Arlene Dickinson and Amber Mac sever ties with Gander Social

Two big-name advisors have severed ties with Gander Social just one day before the prospective Canadian social media company was set to close its crowdfunding campaign.

On Thursday, entrepreneur, investor, and Dragons’ Den star Arlene Dickinson and entrepreneur and media personality Amber Mac both posted on LinkedIn that they are no longer involved with Gander as advisors, but that they respect the company’s efforts and wish the team well.

“We didn’t think this was going to happen…it’s unfortunate this has gone this way.”
Ben Waldman, Gander

In comments, Mac said that she was “devastated” but that the “decision was made for us.”

“I want nothing more than a better option for Canadians online … but I won’t back something that isn’t capable of meeting this need with total integrity and excellence,” Mac wrote.

Dickinson added that she was “disappointed” in the situation.

“It became clear that my involvement was being treated as an endorsement more than a substantive advisory role. I’m no longer involved in any capacity,” Dickinson wrote.

Gander CEO Ben Waldman told BetaKit in an interview on Friday that he was surprised by Mac and Dickinson’s posts and that he’s not sure how what he saw as an amicable separation became contentious. Waldman had appeared on Mac’s podcast just weeks earlier.

“We didn’t think this was going to happen…it’s unfortunate this has gone this way,” Waldman said.

Advisory role disconnect

Waldman said that the company first began discussions with Dickinson and Mac last May, when Gander was initially targeting $200,000 in investment, mostly from friends and family.

“We were excited to have Amber and Arlene, they’re pillars, stars in Canadian technology and business,” he told BetaKit.

However, Waldman alleged that the pair never reached out to finalize their investment or advisor agreement until a few weeks ago—after the company had raised more than $1.5 million—when they asked for the same terms as last year.

“We couldn’t do that…it wouldn’t be fair to give preferential treatment, and it’s not a good look for a benefit company,” Waldman said. “Part of the thing with coming on as an investor in those early rounds is to take risks and that didn’t happen.”

Waldman added that there may have been a disconnect over what Gander, and Dickinson and Mac, saw as the role of an advisor, explaining that he valued their input but that advisors were not given access to some internal discussions, like access to the earliest stage of beta testing the social app. He also said that neither ever invested in the company.

BetaKit has reached out to Dickinson for additional comment.

In an emailed statement that Mac requested be printed in full, she told BetaKit that “as I mentioned in my departure email to the Gander team, I sincerely wish them the best. As an advisor, I always understood I would see a product at some point, especially since hundreds of beta testers had access, but that never happened. Too much time passed for me to confidently continue in the advisor role without the opportunity to advise. It’s as simple as that.”

On Friday, Gander sent an email to supporters stating that, “as part of our initial fundraising from May to September of last year, two prospective investors did not complete their advisor agreements or investments by the original deadline, or within an extended timeframe.” The email added that Gander “recently offered them the same terms that every other investor had received through the campaign. When an agreement couldn’t be reached, we parted ways.”

Former CBC head joins advisors

Earlier in the week, Gander added former CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait to its advisors. Tait’s mandate at the public broadcaster ended in January 2025; during her tenure, she struck major international partnerships but also faced criticism, including for her public handling of issues like executive pay and layoffs.

Waldman said that he’s aware that Tait is “contentious,” but that she’s also “smart, super creative, and knows news.” He said that Tait has already made key connections for the platform and provided insights on how media publish their content to social platforms.

“We were excited to have Amber and Arlene, they’re pillars, stars in Canadian technology and business.”
Ben Waldman, Gander

For Waldman, the shakeup came at a time he was hoping to be focused on celebration—and next steps. As of Friday, the day the campaign was set to close, Gander had raised more than $1,964,000 (or more than 130 percent of its target fundraising goal) with nearly 2,500 investors. Around $455,000 in investments were still processing. The company’s fundraising was done through FrontFundr, a Toronto-based crowdfunding platform that allows members of the public to crowdsource investing into private companies.

Waldman said Gander began beta testing its app over the holidays, and it’s now continuing to be tested by hundreds of users. “I was in there this morning, chatting with people and commenting,” he said. “There’s still lots of gaps…but [we’re] fixing things as we go and people have been really helpful.” Later on Friday, Waldman shared a first-look video of the app’s feed on LinkedIn.

He said that, heading into March, the plan is to send invites to all 40,000 people on the early-access waitlist, and from there, consider timing for when a full launch might be possible.

Gander is registered as a public benefit company in BC, meaning its mandate is focused on social or environmental benefit, as well as profit. The company is aiming to create a social platform that will be designed, built, and hosted in Canada, on Canadian servers, via decentralized, open-source protocols.

In a recent social post, Waldman had described Gander as “a bit of an odd duck in tech,” that’s not the right fit for traditional venture capital or government programs.

“We’re not willing to follow the usual paths if they mean enshittification,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

CORRECTION (01/30/2026): An earlier version of this story referred to Arlene Dickinson and Amber Mac as Gander Social investors. Neither had ever invested in the business. This story has been updated to reflect that. This story has also been updated with additional details about Gander Social’s beta test, and to indicate that its advisors were not part of a formal advisory board.

Feature photo courtesy of Amber Mac via YouTube and jnasr via Wikimedia.