Point of No Return podcast: Recent Episodes
PNR
By the time you finish listening to this sentence, technology will have removed another obstacle between you and your vision. Exponential progress in technology is assured, however right strategy to execute is in doubt. Welcome to the point of no return podcast, a show about the intersection of technology, strategy and the how leaders can increase their velocity.
Zaid Al Hamami built Immunio in the early 2010s, sold it to Trend Micro, and is now back at it with Boost Security. He joins Nectar to talk about what changes when you build a cybersecurity company twice, fifteen years apart.
The conversation traces Zaid's path from coding as a kid in Jordan to running product at Canonical, founding Immunio and navigating the RASP category consolidation, and the market insight behind Boost: securing software at the speed that AI now writes it.
What gets covered:
- Why "if you build it, they will come" nearly cost Immunio its shot
- What Mythos actually changes for cybersecurity, and where it's overhyped
- The economics of running frontier models on every pull request (hint: tens of millions)
- Developer endpoints as the new CISO blindspot
- CI/CD pipelines as the next supply chain attack surface
- Why agile is dead and the best engineering teams are now three people
- How one major airline restructured 600 developers into 200 three-person pods
- Founder scar tissue from a first exit, and what ports over to the second company
Plus the story of Zaid and Nectar being WeWork neighbors years before Amiral ended up investing in Boost.
Zaid Al Hamami built Immunio in the early 2010s, sold it to Trend Micro, and is now back at it with Boost Security. He joins Nectar to talk about what changes when you build a cybersecurity company twice, fifteen years apart.
The conversation traces Zaid's path from coding as a kid in Jordan to running product at Canonical, founding Immunio and navigating the RASP category consolidation, and the market insight behind Boost: securing software at the speed that AI now writes it.
What gets covered:
- Why "if you build it, they will come" nearly cost Immunio its shot
- What Mythos actually changes for cybersecurity, and where it's overhyped
- The economics of running frontier models on every pull request (hint: tens of millions)
- Developer endpoints as the new CISO blindspot
- CI/CD pipelines as the next supply chain attack surface
- Why agile is dead and the best engineering teams are now three people
- How one major airline restructured 600 developers into 200 three-person pods
- Founder scar tissue from a first exit, and what ports over to the second company
Plus the story of Zaid and Nectar being WeWork neighbors years before Amiral ended up investing in Boost.
Bachar Elzein knew at 13 he wanted to build rockets. Twenty-five years later, he's the founder & CEO of Reaction Dynamics — the Montreal-based company building Canada's first orbital launch capability.
In this episode, Bachar breaks down the hybrid propulsion breakthrough that makes RDX's rockets cheaper, safer, and deployable from virtually anywhere — including the back of a truck. We talk about what it takes to survive nine years building deep tech, skipping payroll, and betting everything on a technology the market wasn't ready for.
We also get into the geopolitics: why Canada is the only G7 country without sovereign launch capability, what the recent federal backing means, and why allied nations are now paying attention.
A rare conversation at the intersection of frontier engineering, national strategy, and founder resilience.
Two years after first appearing on the Flagship Podcast, Nectar, Fred, and Dom reunite for a long-overdue conversation: Amiral Ventures has officially closed Fund 1.
In this candid episode, the three partners trace the origins of the fund: how Fred's entrepreneurial journey (including co-developing LTE at Nortel and a successful Series A & B raise at Mnubo) first brought him together with Dom, a veteran M&A banker who went on to launch Xpnd Capital and deliver two IPOs. Nectar rounds out the team, coming off years of post-investment value creation work at PNR and crossing paths with Fred through this very podcast.
The conversation gets real about what it actually takes to raise a fund from scratch: nearly three years in the trenches, no product to show, just a slide deck and conviction. They share what they've learned, the primacy of trust-building, the importance of giving candid feedback to founders (even on a "no"), and the gap they're filling in the Canadian ecosystem at the seed-to-Series A inflection point.
The team also lifts the curtain on their Prosperity Decoded thesis, backing AI-native companies driving enterprise productivity, sustainability, and resilience; and spotlights their first two portfolio companies: Maxa (AI for CFOs and FP&A) and Maket (AI for residential architecture and design).
They close on what excites them most: the caliber of Quebec founders, the community of successful exits now back as LPs and mentors, and the long game of building Canada's next generation of flagship technology companies.
Today I'm joined by Anthony, co-founder of General Magic and one of the most exciting young builders coming out of the Canadian AI ecosystem.
We talk about his journey from building robots as a kid to launching startups while still in university, what he learned from failing his first company, and how General Magic is rethinking the way humans interact with software using natural language.
We also dive into their recent $7M seed round, going through a16z Speedrun, and why the future of computing might move beyond the traditional graphical interface.
I really enjoyed this conversation, Anthony is thoughtful, ambitious, and building something genuinely interesting. Let's get into it.
In this episode of the Flagship Podcast, we sit down with Tyler Reid, co-founder and CEO of Xona Space, to explore the future of satellite navigation and why GPS as we know it is no longer enough.
Tyler shares his journey from space-obsessed kid to Stanford researcher to venture-backed space founder, and explains how Zona is building a next-generation positioning system designed for centimeter-level accuracy, stronger signals, and built-in security. We unpack how modern infrastructure depends on timing and location, why GPS is vulnerable to jamming and spoofing, and what new satellite constellations unlock for autonomous systems, defense, data centers, and everyday devices.
We also go deep on building a hard-tech startup: raising capital for space infrastructure, launching satellites, assembling the right team, and navigating the long road from research to orbit.
If you're interested in space tech, deep tech startups, autonomous systems, or the new space economy, this episode is for you.
Topics covered:
- Why GPS needs an upgrade
- How next-gen satellite navigation works
- Centimeter-level positioning and resilient timing
- Space infrastructure and low-Earth orbit constellations
- From PhD research to space startup
- Lessons from building a hardware + space company
- The coming wave of space innovation and lunar missions
What does it really take to build a unicorn-scale company from Canada? At North Star, the Unicorn Panel brings together founders behind global tech leaders to talk candidly about ambition, scaling, capital, leadership, near-death moments, and the realities behind the highlight reel. Moderated by Sophie Boulanger, this conversation goes beyond success stories and digs into the hard decisions: when not to sell, how to think about control and cap tables, scaling teams, surviving crises, and building companies with long-term impact. You'll hear firsthand lessons from founders who have built and scaled category-defining businesses across gaming, mobility, and healthcare technology
Topics covered include: Early exit offers vs long-term ambition Scaling from startup to global platform Fundraising strategy and cap table discipline Hiring executives and leadership evolution Crisis moments and near failures Building and keeping tech champions in Canada AI, moats, and the future of company building Recorded live at North Star — Inspiring Entrepreneurs in Montréal.
Two of Montreal's most iconic tech founders — Dax Dasilva (Lightspeed) and Fred Lalonde (Hopper & Deep Sky) — sit down for a rare and candid fireside conversation on building global companies from Canada, surviving the founder rollercoaster, and using technology and capitalism to tackle world-scale problems. From bootstrapping and product-market fit, to IPOs, hypergrowth, culture, leadership, and climate action — this keynote goes deep into what it really takes to build enduring companies. This is not a highlight reel. It's an unfiltered operator conversation. In this keynote, they discuss: Bootstrapping vs venture capital journeys The hardest leadership transitions founders face How company culture is actually built (not what's written on the wall) Product-market fit stories from Lightspeed and Hopper Scaling teams from 10 → 1,000+ people Founder psychology, resilience, and decision-making under pressure Why trust is the ultimate currency with teams and boards Capitalism as a lever for large-scale positive change Climate, carbon removal, and building Deep Sk Conservation, Age of Union, and purpose beyond exits Speakers: Dax Dasilva — Founder & CEO, Lightspeed Fred Lalonde — Co-founder, Hopper; Founder, Deep Sky Recorded live in front of founders and students at North Star in Montreal. If you're a founder, operator, investor, or student thinking about building — this conversation is a masterclass in real-world company building.
At North Star, we brought together top founders and emerging entrepreneurs for a candid panel on what it really takes to build in today's tech ecosystem — from first traction to scale, hard lessons, and unfair advantages. In this session, the panel shares practical insights on: How to get your first real customers Mistakes founders make early (and how to avoid them) Fundraising vs. bootstrapping decisions Building momentum with limited resources What great investors actually look for Tactical growth and execution tips If you're a founder, operator, investor, or student exploring startups, this conversation is packed with field-tested perspective and actionable advice. About North Star North Star is a founder-first gathering that brings together startup builders, investors, and students to share real stories, practical lessons, and ecosystem insights.
This is the North Star Pre-Show — recorded live as a Tech Poutine podcast session — where founders, investors, and ecosystem builders warm up the room before the main event with unscripted startup talk, real operator stories, and behind-the-scenes insights. This pre-show segment sets the stage for an exciting day filled with inspiration and insight from a dynamic lineup of entrepreneurs. Reflecting on last year's success, the hosts discuss the unique value of gathering experienced founders and ambitious young entrepreneurs, all while growing the event to new heights. Hear about keynote speakers Dax and Fred, as well as engaging panels with industry leaders like Adrian and LP. This episode captures the essence of Montreal's tech scene and the vibrant community driving it forward. About North Star North Star brings together hundreds of founders, students, and investors for high-signal conversations and practical startup insight. About Tech Poutine Tech Poutine is a live startup podcast focused on founders, venture, and the Canadian tech ecosystem.
We closed out the year with a special live recording of the Flagship Podcast in collaboration with AI Salon at Mila, a packed evening featuring a Montréal VC panel, an AI founder roundtable, and a fireside keynote with Sam Ramadori (BrainBox AI, now co-president of Law Zero).
Across all three segments, one theme dominated: AI is moving faster than any tech cycle before it, and Canada has a once-in-a-generation chance to lead.
VC Panel, Navigating the AI Wave Investors from Inovia, White Star, and Amiral Ventures explored the chaos and opportunity of today's market. The AI cycle is "psychotic" in speed and scope, but the fundamentals still matter: strong teams, sticky products, real customer value. The best startups will use AI as an enabler, not the product, and differentiate through privileged data, deep domain expertise, and the ability to deliver ROI, not hype.
Founder Panel, Building Real AI Companies in Montréal Budpress, Maxa, and Wrk shared candid takes from the front lines: why traditional SaaS is being rewritten, how open-source models and reasoning engines are changing the game, and why Montréal remains one of the best bases in the world for AI talent and cost-efficient scaling. The founders stressed that Canada must shed its "small market" mindset, big outcomes are possible here.
Keynote with Sam Ramadori, AI, Climate, and Responsibility Sam recounted his unlikely journey from private equity to leading BrainBox AI through an acquisition, and why he's now dedicating himself to Law Zero, a nonprofit effort led by Yoshua Bengio to build safer, more reliable AI systems. His message was clear: Canada has extraordinary AI talent, but must rally around sovereignty, responsible innovation, and deeper collaboration to avoid being squeezed between global superpowers.
The night ended with a message to the community: this is our moment. We have world-class research, world-class founders, and a fast-maturing ecosystem. If we choose ambition, and support one another, Montréal can be one of the defining AI hubs of this decade.
In this insightful episode, we turn the tables on Josh Scott from BetaKit, delving into his journey in journalism and passion for Canadian tech. Josh shares his early writing experiences, challenges in the industry, and the invigorating process of reporting on tech startups. We dive into engaging discussions on the evolution of journalism, the state of Canadian tech, the intricacies of venture capital, and the policy landscape shaping the tech industry. With candid reflections on past stories and predictions for future trends, Josh offers a compelling look at the importance of transparent reporting and the dynamic world of Canadian tech.
Étienne shared his journey from founding his own startup to becoming a VC. He talked about what pushed him to start a fund after exiting his company and the unexpected path that led him there. He reflected on his transition from founder life to joining a larger company, Hootsuite, and how that experience shaped his perspective as an investor.
Étienne opened up about the lessons he learned along the way, the value of resilience, trust, and playing the long game in both building and backing startups. He also spoke about his partnership with Luis & Varun at Telegraph Hill Capital and their shared mission to support founders in Quebec.
Real talk, honest stories, and practical takeaways, this one's for anyone thinking about their next chapter, whether it's starting up or stepping into VC.
In this episode, I spoke with Edouard Reinach, CEO & co-founder of Trampoline AI. We explore their journey, focused on revolutionizing the RFP response process using AI. The discussion covers the genesis of the company, challenges faced in the initial stages, and the pivotal switch to focusing on RFPs. Edouard provides insights into how their platform streamlines complex RFP responses, making the process faster and more efficient, particularly for remote and distributed teams. He highlighted the technology's benefits, like saving significant time and enhancing the quality of responses. The conversation also delves into the broader implications of AI in enterprise settings, the cultural aspects of building an AI-native organization, and the future trajectory of Trampoline.
In this episode, I sat down with Etienne Gauthier, Associate @ Inovia Capital. We discussed our shared passion for cycling and its connection to his career in venture capital.
We discuss his career path, touching on Etienne’s background in management consulting, transition into VC, and current role at a prominent firm. We explored investment trends, particularly in AI and cybersecurity, and shared insights into their firm's differentiators and investment strategies. The conversation wraps up with advice for aspiring VCs on the importance of networking, building a personal brand, and developing essential skills like context switching.
On this week’s episode, I spoke with George Korkejian, co-founder and COO @ Rozvelt. We discussed his journey from working at Next AI to launching his own startup. We dove into George’s experience in the Montreal entrepreneurial ecosystem, his pivot from supporting other founders to becoming a founder himself, and the motivations behind building Rozvelt, a revolutionary product aimed at filtering human breath for hunters and wildlife observers.
The conversation covers the importance of aligning founder priorities, the unique challenges of creating hardware, and the innovative techniques used in field testing. George also shared insights into how Rozvelt has quickly gained traction and their ambitious plans for the future.
In this episode, Chris, co-founder of Bio Box, delves into the innovative solutions his company offers to the biopharma sector. Bio Box provides a knowledge and reasoning infrastructure for biopharma R&D, helping scientists scale up hypothesis generation and testing in early drug discovery. Chris explains how their platform integrates various biomedical data sources to enable quicker, data-driven decisions and improve collaboration across research teams. He also discusses the challenges and rewards of building a startup in the biotech industry, particularly in the Canadian context, and shares insights on the importance of productive science and reasoning in drug discovery. Furthermore, Chris provides a glimpse into Bio Box’s customer engagement strategies, business model, and his vision for the future of the company. Whether you are a scientist, investor, or just curious about the intersection of biotech and AI, this episode offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of biopharma research.
Amy discusses her pioneering work at Vopemed, a health tech company developing AI software to enhance visualization during minimally invasive surgeries. Amy explains the challenges surgeons face with traditional endoscopic cameras and how Vopemed's software addresses these issues by providing real-time enhanced image feeds. The conversation explores the company's first market focus on laparoscopic surgeries, the potential for expansion into other diagnostic procedures, and the dual go-to-market strategies involving OEMs and hospitals. Using a proprietary dataset, Vopemed's AI enhances surgical visuals, which can significantly reduce the stress and inefficiencies associated with surgical procedures. Amy also shares insights on the company's regulatory journey, the genesis of the company from her master's program, and the potential broader impacts of AI in the surgical field.
In this episode, we spoke with Lisen Kaci, the founder behind Discrepancy AI. Lisen talks about his journey from working as an AI engineer in document processing to founding his startup based in Toronto. He identifies key industry limitations with legacy OCR technologies and explains how Discrepancy AI is leveraging AI tool-chaining to convert any document into actionable structured data.
Their innovative approach focuses on reducing manual review costs by over 80%. Lisen discusses various use cases, including income verification for rental and mortgage screening. He emphasizes their unique, no-code implementation that integrates seamlessly with existing systems. The conversation also touches on the future of AI, industry challenges, fundraising strategies, and Discrepancy AI’s next product launch that aims to automate complex report generation.
In this episode, I spoke with Gennady Pekhimenko, CEO & Co-Founder @ CentML - an AI company focused on optimization and efficiency. He successfully transitioned from academia to building one of Canada's leading AI companies. We discuss his background, starting with his educational background in computer science and his research at the University of Toronto and Carnegie Mellon University. Gennady raised $27 million in seed funding to take advantage of the AI wave.
The conversation explores the development and optimization of AI technology, the challenges of turning research into scalable engineering solutions, and the realization of practical applications beyond the university setting. Gennady shares insights on the importance of efficiency in AI, the company's approach to optimizing hardware and software for AI models, and the experiences of raising funds and building a team. The episode offers a deep dive into the technical and strategic aspects of growing an AI company and highlights the significance of open-source models and innovations in the evolving AI landscape.
The conversation explores the development and optimization of AI technology, the challenges of turning research into scalable engineering solutions, and the realization of practical applications beyond the university setting. Gennady shares insights on the importance of efficiency in AI, the company's approach to optimizing hardware and software for AI models, and the experiences of raising funds and building a team. The episode offers a deep dive into the technical and strategic aspects of growing an AI company and highlights the significance of open-source models and innovations in the evolving AI landscape.
I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the recent Reseau Capital Annual summit on the topic branding for investment firms.
My job was pretty easy, I got the chance to listen to the brilliant Whitney Rockley from McRock Capital, Amélie Foz-Couture from Diagram Ventures and Clement Bourgogne from Jolt Capital. They share some unique insights on grassroots marketing, relationship based messaging, adapting for new markets and much more.
The panel discusses the importance and impact of marketing and branding in venture capital. Whitney shares the early grassroots marketing journey of Mac Rock, focusing on industrial software, and how their quirky, authentic videos and deep connections with entrepreneurs and LPs fostered a loyal following and facilitated significant deals. Amil Lee from Diagram explains their low-profile but relationship-driven strategy in the FinTech and climate tech sectors, emphasizing the power of personal outreach and alignment with their fund's strategy. Cleon shares how Jolt leverages its identity in deep tech and engineering, while highlighting the importance of staying true to core values. The discussion touches on the cost-effective nature of grassroots marketing, the importance of authenticity, trust, and consistency, and scaling branding efforts. They also stress the significance of data-driven thought leadership and firsts in maintaining a leadership position in a specialized fund.
Dans cet épisode, nous découvrons l'histoire de Ferréol Technologies, une entreprise québécoise fondée en 2018-2019 par trois passionnés de ski et ingénieurs mécaniques de l'Université Laval. Nous apprenons comment Félix, Jonathan, et Étienne ont utilisé leurs compétences complémentaires pour créer des skis adaptés aux conditions de ski variées du Québec, tout en ayant une empreinte écologique réduite. L'entreprise, qui a démarré dans un garage, s'est rapidement fait connaître et est devenue la deuxième plus grande compagnie de ski au Canada.
En parallèle, ils ont développé un alliage d'aluminium ultra-résistant, ouvrant ainsi des opportunités dans les industries du sport et de l'aérospatial à travers Ferréol Technologie. Félix partage également des réflexions personnelles sur l'entrepreneuriat, soulignant l'importance de la passion, de la persévérance et des relations humaines dans leur réussite.
In this episode, Patrick Murphy, CEO& co-founder of the startup Maket, shares his vision of democratizing architectural design and planning.
Inspired by Canva's transformation of graphic design, Maket aims to simplify and accelerate the architectural process using generative AI. Starting with residential design, the platform seeks to compress timelines and cut costs, providing both consumers and professionals with powerful tools.
Patrick discusses the challenges of traditional methods, the advancements Make It has made since its inception in 2021, and the company's growth to over 670,000 users.
We conclude with insights into navigating venture financing and the overarching ambition to revolutionize not just architectural design but the entire home building and renovation process.
Joël discusses the inception and development of BioIntelligence which is focused on real-time data monitoring in industrial biotechnology. His journey began with a background in chemical engineering and years of experience in developing bioprocesses.
Frustrated by the lack of real-time information in fermentation processes, Joël's team at the University of Sherbrooke developed a revolutionary optical probe technology. This innovation allows operators to monitor multiple parameters in real-time, significantly improving productivity, quality, and resource consumption in industrial biotechnological processes.
We also talked about the strategic challenges of funding and scaling the company, emphasizing the importance of a clear vision and focus on core applications within the biotechnology industry.
This is one of the conversations I’ve had on the podcast. I really enjoyed Joël’s candor on what it takes to build a breakthrough startup.
Un nouvel épisode dans la série des startups de Québec
On a parlé avec Francis Robichaud, Co-fondateur et PDG @ Lime Santé.
Francis discute de son parcours d'intégration de la technologie dans le système de santé pour améliorer l'expérience des patients et l'efficacité du système. En tant qu'ingénieur passionné par les soins de santé, Francis exploite les données et les commentaires des patients pour apporter des améliorations systémiques.
Il explique l'approche de son entreprise en matière de numérisation du parcours du patient, d'optimisation de la communication et d'utilisation de l'IA pour de meilleurs résultats en matière de soins de santé.
Francis aborde également les défis et les opportunités des systèmes de santé du Québec et des États-Unis, ainsi que l'importance de la responsabilité personnelle et de la transparence dans les soins de santé.
La conversation s'étend à la stratégie de croissance de l'entreprise, à ses ambitions internationales et au rôle des outils novateurs dans la définition de l'avenir des soins de santé.
Sharing today a new podcast series highlighting the 5 cool startups participating in Quebec Tech’s first cohort. The startups are: Flovver, Lime Santé, Biointelligence, Maket and Ferreol.
The first episode is with Jimmy Beauregard, CEO & Co-Founder @ Flovver (in french). Jimmy started the company in 2020 and their mission is to make sharing money accessible to all by offering secure, automated technological platforms that promote ethical and accessible financial growth.
They specialize in end-to-end loan management solutions designed to streamline the lending process. Their offerings aim to accelerate secure access to funds and empower businesses to integrate lending into their models effectively.
Jimmy shares his entrepreneurial journey on the podcast, detailing his 18-year-long career, which began with a web agency and eventually led to the founding of Flovver. Its inception is a tale of resilience and perseverance. Despite early setbacks, Jimmy secured clients and continuously improved the product over the years. Jimmy emphasized the importance of not waiting for perfection, showing up during tough times, and balancing work with personal life priorities. He highlights the crucial role of a dedicated team and good partnerships in achieving success.
Anna Chif is a world class founder that is one to her second company. She co-founded Coral. a women’s digital health platform designed to help women in perimenopause, menopause and beyond achieve their optimal health.
Coral matches users with a wellness coach, who is available to chat asynchronously with users to talk through symptom management.
They recently raised $4M in seed financing led by Brightspark as well as Diagram Ventures and The51.
We spoke about:
Anna’s deep conviction on building Coral
Coral’s mission and business model
Applicable lessons from Dialogue
Objections during her recent fundraise
Integrating AI with a human touch
In this episode, we interview Marc Bellemarre, who discusses his work on developing AI software for the pharmaceutical industry. They focus on 'commercial pharma,' which involves everything beyond molecule search and testing, such as marketing and clinical landscape analysis. Marc's software uses AI to expedite the literature review process, reducing a traditionally 400-hour task to half an hour. The software aims for high accuracy by structuring scientific data and helping analysts and researchers make informed decisions. Marc explains the intricacies of integrating AI with user-friendly software interfaces and ensuring transparency in data validation. He also shares his motivations for leaving a secure job at Google to create a startup and highlights the potential of AI to eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies. The conversation touches on the challenges of combining traditional software engineering with AI research and the importance of founder-led sales for startups. Marc concludes by discussing the future ambitions for his company and the vital role of building robust AI ecosystems.
Harley Finkelstein on Entrepreneurship, Grit, and the Montreal Entrepreneurial Spirit Harley Finkelstein of Shopify shares his journey and insights at the North Star event, highlighting the importance of Montreal in his entrepreneurial career. He expresses gratitude for the city's role in his growth and the legacy of his family's market stall. Finkelstein delves into the motivation behind entrepreneurship, stressing both passion and necessity as drivers. He discusses the lowered cost of entry due to modern technology, urging aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue persistent ideas. Emphasizing grit, he argues that failure is part of the journey, and shares personal anecdotes on anxiety and vulnerability as strengths. Finkelstein encourages embracing the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Montreal and the value of staying geographically agnostic in business operations. The session concludes with reflections on personal growth, success, and the importance of having a personal mission aligned with professional goals.
In this North Star panel discussion, Eleonore Jarry from Brightspark Ventures sat down with student founders. The conversation highlights the experiences of various student founders, their innovative projects, and the challenges they face in the startup ecosystem. Key topics include raising initial funds, the importance of team and mission, navigating the academia-industry transition, pivots and finding product-market fit, and the unique advantages and support systems available to young entrepreneurs. The panelists also engage in practical discussions on retaining talent within Montreal's ecosystem and fostering stronger ties between academic institutions, startups, and the broader venture capital landscape.
In this panel discussion, Gabriel Sundaram, a co-founder of Attain, hosts successful CEOs and founders to share their entrepreneurial journeys and key strategies for building and scaling startups. Panelists include Andrew from Stay 22, Anna from Dialogue and Coral, Malik from Nesto, and Joanne from PemPem. They discuss the importance of speed, intensity, and obsession in growing a business, the balance between rapid execution and maintaining personal well-being, and the role of mentorship and coaching. The conversation also emphasizes the value of storytelling in media, adapting to market realities, and the significance of teamwork and finding joy in the entrepreneurial journey. The session ends with advice for students on leveraging academic skills in the business world and maintaining a healthy balance while pursuing their passion.
In this episode, we dive deep into the Venture Studio model with Amelie, discussing the varied and often misunderstood landscape of venture studios. Emily explains how their unique approach involves de-risking ideas internally before partnering with an entrepreneurial community to launch startups. The conversation expands into the nuances of their recently closed $80 million Climate Fund, which focuses on leveraging software and business model innovations to solve critical adoption challenges in the climate tech space. Emily shares insights on addressing macro climate problems, the importance of rigorous customer discovery, and navigating the evolving competitive landscape. Listeners also gain a glimpse into the strategic thought process behind their investments and the future of climate-focused ventures
J’ai eu le plaisir d’échanger avec François Gingras, Vice-président Innovation @ Investissement Québec.
Nous avons parlé de:
La récente initiative d'Investissement Québec « Grand V », dont l'objectif est de soutenir les entreprises québécoises par des améliorations technologiques et durables de leur productivité.
L’initiative offre un soutien financier pouvant atteindre 45 milliards de dollars sur trois ans, combinant prêts et capitaux propres, et comprend des services d’assistance technologique et d’innovation.
L'importance de l'innovation tant au niveau des produits que des processus
Le rôle de la culture organisationnelle et des succès initiaux des projets pour surmonter les obstacles à l’innovation.
Comment le Québec peut-il être plus compétitif en matière d'amélioration de la productivité et la vision future de la résilience économique du Québec (très opportun avec la guerre commerciale imminente)
Vous pouvez apprends plus à propos de Grand V ici: https://grandv.investquebec.com/
Guillaume Jacquet is one of the strongest founders I know. He co-founded Chronogolf which was acquired by Lightspeed. He rose to run product & technology eventually leaving to start Vasco.
After being in stealth mode, they announced a massive US$8M seed round, led by Inovia Capital, with support from BY Venture Partners, Framework Venture Partners.
Vasco empowers RevOps teams to unify their data, processes, and technology to build frameworks and blueprints that actually work.
Andrew Lockhead is a rockstar founder building the next Canadian flagship. The start-up launched in 2016 made its mark in the affiliate field of accommodations. They have built a global platform for travel content creators with $500M GMV and a $36M ARR run-rate on the path to $100M.
We spoke about
- The genesis story of Stay22
- Surviving the pandemic and now thriving on a remarkable trajectory
- How they’ve incorporated LLMs into their business model
- Leadership lessons and the operating model
- How Andrew thinks about the future of travel in the world of AI agents
Philippe Beaudoin is a gritty founder and one of the world’s foremost experts on AI. He’s relentlessly focused on his startup Waverly and shared some very candid and inspiring insights.
We spoke about:
- Waverly 3.0 - pivoting and hard lessons
- Building personalized experiences for enterprises
- Provocative idea that Data is Dead
- Why the GPT wrapper challenge is flawed
- Getting to default alive as a bootstrapped founder
- His thoughts on the AI landscape
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:39) Research spotlight by Réseau Capital
(00:23:08) Investor panel
(00:54:26) Founder panel
(01:22:28) Fireside chat with Tom Birch
Dr. Nicholas Nadeau is the Chief Technology Officer at SmartOne, a leader in ethical AI and data solutions. Nicholas has become a pivotal figure in tech innovation with a Ph.D. in AI and engineering and a career dedicated to emerging technologies. Before joining SmartOne, he founded Nadeau Innovations, propelling startups to success as a fractional CTO.
We spoke about
- The evolving role of the CTO
- Pitfalls for Startup CTOs
- Maintaining a Startup Mentality at Scale
- SmartOne's Value Proposition
I’m lucky that I get to work alongside Julie Lacasse and learn from her every day.
If you don’t know her, Julie is a serial entrepreneur and current venture capital partner at Amiral Ventures. She’s the cofounder of Tracktik, an innovative company specialized in optimizing the management of security agencies, she led the company to international success and exit.
Julie now brings her expertise to Amiral Ventures, where she focuses on venture capital investment. Her inspiring career path and strategic vision make her an influential figure in the entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem.
We spoke about:
Julie’s entrepreneurial journey
Insight that led to hyper growth company
Board and VC dynamics
Principles that Julie learned operating and scaling
Lessons learned during the exit process
Startup Montréal, the non-profit organization that has supported early-stage Montréal startups is now known as Québec Tech. The rebranded organization has also adopted a new mandate to grow the international footprint of Québec tech companies with high export potential.
To talk about the important mission of Québec Tech, I had the pleasure of speaking with Richard Chenier on the podcast to learn more about their plans and how they plan on addressing a key challenge for Quebec based startups. On the episode, we spoke about:
- The reason to expand the mission of Quebec Tech to the entire province
- How they plan to support their initial cohort of startups
- Why they focused on international go to market as the key value creation lever
- How Quebec compares to other provinces
- Reasons for optimism and why Quebec startups will win
I had a great conversation with Aydin Mirzaee, CEO & Co-Founder @ Fellow. Aydin is a tech loving entrepreneur with a passion for building great products, leadership and people. Fellow solves a huge problem for companies, help people spend less time in meetings and make them more productive. Previously , he was the co-founder and co-CEO of Fluidware which was acquired by SurveyMonkey.
On the episode, we spoke about:
Why he decided to start Fellow after having sold his previous startup
How meetings have grown significantly since the pandemic
Their product offering and how it improves organizational performance
Using AI for human level transcriptions and building institutional knowledge
Advice he gives to fellow founders
Why they started their own podcast Supermanagers (https://fellow.app/supermanagers/)
Sur cet épisode du Flagship podcast, j’ai eu le plaisir d’échanger avec Marc Bédard, cofondateur et PDG @ Lion Électrique. Marc Bédard a toujours été passionné par la technologie, l'innovation et la finance. En 2008, il a fondé Lion Electric et a peu après mis l'entreprise sur la voie du zéro émission en s'engageant dans un portefeuille de produits de véhicules lourds et moyens entièrement électriques.
Sur l’émission, nous avons parlé de:
- Comment le Karaté l'a aidé à devenir un meilleur leader
- Acceptation sociale des véhicules électriques
- Comment ils naviguent sur les marchés en tant qu'entreprise publique
- Pourquoi nous en sommes encore aux premiers balbutiements de la transition énergétique pour les transports
There is a cool new fund called DevCap based in Montreal founded by Max McCrea and Jordan Steiner. Developer Capital is a pre-seed and seed-stage investment corporation. They strive to provide what other investors promise: real support for our investments in the form of actionable technical and operational support via its partnership with Monadical.
Jordan and Max are not building your typical VC firm which is structured as an evergreen investment corp. They bring solid technical expertise for their founders.
We spoke about:
- Building a strong culture as a new VC fund
- How they built a relationship of trust and decided to start a fund together
- Culture principles they put into practice
- Deep dive on the excitement around AI and their investment thesis
J’ai eu le plaisir de discuter avec Simon Leblond, co-fondateur et PDG @ SmartD Technologies.
Simon est un entrepreneur avec 20 ans d'expérience entrepreneuriale dans la mise sur le marché de technologies disruptives dans tous les secteurs.
SmartD Technologies développe des variateurs de fréquence (VFD) pour le contrôle de moteurs.
Leur variateur de fréquence Clean Power VFD peut augmenter l'efficacité des moteurs, réduire l'usure des équipements, économiser de l'énergie et réduire les coûts pour les entreprises de nombreux secteurs, notamment les infrastructures, les services publics, l'agriculture, les mines, les transports, entre autres.
C’est un marché adressable énorme avec des gains en efficacité énergétique significatifs. En plus, Simon est un entrepreneur chevronné avec énormément d’expérience. Il a participé au lancement de trois entreprises, a introduit de nombreuses technologies sur le marché, et mentoré des entrepreneurs.
I had the pleasure of hosting the Flagship podcast at last week’s CDL / NextAI Community Dinner.
The first guest was Sarah Jenna, Managing Director @ QV Studio
We spoke about quantum computing and how Sherbrooke is rapidly becoming a global leader in the quantum.
Note - this convo was in French
The second guest was Raphael Steinman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Maxa
Raphael shared some great insights into building & iterating products. He also spoke about how founders can support founders.
Note - this convo was in English
J’ai eu la chance de parler avec Simon Pelletier et Gilles Duruflé de Réseau Capital. Ils ont publié un rapport très pertinent en novembre à propos de l'écosystème de capital de risque du Québec.
L’objectif de cette étude était de comparer le dynamisme de l’écosystème d’investissement en capital de risque du Québec à ceux de l’Ontario et de la Colombie-Britannique afin d’identifier certaines forces et faiblesses et d’en tirer des pistes de recommandations. Le rapport a fait beaucoup de vagues dans l'écosystème et je vous invite à le consulter!
I had the pleasure of speaking with Andria Santos, Co-founder & CEO @ Fülhaus
Fülhaus is an AI-powered interior design and furnishing company dedicated to improving performance of furnished real estate properties and hospitality business through good design.
We spoke about:
- Building a solid interior design company over 10 years
- The AI new product they launched with Ludwig and how it can empower interior designers globally
- How Fülhaus is the first & best customer for Ludwig
- The huge market opportunity ahead with their new AI
- Entrepreneurial lessons after 10 years
Simon De Baene is the dreamer and visionary at the top of Workleap, which designs software used by over 15,000 organizations in 110 countries. Recognized as one of Quebec's largest SMEs, Workleap now has over 200 employees and is currently one of the fastest-growing companies in North America. Early in his entrepreneurial journey, Simon realized that employee fulfillment was the key to success, and began building what would quickly become one of the most inspiring business cultures on the planet. Audacious and non-conformist by nature, he is more motivated than ever to challenge the status quo in the workplace.
We spoke about:
- Being obsessed in order to build a world-class product
- How you need to be relentlessly determined to achieve a breakthrough
- How competition has radically increased in software
- The global opportunity for Workleap
- The market for employee experience and how it’s growing
Scott is a partner at Panache Ventures. Prior to joining Panache, Scott was the co-founder and CEO of Covera.ai (acquired in 2019), an InsurTech startup that leverages data and technology to take insurance renewals off of your to do list forever. Scott was also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Ferst Capital Partners, one of Canada’s pioneering FinTech venture capital funds. Scott writes and speaks about how technology, analytics, design and data impact the various components of the modern FinTech landscape. Scott is a business lawyer and holds a masters degree in business administration (MBA) from McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management as well as civil and common law degrees from McGill’s Faculty of Law.
Originally from Montreal, business woman, creator and philanthropist, Vickie Joseph has been immersed in the world of fashion from a very young age. Today, as a happy mother of three children, the designer and businesswoman has been recognized for her projects on several occasions, including the multi million dollars she and her husband Frantz Saintellemy invested in the neighborhood of Saint Michel. Having created her clothing line in 2006, Vickie is a model of success. With determination and perseverance, she has succeeded in creating a company that broke into a very limited local market in Quebec, swept the country, and then spread internationally to create jobs for eager young women who would not otherwise have had the chance to work in such a niche sector
John is the Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity, a private equity firm focused on technology-enabled growth and disruption investment strategies. As a firm run by entrepreneurs, funded by entrepreneurs, and for entrepreneurs, Maverix invests in health and wellness, financial services, transportation and logistics, live, work, play and learn, and retail. John chairs the Investment Committee, guides the strategy of the firm, is deeply involved with fundraising and sourcing and leading investment opportunities, particularly within the technology industry. He led Maverix’s first investment in Viral Nation and sits on their board.
John is also the Founder of OMERS Ventures and Co-Founder and Vice Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. Over the course of his leadership as the CEO of OMERS Ventures, they invested over USD$500 million in over 40 disruptive technology companies across North America, including growth investments in Shopify, Xanadu, Wattpad, Wave, Hootsuite, Rover, Desire 2 Learn, Hopper, DuckDuckGo, TouchBistro and League. During his tenure at OMERS, John also formed OMERS Platform Investments, and as its Executive Managing Director, he formed OMERS Growth Equity and led investments in Purpose Financial, PointNorth Capital, District Ventures, OneEleven and ArcTern Ventures. John co-founded the Council of Canadian Innovators with Jim Balsillie, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping high-growth Canadian technology firms scale globally.
For the first episode, I could not think of two better people than my mighty partners at Amiral Ventures, Frederic Bastien and Dominic Becotte. We spoke about:
- Why we’re starting Amiral Ventures
- The funding gap in Canada and how we’re planning to address it
- Our investment thesis centered around sustainable economic dynamism
- Why we believe that the Canadian tech ecosystem is just getting started
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jean-François Leduc, Co-Founder & Partner @ The PNR.
JF is an entrepreneur, executive, lawyer and angel investor. Formerly partner of one of the largest agencies in Canada, he was initially Chief Revenue Officer, then Head of Corporate Development. Following a few years of revenue and profit growth, he eventually managed all steps leading to the acquisition of the company by Dentsu-Aegis Media – a world leading advertising company. Previously, JF spent many years with Yahoo!, leading business development across Quebec and negotiating advertising agreements with many key clients. JF used to practice corporate and Internet law for Gesca, Power Corporation’s multimedia group and several law firms in Europe. These days, most of his time is spent with shareholders and management teams of fast growing companies focusing on corporate strategy, based on agility, in order to accelerate execution.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How JF and Nectar met
- Starting Point of No Return together
- The ups and downs of running a small business
- How PNR innovated with its consulting model and software
- Lessons learned after 8 years
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Hugues Lalancette, Partner @ iNovia Capital
Hugues has over 10 years of experience in technology, finance and entrepreneurship. He joined Inovia as an Analyst in November 2015 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Partner on the growth investment team where he focuses on enterprise software opportunities. During his six year tenure at the firm, he worked with 15 portfolio companies — including AlayaCare, AppDirect, Bench, Lightspeed, Top Hat, WorkJam, WorkFusion and Rewind — helping them raise $2B+ across 25 transactions and driving great exits to date. Hugues also developed Inovia’s LP co-investment program — enabling Inovia LPs to deploy about $800M across the portfolio. Prior to Inovia, he collaborated with startups in CFO and advisor roles after having worked at BMO. Hugues graduated with an MSc. in Accounting & Finance from The London School of Economics in 2012 and with a BBA in Economics & Finance from HEC Montreal in 2011.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Hugues’ journey into venture
- iNovia’s mission and platform team
- Current macro environment and how their portfolio has adjusted
- Leveraging insights and relationships to build M&A
- Key technology trends he’s studying
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Ashley Werhun, CEO & Co-Founder @ Mentorly.
Ashley Werhun is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mentorly.com, and is on a mission to make mentorship accessible, and reliable to all. Mentorly is a cloud-based mentorship solution for businesses and organizations looking to invest in their people and help them soar. Ashley leads all things growth: B2B sales, marketing, positioning, fundraising and long-term vision. With many hats, Ashley is a leader who puts culture first. She strives to build an organization where each team member thrives because they are trusted and have the space to be their authentic selves. Prior to co-founding Mentorly, Ashley spent 10+ years touring the world performing with BJM Danse, Ballet BC and Trey McIntyre Project. She also was a development liaison, where she was the bridge between donors and artists. It was on tour when the large mentorship gap in the creative market became apparent and she started her journey into building a start-up.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The path from elite level ballerina to startup entrepreneur
- Lessons from performance art world
- What does it take to have a successful mentor- mentee relationship
- The Mentorly business model and growth strategy
- Helping organizations with their people science function
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sheldon Fernandez, CEO @ Darwin AI.
Sheldon Fernandez is a seasoned executive and respected thought leader in the technical and enterprise communities. Throughout his career, he has applied emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence to the enterprise. First, in his capacity as CTO at Infusion, the company he founded out of school with five partners that grew to 600 people. Then subsequently, at Avanade, the organization that acquired Infusion in March of 2017. Sheldon is also an accomplished author and speaker. He has spoken at numerous conferences in numerous contexts, including Singularity University, the prestigious think tank in the Bay Area, and has written technical books and articles on many topics. Through his career, Sheldon has coupled his entrepreneurial endeavors with non-technical pursuits, resulting in an interdisciplinary approach that is critical to the intelligent application of AI. He completed a Master’s degree in theology at the University of Toronto in 2008, with thesis work in neuroscience and metaethics. He also pursued creative writing at Oxford University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How studying theology helped Sheldon in his career
- Darwin AI’s mission to protect our supply chains
- His thoughts on the current AI landscape
- The innovation behind Alpha Go
- Their innovative hardware and software model
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alik Sokolov, Co-Founder & CEO @ Responsibli.
Alik is passionate about empowering asset managers with the tools and insights they need to make informed, responsible investing decisions. With a background in finance and NLP, he bridges the usability gap for asset managers and pension funds in applying cutting-edge AI technologies. He is committed to helping their partners stay ahead of the curve and deliver value through data-driven investment decisions.
They are building advanced tools for responsible investing, using AI to distill and summarize all relevant information in a streamlined, concise and interactive format & connect economic externalities to a fundamental investment thesis.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Alik started Responsibli and the bold vision
- Math as a foundation for AI technologies
- His thoughts on the current state of AI
- How Responsibli is helping people make better investment decisions
- Alik’s entrepreneurial lessons
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Isaac Souweine, Partner @ Pender Ventures
Isaac joined Pender Ventures in 2022 to help build the firm’s presence in Eastern Canada. Previously, he was a partner at Real Ventures, where he led a Quebec-focused, pre-seed investment strategy while also serving as General Manager of FounderFuel, the firm’s accelerator. Prior to joining Real, Isaac spent more than a decade as a product management leader in New York, Singapore and Montreal, including stints at Sonder, Frank and Oak, Yahoo and Scholastic. In addition to his work with startups, Isaac is passionate about building communities.
He is a co-founder of Product Tank Montreal, a longstanding meetup and APM Montreal, a community-based training program. He is also a founding board member of Front Row Ventures, Canada’s only student-run venture capital firm. Isaac is also an active mentor with several accelerators and incubators. He has a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from INSEAD.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Why Isaac joined Pender Ventures
- The history of Pender Fund
- The investment thesis and focusing on profitable growth
- What does resilience mean for a startup
- Isaac’s thoughts on Generative AI
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Anick Beaulieu, CEO @ C2 MTL
Anick's strength is to link great ideas to business results. Her knack for understanding the business goals of current and future partners leads her to build meaningful, long-lasting partnerships for C2. Through her deals with tech and financial institutions such as IBM, Facebook, ElementAI, RBC and more, she has set the partnership bar to a new high, and proved herself to be key to C2's broad local and international network. Always a team player, Anick brings results to the table, and successfully inspires her team to aim higher, incorporate winning strategies, and inspire new ways of thinking. To her, intrapreneurship is the name of the game.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Taking over the reigns of C2 MTL during a tumultuous period
- The power of creating meaningful experiences
- C2’s business model
- Highlighting the creative talent of Montreal
- Maintaining the culture of creativity in the organization
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Joseph Khoubbieh, Head of M&A @ Valsoft.
Joe holds an undergraduate degree in Finance from HEC Montreal as well as the CFA designation. He began his career at the Bank of Montreal as a research associate in the portfolio management team. He then spent 3 years at Dundee Capital Markets in Sales and Investment Banking before joining a Montreal-Based hedge fund as a portfolio manager. He helped start and grow the wealth management division of the business before joining a single family office as the lead portfolio manager – public and private equity.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Joseph’s background
- Investment thesis of Valsoft
- The power of vertical software companies
- The secrets of M&A over 75 acquisitions
- Value creation strategy at Valsoft
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jade Doucet Martineau, Co-Founder & CEO @ Puzzle Medical.
Jade is co-founder and CEO of Puzzle Medical Devices where she developed a minimally invasive heart pump for patients with advanced heart failure.
Founded in 2018, Puzzle Medical Devices is dedicated to improving patient outcomes through the development of a percutaneous heart pump for patients with advanced heart failure. The device’s modular design allows for safe implantation to support both renal and cardiac function through 4mm-pumps anchored in parallel in the descending aorta
On the show, we spoke about:
- Origins of Puzzle Medical and the challenge of heart failure
- How their device treats patients
- Jade’s personal motivation
- Plan for the $34M Series A they just raised
- Personal lessons Jade learned so far
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marie-Pier Corbeil and David Corbeil, Co-founders @ RVE.
Marie-Pier holds a Master of Arts in Educational Technologies from Concordia University, Marie-Pier Corbeil also has more than 10 years of experience in service design in the academic field and in the electrical industry.
Thanks to her great analytical and organizational skills, she has developed a proven method allowing on the one hand to facilitate the addition of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles to multi-unit residential buildings and on the other hand to ensure the smooth running of the daily operations of the company. Marie-Pier also runs the consumer information branch, murbly.com.
David holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a strong interest in transport electrification, David has been interested in the issues facing home charging since 2011. In 2015, he co-founded RVE by putting his knowledge of electricity to good use , when he invented the very first electric vehicle charge controller.
Today, David leads a team of 30 employees with the vision of transforming home charging. He is an undeniable reference in the charging industry and strives daily to guarantee the success of the company and the well-being of its employees.
On the show, we spoke about:
- State of EV adoption today
- The infrastructure challenge for EV
- Launching RVE and how they transforming charging at home
- Their go to market strategy
- The global opportunity for EV home charging
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jeremi Lavoie, CEO @ AFX Medical
Jeremi Lavoie is Co-Founder and CEO of AFX Medical. He was General Manager, Car2go group since 2013. He was legal counsel for Enercon from May 2012 to May 2013. He worked as litigation attorney at the Attorney General of Quebec from May 2007 to August 2010. AFX Medical is an applied AI software company specializing in the detection of brain lesions in neuroimaging for oncology. Every year, thousands of brain tumors are missed on brain imaging because of the limitations of human cognition, leading to delayed cancer treatment. With automated detection, its mission is to make cancer diagnosis and treatment faster and more precise.
On the show, we spoke about:
- State of cancer research and technological progression
- Open source vs. closed source
- How AFX Medical is spearheading brain cancer detection
- The challenge of going to market in the healthtech sector
- How their algorithm is enhancing decision making, not replacing it
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sophie Forest, Managing Partner @ Brightspark Ventures and Alan MacIntosh, Founding Partner @ AgeTech Capital
We discussed giving back with TechAide
Sophie has been involved in the Canadian Venture Capital Industry more than 25 years. She worked early in her career for Caisse de Dépot et Placements for seven years, managing a large portfolio of VC investments internationally with assets of close to one billion $. Since 2003, Sophie has been a managing partner with Brightspark, an early stage venture capital firm. Sophie was involved in a number of successful VC backed companies including Touchtunes, Servicesoft, Think Dynamics, Protecode, Radian6, Jewlr and Hopper. Sophie is also a Board member of Centech in Montréal and is an independent Board member for Interac inc.
As a venture investor, Alan co-founded GSM Capital, the first global wireless venture fund, with notable investments such as Saraïde (acquired by Infospace) and Paypal. As a founding partner in Acta Wireless, he chaired OZ Communications (acquired by Nokia), co-founded Millennial Media (NYSE: MM, acquired by Verizon AOL) as well as Real Ventures, Canada's leading source of capital for game-changing entrepreneurs and a driving force behind emerging tech ecosystems. Alan contributes to his community as Chairman of the OSMO Foundation (Maison Notman House), in the formation of Startup Montreal, Cofounder/Ambassador of TechAide, Advisory Board Member of AI4GoodLab and Advisor to Kids Code Jeunesse. A native of Scotland, keen cyclist and lifelong skier, Alan holds a BSc (Hons) in Offshore Engineering from Heriot-Watt University and an MBA from INSEAD.
On the show, we spoke about:
-
State of technology in Canada today
-
The inception of TechAide
- The power of community and Centraide’s impact
- Making a difference in people’s live
- How tech companies can get involved
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Fahd Ananta, Investor @ Roach Capital
Fahd is an investor at Roach Capital, a firm he founded. After founding and selling his own Canadian tech companies and spending years working as a product lead at major tech firms like Shopify and Snap — the company behind Snapchat — Ananta launched Roach Capital in 2019.
Roach represents a continuation of Ananta’s angel investment efforts, which involved providing startups with early capital and helping them with product strategy. Additionally, he says the early-stage fund has an opportunity to put portfolio companies “on the radar” of some of its larger and better capitalized VC investors.
Prior to launching Roach Capital, Ananta co-founded a pair of Toronto-based startups: Chime, a notification aggregator and calendar app that was acquired by HubSpot in 2013 and Tab Payments, a restaurant curation, reservation, and payments app that was acquired by United Kingdom-based Velocity in 2015.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His path to becoming an investor
- Why he started Roach Capital
- Difference between good and great products
- Providing guidance to founders
- What it takes to succeed in a startup
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mai Duong, Co-Founder @ Swab The World
Mai Duong is a Canadian leukemia survivor of Vietnamese descent. Mai has over 20 years of experience in communications and media strategy under her belt in top advertising agencies in Canada. She led a group of talented strategists on clients such as Red Bull, General Motors, Coke and many others.
In 2013, Mai was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and needed a stem cell transplant but she faced the grim reality of not finding her match because of her Vietnamese background. Her friend launched the campaign Save Mai Duong with the help of colleagues in advertising to find her compatible donor.
In October 2018, she co founded Swab The World Foundation with the mission to tackle the major problem of ethnic minority under-representation in the national stem cell registries.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she battled leukemia and had to find a stem cell donor
- Galvanizing the media and finding a way to save her life
- Launching a charity in order to increase the awareness of stem cell donation and diversify the donor registry
- The strategy behind growing Swab The World
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Philippe Beaudoin, Co-Founder & CEO @ Waverly.
Philippe is a venture scientist constantly looking for ideas that can improve society. He is the CEO and cofounder of Waverly where they’re building a discovery engine for your better self. Prior to that he co-founded Element AI and was a software engineer at Google.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of natural language research and AI more generally
- Launching Waverly to tackle the issue of content recommendation
- Different business models they are exploring
- Integrating Chat-GPT in their product
- Creating a multiplayer experience in the future
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Tatiana Estevez Carlucci, CEO & Founder @ Permalution.
Tatiana is an entrepreneurial driven individual with great fondness for community building and engagement. She is the founder of Permalution, startup business focused on fog water harvesting technology and climate change solutions. She also founded the Tech Quiero community, an NGO that works to introduce women and girls in LATAM to technology and entrepreneurship & was the lead for Facebook Developer Circles Guadalajara. Her past experience includes working in the government sector on Sustainable Cities and in the private sector as Head of Innovation for international corporations.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she got into climate tech
- Democratizing a new water source using fog and hard to reach water sources
- The innovative hardware sensors and predictive software
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Hugo Larochelle, Research Scientist @ Google.
Hugo is the lead of the Google Brain team in Montreal, adjunct professor at Université de Montréal and a Canada CIFAR Chair. His research focuses on the study and development of deep learning algorithms.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His love of teaching and starting a YouTube channel
- The rapid advances of the past 12 months
- The illusion of AGI
- Enabling new scientific discoveries
- Philanthropy and the generous $1M donation from Hugo and his wife to combat climate change
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sam Ramadori, CEO @ Brainbox.
Sam is a recognized private equity expert and senior executive with significant experience in identifying investment opportunities and supporting management teams in developing and executing growth-oriented business plans. Sam joined the BrainBox AI team in the spring of 2019 and oversees the execution of the company’s growth-oriented business plan as well as investor relations.
I also wrote a deep dive on the company on my blog that dives deeper into the company.
On the show, we spoke about:
- BrainBox’s big goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings
- The huge challenges facing adoption in their market
- How their advanced AI technology works
- Their ambitious goal of connecting buildings The future of distributed energy
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Chloë Ryan, CEO and Founder @ Acrylic Robotics.
Chloe is an artist, innovator and tech startup founder with a background in mechanical engineering who is fueled by her creative intuition, curiosity and desire to proactively build the world we want to live in. More than anything, she loves taking bold ideas from concept to reality, and leads with passion, vision, grit and determination.
Before Acrylic, she started my first business at age 9, sold hwe first painting at 14, was a provincial-level competitive athlete throughout her teens, founded & scaled a sustainability case competition (www.bridgecasecomp.com) nation-wide, held leadership roles on dozens of student committees in her undergrad, and managed multi-million dollar infrastructure projects at Canada's largest engineering consulting firm (WSP).
She is now the Founder & CEO of Acrylic Robotics, a tech startup on a mission to make fine art accessible to all. We leverage robotics and artificial intelligence to allow artists to create authenticated limited-edition collections of painted artwork conceived by them and painted by their robotic twin with real paint on canvas. With Acrylic, artists can make their work available to the general public while also generating orders of magnitude more income per piece.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Chloe’s background as an artist
- Acrylic Robotics and the bold mission to help artists
- Unlocking new demand by lowering the price of art
- A philosophical conversation on what is creativity
- Potential business models using generative AI
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Frantz Saintellemy, President and COO @ Leddartech.
Mr. Saintellemy is currently President and Chief Operating Officer at Leddartech.
LeddarTech is a leader in environmental sensing solutions for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. LeddarTech delivers an end-to-end environmental sensing solution that solves critical fusion and perception challenges across the automotive value chain.
With LeddarVision™, its proprietary low-level fusion and perception platform that enables L2 to L5 ADAS/AD autonomy levels, and with LeddarEngine™, the most versatile and scalable auto and mobility LiDAR platform covered by over 120 patented technologies and innovations, enabling LeddarTech's automotive customers to develop full-stack sensing solutions that enhances performance while improving safety.
In addition to his current functions at LeddarTech, he has been appointed the 14th Chancellor and Chair of the Board of Université de Montréal.
Groupe 3737 is a not-for-profit accelerator and incubator focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, with an emphasis on gender agnostic, women, youth, and migrant entrepreneurs. We develop tomorrow's socially and environmentally conscious, diverse, inclusive entrepreneurs and leaders that give back to their communities.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Growing up in humble beginnings and his mindset to level up
- Treating his career like a professional athlete
- The three waves of technology adoption
- LeddarTech’s vision and the advent of self-driving cars
- Inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs with Groupe 3737
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jordan Arshinoff, Cofounder & Copresident @ Obibox.
After spending 17 years of his professional life in the industrial packaging industry, Jordan Arshinoff Foss founded obibox (formerly Xpedigo) with his brother-in-law Paul-Henri Erhard in November 2016. Initially conceived as a technology platform applied to parcel delivery (last mile), the entrepreneurs quickly developed an operational side in order to test the technology developed by their technical team. The company enjoyed some success from 2016 to 2020, but it was in the midst of a pandemic that obibox took off. Today, they are 4 founders, have more than 70 employees, 6 pan-Quebec sorting centers with more than 350 delivery partners. They also have a fleet of 20 100% electric trucks with a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. They presented their full climate action plan to the industry a few weeks ago. They offer a home and business parcel delivery service, 7 days a week, same day and next day service. They work with companies such as Altitude Sport and Cookit. Jordan Arshinoff Foss is co-president, responsible for strategic business development.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Genesis of Obibox and how they shifted their business model
- Merging with Tecor transport
- Developing a climate action plan
- Roadblocks and opportunities in electrifying their fleet
- Being a tech enabled operations company
- The potential future market with their software product
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sarah Lambert, Co-founder & CEO @ Ora Medical.
Sarah’s personal mission is to provide walking ability to disabled patients. Her experience in the physical therapy field illustrated the lack of access to daily rehabilitation care for people with mobility impairments. Following this realization, she surrounded herself with a talented team of engineers to reproduce her physical therapy treatments remotely, aided by AI. Ora Medical now continues to grow and help revolutionize physical rehabilitation practices in an ever-changing digital world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of remote medicine today
- Helping people with disabilities
- Building a product that has initial traction
- The immense size of the market
- Building a recurring revenue stream
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sarah Lambert, Co-founder & CEO @ Ora Medical.
Sarah’s personal mission is to provide walking ability to disabled patients. Her experience in the physical therapy field illustrated the lack of access to daily rehabilitation care for people with mobility impairments. Following this realization, she surrounded herself with a talented team of engineers to reproduce her physical therapy treatments remotely, aided by AI. Ora Medical now continues to grow and help revolutionize physical rehabilitation practices in an ever-changing digital world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of remote medicine today
- Helping people with disabilities
- Building a product that has initial traction
- The immense size of the market
- Building a recurring revenue stream
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Gabriel Sundaram, COO & Co-Founder @ Mission.
Currently, Gabriel is leading ops and growth at Mission. They’re building the best market network for software engineers to work as independents. Supporting them with a platform to help teams build more effectively, opportunities to work on meaningful long-term missions, and a community of like-minded peers.
Previously Gabriel was COO at Bus.com, overseeing growth and product. He helped navigate the company through a rebrand, major product pivot, and multiple rounds of growth capital.
Prior to Bus.com Gabriel was part of the founding investment team at Real Ventures where he invested in over 200 early stage startups through the fund and their accelerator program FounderFuel. He also led the development of the firm’s own internal software and initial platform to support portfolio companies.
Having left and come back to his hometown Montreal, Gabriel has become a key instigator in the growing local startup scene. Launching several community initiatives including tech blog MTLinTECH, Startup Drinks Montreal, Startup Open House, and Notman House.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Importance of the software engineer
- Genesis of Mission and its model
- Building the best online environment for independent engineers and product builders to work.
- The concept of marketplace 3.0
- The importance of culture and learning in attracting elite level engineers
- Building the Canadian tech community
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Gabriel Sundaram, COO & Co-Founder @ Mission.
Currently, Gabriel is leading ops and growth at Mission. They’re building the best market network for software engineers to work as independents. Supporting them with a platform to help teams build more effectively, opportunities to work on meaningful long-term missions, and a community of like-minded peers.
Previously Gabriel was COO at Bus.com, overseeing growth and product. He helped navigate the company through a rebrand, major product pivot, and multiple rounds of growth capital.
Prior to Bus.com Gabriel was part of the founding investment team at Real Ventures where he invested in over 200 early stage startups through the fund and their accelerator program FounderFuel. He also led the development of the firm’s own internal software and initial platform to support portfolio companies.
Having left and come back to his hometown Montreal, Gabriel has become a key instigator in the growing local startup scene. Launching several community initiatives including tech blog MTLinTECH, Startup Drinks Montreal, Startup Open House, and Notman House.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Importance of the software engineer
- Genesis of Mission and its model
- Building the best online environment for independent engineers and product builders to work.
- The concept of marketplace 3.0
- The importance of culture and learning in attracting elite level engineers
- Building the Canadian tech community
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Shahir Guindi, Partner and Co-Chair @ Osler. Shahir is the firm's national Co-Chair and a member of the firm’s Partnership Board. He was Managing Partner of the Montréal office for 7 years prior to becoming national Co-Chair. He has over 30 years of experience and is a recognized advisor in M&A, private equity and corporate finance. His private equity and venture capital experience includes advising funds on their domestic and cross-border portfolio investments and divestitures and on their fund formations. Shahir acts for a number of the country’s most successful technology and biotechnology companies.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The key ingredient in being a successful lawyer: trust
- How the legal industry has changed
- Advice for technology entrepreneurs
- Board best practices
- The growing importance of impact for boards
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Shahir Guindi, Partner and Co-Chair @ Osler. Shahir is the firm's national Co-Chair and a member of the firm’s Partnership Board. He was Managing Partner of the Montréal office for 7 years prior to becoming national Co-Chair. He has over 30 years of experience and is a recognized advisor in M&A, private equity and corporate finance. His private equity and venture capital experience includes advising funds on their domestic and cross-border portfolio investments and divestitures and on their fund formations. Shahir acts for a number of the country’s most successful technology and biotechnology companies.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The key ingredient in being a successful lawyer: trust
- How the legal industry has changed
- Advice for technology entrepreneurs
- Board best practices
- The growing importance of impact for boards
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Patrick Gagné, CEO @ Cycle Momentum.
With a focus on innovation and growth, Patrick brings 20 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship. Patrick cofounded several companies that contributed to the growth of urban living and economic development in Montreal. He is currently CEO of Cycle Momentum, a startup accelerator and innovation engine in the cleantech space.
On the show, we spoke about:
- State of climate tech in Canada
- Technology risk vs. commercial risk
- Accelerating climate tech startups by being upstream
- Funding climate technologies
- Being a coach vs. an entrepreneur
- His vision for scaling Cycle Momentum
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Patrick Gagné, CEO @ Cycle Momentum.
With a focus on innovation and growth, Patrick brings 20 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship. Patrick cofounded several companies that contributed to the growth of urban living and economic development in Montreal. He is currently CEO of Cycle Momentum, a startup accelerator and innovation engine in the cleantech space.
On the show, we spoke about:
- State of climate tech in Canada
- Technology risk vs. commercial risk
- Accelerating climate tech startups by being upstream
- Funding climate technologies
- Being a coach vs. an entrepreneur
- His vision for scaling Cycle Momentum
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Etienne Plourde, Co-Founder & CEO @ WeCook
After 6 years of experience in advertising and cold calling management, Etienne launched Nutrition Fit Plus in 2013. It was the first major player in the healthy prepared meals industry in Canada. They have developed a profitable business exceeding 9 figures over the years with an innovative and targeted advertising strategy. In December 2019, they drastically accelerated the growth of the company by renaming it WeCook. In the following 24 months, WeCook grew from 60 employees to 700 to keep up with the increase in revenue of more than 900%.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Changing consumer habits when it comes to nutrition
- Building a prepared meal company over 10 years
- Scaling customer acquisition and operations
- Delivering 4M meals last year
- Focusing on organic growth before raising money
- His vision of being the Canadian leader in the market
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Etienne Plourde, Co-Founder & CEO @ WeCook
After 6 years of experience in advertising and cold calling management, Etienne launched Nutrition Fit Plus in 2013. It was the first major player in the healthy prepared meals industry in Canada. They have developed a profitable business exceeding 9 figures over the years with an innovative and targeted advertising strategy. In December 2019, they drastically accelerated the growth of the company by renaming it WeCook. In the following 24 months, WeCook grew from 60 employees to 700 to keep up with the increase in revenue of more than 900%.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Changing consumer habits when it comes to nutrition
- Building a prepared meal company over 10 years
- Scaling customer acquisition and operations
- Delivering 4M meals last year
- Focusing on organic growth before raising money
- His vision of being the Canadian leader in the market
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Raphael Steinman, Co-CEO & Founder @ Maxa
Raphael has spent the last 20 years building 3 enterprise data software companies serving medium to large organizations across North America. He is the Co-CEO and founder of Maxa, a SaaS AI data automation layer that enables businesses to get more answers and better BI from their ERP and core data systems - at warp speed.
He also advises business leaders and entrepreneurs about harnessing data to stimulate and develop a companies’ full potential.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of ERPs today
- Building the next generation ERP and system of record
- Solving a massive pain point for businesses
- How they built a conceptual language to create predictive analytics
- The big vision of building a platform and automating manpower
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marc-André Campagna, CEO & Co-Founder @ Oxio. Marc-André Campagna is from Baie-Comeau, Quebec and iis the CEO and co-founder of oxio. After helping his parents move and set up their internet, it sparked his interest in developing a more affordable internet provider that put Canadians’ needs first. This led him to drop out of Law School at Laval University to start Oxio along with his friend Francis Careau.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of the telco oligopoly in Canada
- How the lack of competition is reflected in the market
- Founding Oxio and his bold vision
- Raising his Series A from Xavier Neel, Founder of Free and Kima Ventures
- Expanding beyond Canada and using software to develop a new business model
- Building a culture of radical transparency
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Danny Angers, Co-Founder & EVP, Chief Growth Officer @ Vosker.
Danny is the Chief Growth Officer and a Co-founder and board member of VOSKER. An experienced business developer, his corporate development and interpersonal skills has led to significant growth opportunities across various technological sector.
Pulling knowledge and strength from over ten years of experience as a specialist business developer and go-to-market strategist, Danny’s truest passion and values lies in pursuing bold ideas whilst supporting and leading disruptive technologies throughout the globe.
On this week’s show, we spoke with Danny Angers, Co-Founder & EVP, Chief Growth Officer @ Vosker.
Danny is the Chief Growth Officer and a Co-founder and board member of VOSKER. An experienced business developer, his corporate development and interpersonal skills has led to significant growth opportunities across various technological sector.
Pulling knowledge and strength from over ten years of experience as a specialist business developer and go-to-market strategist, Danny’s truest passion and values lies in pursuing bold ideas whilst supporting and leading disruptive technologies throughout the globe.
On this week’s show, we spoke with Nadia Ladak, Co-Founder @ Marlow.
Nadia Ladak is passionate about contributing to the start-up ecosystem and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. She is the founder of Marlow, a menstrual health brand that has created the first-ever lubricated tampon delivered through a direct-to-consumer subscription model. Beyond the product, the team is taking a community-driven approach to reduce the stigma around menstrual health through education and conversations. The brand has been featured in a variety of publications including Global News, Betakit, Canadian Living, The Kit, FemTech Insider, Vancouver Sun, and more. Nadia led the team's fundraising strategy and raised a $500,000 pre-seed round and obtained $100,000 in non-dilutive grants. She is a Canadian delegate at the upcoming G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance summit where she will contribute to international policy regarding entrepreneurship and is also the Ontario representative on the Startup Canada Women Advocacy Network where she participates in government roundtables to advocate for female founders. Prior to Marlow, Nadia worked at KPMG in management consulting and at TELUS Digital in digital strategy. She graduated from the Ivey Business School as an Ivey Scholar (top 10% of her class) and was recently recognized as one of Canada's Top 30 under 30 leaders by Bay Street Bull. Nadia is committed to giving back to her community through her role as a fundraising catalyst at Holland Bloorview Children's Hospital and as a mentor for the Junior Achievement Company Program where she provides weekly coaching to high school students as they operate their own small businesses.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Overcoming the stigma of women’s health
- Building new distribution models
- How they innovated in their product
- Innovating with TikTok as a marketing channel
- Giving advice to young entrepreneurs
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Nadia Ladak, Co-Founder @ Marlow.
Nadia Ladak is passionate about contributing to the start-up ecosystem and inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. She is the founder of Marlow, a menstrual health brand that has created the first-ever lubricated tampon delivered through a direct-to-consumer subscription model. Beyond the product, the team is taking a community-driven approach to reduce the stigma around menstrual health through education and conversations. The brand has been featured in a variety of publications including Global News, Betakit, Canadian Living, The Kit, FemTech Insider, Vancouver Sun, and more. Nadia led the team's fundraising strategy and raised a $500,000 pre-seed round and obtained $100,000 in non-dilutive grants. She is a Canadian delegate at the upcoming G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance summit where she will contribute to international policy regarding entrepreneurship and is also the Ontario representative on the Startup Canada Women Advocacy Network where she participates in government roundtables to advocate for female founders. Prior to Marlow, Nadia worked at KPMG in management consulting and at TELUS Digital in digital strategy. She graduated from the Ivey Business School as an Ivey Scholar (top 10% of her class) and was recently recognized as one of Canada's Top 30 under 30 leaders by Bay Street Bull. Nadia is committed to giving back to her community through her role as a fundraising catalyst at Holland Bloorview Children's Hospital and as a mentor for the Junior Achievement Company Program where she provides weekly coaching to high school students as they operate their own small businesses.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Overcoming the stigma of women’s health
- Building new distribution models
- How they innovated in their product
- Innovating with TikTok as a marketing channel
- Giving advice to young entrepreneurs
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alex Shee, Vice-President Corporate Development & Strategy @ Sama.
Alex is an executive at Sama that leads Corporate Development and Strategy. He is working on building an AI business ecosystem around Sama's platform. His role encompasses Partnerships, Corporate Development and Go-To-Market strategy. He was previously the Head of Partnerships and Corporate Development at Element AI (exited to ServiceNow | NYSE: NOW) where he opened and grew the business in Asia, signed major strategic partnerships and led the team that raised Element AI's C$200M Series B. He was also the host of Element AI's #1 rated podcast "The AI Element" which explores the biggest issues and toughest questions in artificial intelligence. He was also recently selected as one of top 250 upcoming leaders in Canada by the Governor General of Canada (equivalent of Presidential Award), one of the top 4 business development and sales leaders in tech by Floodgates in their Annual Anchor List and 2021 "Power Player" by The Peak.
We spoke about:
- Sama’s mission and their double bottom line
- How their model allows them to peak into the future of AI
- Creating access to the digital economy for people in difficult situations
- Being a high growth startup and using technology as a force for good
- Alex’s personal journey from Element AI to Sama
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Bradley Smith, CEO & Founder @ Haleo Health.
HALEO is a healthcare provider with a mission to improve health and performance by increasing access to quality care for poor sleep. Our virtual specialty care clinic provides professional, clinically proven solutions for sleep disorders and is accessible through a mobile app. Our services help organizations increase productivity, safety and retention by helping their employees sleep better. Our vision is to provide significantly improved quality of care and clinical outcomes for millions of people worldwide experiencing sleep disorders. We are achieving this by developing novel, clinically proven personalized treatment protocols administered by healthcare professionals, supported by AI and delivered cost-effectively and at scale using a virtual care model.
We spoke about:
- The state of sleep today
- How their virtual care model improves patient outcomes
- Innovating on their business model to become mobile
- Building a subscription model
- Raising a round and their growth ambitions
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Bradley Smith, CEO & Founder @ Haleo Health.
HALEO is a healthcare provider with a mission to improve health and performance by increasing access to quality care for poor sleep. Our virtual specialty care clinic provides professional, clinically proven solutions for sleep disorders and is accessible through a mobile app. Our services help organizations increase productivity, safety and retention by helping their employees sleep better. Our vision is to provide significantly improved quality of care and clinical outcomes for millions of people worldwide experiencing sleep disorders. We are achieving this by developing novel, clinically proven personalized treatment protocols administered by healthcare professionals, supported by AI and delivered cost-effectively and at scale using a virtual care model.
We spoke about:
- The state of sleep today
- How their virtual care model improves patient outcomes
- Innovating on their business model to become mobile
- Building a subscription model
- Raising a round and their growth ambitions
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jason Dominique, Co-Founder & CEO @ Embr
Known for his relentless determination and contagious passion for innovation at a global scale, Jason spent the better part of the last decade in the Montreal Startup Ecosystem helping advance its international reach. As a seasoned entrepreneur and innovation leader, Jason is currently focussed on building Embr, a Web3-enabled startup that empowers innovators with the tools and know-how to ignite the future of economic opportunity.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The state of crypto today
- Immutability, ownership and trustless benefits of blockchains
- Building a startup despite the extreme volatility of the space
- Going from ideation to launch with a crypto project
- His vision for Embr and building the application layer for decentralized projects
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Annick Charbonneau, Co-Founder and Managing Partner @ Accelia Capital.
A serial tech entrepreneur, Annick Charbonneau has founded and managed two tech companies over the past decade. A fervent promoter of the presence of women in entrepreneurship, in 2021 she launched Accelia Capital, a venture capital fund whose mission is to invest in innovative companies, owned or led by women. At over $50M, it is one of the most important venture capital funds to propel female entrepreneurship in North America. Accelia Capital invests in Quebec or Canadian start-ups and other early stage companies.
A graduate in International Business from Pepperdine University in California, Annick also holds a certificate in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy from MIT Sloan School of Management. She is a passionate traveler and enjoys skiing, cycling, and running.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Empowering the next generation of female entrepreneurs
- Having 20 successful women as LPs
- Accelia Capital’s investment thesis
- Getting more women as GPs in venture capital
Annick is well on her way to building a world-class venture capital firm and she shared some great insights.
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Martin Gourdeau, President & General Manager @ Gsoft.
Martin is a strategy and technology executive with over 18 years experience building high performance teams within a wide range of industries. Before joining GSoft, Martin co-founded PNR, a boutique management consulting firm specialized in corporate strategy and M&A. The firm experienced 100% YoY growth it's first four years of operation, and successfully brought to market a proprietary strategic planning methodology and platform. Prior to PNR, Martin was VP Operations at Global Eagle Entertainment, the world leader in in-flight entertainment. In his role Martin led a significant restructuring and post-M&A initiative to optimize resources, lower attrition and significantly improve bottom line results. Previously, Martin took the lead as head of operations at nventive: a mobile applications agency working with marquee clients such as Expedia, Yelp and Bloomberg. During his tenure, the company grew from 15 to 100+ employees in 18 months. In 2004, he joined Electronic Arts in a technology role, and eventually transitioned to Director of Operations for the new world class game development studio. The studio scaled from 30 employees to more than 800 over a span of 7 years. Before EA, Martin began his professional journey as an IT consultant in the special effects and super-computing space.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Remove friction from the employee experience
- How the pandemic accelerated their business
- Focusing on product and having a product led growth strategy
- State of the markets and macroeconomic headwinds
Martin is a seasoned executive with a tremendous amount of experience and insights on building world-class products
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with David Charbonneau, Managing Partner @ Boreal Ventures.
David is the founder and managing partner of Boreal Ventures, Quebec's first early-stage venture fund dedicated to deeptech. Areas of expertise include industrial technologies, artificial intelligence, enterprise SaaS, semiconductor, computer vision, IoT, medtech, cleantech and energy.
Prior to founding Boreal Ventures, David worked at BDC Capital where he helped manage a $135M early-stage venture fund.
David initially started his career working in various engineering functions for Bombardier, Kraft and Toyota before transitioning to management consulting and strategy at KPMG-SECOR, where he supported executives on investment decisions, strategic planning and post-merger integration.
David also co-founded the Comité de Consultation en Gestion de Polytechnique (CCGP), a student-run consulting organization supporting strategic decision-making at start-ups, not-for-profits and established businesses.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The skill of closing the gap between engineering and business
- How we strong engineering talent right here in Quebec
- De-risking investments at an early stage
- Why he started Boreal Ventures and how they partner with Centech
- His vision of making Canada a leading innovation center across the world
David is well on his way in building a world class venture capital firm. I’m grateful that he took the time to chat and share his insights
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sévrine Labelle, CEO @ Evol
Sévrine Labelle arrived at Femmessor in May 2017 with the desire to lead the organization and its human wealth with kindness and empathy. With more than 20 years of experience in management and entrepreneurship, she values collaboration and relies on collective intelligence to reach greater heights as a team. In his view, entrepreneurs have the power to positively transform society. It is this conviction that led her to invest in the evolution of Femmessor towards Evol, with the ambition of contributing to the creation of a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable economy.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Evol’s mission and how they help female entrepreneurs and underrepresented founders
- How the tides are changing and more women are starting companies
- Sevrine’s personal passion about wanting to make an impact
- Evol’s foray into equity investing and growth potential
Sévrine is working towards a more prosperous future and a more equitable one. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Miles Schwartz, Co-Founder @ Zum Rails.
Experienced FinTech entrepreneur with a successful track record of building businesses from scratch. His passion for excellence and achieving results stems from his drive to continuously improve in all aspects of his life. He’s had the luxury of working with some very inspiring mentors who have helped shape him into the entrepreneur, leader, and team player he is today.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Choosing the non-corporate life
- Being the first employee at Flinks
- Starting Zum Rails and building a company entirely remote
- Scaling to 7 figures ARR and fundraising strategy
- His ambition in building a unicorn
Miles shares some great insights about a winning mindset and what it takes to succeed in the startup world. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Guillaume Duchesneau, CEO @ Ingeno
Guillaume is a software developer passionate about cloud computing and has been working in the IT field since 1997.
Over the years, with the emergence of the term "cloud", he had the chance to participate in multiple small and large scale cloud/SaaS projects as technical manager, architect and developer.
As "cloud-native" development techniques have evolved, he has developed a keen interest in using concepts such as test-driven development, continuous integration, continuous delivery, or microservices architectures as levers to deliver high-value, high-quality software on public or private clouds.
What he loves the most is coding. He sincerely believes that to be a great software architect, you also have to be a great software developer.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he fell in love with software development
- What it takes to become good at making software
- Starting Ingeno and entrepreneurship lessons
- Building a culture that attracts top developers
- Making the decision to step down as CEO
Guillaume is incredibly humble and has had a stellar career. He shared some great entrepreneurial lessons.
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Azadeh Dastmalchi, CEO & Co-Founder @ VitalTracer.
Azadeh Dastmalchi is the CEO of VitalTracer, a medical startup that designs smart wearable medical devices. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Ottawa University, obtaining her MSc from the same university in Biomedical Engineering. In the last twelve years, her main field of research has been designing and developing medical devices, particularly vital signs monitoring ones and applied AI on bio-signals.
She is one of the top 25 women of Influence Recipients 2021, Student Entrepreneur National Champion in 2021, a Canadian G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance, a skilled leader, entrepreneur, business planner, and a successful project manager. Azadeh raised $1M non-dilutive grants since April 2019. VitalTracer has been awarded several regional and national awards under her leadership, including Mitacs national entrepreneur award, Cannie regional award on innovation product, Startup Canada award, and Age-Well Emerging Entrepreneur Award (COVID-19 Countermeasures).
Experienced Research Assistant with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in leadership, entrepreneurship, business Planning, Data mining and project management. Strong research professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biomedical Engineering focused on Smart Wearable Medical Device with Machine Learning and Deep Learning and AI Algorithms
On the show, we spoke about:
- How her father inspired her to launch a startup
- The challenge of medical startups
- The state of wearable technology
- How VitalTracer will be able detect and prevent heart disease
- Her ambitions for growing the company
Azadeh is well on her way to making a huge impact in the world. She shared some great insights into what it takes to build a med-tech startup. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Stephanie Mouchbahani-Constance, CEO & Co-Founder @ Pterotech.
Stephanie Mouchbahani-Constance is the co-founder of PteroTech Inc. and is currently finishing her PhD at McGill University in the department of Physiology. She is the recipient of the Vanier Scholarship from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and for the past 4 years, her PhD research has focused on studying the venom responsible for excruciatingly painful stings produced by lionfish with a focus on understanding how this venom causes so much pain on a molecular level. From her research, Stephanie and her PhD supervisor co-founded PteroTech in 2019 to commercialize the first ever treatment for pain caused by lionfish stings. They since taken their product, called StingMaster, from lab to the market in 1 year and it is the first ever over-the-counter topical ointment that treats the pain caused by aquatic stings. Originally, they designed their formula to treat the pain caused by lionfish stings but have since found that StingMaster also works for a broad variety of aquatic stings including jellyfish, sea lice and fire coral stings.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Stephanie got interested in the field of pain
- Discovering the solution for lionfish stings
- Building a company despite lack of business experience
- Taking advantage of the District3 Acceleration program
- Potential applicability of her solution
Stephanie is on the path to help millions of people globally. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Philippe-Antoine Lehoux, CEO @ Missive App
Philippe has been bootstrapping businesses for the last 24 years. He’s done it all from the free flash game portal, the outside gaming creation jam, his city's first coworking space, the million dollar badge printing app, and now the best collaborative communication app in the world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Lessons from bootstrapping his business
- Learning to code
- Building Missive to get $2M
- Entrepreneurship lessons after building several businesses
- Focusing on the product above all else
Philippe-Antoine is a serial entrepreneur that shared some great lessons on this interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Adrian Schauer, Co-Founder & CEO @ Alayacare.
Adrian is a serial technology entrepreneur currently working on his 3rd technology start-up, AlayaCare. Having sold his mobile enterprise software last start-up, Vortex Connect, in 2012 he spent two years engaged as VP Innovation at the acquirer, JDA Software. Adrian is also an active Angel Investor and is a member of Maple Leaf Angels and Anges Quebec. Most recently he led an investment in TrackTik. In 2013 he led an investment round in Chipcare Corporation, a biotech spin out of the University of Toronto where he is currently the Chairman of the Board. Prior to spinning Vortex Connect out as an independent company, Adrian had co-founded the market leading mobile marketing company Vortex Mobile where he was in charge of product strategy. Vortex Mobile was recognized for 2 consecutive years as one of Canada’s 50 Fastest growing companies by Profit Magazine and was acquired by Transcontinental in 2010. Adrian is also the co-founder of the Madiro Fund, an organization created to support innovative solutions to the health problems of women and children. It is the first initiative of The Gillian and Adrian Schauer Foundation which seeks to invest in sustainable local projects promoting the health of communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Adrian holds a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and Bachelor’s of Engineering Physics from Queens University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Their mission of enabling care for our loved ones at home
- The insight that led to AlayaCare
- The state of healthcare technology today
- Raising $225M and their acquisition strategy
- The privilege of empowering home caregivers
Adrian is a serial entrepreneur that is on a mission to reinvent healthcare at home. It was an inspirational conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Tiffany Uman, Career Strategy Coach and Founder.
As a former Fortune 500 Senior Director with 13 years in the corporate space at the #1 beauty company in the world, and where she achieved 7 promotions in under 10 years, TIff was named an internal transformation change agent, and was Head of Marketing on multiple multi-million dollar consumer brands.
She became a Career Strategy Coach, so that she could empower young professionals on how to set themselves up for the most success, avoid blind spots that cripple their progression, all while fast tracking achieving their career goals.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she left a stellar career at L’Oréal to start her own coaching business
- Opportunities to build a B2B consulting business on top of coaching
- The biggest career mistakes young professionals make
- Her new book Stuff I wish I knew earlier
- Key themes: Proactivity, Communication and Intention
Tiff is a brilliant coach and has helped many young people in their careers. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Genevieve Guay, CEO @ DentsuX and President, Dentsu Quebec. Genevieve is an experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Digital Strategy, Mobile Advertising, Real-Time Bidding (RTB), Advertising, and Integrated Marketing. Strong business development professional with a BAA focused in Marketing from Université de Montréal - HEC Montréal.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Avoiding bias in media
- Challenge of recruiting talent
- The role of traditional media today
- Three pillars of transforming the agency landscape
Genevieve is a dear friend and of the smartest executives I know. She shared a ton about elevating marketing at the strategic level. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jimmy Soni, Author & Speechwriter. This is a special show celebrating the 200th episode of this podcast.
Jimmy Soni is an American author and former managing editor of The Huffington Post. He is best known for A Mind at Play, his biography of Claude Shannon and The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
Soni became the managing editor at The Huffington Post in January 2012. Previously he had worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey and Company, as well as a speech writer at the office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. In 2012, Soni was named to AdWeek's "Young Influentials", a list of 20 people under 40 "who are wicked smart and rebooting your world". He was featured at a TEDx event held at Duke University in March 2012.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His amazing book The Founders
- The great man theory of history
- How he became interested in the story of PayPal
- The many lessons from studying and writing the book
- His strategy for interviewing successful and busy people
I’m thrilled that Jimmy took the time. His book is a must read. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Daniel Armali, Principal @ Amplify Capital
Prior to joining Amplify Capital, Daniel worked for Canada's largest venture capital investor. Daniel started his career working for fortune 500 technology companies including Microsoft, OpenText and comScore, before moving into a capital markets role with the Bank of Canada, spending time working in asset management on the Bank of Canada pension plan as well as the financial markets department of the Bank of Canada that is responsible for the foreign reserves portfolio and domestic debt portfolio. Daniel also spent time doing a consulting mandate at Rio Tinto Alcan during his MBA. Prior to joining Amplify Capital, Daniel spent nearly seven years with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) supporting venture capital investments in direct companies, as well as Funds, and Funds of Funds. Daniel has held a number of board roles in Canada. Daniel has an undergraduate degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, an MBA from HEC Montreal, and has successfully completed all three levels of the CFA program.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Defining impact investing
- Amplify Capital’s investment thesis
- Demystifying ESG
- Tariq Fancy’s take on ESG
- Deep tech’s unique advantage
- Measuring outputs and outcomes
I really enjoyed learning from Daniel about the interesting field of impact investing. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Bertrand Nepveu, Co-Founding Partner @ Triptyq Capital.
Bertrand has spent his entire career working in the field of computer science and microelectronics. From a very young age, he knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur like his grandfather and change the world. Hardcore gamer since Donkey Kong on the ColecoVision, he became obsessed with virtual reality when he tried the Power Glove on the Nintendo Entertainment System. As an early adopter and gadget lover, he founded Vrvana in 2005 in order to fulfill his dream of improving the gaming experience by bringing the user inside the game. Geek at heart, he gathered the best and brightest in Montreal to create the ultimate mixed-reality headset, which won “Tom’s Hardware” Best in Show at CES 2017. In September 2017, Vrvana decided to continue the adventure alongside Apple and Bertrand moved in California and worked for Apple for more than three years. Bertrand holds a Computer Engineering degree from the Université de Sherbrooke and an MBA from HEC Montréal.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The endless possibilities of the metaverse
- Selling Vrvana to Apple
- How people can shape technology
- How the metaverse can have a positive impact
- Starting an investment fund focused on entertainment startups
Bertrand is one of the most innovative minds in the country. I was lucky enough to visit the future with him during this conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Liette Lamonde, Managing Director @ Startup Montréal
She was the Executive director of Montréal inc., an organization with the mission to guide young Montréal entrepreneurs down the path to success. She has been an active player in the world of philanthropy since 2004 when she was appointed CEO of the Fondation Montréal. Liette is also the co-founder of Bonjour Startup Montréal, an organization created in collaboration with OSMO, to encourage connections between all players within the startup community.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Building a community for startups in Montreal
- Taking over the role of managing director of Bonjour Startup
- The art of bringing people together
- Merging Montreal Inc and Bonjour Startup
- Fundamental values she built into her organization
Liette is driven and passionate about entrepreneurship and it really shows. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Lucas Martinez, Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Talent.com.
Lucas Martínez is the co-founder and co-CEO of Talent.com, a job search platform that aims to connect the world to work. The son of Spanish immigrants living in Switzerland, Martínez had the travel bug early in life and was always eager to experience new cultures, people, and places. Before founding Talent.com, Martínez worked as an ERP consultant as well as in Software Sales in North America, Europe, APAC and the Middle East. During his graduate studies in Geneva, he met his fellow co-founder Maxime Droux, who was already friends with their third partner, Benjamin Philion. Martínez then moved to Montreal in 2011 to start the company with his partners and spent the next ten years growing the business from a small start-up to the global $150M enterprise it is today. Martínez now lives in Barcelona with his wife and three children.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Talent.com’s latest fundraise of $150M
- Ten years of work to make an overnight success
- Transforming the job board and recruitment industry
- Lucas’ vision for the product
- Going after the SMB vs. the enterprise market
- Approaching everything with a beginner’s mindset
I’m lucky to have worked with Lucas and his team and I have to say that they are exceptional. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Richard Chenier, CEO @ Centech
At the head of Centech, one of the most successful university incubators in the world according to UBI-Global, Richard occupies an important place in the Montreal and Canadian startup ecosystem. Dedicated to the development of high technologies through entrepreneurship, it is located at the crossroads of innovative start-ups with high growth potential from science and engineering. In addition, Richard collaborates with the Institut du leadership en gestion and offers his expertise in optimizing the contribution of teams. In the past, he also held positions related to organizational development where he trained and advised more than 10,000 managers in hundreds of organizations. He was also named among the 50 Quebecers who make the extraordinary in 2018 by Urbania magazine and in 2021 received the award for excellence in management - innovation component by the Réseau des Universités du Québec.
On the show, we spoke about:
- What makes a successful accelerator
- The number one KPI for startups
- Talent density and competition for entrepreneurs
- The importance of urgency
- Learning from successes as well as failures
Richard is modest yet has built one of the world’s most important startups accelerators. If you are interested in startups, don’t miss this episode.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Melissa Allen, Executive Director @ League of Innovators | Venture Partner @ LOI Ventures
Melissa Allen is the Executive Director of the League of Innovators, a national charity that empowers the next generation of entrepreneurs. Melissa began her career in sales and marketing at tech companies such as Torstar Digital and Google, before pivoting to an award-winning career in wealth management. Combining her love of tech and finance, Melissa became an angel investor in 2019 and is passionate about creating more accessibility and representation in the tech and venture capital industry, which in her opinion ultimately benefits everyone.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Melissa got into venture
- The vision behind League of Innovators
- Helping student achieve their dreams
- Starting a small venture fund and her thesis
It was a blast catching up with Melissa after a few years. She is mission driven and her passion was evident during the interview.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marc Boscher, Founder & CEO @ Unito.
Marc Boscher is the founder and CEO of Unito, a workflow management solution that allows you to build, optimize, and track workflows across tools, teams, and entire organizations. Marc has been building businesses since he was 19, and was a founding team member of three other technology startups in the medical and digital signage spaces, leading product and technology, before starting Unito.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Marc approaches salary & compensation
- Growth and scaling Unito
- Company culture as a moat
- Confronting the fear of change
- Unito’s pillars of community, growth and transparency
I really enjoyed learning from Marc and his philosophy on company building. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mia Morisset, VP Growth Equity @ iNovia Capital
Mia Morisset joined Inovia Capital in September 2018 in the Montreal office, with a mandate to continue strengthening the Inovia ecosystem in Quebec and support Partners in identifying late stage investment opportunities. Since joining, Mia was actively involved in Inovia's investments in AlayaCare, Hopper and WorkJam. Prior to joining Inovia, Mia worked at PSP Investments in the Private Equity Direct team at both the Montreal and London offices. She also had worked as a management consultant at Roland Berger in the Montreal and Paris offices. Mia graduated with honours from McGill University in 2013 with a Bachelor in Commerce.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she thinks about unit economics
- Building a defensive moat
- Functional expertise at iNovia
- Productivity in healthcare
I had a blast learning from Mia. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mohannad El-Barachi, Co-Founder & CEO @ Wrk
Mohannad El-Barachi is an Egyptian-born tech-entrepreneur, investor, executive, and business strategist. After moving to Montreal at the age of 7, he went on to graduate with a university degree in Computer Science and Political Science before taking on various executive positions in the tech and telecom industries. His experience spans multi industries and disciplines including the launch of multiple successful businesses and product lines in the automotive, telecom, and digital marketing industries. Most recently, he co-founded and led as CEO SweetIQ Analytics Corp., a digital marketing platform helping multi-location brands and marketing agencies increase in-store foot traffic via local search. In April 2017, after raising millions of dollars in VC funding and driving the company’s four consecutive years of +300% growth, he led the company to its acquisition by Gannett, owners of USA TODAY!, a multi-billion dollar publicly traded news and media company (NYSE: GCI). Today, Mohannad is a strategic advisor and investor in several technology companies and venture capital firms.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Mo thinks about risk
- The importance of creating a sense of urgency and how it can help strategically
- Why he started Wrk (hint: it’s making a big impact)
- WrK’s ambitious mission
- Human creativity triumphing over machines
- Their huge $55M and his plans to scale
Mo is a world-class entrepreneur and is only getting started with his current company. I took away a bunch of great lessons after speaking with him and I hope that you do as well.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Stephan Marois, Investment Director @ FSTQ.
Stéphan Marois joined the Fonds de solidarité FSTQ in 2007 where he is now Portfolio Manager. While at the Fonds, he has worked in the information technologies, aerospace, transportation, recreational tourism and financial services sectors. Mr. Marois has gained extensive experience in investments while working for leading Québec corporations such as Bombardier, CAE and Hydro-Québec. His achievements include participating in numerous financing projects and arrangements in Canada and abroad. Mr. Marois currently serves on the boards of various organizations. Holder of an MBA with a concentration in International Business from McGill University, he is also a member of the Ordre des CPA du Québec. He has completed courses on securities, investment fund management and governance issues.
On the show, we spoke about:
- What makes a good investor
- The importance of aligning a board of directors
- A strong market vs. a strong team
- Having a long term partner like FTQ
- Timing the exit
- Stéphan wrote a few brilliant articles on Linkedin
Stephan is one of the smartest investors I know. It was a joy learning from him on the show. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Awane Jones, Co-Founder & CEO @ Phenomena VR.
Awane is the CEO of Phenomena, a VC-backed VR Gaming company that develops original free-roam games in the VR eSport Arena platform for the location-based entertainment market.
In the past, he was the General Manager of Zone3, one of Canada’s largest producers of TV, VR & Film. Prior to that, he founded a company in 2009 that pioneered the AR and VR sector. He has raised over 4 million dollars throughout his startup career and had one acquisition and a successful exit. He is a bilingual keynote speaker and has presented at several international conferences including SXSW, C2, G20, etc.
His award-winning companies have built immersive experiences for a number of high-profile global brands such as Twitter, Universal Pictures (50 Shades of Grey Darker, and The Mummy).
These last 10 years of experience have led to the birth of Phenomena, the best eSport VR attraction for amusement parks, family entertainment centres, and theme parks.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Awane got into VR so early
- Biggest misconceptions about VR
- How the Quest2 accelerated VR adoption
- Launching Phenomena and their long term ambition
- Their goal of building esports in the metaverse
- Lessons from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Awane is a true innovator in the VR space. If you want to understand the possibilities of this exciting technology, don’t miss this episode!
On this week’s show, we spoke with Louis-Felix Binette, Executive Director @ Main QC.
Louis-Félix Binette is putting collaboration to productive use. As a creative strategist, he designs collaborative experiences that allow leaders to engage multiple stakeholders in their projects. After over ten years in strategic positions in the civil service, he decided in 2012 to focus his energy on the design and management of collaboration. He has helped well over a hundred clients leverage collective intelligence to define their strategy and achieve their goals.
He also plays an active role in stimulating participation, mobilization and collaboration among his fellow citizens. He acts as Executive Director and is a founding member of MAIN, Québec’s first network of business accelerators and incubators. He helped create the Montreal chapters of CreativeMornings and Fvckup Nights movements. He also sits on several boards including those of l’Institut du Nouveau Monde, short-film distributor Travelling and chairs the foundation of the Centre des auteurs dramatiques. He is an active philanthropist, notably in academia (HEC Montréal), arts & culture (Théâtre d'aujourd'hui) and international development (Haïti).
On the show, we spoke about:
- Founding of Main and its mission of improving the incubator & accelerator ecosystem
- How Mintzberg inspired Main’s strategy
- The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker
- A key report: Survol de l'écosystème startup (2020) — Key Findings available in English — & Incursion dans l'écosystème startup des régions du Québec (2021), on MAIN's website
- Connect with Louis-Felix on LinkedIn. MAIN on LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter
I was so happy Louis-Felix took the time to chat. It was a fantastic conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Emmanuelle Coppinger, Managing Director @ Front Row Ventures
Emmanuelle (Manue) is passionate about new technologies and the ability of startups to improve society. She mentors and sits on the advisory boards of different early-stage startups. Manue is also a community leader. She built the Canadian chapter and has been the Ambassador for Canada of Women in AI (WAI), a non-profit do-tank whose mission is to increase female representation and participation in AI. She spent the last 2+ years at Next AI Montreal as the Director of Ventures, mainly in charge of co-building the program from scratch, startups recruitment, portfolio management, and founders growth. Before that, she founded a travel accessories brand that she ran for 8 years and a non-profit to help promote blood platelets donation towards students. Manue holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School (Paris) and started her career in auditing in France, followed by 3 years in investment banking in Australia. As Managing Director of Front Row Ventures, she will practice her demonstrated passion for mentoring, community building, and venture investments. Manue’s vision for FRV is to make it THE foundational platform to build the next generation of Canadian tech talent. When she’s not pitching to investors or mentoring Canada’s next generation of entrepreneurs and investors, Manue loves to spend some time with her friends & family, travel, cook, and build DIY furniture.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Front Row’s mission to help student founders
- Their proprietary deal flow
- Screening 800 companies per year
- Impact investing within her portfolio
- The principles she talks about with her founders
Emmanuelle is a mission driven fund manager. She just started at Front Row and is poised to make a big impact. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher |
On this week’s show, we spoke with Martin Aubut, CMO @ nesto.
Martin Aubut is a marketing executive, e-commerce specialist and business transformation leader, with 20+ years of experience. He is known for transforming and growing organizations toward consumer centricity by leveraging data, digital capabilities and brand building. He is now acting as Chief Marketing Officer at nesto, which is one of the fastest growing Canada fintech companies. With technology, nesto seamlessly offers the best suited mortgage options so that Canadians can secure the best mortgage and save thousands in interest - no negotiation needed. He is leading all functions of the integrated marketing team to Establish nesto as No 1 Brand in Digital Mortgage Solution, enabling fast growth in a sustainable way. Martin Aubut was former Vice-President Marketing and E-commerce at COGECO Connexion, one of the Largest Canadian Telecoms. Martin is viewed as a growth engine, driving business objectives without compromising on team engagement and talent development into an Agile environment.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Going back to the startup life
- The keys to mastering a digital transformation
- nesto’s ambition of being #1 in Canada
- nesto’s new ad campaign
- The new book he’s writing
Martin is one of the best operators I know. He shared some great insights about growth and customer centricity. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
On this week’s show, we spoke with Elizabeth Henry, CEO @ Adviso
Marketing professional for almost 20 years, she came on-board with new media and, accordingly, had the opportunity to contribute to the digital shift undergone by a number of companies. Since then, she’s aimed to push the limits of traditional approaches, increase her understanding of the consumer, measure and optimize as part of an ongoing quest to create impactful and meaningful customer experiences and communications. During her seven years tenure in agencies: (Sid Lee, Saint-Jacques Vallée Y&R, Adviso) where she fulfilled the duties of Account Director, Interactive Strategist and Senior Digital Producer, she developed strategies, managed brand image and lead teams towards the delivery of several major campaigns, projects, some of which were recognized at the Boomerangs, CMA, MIA, DMA awards.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The evolution of digital
- Taking over as CEO at Adviso and the transition
- Being considering a business partner from their customers
- The threat and opportunity of internalization
- The war for talent
- Being a adaptive culture
- Their five year growth strategy
I had a blast meeting Elizabeth and learning about her vision for Adviso. I hope that you enjoy today’s conversation!
On this week’s show, we spoke with JF Coté, CEO @ Sharethrough.
With over 20 years’ experience in business, JF is an experienced leader and a born innovator: co-founder of district m, he is the chief architect of the company’s corporate strategy and provides leadership to sales and partnership initiatives. Awarded with EY's Entrepreneur of the Year in the Emerging Entrepreneur category, and recognized at the Arista Gala as Young Entrepreneur, JF is recognized in the industry and the market as a leader.
He holds an executive MBA from UQAM and a bachelor’s degree in commerce with a specialization in Finance from University of Ottawa. JF is a CPA by training and serves as a member of multiple boards to support kids in their education and sports activities.
Before Sharethrough, JF shared his expertise with multiple companies in different industries such as Pratt & Whitney (Aerospace), PricewaterhouseCoopers (Investment Banking) and Yellow Pages (Media), for which he co-founded the digital media division, Mediative.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Launching DistrictM and building one of the largest exchanges in the world
- Pivoting their business model
- The acquisition of Sharethrough and building their M&A competency
- Acceleration during the pandemic
- Having to forego going public for the time being
- His thoughts on a cookieless world and how they will capitalize on it
JF is a world class entrepreneur right in my backyard and I’m happy that he took the time. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
On this week’s show, we spoke with Phil G. Joseph, Creator @ Rep Matters.
Phil is a young changemaker intent on leveraging technology and venture capital to create a better future for all. As a trilingual Haitian-Canadian-American who has lived and worked in Canada, the USA, and China, he is skilled at reaching across cultural and language barriers in order to identify pain points, and create innovative solutions to address them.
Phil is the creator and host of Rep Matters, an interview series that highlights Black entrepreneurs and investors in the tech ecosystem, with the goal of increasing accessibility to those spaces for future leaders. The series was launched in partnership with Real Ventures, one of Canada's most active early-stage VC firms, where he also works as an investment associate.
His background and passion for healthcare also keeps him well connected to his community. As a board member of the Black Health Alliance, Phil helps this community-led registered charity work to improve the health and well-being of Black communities across Canada. In addition, he volunteers as a mentor and coach for the Red Rush Basketball Leadership program.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he quit sports to join venture capital
- The importance of diversity of thought
- His vision behind Rep Matters
- Building a community and creating a big impact
- Advice to people that want to help but don’t know how to start
Phil is a mensch. I admire his accomplishments so early into his career. I can’t wait to have him back on the show. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
On this week’s show, we spoke with Janet Bannister, Managing Partner @ Real Ventures.
Since her first entrepreneurial venture as a teenager, Janet has used her boundless energy and focus to build and shape companies. Part of the Real Ventures team since 2014, she has led investments in over a dozen companies and works actively to help them accelerate growth and create meaningful impact. Janet’s experience as a founder, and her work with industry leaders like Procter & Gamble, McKinsey & Co. and eBay, have given her great insight and practical knowledge, which she passes on to the teams she mentors. Given her background transforming eBay from a Collectibles to a Mainstream marketplace and launching and growing Kijiji into one of the most visited websites in Canada, Janet primarily works with entrepreneurs in marketplaces, fintech, future of work, and AI in enterprise settings. A dynamic, high energy person, Janet has also competed internationally in triathlons and loves spending time in nature and with her family.
On this week’s show, we spoke with Tima Gros, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer @ Impak Finance and Paul Allard, Co-Founder & CEO @ Impak Finance.
Paul is a serial tech entrepreneur with a track record of achieving business results, through leadership, management, innovative problem solving, networking, financial engineering and M&A.
He successfully led & managed multi-disciplinary teams in the UK, France, Canada, Mexico, USA. He has experience in various aspects of business: Finance, M&A, Sales, Marketing in industries such as Software, Marketing and Entertainment.
Tima is the co-founder and Chief Happiness Officer at Impak Finance. Impak is a Canadian and French start-up that has built impak IS², an impact assessment and scoring solution based on leading international standards, notably the Impact Management Project and the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How they came up with the idea of impak finance
- Moving from a financial economy to an impact economy
- The concept of impact weighted accounting
- Matching external and internal values
- How their scoring system measures is useful for investors
This was a very timely conversation and I’m grateful that Paul and Tima took the time. Their mission is inspiring and they are only just getting started. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Raymond Luk, Founder & CEO @ Hockeystick. Raymond is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of Hockeystick (a matchmaking system for startups and funders), Flow Ventures (a financial consultancy for startups), Year One Labs (an early-stage micro-VC fund), and others. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and removing barriers to raising capital through technology. He lives in Toronto with his wife who is a fashion entrepreneur.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he started companies at a young age
- Needing confidence and capital
- The Canadian ecosystem developed over the years
- How Hockeystick connects startups with funders
- Managing his attention and time
- The importance of the pitch deck
Raymond has been in the game for a long time and his experience shone through during the interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Christine Dupuis, VP of Product @ Heyday
She is a passionate product and people leader with a track record of developing data-based strategies and driving measurable product growth and team engagement.
Well-known for being analytical, structured and adaptable, she brings together the best of my varied and global experiences (Google, McKinsey, Nonprofits, Start-ups) to motivate teams and drive execution.
Her personal mission is to equalize the field -- whether it's mentoring women in tech, or helping small businesses compete with giants. She is passionate about topics which relate to democratizing access to education and information.
Recently, she co-founded APM Montreal, a community-based training program which aims to make product management more accessible for people of all backgrounds, based on the highly successful APM Toronto program.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The role of a product manager
- Best practices for understanding the role
- Leaving Silicon Valley and working for HeyDay
- The opportunities at HubSpot after the acquisition
Christine is so smart and yet humble. If you are interested in product management, you have to check out this episode.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with David Nadezhdin, Co-Founder & CEO @ MYR.
David Nadezhdin is a tech monkey. With over 15 years of experience, David is intimately familiar with all aspects of a project from concept to execution. Currently David is working on Master Your Rush (MYR), a point of sale company tailored for the limited-service restaurant industry. Previously he founded and operated a medical device company in the field of cardiology which holds today a very broad utility patent and a manufacturable Automatic Contactless ECG user experience prototype. David also serves as a board member of The Humanitarian University (humanitarianu.com), an online university dedicated to preparing first responders for humanitarian disasters around the world.
On this week’s show, we spoke with Zach Laberge, Founder & CEO @ Frenter
Zach is the 15-year-old founder and CEO of Frenter. He founded his first startup at the age of 10, an electronics e-commerce startup off Alibaba. At 12 he founded Bernie's Biscuits, an online dog treat e-commerce startup based on his dog Bernie who had 5k followers on Instagram at the time.
At 14 he founded frenter, an online rental community that has since grown to thousands of users and thousands of items listed in 8 cities across Canada.
He has also founded other startups in the Blockchain, Fashion and Cryptocurrency space all of which he’s learned valuable lessons from that he’s been able to bring into my other business and he’s the youngest founder to join Newchip Accelerator and Propel ICT.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Why he’s starting companies at an early age
- His sources of inspiration
- How he fell in love with the sharing economy
- Pivoting Frenter and their revised vision
I really enjoyed my conversation with Zach. He’s wise beyond years and I’m excited to follow his journey. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Valerie Pisano, President & CEO @ MILA.
Valérie Pisano has over 10 years of experience in talent, leadership, diversity and organizational dynamics. Appointed CEO of Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute – she joins an emerging group of women leading tech companies. She was previously Chief Talent Officer at Cirque du Soleil and cofounded The Mobïus Bias Project, an initiative focused accelerating the dialogue on female leadership roles by exploring unconscious bias. She began her career at McKinsey & Company after a Master Degree in Economics at HEC Montreal, and is the proud mother of three girls.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How artificial intelligence technologies can help humanity
- Fostering an environment of creativity at MILA
- Maintaining MILA’s culture amid rapid growth
- The importance of talent in the role of science
- Montreal’s ranking on the global stage
Valerie was generous with her time and insights. Her unique view on Montreal’s AI talent is fascinating. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Greg Rozdeba, Co-Founder & President @ Dundas Life.
Gregory Rozdeba is a Sales Director specializing in insurtech and wealthtech firms. He has consulted multiple seven-figure fintech businesses and founded Dundas Life, which is transforming how Canadians buy insurance. Gregory served as Director of Sales at a Toronto-based insurtech firm where he took the company from no product to raising over $7.6M+ in venture capital to transform the prospect to policy process in the insurance industry. After leaving the corporate world, Gregory has taken up cycling and in-depth study of Ancient Rome. He advises business leaders and enjoys helping salespeople refine their process.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Defining the need for life insurance
- Giving people the power to take charge of their life insurance with technology
- Thinking about the customer experience
- The potential of open banking
- Remaining a service firm empowered by technology
I really enjoyed my conversation with Greg, he’s well spoken and extremely knowledgeable.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Paxton Maeder-York, CEO & Founder @ Alife Health. Paxton Maeder-York is a proud member of the MBA class of 2019, Section G. He deferred between his RC and EC years to complete an additional master’s degree in Computational Science. Having studied Biomedical Engineering as an undergraduate and worked as a Product Manager at Auris Health building surgical robotics to treat lung cancer, the intersection of medicine and technology was a deep interest of his prior to HBS. He is now the Founder and CEO of Alife Health, which uses machine learning to help assess the healthiest embryo to transfer during IVF.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he started his career in robotics
- Tackling the huge challenge of fertility with Alife
- The enormous potential of machine learning in healthcare
- Potential future applications of their technology
- Raising funding from world class investors
Paxton is incredibly smart and hard working. I won’t be surprised if we hear much more about his company in the coming years. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Philippe Beaudoin, Co-founder and CEO @ Waverly. Philippe is a venture scientist constantly looking for ideas that can improve society. In 2020, he co-founded Waverly where his team and he are building a discovery engine for our increasingly diverse social and content landscapes. Waverly relies on natural language and Empathetic AI to let users connect with their true aspirations. Before that,in 2016, Philippe co-founded Element AI, a world leader in enterprise AI. Philippe holds a PhD from University of Montreal, was a researcher at University of British Columbia and spent the last 20 years honing his technological and leadership skills, including half a decade at Google.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Working on machine learning during the early days
- Our addiction to our devices and how that was the motivation to start Waverly
- Building the first natural language based recommendation based engine
- Striving for product-market fit
- How people will choose their algorithms in the future
Phillipe is one of the most impressive technologists I know. He has huge ambitions and is looking to make a dent in the way we consume information in a positive way. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Rupert Hill, Founder & CEO @ Surf Simply
Rupert is originally from the U.K. where he worked teaching both conventional, entry-level surf lessons and also video coaching with young competitors. His vision was to create a scientifically informed coaching methodology which bridged the gap between the two extremes of beginner and competitor. In 2007 he moved to Nosara in Costa Rica, where he set up Surf Simply out of the back of his car. Ten years on Surf Simply has become a high end coaching resort which books out a year in advance. As well as running the resort, he is now a keen water photographer.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The basics of learning to surf
- Moving to Costa Rica and launching his business
- The Surf Simply business model
- A neat trick to keep his team happy
- His philosophy of not needing to grow at all costs
It was a pleasure with Rupert. He has a fresh take on building a business that does not get enough attention. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Maxie Lafleur, CEO @ Bus.com. Maxie Lafleur is a talented business leader who quickly rose through the professional ranks with extensive experience in digital transformation and B2B business growth. She also has solid expertise in mergers and acquisitions and business expansion through joint ventures with large international corporations. Most recently, she was instrumental as Chief Financial Officer at Bus.com, improving the company's profitability and redefining how Bus.com positions itself in the market. Her experience working abroad in Europe and Asia positions the company favorably for expansion into new countries.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Becoming the uber of buses and Bus.com’s large TAM
- Lessons for startups from larger companies
- The challenges and joys of being CEO
- Building the Bus.com mafia
- The arrival of electric buses
- Her ambition to go public
It was an absolute joy speaking with Maxie. I will be referring back to this episode for a while. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
On this week’s show, we spoke with Annie-Claude Devriese, Managing Director @ Notman House. Annie-Claude Devriese has been the General Manager of Notman House for the past 3 years. Prior to that, she was in charge of the OSMO café (at Notman House) for almost 2 years. Over the past few years, she has contributed to making Notman House a dynamic and inclusive gathering place for Montreal's startup community, as well as a venue for various cultural and gastronomic events. Notman House is home to 235 startups that have raised over $1 billion in funding and are collectively worth close to $2.7 billion. Each year, Notman hosts over 400 workshops, hackathons, corporate offsites, and business networking events, with an average of 8,000 attendees.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The impact from the pandemic on Notman House
- How Notman House has helped the startup community in the city
- Her goals post-pandemic and how it will impact the future of work
- Her thoughts on the service industry and its future
Annie is leading the most important technology hub in the province (if not the country!). She shared some interesting insights into what it takes to build a startup ecosystem. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Pierre Jr Cliche, VP Engineering @ Infostrux Pierre is a proven leader combining technical and business acumen to achieve growth. He’s a mentor, advisor and speaker within the Quebec tech startup ecosystem. His expertise is focused around all things cloud technologies, rapid iterative cycles, digital transformation at scale and business development.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got into angel investing
- Helping businesses move to the cloud
- How Snowflake works and its use cases
- Data strategy and context
I really enjoyed my conversation with Pierre. We geeked out on the cloud and investing. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Ara Ghougassian, Co-Founder @ Fluent. His website is beautiful and the product itself is even better. Every language platform on the planet focuses on teaching you a new language by using the same, worn-out methods. With Fluent, you're constantly learning words that you actually care about and want to use for your daily life. They are currently available in French as a Chrome Extension and plan on expanding to other languages in the near future. Ara did an incredible job of seeing a problem and then solving it.
Fluent is a chrome extension that helps you practice new languages while you browse the web. We translate select English words on the websites you're already reading to a new language of your choice.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His entrepreneurial journey to co-founding Fluent
- The concept of immersive learning
- Why being privacy first matters
- Competition in their space
- Building an operating system for language learning
Ara has infectious enthusiasm and energy. Even though they are just getting started, I wouldn’t bet against them. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Rodolphe Barrere, Co-Founder & CEO @ Potloc.
Listed on the 2021 Forbes’ Under 30 list of leaders to watch in the tech space, Rodolphe Barrere is the CEO and Co-Founder of Potloc, an innovative tech firm focused on new ways to extract consumer insights.
As a leader in Consumer Research who collaborates with world-class brands and researchers to help them make better-informed business decisions, Rodolphe is driving a new methodology that uses social networks and geotargeting technology to access the right respondents and extract accurate insights from any consumer group.
At Potloc, Rodolphe has raised $20M+ with Canadian and international VCs and manages four offices across Europe and North America. Rodolphe has worked for the LVMH Group in Paris and New York, holds a trilingual BBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from HEC Montreal, and is regularly invited as a guest speaker to share his expertise on Market Research and Entrepreneurship.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The inception story of Potloc
- How they pivoted 5-6 times
- Their business model focused on consumer insights
- Blending data science and digital marketing
- His three principles: Team, Prioritization and Self-Improvement
Rodolphe is building something really special at Potloc and is completely dialed into his craft. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mahalia Verna, Senior Director of Operations & Strategy @ ed Films.
Mahalia Verna is a growth & impact strategist and versatile producer with over 20 years’ experience. Most recently, she joined E.D. FILMS, an award-winning Montreal-based animation and tech studio, as their Senior Director of Operations and Strategy. Here, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s business objectives, expanding its footprint and guarding its core values. As Senior Producer, she contributes to several projects that are currently on the studio’s production slate.
Passionate about gender equity, inclusion and belonging, and next generation talent, Mahalia is actively committed to making a difference. Her engagements include mentoring for Women in Communications and Technology, being a board member of the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC creatives, and acting President of the Board of Kids Code Jeunesse, an organization dedicated to encouraging digital literacy amongst girls and kids from underserved communities across Canada. Most recently, she joined the Board of Directors of The 7 Fingers Foundation and was named President of Xn Quebec’s Equity and Inclusion committee.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Her parents voyage from Haiti
- The importance of storytelling
- Striving for purpose and moral obligation
- The concept of “Return on purpose”
- The future of immersive storytelling
- Empowering makers to create their own stories
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would you like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marina Pavlovic Rivas, Co-Founder and CEO @ Eli Health
She is also the co-founder of WiMLDS Montreal, a community of 1000+ people with the mission to support and promote gender minorities in machine learning and data science and the founder of Gradiant AI, a company that delivers artificial intelligence and analytics solutions to creative industries. Marina has also a large experience in Data Science, and has worked as Data Science Consultant for Radio Canada and BDC.
Eli’s long-term mission goes beyond fertility and contraception. Hormones are at the very root of transitions women experience from puberty to menopause. Yet, no solution allows for daily monitoring of the fluctuations of multiple hormones over many years. That lack of data led to women’s health needs being poorly understood and thus poorly addressed. Their technology has been thoughtfully engineered to overcome this. With the same product, Eli can tackle major unmet needs at all stages of women’s lives.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Her interest in data analysis
- The idea behind Eli Health
- Hormone monitoring and its potential applications
- Her vision behind Eli Health and its huge market
Marina is an up and coming entrepreneur. I’m super excited to see her build Eli Health. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jacques Perreault, Senior Partner @ Brightspark Ventures.
Over the past 20 years, Jacques has been actively involved in the financing of Canadian technology companies. He played a leading role in the development and growth of the technology subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec (formerly known as Sofinov), one of the largest venture capital organizations dedicated to the financing of Canadian technology businesses.
Jacques is a proven investment professional with experience in developing quality deal flow, building relationships and supporting companies in their development toward their growth plan and/or liquidity event. His broad expertise in technology financing and his network of local and international contacts are major assets.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Working with the next generation of operators
- Brightspark’s investment thesis
- How they expanded possibilities for retail investors
- Why he doesn’t invest in crypto (yet)
- Investing in non-obvious areas
Jacques is the quintessential investing professional. He has an incredible track record and was nice enough to share many insights during our conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Déborah Cherenfant, President @ JCCM
Entrepreneur at heart, Déborah Cherenfant is the founder of the creative studio Atelier Coloré and of the feminine business blog Mots D'Elles. Her work, her leadership and her creativity have been recognized on numerous occasions, notably with the Woman of Distinction Award in Entrepreneurship and the title of the best business blog in Canada. TEDx speaker, Déborah regularly shares her ideas on the representation of women and diversity in business during her conferences in Quebec and internationally, or in her articles on various platforms.
Very involved in the business community, Deborah is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, president of Compagnie F, administrator of the KANPE Foundation, Humanov.is and co-founder of BiAS. An entrepreneurial expert, particularly female, she has put her strategic skills to good use in several organizations, supporting them in the facilitation, creation of content and management of projects intended for entrepreneurs.
In 2018, she was appointed to the Quebec Council on the Status of Women, and in 2019, chosen as laureate of Black History Month as well as speaker at Plurielles, the first agency for women's voices. In 2020, Déborah Cherenfant becomes President of the Young Chamber of Commerce of Montreal - JCCM, founded in 1931, bringing together nearly 1,600 members, including nearly 150 volunteers, making her the largest young chamber in the world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Who inspired her
- Studying and promoting female entrepreneurship
- Her role at the Junior Chamber of Commerce
- The fund that the JCCM launched
- How the Chamber is impacted and thinking about the future of work for the city
- What does diversity actually mean and what is needed
Deborah is an inspirational leader and has an amazing positive energy. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Francois Arbour, CEO @ Design Stripe
François Arbour started coding at the age of 6 and launched his first business when he was 19 years old. With over 10 years of experience in advertising, he collaborated with brands like Cirque Du Soleil, Adidas and Red Bull to name a few.
He is the founder of Premiumbeat, a company he ran for over 10 years before it was sold to Shutterstock in 2015 and for whom he worked as a VP Products for two years.
He is now an investor for 60+ companies and multiple VC funds. François is also an active advisor to multiple founders. More recently, he co-founded Nolk (e-commerce/DTC aggregator) and he is the founder/CEO of DesignStripe (Design Assets & Tools).
On the show, we spoke about:
- His new company, Design Stripe and the vision behind it
- Being a leader during the pandemic and how it benefited his startup
- The application of management principles he’s learned like collaboration and transparency
- The new angel group he started, Angels of Many
I learn so much every time I speak with François. I’m grateful for the time he took and lessons he shared. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mary-Anne Carignan, President, Clinical Division @ Purkinje. Mary-Anne has broad international experience working in global firms such as Philip Morris, part of the Kraft and Nabisco family of companies, where she was the first woman promoted to International Budget. Her experience spans 25 years and in areas such as Trade Finance, Corporate Finance and Business Transformation. She has lived and worked in Lausanne, Switzerland; Zagreb, Croatia; Antwerp, Belgium and her home, New York City. She was the first woman Vice-President hired by the US based medical software firm Purkinje when she was named head of Canadian Operations in 2007; and later became President in 2011. Mary-Anne sits on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada and works with volunteer associations such as the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada. In 2010, she was appointed to the Advisory Board for Small and Medium Enterprise by the then Canadian Minister of International Trade, Peter Van Loan.
The Montreal company is at the heart of the processes for implementing the hospital information system (HIS) in the Quebec health network. The company works with the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) on the exchange of health data between the systems of the province's health institutions.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Starting as an entrepreneur at an early age
- Focusing on people which implies taking care of clients that are in health care
- Challenging yourself to get to another level
- Thinking strategically
- The importance of customer centricity
It was a blast talking with Mary-Anne. She shared some amazing leadership principles, I know I’ll be referring back to this episode back constantly. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Noor Elhuda El Bawab, Director of programs @ Zú.
Noor is community builder, problem solver and analytical. She is a passionate person who is constantly looking to be challenged by her work, her team and everything around her.
She is an eternal student, who’s always seeking new opportunities to learn something new to compliment and improve the task at hand. She is not afraid to make mistakes, if that will lead me to understand better what’s the best way to tackle each and every project.
She strives the most in organizations that have an impact on the world, which is why she joined District 3. She is a strong believer that technology and entrepreneurship is the best way to empower people to continue developing the world around us.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she developed a passion for startups
- Zú and their mission
- The future of entertainment
- Why she’s excited about fan engagement and the space in general
Noor is a friend and someone I deeply respect. She’s a leader in the startup space in Montreal and I always learn something new when I speak with her. I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Vicky Boudreau, CEO & Founding Partner of bicom.
Vicky Boudreau is the head of bicom, the company she co-founded 14 years ago with her partner Marie-Noelle Hamelin, and which today has more than 40 employees in its Montreal and Toronto offices. A communications enthusiast, Vicky observes the sectors of activity of the agency's clients, the latest emerging trends and is continually developing her network of contacts for the benefit of collaboration opportunities. Combining her experience in the field with her passion for the business world, she grasps clients' issues to offer effective solutions to propel them towards their goals.
Her expertise recently led Vicky to accept the position of President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance des Cabinets de Relations Publiques du Québec and since last spring, she has been actively involved on the executive committee of the Regroupement des Firmes de Services Indépendantes (RFSPI).
At the same time, she is committed to stimulating the next generation by offering conferences on entrepreneurship in schools and associations.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Learning entrepreneurship from her dad
- Launching her agency
- The concept of high altitude vs. low altitude in running a business
- The psychology of happiness
- Taking risks in her business model by guaranteeing results
- International expansion
- Innovation in the influencers space
Vicky was a pleasure to speak with. She’s an amazing communicator and has a clear vision for her company. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Geneviève Tanguay, CEO @ Anges Québec. Geneviève Tanguay has more than 20 years of experience in Investment and has participated in the completion of numerous transactions in several innovative sectors, particularly in Life Sciences. She was Director of Investments at the Fonds de Solidarité from 2008 to 2017, the largest Quebec network for development and venture capital investment in Quebec. In August 2018, Geneviève was appointed head of corporate development at Biron Groupe Santé and in October 2020, Geneviève became the first woman to hold the position of CEO of Anges Québec.
Her various functions have enabled him to sit on several boards of directors of private companies and to invest in the strategy and development of these companies. Very involved in her community, Geneviève has sat on several boards of directors of non-profit organizations, including that of the prestigious Institute of Directors of Companies I.A.S. Finally, she has been a Member of the Board of Directors of VIA Rail since August 2017 and, among others, a Member of the Audit Committee and of the Stakeholder Relations Committee. Geneviève holds a bachelor's degree in finance from HEC Montréal.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Getting started in the world of finance and investing
- The challenge of raising another fund
- How she’s repositioning Anges Québec
- Kickstarting more entrepreneurship in the province
- Her interest in deep tech and life sciences
- Impact investing and ESG
It was a pleasure speaking with Geneviève. She has big ambitions and drive in her work. I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Christian Zabbal, Managing Partner @ Spring Lane Capital.
Christian Zabbal is a Managing Partner with Spring Lane Capital. Prior to this, he was Managing Partner of Black Coral Capital, a family office specializing in cleantech and renewables. He also serves as board member and co-founder on the CREO Syndicate, a group of large family offices that share a common interest and mission in investing capital in food, water, and energy companies and technologies. He is part of the investment committee of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation focused on investing federal funds to promote the spread of new technologies and businesses in the sustainability space.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Article he wrote on flying during the pandemic
- Working in consulting and cancer research
- Investing in large scale projects
- The meaning of sustainable investing
Christian is mentor to our business and one of the sharpest minds in investing. He has an impressive track record and shared a ton of great insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Francois Lanthier Nadeau, CEO @ Snipcart
Recently, Francois has been slowly been stepping into the shoes of CEO. He’s been in charge of marketing for 6 years, during which they steadily grew their user base and revenue using content marketing and SEO. Now profitable, they have the luxury to experiment with other acquisition channels such as FB ads & video, and focus on CRO throughout thei whole acquisition funnel.
He’s been featured on Indie Hackers, Infopresse, The Startup, freeCodeCamp, Baremetrics, Wishpond, Inbound.org, and more publications. Keen-eyed peers might spot his ghostwriting on other sites too.
Since joining Snipcart, he’s had the chance to pitch and present their business in 13+ events all over the world (Canada, USA, France, Ireland). He’s worked remotely from half a dozen different countries in the last 4 years.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Bootstrapping startups
- Importance of writing
- Mental health
- The no code movement
- Growing and leading snipcart
- Snipcart vs. headless video
- Some articles his written (boostrapping, headless ecommerce, cognitive distortions)
I had a blast chatting with François. We had a great conversation and he shared some great insights about ecommerce and startups.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Thibaud Marechal, Vice-President @ Knox Custody. Currently VP Growth at KNØX, a Bitcoin custodian designed for institutions backed by investors such as Fidelity and Initialized Capital. Booked $250,000 of revenue in the first 3 months as Head of Client Development.
Previously, he was Head of Platform at Real Ventures, a $330M early-stage VC in Canada (investor in Blockstream, 1confirmation, Bitaccess, Breather, Element AI, Mindbridge and League). Ran FounderFuel, Canada's most active venture accelerator (80+ deals including Bus.com, Transit and Sonder), investing $100k per company.
In 2015, he co-founded & led the McGill X-1 Accelerator to bring medical, engineering and computer lab research to market with a shoe-string budget.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Anti-fragility of the network
- The proxy for the price of Bitcoin
- How mining works and the benefit of decentralization
- Fiat currency’s infinite supply
- Potential future of the currency
This second interview with Thibaud was even better than the first. I learn so much by speaking with Thibaud on the subject of Bitcoin. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Guillaume Parent, CEO & Co-Founder @ Gallea
Guillaume Parent is the CEO and Cofounder of Gallea, the largest online art gallery in Canada. Born in a family of artists and engineers, he always knew he wanted to build his own venture right here, in Montréal. He graduated from a degree in Automated Manufacturing Engineering at ÉTS where he started what would become Gallea today. He decided to make it his life mission to democratize the access to art while helping visual artists all over the world to finally get the proper recognition and fair share from their work. He is currently on a journey to build the largest art distribution network in the world while disrupting an industry in need of innovation.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The idea behind Gallea
- Improving the art experience through technology
- Focusing on artists
- The marketplace business model
- Their plans for growth and funding
Art is a huge industry that hasn’t evolved a lot. Gallea is helping transform it and it’s cool to see what Guillaume and his team are building. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marina Cortes, Venture Partner @ Hike Ventures
Marina is a multilingual professional equipped with a background in health research and a unique skill-set acquired through her experience in Consulting and Venture Capital. She started her career in healthcare investment, had the opportunity to work with BDC Capital and later joined an advisory team, wherein she notably advised private companies on IPO dual listing (HKEX, NYSE) and due diligence M&A buyer side. Meanwhile maintaining key investors relations throughout her career, she gained a keen interest for VC fundraising and LP relations and advised several LPs and GPs on VC/PE fundraising in North America and Asia. Marina has a strong passion for VC fund operations, investors relations, and enjoys helping startups and organizations expanding to international markets.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Her multidisciplinary background
- Early vs. later stage investing
- Getting into VC
- Diversity and inclusion in investing
- Hike VC portfolio companies
- Cool new technology companies
I had a blast talking to Marina and learning from her. Our discussion re-invigorated my interest for early stage technology companies. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jacob Lanyadoo, Owner @ TechBonjour. Jacob is an experienced entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of scaling technology companies. He has spent over a decade working with startups of varying sizes and industries to help build teams, scale, and take their businesses to the next level.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Biggest challenge facing startups
- Mentoring startups
- Hiring best practices
- Building a distributed team
Jacob is thoughtful and pulls no punches with his thoughts. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Thomas Martinuzzo, Senior Investment Advisor – Innovation @ Fonds de solidarité FTQ.
Thomas Martinuzzo joined the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ in September 2016 as Senior Investment Advisor – Innovation. Thomas has worked in the field of innovation since 2006. He held several positions at Gestion Univalor, s.e.c, where he notably led the team of professionals who commercialize physical sciences and engineering inventions from Université de Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, HEC Montréal and affiliated hospital research centres. Mr. Martinuzzo also founded eValorix.com, a web platform that commercializes digital tools arising out of public research. He also served on the board of directors of several start-up companies (Bâton Simulations inc. and Ortho Regenerative Technologies inc.) and is currently a director of Castor Optics Inc.
On the show, we spoke about:
- What innovation really means
- Some great examples of innovation in Quebec
- Why certain companies don’t innovate
- Some companies in their portfolio
- LeddarTech
- Omnirobotic
- PremierTech
- Survey on innovation
Thomas is incredible bright yet humble. He’s one of the smartest people I know on the topic of innovation. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Kevin Belanger, eCommerce @ Transit. Ambitious young professional, Kevin works in strategy and innovation. Having demonstrated leadership through a multitude of projects and renowned experiences, he has distinguished himself in many countries both during his academic years and in the business world.
Having successfully completed his bachelor's degree in computer science, he established his first commercial mission to Germany with the help of the MCUL. This three-week mission for the Montreal startup Vrvana was a success. The contacts are numerous, and the establishment of business partnerships are present. It is two years later, in November 2017 that Apple acquired the start up.
He began his MBA in Electronic Business at Laval University. It was during this MBA that he studied at recognized universities in Taiwan, Norway, China, Germany and Mexico, where he was able to take courses given by recognized entrepreneurs, CEO and strategists.
He also began his participation in numerous strategy case competitions and decided to continue his studies by starting a second MBA in Global Business. He took the opportunity to win several titles in strategic case competition. This includes a place, among more than 98 teams, in the GBC 2017 finals in Australia, a third position at the BFBW 2018 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a first position for university outside Asia at the HKUST Global MBA Challenge 2017 in Hong Kong, a semi-final place at JMSB 2018 in Montreal, Entrepreneur’s Choice award at VCIC 2018 in Halifax and Analytical Awards at DGMC 2018 in Montreal.
With extensive knowledge in Clean Technologies and Blockchain, he was selected to be one of the 100 students invited to the MBA World Summit 2018 in Cape Town.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The world of case competitions at university
- How he got interested in crypto
- Thoughts on Bitcoin
- Decentralized finance and stablecoins
-
The following projects:
-
Decentralized Oracle (Chainlink)
- Decentralized Borrow and Lending (Aave et Compound)
- Decentralized Stablecoin (MakerDAO)
- Decentralized Synthetic Asset (Synthetix)
- Decentralized Yield Aggregtor (Yearn Finance)
- Decentralized Automated Market Maker (Uniswap, SushiSwap, Curve Finance, DODO)
- Decentralized Derivative (DerivaDex)
- Decentralized insurance (Nexus Mutual, Cover, Etherisc)
I learned a ton from talking to Kevin and I’m still catching up all the great insights he provided. I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sanjay Zimmermann, Principal @ WhiteStar Capital
Since joining White Star Capital at the start of 2017, Sanjay worked on over 10 investments made by the fund across Canada, New York, Germany and South East Asia. While at the firm, Sanjay spent a year pursuing an MBA at Insead in Singapore and returned in September 2020 to launch White Star capital’s Toronto office. Sanjay focuses on identifying talented teams and founders for White Star Capital across Canada and south east Asia.
Before joining White Star Capital as an Associate, Sanjay started his career in investment banking at Rothschild & Co in London. During this time, he worked within the technology, media and telecommunications team, where he focused on corporate finance and M&A advisory for a full range of European companies. Prior to this, he helped manage part of Babson College’s endowment, overseeing the college’s technology fund investments.
Sanjay attended Babson College as a Weissman Scholar and used the program’s stipend to produce a video series called ‘Defining Entrepreneurship’ in which he interviewed over 60 entrepreneurs across the world. He earned a BSc in Business Administration before going on to complete the General Course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Born in Germany and raised in Canada, Sanjay is a dual Canadian-German citizen.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How tennis helped him in his career
- Getting into VC
- The three key roles in his role
- Having a global perspective
- Deal flow in Toronto versus Montreal
- Why he’s excited about the future of work
Sanjay is a brilliant young VC that keeps laddering up. It was a joy to talk and learn from him. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Guillaume Bouchard, CEO @ Contxtful.
Guillaume considers himself a highly passionate entrepreneur. He enjoys building and managing teams in fast-growth environments. He spent the first few years of his career within a franchise model called College Pro Painters and then launched a University school project (nvi) which was sold 8 years later to Dentsu Aegis Network (rebranded iProspect Canada) and he stayed there for 5 years, almost tripling the baseline revenue and increasing 6 fold its bottom line.
In 2018 he joined CONTXTFUL, a Montreal-based technology start-up focused on developing products that provide insights on mobile users, improving how advertisers and insurers interact with their customers. They recently closed a 2M$CAD seed and are in the mist of commercializing their initial products.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Founding and exiting NVI / iProspect
- Finding a project that helps combat digital addiction
- The concept of receptivity
- His ambitions for his startup and their current funding
- Key trends in online advertising
I’m lucky to have known Guillaume for a long time. I always learn something new when I talk to him. I always learn something new when I talk to him. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with JC Btaiche, Co-Founder @ Fuse. JC co-founded Fuse on a mission to accelerate the world's transition to fusion energy. JC also founded Hestia Academy, a not-for-profit on a mission to guide teenagers to unleash their inner crazy genius and to dare to create. Hestia Academy aims to create more and better self-learners.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How JC hated school
- His admiration for Elon Musk
- What is fusion and how it can solve the world’s energy crisis
- Being mission driven
- His interest in crypto & decentralized finance
JC has massive ambitions and has his sights set on the world’s most intractable problems. It was amazing to speak to someone that is trying to knock it out of the park. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Samer Saab, CEO & Founder @ Explorance. Since 2003, Explorance’s mission is to assist higher education organizations, government organizations and enterprise in enhancing their feedback management processes through cutting edge web-enabled technologies. Prior to founding Explorance, Samer has worked in technology related functions for over 10 years with main focus on bridging the barriers between technology and the end user. His educational background is an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a post-graduate degree in business administration from McGill University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Why Samer was a “bad employee”
- His obsession with sustainable growth
- The shift to continuous learning
- His culture playbook
It was a great treat to speak with Samer, we could’ve chatted for a few hours! His thoughts on culture building and business performance are remarkable. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Antoine Buteau, Senior Engagement Manager @ The PNR.
Antoine holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Information Systems from the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University and a Certificate in Computer Science from Laval University.
Before PNR, Antoine worked at Coveo as a Solution Specialist. He was responsible for implementing Coveo search engine solutions with clients in healthcare, technology and consumer goods. Antoine also worked as a freelance consultant where he helped organizations in IT Selection, IT Implementation, Product Management and IT Project Recovery.
Outside of work, Antoine spends time training at the gym, playing hockey and listening to Japanese jazz. He also enjoys reading, building relationships and drinking strong coffee while eating Mexican food.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he manages his career
- The concept of continuous improvement
- Tips and tricks for productivity with tools like Roam
- Interesting trends in technology
Antoine is one of the smartest people I know. I always learn from talking to him and I hope that you do as well.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Eleonore Jarry, Principal @ Brightspark Ventures
Éléonore Jarry is a principal at Brightspark Ventures. Prior to joining Brightspark, Éléonore worked in Assurance & Advisory at Ernst & Young LLP, focusing on alternative investment funds and private equity firms. She also co-founded Front Row Ventures, Canada’s first student-run venture capital firm. Éléonore developed a passion for helping entrepreneurs and financing innovation while studying technology entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. She is involved with several startup initiatives around Montréal.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she started learning about technology
- Getting her start in venture capital and the importance of mentorship
- Her role at Brightspark Ventures
- The exciting market opportunities that are ahead
Eleonore Jarry is a truly impressive individual. She has risen rapidly through the ranks of Canadian VC and she is only getting started. I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Rachel Labbe-Bellas, Founder @ O’Land Stations
Rachel is a Marine Ecologist and has a BSc. in Biology from McGill University and a MSc. in Ecology from UFSC in Brazil. During her studies she gathered international experience, working at places such as Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and more recently as a Research Associate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Her passion for ocean advocacy led her to work with Sylvia Earle Alliance-Mission Blue, and participate in a 21-day all-female research voyage about ocean plastics and health impacts with eXXpedition. Rachel is currently working in development and science program management for 5 Gyres Institute, and spends her free time in entrepreneurship for her plastic pollution reduction start-up in Canada, The Green Stop.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Solving important problems through entrepreneurship
- The global climate challenge and of clean water in particular
- O’Land Stations solution and her startup journey
- The impact of the pandemic and how she has pivoted
It was a joy to speak with Rachel. She’s a smart and passionate entrepreneur. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Luc Filiatreault, CEO @ MDF Commerce.
Mr. Filiatreault is a successful serial entrepreneur. He has successfully founded and led eight different enterprises. Seven of these companies were in Software Technologies and one was in Aerospace Technology. Four of these companies were publicly traded on the TSX.
In September of 2019, Mr. Filatreault was appointed President & CEO of MDF commerce with the mandate of accelerating the company’s growth and leading an ambitious strategic reorientation.
From June 2017 to June 2019, Mr Filiatreault was CEO of Ayuda Media Systems. Ayuda develops and commercializes a software platform that is an ERP system specialized for Out of Home Media Companies such as Outfront, Stroer, Astral, Clear Channel etc. In less than 18 months Ayuda more than doubled its staff and its customers and has reached 100 staff. Ayuda has customers in 25 countries and operates from offices in Montreal, Berlin and Sydney. Ayuda was acquired by Broadsign International in April 2019.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The importance of giving back
- Climbing Mt-Everest as an analogy for professional achievement
- Re-igniting MDF Commerce
- Aligning an entire organization towards a common goal
- Technology as a force for good in the world
Luc is one of the impressive CEOs I’ve ever met. He was extremely generous with his time and shared some great leadership insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sylvain Perron, CEO @ Botpress. Sylvain, co-founder and director at Botpress, has been interested in artificial intelligence and conversational interfaces for several years. Its mission: to transform the way people communicate with businesses. Before founding Botpress, Sylvain was responsible for technical innovation at Protorisk. Curious and passionate, he is constantly on the lookout for new tech trends. Sylvain stands out in particular for his perseverance, his authenticity and his creativity.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he decided to start his own company
- His interest for natural language processing
- Botpress and their go to market model
- Focusing on developers first as a core strategy
Sylvain is super passionate about his conversational interfaces and it really showed in this interview. He shared some great insights about the space. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Katrina Albert, Co-founder & President @ Lux. Katrina is sustainability-minded sales and partnership professional. She wants to use entrepreneurship as a force to create good. Lux is an aerospace company specialized in the design, manufacturing and operation of atmospheric satellites (atmosats) for Earth observation. Their vision is to operate a global constellation of observation atmosats to acquire images at a resolution better than 10cm/pixel in order to create a live high-resolution digital twin of Earth’s surface
They are paving the way by assembling a constellation of observation atmospheric satellites over Latin America and Oceania to introduce the first real-time spatial information feed which automates operational decisions for mines, farms and electric utilities.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Her entrepreneurial journey
- How she’s working to become the version of herself
- The importance of self-knowledge and self-love
- The space robotics industry and its challenge
- Potential business models
Katrina has a contagious enthusiasm and energy. Her and her team are accomplishing amazing things in a short amount of time. I hope that you enjoy our conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Matthew He, Director of Investments @ Front Row Ventures. Matthew He is the Director of Investments of Quebec at Front Row Ventures, Canada’s first student run venture capital fund, with a growing portfolio of 12 of the most promising student ventures in Quebec, including CHK PLZ, Grad4, Rokulo, and Gallea.
Before joining FRV, Matt co-founded and scaled an educational non-profit from a team of 3 to 30, working with both the Government and industry leaders to bring Blockchain education to universities. Previously, he has worked as a Summer Analyst for White Star Capital and the Business Development Associate for FounderFuel ‘19. Matt is currently finishing his Bachelor of Sciences at McGill University, studying Microbiology & Immunology and Computer Sciences.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His love of water
- Getting into venture capital
- Advice for people starting out in their career
- The importance of diversity
- Front Row Ventures and their investments
Matthew is wise beyond his years. I really enjoyed my conversation and Matthew shared great insights for entrepreneurs young and old.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sebastien Brault, Co-Founder and CEO @ Wingocard.
Sebastien has spent the last 20 years helping to build the tech startup ecosystem in Montreal both as an entrepreneur and as an angel investor.
As an entrepreneur, he has founded and exited five online businesses, most of which have been centered around the social web (online communities, online dating, social networking, viral marketing). He’s experienced the thrills of growing a viral consumer product to 20M+ users and over 1B social connections on the B2C side, and the satisfaction of helping hundreds of clients grow their business with a B2B SaaS platform. No matter what the product or the market, he most enjoys the entrepreneurial process of bringing together great people to work on solving problems and creating value for users and customers. He has learned lots about fundraising, recruiting, business development, M&A, sales, HR … really anything and everything it takes to make a startup succeed. But the thing he loves and values most is building a great product.
He’s also been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to invest and advise in the great entrepreneurs behind PasswordBox (sold to Intel in 2014), Frank & Oak, AmpMe, MakerBloks, Nesto, Real Ventures, Unito, and many others.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Starting and exiting five businesses
- How money can be the wrong motivation
- The importance of financial education particularly among teens
- How they are competing with WingoCard
I’ve always looked up to Sebastien and I’m really happy that he took the time to chat. Unsurprisingly, he shared great insights and looks to be off to the races with his next startup.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Katy Yam, FounderFuel General Manager @ Real Ventures. Katy is a natural connector of people and ideas in service of helping good people succeed. As General Manager of FounderFuel, her ambition is to create an environment that helps founders level up quickly by filling knowledge and experience gaps with pairings from Real’s rich mentor ecosystem. She believes deep personal accountability and a #givefirst mindset will enrich every startup and accelerate their traction at FounderFuel and beyond. Prior to joining Real, Katy spent 3 years at Element AI, scaling up from pre-Series A to its current global footprint as Canada’s largest AI company. She is a multilingual executive with a 20-year history of managing high-performing product, business intelligence and marketing teams across various public and private industries including telco, CPG, gambling and AI. In her spare time, Katy leads TEDxMontréal, a non-profit dedicated to elevating Montreal-born ideas onto the global TED stage. A guest lecturer, board member, public speaker and triathlete, she adores reading fiction of all sorts and riding/running on Zwift to unwind.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The importance of adaptability and ambiguity
- Pushing your limits
- How good ideas shift your mindset
- Helping Founderfuel to become digital first
- The value of conscious leadership
- The concept of community realization and helping others
Katy was an absolute pleasure to speak with. She was incredibly open and shared so many great insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Paul Kruszewski, CEO & Founder @ Wrnch. Paul Kruszewski is a Canadian AI technologist and serial entrepreneur known for his work in artificial intelligence and computer graphics. He is the founder and CEO of wrnch, an AI and computer vision software engineering company based in Montreal, Quebec. He has founded three AI startups, including wrnch, specializing in crowd simulation, NPC behaviours, and human pose estimation. His projects have gradually gotten more complex as he's moved from developing AI software capable of understanding many people doing simple tasks to fewer people engaged in more complex tasks to perfect knowledge of individual body language.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he started his third company and wanting to make a big impact
- Their work on seeing and understanding people
- Some of their amazing work covered in the NY Times
- How the current environment is accelerating the digitization of the world
It was such a pleasure to speak with Paul. He shared some great wisdom yet was very humble in this conversation. I learned a ton and I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Guillaume Mercier, Partner @ BDC Capital. Guillaume Mercier is a Partner, Industrial Innovation Venture Fund for BDC Capital. Through his consulting and entrepreneurial experience, he brings meaningful operational and strategic expertise that benefits the ambitious early- to late-stage firms supported by the fund. One of his key areas of focus will be advanced manufacturing.
Before joining BDC Capital in 2020, Guillaume led small and large teams in various executive positions at start-ups and scale-ups such as SSENSE, Vention and Aevium (Lune Rouge). He was previously a principal at Real Ventures, investing in companies at the seed stage, and he spent four years at McKinsey & Company, advising large organizations on key strategic issues across a variety of industries, Guillaume started his career at Procter & Gamble in Toronto and also worked as a videogame producer in San Francisco for Take 2 Interactive. He is a board member for Montreal's Pour 3 Points, a charity that helps underprivileged youth learn life skills through sport.
Guillaume holds an MBA from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in finance from Laval University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His need for intellectual stimulation and innovation
- Getting into startup investing and lessons learned
- How startups and entrepreneurship help society
- Joining BDC Capital’s industrial innovation fund
- His three core sectors of focus
- The massive opportunity in hyper automation
Guillaume has already had an impressive career but I get this feeling that he’s only just started. He shared some great insights that I hope you find as useful as I did.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Patrick Gagné, Co-Founder @ Bonjour Startup Montreal
With a focus on innovation and growth, Patrick brings 20 years of experience in general management, business strategy, product development, business development and team management. He contributed to the creation of 3 successful technology companies that transformed urban living in Montreal.
He co-founded Bonjour Startup Montréal which is a non-profit organization with a mission to facilitate the creation, growth and visibility of Montreal startups in order to position the city among the top 20 most dynamic ecosystems in the world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Making an impact on the startup ecosystem
- His three objectives for Bonjour Startup
- How we can increase productivity in Quebec
- The talent and capital gap
- The concept of a startup concierge
Patrick is gunning for the top spot in terms of appearances on the podcast. His second interview did not disappoint. His vision for helping the startup ecosystem is inspiring. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Étienne Lacroix, Founder & CEO @ Vention. Etienne is a business leader and entrepreneur building and turning around engineering-intensive businesses. He is the founder and CEO of Vention, a software and hardware platform that enables manufacturing professionals to automate their production in just a few days.
Before Vention, he spent five years at McKinsey & Company as an Associate Principal with the Operations and Product Development Practices. In this role, he led enterprise-wide strategic, operational, and turnaround programs at global industrial and high-tech companies. Before joining McKinsey, he held various positions in product management, product development, and supply chain at General Electric as part of the Technical Leadership Program.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in mechanical engineering from the École de Technologie Supérieure.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Being an inventor from a young age
- Straight from the gut by Jack Welch and the ninja mindset
- Three questions to ask yourself in your career
- Vention’s mission and how they are reinventing manufacturing
- Their business model innovations from a product and go to market perspective
- The value of execution and being intellectually agile
- Raising money from world class investors and their plan to go big
- Vention’s unique culture
This interview was chock full of insights. Etienne is an inspiring leader and I was marvelled at the work they are doing. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with JF Renaud, Partner & Co-Founder @ Adviso. Jean-François Renaud is a partner and co-founder at Adviso. He is in charge of the development and branding of the company. His major contribution to the company includes developing partnerships with major national and international clients in a variety of industries, including retail, travel and tourism, manufacturing, and business services. Adviso’s major clients now include the National Bank of Canada, Reitmans, Aldo, Air Canada, Cirque du Soleil and LasikMD.
Jean-François has been teaching Electronic Commerce at HEC Montreal for over 10 years, is an Expert Coach at the École d’Entrepreneurship de Beauce, and is also the official trainer for Quebec’s Google Partner Academy. He is also a regular guest in Canadian media as well as digital business publications.
He completed a Business Administration degree and an M.Sc. in Electronic Commerce at HEC Montreal.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Getting his start in digital marketing in early days of the web
- Growing Adviso and working with Canada’s largest brands
- How adaptability is the 10X skill necessary to succeed
- The concept of entrepreneurial succession and how he plans on selling his company to his employees
- Becoming a manager versus an entrepreneur
- How having a quarterly focus is the enemy of long-term thinking
- Adviso’s blog
I admire JF and his team enormously. As usual, I left inspired after talking to him. I hope that you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Louis Brun, Co-founder and CEO @ Sollum Technologies. Louis is a seasoned entrepreneur and business development executive with a successful track record in the mobile telecommunications and IT industries. He brings together a unique experience in technology start-ups and venture capital supported by extensive international business development experience, integrating solid product/marketing strategies with comprehensive sales and finance plans. He’s the co-founder of 3 companies with 2 successful exits, latest venture, Neuralitic, a big data analytics leader in the wireless ecosystem, was acquired by Guavus, a Silicon Valley based company.
He’s passionate about technology and bringing innovation to the market. He believes in alignment creating great focus is the foundation of successful companies.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Louis got started in technology and entrepreneurship
- Being too early in the mobile space
- Working at Neuralitic and the exit
- Finding work with a purpose
- Translating a vision into a plan
Sustainable energy is a fascinating area and Louis & his team are rapidly innovating in that space. I hope that you enjoy today’s conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Naomi Goldapple, Head of Alayalabs @ Alayacare.
An entrepreneur and digital strategist, Naomi is passionate about how new technologies and AI can build communities, commercialize products and solve real business challenges. With over 20 years of experience she has a reputation for being an innovator, corporate strategist and strong supporter of mentorship programs and the Montreal tech community.
Naomi leads AlayaLabs, the innovation backbone of AlayaCare, where she applies research in machine learning and optimization applications to elevate the AlayaCare client experience and drive business results.
Prior to AlayaCare, Naomi was one of the first employees at the dynamic start-up, Element AI. As one of its first employees she took a number of different roles and led the product and business development for AI products in the transportation and logistics vertical.
Demystifying the application of AI technologies is a topic Naomi speaks to regularly at conferences around the globe. That straight-talk approach is also what makes her an in-demand mentor and contributor to organizations like TechStars and Founder Fuel.
Building community is very important to Naomi and that can be seen in her volunteer and entrepreneurial endeavours. She founded and ran the award-winning Maman, bébé et café inc., a centre for young families where the adults could get fit, socialize, shop or get pampered while their children played in the state-of-the-art play area.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The importance of both technology and a robust business model
- Alayacare’s mission and how they help home care workers
- Providing workflows for the public and private sector
- Creating new opportunities with data.
Naomi is one of the sharpest executives I know. It was a real pleasure to reconnect with you despite everything going on. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Andrew Boch, COO @ Busbud. Andrew Boch is an accomplished senior executive with more than 15 years of success in technology and high growth startups. Leveraging extensive experience in driving product development, optimizing financial systems, and constructing efficient teams, he is a valuable asset for startups navigating stages of growth and organizations seeking to more broadly scale their products. His broad areas of expertise include business development and growth, operational excellence, team development, internal structuring and leadership. He has previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Hopper and LevelUp which was acquired by GrubHub in 2018, in their largest public acquisition to date. Andrew received his A.B., or Bachelor of Arts, in History and Science from Harvard University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The nature of knowledge
- Working at tech startups
- The importance of OKRs
- The challenges of working remotely
Andrew has a calm & cool demeanour that makes you just listen to what he says. He was generous with his time & insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Zackary Lewis, Founder & CEO @ Say Allo.
Upon completing a successful tour in the United States Marine Corps as a Heavy Machine Gunner in the renowned “Walking Dead” battalion of the Infantry, Zackary utilized his leadership skills to launch Genesis Marketing Group, a company focused on building successful branding campaigns for companies throughout the United States. While simultaneously attending the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Zackary grew Genesis Marketing Group to over 130 employees with locations in Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. After a successful exit of Genesis Marketing, Zackary founded GlobalTRACK Technologies, an asset tracking technology company allowing consumers to detect lost or stolen equipment utilizing the latest in GPS technologies.
In 2001 Zackary founded Liquid Compass, a premier Streaming Delivery Network to the radio industry. Focused on the streaming radio industry, Liquid Compass provided streaming services to thousands of broadcasters around the world to include Absolute Radio, Bonneville, Clear Channel (iHeartRadio), CBS, Entercom, Greater Media, Hubbard Radio, Lincoln Financial Media, Saga Communications and Salem Communications, to name a few. As Liquid Compass evaluated potential pathways to growth and innovation, Zackary spearheaded an important merger for the radio industry by combining its business and operations with another leader in the space, Triton Digital.
Following the acquisition of Liquid Compass, recent accolades include being selected as one of ten CEOs to successfully complete 101010.net's inaugural launch, and also being awarded as a Top 25 Young Professional in Colorado by Colorado Biz Magazine.
Zackary is frequently asked to speak and moderate panel discussions on topics pertaining to streaming technologies, digital advertising, artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship.
Currently Zackary is evolving how people meet with Say Allo, an intelligent relationship discovery app.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he left the Marines to become a serial entrepreneur
- Lessons he took from the army
- Traveling to Vietnam and the insight he had on that trip
- What’s wrong with online dating today and his personal story
- His plans to compete with Say Allo in a crowded space
- Raising money and attacking a big market
Zackary often travels to Montreal and I was happy that he took the time to sit down with me. He’s humble despite many past successes and I took away a lot from this interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Stephan Morency, Head of Investments @ Fondaction. Stéphan Morency has more than 15 years of experience as a private equity fund manager and entrepreneur specializing in enterprise corporate strategy consulting.
He founded 2 companies and managed them from inception to divestiture.
He currently works at Fondaction, a 2B+$ fund dedicated to sustainable development, as Chief Investment Officer.
He is primarily active in the impact investment sectors targeted by Fondaction and related to climate change, sustainable agro food transition and land revitalization. He is also serving as board member for several organizations including Transition Energetique Quebec.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Finding purpose in his work
- How he decided to focus on sustainability
- The importance of impact investing
- Fondaction’s mission, vision and investment thesis
- Thinking beyond the crisis
I learned a lot about impact investing, sustainability and the post-Covid-19 world by talking with Stephan. He was very generous with his insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alexandre de Brébisson, Founder @ Lyrebird.ai and PhD student at MILA. Alexandre is one of the founders of lyrebird.ai, a startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, RedPoint Ventures and YCombinator (S17). He is also a fourth-year PhD student at the MILA lab in Montréal under the joint supervision of Professors Pascal Vincent and Yoshua Bengio (my interest in neural nets started back in 2008 when he coded LeNet-5 in Maple (!)). Before his PhD, he studied at Imperial College under the supervisions of Professors Murray Shanahan, Giovanni Montana and Mauricio Barahona.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he started building websites at a young age
- His interest in speech synthesis and the ethical impact
- Optimization speeds with natural language processing
- Going viral around the world
Alexandre is a brilliant and super humble entrepreneur. The technology he is developing is literally stuff from science fiction. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Pascal Pilon, CEO @ Landr. Pascal Pilon is a veteran tech entrepreneur, CEO and investor, is currently running LANDR, the world's leader in music post-production and digital content management. He actively supports new entrepreneurs in Quebec through YUL Ventures, a fund he created and manages since 2013, investing in great founders leading technology companies that are in the early days of their commercialization effort. Pascal is a software engineer by trade with an MBA from HEC Montreal, and is the recipient of several awards, including CNBC’s Upstart 25 (in 2017), Deloitte's Fast 50 (2018 and 6 times over the last decade), Entrepreneur of the Year Ernst & Young (Quebec, 2009), Investissement Québec’s CEO of the Year Award (2009) and Réseau Capital’s CEO of the Year Award (2011).
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Pascal got interested in entrepreneurship
- Launching and his exit from Averna
- Investing in MixGenius and the opportunity he saw
- Landr’s growth, strategy and diversified revenue streams
- Their ambition to help artists succeed
Pascal is one of the most successful Canadian technology entrepreneurs. He was generous with his time and insights, I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Hector Pantazopoulos, CRO & Cofounder @ SourceKnowledge and Deborah Kilpatrick, VP Marketing & Cofounder @ SourceKnowledge.
Deborah Kilpatrick is the co-founder and VP of Marketing at SourceKnowledge. SourceKnowledge helps e-commerce brands ignite sales by advertising their products on premium digital channels. The company uses proprietary algorithms and machine learning software to traffic campaigns, with the resulting data made transparent and available to its customers through online analytics and order ID reporting. Because of this data driven audience segmentation process, SourceKnowledge can target and constantly refine the most effective ad delivery for its customers.
Hector Pantazopoulos is the CRO & Cofounder @ SourceKnowledge. Hector has over ten years of experience in the online advertising and marketing industry in a business development role. He has deep expertise in video advertising, affiliate marketing, and online retail.
Founded in 2009, SourceKnowledge is headquartered in Montreal with offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles and clients around the world. Deloitte ranked SourceKnowledge as one of the fastest growing companies in the North America Technology Fast 500 in 2014 and 2015.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How they launched Source Knowledge and the drive behind it
- The evolution of their business model
- Importance of the open web
- Moving to a cookie less world
- Eschewing venture capital funding
I learned a ton from talking with Hector and Deborah. They shared some great insights into building a business and about the Adtech industry.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marine Thomas, Editor in Chief @ Les Affaires
She has been working in writing since 2016 as an editor in chief in various media organizations.
Marine is driven by a desire to offer our readers relevant and high-quality content, whether in paper or digital form. In addition, she acts on the Board of Directors of the Montreal Women's Y - YWCA Montreal since 2014. She is currently Vice-Chair of the Board.
Previously, she was editor-in-chief at Revue Gestion - HEC Montréal, editor-in-chief of Inspiro Media and deputy editor-in-chief of Premieres en Affaires. Marine has a Masters in Culture and Media Management (Press and Publishing Specialty) from Sciences Po (Paris).
On the show, we spoke about:
- The acquisition of Les Affaires
- The importance of diversifying revenue sources as well as quality journalism
- Putting the client at the center of a transformation
- Where media is headed
Marine leads the most prestigious business publication in the province. She shared some great insights on the future of media and leadership. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Joe Meadows, Co-Founder & CEO @ Opslock.
Joe is a worksite safety entrepreneur. He started his career as a mariner and quickly moved up the ranks to become Chief Mate at McDermott International. He saw an entrepreneurial opportunity to help prevent workplace incidents and decided to launch his own startup.
He co-founded Opslock which builds tools to save lives at work.
Opslock is empowering employers to proactively avoid disasters by revolutionizing the way activities are planned, monitored, and controlled. Their platform allows even the harshest and most remote operations to go completely paperless, ensures OSHA compliance, while machine-learning and predictive analytics get the right information to employees at the right time - enabling smarter, safer operations.
They raised financing from world class investors and are growing quickly.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he became a master mariner
- Moving up the ranks and eventually became second in command upon a large ship
- Starting Opslock and seeing the opportunity in worker’s safety
- How he met his co-founder in unusual circumstances
- The massive global market for their product
- Raising funding from the world’s top investors
Joe is on the verge of building a truly global business. He’s deeply passionate about his industry and shared some great insights. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Martin Enault, COO @ Felix & Paul Studios.
Martin has over 16 years of experience between executive roles and being an entrepreneur, and is now COO for Felix & Paul Studios. He also wants to change how the world sees social issues, and particularly around mental health.
Previously, he was part of C2.biz for five years, and it truly changed his perspective on the world. He hopes to help inspire others in seeing that we can, and should, reshape the future. He has been blessed with dyslexia, anxiety and depression, and it’s changed the way he sees the world. He sees it these as a positive force, as they make him a better person, and enables him to see the world from a different perspective.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got started in entertainment
- Growing C2 from a startup to a global phenomenon
- Where he sees the future of VR
- The issues of mental health and what people can do it
- Practical advice for those affected by depression or anxiety
Today’s episode has been a long time coming. I look up to Martin and admire him tremendously. He has the courage to tackle a massively important issue.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Thibaud Marechal, VP Growth @ Kn0x
Thibaud is currently VP Growth at KNØX, a Bitcoin custodian designed for institutions backed by investors such as Fidelity and Initialized Capital.
Previously, he was Head of Platform at Real Ventures, a $330M early-stage VC in Canada (investor in Blockstream, 1confirmation, Bitaccess, Breather, Element AI, Mindbridge and League). Ran FounderFuel, Canada's most active venture accelerator (80+ deals including Bus.com, Transit and Sonder), investing $100k per company.
In 2015, he co-founded & led the McGill X-1 Accelerator to bring medical, engineering and computer lab research to market with a shoe-string budget.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Launching McGill X+1
- His time spent at Real Ventures and helping launch their crypto practice
- Decentralized vs. centralized finance
- Scarcity of trust in organizations
- His active Twitter presence
Thibaud is the smartest person I know in the crypto space. Even though we don’t always share the same opinion, I love debating him. Enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Mark Sherman, Founder & CEO @ Media Experts. Mark Sherman is the founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Media Experts. He has guided the agency from its creation in 1981 to its current position as Canada’s largest independent media services company.
A recognized leader in the Canadian advertising community, Mark is regarded by agencies and customers alike as a strategic advertising thinker, and by the media selling community as a relentless negotiator. His approach to media, coupled with a unique techno-acumen, has also earned Mark the reputation of media futurist.
Mark has instilled in the Media Experts team a “customer first philosophy”. He has bred a group of media professionals who go far beyond the conventional to create effective media solutions for our customers designed to build their businesses and maximize customers’ return on their advertising investments.
On the show, we spoke about:
- His first job in radio
- Launching Media Experts
- Their not-so secret competitive advantage
- Competing on a global stage
- The importance of giving back
Mark has been a mentor and a person I’ve always looked up to. I’m thrilled that he accepted to sit down for the interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Julien Smith, Co-Founder & Chairman @ Breather. Julien has spent the past 10 years riding waves of technology as they have grown in importance. This ability to read trends, alongside his ability to express ideas clearly, have allowed him to work with some of the most important names on the web. He has created work that has reached over a million people, in several languages, and made several million dollars in the process for individuals and groups.
His current venture, Breather, is an on-demand space company he built from the ground up starting in 2012. It has been covered by CNN, Fast Company (twice), TechCrunch, The Verge, and a ton of other publications, all unanimously positive. They have raised over $73M USD from some of the best investors in the world, and they are growing fast.
As Breather's CEO, he was responsible for hiring world-class talent, raising funds, directing strategy, finding locations, building partnerships and much more.
Prior to this, he was a New York Times bestselling author of business and marketing books. He and his co-author were among to the first to write books about social media as a phenomenon.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he went from being a thought leader to a founder
- Writing about social media in early days
- Getting the idea and launching Breather
Deciding to resign as CEO - The importance of storytelling
I’ve admired Julien for a long time and was thrilled to have him on the show. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Brie Code, CEO & Creative Director @ Tru Luv.
Brie Code is the CEO and creative director of TRU LUV, a Toronto-based studio that makes AI companions. Their companions are built on a framework of deepening friendship, not increasing challenge or complexity, to help people relax and grow. They think they are a key part of the future of interactivity. TRU LUV’s first companion, #SelfCare, is one of Apple’s Best of 2018 Trends of the Year selections.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Brie got into gaming
- Her journey in self-discovery and finding her next move
- The concept of tend and befriend
- Focusing on psychological growth
I was blown away by Brie’s philosophy and approach in her startup. She’s a great entrepreneur and seems to be just getting started. I really hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Jay Hébert, Co-Founder & Partner @ Elevent
Jay has always been driven by his curiosity, his love of people and his passion to overcome challenges. When he was 21, his boss walked out just months before their main event. In a panic, he was asked to replace him. He did – for another five years. Soon after, another challenge came knocking: he landed a job at the marketing communications company, Cossette, to help lead their still-growing sponsorship division. He not only survived but excelled. And the experience propelled him to where he is today: over 15 years of experience in marketing communications and co-founder of the next-generation sponsorship agency, Elevent. He has successfully crafted alliance marketing initiatives, held leading roles at major institutions, like BMO Financial Group, developed high-visibility sponsorship programs for the Olympics, and built and managed prestigious partnerships for international and national corporations alike, including General Motors, Group, Saputo, TELUS and many others.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got started in the marketing world
- How the “show must go on” in the world of sponsorships
- Launching his own agency but not having a master plan
- Avoiding a conflict of interest in his business model
- The importance of cause marketing
Jay was authentic and honest in this interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with JP Chauvet, President @ Lightspeed
JP Chauvet has been President since 2016. Having joined in the role of Chief Revenue Officer in 2012. He became a member of the board of directors in 2013.
Prior to joining Lightspeed, JP Chauvet held various leadership positions at Atex Group across Europe and Asia where his last role was CEO, EMEA. Prior to Joining Atex, JP Chauvet was the VP, Sales and Marketing of Nstein Technologies and from 2000 to 2005, he was the VP, Sales and Marketing of IXIASOFT Technologies Inc.
JP Chauvet also serves on the boards of directors of Coveo Solutions Inc., a provider of AI-based search technologies, and Alaya Care Inc., a cloud-based home care software solutions provider.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Understanding the value of a customer
- Building a high performance culture
- Retail is the new black
- Lightspeed’s remaining opportunity (hint: it’s massive)
- How his role has evolved over time
JP is one of the most impressive tech executives I know. He shared some great unconventional wisdom. I hope that you enjoy the episode!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Francois Lafortune, Founder and CEO @ Diagram. Francois Lafortune is an entrepreneur and investor with fifteen years experience in building businesses in the financial technology sector. He is the co-founder and CEO of Diagram Ventures, a $85m venture builder that co-founds technology companies pursuing transformative innovation in the financial, insurance and healthcare sectors. Francois is also a Partner of Portag3 Ventures, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Hydro-Québec, he sits on Minister of Finance Bill Morneau’s advisory committee on Open Banking; and he is a member of the AMF’s Technological Innovation advisory committee.
Prior to founding Diagram, he co-led the Canadian Business Technology practice at McKinsey & Company. Francois holds an engineering degree from McGill University and an MBA from Stanford GSB.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he started companies at the age of 13
- What he learned in consulting
- The idea behind Diagram and building a Fintech ecosystem
- Validating ideas quickly and prototyping
- Working with incumbents and disruptors
François is in the empire building business and Diagram is already creating world-class businesses. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sylvain Carle, Partner @ Real Ventures
Sylvain Carle has spent the last two decades living and breathing emerging technologies. Though he didn’t study computer science, Sylvain has been tinkering with computers for years, and spent most of his career as a startup entrepreneur at the confluence of media, technology and networks. A self-proclaimed nerd, socialist and pragmatist, Sylvain believes in technology as a means to change the world, and loves investing in ideas and people to transform industries. Before joining Real Ventures in 2014, Sylvain was CTO and co-founder at Messagia, Interstructure, Praized and Needium, and also worked as Senior Developer Advocate at Twitter in San Francisco. As a Real Ventures pre-seed partner, Sylvain plays a key role in nurturing the local tech ecosystem, and also works closely with their portfolio companies.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Being a self-learner
- The concept of failure
- Working for Twitter pre-IPO
- Real Venture’s Orbit Fund and Front Row Ventures
- Fostering a community and ecosystem
- The concept of “Conscious Leadership” and impact investing
Sylvain was very generous with his time. I learned a ton from spending time with him. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Laurent Simon, Full Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation @ HEC Montreal. Laurent Simon is a professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at HEC Montréal. He created and teaches a master’s-level course on innovation management and received an award for pedagogical excellence in 2005. His research focuses mainly on innovation-minded projects, knowledge management and how creativity is managed in various settings. He is the co-founder and co-director of Mosaic, HEC Montréal’s creativity and innovation hub focusing on research, knowledge transfer and dissemination. He is regularly called on by private, public and parapublic organizations to provide his insight into these topics.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Creativity in the video game industry
- Can creativity be taught?
- How universities need to reinvent themselves
- The innovation value chain
- The summer school on management of creativity – Mosaic which be co-founded
Laurent is an incredibly interesting professor and shared some great insights about creativity. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Claudine Labelle, Founder and President @ FitSpirit. Claudine is a social entrepreneur and former elite athlete who founded FitSpirit to encourage a generation of teenage girls to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing. With the support of prominent partners, she is spearheading far-sighted efforts to promote physical activity and healthy eating. The impact has been major: to date, FitSpirit has reached more than 150,000 young women in Quebec and Ontario. In addition to achieving success for FitSpirit, Claudine’s hard work and energy have earned her numerous awards and recognition from her peers in the philanthropic and social enterprise communities.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Finding her passion to help teenage girls
- Being a competitor in the cycling world
- Her non-profit’s mission and the impact they create
- How they partner with the corporate world
It was the first time I met Claudine and she was a true inspiration. She approaches her non-profit like a business and shared some great insights.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Caroline Codsi, President & Founder @ Women in Governance. A passionate and strategic leader, Caroline Codsi has had a successful career in the corporate world of over 25 years including the past decade in VP and SVP roles within major organizations.
Caroline founded Women in Governance in 2010 (aka La Gouvernance au Féminin), a non-for-profit organization with mission to encourage women to develop their leadership, advance their career and sit on boards. She dedicates her life to all matters relating to the access of women to executive roles and board positions in the corporate world in Canada as well as women’s equality rights everywhere in the world.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How war shaped her worldview
- Two key principles: authenticity and audacity
- How she operates her non-profit as a business
- Encouraging women to enter into STEM
- Her ambitious goal of creating an industry-wide certification
Caroline is an inspiring entrepreneur that took a huge leap to start her non-profit. She is incredible inspiring and I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marie-José Lalande, President & CEO @ Kinessor. Relationship facilitator, passionate about management and telecoms, Marie-José is at the head of Kinessor, a company specializing in professional services and telecommunications consulting. Kinessor has a large professional team technically qualified in network, communication (voice, instant messaging, virtual meeting, etc.), wireless, security and data centers. Customers rely on their services for reliability, integrity, skills and efficiency. They can support their clients or support their telecom projects regardless of the desired technology
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she leads the firm with intuitive decision making
- The growth strategy of the firm
- The talent challenge
- Learning how to delegate
- How continuous improvement lies at the heart of the company.
Marie-José is very modest despite the success of her company. I hope you like the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Martin Aubut, Vice-President Transformation & Strategic Innovation @ Cogeco. Martin is a pragmatic digital marketing executive and entrepreneur, with 20+ years of experience. He is known for transforming organization toward consumer centricity by leveraging data & digital capabilities. He is now acting as Vice-President of the Transformation Office and Strategic Innovation at COGECO Connexion one of the Largest Canadian Telecommunication organizations.
In the last 7 years, he led with success L’Oréal Canada successful Digital ACCELERATION, as CDO (Intrapreneur). He built with his team advanced E-Commerce, CRM & Data Science practice leverage around the world.
He had the chance to work on building the foundation of the Innovation lab focus on Artificial Intelligence, leveraging Deep learning and machine learning technics for L'Oréal World.
On the show, we spoke about:
- What it means to be an intrapreneur
- Focusing on the customer journey
- The challenges of business transformation
- The role of data in a transformation
- His framework of people, tech and process
Martin is a true intrapreneur and has been able to repeatedly achieve success with every company he’s worked with. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marc-Antoine Ross, CEO & Co-Founder @ dfuse
He has a passion for building teams and is constantly evaluating those he meets to figure out how they can bring their skills to the multitude of projects that he touches. From there, he figures out what he needs to do to make their talent shine. He is a serial entrepreneur, having started his first company at 21. He has co-founded three successful companies, two of which were acquired by major tech companies and the last one was acquired by Intel. Marc-Antoine is very well known in the tech community, personally advising several startups and mentoring companies through Founder Institute and FounderFuel. He is also an ambassador for United Way and has raised significant donations from the tech community.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Dropping out of school to work on his business
- Being a co-founder of several successful companies including PasswordBox
- Being a first time CEO and what he’s learned so far
- His new startup in the blockchain space and the problem they are trying to solve
Marc-Antoine was generous with his time and was very transparent. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Louis Duchesne, Executive Vice-President & General Director @ Cossette Quebec. Originally from Montreal, where he attended McGill University, Mr. Duchesne spent six years working for Nurun before being recruited by Cossette in Quebec City, where he served as General Manager of the interactive division before being named Vice-President of the integrated agency in 2009. Since 2013, he has also held the position of Senior Vice-President of Cossette in Quebec, heading up national accounts such as General Motors, La Maison Simons, Office du tourisme de Québec, CAA-Québec and Gaz Métro.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The changing business model of agencies
- The importance of talent
- Transition a traditional agency into a digital one
- How the media landscape has changed
- The hype of data
I really enjoyed meeting Louis and discussing with him topics that are close to my heart. Louis was very generous with his time and insights. Enjoy the show!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marie-Pier St-Hilaire, CEO @ Edgenda. Marie-Pier is the CEO and principal shareholder at Edgenda Group. Marie-Pier St-Hilaire has always been passionate about initiating sweeping transformations. While enrolled in the MBA in information technology at Université Laval, she founded her company, which experienced remarkable organizational growth, i.e., from $0.2 million to $7.5 million in less than ten years. Now, under the umbrella brand Edgenda, the company and its AFI Expertise division employs more than 150 and is ranked among Quebec’s largest SMBs.
To attain her success, she has surrounded herself with a talented team, an impressive network of partners, and leveraged the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Starting her company at 21
- How she prioritizes her time and schedule living in in two cities
- The importance of delegation
- Building a service business and growing it to 170 people
- Taking care of yourself before others
I didn’t know Marie-Pier before the interview and was really impressed. She has a clear vision and thinking on building her company. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Malik Yacoubi, Co-Founder and CEO @ Nesto
Nesto is in bringing more transparency and conviviality to an obscure process that is so important to the financial well being of Canadians families. Their short-time objective is to build the best multi-disciplinary team in tech, UX, Design, Data and Mortgage Brokerage.
Before launching Nesto, and for the past 8 years, Malik was Chief Digital Officer at Cossette where he managed the digital teams for Canada’s largest advertising agency Malik has deep expertise in: CRM/data operations and integration, e-commerce, mobile development and strategy, business analysts, business intelligence and analytics, products and projects management and web development.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he launched his company after university
- Getting into mobile years before the iPhone
- How his company was acquired by Cossette
- His new venture Nesto and the opportunity he sees in mortgages
- The opportunity in Fintech
I’ve known Malik for a years and he’s one of the sharpest entrepreneurs that I know. I hope that you learn a lot from our conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Anie Rouleau, Founder & CEO @ Baléco.
Transparency, socially and environmentally responsible are fundamental values by which Anie drives her personal and professional life. She is the founder and CEO of Baléco Inc where she handles product development, sales and financing.
She believes in redefining the Notion of Clean in a more sustainable lifestyle. Today, as a BCorp certified business, she wants to rewrite some key success factors of tomorrow's businesses. In her mind, only ethical and responsible governance will prevail.
Anie Rouleau founded Baléco in 2012 with one goal in mind, to help businesses and individuals reduce their environmental impact. The solution? A responsibly sourced catalog of eco-friendly alternatives to conventional home and office cleaning products and accessories. Quickly, Baléco became renowned for their OH line of fragrance free, concentrated, bulk products destined for the B2B market. In 2016, she launched The Unscented Company across North America. A complete line of unscented, refillable, home and body care destined to the retail market.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How her parents helped launch her entrepreneurial journey
- Her travels to 18 countries in 18 months
- The reason for helping the environment
- Going through the dark years in her business
- The values and principles she lives by
Anie is an impressive entrepreneur with a truly global vision. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alex Nemeroff, Co-Founder @ Dynamo
Since co-founding Dynamo in 2000, Alex Nemeroff has been responsible for guiding some of its biggest clients to success. Alex has funneled his vast bank of knowledge into specializations in digital product design and user experience. His user-centric approach to design and his keen eye for detail has proven to be a winning combination for growth. He’s also host and moderator at Dynamic/MTL, a series of speaking events for Montréal's creative community. Every three months, Dynamic/MTL invites top guest speakers from across various creative industries to talk about their work and share their experiences.
On the show, we spoke about:
- The relevance of going to school today
- How he launched Dynamo and grew the business
- The evolutions of the company throughout its history
- Blending expertise and visual design
- The bittersweet aspect of selling his agency
- What the agency of the future looks like
Alex is extremely humble and intelligent. I enjoyed his candor and transparency during this interview. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Ian Jeffrey, Co-Founder and CEO @ BreatheLife
Ian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Breathe Life, an InsurTech Software as a Service that brings financial security to people, whoever and wherever they are. Breathe Life’s mission is to power the insurance world with innovative technology that delivers seamless experiences to consumers and industry experts alike.
Ian is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in Montreal and Silicon Valley and an Advisor and Angel Investor to many early-stage startups.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he left Montreal to launch a startup in San Francisco
- What he was looking for when he came back
- The founding story of BreatheLife
- The impact life insurance can have on people’s lives
Ian is a friend and a remarkable entrepreneur. I’m happy that he took the time on this special episode.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Marie-Josée Gagnon, CEO @ Casacom
Marie-Josée Gagnon.
She is the CEO and Founder of Casacom, a Canadian integrated data-driven public relations & strategic communication firm founded in 2001 that helps clients thrive in the digital era.
They are a multi-channel and multi-disciplinary approach gives their clients a unique marketplace advantage. Known for their strategic thinking and award-winning campaigns, their ‘house’ is home to dedicated professionals who consistently aim high – for themselves and their clients.
Their mission is to elevate. They have ambitious clients that challenge them to elevate their brand and their business.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she went from journalism to politics
- Her journey across the globe meeting world leaders
- Starting her own company and the process behind it
- Building her public relations firm
- Her personal purpose (which I loved)
- Why she decided to start Brave – an interview series showcasing the bold experiences of women who dared to be brave
Marie-Josée’s story is remarkable and has had an impressive career. Her outlook on life and business is quite refreshing. I hope that you enjoy today’s episode.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Sam Kawtharani, Co-Founder & CEO @ Corl
Sam is the Co-Founder & CEO of Corl, the world’s first revenue-sharing token designed to support and participate in the growth of emerging companies. Most recently he served as the Head of Product at IOU Financial, a leading FinTech SMB marketplace lender based out of Montreal. With an extensive background in product strategy and development, he supported the company to originate over $500mm in loan originations across the United States & Canada through continuous product development and innovation.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Sam got into FinTech
- How scuba diving can be useful in business
- His journey to entrepreneurship
- Corl’s mission to democratize funding
- The regulatory environment in Canada
- The future use cases of blockchain
I had been waiting for a long time for this conversation with Sam and he did not disappoint. I learned a ton about the early stage investing space as well blockchain. I hope that you enjoy the show!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Anthony Rjeily, Partner - National Leader, Digital Transformation and Innovation @ EY.
Anthony is the National Leader for EY Canada's Digital Transformation and Innovation practice, responsible for the business across all industry segments. In this capacity, he is responsible for designing and architecting digital and innovation solutions for clients to deliver superior customer experiences, to drive operational efficiencies and to create innovative capabilities.
In his market facing role, Anthony provides digital transformation advice for many of EY's clients that are looking to drive growth through digital innovation, transform the enterprise through digital enablement and create disruptive innovation capabilities with new business models.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Anthony got started in consulting
- The challenge his customers are facing
- How he defines digital transformation
- Open banking and the government’s role
- The role of capital and talent innovation
Anthony is an industry veteran with a wealth of experience. I learned a lot by talking to him, I hope that you do as well.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Anna Chif, Co-Founder and COO @ Dialogue
Anna Chif is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Dialogue, a telemedicine provider founded in 2016. In less than two years, Dialogue has established itself as the Canadian leader in its field and now serves nearly 150 companies as its clients across the country. The Dialogue platform allows employees of client companies to quickly reach excellent nurses and doctors via chat and video for any medical question.
Dialogue has received over $15 million in venture capital since its launch and is among the fastest growing technology companies in Canada. Anna studied finance and international business at McGill and worked at McKinsey for a few years before founding her company.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Her interest in wellness and healthcare
- How she left McKinsey to launch Dialogue
- The mission driven nature of the company
- What she learned by being in a hyper growth startup
- The massive opportunity in her space
- The future of healthcare
Anna is a remarkable entrepreneur and I’m glad that she took the time out of her busy schedule. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Dominique Laverdure, General Director @ Rouge Marketing.
Dominique Laverdure is Chief Executive Officer and Partner at Rouge Marketing and Communications Inc., an integrated marketing and communications agency that she co-founded in 2004.
She was president of the Grand Mont-Tremblant Chamber of Commerce for three years and a member of the board of directors for six years. In addition to this role, she is also a Director of the Laurentian Local Development Center (CLD), President of the Cabinet Centraide Hautes-Laurentides and Director of the Mont-Tremblant Strategic Action Committee. Formerly director of chamber of commerce in western Quebec, she also acted as board director of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
Ms. Laverdure holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University as well as a major in Entrepreneurship and a minor in Human Resources from McGill University.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How she started her career in marketing at L’Oréal
- Launching her own agency and positioning in a crowded market
- Her philosophy on remote working and the business benefit
- Going back to basics with marketing
- The future of brands
Dominique has a unique view of the marketing space and a very interesting point of view. Her depth of experience is incredible. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Luke Finney, Co-Founder and Head of Operations @ Terminal. Luke spent 7 years in the US Navy, working with a variety of small teams in the US and overseas. Upon leaving the military, he attended the Stanford IGNITE program, then worked as an associate for the Glenfarne Group, a private equity firm in NYC focused on developing, owning and operating energy and infrastructure assets in Latin America. In 2017 he started Terminal in San Francisco, pursuing a vision of a world where productive, long-term access to incredible companies is easy for people in disparate geographies. He graduated from the US Naval Academy (BSc, Aerospace Engineering/Russian) and LSE (MSc, Development Economics) before heading into the military. He’s a private pilot, enjoys diving, endurance events, and any high adrenaline activity.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he went from the military to the startup world
- Lessons he took from his service career
- The idea and vision behind Terminal
- How he obtained financing from some of the world’s most important investors
Luke is building an interesting startup in a competitive industry. His insights and experience are remarkable. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alex Manea, Chief Security and Privacy Officer @ Georgian Partners. Alex uses his detailed knowledge of security and privacy concepts to help portfolio companies identify opportunities to build and monetize technologies that protect assets and build trust. Alex is also responsible for Georgian’s internal policies and infrastructure.
Prior to joining Georgian Partners, Alex spent 12 years working at BlackBerry, most recently as Chief Security Officer. As a founding member of BlackBerry Security, he has worked to protect mobile, desktop and IoT devices, networks and infrastructure for over a decade, helping to transform BlackBerry from a mobile hardware vendor to the world's leading provider of enterprise software and security solutions. Alex regularly writes on security and has been published in dozens of international publications in multiple languages.
Alex was recently named one of Canada’s smartest people by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has traveled to 22 countries and can speak or understand 7 different languages. He loves learning about cultures around the world, visiting local landmarks and trying new types of food.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got started in engineering
- The evolution of his role at Blackberry that led him to becoming Chief Security Officer
- How he became an investor at Georgian Partners
- His thoughts on security vs. privacy
- The new technologies he’s excited about notably blockchain and quantum computing
- The rise of IOT and the danger it poses
Alex is a world class expert in his field and I was thrilled to have him on the show. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, I spoke with Frederic Guarino. We held a lively debate on the techlash of 2018 and where we’re headed next year. Frédéric Guarino is a growth hacker for Grey Juice Lab, a leading global service provider of content and services for multiscreen TV and VOD.
Previously he was a business developer for Zone3&co-founded VR Valley, an inter-industry professional group to develop collaborations between large corporations & startups in the VR space. He co-organized with MUTEK Montréal’s VR Salons (3 editions 2015-2017). Frédéric is also a strategist for brands and large corporations and a startup advisor/mentor. He guest programmed a VR Summit for the CFC’s IDEABOOST accelerator. Frédéric writes for the Canada Media Fund’s Trends blog, the HuffingtonPost (in Québec, Canada and the US) and is the editor of the Mediaquake.co blog
On the show, we spoke about:
- Techlash in 2018 and the changing sentiment around technology
- Data ownership and privacy
- The coming IPO fever
- Consumerization of enterprise tech in 2019
Fred is deeply knowledgeable about the tech space and we had a great debate where we actually disagreed on many points! I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Alex Langshur, Founder and CEO @ Cardinal Path. Alex is Founder and co-CEO of Cardinal Path, a premier digital data analytics firm working with the world’s leading organizations to create, implement and advanced analytics. He previously founded and led PublicInsite, an analytics firm, prior to its merger to form Cardinal Path.
Alex is the past-President and Director Emeritus of the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), teaches digital marketing optimization for the University of British Columbia, and is on the Board of Advisors for McMaster University Analytics Program. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and has been published in journals and magazines including Government IT Week, Government Executive, CNN Money and others.
Alex lives in Boston with his wife, two sons and golden retriever.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he transferred his love of science, non-profit work into a career in digital marketing
- The importance of personalized and engaged conversations at scale
- The peaks and valleys of running a business
- Growing and scaling Cardinal Path to exit
- Why Facebook is potentially in trouble and the future of martech
Alex is an inspiring entrepreneur that built an impressive analytics company. He shared some amazing insights on entrepreneurship and the analytics space. I hope that you enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with David Marotte, President and CEO @ FX Innovation. He leads the company in a perspective of innovation and achievement of excellence in the delivery of services to the customer. As a mentor and coach for his employees, David has developed an innovative and deeply human corporate culture: transparency, trust, commitment are the unifying values.
Since its creation in a garage in 2002, FX innovation has experienced tremendous growth and now has more than 600 people in Quebec and Northeastern USA.
Highly focused on innovation and skill development, David has always made a point of differentiating himself from his competition with a strong business model and an extraordinary customer experience.
He holds a master's degree in science, specialized in international management from the University of Sherbrooke, as well as a master's degree in management from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Poitiers (France), as well as having graduated from the elite program of the EEB, David likes to share his passion for entrepreneurship and his love of technology. David is known for his generosity and his involvement, especially for the Alzheimer Society of Quebec. Since 2011, he has also been Honorary Patron of the Grand Chefs Gala for the Canadian Cancer Society.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he launched FX Innovation from his garage
- How he struggled in the early days and how they broke through
- The importance of culture in building a large organization (their culture handbook)
- Focusing on customer experience as a competitive advantage
- The cloud wars and how he thinks about the future
David has built a remarkable organization and thinks deeply about important issues like culture and strategy. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Andy Kulakowski, President and CEO @ Fresche Solutions. Andy recently celebrated his 30th year at Fresche. Over the years, he has held a series of senior positions in customer service and call center management, including Vice President of Customer Support and Product Services, and Chief Operating Officer.
As President/CEO, Andy spends his time setting corporate goals, maintaining Fresche’s global leadership position in IBM i modernization and management and maximizing the company’s shareholder value. Andy achieves his goals by establishing a clear strategic direction and a solid and original corporate vision.
He also finds pride in building an all-star management team, cultivating a strong company culture, and he constantly strives to build a thriving work environment. When he’s not working hard at Fresche, he’s working hard on his extraordinary, yet fictional, NHL career.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How Andy got interested in IT
- The insight that kept him and propelled his career for over 40 years
- What factors he takes into account when building a strategy
- How he looks at culture at Fresche
- His thoughts on the RedHat acquisition by IBM
- The importance of keeping businesses in Canada
Andy is a true gentleman. I’ve learned a lot from him and I hope that you’ll enjoy the conversation.
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher | Breaker
On this week’s show, we spoke with Carlos Pacheco, CMO @ Truly Social. Carlos has worked in media buying & strategy for 14 years across many local, national and international brands. He moved away from agencies to learn about content and the world of media production and content distribution. During those years, he was able to get a larger view of the world of media, how it’s created, sold, monetized and consumed. His experience has helped him understand the world of online audiences, how to build organic digital audience growth using search engine optimization and social content strategy.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got started in the digital marketing space
- How he helped Just For Laughs explode their presence on YouTube
- Creating content for the social era
- The power of podcasts as a medium
- The social platform wars
- Carlos on Twitter
Carlos is a good friend and I’m glad that he took the time to chat with me. If you are interested in media and marketing, please check out our conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher
On this week’s show, we spoke with David Nault, General Partner @ Luge Capital. David has been building early stage technology companies as an investor, founder or senior member of the executive team for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Luge Capital, David was an investor with iNovia Capital, a leading North American venture capital fund. Before becoming a VC, David was president of Callio Technologies, an information security compliance software provider, whose intellectual property was acquired in 2009. Prior to running Callio, he managed business development and partnerships at Pivotal Payments, Canada’s largest privately owned payment processor, which he helped grow from startup to over 60,000 customers, 400 employees and $8 billion in transaction volume.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he went from being an entrepreneur to a venture capitalist
- What he learned by being on both sides of the table
- How the VC industry has evolved since he joined
- The challenges in launching a new fund
- The future of Fintech
I’m glad that David accepted to return on the show as a guest. His reputation is above reproach. I’m glad that he took the time. I hope that you enjoy the show!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher
On this week’s show, we spoke with Simon Ferragne, CEO & Founder @ Tracktik.
With over 13 years in the software development and engineering realm, Simon has solidified his position as a visionary entrepreneur with an energetic passion in delivering technology based solutions that have helped organizations in separate vertical markets, to become more efficient and competitive. His passion and determination has lead him to found Staffr where, as the lead developer and President, he has singlehandedly created a technology based company which focuses on developing industry disrupting solutions such as TrackTik, a security workforce management software. His vision has led to remarkable and rapid successes respectively. Simon has always felt that we live in an exciting technology era where anything is possible. His creations are a testament to that philosophy and they are continuously defining tomorrow’s trends today.
On the show, we spoke about:
- How he got interested in technology
- The importance of solving real world problems
- The concept of artistic innovation
- Focusing on the right things and not on sales
- His evolution as a CEO
- Why he’s excited for the future of Tracktik
- How Simon is thinking about using AI
Simon is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word. I learned a great deal from our conversation. I hope that you do as well!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
Subscribe | iTunes | Google Play |Spotify | YouTube | Stitcher