Best BetaKit Podcast Network Podcasts (2025)

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How OpenText went all-in on AI 38:43

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2h ago38:43

38:43

"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…

1
It's 'Valley or Bust' for Canada's young entrepreneurs 46:26

6h ago46:26

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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Dominion Dynamics' CEO thinks defence is a "generational opportunity" for Canadian entrepreneurs 30:45

10d ago30:45

30:45

"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

21d ago1:19:52

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

26d ago1:01:40

1:01:40

"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…

2051
Why Canada doesn't buy Canadian tech 49:59

1M ago49:59

49:59

"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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Can Canada build its own social network? 59:00

2M ago59:00

59:00

"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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Are Canadian entrepreneurs willing to let their old companies die? 48:14

2M ago48:14

48:14

"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

2M ago43:31

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…

1
Why Canada's defence tech sector is suddenly exploding 55:00

2M ago55:00

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 36:50

2M ago36:50

36:50

"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? 50:24

3M ago50:24

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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AI is changing startup math with Ripple Ventures' Matt Cohen 56:07

3M ago56:07

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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The former Meta employee trying to stop Canada's AI brain drain 56:33

3M ago56:33

56:33

"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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What can talking to AI teach us? 1:02:20

4M ago1:02:20

1:02:20

"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) 41:01

4M ago41:01

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 45:45

4M ago45:45

45:45

"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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'Canada's edge in applied AI' with Nvidia and Waabi leaders 45:43

4M ago45:43

45:43

"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

5M ago1:10:48

1:10:48

"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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Ambition made in Canada with Shopify, Cohere, and Wealthsimple 42:20

5M ago42:20

42:20

" It's kind of that 'Valley or bust' mentality which breaks the ecosystem and really hurts Canada." Harley Finkelstein (Shopify), Mike Katchen (Wealthsimple), and Aidan Gomez (Cohere) hold a candid conversation about 'Ambition made in Canada' during Toronto Tech Week. Recorded live at Homecoming. The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Invest Northern …

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What keeps Bluesky's head of trust and safety up at night? 1:01:14

5M ago1:01:14

1:01:14

" The company fascinates me… because they have such interesting concepts internally. One of them being 'treat the company as a future adversary,' which I have never seen anywhere in my career." Bluesky's head of trust and safety is a Canadian working out of Dublin. In town to speak at the BetaKit Town Hall for Toronto Tech Week, Aaron Rodericks fir…

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The stories of Canadian tech's Most Ambitious 58:38

5M ago58:38

58:38

"I want to put ambition in people's hands. You say it doesn't exist—you're going to hold it, you're going to flip through it, you're going to see it." BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell joins to discuss today's launch of BetaKit's Most Ambitious: our first-ever print issue, telling stories of bold ambition in Canadian tech. Consider this your Most Ambitious d…

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Summer reading list: The Subversive Marketing Handbook 53:52

6M ago53:52

53:52

" Subversiveness is a way of changing the system. And I think what we're seeing right now is that all systems are changing." Entrepreneur and Startupfest founding partner Alistair Croll has co-authored a new book, Just Evil Enough: The Subversive Marketing Handbook. If you're wondering why your company is so bad with its go-to-market execution, or …

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InBC's Jill Earthy knows Canadian VC "could be healthier" 38:10

6M ago38:10

38:10

" That's what we wanna change, right? For future companies, more Canadian investors on the cap table so that we can see those benefits come back through investment, through mentorship." Jill Earthy, CEO of InBC Investment Corp—a provincial Crown corporation with $500 million of direct and indirect capital to deploy—joins to discuss the state of Can…

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Amii CEO Cam Linke says Canada's AI strategy requires customers 56:51

5M ago56:51

56:51

"Be a customer of Canadian startups. This is the thing that every company needs. Nobody died from having too many customers." The CEO of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, Cam Linke, joins to discuss the next phase of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and how Amii stands apart from other national AI institutes, Vector and Mila. Recorded live fr…