Founder Journey | The Untold Stories of the Founder Journey

Welcome to TechTO's Founders Journey Series.

In this series, we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current businesses.

Today’s guest is Avlok Kohli, CEO, AngelList Venture.

Today, Avlok shares his unique tips for Founders, what he recommends for raising in the current market, and all the important lessons he learned throughout his career that helped him launch multiple successful business'.

Connect with Avlok online or on Twitter.

To keep up with content like this and learn about new content that's dropping every week, subscribe to the TechTO Newsletter and get it right to your inbox: www.techto.org/newsletter

Today's episode, we discuss:

(0:00) Introduction to Avlok and his background 

(1:55) Time as a student at University of Waterloo 

(3:32) Early experience working in Canada 

(5:00) The importance of building a Founder network 

(6:54) Venture Funding 

(8:54) Being deliberate with your ideas  

(10:50) Starting Fastbite 

(11:03) Building 

(15:40) Lessons learned from Jack Dorsey 

(16:01) Working at Square 

(21:00) Real scale and what it looks like 

(22:50) Pulling together an Investment Round 

(25:00) Exiting Postmates 

(32:00) AngelList  

(35:00) The current venture market 

(37:00) The future of the market  

(40:00) Raising money in Canada

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to TechTO's Founders Journey Series.

In this series, we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current businesses.

Today’s guest is Mat Goldstein, Co-Founder and CRO of DealMaker.

Today, Mat shares his unique tips for Founders, what he recommends for raising in the current market, and all the important lessons young Founders should take into account when launching their business.

In this episode, we cover:

(0:00) Intro to Mat and DealMaker 

(2:40) What does it take to plan and grow a business 

(5:00) The journey to building DealMaker 

(5:35) Choosing your Co-Founder 

(7:40) How to know when to execute your idea 

(10:20) What was the first step you took when launching DealMaker 

(12:51) Using DealMaker to raise money 

(15:49) The early challenges of building DealMaker 

(25:05) What allowed them to raise 

(27:22) How a company can be successful using DealMaker 

(32:59) What Mat is doing today, and what makes his role unique 

(40:51) Taking a backseat as a Founder

Connect with Mat online or on LinkedIn.

To keep up with content like this and learn about new content that's dropping every week, subscribe to the TechTO Newsletter and get it right to your inbox: www.techto.org/newsletter

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series. 

In this series, we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current businesses. 

Today’s guest is Lloyed Lobo, Founder of Boast.AI and Traction. 

Today, Lloyed shares his unique tips for Founders, how to build communities to empower your business and brand, and all the important lessons young Founders should take into account when launching their business.

Connect with Lloyed online or on LinkedIn. 

To keep up with content like this and learn about new content thats dropping every week, subscribe to the TechTO Newsletter and get it right to your inbox: www.techto.org/newsletter

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series.

In this series we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current business.

Today’s guest is Solon Angel, Founder of Mind Bridge and Managing Partner at Fresh Founders.

Today, Solon shares his unique background, story building Mind Bridge, the evolution of Fresh Founders and why it's benefiting the eco-system. He also shares a few of his best takeaways for those trying to build and scale a successful business. 

Connect with Solon online or on LinkedIn.

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series. 

In this series we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current business. 

Today’s guest is Dan Holowack, Co-Founder and CEO at CrowdRiff. 

Today, Dan shares his story building CrowdRiff, the purpose of the company, the lessons he learned throughout his career and his most inspirational lessons for Founders today. Connect with Dan online or on LinkedIn and learn more about CrowdRiff on their website. 

Want to join the team? Apply here

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series. In this series we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current business. Today’s guest is Malik Yacoubi, Co-Founder and CEO at nesto.

Today, Malik shares his inspiring story building nesto, the lessons he learned throughout his career and his most inspirational lessons for Founders today.

Connect with Malik online or on LinkedIn and learn more about nesto on their website.

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series. In this series we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current business.

Today’s guest is Raj Singh, CEO of Altrio. 

Today, Raj shares his inspiring story building Altrio, the lessons he learned throughout his career and his most inspirational lessons for Founders today. 

Connect with Raj on LinkedIn and learn more about Altrio on their website.

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO 

Welcome to the first season of TechTOgether’s Founder’s Journey series.

In this series we talk with the founders of emerging Canadian tech start-ups, and learn about their journey to building their current business. 

Today’s guest is Ron Benegbi, Founder and CEO of Uplinq. Today, Ron shares his inspiring story as an immigrant to Canada, the lessons he learned throughout hiss career and his most inspirational lessons for Founders today.

Connect with Ron on LinkedIn and learn more about Uplinq on their website.

#FoundersJourney #InspiringStories #TechTO 

On this episode of Founders & Funding, we are joined by Jane Podbelskaya of Information Venture Partners and Nic Beique, Founder at Helcim.

Nic and Jane chat with us about the raising process, how they built a relationship and the necessary steps for both a Founder and VC to find success. 

Helcim provides Canadian & American businesses an opportunity to accept credit card payments at affordable &transparent rates. A wide range of online, ecommerce, cloud-based, mobile & retail payment platforms allowsHelcim to offer a total payments solution. 

Information Venture Partners is a Toronto-based team of experienced venture capital investors focused on supporting the next generation of leaders transforming financial services. Current investments include: Arteria AI, BigID, Cinchy, Coconut Software, Empyrean Solutions, Flybits, FX HedgePool, Helcim, Influitive, Jirav, LendingFront, Lydia.ai, Nue.io, Procurify, Q4 Inc., Strike Graph, and ThoughtExchange. For more information, please visit www.informationvp.com 

Meet the companies that are taking careers to the moon! Joining a category-defining technology start-up can accelerate your career. It does this by increasing your knowledge and skills, providing a strong network and potentially creating enough wealth to start your own company in the future.

Historically, there has been no more than one such company in Canada (e.g. Shopify, Blackberry, Nortel) at any time. With the rapid growth of our ecosystem, there are more potential category-defining start-ups than ever before.

The question is: Which one should you join?

TechTO worked with leading venture capitalists and angels to identify the rocketship companies that have the potential to accelerate your career. Today's episode, we are introduced to Adam and Jessie of Aux Mode. We learn more about their journey, how Aux Mode is innovating, and what it's like to work there. Check out their jobs at www.auxmode.com/careers/