Some of the best entrepreneurial journeys begin with simple problems that need solving. For Ahmed Hadjeres, founder and principal electrical engineer at ProductShop, that problem was remarkably straightforward: He loved music shows but couldn't score tickets. 

That quest for free concerts led him to build access control technology that would eventually be used at Tomorrowland, Lollapalooza, and the Olympics before being acquired by Eventbrite. On the latest What The Tech podcast, Hadjeres shares his unconventional journey from first-year engineering student to venture studio founder, and why Montreal's innovation ecosystem needs more support despite having world-class talent. 

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.

From working behind the counter in his family's retail business to overseeing finance, operations, product, and engineering at one of Canada's most innovative fintech companies, Aly Khan Musani's career path demonstrates how foundational business principles remain constant even as industries evolve. 

As CFO and COO of Symend, Musani brings more than 20 years of leadership experience to bear on a deceptively complex problem: Helping major companies like Telus communicate effectively with customers who've missed payments. On the latest What The Tech podcast, he shares insights on building behavioral science-driven solutions, navigating government funding programs, and why understanding cash flow gives you control over your destiny. 

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.

Hello and welcome to What The Tech from Boast AI, where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “Technological Uncertainty” and eventually change the world. 

For small businesses navigating the complex world of R&D tax credits, finding the right partners can make all the difference between leaving money on the table and maximizing government incentives. That's where strategic partnerships between accounting firms and specialized tax credit providers create real value for entrepreneurs. 

This week welcome to the show John Hunt, CPA and Sr. Manager at General Ledger Partners (aka GLP). In his role, John and team provide detailed, efficient and accurate bookkeeping and financial consulting services to small businesses. Based in Austin, Texas, John and his team actually partner with Boast to help their clients maximize their access to Innovation Tax Credits to enhance their runway and build stronger products.  

For subscribers to the show, you may remember we last connected with John’s colleague Jason Terry last year to chat through what it’s like supporting innovative SMBs in 2024. Needless to say, a lot has changed between then and now, and I can’t wait to pick John’s brain on how doing business at any scale in the U.S. has evolved in 2025, how his team partners with Boast, and what’s on deck for the future. 

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.

What The Tech is back for a new season of innovation insights with leaders across Canada's tech ecosystem. 

On our return episode, we welcome to the show Leigh Christie, Cofounder of MistyWest. Launched in 2003, MistyWest is an engineering design consultancy that helps create futuristic technologies that enable a healthier planet while bringing prosperity to all humankind. While their primary focus is on projects that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Misty West provides product consulting services to a wide range of industries, from IoT to computer vision systems to battery packs and device packaging.  

Leigh and his team at MistyWest are also Boast partners who share our vision for helping connect innovators with the resources they need to bring world-changing products to market. I’m thrilled to pick his brain on how he got into the innovation space, what he’s seen in the two decades since founding MistyWest and what’s on the roadmap.

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 of What The Tech from Boast AI, we’re thrilled to welcome onto the show entrepreneur-extraordinaire David Brennan!  

David is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arkeo AI, which is a SaaS Copilot that enables sales teams to achieve faster win rates and ultimately close more deals. More than just a sales tool, Arkeo AI is designed specifically for SaaS founders and their teams to make informed decisions and drive growth. As customers integrate their systems, Arkeo offers AI Agents tailored to specific departments that continuously analyze data and deliver actionable insights while also alerting to opportunities and threats.  

As powerful as the Arkeo AI solution is, this is hardly David’s first go-round in the entrepreneurship space. He holds an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovative Leadership, co-founded Safety Evolution in 2016, and helped execute the strategic acquisition of SafetyTrek in 2022 before embarking on the Arkeo Ai journey.  

It’s an impressive career to date, and David shares some of his expertise for building a successful AI business in 2024, and what’s on deck for the future. 

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 latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome the Founder & CEO of Tuktu Care, Rustam Sengupta!  

Rustam is a passionate serial entrepreneur with a focus on senior care technology, climate change, and renewable energy. As the founder and CEO of Tuktu Care, an on-demand marketplace that connects aging adults with local providers and companions, he leads the creation of innovative solutions for better aging in place.  

Before Tuktu Care, Rustam worked with SDTC, one of Canada's leading sustainable energy funding organizations, and taught at the University of British Columbia. He also managed research projects for the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP) at Johns Hopkins University.  

If that wasn’t enough, Rustam also serves on the boards of several impactful organizations and nonprofits, while also serving as Executive in Residence at the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator in Vancouver—a group that we’re big fans of here at Boast!  

It’s an impressive CV and I cannot wait to pick Rustam’s brain on what it takes to achieve success and drive such positive change as an entrepreneur. 

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.

Welcome to What The Tech from Boast AI, where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “technological uncertainty” and, eventually, change the world.  

Today we welcome VentureX Principal Sydney Wong onto the show! Sydney is an exited tech founder turned early-stage investor with 10+ years of experience in venture capital, startups, and management consulting. She currently leads investments at VentureX Capital and built their venture studio from the ground up as a first hire. Her expertise spans deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio support, with a track record in PreSeed to Series A.  

On top of all that, Sydney is passionate about building high-impact startups and fostering a strong VC community as Chapter Lead for Women in VC. It’s an incredible mission, and we pick her brain on her experiences to date in the startup space, what’s on deck for the rest of 2024, and her take on the tech and startup ecosystem heading into 2025. 

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 the latest What The Tech podcast we welcome CTO and Co-Founder of Adauris Ve Sharma. Adauris is a B2B SaaS narration tool for publishers that enables written content to be instantly transformed into rich audio experiences. As an audiophile himself, Ve is passionate about Ad Auris’s mission to help publishers & content creators create greater value from each piece of their writing, increasing accessibility and driving content engagement throughout the day through audio. 

Their platform combines synthetic narration with a suite of features designed to drive engagement, deliver the best audio experience, and provide rich insights into listeners’ behavior. 

It’s some very cool tech with a great mission behind it, and I’m excited to pick Ve’s brain on Ad Auris’s success to date, working with partners throughout the North American tech and startup ecosystem, and what’s on deck for the future. 

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 latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome seasoned product executive and award-winning founder of Lodestone, Dennis Chow!  

At Lodestone, Dennis and his team have built a product management software platform that helps busy product teams move faster and get more of their product work done. Ultimately, Lodestone helps teams drive towards comprehensive discovery and successful delivery of the right thing, for the right customers, at the right time.  

Recently, Lodestone’s bona fides were on display when they took home the Judge’s Choice award at the 2024 CodeLaunch Accelerator event in Toronto, where our team was absolutely pumped to cheer on Dennis from the front row!  

But this is hardly Dennis’s first go-round as an entrepreneur or lending support to the Canadian tech ecosystem. He’s currently on his fifth year as a Volunteer Advisor for the MaRS Discovery District out of Toronto, and has played a part in numerous successful startups over the course of his career to date.   

I can’t wait to pick Dennis’s brain on his path into entrepreneurship, his philosophy as a product developer and creator, and what’s in store for 2025.

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.

Driving innovation that truly revolutionizes sectors is a team effort. That’s exactly what Acto Co-Founder and CTO Kumar Erramilli is looking to do in the realm of biopharma, and he’s working with the team here at Boast to maximize his innovation potential and build one of the fastest-growing startups in all of Canada in the process. 

ACTO is an AI-powered Intelligent Field Excellence (IFE) platform built for Life Sciences that helps Sales, Marketing, and Medical teams improve customer engagement and brand performance by turning field professionals into “Masters of the Message” who engage HCPs and their support teams with authority and impact.

With ACTO, biopharma companies can ensure field professionals are always competent, confident, and credible, delivering the right message to HCPs in face-to-face interactions, while providing senior leaders and frontline managers with the insight they need to drive continuous field force effectiveness.

While all of this is impressive on its own, Kumar has a wealth of experience across the North American tech ecosystem, having played a role in numerous startups and tech-centric organizations in his career to date. He’s a passionate inventor of AI and software technologies that are looking to change the way Life Sciences industry consumes technology, and I can’t wait to pick his brain on what’s in store for Acto and his take on the state of startups 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’s guest on What The Tech is Styx Intelligence Co-Founder Santosh Nair! Styx Intelligence is a next-generation platform helping organizations manage Digital Risk. In his role at Styx Intelligence , Santosh leads the overall product vision and long-term strategy and development of its StyxView platform. 

Their Mission is to protect organizations’ digital assets and data with a platform that provides visibility while actually supporting remediation against threats. Their platform is also key to helping businesses manage risk associated with digital transformations across various areas including cyber, privacy, regulatory compliance, third party, and brand.

Along with founding Styx Intelligence, however, Santosh has a lengthy background in the Cyber Risk space, as well as a founder building new solutions in Canada and beyond. We at Boast first met Santosh through our friends at GetFresh Ventures, and I can’t wait to hear from Santosh the role that community connections can play in building great products and achieving growth. 

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.

Building a purpose-driven business isn’t easy. But when you start developing new technology that tackles a specific, pressing problem with a focus on the customers who most acutely need your solution, a wealth of support systems will open up to help your product take flight. 

To share their journey through Canada’s innovation ecosystem, we welcome onto the podcast Climative CEO Winston Morton. 

Climative is a clean tech company using AI-assisted digital energy assessments and blockchain to accelerate the decarbonization of the built environment. They create low-carbon plans for every building, which can be securely shared and updated by homeowners and those who support them to make better, faster decisions to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.

Winston started as Climative’s CTO before taking on the CEO mantle almost 2 years back, but his experience and expertise in the tech space is extensive. He’s an active member of the Futurpreneur and Volta communities, for instance, serving as a mentor for founders out of Halifax and beyond, while helping steer the tech trajectory of many innovative businesses over the past two decades.

It’s an impressive track record, and we pick Winston’s brain on what it takes to build a successful cleantech business in 2024 and what’s on deck as Climative 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.

At FMRK, Faisal and his team are developing a Rapid Urinary Tract Infection Antibiotic Susceptibility Test for the elderly and people with spinal cord injuries. Their technology is rooted in decentralized diagnostic testing solutions, making medical diagnostics easy to use, quick, and reliable. 

Their first-of-a-kind, near-patient Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing Device was designed exclusively for community healthcare settings—deriving results in 6 hours or less—making the entire process easy, simple and faster than the traditional methods. 

Along with driving this incredible diagnostic innovation, Faisal is also a member of the GetFresh Ventures community and has been making his mark in the BC tech and startup ecosystem. I’m excited to pick his brains on what’s next for FMRK, hear about his path as an entrepreneur, and learn about what’s in store for the rest of 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.

On the latest episode of What The Tech we welcome Hudhaifah Zahid, Co-Founder and CEO of econommi. 

At econommi, Hudhaifah and his team are  building a new generation of interest-free models that revolutionize private markets by digitizing real-world assets. Their unique technology can tokenize almost any asset — that includes cars today, and maybe rockets tomorrow. 

With over a decade of experience in economics, finance, and blockchain technology, Hudhaifah has a proven track record of developing cutting-edge risk scoring algorithms and creating efficient, debt-free financial systems, with expertise in enhancing liquidity, transparency, and returns for investors.

He is passionate about transitioning to an asset-based economy, addressing wealth inequality, and leveraging technology to create sustainable financial solutions.

It’s quite the mission, and I’m excited to pick his brain on what it takes to build a successful business in 2024! Without further ado, welcome to the show!

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 bonus episode we welcome a return guest onto the What The Tech podcast: Our pal Ilya Brotzky, CEO of VanHack. Ilya’s team just celebrated 9 years of success helping to create a borderless world for tech talent, with more than more than 450,000 members having joined the VanHack community from over 100 countries since VanHack’s inception. 

Ilya and his team are taking their on-demand staffing solution to the next level with the launch of VanHack’s SR&ED Unlocked program. In partnership with Boast, this new program is a boon for CCPCs—specifically, dev shops—throughout Canada by giving them an opportunity to unlock higher annual SR&ED claims while supporting some of the world’s top software engineering, design, and digital marketing talent in relocation. 

It’s an exciting program and opportunity, and we pick Ilya’s brain on how teams can take advantage and play a role in driving global innovation. 

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 special episode, we welcome a member of the Boast team onto the show, Mr. Shahed Khalili! Shahed is Boast’s Chief Product and Technical Officer, where he’s leading the team that’s building our award-winning, data-driven R&D intelligence platform, using the latest in AI and ML to help our clients accelerate their innovation and extend their product runways. 

At his core, Shahed is a dreamer, builder, and a seasoned operator who has made strides in the B2B SaaS space before joining Boast. Most recently, he helped grow Galvanize to unicorn status on its April 2021 sale to Diligent for $1B USD. He’s also been a two-time co-founder, an engineer, and a product manager throughout his career, and has gained a lot of insights about building powerful solutions that I can’t wait for him to share. 

In this conversation, we dive in and understand where Boast has been and what’s in store as we continue to grow and help even more innovative businesses maximize their investments into critical R&D. 

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 onto the show Developa Founder Beth Nevins. Developa is a people and talent consultancy with deep expertise and experience operating in and supporting start-ups backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia, Target Global, Balderton, and Atomico. As experts in People & Talent, Beth and her team work as advisors, coaches, and consultants to help startups accelerate and realize their vision.

Outside of Developa, Beth has extensive experience at tech-driven startups helping steer people ops and strategy at business from seed stage to commercial growth, international expansion, and following investment rounds.

In this interview, we pick Beth’s brain on what skills and strategies founders can leverage as they navigate the various stages of startup life (and eventually march toward the CEO mantle), how teams should build their C-Suite in the first place, and common challenges facing startups when it comes to People and Talent 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 to the show product development mastermind and tech guru Mathew Mozaffari of Speer. At Speer, Matthew and his team help startups and institutions build tools with proprietary tech, while assisting with end-to-end product development. 

At the same time, they’re also building apps and tools aimed to help improve our day-to-day lives, working beyond the technological nitty-gritty with a team of artists, designers, engineers and developers who strive to impact the world with their work.

Along with establishing a standardized practice for software development  for accreditation standards in North America and Europe, Mathew has led the expansion of Speer's technical practice and business markets to bring in over $5 million in revenue.

But beyond his business credentials, Mathew has been a major voice in Canada’s tech ecosystem, having traveled to 6 different countries for various competitions while being selected as a Top 30 Developer Under 30 in Canada already in his career. 

We're thrilled to learn more about the work Mathew is doing in the space, his strategies for success to date, and what’s in store for 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 TravelAI Co-Founder and CEO John Lyotier onto the show. TravelAI is an applied AI company that connects high-intent travelers to the largest travel websites in the world and over 10 million properties through a network of interconnected brands. The company was an early spin-out of Canadian-based Left Technologies (which John also co-founded) and built upon years of experience in online marketplaces and e-commerce. 

By partnering with the world’s largest travel retailers, TravelAI matches millions of travelers with their dream destinations each year, facilitating more than $1.5B in gross booking value and 6M nights booked since 2016

But as we alluded to earlier, this is hardly John’s first go-round as a Founder and entrepreneur. Today and in his past roles, John strives to lead by example, making even the most difficult business decisions based upon what is ‘right’ for all stakeholders, while advocating for responsible growth and championing Sustainable Commerce.

It’s a fantastic mission, and we pick John’s brain on his journey into the startup space, experience as a leading entrepreneur, and what’s on deck for the rest of 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 Manmeet Maggu, Founder and CEO  at Trexo Robotics. His team are re-imagining pediatric rehabilitation, while also redefining mobility solutions for all people. 

Manmeet started the company when he found out that his nephew had Cerebral Palsy and was unable to walk. Instead of waiting for the future to happen, Manmeet and his team decided to build the future he wanted to see and made the first-ever exoskeleton that helps children walk at home every day, in many cases for the first time in their lives.

Trexos are now being used by top hospitals and customers all over North America.

At Trexo, they’re out to create devices that are designed with the user in mind, building wearable robotic devices that can be used at home to help children with disabilities experience walking. It’s a mission that’s steeped in really cool R&D and innovation—and they’re just getting started!

I’m thrilled to pick Manmeet’s brain on the incredible innovation his team is driving, his team's goals for the future, and what it takes to drive innovation 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 Francis Beauchamp-Verdon, Co-Founder, VP and Business Development Director at AWL-E, to discuss his mission in the mobility space and the amazing vision his team share. 

At AWL-E, Francis and his team have developed  a revolutionary method to move electricity wirelessly that not only breaks all boundaries of innovation, but also has immense potential for exploitation. Their mission is to provide industries seeking innovation a way to optimize their processes and make wireless electricity commonplace, while meeting the growing consumer demand for novelty and spatial freedom.

It’s a big mission, and one that takes a lot of passion and entrepreneurial spirit to launch, which Francis has in spades. He’s an alumnae of the Creative Destruction Lab, has been part of the Centech MTL incubator, and is part of the MaRS Discovery District Community, to name just a few of the networks Francis has leveraged to drive his world-changing ideas. 

We’re thrilled to pick his brain on how he built AWL-E, his journey as an entrepreneur, and what the rest of 2024 and beyond has in store!

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 Shan Gu, Founder & CEO of Foci Solutions. At Foci Solutions, Shan’s team helps organizations build strong software engineering teams and self-sustaining talent engines, with the belief that the best engineering teams are ones that invest in each individual's development and learning.

Foci’s development pods work with their clients' software teams to provide coaching and mentorship on solid engineering principles and practices, while helping customers accelerate their product delivery velocity. Part-in-parcel, Foci also helps clients develop internal training and learning frameworks to rapidly ramp up new staff, ensuring a more resilient and self-sustaining workforce.

We can’t emphasize enough how valuable this approach can be for innovative founders, especially those driving unique R&D to develop truly innovative products and services. We pick Shan’s brain to understand how he got into this space, the successes he’s seen since launching Foci Solutions, and what’s on deck for the rest of 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 a member of the Boast team onto the show, Mr. Matt Funk! Matt is Boast’s VP of Customer Delivery, and has been a critical member of the Boast team pretty much since the beginning! He joined Boast back in 2013 as a Technology Advisor and has been helping steer the ship ever since, today leading our Customer Delivery arm and ensuring that the hundreds of businesses who work with Boast enjoy maximized claims with minimal effort or stress.

Along with picking his brain on what it’s been like seeing Boast grow and evolve over the past decade, I’m excited to hear his take on how the funding and innovation landscape has changed throughout his tenure at Boast. From mastering the SR&ED claim process, to expanding into the United States, to understanding what our customers have been up against before, today, and in the future—Matt’s seen a lot!

We dive in and understand where we’ve been and what’s in store as Boast continues to grow and help even more innovative businesses maximize their investments into critical R&D. 

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.

This episode we welcome Ian McCarter, the Director of Corporate Innovation at MaRS Discovery District. MaRS Discovery District helps Canadian startups succeed so they can solve our toughest problems in areas like climate, health and the economy. As North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity, MaRS provides direct support for more than 1,200 ventures, builds communities of innovators within its 1.5 million square feet of lab and office space and beyond, and spurs the adoption of new solutions — in Canada and around the world.

In Ian’s role, he’s focused on creating meaningful, economic relationships between Canadian ventures and globally significant early adopters of innovation. In particular, Ian has been helping energy, mobility, real estate, mining, construction, and heavy industry partners inject Canadian innovation into their net-zero journey.

Currently, this mandate includes the Mobility Unlimited Hub, which helps early-stage personal mobility companies bring their products and services to the people who need them most. Through a cohort-based program, startups are connected to the resources, talent and know-how needed to commercialize their innovations so that they can help more people put their goals and dreams in motion.

I’m excited to pick Ian’s brain on what it takes to drive innovation in the current market, dig into what urban innovation looks like, and in particular how important community—in it’s many definitions—is to building a successful, innovative business.

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’s guest is Jason Taylor, President and Founder of CodeLaunch, the FREE seed accelerator event that pairs tech startups with world class dev teams to help them raise. 

They do this by helping early stage tech startup founders get their digital products off the ground, increasing their likelihood to launch, raise funding, and succeed as a disruptive startup venture. Jason is an advocate for Conscious Capitalism and manages the Improving-CodeLaunch FUEL Fund which deploys investment capital into the growing community of CodeLaunch alumni.

So needless to say, Jason knows his way around the startup and tech ecosystem, and is expanding his reach this year by bringing the CodeLaunch party up to Toronto for an event that shines a light on Canadian Innovation. It’ll all culminate in a  North America-wide competition down in Texas this fall.

We dive into the details of that gathering, pick Jason’s brain on how he got into the startup space in the first place, and share some of the exciting innovation he’s played a hand in driving throughout his incredible career to date. 

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.