High Octane Friends

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This episode of High Octane Friends is our most important one yet.  Trevor & Rob host special guest John Ruffolo, the distinguished founding partner of venture capital firm Maverix Private Equity in Toronto, Canada.  Together we examine Canada’s digital economy, AI investment, and economic sovereignty.  Major themes:

• Canada needs stronger domestic capital, talent, and customer access.

• AI infrastructure may face significant overbuilding and correction.

• Sovereign data and critical infrastructure could create Canadian advantages.

• The fallacy that Canadian entrepreneurs are inherently risk averse.

Grazie di Cuore (Thanks from the Heart) to John Ruffolo for joining us and special thanks to Katherine Baxter-Cook at Maverix for helping to orchestrate John’s appearance.,

Rob McMullan 

Co-founder at High Octane Friends  &  Ethosure AI Governance   

Trevor McKee

Co-founder at High Octane Friends  &  qTrace  &  GateKeypers

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

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Special guest Divya Raghavan is a venture capitalist at Hitachi Ventures in Palo Alto, California. She shares details with Trevor & Rob about her route into the profession, and what the key success factors are in today's dramatically different tech investment world.  You will also learn why she thinks Canada's tech startups and scaleups are such attractive investments now.  This episode of High Octane Friends is a must listen for all aspiring VC, ambitious tech founders and everyone else supporting them to grow.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

Send us Fan Mail

On High Octane Friends' latest podcast, Caitlin Carter from VC firm/venture studio Highline Beta discusses where Artificial Intelligence is going and how it is affecting investment, startups/scaleups, and society as a whole.

Join co-hosts Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee with Caitlin on this insightful and far-ranging conversation.

Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and other podcast platforms. Also on our website.

High Octane Friends | Highoctanefriends.com

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

Send us Fan Mail

Our good friend Nadine ("Nerdine") Miller is a true "Renaissance person" with degrees from MIT and Oxford, she has shifted from engineering and mining to board work, which led to self-funding a tech startup. Her career included advanced soil mechanics work to design and close tailings facilities in mining, and now advisory roles on three mining boards.

Her new age tech startup "Nightingale" is a good example of "User Entrepreneurship", in which a challenge in monitoring aging family members while traveling, turned into an opportunity to build technology to help others facing similar problems. The technology uses millimeter radar to allow seniors to age or die in place, with the company headquarters moving to Florence, Texas.

We also discuss opportunities and challenges facing medical education and the supply of doctors, changes in international STEM graduate visas to favor retention of talent, and a future in-person High Octane Karaoke event. 

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

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Rob McMullan and Trevor McKee are joined by Bryan Watson, who discusses his extensive history in the Canadian angel investment and tech ecosystem, including work in building angel groups and his perspective on the SR&ED tax credit as a due diligence tool. Bryan Watson detailed how the SR&ED process and financing the receivable through services like Easley and Fund Through help companies manage cash flow and emphasized the importance of a broad capital stack beyond just angel or venture capital for early-stage founders. The participants also discussed challenges in Canadian procurement, the "romance" of early US market entry, and upcoming changes to the SR&ED program in Budget 2025, which will introduce capital cost eligibility and refundable SR&ED for Eligible Canadian Public Companies.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

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On this episode of High Octane Friends, founder Sophie Jiang of MOVA realities challenges the toxic trend of "hustle culture," arguing that consistent, high energy is built on a foundation of disciplined rest. Sophie shares her personal Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which includes prioritizing 8-9 hours of sleep nightly and strictly avoiding work after 7 p.m., a routine she credits with significantly improving her mental health and entrepreneurial clarity.

Hosts Rob McMullan and Trevor McKee contrast this with their own struggles—Trevor's admitted "horrendous" sleep habits and late-night productivity. The trio discusses the profound impact of poor sleep on amplifying fear in the high-risk startup journey. Rob offers a nutritional tip from longevity expert David Sinclair on eliminating snacking between meals, and Trevor emphasizes "pattern interrupts" to break anxiety spirals.

Sophie details her meticulous approach to intentional planning, using Google Calendar for goal-setting, and introduces the powerful "Wild Card" concept—a daily challenge designed to confront fears and build momentum. The conversation culminates in a discussion on overcoming self-doubt and the direct link between personal development (mindfulness, self-worth) and business success. Rob also announces the upcoming High Octane Friends breakfast series, a concept inspired by Sophie, aimed at fostering deeper connections within the tech community.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way.

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

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Returning to productivity after a break—such as the holiday season—requires addressing motivation from biological, psychological, and environmental angles. Foundational habits like consistent sleep, morning sunlight exposure, and stable blood sugar are critical, as poor sleep and ultra-processed foods create cycles of fatigue and demotivation. High-protein, savory breakfasts and meal pre-planning help sustain energy, while removing junk food from the environment reduces reliance on willpower.

Motivation is strongly influenced by social pressure. Public goals, accountability systems, and friendly competition can be powerful drivers, as seen in examples ranging from academic deadlines to shared fitness challenges. Cognitive strategies also matter: reframing tasks positively, focusing on areas within one’s control, and reducing exposure to demotivating news help prevent overwhelm and catastrophizing.

Small psychological “hacks” can restart momentum. Setting extremely low entry goals (e.g., one minute of work), using rewards through temptation bundling, and pairing dull tasks with personal interests can overcome resistance. Planning backwards from long-term goals into daily actions helps clarify priorities, while filtering down to only a few high-impact tasks reduces cognitive load.

Distraction—especially from phones and social media—was identified as a major threat to sustained motivation and attention, particularly for younger generations. Strategies include intentional media consumption, replacing news with educational or skill-building content, and deliberately creating environments that encourage focus and long-form engagement.

Biologically, creatine was discussed as a potential cognitive and motivational aid due to its role in ATP production, with evidence supporting benefits to working memory and processing speed; however, effects are dose-dependent and require caution due to possible kidney risks.

Overall, rebuilding productivity is less about brute discipline and more about designing systems—habits, environments, incentives, and information diets—that make motivation easier to sustain.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

Send us Fan Mail

The main topic of the podcast was the importance and value of living abroad in an increasingly insular society, which led to a discussion of Adrienne Nemeth's move from Hungary to Paris due to the fall of communism, Trevor McKee's formative experiences in South Africa before immigrating to the US, and Rob McMullan's move from Canada to Japan to gain perspective. The participants concluded that living abroad, or even experiencing different perspectives through internal divides like the urban-rural split, is essential for fostering empathy, open-mindedness, and constructive dialogue, while also connecting these issues to the rise of corporate power and differences in economic systems, such as the collectivist nature of East Asia compared to the individualism in Western societies.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

Send us Fan Mail

Rob McMullan, Trevor McKee, and Patrick de Kruyff discussed the episode topic, "Your couch potato investment style has pre-diabetes." Patrick de Kruyff, an executive for Owens McFaden Group, critiqued the passive investing "couch potato" style, highlighting the concentration risk in ETFs and the need for personalized financial planning integrated with tax considerations, arguing that the gamification of investing preys on emotions. The participants also discussed the necessity of financial education in schools, institutional barriers leading to a Canadian tech brain drain, and the need for increased competition in Canadian finance to force innovation and improve services.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com

Send us Fan Mail

Rob McMullan, Trevor McKee, and guest Sheliza Jamal discuss the state of DEI (perhaps regrettably now more aptly described as "reversity and exclusion"), focusing on the challenges of implementing DEI, the concept of "reversity," and the impact of AI on bias and education. Sheliza, a Harvard aluma and founder of Curated Leadership (https://www.curatedleadership.com/sjamal-bio), shared her firm's work on inclusive workplace cultures and highlighted concerns about AI's potential to perpetuate existing biases, and the crew also discussed the need for increased cooperation and ethical regulation to mitigate the existential risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).  It was a fun and insightful discussion about an important and dynamic issue.

The High Octane Friends podcast is where Rob McMullan & Trevor McKee discuss a variety of subjects in an authentic and unvarnished way. 

Rob McMullan LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/robmcmullan
Trevor McKee LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/trevordmckee
High Octane Friends website
highoctanefriends.com