Startup Canada Podcast

Food, drink and culture are three things that often intersect. They help to build cultural, creative and social connections amongst communities. Matthew Johnston, CEO and Co-founder of Collective Arts Brewing, is working to increase creative consciousness through delicious craft beverages, art and inclusivity.  Matt Johnston is the co-founder and CEO of Collective Arts Brewing Ltd. He started the company alongside Bob Russell in 2012 on the basis of two principles: creativity fostering creativity, and creativity fostering delicious craft beverages. Matt has built and managed brands in every major beer category, from craft, to import, to domestic, as well as brands in the value segment. As CEO of Collective Arts, he has spent the last 7 years disrupting the craft beverage market.  Collective Arts, founded in 2013 in Hamilton, Ontario, has a wide range of beers, ciders, spirits and canned cocktails that are designed to be as diverse, creative, and unwavering as the artists profiled; respecting tradition, but not constrained by it. Collective Arts features limited-edition works of art by artists and musicians that change every few months. To date, more than 1,000 artists and musicians have been featured and championed by Collective Arts. Collective Arts was named one of Linkedin’s 2018 & 2019 Top 25 Canadian Startups and is now distributing in every Canadian province, 20 U.S. states, the UK, eight countries in the EU, China and Australia.  “I disdain the status quo, and love all things creative – it challenges me and inspires me.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Matthew discusses the strides to create a brand inspired by creativity and bridging cultural gaps with art & drink. The post Mixing Art and Management with Matthew Johnston – May 11, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Less than 35% of students leaving post secondary education in Canada feel confident enough to manage their own finances. Gurgeet Matharu and Aman Thind of Nava Ventures are on a mission to change that! Gurjeet is an experienced Full Stack Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the Financial Services and Defence industries. He is skilled in Kubernetes, Cloud, Python, Java and supporting the production of ML and scientific workflows and products. Gurjeet has a strong engineering professional with a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) focused in Systems Engineering from Simon Fraser University. Gurjeet also recently taught cybersecurity at BCIT. In his spare time, he enjoys playing with his family dog, junior, or doing Ju-Jitsu. Aman Thind is the Head of Sales and Marketing at Nava Ventures. Nava aims to build a gamified financial literacy and banking app for Canadian Credit Unions to provide to their members. Being a former student-athlete and honours graduate, Aman understands the level of dedication required to make something succeed. Soon after leading Club 16 in both monthly membership and personal training sales, he completed a Junior Analyst internship at Altus Group in the Research, Valuations, and Advisory department. In Aman’s spare time, he coaches children aged 6 to 18, in soccer, to be a positive influence on the community and pave the way for the next generation.  Nava Ventures was also the winner of Startup Canada’s ‘Startup Impact: Sustainable Development Goal Pitch Competition’ in the poverty reduction category. “In a time like this, you can choose to quit and blame life on COVID or you can be someone who thrives when the rest of the world seems hopeless.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Aman and Gurgeet discuss value alignment, fundraising for startups, and their mission to empower millennials with financial literacy.The post Financial Literacy as Empowerment with Gurgeet Matharu & Aman Thind – May 4, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Every entrepreneur faces challenges along their journey to success. Warren Dietrich, partner at Earthli Plant-Powered Superfoods Inc., believes approaching these barriers optimistically can make all the difference.   Warren Dietrich is the co-founder of Earthli Plant-Powered Superfoods Inc. and a Civil Engineering student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, graduating in 2021.  In April 2017, Warren was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer. After a long 2-year battle with cancer, he successfully entered remission. Since remission, Warren has become a prominent volunteer and spokesperson for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada. Cancer is also what inspired Warren to co-found Earthli, a socially conscious, value-based Canadian company focused on plant-based superfoods and environmentally friendly practices that promote bodily health and overall wellness. Warren was also the winner of Startup Canada’s 2020 Startup Impact pitch competition in the category of Climate Action. “When starting your business, do it optimistically. Deciding how you’ll attack challenges is really going to be what makes or breaks your business.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Warren discusses current trends in the health food sector, sustainability, and the power of optimism – both in life and in business.The post Optimism: The Essential Resilience Tool with Warren Dietrich – April 27, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

In a world of so many uncertainties, one of the main reasons founder’s avoid strategic planning is because it seems like a waste of time. Warren Coughlin, business coach at JumpStart Coaching, believes if you learn to play the probabilities, you’ll have an edge up on competition when navigating adversity. Warren helps principled entrepreneurs build a Business That Matters. That is one that delivers to you, the owner, attractive profits and a fulfilling lifestyle while also creating positive impacts on customers, team and the larger community.  In other words, it is one that helps make the world – or just your corner of it – a better place. This requires a combination of solid business skills and disciplines guided by deeply held values. He’s been helping entrepreneurs do this since 2002. They have experienced everything from 8 figure exits, to 7 figure salaries, from rapid expansion to minimized operational work because of the development of great leaders and high performance values-driven cultures. Warren’s also a recovering lawyer, a serial entrepreneur, college professor, actor, theater director and Dad to a wonderful daughter who constantly challenges him to be a better person.   “A rookie poker player can beat a professional in any given hand, but the pro player is always going to win the game. Strategic business planning works like the discipline of the pro player.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Warren discusses finding the root problem, and the need for execution and accountability in strategic planning. The post Strategic Planning: Playing the Odds with Warren Coughlin – April 20, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Greg Kiessling, founding chair of Canadians for Clean Prosperity, discusses the potential of cleantech and the impact of carbon pricing on profitability. He shares insights on the clean tech space, strategic hiring, transitioning to social entrepreneurship, and the importance of green energy initiatives. The conversation also highlights Inmotive's innovative two-speed transmission for electric vehicles and the shift towards a net-zero carbon future.

Sunny Fong and Jess Chow talk about the importance of a healthy co-founder relationship, curiosity, and creativity in entrepreneurship. They discuss blending luxury and creativity in watch design, navigating challenges during product launches, the significance of the brand name 'Viren', strategies for brand expansion, and the entrepreneurial journey through listening and mentoring.

Community is incredibly powerful when building a company and when attempting to solve a pain point in someone’s life, just ask Ravina Anand, Co-Founder of FLIK! Ravina Anand is a social-tech entrepreneur and the COO of FLIK, the first female-identifying apprenticeship portal. In a hyper globalized world, Ravina aims to advance women’s economic participation and help women from remote and underserved communities. With experience in municipal politics and community advocacy, she promotes diversity by encouraging people to fight injustices and challenge stereotypes.  On a global level, Ravina advocates for women and creates conversations around the trends and procurement for scaling social innovation situated in inclusivity, diversity, and equity. She has had the honour of speaking across North America to industry leaders, students, and creators about shattering expectations and breaking barriers.  “People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. As entrepreneurs, one of the most important things we can do is connect with our community.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Ravina discusses her journey in social impact entrepreneurship and the power of community.The post The Power of Community with Ravina Anand – March 30, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Creating new value for our customers and our communities is vital as we scale the impact of our businesses – enter Debbie Motilewa, Sustainable Business Leader at Afro-hub Market! In the past nine years, Deborah Motilewa has helped several entrepreneurs across three different continents – North America, Africa and Europe create shared value – focusing simultaneously on the community and business profit (triple bottom line). At 25, she was the youngest PhD graduate from Covenant University, Africa’s most prestigious University. In the startup world, Deborah is the sustainable business leader of two social enterprises: The VolunteerNG and Afro Hub Community – both focus on creating sustainable communities in line with a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The VolunteerNG has partnered with over 70 volunteers, mentored over 800 young adults, and is sponsoring 30 kids through elementary and high school. In the research world, she writes peer-reviewed articles and makes contributions on corporate social responsibility, business sustainability and human capital development. Deborah has over 30 published articles and has contributed to academic books. She is also the author of “SMART Goals: Making habits work for you”, and is currently working on her second book on sustainable business management. “Think value, always. Creating new value for our communities and people. People always remember businesses that make an impact.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Debbie discusses sustainable business management, the art of creating new value, and her work with Afro-hub Market.The post Creating New Value with Debbie Motilewa – March 23, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Fear of criticism, judgement, and failure – fear is something founders are all too familiar with. Keturah Osinde, CEO of Fittedfast, thinks instead of avoiding fear, we should harness it. When Keturah was a kid in high school, the last thing she thought she would want to take on was entrepreneurship and the world of creation. In fact, she wanted to be an orthodontist. Fast forward a few years later and Keturah was applying for her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto — thankfully realizing that her passion was not with mitochondria or chlorophyll cells: but with justice, writing, creativity, and development of the city through technological means. Keturah is currently a 4th-year student at the University of Toronto double majoring in Ethics, Society + Law, and Urban studies; minor Women’s Gender studies. Fittedfast was created out of her love for technology and the city. In the era of social distancing and COVID19, local business closures were becoming more common within the city of Toronto. When Keturah recognized these trends, she created Fittedfast to bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping with hopes of levelling the playing field for local businesses against giants like Amazon. “We can choose to see fear as an opportunity – something we look straight in the eye and attack.” In this week’s episode of the #StartupCanadaPodcast, sponsored by Mastercard, Keturah discusses the science of fear, navigating fear as an opportunity, and choosing to become “the person that makes it happen”.The post Harnessing Fear with Keturah Osinde – March 16, 2021 first appeared on Startup Canada.

Ashley Werhun, CEO of Mentorly.co, shares insights on making mentorship accessible. She discusses the power of diverse mentors, the impact of mentorship on entrepreneurs, and the importance of resilience in entrepreneurship. The podcast delves into Mentorly's future plans for expansion and highlights the value of maintaining a positive mindset in entrepreneurship.