The StartWell Podcast

As with most pharmaceutical drugs, Adderall comes with side-effects which make it undesirable for a lot of people - including addictiveness, something which inspired the team behind Gwella , a Toronto based company to launch vegan non-prescription edibles that boost energy levels, focus, mental clarity and positivity. Founded in the pandemic, Gwella is a remote-first company with 3 co-founders. We...

Originally a written series of interviews with male celebrities and athletes published online through a website called Gents Post, Gents Talk was launched in 2022 as a video podcast to better articulate the depth of experiences interviewees were expressing to Samir Mourani. Now joined by podcast cohost Matthew Chapman, Gents Talk is shot at StartWell and published weekly - featuring well known men...

Accomplished Toronto Chef Jagger Gordon joined us in studio to share the inspiration behind his philanthropic endeavours to battle food insecurity and reduce food waste. In this engaging conversation you'll hear about a new app which lets people share extra food with people in need as well as how Jagger made his way to the Ukraine through Poland recently and fed citizen soldiers fighting Russian f...

Entrepreneurs come from all backgrounds - so it was refreshing this time around to take a break from high tech startups and hear the story of this award winning Toronto based makeup and hair artist. Elizabeth Taylor, works for personal and commercial clients under the company name ' Faces by Pureness .'

Purposeful Intent  is a series of curated in-person Corporate Real Estate and Workplace events to have open discussions and thought leadership around the future of work. For this episode of the  StartWell Podcast  we sat down with Simon Davis to learn about his impetus for founding the series, experiences hosting it through 2022 across North America and expectations for the year ahead.

With people buying things increasingly online the back end logistics required for not only shipping product out to consumers but then receiving back returns can be a nightmare for SMBs - that's where ReturnBear comes in. This Canadian company helps sellers manage their product returns; with central product drop depots in shopping malls and much more - including product sorting and re-packacking to...

Camille Moore joins us in studio on campus at StartWell to relate her founder story and share perspective on Third Eye Insights ' approach to enabling professional services through branding. The conversation is fun and far reaching - touching on some of StartWell founder Qasim Virjee's own experiences as one of the first people online in East Africa, digitising a methodology for Placemaking and ex...

For this session of the StartWell Podcast we sat down with the co-founders of Syzl - Adrian Savin and Azrah Manji. This husband and wife team have brought their combined experiences working in digital marketing and shared spaces to help food professionals, entertainers and hobbyists find and use professional kitchens on demand.

In this interview we sit down at StartWell's downtown Toronto broadcast studio to hear from the CEO and co-founder of the Future of Film Showcase - a unique not-for-profit arts organisation presenting short films from Canadian Filmmakers aged 40 and younger. Eric tells us about how the Showcase got going as a grassroots solution to getting shorts on the big screen and how it has garnered support f...

Carbon6 's community empowers eCommerce sellers, removing the barriers to selling online. Focused on the global Amazon seller community, this innovative StartWell member company has just come out of stealth mode and is rapidly scaling their team and software solutions. For this session of the StartWell podcast we sit down with 2 of the company's cofounders, Naseem Saloojee and Kazi Ahmed and hear...

For this, the 40th episode of the StartWell Podcast we sit down with Jason Goldlist (co-founder), Laura Backman (Insiders Manager) and Alexandra Reilly (Growth Marketing Manager) to talk about TechTO - the largest startup focused community organisation in Toronto. The session was recorded during our first TechTO-StartWell coworking day, launching monthly drop-in coworking for the TechTO Insiders c...

For this, the 39th episode of the StartWell Podcast we sat down with the founder of Top Drone - a Toronto based film production company that exclusively works with Drone technology on projects for entertainment and commercial purpose. In the conversation, Michaelangelo tells us how he got started with drones and what sets his company apart from others getting started in this emerging type of cinem...

Ryan Bolton is a Toronto based photographer who has won awards and travelled the world capturing stunning images of people and places. His client roster includes Apple, Red Bull, Spotify, Gucci, SickKids and many other category leading institutions and commercial brands. Journalism originally led Ryan to photography as a career and in this session we discuss the backstory which developed his lens...

Leveraging technology originally developed at the University of Guelph for NASA to test the ability to grow life on Mars, Elevate Farms is building some of the worlds most cutting edge vertical farms. We invited the company's CEO and Founder Amin Jadavji to StartWell for this conversation that recounts the company's history and technology plus addresses food shortage problems brought to light by t...

In this session we hear from the founder of Fresh City Farms - a multi-brand grocer/baker/butcher operating 8 locations across Toronto which sprouted from humble beginnings about a decade ago as an urban farming experiment in Downsview Park. Learn more about Ran's company: https://www.freshcityfarms.com/ [expand title="Podcast Transcript (Auto-Generated)"] Qasim Virjee 0:28 All right, welcome back...

In this session we hear from one of Canada's premier experts on global licensing/merchandising and brand/franchise marketing focused on Asia. Jacqueline has spent 2 decades in the children's entertainment space and shares some of her experiences taking the minions to China, bringing the Wiggles to Canada and much much more. Learn more about Jacqueline's company, Playology International: https://ww...

We sat down with the cofounder of Canada's leading publication focused on the emerging North American Cannabis industry. Jay from Business of Cannabis gives us a 101 on how the industry is structured whilst recounting fun anecdotes and an update about being acquired recently by Prohibition Partners from the UK. Links: StartWell Podcasts on the Web: https://magazine.startwell.co/magazine/podcasts/...

In this episode we hear from the founder of Toronto's Astrolab Studios - one of the most popular boutique studios for commercial film and photography located on the Revival Film Studios lot in the city's downtown neighbourhood of Leslieville. Adam found his way into studio ownership from a previous career in Press Relations and has since begun developing is talents behind the decks as a house musi...

Celebrating 10 years in business, Len joins us to recount the foundation story of The Depanneur . His self-described 'interesting place where food things happen' has become one of Toronto's most applauded places to find unique experiences for those who love food, community and adventure. The Dep is where anyone who wants to cook for people can find a kitchen and audience - something which is uniqu...

For this episode, we had the pleasure of sitting down with the cofounders of Ascari - a Toronto based hospitality group that has evolved in the past decade+ from an experimental Izakaya into a portfolio of French/Italian restaurants, bar plus new retail concept. Ascari cofounders Erik Joyal and John Sinopoli have been an innovative tour de force through the pandemic, managing not only to stay aliv...

With so many local small and medium sized businesses facing economic uncertainty in the face of the global pandemic, we thought it timely to get StartWell Member company First Aid Canada Inc on the microphone for this special episode of our podcast. Aaron Wayne is a first aid instructor, lifeguard and VP of Sales at First Aid Canada - an eCommerce vendor that believes 'every person has the capacit...

This special episode is the fifth of 5 talks delivered on stage at StartWell's Event Space on King St W in downtown Toronto on November 28, 2019 for a globally roaming annual series called Dark Futures. This talk was presented by Nikola Danaylov, founder of Singularity Media Inc , and is titled "NeoTechnocracy The Future is Worse than You Think." *Dark Futures is presented by globally renowned Fut...

This special episode is the fourth of 5 talks delivered on stage at StartWell's Event Space on King St W in downtown Toronto on November 28, 2019 for a globally roaming annual series called Dark Futures. This talk was presented by Melissa Eshaghbeigi,( https://www.linkedin.com/in/eshaghbeigi ), a strategist at the Toronto design and experience agency JAM3, and is titled "It's 2039, you're either s...

This special episode is the third of 5 talks delivered on stage at StartWell's Event Space on King St W in downtown Toronto on November 28, 2019 for a globally roaming annual series called Dark Futures. This talk was presented by Calla Lee ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/callalee ) and is titled "Tinder" *Dark Futures is presented by globally renowned Futurist, speaker, researcher, and author Nikola...

This special episode is the second of 5 talks delivered on stage at StartWell's Event Space on King St W in downtown Toronto on November 28, 2019 for a globally roaming annual series called Dark Futures. This talk was presented by Oksana Andreiuk ( https://canadianbiohacker.com/ ) and is titled "You're already a cyborg and it's about to get weirder." *Dark Futures is presented by globally renowned...