The Hard Part with Evan McCann Francois Lafortune from Diagram Ventures
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Oct 1, 2025 Francois Lafortune, Co-founder and CEO of Diagram Ventures, shares his entrepreneurial journey, inspired by his work with Wealthsimple. He discusses how Diagram sources and validates ideas through a problem-first approach and outlines criteria for startups' success, including market timing and competition analysis. Francois emphasizes the importance of building strong founding teams and explains their strategy for maintaining a founder-friendly investment model. He also highlights emerging trends beyond AI, such as stablecoins and digital payments, providing insight into the future of business.
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Origin Story Of Diagram
- Francois Lafortune traced Diagram's origin to his teenage franchise business and later work with Paul Demre III on Wealthsimple.
- Those experiences convinced him a studio combining capital, network, and playbooks could systematically launch companies.
Idea-First Studio Advantage
- Diagram follows an "idea-first" studio model, running many idea validations in parallel for 9–12 months.
- This produces de-risked starting points founders can join with advantages they couldn't achieve alone.
Validate Timing, Not Just The Idea
- Prioritize 'why now' when evaluating an idea by identifying timing catalysts like regulation or infrastructure.
- If you can't explain why it will work now but failed before, treat it as a red flag.