Debate Series: Sovereign Bitcoin with Thibaud Marechal, Vice-President @ Knox Custody
Release Date: 01/22/2021
North Star | Fireside Dax Dasilva & Fred Lalonde
Flagship Podcast
Two of Montreal’s most iconic tech founders — Dax Dasilva (Lightspeed) and Fred Lalonde (Hopper & Deep Sky) — sit down for a rare and candid fireside conversation on building global companies from Canada, surviving the founder rollercoaster, and using technology and capitalism to tackle world-scale problems. From bootstrapping and product-market fit, to IPOs, hypergrowth, culture, leadership, and climate action — this keynote goes deep into what it really takes to build enduring companies. This is not a highlight reel. It’s an unfiltered operator conversation. In this keynote,...
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North Star | Young Founder Panel
Flagship Podcast
At North Star, we brought together top founders and emerging entrepreneurs for a candid panel on what it really takes to build in today’s tech ecosystem — from first traction to scale, hard lessons, and unfair advantages. In this session, the panel shares practical insights on: How to get your first real customers Mistakes founders make early (and how to avoid them) Fundraising vs. bootstrapping decisions Building momentum with limited resources What great investors actually look for Tactical growth and execution tips If you’re a founder, operator, investor, or student exploring...
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North Star | Live Tech Poutine Podcast
Flagship Podcast
This is the North Star Pre-Show — recorded live as a Tech Poutine podcast session — where founders, investors, and ecosystem builders warm up the room before the main event with unscripted startup talk, real operator stories, and behind-the-scenes insights. This pre-show segment sets the stage for an exciting day filled with inspiration and insight from a dynamic lineup of entrepreneurs. Reflecting on last year's success, the hosts discuss the unique value of gathering experienced founders and ambitious young entrepreneurs, all while growing the event to new heights. Hear about keynote...
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AI Salon x Flagship Podcast: Live @ Mila
Flagship Podcast
We closed out the year with a special live recording of the Flagship Podcast in collaboration with AI Salon at Mila, a packed evening featuring a Montréal VC panel, an AI founder roundtable, and a fireside keynote with Sam Ramadori (BrainBox AI, now co-president of Law Zero). Across all three segments, one theme dominated: AI is moving faster than any tech cycle before it, and Canada has a once-in-a-generation chance to lead. VC Panel, Navigating the AI Wave Investors from Inovia, White Star, and Amiral Ventures explored the chaos and opportunity of today’s market. The AI cycle is...
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Inside Canadian Tech Journalism with Josh Scott, Lead Reporter @ Betakit
Flagship Podcast
In this insightful episode, we turn the tables on Josh Scott from BetaKit, delving into his journey in journalism and passion for Canadian tech. Josh shares his early writing experiences, challenges in the industry, and the invigorating process of reporting on tech startups. We dive into engaging discussions on the evolution of journalism, the state of Canadian tech, the intricacies of venture capital, and the policy landscape shaping the tech industry. With candid reflections on past stories and predictions for future trends, Josh offers a compelling look at the importance of transparent...
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The Journey from Founder to VC: Etienne Mérineau's Path
Flagship Podcast
Étienne shared his journey from founding his own startup to becoming a VC. He talked about what pushed him to start a fund after exiting his company and the unexpected path that led him there. He reflected on his transition from founder life to joining a larger company, Hootsuite, and how that experience shaped his perspective as an investor. Étienne opened up about the lessons he learned along the way, the value of resilience, trust, and playing the long game in both building and backing startups. He also spoke about his partnership with Luis & Varun at Telegraph Hill Capital and their...
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How Trampoline is Changing the RFP Game with Edouard Reinach, CEO & Co-Founder
Flagship Podcast
In this episode, I spoke with Edouard Reinach, CEO & co-founder of Trampoline AI. We explore their journey, focused on revolutionizing the RFP response process using AI. The discussion covers the genesis of the company, challenges faced in the initial stages, and the pivotal switch to focusing on RFPs. Edouard provides insights into how their platform streamlines complex RFP responses, making the process faster and more efficient, particularly for remote and distributed teams. He highlighted the technology's benefits, like saving significant time and enhancing the quality of responses. The...
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The Venture Cyclist: Etienne Gauthier, Associate @ Inovia Capital on Investing and Innovation
Flagship Podcast
In this episode, I sat down with Etienne Gauthier, Associate @ Inovia Capital. We discussed our shared passion for cycling and its connection to his career in venture capital. We discuss his career path, touching on Etienne’s background in management consulting, transition into VC, and current role at a prominent firm. We explored investment trends, particularly in AI and cybersecurity, and shared insights into their firm's differentiators and investment strategies. The conversation wraps up with advice for aspiring VCs on the importance of networking, building a personal brand, and...
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From NextAI to becoming a founder George Korkejian, Co-Founder & COO @ Rozvelt
Flagship Podcast
On this week’s episode, I spoke with George Korkejian, co-founder and COO @ Rozvelt. We discussed his journey from working at Next AI to launching his own startup. We dove into George’s experience in the Montreal entrepreneurial ecosystem, his pivot from supporting other founders to becoming a founder himself, and the motivations behind building Rozvelt, a revolutionary product aimed at filtering human breath for hunters and wildlife observers. The conversation covers the importance of aligning founder priorities, the unique challenges of creating hardware, and the...
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Enhancing Scientific Reasoning in Biopharma with Christopher Li, CEO & Co-Founder @ BioBox
Flagship Podcast
In this episode, Chris, co-founder of Bio Box, delves into the innovative solutions his company offers to the biopharma sector. Bio Box provides a knowledge and reasoning infrastructure for biopharma R&D, helping scientists scale up hypothesis generation and testing in early drug discovery. Chris explains how their platform integrates various biomedical data sources to enable quicker, data-driven decisions and improve collaboration across research teams. He also discusses the challenges and rewards of building a startup in the biotech industry, particularly in the Canadian context, and...
info_outlineOn this week’s show, we spoke with Thibaud Marechal, Vice-President @ Knox Custody. Currently VP Growth at KNØX, a Bitcoin custodian designed for institutions backed by investors such as Fidelity and Initialized Capital. Booked $250,000 of revenue in the first 3 months as Head of Client Development.
Previously, he was Head of Platform at Real Ventures, a $330M early-stage VC in Canada (investor in Blockstream, 1confirmation, Bitaccess, Breather, Element AI, Mindbridge and League). Ran FounderFuel, Canada's most active venture accelerator (80+ deals including Bus.com, Transit and Sonder), investing $100k per company.
In 2015, he co-founded & led the McGill X-1 Accelerator to bring medical, engineering and computer lab research to market with a shoe-string budget.
On the show, we spoke about:
- Anti-fragility of the network
- The proxy for the price of Bitcoin
- How mining works and the benefit of decentralization
- Fiat currency’s infinite supply
- Potential future of the currency
This second interview with Thibaud was even better than the first. I learn so much by speaking with Thibaud on the subject of Bitcoin. I hope that you enjoy the conversation!
Let us know what you think. What types of guests would like to see on the show? What topics interest you the most? Send me your thoughts at nectar@thepnr.com
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