The BetaKit Podcast Channel

10 Episodes
Subscribe

By: BetaKit Podcast Network

The BetaKit Podcast Channel features weekly podcasts discussing both Canadian tech and innovation, as well as global tech from a Canadian perspective.

#Budget2024 emergency pod
Last Sunday at 10:00 AM

“The reality is this government cannot execute.”

Sound the alarm! Matt Roberts (CMD Capital) and Ben Bergen (CCI) join for an emergency #Budget2024 podcast to discuss the capital gains tax increase, Minister Freeland’s Friday meeting with tech leaders, and the level to which politics are intersecting with innovation policy.

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP. Osler, the leading law firm for startups, high growth companies and investors in Canada, has released its third annual study of 486 anonymized Canadian venture capital and growth equity financings.


What made you first love tech?
04/13/2024

“I think what we're trying to do here is maybe celebrate and acknowledge all pathways into tech. Whatever sparked the inspiration.”

Co-hosts Rob and Douglas peel back the curtain to reveal the gadgets, media, and moments that inspired their love of tech. Come, witness the retelling of their Immaculate Tech Conceptions while reliving your own on this full-blown nostalgia pod!

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP. Osler, the leading law firm for startups, high growth companies and investors in Canada, has released its third annual study of 486 anonymized Canadian venture capi...


Is Québec Canada’s quantum province?
04/06/2024

“The quantum computer itself, the one that we would classify as sexy … has such a huge disruptive potential that we cannot really comprehend how much of an effect it's going to have.”

Fresh off a $20 million fund close, Quantacet managing partner Martin Laforest joins to discuss quantum tech’s “degrees of sexiness,” its path to commercialization, Québec’s commitment to quantum innovation, and why it’s centred in the city of Sherbrooke.

Presented by Mantle: the Canadian-made, AI-powered equity management solution designed for modern founders and operators. Visit withmantle.com/betakit to get started. 


Can video games teach kids math?
03/29/2024

“I deeply want to solve the challenges in education. I think what we have is a current educational system is really not working.”

Mobius Math Club co-founder Steven Woods (ex-Eloqua, Oracle, and Benevity) explains how video games are actually a great educational tool, and why taking venture capital won’t help him scale.

Presented by Mastercard Canada: watch Mastercard Canada's Darrell MacMullin and BetaKit’s Douglas Soltys explore emerging tech’s impact on the future of financial innovation in a BetaKit Live fireside conversation.


Cory Doctorow’s new tech crime thriller takes us back to the days of Yahoo!
03/23/2024

“The thing that makes noir fiction noir is the detective is presented as an unlicensed cop who goes to the places the cops can’t go and asks the questions the cops can’t ask to solve the crimes the cops can’t solve. But by the end, he is reminded very forcefully that these were in fact places the cops didn’t want to go.”

Canadian journalist and author Cory Doctorow joins to discuss his new tech crime thriller The Bezzle, and how understanding the early Web 2.0 era can show us both where we are and where we’re...


Alexis Gay is (still) the funniest person in tech
03/18/2024

"One of the things that's funniest in tech is the complete and utter lack of self-awareness."

The BetaKit Podcast is off for March Break. If you're anything like us, right now you might need a welcome distraction from the joys of family. Enter comedian and podcaster Alexis Gay, who joins to share her transition from working in tech to creating content that perfectly articulates the absurdities of working in tech.

Sponsored by DiscoveryX Conference—Ontario’s premier innovation event, April 17 & 18. Also sponsored by the Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEIE) Program at Toronto Metropolitan Unive...


Float’s CEO on bridging the spending and software divide
03/10/2024

“The truth is we have a tremendous amount of comfort in the ambiguity of our vision.”

Float CEO and co-founder Rob Khazzam discusses the frustrations Canadian businesses face in managing and executing their finances, the harmful effects of stalled financial innovation, and his company’s atypical approach to product roadmapping.


How to fix SR&ED
03/01/2024

"SR&ED's big. SR&ED matters. But it's also a value statement of where we as a country want to go."

CCI president Ben Bergen walks through the #CDNtech lobbyist group's proposed policy changes for the $4 billion Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit following Finance's recent consultation kick-off (two years after it was promised).


After Ecobee, Stuart Lombard has no regrets
02/24/2024

“There’s a big difference between wanting to be great and being great.”

After a 16-year run leading Ecobee, Stuart Lombard has stepped down as CEO and president of the smart thermostat maker. He joins the BetaKit Podcast to discuss lessons learned, building hardware in Canada, and "becoming the smart home company Nest should have been."

Sponsored by the Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEIE) Program at Toronto Metropolitan University—learn how MEIE can help accelerate your career or bring your startup idea to life.


Koho's CEO on going from challenger bank to actual bank
02/16/2024

"If we had a bank licence today, I'm confident in saying we'd have the highest savings rate in the country."

Koho CEO Daniel Eberhard joins to explain why the FinTech startup decided to pursue a banking licence, why it necessitates splitting the company in two, and the potential benefits for Canadians living in a culturally reinforced oligopoly.