The BetaKit Podcast Channel – Details, episodes & analysis

“This was mine. This was done. I was going to be the next Steve Jobs, I was going to be rich—everything was happening. And now they took it away.”

As the young co-founder of Ottawa-based Gymtrack, Pablo Srugo had one goal: “become insanely rich.” Now a partner at Mistral VC, he joins the podcast to share what went wrong and caution founders against becoming their own worst hypebeast.

The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Shakepay: Canada’s easy way to buy and earn bitcoin. Visit shakepay.com/betakit and join over 1 million Canadians shaking for bitcoin.

“Using Canada as an excuse for why you didn’t get funding, you didn’t get to hire the right person … I think that’s bullshit.”

Shopify president Harley Finkelstein joins for a brand refresh on Canadian entrepreneurship, pushing back against doom-and-gloom narratives before digging into his real issues of concern and offering proactive tips for entrepreneurs looking to scale globally.

Presented by AWS Startups: accelerate your innovative ideas with AWS credits of up to $100,000 through the AWS Activate program.

"When we unveiled the company and the product to the world, the hope was 'people are going to be excited.' Or maybe we're completely wrong."

Can a ragtag team of ex-BlackBerry employees and fanboys bring mobile keyboards back with Clicks? Clicks' Kevin Michaluk (CrackBerry) and Jeff Gadway (BlackBerry) join to explain what prompted them to build an iPhone keyboard in 2024. The answer may surprise you as much as the gadget's target customer.

Presented by Float, co-hosts of In the Black: Building Enduring Businesses. Learn what’s top of mind for Canada’s fastest-growing companies, including Xanadu, Wealthsimple, and Float.

"There's a direct relationship between the mental health of the entrepreneur and the performance of the company."

Econa founder Dr. Michael Freeman returns to discuss how the current tech winter is impacting founder mental health, and how that is impacting company performance.

Sponsored by GSoft and SAAS NORTH.

"Essentially, Amazon has failed to make this company profitable. It doesn’t make money."

Streamer, YouTuber, and Novo CEO Devin Nash joins to explain the myriad ways Amazon's experiment with Twitch is failing to make money or anyone happy.

Sponsored by GSoft and SAAS NORTH.

“Half a billion dollars for women in Canadian tech. Pretty cool!”

The BetaKit Podcast's monthly AMA episode answers listeners' (tough!) questions about bad news coming from Real Ventures and exciting news coming from BDC, with some Elevate highlights thrown in.

Sponsored by SAAS NORTH (use code BETAKIT20 for an early bird discount).

“This is the rise and fall of a company that had hundreds of millions of dollars to play with and nothing left to say about it.”

Globe and Mail reporter Josh O'Kane joins to discuss his new book, Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy, along with BetaKit senior editor Meagan Simpson.

Sponsored by SAAS NORTH.

"I’m just concerned about finding tech talent."

Nora Jenkins Townson (Bright + Early) and Meagan Simpson (BetaKit) join to explain why over 350 companies are looking to hire Canadian tech talent in the midst of a downturn.

Sponsored by Linebox.

"Shopify Pay still uses Stripe and they have some crazy scale."

Immad Akhund (CEO, Mercury) and Jon Fry (CEO, Lendflow) join BetaKit's Douglas Soltys onstage to discuss how startups can embed FinTech into their products, increase revenue, and avoid the hidden icebergs.

Recorded live at Traction Conference 2022.

Sponsored by Linebox and Thinksound.

“Do you really want to get big fast? You take my money, I’m going to poke you in the eye every day going forward.”

GrowthX CEO and founding partner Andrew Goldner shares how his Valley-founded early-stage VC firm found product-market fit with Canadian accelerators, common misconceptions founders have of the VC business model, and a bunch of go-to-market tips.

Sponsored by Thinksound.