The BetaKit Podcast Channel

The BetaKit Podcast Channel episodes:

• 04.13.2024

  What made you first love tech?

  “I think what we're trying to do here is maybe celebrate and acknowledge all pathways into tech. Whatever sparked the inspiration.” Co-hosts Rob and Douglas peel back the curtain to reveal the gadgets, media, and moments that inspired their love...

  
• 04.06.2024

  Is Québec Canada’s quantum province?

  “The quantum computer itself, the one that we would classify as sexy … has such a huge disruptive potential that we cannot really comprehend how much of an effect it's going to have.” Fresh off a $20 million fund close,...

  
• 03.29.2024

  Can video games teach kids math?

  “I deeply want to solve the challenges in education. I think what we have is a current educational system is really not working.” Mobius Math Club co-founder Steven Woods (ex-Eloqua, Oracle, and Benevity) explains how video games are actually a...

  
• 03.23.2024

  Cory Doctorow’s new tech crime thriller takes us back to the days of Yahoo!

  “The thing that makes noir fiction noir is the detective is presented as an unlicensed cop who goes to the places the cops can’t go and asks the questions the cops can’t ask to solve the crimes the cops can’t...

  
• 03.18.2024

  Alexis Gay is (still) the funniest person in tech

  "One of the things that's funniest in tech is the complete and utter lack of self-awareness." The BetaKit Podcast is off for March Break. If you're anything like us, right now you might need a welcome distraction from the joys...

  
• 03.10.2024

  Float’s CEO on bridging the spending and software divide

  “The truth is we have a tremendous amount of comfort in the ambiguity of our vision.” Float CEO and co-founder Rob Khazzam discusses the frustrations Canadian businesses face in managing and executing their finances, the harmful effects of stalled financial...

  
• 03.01.2024

  How to fix SR&ED

  "SR&ED;'s big. SR&ED; matters. But it's also a value statement of where we as a country want to go." CCI president Ben Bergen walks through the #CDNtech lobbyist group's proposed policy changes for the $4 billion Scientific Research and Experimental...

  
• 02.24.2024

  After Ecobee, Stuart Lombard has no regrets

  “There’s a big difference between wanting to be great and being great.” After a 16-year run leading Ecobee, Stuart Lombard has stepped down as CEO and president of the smart thermostat maker. He joins the BetaKit Podcast to discuss lessons...

  
• 02.16.2024

  Koho's CEO on going from challenger bank to actual bank

  "If we had a bank licence today, I'm confident in saying we'd have the highest savings rate in the country." Koho CEO Daniel Eberhard joins to explain why the FinTech startup decided to pursue a banking licence, why it necessitates...

  
• 02.11.2024

  Taylor Swift and the Apple Vision Pro are the biggest tech stories of the year (so far)

  “I’m just holding out hope for Nightshade (Taylor’s Version). Arm the Swifties, they’re our only hope.” Rob and Douglas play an escalating game of identifying and arguing for the biggest tech news stories: new kit like the Apple Vision Pro,...

  
• 02.04.2024

  Untether AI’s new CEO is here for global scale

  "To compete in any field of technology, and especially AI, you have to be global." Like many Canadian tech companies, Untether AI started 2024 with a new CEO. Former Intel leader and Untether AI president Chris Walker explains why he...

  
• 01.28.2024

  The war against tech enshittification

  “We kinda want to leave the internet.” Inspired by Canadian science fiction author and journalist Cory Doctorow, the BetaKit Podcast articulates all the ways we find the internet getting worse. Sponsored by the Master of Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MEIE)...

  
• 01.20.2024

  Maybe the Rogers-Shaw merger won’t lower prices after all

  “How often are they going to increase prices before Canadians say ‘that’s enough?’” Did Rogers (now #1 in consumer complaints) finally cross a line with a price increase so shortly after its merger with Shaw? Will Canadians (and our elected...

  
• 01.13.2024

  The biggest tech questions of 2024

  "We are so back." BetaKit reporter Josh Scott joins to play the most dangerous game: trying to beat his boss in identifying the biggest tech questions that will define 2024. With no answers given, no tech question is off the...

  
• 01.06.2024

  Inside Canada’s entrant in the global AI hardware battle

  “So many Canadian organizations today are sending their dollars, their economic capital, to AWS, to Azure, to Google. There really is no Canadian response to this today.” Tenstorrent senior director of business development Eric Duffy explains why the company’s leadership...

  
• 12.29.2023

  The Canadian YouTuber who killed NFTs

  "We have industrialized grift in a way that is kind of unprecedented in human history." Canadian YouTuber Dan Olson (Folding Ideas) explains his battle against internet grifts, how his career changed after a viral video on NFTs, and why the...

  
• 12.23.2023

  2023 tech year in review

  “I had to remind myself that SVB happened this year. Because it seems like it happened a bazillion years ago.” Rob and Douglas close out 2023 in style with a look back at all the major events in a crazy...

  
• 12.17.2023

  Why is the Start-up Visa program struggling?

  “The government doesn't have a great way of being able to kind of parse through and say, ‘this is bad and this is good.’ And, this is, I think, a key part of the problem.” TMU senior research associate Stein Monteiro...

  
• 12.10.2023

  What happened to OpenView and will Canada see zombie funds?

  “When I heard the news, I was stunned … Absolutely, it is going to be happening in Canada.” CMD Capital’s Matt Roberts joins for an emergency podcast on the sudden demise of OpenView Venture Partners, what caused it, and the...

  
• 12.03.2023

  #CDNtech talks AI disruption and the state of SaaS

  "Verticalized AI applications right now are available, right now accelerating industry after industry." Canadian tech luminaries close the year discussing AI disruption, the state of SaaS, and what marketing should be saved for the DMs in this compilation of interviews...

  
• 11.26.2023

  The future of OMERS Ventures with Michael Yang

  "If you're pension-backed you gotta deliver returns, buddy." OMERS Ventures senior managing partner Michael Yang recounts a turbulent year for the pension-backed VC firm, and what the future holds for "OV 3.0". Sponsored by Cisco Secure Firewall and Ada: a full...

  
• 11.18.2023

  Why are there 100,000 fewer Canadian entrepreneurs? (LIVE at SAAS NORTH)

  "Capital efficiency is actually really sexy." Satish Kanwar (Good Future) and Katy Yam (Real Ventures) join for a special episode recorded live on the BetaKit Keynote Stage at SAAS NORTH, discussing the different paths available for Canadian entrepreneurs, and why...

  
• 11.12.2023

  Buffer's Chief Product Officer on how it connects a fractured internet

  "We all have to thank Elon Musk for all that amazing innovation and disruption that's happening. Many changes that he has brought to X are now driving that interesting innovation." Buffer Chief Product Officer Maria Thomas discusses how social media...

  
• 11.05.2023

  Open banking is dead, Techno-Optimists want a war

  "What happens when the technologists decide what they do is more important than the government and they don't want to play by those rules? Rob and Douglas hold a post-mortem on the fever dream that was financial innovation and competition...

  
• 10.29.2023

  Wealthsimple's Hanna Zaidi on the "lack of political will" harming FinTech innovation

  “When you’re a FinTech you’re a second-class citizen when it comes to accessing infrastructure, and so you’re spending a lot of time trying to innovate on table stakes, which takes away from the actual innovation that you want to offer.”...

  
• 10.22.2023

  Why Korean car makers want Tenstorrent’s AI hardware

  “So many Canadian organizations today are sending their dollars, their economic capital, to AWS, to Azure, to Google. There really is no Canadian response to this today." Tenstorrent senior director of business development Eric Duffy explains why the company’s leadership...

  
• 10.15.2023

  Exploring the forgotten history of Canadian venture capital

  "So there are good things about the state of the market today compared to where we were in the 2000s. There are things that are not as good, and then you have fundamental issues that occurred in the aftermath of...

  
• 10.07.2023

  Hugging Face's Sasha Luccioni on the ethical and environmental impacts of AI

  "I profoundly believe that open source is the way forward for AI so that we avoid this monopoly of power."   Hugging Face Climate Lead + AI Researcher Dr. Sasha Luccioni discusses the need to make AI "less bad for...

  
• 09.30.2023

  AI regulation is coming but Tobi Lütke is not "EFRAID"

  "We don’t need more referees in Canada. We need more builders. Let other countries regulate while we take the more courageous path."   A COVID isolation emergency podcast, Rob and Douglas catch up on the latest tech news, which—surprise!—is AI-focused....

  
• 09.24.2023

  As the world goes passwordless, does 1Password go B2B?

  "Everybody's trying to run their own business. Apple's trying to sell you devices. Google's trying to sell you ads. Our job is only to make you more secure."   Passkeys are here, and along with them renewed interest in the...

  
• 09.17.2023

  Can Waze’s former CEO build a social network from scratch?

  "Canada is at the forefront. Yes, mistakes are being made, but at least they're doing something. The US is doing nothing. And at the end of the day, these are American companies that are destroying the world." Post.News founder Noam...

  
• 09.10.2023

  How "pirate" entrepreneur Lloyed Lobo kicked his self-destructive habits

  "The company was my identity. I had this huge void to fill and I didn't know what to do with it."   Boast.ai and Traction co-founder Lloyed Lobo shares his personal struggles managing his self-described addictive personality after leaving the...

  
• 09.02.2023

  Parental leave requirements for Canadian entrepreneurs make no sense

  "There is especially in tech still a stigma around being a parent and being a contributing member of a company." Founders Erin Bury (Willful) and Marie Chevrier (Sampler) join to discuss the dumb restrictions on entrepreneurs trying to receive parental...

  
• 08.26.2023

  VC extravaganza: fundraising, "shitty" behaviour, mannequin startups & more

  We know you love VCs on the BetaKit Podcast. So here's an all-VC episode of the BetaKit Podcast. Featuring: Chris Neumann (Panache Ventures), Matt Cohen (Ripple Ventures), John Ruffolo (Maverix Private Equity), Michelle Scarborough (Thrive Venture Fund), Satraj Bambra (Round13's...

  
• 08.19.2023

  Alexis Gay is the funniest person in tech

  "One of the things that's funniest in tech is the complete and utter lack of self-awareness." Comedian and podcaster Alexis Gay joins to share her transition from working in tech to creating content that perfectly articulates the absurdities of working...

  
• 08.12.2023

  #CDNtech talks VC risk, due diligence, and the AI hype cycle

  “I sometimes feel like Canada needs to up [its] risk-taking ability.” "It's the latest shiny thing that a lot of people are running after." "Markets are now audiences. Your competitive moat is your community."   Canadian tech luminaries brave tornados...

  
• 08.06.2023

  Do Canadian entrepreneurs take risks? (AMA episode)

  "I don't think our entrepreneurs are not risk takers; I just don't think our culture is set up to accept those risk takers." It's a Canadian tech summer vibe check as the gang answers submitted listener questions: on the low...

  
• 07.28.2023

  Jesse Wente wants Canada to "tax the hell" out of Big Tech, but he's open to cutting deals

  "For a lot of Indigenous storytellers, there's a lot of interest in those [tech] platforms, because those entities haven't said no to our community for 50 years." Indigenous content creators are caught between a rock and a hard place with...

  
• 07.22.2023

  LIVE from Startupfest!

  "The BetaKit Podcast is very much a pro-dog podcast." Dr. Theresa Johnson (Airbnb), Harper Reed (General Galactic Corporation), and Neha Khera (2048 Ventures) join for a wide-ranging conversation on shooting particles at satellites (for science!), founder-market fit, working for Barack...

  
• 07.15.2023

  The death of the Girlboss with Chelsea Fagan (The Financial Diet)

  "The crux of the Girlboss movement's problem is that it wants women to behave more like men and the answer is for men to behave more like women at scale."   Elizabeth Holmes is now in jail, her imprisonment signalling...

  
• 07.07.2023

  Canada's Commissioner of Competition needs more than a badge and a gun

  "People in Canada are at their wits' end about areas of our economy having a lack of competition and how it impacts their pocketbook." The Competition Bureau is the last line of defence for enforcing competition law in Canada. But...

  
• 07.03.2023

  Alberta tech is hungry

  "Something else that's unique about the Calgary ecosystem...we're hungry. We're really, really hungry." James Lochrie (Thin Air Labs) and Brett Colvin (Goodlawyer) join for an Alberta tech vibe check, discussing the recent election, big Q1 2023 funding news, and the...

  
• 06.22.2023

  Paddy Cosgrave is not forcing you to come to Collision

  "Unfortunately, there's a long history over the last decade that I tend to lean into controversies around any event that we're holding anywhere in the world, especially four weeks out, because the volume of tickets that are booked locally is...

  
• 06.17.2023

  Apple's Vision Pro won't make the metaverse happen

  "They're trying to invent the next product category—that's what they want to do. They want to have some sort of hardware to push into the future. They just haven't convinced me that this really is the...

  
• 06.09.2023

  The Collision conversation is a microcosm for Canadian tech

  Is Collision staying in Toronto (and for how much)? Is Collision coming to Vancouver? Why are Canada's governments paying foreign companies to compete against local events? Are we a branch plant innovation ecosystem? Do we secretly believe we can't do...

  
• 06.02.2023

  Canada is in a health care crisis. What's the prescription?

  "We are in a time of the worst health care crisis we've seen in Canada. It is really close to a collapse of the system across the country." Brett Belchetz (Maple) and Alexandra Greenhill (Careteam Technologies)...

  
• 05.27.2023

  A wake for BuzzFeed, Gawker, Vice with CANADALAND’s Jonathan Goldsbie

  “That is a deeply unhealthy way to live and to work and it’s ultimately not a successful way to sustain a publication.” CANADALAND news editor Jonathan Goldsbie joins to discuss the rampant demise of digital media publications launched in the...

  
• 05.20.2023

  What's next for Shopify?

  "This announcement communicated two things: this thing we're getting rid of isn't primary to our mission—it's a side quest, we don't actually care about this; and we have a cultural problem at our company with who we've hired and what...

  
• 05.12.2023

  Do the feds have an innovation strategy? (AMA episode)

  "I don't necessarily know if the government understands what an innovation strategy is." Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) president Ben Bergen joins to answer listener-submitted questions about: the Canada Innovation Corporation, open banking, SR&ED; reform, and why the feds are...

  
• 05.05.2023

  YouTuber Dan Olson (Folding Ideas) on internet grifts and how he hunts them

  "We have industrialized grift in a way that is kind of unprecedented in human history."   Canadian YouTuber Dan Olson (Folding Ideas) explains his battle against internet grifts, how his career changed after a viral video on NFTs, why Bill...