A New Wave of Entrepreneurship

Matt Golden, Founder and Managing Partner of Golden Ventures sits down with Scott Stirrett to discuss how he became an early seed-stage venture capital funder, the importance of investing in businesses like SkiptheDishes, WattPad, and Clearco, and the climate of remote-work. Scott also gets the chance to dig in a little deeper into the talent wars taking place in the startup, entrepreneurial ecosy...

Heather Payne, Founder of Juno College of Technology sits down with Scott Stirrett to discuss becoming a manager at McDonalds, differentiation between income shares and tuition fees and the importance of following up on job application when applying to your dream job. Scott also gets the chance to dig deep into some of the struggles Heather faced when launching her non-profit, so listen closely be...

Marsha Druker, Founder and Director of Toronto’s Fuck Up Nights; and Scott Stirrett, CEO and Founder of Venture for Canada, come together to talk about all things online community. How do you create a strong online community presence? What are the many challenges small businesses and nonprofits faced when transitioning into virtual space? In this episode, both Scott and Marsha pick each other's br...

Lekan Olawoye, Founder of Black Professionals in Tech Network, joins our host in Episode 06 of Season 3. In this episode, we get to pick the brain of Lekan and understand the many ways you can become a tri-sector leader in the non-profit sector. He also shares his journey on founding BPTN, defining and explaining the importance of DEI in the workplace, and what ‘allyship’ really means in the midst...

Danièle Henkel, current Présidente of Les Entreprises Daniele Henkel Inc, joins our host in Episode 05 of Season 3. How did Danièle’s transition from Algeria to Canada teach her about a solutions mindset? How did she pivot her career after struggling to find jobs in Canada? What skills does it take to fight fear head-on? If you’re interested in learning how to persevere through any setback you fac...

Val Walker, CEO at Business at Business & Higher Education, joins our host on Episode 04 of Season 3. How do we better train young Canadians for a rapidly changing economy? Val walks us through her role and position at BHER, the skill sets that employers in the startups are looking for when hiring undergraduates, and best practices for work-integrated learning programs. Find out more on Episod...

Boris Wertz, CEO and Chief Operating Officer of AbeBooks.com joins our host on Episode 03 of Season 3. What makes a compelling story? How do you win over investors? Boris Werts walks us through why it’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur and investor, the demand for venture capital becoming more important as newer innovations arise, and how the school can sometimes be a place where you’re conn...

Desiree Bombenon, CEO and Chief Disruption Officer at SureCall Contact Centres joins our host on Episode 02 of Season 3. How does one make their company a certified b-corporation? How do companies ensure their employees stay loyal to them? And what are some ways to cultivate a positive work environment? If you’re interested in getting all those questions above answered, and understand how leveragi...

In Episode 01 of Season 3, Scott Stirrett sits down with Daniel Debow, VP, Product of Shopify, and a tremendous supporter of Venture for Canada. Daniel guides us through how he acquired and learned the skill of understanding both sides of an argument, and how this is a crucial mindset for entrepreneurs. The importance of making decisions that are best for you when starting a business, and not rely...

You bring the idea, he invests in it. Charlie Feng, co-founder of Clearco, a fintech firm that has invested over $1B across 3,000 companies. When Charlie isn't busy playing video games, he's helping companies, scale teams, from 0 to 250 people, and has considerable experience in product, operations, and finance. In Episode 11, Season 02, Charlie talks about finding the right Founder fit, and what...

In Episode 10, Season 2, we sit down with Brittanny Danishevsky (2017 Fellow), Backend Software Engineer at Synctera, and a lover of all things self-awareness and learning. Brittany gets real with us about her personal journey in finding her ideal degree. From dealing with bias in the tech world to using her love for the mind, Brittany offers her advice on investing in an environment that influenc...

You bring the idea, he executes. Sam Daviau, 2019 Fellow, worked his way up over 5 years, recently leaving his role of VP of Operations after growing the Operations and People Team. He’s Chair of Alumni Council, Board Member and advisor of Lay-Up Basketball, and advisor and investor to small startups. In Episode 09, Season 02, Sam talks about bringing passion to the execution and organizational op...

In Episode 08 of Season 02, we sit down with Shivani Chotalia, 2015 Fellow Alumni, and an energy storage professional focused on the intersection of clean technologies and social impact. Shivani spends her time focusing on accelerating the development and construction of industry-leading energy storage technologies as the Director of Development & Partnerships at NRStor Inc. She spills the bea...

In Episode 07 of Season 02, we sit down with Nico DiPlacido, and we get the ins-and-outs of what it’s like to be a Senior Product Manager at PartnerStack and we get down to the nitty-gritty. Nico takes us on his personal journey of unlearning what it’s like to be a product manager, and how to be a better problem solver. In order to lead by example, Nico suggests that managers need to show up as an...

Passionate about justice and inclusion, 2017 VFC Fellow, Founder & CEO of Emerge, impact-as-a-service solutions, Lucia Gallardo juggles her time between squeezing in her daily nap, knowing all things Bitcoin, NFTs, SDGs, and blockchain whilst fostering inclusion through technology. In Episode 06, Season 02, Lucia walks through her experience in working at the National Angel Investor Network an...

In Episode 03 of Season 02, we sit down with Stewart Hillhouse, 2017 Fellow, a content marketer and podcast-showrunner with a passion for storytelling and who can run a 5km race under 4:15 per kilometer. A Senior Content Lead at Demand Curve by day and host of Top of Mind podcast by night.  How does a Bachelor of Science in Forestry grad with a master of Engineering and Entrepreneurship end u...

In episode 04 of season 02, we sit down with Natasha Dhayagude, 2015 Fellow, CEO, and Co-Founder of Chinova Bioworks, and we get👏🏼 into 👏🏼 it.👏🏼 ⁠⁠ A biochemist and entrepreneur, Natasha built a company that develops natural preservatives extracted from mushrooms for use in food and beverages. She gets real about what it’s been like for her to be a woman of colour in a male-dominated space (...

In episode 03 of season 02, we sit down with Zameer Masjedee, 2018 Fellow, and the man who’s trying to revolutionize podcasts and redesign commerce. Zameer is a Sr. Solutions Engineer at Shopify by day, and the Co-Founder of LISN, a platform helping to organize and highlight the best clips from a podcast by night. He gets real about having tough conversations about goals with your team, the unexpe...

In Episode 02 of Season 02, we sit down with Susie Pan all the way from New Zealand. A leader of many talents, a product manager, a scout, a coach and currently an On Deck Fellow, Susie chats about shifting one’s mindset and gifts us her newfound equation to joy. Understanding why rules exist, discovering her gift of being curious, and the importance of constantly redefining her “normal” has opene...

In Episode 01 of Season 2, we sit down with Kelsey Burdett (2016 Fellow), a lover of everything digital, dot-connector, podcaster, and she talks about the importance of supporting entrepreneurs. From transferring her journalism and reporting basketball games background to sales at Shopify to being a Senior Partnerships Manager at #Paid, Kelsey helps brands receive funding from incubators like Clea...

Scott Stirrett, Founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, chats with Lateefa Farah, Marketing and Content Coordinator at VFC, about the key lessons from Season 1 of A New Wave of Entrepreneurship. In the seven episodes, Scott spoke to ambitious leaders from the VFC Alumni community about their career trajectories and aspirations. Common themes like dealing with failure, the importance of mentorship,...

Josh MacIntyre, 2015 Fellow Alumni & Head of Revenue Operations at Grammarly, which provides digital writing assistance tools, sits down with Scott to discuss how Canadian Tire helped him direct his career impact and provided career clarity. Going back and forth between business school and work, Josh was able to gain a clearer understanding of the type of management role he wanted to step into...

Chris Grouchy, 2016 Fellow Alumni & Co-Founder of Convictional, 2.2M seed round enterprise B2C YC graduate company, talks to Scott about how a twice-rejection from Mckinsey sparked his founding journey. Mastering sales as a rep at Shopify Plus and an internship at Cisco unblocked the conventional possibilities that were traditionally encouraged in the world of commerce and business grads. From...

Is what it takes to thrive at a startup the same as building a startup? A thick skin, persuasion, and accepting failure are key characteristics for Micha in her journey as a strategist at Fiix and Careguide in Toronto and now as the COO and Co-Founder at Namstetics. Micha Saade, 2017 VFC Fellow, talks about her early career in sales and marketing at start-ups and gives us tips about how we can hav...

When it comes to customer feedback and satisfaction, the people you hear from are the typically loudest. Are they the ones you should listen to? Ben Winn, Community and Events Manager at Catalyst Software, Editor and Chief at the Unicornian and 2016 Fellow Alumni, shares his insights on why having an open space for feedback is essential for startups to thrive. He gives us the ins-and-outs of Custo...