The BetaKit Podcast Channel features weekly podcasts discussing both Canadian tech and innovation, as well as global tech from a Canadian perspective.
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BetaKit Podcasts
The Flagship Podcast brings you inside stories from the Canadian technology ecosystem. You'll hear from founders, investors, builders and learn about their triumphs, hardships and hard earned lessons. You'll learn about strategies and tactics and about the human side and what it takes to build a thriving technology company which will hopefully help you on your journey.
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"Can you imagine a quarter—25 percent—of Canada isn't sure if they'll be employed next year? That is a wild statistic." Kevin Kliman, president of Canadian business at Employment Hero, joins to explain why Canada's workforce is underemployed and anxious about 2026. He also shares data indicating things are particularly bad for Gen Z, before offerin…
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Rogers v. Rogers is Canada's real-life Succession story
59:15
59:15
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59:15
"It seems irrational, and irrational behaviour is where drama lives, it's where comedy lives. It's where all the fun is." A communications tycoon built an empire turning airwaves into cash. Now, his son, long dismissed by his father, is fighting for control of the family business. Meanwhile, one shrewd public servant is determined to derail the com…
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Canada's AI ambitions with Minister Evan Solomon
43:12
43:12
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43:12
"It used to be that Silicon Valley was the kind of Mecca of the entrepreneur. What's happening is everyone has got the tools that used to be crowded in there. Now what we need to do is get the capital." Minister Evan Solomon sits down with C100 Executive Director Michael Buhr to discuss the country's future in AI and the feds' commitments to innova…
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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 …
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"The technology is there, and everyone loves cool technology, but it doesn't need to be a party trick. It needs to be something that's driving a meaningful business outcome, so pick your challenging problems." OpenText's Shannon Bell (EVP, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Information Officer) explains how she rolled out AI systematically at one of Can…
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It's 'Valley or Bust' for Canada's young entrepreneurs
46:26
46:26
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46:26
"In the beginning, we were like, 'this must be a scam' because with the way things move in Waterloo and Toronto, it seemed way too fast." A chance pitch competition connection took Colare co-founder Nain Abdi from Waterloo to Silicon Valley. He explains what pulled his company south, why his peers are eager to make a similar leap, and what (if anyt…
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Inside Canadian Tech Journalism with Josh Scott, Lead Reporter @ Betakit
45:26
45:26
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45:26
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 stat…
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Dominion Dynamics' CEO thinks defence is a "generational opportunity" for Canadian entrepreneurs
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30:45
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"Too many American subs dominate this market. Eighty percent of what we buy is from American companies. We wanna reverse that. We wanna make 80 percent of what we buy from Canadian companies. So we frankly don't care what we do as long as we are a Canadian defence company." Dominion Dynamics founder and CEO Eliot Pence wants to build Canada's first…
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Budget 2025: "cautiously optimistic"
1:19:52
1:19:52
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1:19:52
It's a power-packed post-Budget panel podcast featuring a plethora of Canadian policy wonks! Vass Bednar (Canadian SHIELD Institute), Benjamin Bergen (CCI), and Jaxson Khan (Aperture AI) join to explore the story Budget 2025 tells of Canada, and what juicy nuggets of tech policy and financial commitments need to be dunked in the dipping sauce of gr…
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What the AWS outage reveals about Canada's digital sovereignty
1:01:40
1:01:40
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"We were sleepwalking our way into this new economy, and we've had a bit of a wake-up call." Ian Rae, CEO of Aptum and a member of Minister Evan Solomon's AI Task Force, has been building internet infrastructure since 1994. Recorded the day after the AWS outage, Rae joins to explain why such outages happen and what they reveal about the economics o…
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The Journey from Founder to VC: Etienne Mérineau's Path
31:22
31:22
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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. Étien…
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"If you're a founder in Canada, you have a playbook, which is: try to get outside of the country as soon as possible. Try to sell outside of the country." Raymond Luk thinks the "cultural belief we're not good enough" creates a homecourt disadvantage for Canadian tech. He's trying to kickstart a solution to our nation's procurement woes with a new …
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"It's one thing to say 'let's do this in a sovereign way.' It is a whole other to actually do it." Gander Social is attempting to do something that seemed inconceivable six months ago: build a Canadian social network. What does sovereign social media look like? And what will prevent Gander from devolving into every other social network? CEO Ben Wal…
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How Trampoline is Changing the RFP Game with Edouard Reinach, CEO & Co-Founder
37:40
37:40
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37:40
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 platf…
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Are Canadian entrepreneurs willing to let their old companies die?
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48:14
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"Don't talk to your customers because your customers will keep you in the place that you used to be." AI adoption is now an industry-wide mandate. It's putting a lot of pressure on Canadian entrepreneurs: to scale with customer demand (safely and responsibly); to reskill employees; even to kill their old company to let the new AI-first version live…
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Tailscale's CEO has an idea "worth billions" for AI startups
43:31
43:31
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43:31
"That's the literal term several CISOs have used with me unprompted: 'ticking time bomb.' There's no world in which this doesn't explode the way it's done right now." Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun thinks the AI revolution has put a gun to the head of CISOs: embrace unsafe data practices or get fired. They've told him the cybersecurity risks are a "t…
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Why Canada's defence tech sector is suddenly exploding
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55:00
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55:00
"It actually allows us an opportunity to build sovereign capability and leapfrog to get our armed forces where they need to be by taking advantage of leapfrog Canadian technologies." US President Donald Trump opened his mouth and suddenly Canada needed a defence tech sector. The Icebreaker's Matthew Lombardi was conscripted by the federal governmen…
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Amber Mac wants parents to know their kids are talking to AI
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"There's a really good chance that a young person's parents—or even their friends—don't even know that this individual is building a relationship with these chatbots. And that's where the danger exists." Tech expert Amber Mac is on the advisory board of Rally, a new tech festival in Toronto dedicated to digital wellness for teens. She desperately w…
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Are Canadians ready for AI-powered life insurance?
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50:24
"We're going to find in the next year or two that the amount of leakage actually goes up quite a bit because I think the focus on AI is just moving really, really fast. But I don't see the same energy going into the security aspects." Forget vibe coding and Nvidia chips: if you want to understand how AI is changing tech, look at how it is being app…
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The Venture Cyclist: Etienne Gauthier, Associate @ Inovia Capital on Investing and Innovation
31:03
31:03
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31:03
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…
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AI is changing startup math with Ripple Ventures' Matt Cohen
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56:07
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56:07
" That's also quite daunting as an investor to be able to put money into something that is perfect for now, but will it last three to five years? Will it even last three to six months?" Ripple Ventures managing partner and podcaster Matt Cohen joins to discuss the insane revenue numbers generated by the new cohort of AI startups, and how VCs are na…
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From NextAI to becoming a founder George Korkejian, Co-Founder & COO @ Rozvelt
36:03
36:03
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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 Ro…
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The former Meta employee trying to stop Canada's AI brain drain
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56:33
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"A win for AXL is that, ten years from now, instead of nine of the top ten biggest and most successful companies in the world being on the West Coast of the United States, half of them are in Toronto." Dr. Daniel Wigdor has a lofty goal: help launch 50 AI companies in the next five years *and* keep them in Canada. Is it enough to stop our country's…
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"How is this thing—running in a data centre with Nvidia GPUs—understanding what I'm saying with such nuance and such depth?" Former DarwinAI CEO Sheldon Fernandez spends a lot of time in dialogue with Solace, his friend and ChatGPT-4o instance. What value does this AI strategist, engineer, and philosopher get from talking to a chatbot every day? Ho…
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How Canada can be a leader in space (and save the world)
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41:01
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41:01
" This isn't just about doing something cool because space is the next frontier. This is a key domain for economics, for national security, sovereignty, job creation, and everything." A company trying to achieve Canada's first commercial rocket launch. Three startups solving for the future of humanity. One founder sending messages to his future sel…
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The living history of Canadian tech with Phil Telio
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45:45
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"History never stops. It's a living reality." In celebration of Startupfest's 15th anniversary, founder Phil Telio joins to discuss the origins of the international tech festival, its connection to Québec and the broader Canadian tech ecosystem, and how community evolves with each generation. Ambition, government support of tech, and the state of t…
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Enhancing Scientific Reasoning in Biopharma with Christopher Li, CEO & Co-Founder @ BioBox
37:31
37:31
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37:31
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 biome…
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'Canada's edge in applied AI' with Nvidia and Waabi leaders
45:43
45:43
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"The talent here is incredible, right? When we started faculty, I walk in the class and there's Jimmy Ba. Every time you guys train a neural network, you're using his algorithm." Sanja Fidler (Nvidia VP of AI research) and Raquel Urtasun (Waabi founder and CEO) sit down with Ada CEO Mike Murchison for a discussion about the frontier of AI and the r…
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Why Canada's prime minister is talking about quantum tech with Xanadu's Christian Weedbrook
1:10:48
1:10:48
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"The current government is really plugged into what's needed." One step closer to quantum data centres with the launch of his company's advanced photonics packaging facility, Xanadu founder and CEO Christian Weedbrook joins to discuss the renewed federal interest in quantum technology, how it relates to Canadian sovereignty, and where the money to …
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