AI is changing startup math with Ripple Ventures’ Matt Cohen
Release Date: 09/01/2025
It’s ‘Valley or Bust’ for Canada’s young entrepreneurs
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“In the beginning, we were like, ‘this must be a scam’ because with the way things move in Waterloo and Toronto, it seemed way too fast.” A chance pitch competition connection took Colare co-founder Nain Abdi from Waterloo to Silicon Valley. He explains what pulled his company south, why his peers are eager to make a similar leap, and what (if anything) could convince him to return to Canada. The BetaKit Podcast is presented by QuickBooks on the Intuit platform, built to help Canadian businesses work smarter, more efficiently and make confident decisions. QuickBooks on the Intuit...
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Dominion Dynamics' CEO thinks defence is a “generational opportunity” for Canadian entrepreneurs
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“Too many American subs dominate this market. Eighty percent of what we buy is from American companies. We wanna reverse that. We wanna make 80 percent of what we buy from Canadian companies. So we frankly don't care what we do as long as we are a Canadian defence company.“ Dominion Dynamics founder and CEO Eliot Pence wants to build Canada’s first “defence prime.” On this episode of The BetaKit Podcast, he explains why defence tech matters to Canadian innovation and the future of the country before digging into the recent federal budget commitments. Recorded live on the BetaKit...
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Budget 2025: “cautiously optimistic”
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
It’s a power-packed post-Budget panel podcast featuring a plethora of Canadian policy wonks! Vass Bednar (Canadian SHIELD Institute), Benjamin Bergen (CCI), and Jaxson Khan (Aperture AI) join to explore the story Budget 2025 tells of Canada, and what juicy nuggets of tech policy and financial commitments need to be dunked in the dipping sauce of greater detail. Let’s dig in! The BetaKit Podcast is presented by Zoho, developers of a unique and powerful software suite that transforms the way you work. Zoho’s flagship user conference, Zoholics Toronto 2025, is coming November 18-19 at...
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What the AWS outage reveals about Canada’s digital sovereignty
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“We were sleepwalking our way into this new economy, and we’ve had a bit of a wake-up call.” Ian Rae, CEO of Aptum and a member of Minister Evan Solomon’s AI Task Force, has been building internet infrastructure since 1994. Recorded the day after the AWS outage, Rae joins to explain why such outages happen and what they reveal about the economics of the internet and Canada’s digital sovereignty goals. This episode of The BetaKit Podcast is brought to you by The Cyber Challenge—your pathway to new sales, industry connections, and non-dilutive funding. The Cyber Challenge, powered by...
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Why Canada doesn’t buy Canadian tech
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“If you’re a founder in Canada, you have a playbook, which is: try to get outside of the country as soon as possible. Try to sell outside of the country.” Raymond Luk thinks the “cultural belief we’re not good enough” creates a homecourt disadvantage for Canadian tech. He’s trying to kickstart a solution to our nation’s procurement woes with a new summit called Source Canada, so buyers and sellers can speed date. Is a cultural kick in the pants enough to get Canada to buy Canadian tech? Let’s dig in. This episode of The BetaKit Podcast is brought to you by The Cyber...
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Can Canada build its own social network?
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“It’s one thing to say ‘let’s do this in a sovereign way.’ It is a whole other to actually do it.” Gander Social is attempting to do something that seemed inconceivable six months ago: build a Canadian social network. What does sovereign social media look like? And what will prevent Gander from devolving into every other social network? CEO Ben Waldman joins to answer these questions and many more. This episode of the BetaKit Podcast is brought to you by The Cyber Challenge—your pathway to new sales, industry connections, and non-dilutive funding. The Cyber Challenge, powered by...
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Are Canadian entrepreneurs willing to let their old companies die?
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“Don’t talk to your customers because your customers will keep you in the place that you used to be.” AI adoption is now an industry-wide mandate. It’s putting a lot of pressure on Canadian entrepreneurs: to scale with customer demand (safely and responsibly); to reskill employees; even to kill their old company to let the new AI-first version live. What are the challenges and opportunities? Featuring Michael Buhr (C100), Aydin Mirzaee (Fellow AI), Avery Pennarun (Tailscale), and Amanda Arciero (Airudi). Recorded live at ALL IN 2025. This episode of the BetaKit Podcast is brought to...
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Tailscale’s CEO has an idea “worth billions” for AI startups
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“That’s the literal term several CISOs have used with me unprompted: ‘ticking time bomb.’ There’s no world in which this doesn’t explode the way it’s done right now.” Tailscale CEO Avery Pennarun thinks the AI revolution has put a gun to the head of CISOs: embrace unsafe data practices or get fired. They’ve told him the cybersecurity risks are a “ticking time bomb.” Pennarun joins The BetaKit Podcast to explain how his company has evolved from a programmable mesh network to air traffic control for AI agents, and why he needs other startups to build new tools to make sure...
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Why Canada’s defence tech sector is suddenly exploding
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“It actually allows us an opportunity to build sovereign capability and leapfrog to get our armed forces where they need to be by taking advantage of leapfrog Canadian technologies.” US President Donald Trump opened his mouth and suddenly Canada needed a defence tech sector. The Icebreaker’s Matthew Lombardi was conscripted by the federal government to help map that sector; he joins to explain why many of the technologies Canada currently develops have a dual use in defence. The BetaKit Podcast is presented by CADSI: the national voice of Canada’s defence, security, and emerging...
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Amber Mac wants parents to know their kids are talking to AI
The BetaKit Podcast Channel
“There’s a really good chance that a young person’s parents—or even their friends—don’t even know that this individual is building a relationship with these chatbots. And that’s where the danger exists.” Tech expert Amber Mac is on the advisory board of , a new tech festival in Toronto dedicated to digital wellness for teens. She desperately wants parents to know the reasons why their kids are talking to AI, and the dangers of manipulative chatbots pretending to be their friends. -- The BetaKit Podcast is presented by K-GLOBE 2025: Be part of the global innovation exchange....
info_outline“ That's also quite daunting as an investor to be able to put money into something that is perfect for now, but will it last three to five years? Will it even last three to six months?”
Ripple Ventures managing partner and podcaster Matt Cohen joins to discuss the insane revenue numbers generated by the new cohort of AI startups, and how VCs are navigating the froth by updating their evaluation criteria (and hoping the growth continues). Grab your calculator and let’s dig in.
The BetaKit Podcast is presented by The BetaKit Innovation Leaders program: designed for incubators, accelerators, and innovation orgs across Canada.
Members gain access to monthly media training, weekly office hours, and ongoing brand recognition on BetaKit. You’ll also receive strategic promotional support: sponsored content, newsletter amplification, and event marketing, to help your stories reach the right audience.
If you’re looking to better support the innovators in your network, learn more at betakit.com/innovation-leaders.
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