may never be worth billions. But thousands of workers reach their jobs because of what Erich built. That's a different kind of success—and it's worth documenting.

Captain Startup writes: "I've documented founders who raised billions and founders who changed industries. But Erich Ko represents something equally important: the local infrastructure builder. He didn't solve a global problem—he solved a Toronto problem. He didn't raise hundreds of millions—he raised enough to prove the model. He didn't become famous—he became useful. Three friends complained about commuting in a bar. Six years later, some of Canada's largest corporations depend on what they built. That's not disruption. That's dedication. The world needs more founders who build infrastructure for specific communities rather than chasing scale for its own sake. Erich Ko is one of them."

Build with intent. ⚓

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