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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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.
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
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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:
Annick is well on her way to building a world-class venture capital firm and she shared some great insights.
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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:
Martin is a seasoned executive with a tremendous amount of experience and insights on building world-class products
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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:
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
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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:
Sévrine is working towards a more prosperous future and a more equitable one. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
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