Janie Goldstein argues that startups should have a social mission from the start. However, before she created The Upside Foundation, entrepreneurs didn’t have a model or platform to work from.  “We know they (entrepreneurs) have no time, and they should be very focused on building a company and getting a product out. We know they have no cash. So that’s why this platform was created.  People talk about what’s the problem, what’s the solution? They know they want to be philanthropic… but they don’t have the means or platform to do it.”  Janie Goldstein is the Executive Director and founder of The Upside Foundation of Canada, a new philanthropic venture that helps startups to commit options, which are then given back to Canadian charities upon the company’s exit. Janie obtained a degree from Montreal’s McGill University in Electrical Engineering, followed by an MBA from Harvard University. Her marketing and technical career  started at Bell-Northern Research (later Nortel) and took her into consulting, where she stayed for over a decade.  In this week’s #StartupPodcast, Rivers and Janie delve deep into social entrepreneurship in Canada while using Janie’s insight to understand why startups should start with a plan to give back.

This podcast is brought to you by .CA Domains, and Quickbooks Online - your partners in growing you business.