"We're seeing way more women found new technology companies in the market than we did five years ago. By a magnitude—like three times. It's substantial."   Michelle Scarborough, Managing Partner of Thrive Venture Fund, explains the origins of BDC's $500 million commitment to women-led startups and funds, and the progress she's seen since 2017.

"We are in the midst of a new technological payola."

Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida and Senator Colin Deacon join for a frank discussion about Big Tech's leverage over Canadian content as Parliament looks to pass new regulations in Bill C-11 and Bill C-18.

"Let's be blunt about it: we as a country are extremely good at invention ... we're horrible at innovation."

Dan Breznitz, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto, walks through the reasons for Canada's failure on innovation, the origins of the CIC, and who he thinks should be its first CEO.

"There is a special place in hell for investors who intentionally screw over their founders with no empathy for the journey or the challenges that they are going through."

Panache Ventures partner Chris Neumann joins to answer listener questions about his blog writing, the state of Canadian accelerators, and what VCs are talking about.

Sponsored by Invest Ottawa.

"This whole thing with ChatGPT is just history replaying itself. We need to stop viewing tech and innovation as a veritable silver bullet for all the world's problems and instead understand that it can actually scale inequities at warp speed."

Feminuity co-founder and CEO Dr. Sarah Saska walks through the current relationship between DEI and tech, before tracking the dangers of biased data and bad faith users on generative AI.

Sponsored by ventureLAB and Invest Ottawa.

"The deepfake technology that is part of this new rise of generative AI tools I think will have a very deleterious effect on the current state of cyber defences."

Plurilock CEO Ian Paterson discusses the economics of AI cyber threats and Canada's response with Bill C-26.

Sponsored by ventureLAB and Invest Ottawa.

"We all want AI to do our jobs for us—the boring parts. What we're doing here is making computers more human-like, and sadly, they're getting all the fun jobs. Because those are the jobs that don't have to be perfect."

Entrepreneur and author Alistair Croll joins to discuss what will become scarce and what will become abundant in the new economy created by generative AI.

Sponsored by International Women's Week.

"It's not like a light comes down from heaven and says 'now you shall stop your company.' But, man, was it very difficult emotionally."

Entrepreneur and BetaKit Podcast co-host Rob Kenedi explains the process of launching and eventually shuttering his startup, Staid.

"I honestly feel as though 2023 is going to be one of those years in Canadian tech where companies are going to have to be accountable."

Award-winning Amber Mac returns to the award-nominated BetaKit Podcast for the first AMA episode of 2023, answering listener questions about: mass tech layoffs and CEO departures; VCs killing rounds because LPs can't (won't?) pay up; opportunities for tech growth in Atlantic Canada; and the essential 10 minutes talking ChatGPT and 'Next Big Things'.

Sponsored by Amazon Web Services.

 

 

"What we're dealing with here is something so profound that the changes it's going to bring are not the kind of thing that the government can alter."

Generative AI could be a wonderful tool. What will be lost in its wake? Canadian novelist, essayist, and cultural commentator Stephen Marche joins to discuss.

Sponsored by AWS.