Flagship Podcast

On this week’s episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Jay Ferst, Managing Partner @ Ferst Capital. Jay is a multiple-times CEO and co-founder of Canada’s leading early stage FinTech VC firm. He’s an internet pioneer having founder his first startup back in 1994. We had an extremely interesting conversation around FinTech, entrepreneurship and strategy.

On this episode, we spoke about:

• The origin story behind Ferst Capital and why Jay decided to move into venture capital
• The current state of FinTech and some of the challenges they are facing
• The three planes of FinTech
• How Jay plans his day / Creation – Decisions and Networking
• Timeless leadership lessons he learned
• How he helps his portfolio think about strategy and focus

I really enjoyed this conversation and learned a ton from Jay. He was very generous with his time; I hope that you enjoy it 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 episode, we had an interesting conversation with Gwenael Le Bodic , CEO of GreenCopper. Full disclosure, GreenCopper is one our customers and I’m an unabashed fan of the work they do.

Greencopper offers innovative technologies for live music (festivals and venues). Gwenaël is an entrepreneur at heart, a maker and has a deep interest in product management activities.

Over 13M music fans used event apps and websites have been powered by Greencopper technologies over the last 12 months. In that same period, fans played over 20M in-app streams from Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music and Soundcloud services.

GreenCopper was recently named as of the most innovative companies in FastCompany (!). This is huge for the team as well as the Montreal market.

On the show, we spoke about:

• The origin story of GreenCopper
• How they have created a model for sponsorships that really takes advantage of technology
• The recognition of FastCompany
• How Gwenaël uses agile at the management level as well as product development phase
• The key trends in mobile & gaming that he’s keeping a close eye on
• Their project on fm

Gwenaël is a true technical founder with a great vision. The opportunities ahead of them are quite exciting and we went deep on their business model. I hope that you find the conversation interesting.

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 episode, we spoke with Marc Poirier, CEO of Acquisio. Marc founded Acquisio over 14 years ago. They started as a digital marketing agency and quickly transitioned to a technology firm. Acquisio has raised over $30M in funding and is widely recognized as one of the leading performance media management platforms globally. I’ve known Marc for many years and I’m a former customer of their platform. His company is one of the true innovators in the space.

On this episode, we spoke about:

• The origin story of Acquisio
• Why Marc raised funding and its importance to the business
• The new product they have launched aiming to help small businesses
• The tech trends he’s keeping his eye on namely machine learning
• Montreal as an hub for artificial intelligence

We had a wide-ranging conversation about his company, his entrepreneurial journey and the impact machine learning is having on the industry. 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 today’s show, we had the pleasure of speaking with Julien Brault , CEO @ HardBacon.

Julien is a former book publisher, turned social media strategist, turned biz/tech journalist, turned fintech marketer and finally turned fintech entrepreneur at Hardbacon. As a business reporter at Les Affaires, he learned how to popularize his passions, technology and money, to a wider audience. Now, at Hardbacon, he wants to bring about more transparency in the financial industry and help everyone to invest, not matter how much money they have.

On this episode, we spoke about:

• What led him to start HardBacon
• His challenges as an entrepreneur
• What he’s keeping an eye on in the FinTech world
• HardBacon’s business model and potential opportunities
• His marketing tactics

I’ve known Julien for a few years when he was at Les Affaires. He’s insanely curious and always learning. It’s been fun watching HardBacon grow – he’s just getting started.

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 today’s show, we had the pleasure of speaking with Elizabeth Stefanka, founder & CEO of Stefanka Tech.

Elizabeth Stefanka is the founder and president of StefankaTech , a company that designs interactive clothing recommendations solutions for retailers and manufacturers. The “Défi Osentreprendre” has praised her company as having one of the most promising business models.

Listed among the 30 under 30 of Infopresse, the 25 leaders of Québec inc. of tomorrow by the Journal des Affaires, La Presse has also recognized her as being among an innovative entrepreneur.    

On the show, we spoke about:

• Elizabeth’s interest in the fashion industry
• How her company is looking to help retailers with technology and provide more value to customers
• The value of CES for her company
• Plans for financing
• Expansion across North America

Elizabeth is a true entrepreneur with a bold mission. 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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JD St-Martin the Co-CEO of Chronogolf, a VC-backed company that provides innovative cloud based software and marketing solutions to hundreds of golf courses worldwide. Prior to founding Chronogolf, he gained 5 years of experience as an investment professional in the venture capital and private equity industry at Teralys Capital and GE Equity. He holds an MSc in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and a BComm from the University of Ottawa.

We had an interesting conversation about his company and the many exciting growth opportunities. I’m a bit biased, I’m super bullish on JD and the team. On this show, we spoke about:

• The origin story of ChronoGolf
• His biggest insights as startup CEO
• Focusing on product vs. sales
• How JD prioritizes the company’s opportunities as well as his own goals
• The venture capital space in Quebec and his involvement with Anges Québec
• Learn more about ChronoGolf here

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 us your thoughts at [email protected]

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On this week’s show, we spoke with Dakota Smith, head of growth @ Hopper.

Dakota has worked for Hopper as chief editor, user acquisition lead and now, in his current role, as head of growth for close to four years.

Hopper is among the fastest growing travel apps ever, with over 10 million installs since it was launched in 2015. Hopper is the hottest startup in the travel space right now having just raised a massive $82M round led by the CPDQ.

Dakota is one of the smartest marketers I know with some of the best mobile marketing I’ve ever seen. On this show, we spoke about:

• Hopper’s unique business model
• Key metrics they focus on
• Dakota’s challenges in scaling the team
• Where they are going to invest moving forward
• The future product roadmap (hint: really cool new features that no one is doing)

If you are interested in travel, marketing or startups, check out the episode to learn about Hopper’s unique path to growth.

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On this week’s episode, we spoke with Vincent-Charles Hodder, CEO of Local Logic.

Vincent has a background in Finance and Urban planning. During his Masters, he specialized in analyzing the Real Estate sector. This allowed him to work for the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal where he developed financial and socio-economic analysis for different development projects. At Local Logic, he defines the vision for the business and business development as well as manages investor and partner relationships.

On the show, we spoke about

• How Local Logic is tackling the massive local market in the urban space
• Local Logic’s market potential and potential partnerships
• Vincent’s current priorities and challenges in scaling the company
• The rapid innovation occurring in the real-estate & travel sectors based on smart data.

Vincent is an upcoming entrepreneur with backing from iNovia Capital, Interaction Ventures and YPG. I’m definitely keeping an eye on his company. I hope that you learn about their space during this conversation.

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On this week’s show, we had the pleasure of speaking with Jean-Nicolas Guillemette

General Manager @ Uber Montreal. After studying in China and graduating from HEC Montreal with honours, Jean-Nicolas joined the consulting firm Secor in 2007. He then completed his MBA at INSEAD and went on to co-found, in 2010, his own company TransacXion, a fintech company.

In 2013, Jean-Nicolas joined Uber and launched the Montreal market as General Manager. Since its launch over three years ago, Uber Québec has experienced exceptional growth, with hundreds of thousands of active riders and drivers connecting for ridesharing services.

• Uber’s challenges in the Montreal market
• His current priorities in growing the local market
• What key metrics he looks at on regular basis
• The challenges of a marketplace business
• What he’s excited about in the company’s future

Needless to say that Uber is one of the world’s most innovative companies and this conversation was a real pleasure. Jean-Nicolas is a driven entrepreneur bent on succeeding in this market. I really enjoyed learning about how he’s running the business. I hope that you do the same.

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This week, our guest is Jean-François Martin, head of products @ Mnubo. Jean-François is an expert in the world of IOT (and artificial intelligence to boot).

He’ s an experienced executive with a passion for product management, client strategy & agile software development. He’s held leadership roles in all steps of the technology life cycle. Mnubo is a super hot start up right now providing a new level of analytics in consumer and industrial IOT.

On the show, we spoke about:

• What is Mnubo and how they are tackling the fast paced internet of things space
• Are we at the top of the hype cycle in IOT?
• The company’s biggest challenges (hint: it’s about timing)
• How Jean-Francois and his team are creating new business models for their customers

The conversation gets a bit technical but hang in there, you will learn quite a bit about the IOT space as I did.

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