CIBC Innovation Banking Podcast

As Executive Vice President and Chief Security Officer at CIBC, Keith Gordon has been on the receiving end of an untold number of pitches from startups. In this episode, we discuss how to get a foot in the door, the elements that go into a great pitch, and what to do once you’ve secured a meeting with a prospective client. We explore the reasons why an effective pitch can turn a client into an eva...

Katherine Regnier is the CEO and founder of Coconut Software, a customer engagement platform for financial institutions. She launched the company in 2011 after recognizing the need for improved scheduling software while struggling to book a massage appointment. Since then, Katherine has led the company through venture capital funding, strategic partnerships, and the rapid growth that makes it the...

Michelle McBane is the Managing Director at Standup Ventures, a seed-stage fund investing in women led Canadian technology startups. On this episode, we discuss where Canadian VC dollars went in 2020, how COVID-19 affected the industry, and how VC funds like StandUp Ventures are leading the way by investing in the next generation of women entrepreneurs.   Solving the gender gap in technology   Alt...

Carter Griffin is the general partner at Updata Partners, a company using key metrics to help SaaS companies scale their businesses exponentially using a predetermined framework. This is a framework that Carter and Updata have honed after years as technology entrepreneurs and investors. It’s based on analyzing specific metrics that help you better understand the ROI on certain expenditures, the co...

The global food supply chain is the world’s largest and most interconnected market and the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly proven that the weakest links in this supply chain are only magnified by complex economic and political issues. When we’re talking about something as paramount as access and affordability of food, some of the numbers are staggering. In this episode we speak with Dr. Sylvain Char...

Armen Bakirtzian is co-founder and CEO of Intellijoint Surgical, a company striving to improve orthopedic patient care through technology. He is an engineer, and the son of an orthopedic surgeon which he says armed him with the knowledge of the need in this industry that led him to launch and grow Intellijoint. On this episode, we learn the origin story of this cutting edge med tech company and ho...

Naomi Goldapple heads up AlayaLabs for AlayaCare, a company on the cutting edge of digitally transforming home care. When the pandemic hit, they, like so many others, had to make a rapid shift and innovate through crisis, developing products and digital methodologies to enable home care that was safe and effective for patients, families and home nurses alike. We learn how AlayaCare is revolutioniz...

Before the global pandemic, online testing company ProctorU was already a success story. But once it became evident classrooms wouldn't be hosting student exams any time soon, founder and Chief Strategy Officer Jarrod Morgan saw almost a decade's worth of growth in a few months. That doesn't mean Morgan could afford to sit back and wait for the phone to ring. He tells the CIBC Innovation Banking P...

Jack of all trades, Master of none Years after coding a restaurant employee scheduling system for his father’s chain of sandwich stores, 7shifts founder Jordan Boesch had branched out into retail and other scheduling-heavy industries. “They told us it was good. It wasn’t great,” he laments. His solution? Get back to his roots. Close a door, open a window After Boesch had closed the door on 2 out o...

Say “Yes, and…” When Expensify CEO David Barrett pitched his big idea, it was flatly rejected. But when investors and potential customers told him a throw-away idea was insanely great, he didn’t fight back. Today the expense management company is one of the world’s most successful players in the Innovation Economy today and all because Barrett said “yes, and...” Setting Up Shop Barrett chose to se...

Host Michael Hainsworth shares insights from innovation economy entrepreneurs on how to grow a business during a pandemic. CIBC Innovation Banking is a trusted financial partner to entrepreneurs and investors. Get in touch with our team at cibc.com/innovationbanking .  

Listen in to our newest podcast where entrepreneurs and small businesses will learn the secrets to success, including how to build a minimal viable product, pivot a company’s target clientele, and scale-up to a global level. CIBC Innovation Banking is a trusted financial partner to entrepreneurs and investors. Get in touch with our team at cibc.com/innovationbanking . 

Cleantech Superhero Mild mannered CEO Ed Quilty has used data analytics to save a village in Malaysia from flooding. He monitors the water quality for the world’s biggest economy, and he provides technical services to clients as far away as Afghanistan. But it all started with an internship posting in British Columbia that he didn’t want in the first place. Foot in the Door, Feet on the World Stag...

Building the Next Generation Construction Industry from the Ground Up Lauren Lake grew up on her father’s construction sites. By the time she entered a university entrepreneur accelerator program, other industries had adopted the latest in technology like wireless Internet access and iPads. Her father’s business hadn’t changed much at all. Lake teamed up with other child of the hard-hat economy to...

Ganesh Padmanabhan attributes his laid-back attitude to his childhood growing up in southern India. But don’t confuse the contemplative serial entrepreneur's approach with complacency. He's advising start-ups renegotiate the definition of success. That conversation requires participants from all levels of the company: from its investors to its employees to the customers you're trying to reach. Ref...

Take a step back to reassess, and adapt. Prior to the global pandemic, adoption rates for telehealth were relatively low, but as Ginger CEO Russell Glass explains - that quickly changed. Find out how AI is helping Ginger personalize healthcare and make it more efficient over time.  CIBC Innovation Banking is a trusted financial partner to entrepreneurs and investors. Get in touch with our team at...

Canadian venture capital investment reached impressive new heights in 2019 with a record $6.2B invested over 539 deals. And while that was 69% more than the $3.7B invested the year before, no one is expecting a repeat in 2020. As we see the first half of the year fade into the rear view mirror, what does investment growth look like to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association? CE...

More than a decade ago, the startup world was rocked by the worst recession in a generation. Venture capitalist Rob Antoniades of Information VP believes things are very different this time. In 2020, COVID-19 presented an external shock to the system, forcing consumers to retreat. That has Antoniades convinced things are different this time around, and entrepreneurs managing startups are more like...

Tony van Marken knows what it takes to climb a financial mountain, so how are successful start-ups managing under COVID-19 and the disruption it's causing? The managing partner of venture capital firm First Ascent Ventures explains why not all technology companies are suffering - especially when they demonstrate innovation - why enterprise-oriented firms aren’t immune, and how they can adapt to th...