Startupville

We’re having conversations with tech leaders on how they’re facing the COVID-19 crisis head-on, how startups and tech companies can approach the challenges ahead, and how the world changing before our eyes will present unique opportunities for startups and innovators.

Today we talked with Shawn Hazen, Founder and CEO of Lumeca a virtual healthcare startup based in Regina. In the face of the COVID crisis, Lumeca made a bold pivot to alleviate strain on the healthcare system and provide people with safe and convenient access to care.

We talked with Shawn about how Lumeca is playing this crucial role during the COVID crisis, and how virtual healthcare can serve an important role in the overall healthcare system moving forward. We also talked about how they have built a solid foundation for their startup, assembling an impressive team of healthcare professionals, as well as seasoned tech veterans.

We’re having conversations with tech leaders on how they’re facing the COVID-19 crisis head-on, how startups and tech companies can approach the challenges ahead, and how the world changing before our eyes will present unique opportunities for startups and innovators.

Today we talked with Jordan McFarlen, Business Incubator Manager with the Cultivator tech incubator in Regina. The Cultivator’s mission is to help founders launch, grow, and scale innovative high-growth companies in the province of Saskatchewan, and it has quickly become a major hub of activity in the burgeoning Regina tech scene.

We talked with Jordan about the challenges the sector is facing, and how they’re continuing to support tech startups through the crisis, including running a fully virtual program, complete with the large startup events that the Saskatchewan tech scene is known for.

We’re having conversations with tech leaders on how they’re facing the COVID-19 crisis head-on, how startups and tech companies can approach the challenges ahead, and how the world changing before our eyes will present unique opportunities for startups and innovators.

Today we talked with Darcy McLane, Executive Director of SaskInteractive, an industry association that represents the interactive and digital media sectors, a big part of the overall tech sector. SaskInteractive recently completed a Labour Market and Economic Impact study, in order to quantify the recent growth in the Saskatchewan tech sector, and set a baseline measurement for future growth.

The study’s results will be officially released very soon, so we talked about some of the implications of this information, and how the tech sector can continue to move forward in the months ahead.

Stay home, stay safe, and stay connected.

We’re having conversations with tech leaders on how they’re facing the COVID-19 crisis head-on, how startups and tech companies can approach the challenges ahead, and how the world changing before our eyes will present unique opportunities for startups and innovators.

Today, we talked with Karen Churchill, Bev Stangeland, and Brad Bly of Ag West Bio, Saskatchewan’s bioscience industry association and bioeconomy catalyst. In their role helping to move research to market and growing biobusiness in the province, they have a close connection to the bioscience startup community.

We talked with them about how the COVID crisis has impacted the bioscience and agri-food sectors, and how investment in bioscience over the decades has helped build the resilient food supply chain that has been largely unaffected through all of this.

Stay home, stay safe, and stay connected.

The world is now in the process of going through one of its largest pivots many of us have seen in our lifetimes. So in true startup fashion, we’re going to pivot right along with it.

In the coming weeks, instead of our normal interview format, we’ll be having conversations with tech leaders on how they’re facing the COVID-19 crisis head-on, how startups and tech companies can approach the challenges ahead, and how the world changing before our eyes will present unique opportunities for startups and innovators.

We’ll be posting these conversations the day after they’re recorded, so they will be up-to-date with a world that is changing daily

Today, we’re talking with Jordan Dutchak from Co.Labs, Saskatoon’s tech incubator, about the implications of the new paradigm we’re now entering, and the opportunities that presents.

In this episode, Dan talks with Regan Hinchcliffe, Co-founder of sMedia, one of Canada’s fastest growing startups disrupting the auto dealer industry.

Data is king in automotive sales. But when Regan and his co-founders were working to help car dealerships with their digital advertising, they found that most dealers were being drawn to bad data in the form of vanity metrics that made their ad agencies look great. Unfortunately, vanity metrics don’t result in real customers walking through the door.

Leveraging the power of AI, sMedia has been able to find a stronger link between online behaviour and real customers, and now over 650 car dealerships everywhere are selling more cars because of it. Dan chats with Regan about their path toward discovering product market fit, building and scaling a diverse remote team, and thinking forward to how they can continue to disrupt the auto industry.

Did we mention that sMedia is a FROG? No, not that kind of frog, but a "fully remote organization." Working remotely is a hot topic with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and sMedia has been successfully growing remotely before it was a necessity. Hear Regan talk more about how they're able to make this work while scaling one of Canada's fastest-growing companies.

Dan talks with Kirk Morrison, Co-founder & CEO of Krugo, a travel app built in Regina that helps you discover concerts, sports, and shows wherever you’re travelling next.

The travel-tech space is a crowded one, with juggernauts like Expedia, Trivago, and Booking.com, with enough new entrants to fill a Boeing 747. So we talk with Kirk about how Krugo has been differentiating themselves amongst the crowd with a more brand-focused approach than most prairie tech startups.

Krugo has leveraged a lot to their advantage by starting and growing their team in the medium-sized city of Regina. But playing in the consumer travel space can have its challenges when you’re outside of major hubs, so Dan and Kirk dive deep into how Krugo is tackling major partnerships and setting up to make big waves from a landlocked province.

Dan talks with Sean O’Connor, Fund Manager for the Conexus Venture Capital Fund about moving from the major tech hub of Vancouver to prairie Canada to run a brand new fund that invests in their booming tech ecosystem.

Conexus Credit Union is just that, a local credit union. In 2019, they did what no other credit union in North America had ever done before and started a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage tech startups. As the tech ecosystem had started booming in Saskatchewan, more capital had started to migrate to the region from Silicon Valley and other major hubs like Toronto. However, Conexus noticed a gap in access to early-stage capital for startups.

So they tapped Sean O’Connor, from the Vancouver fintech startup darling Grow Technologies. Sean, like a lot of capital these days, migrated to the prairies to blaze new trails in what’s becoming one of Canada’s hottest startup markets.

This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference talking about why secondary markets are becoming some of the hottest tech hubs in North America.

At Startupville, we reject the notion that the next big thing can only come from Silicon Valley. Secondary markets like the Canadian prairies, the Colorado Rockies, and many more have exploded into vibrant tech hubs in recent years. Startups and investors have started to notice the benefits that smaller centres present, like lower operation costs, high employee retention, and diverse ideas outside the bubble of Silicon Valley hype cycles. At UP Conference, there was no ignoring the energy of the Canadian prairie tech region.

Uniting the Prairies, or UP, is a new conference in Saskatoon brings together the top prairie Canada startups, VCs and angels, prairie expats, and tech leaders to come together and share knowledge and experience with startups, elevating the prairie tech community.

This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing management tips, and what they’ve learned as leaders of top startups.

Transitioning from a scrappy startup founder to an inspiring leader isn’t always smooth sailing. So in this episode, we’ve featured insights from some of the best captains on the sea to help you be a better leader at your startup.

Uniting the Prairies, or UP, is a new conference in Saskatoon brings together the top prairie Canada startups, VCs and angels, prairie expats, and tech leaders to come together and share knowledge and experience with startups, elevating the prairie tech community.