Episodes
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Philippe Beaudoin is a gritty founder and one of the worldâs foremost experts on AI. Heâs 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 RĂ©seau Capital
(00:23:08) Investor panel
(00:54:26) Founder panel
(01:22:28) Fireside chat with Tom Birch
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Missing episodes?
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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
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Iâm lucky that I get to work alongside Julie Lacasse and learn from her every day.
If you donât know her, Julie is a serial entrepreneur and current venture capital partner at Amiral Ventures. Sheâs 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:
Julieâs 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
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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
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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/)
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Sur cet Ă©pisode du Flagship podcast, jâai eu le plaisir dâĂ©changer avec Marc BĂ©dard, cofondateur et PDG @ Lion Ălectrique. Marc BĂ©dard a toujours Ă©tĂ© passionnĂ© par la technologie, l'innovation et la finance. En 2008, il a fondĂ© Lion Electric et a peu aprĂšs mis l'entreprise sur la voie du zĂ©ro Ă©mission en s'engageant dans un portefeuille de produits de vĂ©hicules lourds et moyens entiĂšrement Ă©lectriques.
Sur lâĂ©mission, nous avons parlĂ© 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
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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 -
Jâai 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 contrÎle 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.
Câest un marchĂ© adressable Ă©norme avec des gains en efficacitĂ© Ă©nergĂ©tique significatifs. En plus, Simon est un entrepreneur chevronnĂ© avec Ă©normĂ©ment dâexpĂ©rience. Il a participĂ© au lancement de trois entreprises, a introduit de nombreuses technologies sur le marchĂ©, et mentorĂ© des entrepreneurs.
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I had the pleasure of hosting the Flagship podcast at last weekâs 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
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Jâai eu la chance de parler avec Simon Pelletier et Gilles DuruflĂ© de RĂ©seau Capital. Ils ont publiĂ© un rapport trĂšs pertinent en novembre Ă propos de l'Ă©cosystĂšme de capital de risque du QuĂ©bec.
Lâobjectif de cette Ă©tude Ă©tait de comparer le dynamisme de lâĂ©cosystĂšme dâinvestissement en capital de risque du QuĂ©bec Ă ceux de lâOntario et de la Colombie-Britannique afin dâidentifier certaines forces et faiblesses et dâen tirer des pistes de recommandations. Le rapport a fait beaucoup de vagues dans l'Ă©cosystĂšme et je vous invite Ă le consulter!
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I had the pleasure of speaking with Andria Santos, Co-founder & CEO @ FĂŒlhaus
FĂŒlhaus 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 FĂŒlhaus is the first & best customer for Ludwig
The huge market opportunity ahead with their new AI
Entrepreneurial lessons after 10 years
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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 itâs 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 Canadaâs 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 Universityâs Desautels Faculty of Management as well as civil and common law degrees from McGillâs Faculty of Law.
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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
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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 Maverixâs 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.
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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 weâre starting Amiral Ventures
The funding gap in Canada and how weâre planning to address it
Our investment thesis centered around sustainable economic dynamism
Why we believe that the Canadian tech ecosystem is just getting started
