What The Tech?

Boast AI
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Jan 26, 2026 • 25min

Turning Moments Into Memories with Sophie Jiang of MoVA Realities

In the latest episode of What the Tech from Boast, we sat down with Sophie Jiang, CEO and Co-Founder of MoVA Realities, a company on a mission to solve what Sophie calls "the hardest problem in business": turning audiences into champions who carry your story forward. We first connected with Sophie at SaaS North in Ottawa, where she took part in a pitch competition sponsored by Boast and TechTO, and absolutely wowed the crowd. MoVA helps businesses turn their brands into 3D experiences where human connection meets scalable innovation. Built on the science of memory and crafted with the elegance of technology and art, MoVA ensures brand experiences stand out in a world flooded with content, text, and noise. Sophie's journey to founding MoVA is rooted in her architecture background at Princeton, where a cross-disciplinary accelerator program introduced her to the power of AR and VR and changed everything. 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.
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Jan 19, 2026 • 28min

Building Without the Boys Club: How Athena Collective is Democratizing Entrepreneurial Success for Women

In the latest episode of What the Tech from Boast we sat down with Mikayla Stewart, Co-Founder and CTO of Athena Collective, a platform and community designed to ensure that every female entrepreneur has the resources and tools they need to succeed—regardless of background or bank balance. Mikayla brings a unique background to this mission: she's served as a fractional COO for 12+ stealth-stage startups, turning chaotic early-stage businesses into well-oiled machines. More recently, she's been building custom AI-powered applications that solve operational problems without unnecessary bloat. At Athena Collective, she's channeling all that operational expertise and technical skill into solving a problem that has frustrated her for years: the systematic disadvantage female founders face when building businesses. 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.
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Jan 12, 2026 • 24min

Turning Conversations Into Action: How Momentum.io Makes Conversational Data Your Competitive Moat

In the latest episode of What the Tech, we sat down with Jonathan Kvarfordt, VP of GTM Strategy at Momentum.io and founder of the GTM AI Academy. With over 15 years in revenue excellence and GTM acceleration, Jonathan has developed an AI GTM data orchestration platform that's fundamentally changing how businesses capture, structure, and activate conversational data. For customers like Zscaler, DemandBase, Ramp, and 1Password, this has translated into productivity gains of 3-10 hours per rep per week. But the real breakthrough isn't just about time savings—it's about unlocking a competitive moat that most companies don't even realize they're sitting on. 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.
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Jan 5, 2026 • 24min

Beyond the CRM: How Bloks is Building the Ultimate Relationship Management Tool

On the latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome Bloks co-founder and CEO Marc Gingras. We first connected with Marc as part of our activation with the TechTO team at SaaS North in Ottawa back in early November, where Marc took the stage to explain the game-changing innovation behind the Bloks platform.  At Bloks, Marc’s team is helping Venture Capital and Private Equity partners rethink their work by eliminating the tedious busywork that’s strife in traditional CRMs and investment workflows, freeing teams up to focus on discovering and nurture the future’s most exciting companies.  This is just part of Marc’s journey through the innovation ecosystem, as he’s been a leading entrepreneur in Ottawa and beyond for more than a decade. I’m excited to learn about his path through Canada’s tech ecosystem, the incredible work his team is doing at Bloks, and what’s on deck for 2026. 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.
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Dec 18, 2025 • 23min

Quebec's AI Revolution: Inside the CDAE-IA Transformation and Boast's Purpose-Built Solution

On the latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome a few members of the Boast team onto the show for a discussion focused specifically on driving (and funding) innovation in Quebec. If you’re a Quebecois business leader or techie, you may have heard that the province’s banner e-business tax credit—known colloquially as CDAE—is being revamped starting next year as the province expands the vision and support for fostering innovative business within Quebec.  One of the biggest enhancements to the program is a greater focus on—you guessed it—AI, and rewarding businesses who are using the latest and greatest tools and techniques to push the boundaries on what’s possible when it comes to R&D.  Joining the show to unpack it all are Joshua Martin, who leads Boast's Quebec Sales Division, and Blake Nelson, who leads Boast’s product development team and is one of the brains behind our new solution dedicated to claiming R&D tax credits in Quebec as CDAE transforms into CDAE-IA in 2026. This is quite the brain trust we have on hand; we dive right in and pick their brains on what the new program means for innovators in Quebec and how Boast is ‘meeting the moment’ with our new dedicated CDAE-IA solutions.  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.
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Dec 9, 2025 • 32min

How EnviroApps is Digitizing Hazmat Transportation Safety

In the latest episode of What the Tech, we sat down with Amit Bhargava, co-founder and CEO of EnviroApps Inc., a Calgary-based company making the transportation of dangerous goods safer by developing the first proven electronic hazmat shipping paper solution in Canada. Over the past five years, Amit and his team have been on a mission to replace what they call "CRAPI" paper processes—Cumbersome, Ridiculous, Archaic, Painful, and Inefficient. By offering digital solutions instead of physical paperwork, EnviroApps delivers the visibility and control that teams need when documentation access is literally a matter of life and death. Because when emergency responders arrive at a hazmat incident, they need to know what they're dealing with, and they shouldn't have to risk their lives going into a dangerous truck to find paper documents. 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.
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Dec 3, 2025 • 17min

From Police Officer to Civic Tech Pioneer: How CocoFlow is Transforming How Communities Connect

In the latest episode of What the Tech from Boast we sat down with Bernie Florido, founder and CEO of Cocoflo Innovations, a Vancouver-based company creating technology that simplifies how governments and communities connect. CocoFlow integrates business licensing, parks and recreation, and payment processing modules into software solutions that empower municipalities to serve their citizens better because—as Bernie and his team believe—smarter cities create better lives. What makes Bernie's story particularly compelling is his background: He spent more than 13 years as a police officer before going all in on his tech-enabled mission. That experience shaped his resilience, leadership, and deep commitment to public service in ways that continue to inform how Cocoflo Innovations approaches civic technology today. 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.
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Nov 24, 2025 • 25min

Bringing Sustainable Manufacturing Home: How CTK Bio is Reshoring Production and Scaling Plant-Based Materials

Innovation in Sustainable Materials: A Conversation with Daniel Shum of CTK BioWelcome to What The Tech #podcast  by Boast, where  ⁨@pauldavenport3⁩ talks with Daniel Shum, CTO of CTK Bio, about their groundbreaking work in sustainable materials made from upcycled plant waste. They discuss CTK Bio's efforts to shift manufacturing to North America to reduce carbon footprint and costs, the innovative R&D projects including compounding with hemp and agave, and their aim to synthesize materials from plant waste. Learn how CTK Bio navigates #sustainability challenges, builds strategic partnerships, and effectively uses #innovation  #taxcredits with Boast. Join us as we delve into the milestones and future projects that promise to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable products.00:00 Introduction and Welcome02:02 CTK Bio's Recent Milestones05:39 Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem09:01 Innovations and Technical Challenges18:48 Funding and Collaboration with Boast23:05 Future Plans for CTK Bio24:18 Conclusion and FarewellBoast 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.
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Nov 18, 2025 • 29min

From Finance Leader to Founder: How Profitual is Democratizing Financial Intelligence for Startups

In the latest episode of What the Tech, we sat down with Raymond Fitzpatrick, CEO and founder of Profitual, a New Brunswick-based company on a mission to democratize financial intelligence for SMEs. Ray is an experienced finance leader and former VC who saw a critical gap in the market: Startup founders determined to disrupt their industries often lack the financial expertise needed to navigate growth and make confident decisions as they scale. Profitual was born from a simple but powerful observation—the playing field isn't level for founders without financial backgrounds. Ray and his team are executing on a vision to provide innovative AI-powered financial tools that transform complex data into clear, actionable insights, allowing founders to make the kind of informed decisions that can mean the difference between thriving and merely surviving. 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.
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Nov 12, 2025 • 35min

Navigating AI Innovations and Investment Strategies with Tony Kim

In the latest episode of What the Tech from Boast, we sat down with Tony Kim, a corporate investor focused on AI infrastructure, deep tech, and enterprise SaaS. Tony works at a Fortune 100 company's corporate development and venture arm, where he's engaged in everything from M&A to venture capital and LP investing.What makes this conversation particularly timely is the perspective Tony brings: He's operating at the intersection of traditional corporate strategy and the breakneck pace of AI innovation. As someone who started his career as an investment banker covering infrastructure and telecom in New York City, he's watched the foundational layers of technology evolve. Now, he's helping shape how a major corporation responds to the AI revolution. His insights on corporate venture capital (CVC), AI investment strategy, and what separates genuine innovation from hype are exactly what founders need to hear as they navigate 2025's rapidly changing landscape. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome01:10 Tony's Background and Career Journey02:47 Understanding the CVC and VC Landscape06:52 AI Investment Strategies and Trends14:41 Evaluating AI Innovations25:21 Future of AI and Infrastructure32:32 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsThe views expressed in this interview by Tony S. Kim are his own and do not reflect those of his employer.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.

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