#1. “Canada is a go-for-bronze culture, and that sucks.”
At BetaKit Town Hall in May, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke said Canada suffers from a “go-for-bronze” culture that is often lacking in courage and ambition. At Elevate, Lütke’s colleague and Shopify president Harley Finkelstein put his own spin on Canada’s lack of ambition, dubbing it the “600-pound beaver in the room.”
#2. “I don’t want my legacy to be a failure without any lessons learned.”
In a candid fireside conversation at SAAS NORTH 2024, Marie Chevrier Schwartz told the story of the death of Sampler, which filed for bankruptcy and shuttered over the summer. The new CEO of TechTO told BetaKit editor-in-chief Douglas Soltys that she hopes to serve as a positive example of a founder that survived failure, so that others can rebound faster.
#3. “It’s time for the government to stop taxing ambition.”
The federal government’s decision to increase the inclusion rate on the capital gains tax in its 2024 budget struck a nerve with many in Canada’s tech ecosystem. Benjamin Bergen, president of CCI, was among those accusing the Trudeau government of taxing ambition.
#4. “We are here. We are succeeding. We have succeeded, and we need help to create the flame.”
Indigenous Tech Circle founder Ryan St. Germaine told BetaKit he believes he’s proving the idea that there are no Indigenous people in tech is “bullshit.” St. Germaine has built a community of over 340 Indigenous leaders, founders, and professionals that works to create equitable outcomes for Indigenous people through tech.
#5. “I’m particularly proud of the fact that one of my students fired Sam Altman.”
At a press conference following the news he had won a Nobel Prize for Physics, researcher Geoffrey Hinton, known as one of the ‘godfathers of AI,’ quipped about one of his former students, Ilya Sutskever. The Canadian co-founder of OpenAI and Safe Superintelligence Inc., played a key role in the dramatic (and temporary) firing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
#6. “I think we’re looking for the industry veterans to lean in, be mentors, and show up for us.”
Speaking at the BetaKit Town Hall in May, Jocelyne Murphy, founder of Wygo, identified a lack of mentorship and regular layoffs as damaging to the younger generation of builders. “Although we can be self-reliant, we can be so much stronger if we have the support of existing entrepreneurs,” she added.
#7. “Using Canada as an excuse for why you didn’t get funding, you didn’t get to hire the right person… I think that’s bullshit.”
Speaking on doom-and-gloom narratives in Canadian tech, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein joined Douglas Soltys on The BetaKit Podcast to bust Canadian founders out of the mental traps holding their companies back.
#8. “If we continuously hire the same people who think the same and have the same education, same background, same life experience, they’re probably going to solve problems the same way.”
At SAAS NORTH 2024, April Hicke, co-founder and chief growth officer at talent platform Toast shared leadership lessons with BetaKit editor-in-chief Douglas Soltys. “We can’t change systems unless we’re in the system,” she said when discussing her startup’s mission of increasing gender diversity in tech.
#9. “I feel like there are a lot of entrepreneurs that are not encouraged to think bigger.”
Speaking with BetaKit, Pender Ventures managing partner Maria Pacella warned that an overcorrection toward risk aversion could spell trouble for Canada’s tech startups. In her view, the real danger isn’t in taking risks, it’s in avoiding them altogether.
#10. “We’ve never seen any detriment to building in Canada, if anything, we’ve actually seen a lot of benefits.”
During the Vantage Points panel at BetaKit Town Hall: Vancouver, Jane App co-founder Alison Taylor pushed back on the idea that businesses need to leave Canada to succeed. Taylor also revealed that Jane App had recently reached centaur status, hitting $100-million in ARR.
#11. “Innovation is the key to everything Western society holds dear.”
Christopher Skeete, a former healthcare entrepreneur with six years in government, delivered the earnest line after being named one of the new ministers responsible for innovation in Québec. Skeete stepped into the role following Pierre Fitzgibbon’s resignation as Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy in September.
#12. “I basically decided at that time that I wanted to dedicate my life to solving this problem.”
Diana Virgovicova has made waves (pun intended) this year with her startup, Xatoms, which wants to clean the world’s water with quantum chemistry and AI. After sharing her story with BetaKit earlier this year and later winning a trophy case worth of awards, she dropped by The BetaKit Podcast in November to dig deeper into her startup’s mission, strategy, and vision.
#13. “The cool thing about Collision is most people outside of tech—in fact, almost everyone outside of tech—don’t have a fucking clue as to what’s going on, but they will, because we have three years to wave the flag.”
At a press conference confirming BetaKit’s reporting of a three-year deal to host Web Summit Vancouver, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim shared his excitement, highlighting the city’s openness to business.
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Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Matt Botsford.