Butch Langlois

Great examples of what we need and how AI can help for better healthcare!

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Such a great blog post which I suggest every founder read. So many golden nuggets in here. But one that stands out: What are some qualities that you see in the most successful founders? Well, I love smart people, with high IQs, and high EQs, that’s great. But, of the founders that I see, the highest correlation with success is with their grit quotient. They’re not necessarily the smartest people in the world, but their grit and determination are unbelievable. They never give up and always find a way to blast through any obstacle they face. It’s the mentality of “succeed or die” – it’s that kind of determination that wins. #gritcotient #grit #founder #highperformancemindset

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It was great to speak with the Logic earlier this week and share Tidal Venture Partners perspective on the subject of fund domiciling strategy.  It may sound like we’re in the weeds on this topic, but the question of where to domicile is a growing conversation and consideration for many Canadian fund managers with big long-term implications for our innovation economy.  The challenge of Canadian companies remaining Canadian owned will only become more acute if more Canadian funds start to domicile in other jurisdictions.

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The size of Canada combined with the geographic distribution of health conditions make the country ideal for multi-channel healthcare (e.g., Telehealth). Despite the significant demand for healthcare broadly, those business models haven't been able to achieve exponential growth or ideal unit economics just yet -- they've certainly grown and many are profitable, but millions of Canadians still lack primary care. It's a problem that's on the cusp of being solved (e.g., AI, integrated care) and could unlock significantly more access to care for Canadians. 

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What's happening in Canadian Fintech funding right now? Trolley, a Montreal based payment company focused on compliant business payouts raised $32m led by Wavecrest Growth Partners. runQL, a Waterloo based devops tool for data scientists to more easily query databases, raised $1.6m from Mistral, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, Inovia Capital, and Velocity Fund. Wealthsimple’s valuation is now higher than it was in 2021 according to Power Corporation of Canada, the Montreal based financial services investor that owns 55% of it. Power Corp valued Wealthsimple at $2.1b in 2021 then $1.1b in 2023 and now $2.2b. Klarna, a Swedish Buy Now Pay Later with operations in Canada is gearing up for an IPO. -- Want more? Subscribe to the Canadian Fintech Newsletter in the comments below 👇

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If you're a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, or founder then this past week has made it painfully clear that when it comes to innovation and economic recovery the calvary won't be coming and is in fact running in the opposite direction. The federal government and associated regional innovation support agencies (ie Invest Ottawa) are failing to look at solutions aimed at effectively addressing an overall decrease in entrepreneurship and economic activity across the nation and it is now on us, as resilient Canadian entrepreneurs, to empower those who can bring the most value to the table if we are to strive for the quickest path forward towards economic recovery and helping the average Canadian family better their quality of life. I am proud to announce that RHA Ventures Inc. has answered that call 👏 In the face of rising costs for domestic businesses in Canada and competition from abroad, RHA Ventures, an Ontario-based venture capital firm specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced today its investment in Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based company designing real robots for real businesses. This investment marks a significant milestone in the development of Real Life Robotics and underscores RHA Ventures' commitment to supporting true, tried, and tested founders and Ontario’s growing startup ecosystem despite an overall decrease in entrepreneurship across the rest of Canada. “Real robots, real people, and real-world challenges are what differentiate RLR as a technology company. We could not be more thrilled to have RHA Ventures, a group of experienced founders and problem solvers, on board as strategic advisors and investors as we help elevate Ontario globally as a home for first-in-class robotics and automation technology - empowering businesses with transformative robotics solutions that unlock new levels of efficiency, reliability, and scalability,” - Cameron Waite, CEO of Real Life Robotics. The numbers clearly show that the cost of getting involved in a business or launching a new product is too high for the average inexperienced Canadian and our economy has slowed in growth accordingly. On a macro level, we are placing too high an importance on new founders in a down market when we should be rewarding and doubling down on our true, tried and tested investors, founders and legacy businesses who have shown they are willing to take the risk. Thank you, Brian Foster and the rest of the team at RHA Ventures Inc. for taking this first step of the journey with us 🙏 https://lnkd.in/gSr5TP48

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𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙨 𝙏𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙎𝙖𝙛𝙚 💭 Maria Pacella of Pender Ventures warns that risk aversion could hinder Canada's SaaS startups. While cutting costs is important, Pacella stresses that startups must also focus on long-term growth to thrive in today’s fast-changing market. Playing it safe might actually be the biggest risk of all! What do you think—should startups take more risks, or is it wiser to play it safe? Let us know in the comments! #SaaS #Startups #GrowthMindset #RiskManagement #TechIndustry #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #CanadaStartups #Tech #Technology

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The 3 top secrets about SR&ED If you’re a founder in the Canadian tech space - this snippet is for you! 1. In 2019, SR&ED provided >$3 billion in tax incentives to over 20,000 businesses. A quick 1-liner on SR&ED: It is the single largest federal program to support R&D in businesses in Canada. 2. 80% of SR&ED claims were received by companies with <100 employees I really want to hammer this home 2% of claims came from Solopreneurs Since this is from 2019, I fully expect this number to be higher for 2023-2024 57% were for companies with 1 to 19 employees…again based on 2019 data The takeaway - You might be small But you’re a powerhouse of innovation 3. You had an innovative-as-heck idea, spent time and experimented on it; but it failed You can still claim SR&ED on it. I LOVE this because it is the correct long term approach. Be rewarded for your innovative attempt, not its outcome. — Like this snippet? Please let me know what you thought in the comments below. Also, follow me for more insights. Want to get started with SR&ED for your business? Drop me a note for a no-obligations consultation.

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As a founder, have you ever been curious about this whole angel investing thing? This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on an investor who's an expert in it you simply have to know: Matt Wilson, MBA from Allied Venture Partners. He: 🇨🇦 Is Calgary based 😇 Manages one of Canada's largest angle investor syndicates (now at 1,800+ members!) 🏒 Worked as a professional ice hockey referee, which he says shares remarkable similarities with investing Amongst founders, Matt Wilson, is known for bringing empathy and perspective as a former founder himself. Aside from financial support, his goal is to be the 'right' investor - one that aligns with a founder's vision, shares his network, and provides strategic insights when asked. ✉️ Make sure to pitch him, invest, scout, advise and more at https://linktr.ee/alliedvc For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with Allied Venture Partners' profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

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Spent a wonderful week in Canada with family! Now back to business.. Here's your weekly AI update: 🔙 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬: 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 Week 51 | August 5 - August 11 The OpenAI Brain Drain Industry: 🚨OpenAI co-founder John Schulman leaves for Anthropic; President Greg Brockman is taking extended leave through the end of year. What's interesting is that three of their most technical co-founders (Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Andrej Karpathy) have all left the company now. This then begs the question - is this a result of natural silicon-valley attrition, or is there something deeper going on here? And moreover, how will this impact the technical moat that OpenAI has built over the years? (https://lnkd.in/gztRKhwV) 🚨Google announced that new Gemini AI-powered features will be incorporated in a variety of home devices, such as Google Home and Nest (https://lnkd.in/gV2QacAQ?). It also announced a significant reduction in token cost of Gemini 1.5 Flash (https://lnkd.in/gbNe6yNU?) 🚨Figure releases Figure 02, it's newest humanoid robot. Figure has been actively testing robots with BMW at a manufacturing plant. Figure last raised $675M Series B in February 2024, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. (https://lnkd.in/gZnPSke4) 🚨Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta's Q2 earning call that to train Llama 4, the company will need 10x more compute than what was needed to train Llama 3. (https://lnkd.in/g5pEPrTw?) 🚨Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, renewing claims that the company is betraying its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. (https://lnkd.in/gAk5grU6) Financing and M&A: 🚨Groq raises $640m in Series D at a $2.8B valuation. The round was led by Blackrock Private Equity Partners with participation from other investors such as Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund. (https://lnkd.in/gRtKQKvW?) 🚨Hugging Face acquires Seattle data storage startup Xethub. The HF team plans to integrate Xethub's backend storage technology, enabling developers to host more large models and datasets than currently possible. CEO Clem Delangue 🤗 confirmed this was the largest acquisition the company has made thus far. (https://lnkd.in/g8fJ-BjT) 🚨OpenAI is leading a $60m Series B funding round for Opal Camera, a maker of professional-grade webcams(https://lnkd.in/gMT9dkTG) 🚨ProRata.ai a company that has invented an attribution technology to properly compensate content owners, has raised a $25m Series A, led by Prime Movers Lab, Mayfield Fund and Revolution Ventures. (https://lnkd.in/gumjbWmj) R&D: 🚨Alibaba Group releases Qwen2-math, a SOTA model for math-specific tasks. (https://lnkd.in/g8Jh3M7T?) Other Interesting Resources: 🚨 Between May and August, more Humane AI Pins were returned than purchased (https://lnkd.in/gy56qpKm?). 😯

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Last week I attended NEXT Canada's Venture Reveal event, where I was fortunate to witness some of Canada's most promising startups pitch their innovative companies to an audience of investors, academics, and fellow entrepreneurs. For those unfamiliar, NEXT is a powerhouse tech incubator committed to nurturing the next wave of impactful Canadian entrepreneurs. With an impressive track record of launching unicorns, facilitating over $2B in capital raises, and supporting countless entrepreneurs in their journey to improve Canada's competitiveness, they are highly valued in the early-stage tech community. Reflecting on the event, a few key insights resonated with me: -"There will be 100 problems in a startup, the ones who end up surprising us aren't always the ones who sparkle the most. They are the ones who keep crawling through." Ajay Agrawal's perspective on the nonlinear nature of startup challenges underscores the importance of resilience and adaptability. -As John Kelleher aptly put it, "The game of building successful tech startups is a game of outliers. Every year of the 130k businesses are started, 4,000 are capable of building and securing venture funding. Of those, 200 will raise funding from a top-tier VC and only 15 will generate almost all venture returns. -Despite Canada's GDP per capita experiencing a decline of 1/2% annually since 2020, it's imperative we foster an environment that cultivates high-growth ventures. Amidst these takeaways, I'm inspired by the resilience and dedication exhibited by entrepreneurs tackling real-world problems head-on, especially amidst today's challenging climate. Special kudos to my mentees, Nicole Baranowski at Hairstrong and Matthew Stevens & Mathew Chan at Tailwind, for their commitment to bringing their innovative offerings to market. Here's to celebrating the bold visionaries shaping Canada's entrepreneurial landscape. Onward and upward!!! #CDNtech #entrepreneurship #growth

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Today marks the start of another entrepreneur program with Cooperathon and Montréal NewTech (MTL NewTech) as I lead a team to continue to develop how we can use #AI and #VR to improve the daily lives of people, focusing on #healthcare of course. #startup #connections

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Sidewalk Labs (Part of Google), another showcase of Canadian politicians bending over for a big US corp, with ZERO tangible results 💩 Roxana and I attended a "private investor demo" session in 2019. A block of wood was passed among the audience, supposedly the NEXT BIG BREAKTHROUGH in urban development! Demo concluded, by observing a piece of wood! Building blocks of future skyscrapers! The promise? With this, Google will build a "Smart City" for us, the peasants of Toronto, in Queens Quay 🏖️🏢 Sidewalk Labs' website now points to a newer Google scam, it reads: "Build Sustainably with Google Earth"! Bait and switch, but let enough time pass so no one remembers 🤢 https://lnkd.in/gd3B-a6m Guess now the investors and Ontario Government | Gouvernement de l’Ontario have shit loads of these wooden blocks, ready to shove up somewhere, to find a use for! All because the name "Bloomberg" sounds authoritative enough to our ears? Surely that's capital well spent, instead of investing in local talent! 🤔 Will Canada's tech ecosystem ever crawl out of Silicon Valley's shadow, and stand on its own? ⌚👀⛔

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Ever wonder what it was like to be one of the first 25 employees of Uber? In our latest episode on the Unstacked Startups Podcast, I had a great conversation with Andre Charoo, Uber's 25th employee and now founder of Maple VC. From launching Uber in major cities to backing resilient Canadian founders, Andre’s journey is jammed with lessons on grit, ambition, and spotting hidden talent. Here’s what you’ll learn: - How Uber's early culture thrived by hiring underdogs with “Founder DNA” - The unique strengths of Canadian founders—and why they’re shaping global tech - Tips on building a durable technology company Watch the episode below. It won't disappoint!

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Reboot Communications Ltd.:  The Future of #Longevity: Intersection of Technology and  Healthcare. Joby McKenzie, Teladoc Health Rachael Ritchie, Dr. Zia Poonja Nadia Shaikh-Naeem will discuss #preventive healthcare and the impact on our current #healthcare system. An important aspect of the future of longevity is the intersection of #technology and healthcare. #Wearable devices, #telemedicine, and #digital health platforms are empowering individuals to take a more proactive role in managing their health and well-being. These tools enable real-time monitoring of health parameters, remote #access to healthcare services, and #personalized health coaching, all of which contribute to better health #outcomes and the potential for extending #longevity.

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Mothers Day is Sunday May 12. CTV news says some companies are letting their customers opt out of Mother's and Father's Day ads, because it can be triggering. (read more in the story below). This brings up another tradition that I've been wondering about lately, as my daughter in grade 12 approaches her grad year celebrations with anticipation and excitement. But one part of prom brings a tiny bit of anxiety and uncertainty.....the annual Father daughter dance. I'm wondering how other families who are separated and divorced or even deceased deal with this? It seems a bit awkward and outdated in this day and age to me. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions on work arounds that will make everyone feeling happy and comfortable with this next month? Megan DeLaire CTVNews.ca Journalist Published May 2, 2024 7:21 a.m. ADT Mother's Day can be a painful time of year for a host of reasons ranging from grief over a lost relative to fertility struggles. In an effort to balance these two facts, some brands are offering customers the choice to opt out of Mother's Day and Father's Day email advertising. ompanies such as Momofuku Goods, Kotn, Reformation, Fable Home and Etsy, are among those that have jumped on the trend ."With Mother's Day approaching, we understand that this can be a sensitive time. At Fable, we want to make sure that our emails bring you joy and comfort, nothing less, if you'd like to opt out of Mother's Day emails from us, please click here" University of Toronto communication and culture lecturer Daniel Tsai says it's an example of companies trying to treat consumers with empathy. A lot of people don't come from stable families or have great relationships with their mothers and fathers. With social media, we're much more politically correct and socially sensitive, and this is part of a woke-type cultural phenomenon" . British flower company Bloom & Wild has given customers the opportunity to opt out. "Mothers up and down the country will be appreciated through cards, breakfast in bed, and often questionable artwork from their children. For some, that day is a reminder of what we have lost." Culinary brand Momofuku Goods provided the option for the first time this year and has already seen 10,000 email subscribers opt out. "I, like many people, have friends and family members who have lost parents (or) children, struggled with fertility issues, or have complicated relationships with parents that make these holidays a difficult time." Fable Home has had approximately 650 people in Canada and the U.S. opt out. "Many reached out to let us know that they appreciated the gesture."

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