What The Tech?

We welcome to the show Deskree Founder and CEO Dmytro Grechko. At Deskree, their mission is to make software development accessible to everyone by breaking down traditional barriers and empowering people to turn their ideas into reality. 

This can be a gamechanger for any entrepreneurs who may have the vision to build an amazing product, but lack that backend expertise. Deskree’s proven 5-step process for building an effective and scalable cloud infrastructure offers visionaries a seamless route for bringing their ideas to life in minutes—not weeks, months or even years. 

The TL;DR? Their solution enables founders to focus on creating amazing products, letting Deskree do the heavy lifting when it comes to technical nitty gritty. It’s an ethos that we mirror in our mission here at Boast as we strive to help  founders drive innovation without burdening them or expanding their already heavy workload. 

I’m thrilled to pick Dmytro’s brain on some of the exciting projects he’s executing at Deskree today, the unique R&D that goes into creating no-code solutions, and what’s in store as Deskree grows.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

We're thrilled to welcome VanHack CEO Ilya Brotzky on the show. At VanHack, Ilya and his team are on a mission to create a borderless world for tech talent by connecting the world’s top software engineering, design, and digital marketing talent with some of the leading innovating businesses in North America. With more than 450,000 members from over 100 countries, VanHack is the largest workforce that is ready to relocate in the world, truly walking the walk when it comes to “connecting cultures through code.”

Along with helping companies grow through on-demand staffing, Ilya is also a force in both the Vancouver, BC and broader Canadian innovation ecosystem. I know I caught up with Ilya at my first Collision Conference in Toronto this past summer, but he’s been working with our team at Boast for years to help VanHack bring their game-changing solutions to reality. 

He’s on an incredible mission, and has the network behind him to make it work. I couldn’t be more excited to pick his brains about his journey through the startup space, what it takes to succeed in today’s market, and tips for any founders launching tech in 2024.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

We welcome welcome Serial Ideator, Brand Builder, Founder and Ocean Advocate Amanda Horn onto the show. Amanda is the founder of Loless Beauty, a sustainable shave and body care company that’s reimagining beauty products and personal care routines to use less water, less plastic and less waste, creating the next wave of eco-conscious consumers.

And while Amanda strives to protect both human and the planet’s water resources with Loless, she also plays a big role in the larger Blue Economy, which is booming in Eastern Canada.

She’s a Mentor focused on Ocean Science Communication & Brand Storytelling for the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, a Blue Standard Consultant for Oceanic Global, Advisory Board Member for The Canada Node for the UN Ocean Decade Global Early Career Ocean Professionals Programme, and a consultant for the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition.

And all of this in just the past couple of years! 

Needless to say, Amanda knows the Blue Economy well, and I can’t wait to pick her brain on what it takes to build a business that supports and benefits from the Oceans in 2024. 

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today we welcome ConnectionPoint Founder and CEO Daryl Hatton onto the show! At ConnectionPoint, Daryl and his team have built the next-generation technology powering a suite of digital fundraising platforms that help organizations, businesses, and individuals create a positive impact in the world. Their solutions ease the process of collaborative funding to be more engaging and socially integrated, offering a rare balance of powerful crowdfunding paired with affordability and effortless usability. 

With all that said, it should go without saying that these are amazing and timely solutions that can be a silver bullet for non-profits, creators, animal and pet care professionals, and even healthcare providers.

But building this innovative solution has called on Daryl’s impressive experience within the crowdfunding, tech and startup communities. He continues to be an active advisor and partner for an array of innovative social funding and commerce initiatives, and I can’t wait to pick his brain on what it takes to succeed in today’s tech economy.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today I am thrilled to welcome onto the show Sophia Wennstedt, Co-Founder & CEO of Blip Energy. At Blip,  Sophia and her team are on a mission to redefine home batteries to increase energy resilience for both individuals and communities. 

By designing a product to work without typical installation constraints, Blip Energy is able to add millions of otherwise-inaccessible homes to the smart grid network. Sophia’s team is set on finding new ways to manage energy demand, while ensuring that energy stability is an option for all of us, not just folks who can afford a luxury system. 

It’s a lofty mission, but Sophia and her team have the  background to make it happen, drawing on experience working as a Mechanical Engineer and later as Program Manager at iRobot, before pivoting into the energy space with work at Exelon and Tesla. 

All of this is rooted in Sophia’s passion for climate justice and energy equity, which she’s demonstrated through active involvement driving STEM education outreach. It’s a field that’s rife with innovation and opportunity, and I can’t wait to pick Sophia’s brain on what’s in store for her team and the industry in the new year. 

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

On this episode we welcome CEO and Co-Founder of MyARC, Peter Monteza. At MyARC, their mission is to power fitness creators to get their fans fit and make a purposeful living while doing so. They’ve done this by creating a platform that enables fitness content creators to train their fans interactively at scale, from anywhere in the world. MyARC takes care of the boring stuff—progressions, daily stats and tracking—so that trainers can focus on the important part—content, advice and motivation—for their fans and community. 

It’s an exciting mission and a powerful platform that’s rooted in Peter’s own experience training as a national-level athlete. But Peter’s drive and determination go beyond physical health, as he’s proven to be an adept entrepreneur, having taken part in accelerator and incubator programs—including being part of Techstars 2022 cohort—on his journey as a founder. 

We learn about what his experiences in the startup world have been like to date and what’s in store for MyARC in 2024.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Mila Banerjee, CEO and Tech Lead at Pronti AI. At Pronti, Mila and her team are looking to help Apparel and Accessory retailers access their share of the nearly $1 trillion dollar personalization *opportunity* that’s out there. They do this by giving retailers access to unique consumer purchase intent data that’s historically been just out of reach. We 

The Pronti app leverages six machine learning algorithms in the background to allow consumers to experience easy closet uploads and outfit inspiration, while being the only place where users can shop with their existing closet items.

Along with being an awesome tool for consumers and businesses alike, Pronti is impacting UN Sustainability Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production through individual closet utilization, and providing data for retailers to optimize production.

It’s an amazing solution that touches on a wealth of opportunities, but that’s only part of Mila’s journey, as she’s been leading the tech charge across industries and the entire globe over the course of her career to date. I’m so excited to hear about her latest venture, what’s in store for Pronti going forward, and her take on the current state of startups for fellow entrepreneurs in 2024.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today I’m thrilled to welcome to the show self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur and Techstar Roy Pereira. 

Roy is currently the CEO of Unified, the integrations-as-a-Service platform for B2B SaaS companies. With their Unified APIs, developers can integrate just once to add multiple software systems to their products from categories like HR, ATS, CRM and Authentication. Their solution has transformed what used to take several months into an afternoon project, helping SaaS companies swiftly and securely scale their integrations.

It should go without saying, but those time savings and value adds can be a gamechanger for emergent SaaS products as they look to make their mark, achieve new market potential and drive more revenue. 

But along with steering the innovation over at Unified, Roy has been a positive presence in the Toronto and broader Canadian tech scene for a while now, with more than a decade of pushing the envelope in the Advertising, Security, Networking, and of course Software industries.

I’m thrilled to hear what’s in store for Unified, how Roy got into the startup scene in the first place, and his take on the current state of the tech ecosystem.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today I am thrilled to welcome to the show Steven Forth, Co-Founder and CEO of Ibbaka. 

At Ibbaka, their focus is on helping SaaS companies set pricing models that align with the true value they deliver, helping drive increased revenue, profitability and customer retention in the process. Through both the Ibbaka Valio Platform and through consulting that is informed by research and data, Steven and his team are helping SaaS companies “achieve greatness” in the subscription economy.

And few people are more qualified than Steven to help steer this effort. His  journey as an entrepreneur has seen him lead innovative businesses in both the US and Canada, while he’s consulted on go-to-market strategies, value management and pricing for a wide breadth of exciting products and services. He’s even been identified as one of the leading experts in B2B pricing by Openview, combining design and decision making frameworks with value management and pricing strategy to help SaaS businesses grow.

It’s an impressive and exciting mission, and I couldn’t be happier to have Steven join us to discuss his takes on the innovation economy, what it takes to succeed in today’s market, and what’s in store for Ibbaka in 2024.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today I am thrilled to welcome to the show Lauren Thibodeau, who, along with being the Founder at saascan, is an adviser and all-around rock star within the Canadian startup ecosystem.

At saascan, Lauren and her team provide mentoring, enablement and advisory services to Canadian SaaS startups at almost all stages of their growth journey. What sets saascan apart is that they help SaaS leaders be metrics-savvy and customer-centric, leveraging the latest research to inform all decisions. This ultimately helps businesses achieve higher Annual Recurring Revenue, Net Dollar Retention, and SaaS company valuation.

On the topic of research, Lauren and her team recently published The SaaS Metrics That Matter Most for Startups in 2024 report, which highlighted the key success factors that burgeoning SaaS businesses need to prioritize to navigate all that 2024 has in store. From the expected impacts of generative AI to the rise of “hashtag growficiency,” I’m excited to get Lauren’s take on how these metrics are starting to bear as 2024 rolls out. 

But as I mentioned before, Lauren’s reach goes beyond saascan, as she’s an advisor to incubators and accelerators across Canada—including our friends at Volta and Invest Ottawa—as well as directly providing customer success strategy for a roster of startups in her network. 

She’s got her finger on the pulse of the Canadian startup ecosystem, and I can’t wait to pick her brain on the current state of startups and what it takes to succeed in today’s market.

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.