Flagship Podcast

On this week’s show, we spoke with Andy Kulakowski, President and CEO @ Fresche Solutions. Andy recently celebrated his 30th year at Fresche. Over the years, he has held a series of senior positions in customer service and call center management, including Vice President of Customer Support and Product Services, and Chief Operating Officer.

As President/CEO, Andy spends his time setting corporate goals, maintaining Fresche’s global leadership position in IBM i modernization and management and maximizing the company’s shareholder value. Andy achieves his goals by establishing a clear strategic direction and a solid and original corporate vision.

He also finds pride in building an all-star management team, cultivating a strong company culture, and he constantly strives to build a thriving work environment. When he’s not working hard at Fresche, he’s working hard on his extraordinary, yet fictional, NHL career.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How Andy got interested in IT
• The insight that kept him and propelled his career for over 40 years
• What factors he takes into account when building a strategy
• How he looks at culture at Fresche
• His thoughts on the RedHat acquisition by IBM
• The importance of keeping businesses in Canada

 

Andy is a true gentleman. I’ve learned a lot from him and I hope that you’ll enjoy the conversation.

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Carlos Pacheco, CMO @ Truly Social. Carlos has worked in media buying & strategy for 14 years across many local, national and international brands. He moved away from agencies to learn about content and the world of media production and content distribution. During those years, he was able to get a larger view of the world of media, how it’s created, sold, monetized and consumed. His experience has helped him understand the world of online audiences, how to build organic digital audience growth using search engine optimization and social content strategy.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How he got started in the digital marketing space
• How he helped Just For Laughs explode their presence on YouTube
• Creating content for the social era
• The power of podcasts as a medium
• The social platform wars
• Carlos on Twitter

 

Carlos is a good friend and I’m glad that he took the time to chat with me. If you are interested in media and marketing, please check out our conversation!

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with David Nault, General Partner @ Luge Capital. David has been building early stage technology companies as an investor, founder or senior member of the executive team for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Luge Capital, David was an investor with iNovia Capital, a leading North American venture capital fund. Before becoming a VC, David was president of Callio Technologies, an information security compliance software provider, whose intellectual property was acquired in 2009. Prior to running Callio, he managed business development and partnerships at Pivotal Payments, Canada’s largest privately owned payment processor, which he helped grow from startup to over 60,000 customers, 400 employees and $8 billion in transaction volume.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How he went from being an entrepreneur to a venture capitalist
• What he learned by being on both sides of the table
• How the VC industry has evolved since he joined
• The challenges in launching a new fund
• The future of Fintech

 

I’m glad that David accepted to return on the show as a guest. His reputation is above reproach. I’m glad that he took the time. I hope that you enjoy the show!

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Simon Ferragne, CEO & Founder @ Tracktik.

With over 13 years in the software development and engineering realm, Simon has solidified his position as a visionary entrepreneur with an energetic passion in delivering technology based solutions that have helped organizations in separate vertical markets, to become more efficient and competitive. His passion and determination has lead him to found Staffr where, as the lead developer and President, he has singlehandedly created a technology based company which focuses on developing industry disrupting solutions such as TrackTik, a security workforce management software. His vision has led to remarkable and rapid successes respectively. Simon has always felt that we live in an exciting technology era where anything is possible. His creations are a testament to that philosophy and they are continuously defining tomorrow’s trends today.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How he got interested in technology
• The importance of solving real world problems
• The concept of artistic innovation
• Focusing on the right things and not on sales
• His evolution as a CEO
• Why he’s excited for the future of Tracktik
• How Simon is thinking about using AI

 

Simon is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word. I learned a great deal from our conversation. I hope that you do as well!

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Helge Seetzen, CEO @ TandemLaunch. Helge is an award-winning technologist, entrepreneur, and recognized global authority on technology transfer and display technologies. As General Partner of TandemLaunch, he works with inventors and entrepreneurs to build high growth technology companies. His past successes include the transformation of raw university IP into fully commercialized LED TV technology, including selling his last company – Brightside Technologies – to Dolby Laboratories after sealing partnerships with several of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world. Helge holds over 60 patents in the fields of display, camera and video technology.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How he launched his first companies
• Falling in love with building new technology
• The opportunity he saw in academic research and tech startups
• The importance of a feedback loop for a management team
• Making decisions with a dynamic range
• Which technologies he’s keeping his eye on

 

Helge is truly building companies that are shaping the future. I was humbled and fascinated by Helge’s background and startup incubator. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Stéphane Bousquet, Senior Manager, Digital Channels @ National Bank. Over the past 20 years, Stéphane has been a leading player in the Canadian digital landscape. He has had the privilege of actively contributing to the development, marketing and outreach of many innovative digital products that are part of the daily lives of millions of people. These experiences in the competitive of traditional and digital media markets have allowed him to acquire valuable strategist and managerial skills in very different environments.

 

On the show, we spoke about:

• How he got started in the tech industry in the late 90s
• How he thinks about digital transformation
• Getting out of your comfort zone and why it’s important
• Hearing the voice of the customer
• The importance of interoperability

 

Stéphane is a classic intrapreneur helping to enable strategic change in a corporate environment. I hope that you enjoy the episode!

 

Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at [email protected]

 

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Mark Maclean, Senior Director @ Montréal International. Mark is the Senior Director of Business Development for the West Coast, Latin America and Entrepreneurship at Montréal International. His role is to promote the Montréal business environment to foreign companies, supporting their set up or expansion in Greater Montréal

On this week’s show, we spoke with Samuel Poirier, CEO @ Seahub.

Samuel F. Poirier is the first French Canadian to be named a Thiel Fellow. Samuel founded his first company when he was 14, where he would import minerals from several countries to Montreal. At 18, Poirier founded the first debit card for Bitcoin. He now leads Seahub, which is an OTA helping consumers book cruises online.

On this week’s show, we spoke with Isaac Souweine, Partner @ Real Ventures. Isaac invests in early-stage, Montreal-based companies as part of Real’s Orbit strategy. He is also GM of FounderFuel, Real’s accelerator, and is the partner lead for Front Row Ventures, Real’s student fund.

On this week’s show, we spoke with Richard Cohene, CMO @ Dynamite Group. Richard Cohene is an accomplished consumer marketer with over 13 years experience in both e-commerce and brick and mortar retail, specializing in fashion and consumer goods. At Beyond the Rack he has been responsible for the Marketing department (and growing its database from 50K to 15.5 million members.