Flagship Podcast

Zaid Al Hamami built Immunio in the early 2010s, sold it to Trend Micro, and is now back at it with Boost Security. He joins Nectar to talk about what changes when you build a cybersecurity company twice, fifteen years apart. The conversation traces Zaid's path from coding as a kid in Jordan to running product at Canonical, founding Immunio and navigating the RASP category consolidation, and the m...

Zaid Al Hamami built Immunio in the early 2010s, sold it to Trend Micro, and is now back at it with Boost Security. He joins Nectar to talk about what changes when you build a cybersecurity company twice, fifteen years apart. The conversation traces Zaid's path from coding as a kid in Jordan to running product at Canonical, founding Immunio and navigating the RASP category consolidation, and the m...

Bachar Elzein knew at 13 he wanted to build rockets. Twenty-five years later, he's the founder & CEO of Reaction Dynamics — the Montreal-based company building Canada's first orbital launch capability. In this episode, Bachar breaks down the hybrid propulsion breakthrough that makes RDX's rockets cheaper, safer, and deployable from virtually anywhere — including the back of a truck. We talk about...

Two years after first appearing on the Flagship Podcast, Nectar, Fred, and Dom reunite for a long-overdue conversation: Amiral Ventures has officially closed Fund 1. In this candid episode, the three partners trace the origins of the fund: how Fred's entrepreneurial journey (including co-developing LTE at Nortel and a successful Series A & B raise at Mnubo) first brought him together with Dom, a v...

Today I'm joined by Anthony, co-founder of General Magic and one of the most exciting young builders coming out of the Canadian AI ecosystem. We talk about his journey from building robots as a kid to launching startups while still in university, what he learned from failing his first company, and how General Magic is rethinking the way humans interact with software using natural language. We also...

In this episode of the Flagship Podcast, we sit down with Tyler Reid, co-founder and CEO of Xona Space, to explore the future of satellite navigation and why GPS as we know it is no longer enough. Tyler shares his journey from space-obsessed kid to Stanford researcher to venture-backed space founder, and explains how Zona is building a next-generation positioning system designed for centimeter-lev...

What does it really take to build a unicorn-scale company from Canada? At North Star, the Unicorn Panel brings together founders behind global tech leaders to talk candidly about ambition, scaling, capital, leadership, near-death moments, and the realities behind the highlight reel. Moderated by Sophie Boulanger, this conversation goes beyond success stories and digs into the hard decisions: when...

Two of Montreal's most iconic tech founders — Dax Dasilva (Lightspeed) and Fred Lalonde (Hopper & Deep Sky) — sit down for a rare and candid fireside conversation on building global companies from Canada, surviving the founder rollercoaster, and using technology and capitalism to tackle world-scale problems. From bootstrapping and product-market fit, to IPOs, hypergrowth, culture, leadership, and...

At North Star, we brought together top founders and emerging entrepreneurs for a candid panel on what it really takes to build in today's tech ecosystem — from first traction to scale, hard lessons, and unfair advantages. In this session, the panel shares practical insights on: How to get your first real customers Mistakes founders make early (and how to avoid them) Fundraising vs. bootstrapping d...

This is the North Star Pre-Show — recorded live as a Tech Poutine podcast session — where founders, investors, and ecosystem builders warm up the room before the main event with unscripted startup talk, real operator stories, and behind-the-scenes insights. This pre-show segment sets the stage for an exciting day filled with inspiration and insight from a dynamic lineup of entrepreneurs. Reflectin...

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 any tech cycle before it, and Canada has a once-in...

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 state of Canadian tech, the intricacies of venture cap...

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. Étienne opened up about the lessons he learned along th...

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 platform streamlines complex RFP responses, making the...

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, particularly in AI and cybersecurity, and share...

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 Rozvelt, a revolutionary product aimed at filtering...

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 biomedical data sources to enable quicker, data-driven...

Amy discusses her pioneering work at Vopemed, a health tech company developing AI software to enhance visualization during minimally invasive surgeries. Amy explains the challenges surgeons face with traditional endoscopic cameras and how Vopemed's software addresses these issues by providing real-time enhanced image feeds. The conversation explores the company's first market focus on laparoscopic...

In this episode, we spoke with Lisen Kaci, the founder behind Discrepancy AI. Lisen talks about his journey from working as an AI engineer in document processing to founding his startup based in Toronto. He identifies key industry limitations with legacy OCR technologies and explains how Discrepancy AI is leveraging AI tool-chaining to convert any document into actionable structured data.  Their i...

In this episode, I spoke with  Gennady Pekhimenko, CEO & Co-Founder @ CentML - an AI company focused on optimization and efficiency. He successfully transitioned from academia to building one of Canada's leading AI companies. We discuss his background, starting with his educational background in computer science and his research at the University of Toronto and Carnegie Mellon University. Gennady...

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the recent Reseau Capital Annual summit on the topic branding for investment firms.  My job was pretty easy, I got the chance to listen to the brilliant Whitney Rockley from McRock Capital, Amélie Foz-Couture from Diagram Ventures and Clement Bourgogne from Jolt Capital. They share some unique insights on grassroots marketing, relationship based messagin...

Dans cet épisode, nous découvrons l'histoire de Ferréol Technologies, une entreprise québécoise fondée en 2018-2019 par trois passionnés de ski et ingénieurs mécaniques de l'Université Laval. Nous apprenons comment Félix, Jonathan, et Étienne ont utilisé leurs compétences complémentaires pour créer des skis adaptés aux conditions de ski variées du Québec, tout en ayant une empreinte écologique réd...

In this episode, Patrick Murphy, CEO& co-founder of the startup Maket, shares his vision of democratizing architectural design and planning.   Inspired by Canva's transformation of graphic design, Maket aims to simplify and accelerate the architectural process using generative AI. Starting with residential design, the platform seeks to compress timelines and cut costs, providing both consumers and...

Joël discusses the inception and development of BioIntelligence which is focused on real-time data monitoring in industrial biotechnology. His journey began with a background in chemical engineering and years of experience in developing bioprocesses.  Frustrated by the lack of real-time information in fermentation processes, Joël's team at the University of Sherbrooke developed a revolutionary opt...

Un nouvel épisode dans la série des startups de Québec  On a parlé avec Francis Robichaud, Co-fondateur et PDG @ Lime Santé.    Francis discute de son parcours d'intégration de la technologie dans le système de santé pour améliorer l'expérience des patients et l'efficacité du système. En tant qu'ingénieur passionné par les soins de santé, Francis exploite les données et les commentaires des patien...