Montreal is home to one of Canada's largest and most dynamic startup ecosystems, and in just a few years, Isaac Souweine has gone from being a newcomer to the city (and to Canada) to being at the centre of the startup community as EIR with Real Ventures. We talk to Isaac about how he came to Montreal, how he initially got plugged into the ecosystem, working in Montreal … [Read more...]
Ep 16: Launch Academy and the Vancouver Startup Ecosystem with Hussein Hallak
Vancouver is one of Canada's biggest tech hubs and Launch Academy has played a key role in the startup ecosystem over the last five years, providing incubation services and training to over 100 startups a year—and hosting events for the community at its 12,000 square-foot space in the Gastown area of the city. This week, we talk to general manager Hussein Hallak about the … [Read more...]
Ep 08: Wellington, New Zealand Startup Ecosystem with Stefan Korn of Creative HQ
It's not the biggest country, but New Zealand has developed thriving startup ecosystems while facing heightened versions of many of the same challenges we see in Canada, including a small domestic market, and an underdeveloped venture capital sector. Creative HQ in Wellington is one of the leading lights of the New Zealand startup ecosystem, and we talk to CEO Stefan Korn about … [Read more...]
Ep 07: Lessons Learned Running the Velocity Incubator with Mike Kirkup
For over four years, Mike Kirkup was the director of Velocity—the startup incubator at the University of Waterloo. It's been a huge addition to the Waterloo startup community since opening in 2008. He stepped down just over a year ago to become CTO at Encircle—a Velocity graduate—and on this week's show looks back at lessons learned from Velocity's growth (and how a huge space … [Read more...]
Ep 06: Growing role of angel investors with Yuri Navarro of NACO
The Canadian federal government has released a discussion paper asking for feedback on parts of its in-development Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, we take a look at what's in the paper and also discuss a new academic paper from Stanford that claims that all U.S. unicorns are overvalued. And we talk to Yuri Navarro, the CEO of the National Angel Capital Organization. … [Read more...]
Ep 01: Halifax Startup Ecosystem with Jesse Rodgers of Volta Labs
Will Halifax become Canada's next great startup centre? Jesse Rodgers says it has all the right ingredients and a lot of momentum. Jesse is the CEO of Volta Labs in Halifax—"Halifax's tech superhub." Jesse was a long-time member and builder of the Waterloo startup community and the former director of the Creative Destruction Lab in Toronto and Velocity in Waterloo. He talks … [Read more...]
