The Hard Part with Evan McCann

Jim Murphy was the co-founder of Boltmade which was acquired by Shopify. In this episode, we discuss Jim’s extensive tech background, the Waterloo tech scene, and what it is like being acquired by Shopify, Jim’s view on investing and why he decided to buy a farm. Check out Jim's brewery, Elora Brewing Company.

Justin Herlick is the co-founder of Pine. Pine is transforming the Canadian home financing process by creating a new digital-first, direct-to-consumer and low-rate process for their clients. In this episode, we discuss Justin’s background that led to starting Pine, he also gives a crash course on the mortgage industry in Canada and why it is ripe for disruption. If you are looking for a mortgage, Pine is currently available in BC, Alberta and Ontario. Apply here.

Andrew Arruda is the co-founder of Flexpa. Flexpa is improving healthcare for everyone by building developer-first infrastructure. In this episode, we discuss Andrew’s first venture ROSS Intelligence, what it is like building an API business and why Andrew chose health tech for his second venture.

Jason Goldlist is the co-founder of Venue. Venue is the platform powering internal meetings that inspire and engage remote-first teams like Shopify and Wealthsimple. In this episode, we discuss Jason’s early days at Wealthsimple, the power of people and what makes Venue different in a busy video conferencing space. Jason is also a co-founder of TechTO. TechTO is a technology community that wins together. We help tech founders, leaders, and their teams meet, learn, and grow. If you are in the GTA area feel free to follow them and attend events!

My guest today is Aaron Upright the co-founder of Zenhub. Zenhub helps teams ship great code faster with time-saving agile automations, less meetings, & more visibility in GitHub. In this episode, we how Aaron came to co-found Zenhub, the impact that Zenhub has on teams building software and why Aaron's favourite books are not business books.

Brandon Waselnuk is the co-founder of Codex. Codex is an IDE extension that allows any engineer to attach comments, questions, notes or any kind of content to specific lines of code. In this episode, we discuss Brandon’s first venture TattooHero, Brandon’s extensive product background and the unique way he and his team created Codex.

Cameron Service is the co-founder of Kulin and Oddit. Kulin helps DTC eCommerce brands scale revenue through smart strategy, Google ads, paid social, email/SMS and creative. Oddit provides UX teardowns for websites looking to boost long-term conversion & strengthen brand loyalty. In this episode, we discuss Cameron’s history in the branding space, starting 3 different companies and what brand really means.

Brandon Li is the co-founder of Power. Power is the most patient-friendly platform for clinical trials. They are making it easy for all patients to discover promising clinical trials and get in touch with the researchers directly. In this episode, we discuss Brandon’s entrepreneurial background, obsession with marketplaces and how the clinical trial process needs to be disrupted. Read about Power's seed round in BetaKit. Read about Power's seed round in Axios (sub required).

My guest today is Marc Campagna. Marc is the co-founder of oxio. oxio is an internet service provider without the big telco bullsh*t. In this episode, we discuss how Marc started oxio and then I got a crash course on the Canadian telecom space. Check out oxio's website to enter your address to see if you can switch today!

Ted Spare is the co-founder of Neat. Neat is a unified inbox for work notifications. Currently focused on GitHub and Linear for software engineers. In this episode with Ted, we discuss Ted’s first dip into entrepreneurship at McGill, building tools for developers and Ted’s framework to interview customers. Teams from Lego, Microsoft and Twilio use Neat for their notifications. Go to Neat.run to download!