The Hard Part with Evan McCann

Wes Hall , Founder and Chairman of WeShall Investments Inc. , came from humble beginnings in rural Jamaica and was raised by his grandmother. He moved to Canada in 1985. With a $100K bank loan, he transformed his first business into Canada's leading shareholder advisory firm, Kingsdale Advisors . A staunch philanthropist, Wes launched the successful BlackNorth Initiative , combating anti-Black...

Charlie Grinnell is the Co-Founder and CEO of RightMetric . RightMetric is a subscription-based research and insights provider that helps marketers create and refine a digital strategy that is more effective by being informed by evidence. Through their proprietary methodologies, they identify channel, content, and tactical whitespace opportunities using audience and competitor data. Charlie's...

Vino Jeyapalan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kabo and Pack Fresh . Kabo is on a mission to help dogs live a happier and healthier life. We produce the healthiest, fresh dog food delivered right to your doorstep. Pack Fresh is a cold chain third-party logistics (3PL) business with fulfillment across Canada. Their team specializes in handling, storing, and transporting cold/frozen goods to ensure the...

Kevin Kliman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Humi . Humi is Canada’s leading payroll, HR, and benefits platform. Serving thousands of Canadian companies, Humi is the best-in-one people platform that your company will love. ⁠Kevin's Twitter⁠ In this episode, we discuss... Businesses Kevin started in high school, at Brown and in dentistry school His first venture-backed social app Instaradio and th...

Joe Gagliese is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Viral Nation . Viral Nation is a global digital and social innovation group that powers the social ecosystem through integrated solutions that align strategy, talent, media, and technology. Viral Nation works with tens of thousands of influencers across the social landscape and fuels growth for the world's leading brands, including Amazon Prime, The...

Sean Silcoff writes about technology, biotechnology and innovation for the Globe and Mail , Canada's National Newspaper. He is the winner of three National Newspaper Awards and is the co-author of Losing the Signal: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of BlackBerry , which was released in May 2015. Losing the Signal won Canada’s National Business Book Award and was shortlisted for the international...

Jonathan Hershon is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pathway Medical . Pathway is a health tech company working on helping clinicians and patients access important medical information more effectively throughout the care journey. They leverage AI and big data to create a medical knowledge platform and software solutions that drive evidence-based medicine into clinical practice. Jonathan's Twitter Pat...

Bertrand Nembot is the Co-Founder & CEO of Billdr. Billdr is a vertically integrated home renovation marketplace operating in Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago. They facilitate renovation projects by providing turnkey solutions for homeowners supported by a digital back-office platform for general contractors. Their mission is to make home renovation simple, transparent, and efficient for everyon...

Jonathan Becker is the Founder and President of Thrive Digital and a General Partner at Occasional Ventures . Thrive has overseen over $3.5B in paid customer acquisition ad spend since being founded in 2012. They focus on helping companies grow their business through paid customer acquisition campaigns, analytics, creative services, and data science. They have worked with some of the largest compa...

Kevin Stadnyk is the Co-Founder and CEO of Obruta Space Solutions . Obruta Space Solutions is enabling the space economy through reimagined, autonomous, and safe spacecraft docking systems. Obruta's turnkey Docking Kit combines the necessary hardware and software for virtually any spacecraft to perform on-orbit servicing and logistics. In this episode, we discuss Kevin's time at Carleton&#...

Randy Garg is the Founder & Managing Partner of Vistara Growth . Vistara provides highly flexible Growth Debt and Growth Equity financing solutions to mid to later-stage technology companies across North America. Vistara's typical investment size ranges from $10M to $30M per investment for companies that have scaled or are scaling past $10M+ in revenues. In this episode, we discuss his tim...

Chris O'Neill is a technology leader, board member and advisor. His resume is extensive, currently, he is the Chief Growth Officer at Xero , a Board Member at Gap Inc. , a GP and Advisor at Portage and an angel investor. Previously he was Chairman and CEO of Evernote , Managing Director of Google Canada with a stint at Google X (now X), Board Member at Tim Hortons and much more. In this episod...

Scott Stevenson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Spellbook . Spellbook uses GPT-4 and other large language models to review and suggest terms for lawyers' contracts, right in Microsoft Word. In this episode, we discuss Scott co-inventing a new instrument, how to run experiments when building product, how they are converting their waitlist to raving customers, nuances to building a co-pilot product...

Chris Neumann is a Partner at Panache Ventures . Panache Ventures is Canada's most active seed-stage venture capital fund. Panache is led by a team of experienced operators, with a strong angel investor track record, years of institutional VC experience and a strong network in Canada, in Silicon Valley and worldwide. In this episode, we discuss building and selling his first company DataHero,...

Patrick Monnot is the Founder and CEO of Pod . Pod is the ultimate AI copilot for B2B sellers. In this episode, we discuss Patrick's time at Fuel by McKinsey, how Pod competes in a busy sales tech market, what it is like to sell to salespeople, solo versus multi-player user experience, how to have focus when building product and the strategy behind their last raise from Bling Capital and GTM a...

Hamza J Alamtab is the Co-Founder of Tamba . Tamba is a product and digital solutions studio specializing in outstanding user interface & user experience. In this episode, we discuss Hamza's business acquired by Tiny, companies that are AI proof, what makes Victoria's tech community so great, meeting Andrew Huberman which led to the start of his new business Routines and the best advic...

Arsham Ghahramani  is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Ribbon . Ribbon is a professional social platform centred around verified achievements and ownership. They empower managers, leaders, and HR teams to effortlessly and publicly celebrate their team’s work by sending lasting verifiable awards and credentials. In this episode, we discuss his background in machine learning and data during his Ph. D. a...

Ben Yoskovitz is the Founding Partner of Highline Beta . Highline Beta is a hybrid corporate venture studio and VC firm that evolves the traditional management consulting model to put things into action, not just strategize in the clouds. In this episode, we discuss how to participate strategically in the tech ecosystem, what makes Highline Beta unqiue, how large companies should think about innov...

Rami Alhamad is the Founder of PUSH which was acquired by WHOOP in 2021. PUSH was a leader in the wearable sports tech space with a focus on biomechanics and movement analytics. Founded in 2013 with the goal of revolutionizing the way athletes train, PUSH grew to support over 150 professional sports organizations as well as thousands of athletes across the college and high school markets. In this...

Cato Pastoll is the CEO and Co-Founder of Loop . Loop offers tailor-made products including CAD/USD corporate cards, interest-free spending, corporate-level purchasing power, no-fee global payments, accessible growth capital and real US dollar accounts to help businesses grow. In this episode, we discuss the pivot from Lending Loop to Loop today, why word of mouth is one of their fastest growth ch...

Nadia Ladak is the Co-Founder and CEO of Marlow . Marlow is a menstrual health brand that has created the first-ever lubricated tampon. In this episode, we discuss how Marlow originally started as a university project, why there is a stigma in the menstrual health space, their DTC and new retail strategy, how they got 50M+ views on TikTok and their micro-influencer strategy.

Arun Iyengar is the CEO of Untether AI. Untether AI provides ultra-efficient, high-performance AI chips to enable new frontiers in AI applications. In this episode, we discuss why chip companies need to raise close to $400M, what part of the AI market they are targeting, Untether's chips versus GPUs, the cost and importance of manufacturing and the importance of IP remaining in Canada.

Boris Wertz is the Founder and General Partner of Version One Ventures. Version One invests in mission-driven founders at the earliest stages. Founded in 2012 and with $250M+ in AUM across 6 funds, they have backed over 100 start-ups. They invest in SaaS and marketplaces as well as emerging technologies and industries such as crypto/Web3, bio/healthcare, energy/climate, AI and robotics. In this ep...

Jason Silver is a startup trainer and author. In this episode, we discuss what the term startup trainer actually means, his time at Airbnb, decision-making frameworks for individuals and startups and why scaling doesn't mean a startup slows down. Go preorder Jason's book "Quietly Crushing It" at www.quietlycrushingitbook.com or www.qcibook.com and get 40% off.

Ty Wilson is the Co-Founder & CEO of Tab Commerce . Tab is reinventing expense control for the restaurant industry. Tab is building a suite of data-driven products to help restaurant groups maximize profitability, optimize cash flow, and always have complete control over every dollar they spend. In this episode, we discuss Ty's upbringing in the restaurant world, the gap he saw in the rest...