AI Salon x Flagship Podcast: Live @ Mila

Dec 2, 2025

Guest

Mohamed El-Barachi (Mo)

Guest

Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis

Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis leads the seed fund at White Star Capital, sharing insights on pragmatic VC approaches to AI and what founders should focus on to secure funding. Mohamed El-Barachi (Mo), co-founder of Wrk, discusses the challenges of AI deployment and warns against overreliance on cloud models, emphasizing vendor sovereignty. They both highlight the significant role of Canada in the AI landscape, advocating for a shift away from small-market thinking towards leveraging local talent and resources for impactful outcomes.

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INSIGHT

AI Cycle Is Rapid And Multi-Layered

AI is moving at a “psychotic” speed and reshaping VC playbooks across model, infra, and application layers.
Investors see the LLM layer as capital- and compute-intensive while apps and infra present more accessible opportunities.

ADVICE

Prioritize Fundamentals Over Hype

Be pragmatic: evaluate AI startups by team, problem, product stickiness, and durable moats rather than hype.
Prefer vertical SaaS that leverages proprietary data and embeds into customer workflows for long-term value.

INSIGHT

Data Beats Model Ownership

Data access and privileged datasets are now the primary source of differentiation for enterprise AI.
Secure, exclusive corporate data partnerships are more defensible than model ownership alone.

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We closed out the year with a special live recording of the Flagship Podcast in collaboration with AI Salon at Mila, a packed evening featuring a Montréal VC panel, an AI founder roundtable, and a fireside keynote with Sam Ramadori (BrainBox AI, now co-president of Law Zero).

Across all three segments, one theme dominated: AI is moving faster than any tech cycle before it, and Canada has a once-in-a-generation chance to lead.

VC Panel, Navigating the AI Wave

Investors from Inovia, White Star, and Amiral Ventures explored the chaos and opportunity of today's market. The AI cycle is "psychotic" in speed and scope, but the fundamentals still matter: strong teams, sticky products, real customer value. The best startups will use AI as an enabler, not the product, and differentiate through privileged data, deep domain expertise, and the ability to deliver ROI, not hype.

Founder Panel, Building Real AI Companies in Montréal

Budpress, Maxa, and Wrk shared candid takes from the front lines: why traditional SaaS is being rewritten, how open-source models and reasoning engines are changing the game, and why Montréal remains one of the best bases in the world for AI talent and cost-efficient scaling. The founders stressed that Canada must shed its "small market" mindset, big outcomes are possible here.

Keynote with Sam Ramadori, AI, Climate, and Responsibility

Sam recounted his unlikely journey from private equity to leading BrainBox AI through an acquisition, and why he's now dedicating himself to Law Zero, a nonprofit effort led by Yoshua Bengio to build safer, more reliable AI systems. His message was clear: Canada has extraordinary AI talent, but must rally around sovereignty, responsible innovation, and deeper collaboration to avoid being squeezed between global superpowers.

The night ended with a message to the community: this is our moment. We have world-class research, world-class founders, and a fast-maturing ecosystem. If we choose ambition, and support one another, Montréal can be one of the defining AI hubs of this decade.