James Wu

The Nmbr Company announced CAD $7.6 million in seed funding to elevate the payroll ecosystem for businesses nationwide. Nmbr offers companies the ability to embed Canadian payroll within their product in days or weeks. https://lnkd.in/gSGByavt #TechNews #StayInformed #StayAhead #dailydose #followus #staytuned #stayconnected #technews #technology #trending #trendingnow #trendingnews #explore #explorepage #techdogs

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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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Are you facing a big decision on how to fund your startup? 🤔💡 Dive into a Toronto Business Development Centre guide written by AIO's own Kate Tomen, VP of Business Development & Operations, and uncover the critical differences between crowdfunding and angel investing. This essential read is your roadmap to making an informed funding choice that aligns with your startup's goals and needs. 🚀 Whether it's the expansive potential of angel investment or the community-driven power of crowdfunding, we've got the insights you need to navigate this crucial journey. 🔗 Your next big step is just a click away! https://lnkd.in/eEBGRZnE #StartupFunding #AngelInvestors #Crowdfunding #TBDC #EntrepreneurJourney

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Turn Your Ideas into Reality... Fast! In the SaaS world, getting product-market fit is crucial, but development can take months. What if you could start selling your concept before it’s fully built? Interpix specializes in rapid prototyping, creating interactive, functional prototypes in just weeks. These aren’t just design files—they’re user-experience-driven models your future customers can interact with. Ready to fast-track your development and wow your audience? Learn how we've transformed our clients' selling experiences. #SaaS #RapidPrototyping #CustomerExperience

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Do you ever look back and appreciate what your team has done? We're at our company offsite this week in Canada, and I pulled a few slides to share what our Marketing team has accomplished since our last offsite. I was 🤯 with how much we've done. Here are a few highlights: 🚀 Product launches 20+, and it doesn't include fixes and small upgrades 🖥 Website 3 versions of our homepage in this period + rebranded our entire site. 📂 Templates SEO-optimized our 400+ templates, including those made by our community, so they get more traffic, sell more templates, and make more money. 👩‍💻 Experts 5,000+ freelancers and agencies use Glide to deliver custom software to clients. Our program keeps getting bigger and better! 👩‍🏫 Education 1,300+ have completed at least one of our 3 Glide Certifications. Spoiler: we have a new AI certification going live next week! ✍ Content Our blog, The Column, is often praised for content quality. It's a must-read if you want to roll out software successfully at your company. 📹 Video Last year, we decided to double down on video, and it paid off. Our YouTube channel is the best in the industry, and we're coming for LinkedIn video now. 🎉 Events 30+ virtual events for businesses, freelancers, and partners. We always get 4.5+ out of 5 in all our events! I'm in awe of my team every day, and I make sure they know it. PS: If you want to learn about any of these specific initiatives, just comment, and I'll write a more detailed post about them.

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How does Big Oh Tech reduce the daily escalations for a Canadian healthcare provider? By conducting a 10-day code review sprint, our developers identified major pitfalls- ✔ Missing data caching ✔ Unoptimized and undocumented code ✔ Absence of code quality checks ✔ Poor code reusability ✔ Inadequate infrastructure P.S - Need help in creating 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 for your business❓ Reach out to us at 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬@𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡.𝐜𝐨𝐦. #codereview #performacneoptimization #softwaredevelopment #mobileapps #codequality #devOps

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There are some events that fundamentally shift trajectories. In 2017, the Canadian tech sector rallied in response to the Trump travel ban, defining itself as place that embraced innovators with open arms. Last night, the BetaKit Town Hall ushered in another momentum shift in Canadian tech as some of the sector's biggest names gathered in reaction to the Canadian budget and how to approach the current challenges facing productivity and innovation. My takeaways: FOR GOVERNMENT Tobias Lütke continued his criticism of changes to the capital gains tax, which he described as a clumsy and misguided move that "taxes innovation the way we tax cigarettes" and will serve as the same disincentive of behaviour. But Lutke's overall assessment of the budget may be a bigger problem for Ottawa, as he called out the discrepancy between "what the government says it wants and what it shows it wants." No one likes a hypocrite, and it seems that capital gains has focused the sector's attention on a government innovation and spending narrative that may not hold up to scrutiny. FOR INVESTORS AND INDUSTRY Ivan Zhang from Cohere pointed out that of all the companies and founders in the room (and there were a lot) almost none could claim a Canadian as their first customer. Courage is required to back new ideas and new products, and the room seemed to agree that courage is in short supply in Canada. FOR BUILDERS When asked what he would love Canadian tech to be the best at, Lutke said "craftsmanship." It was one of the most surprising moments of the night for me, and I love the idea of defining ourselves around building beautiful and truly unique products - not just the idea, but the implementation. "If you build something great, it sells itself," he said. FOR EMPLOYERS Jocelyne Murphy had the mic drop moment of the night, and may have single handedly changed the tech sector's approach to hiring when she talked about the negative impact that drawn out recruitment processes and repeated layoffs are having on her isolated generation. FOR BETAKIT The energy and interest in the room is yet another proof point that storytelling matters. People are looking for a centre of gravity for Canadian tech and innovation and somewhere to convene around the issues that affect their lives. BetaKit aspires to be that place. Big thanks to everyone involved, especially Satish Kanwar Arati Sharma Douglas Soltys Lauren Arnold Category Communications eThereLIVE.com

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Seth Trudeau has absolutely outdone himself with his latest Routine Chaos post - He's a close friend and product / design / education leader that I deeply respect - Who has also been building and facilitating learning at the intersection of #AI and education 🏀👟🗑 A fascinating breakdown of the hype cycle of AI that had the most unexpected plot twist that was also an analogy made for hoop heads: The parallels between the hype and promise of: AI (🤖 artificial intelligence) and AI (⛹🏾‍♂️ Allen Iverson, the NBA player, aka Bubba Chuck) - Whose larger-than-life personality, authenticity, game, and team situation - Failed to live up to the hype and deliver according to conventional metrics (championships), for example: - "AI was inefficient. As a player, he had a historically high usage rate. He scored a lot, but he also needed the ball in his hands a lot to get there. Sure, AI could do some impressive things, but he needed a lot of resources to make them happen." - But absolutely changed things in unexpected ways, one of which was: - "AI really did usher in a new era. AI wasn’t solely responsible for connecting the NBA & hip hop, but at the very least he solidified the relationship and ensured it was here to stay. During the course of his career, the NBA went from a very buttoned up, conservative approach to its players to one that was more open and expressive." You'll have to click the link and read more to find the other possible parallels of AI's failure to live up to his/its hype and a reference to The Last Dance and smooth jazz that had me 🤣🤣🤣

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Custom stacks can lead to two very real problems: depending on custom development and increased tech debt. Combined, your pace slows and ultimately, your trade-off is innovation and growth. That’s why Mejuri went from a fully custom stack to Shopify. Before Shopify, Mejuri was on an entirely custom stack: custom ecommerce, payments service, and middleware that was built to connect their custom ecommerce site to their point of sale system [POS]. This led to a ton of challenges. They were spending too much time building and maintaining 3rd party integrations to coordinate channels, data, and functionality between systems. With limited resources and team members, the trade-off of building custom features was they were not able to address their mounting technical debt. Addressing those issues in-house, slowed down their pace of innovation making them unable to deploy features as fast as they needed to. That’s the ‘invisible’ cost component with a custom stack. You spend an inordinate amount of time building custom features at the cost of innovation. Brands can avoid that with Shopify. Shopify is a natively unified ecommerce and POS system so everything just works together really really well. It doesn’t require middleware or integrations. Your customer, order, and product data flows to both channels from a single source of truth. It’s simpler and allows you to move faster. Hear about from Mejuri yourself. Rohit Nathany, the Chief Digital Officer sat down with us to talk about the pain points they faced on a custom stack. As Rohit says, what better way to simplify than to have a unified ecommerce and POS solution? See the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eyCSdVgf

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Pumped to be in Toronto today for Shopify editions.dev with Barrel CTO Wes. If you're here - come say hi 👋🏼 If you haven’t had a chance to check out the 150+ product updates in Shopify’s bi-annual release, Summer Edition '24, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gETbX_2P It’s hard to believe we’ve been helping brands launch on Shopify since 2009. A lot has changed in the last 15 years. It's no longer enough for brands to invest in their website alone—they need to meet their customers where they are to succeed. As an agency, Barrel has evolved from focusing solely on a client’s website to examining the entire customer journey, seeking opportunities to enhance how customers shop and experience the brand across touchpoints. Many of our clients are CPG brands, making this approach even more relevant. These days we're working on building Shopify B2B E-Commerce storefronts, designing Amazon content, creating personalized email/SMS flows, and implementing Shopify POS. Shopify has continually evolved with merchants' changing needs and customers' buying patterns. They’re not afraid to embrace partnerships like Amazon Buy with Prime while investing the same energy in POS and B2B that got their core e-commerce offering to where it is today. The Summer ’24 Edition is aptly titled ‘Unified’ and, as usual, it’s a lot to digest. The addition of a “Top 10” summary this year is a great starting point. Among my favorite updates are unified & tailored Markets experiences across B2B and retail, store credit availability, split shipping in checkout, and seamless store pickup between POS and DTC. I'm eager to dive into the Summer Edition '24 with our team over the next few days and uncover new opportunities to enhance our clients' commerce experiences. + Subscribe to my newsletter for a weekly look at what I'm building and learning in agency leadership, life, and e-commerce: https://lnkd.in/eJU8Zpt

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It was an incredible opportunity to share insights on the importance of local supply chains and engage with other thought leaders who are shaping the future of Ontario Made manufacturing. The discussions were both insightful and forward-looking. Thank you Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters for having me keynote. Missed the live event? Catch the highlights below! 👇 #OntarioMade #Manufacturing #SupplyChain #LocalEconomy

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🎉 Something Big is Coming This Black Friday! Mark your calendars and get ready for an exclusive surprise from YYC DataCon 2025. This isn’t your typical Black Friday deal—it’s bigger, bolder, and tailored just for our incredible community of data enthusiasts. We’re cooking up something truly special. We can’t reveal too much yet, but it’s worth the wait. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it. Keep your eyes on this space; we can’t wait to share all the details with you soon! 💥 Details dropping soon! 💥 #YYCDataCon2025 #BlackFriday #BigReveal #DataInnovation #BigDeals

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🎉 Something Big is Coming This Black Friday! Mark your calendars and get ready for an exclusive surprise from YYC DataCon 2025. This isn’t your typical Black Friday deal—it’s bigger, bolder, and tailored just for our incredible community of data enthusiasts. We’re cooking up something truly special. We can’t reveal too much yet, but it’s worth the wait. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it. Keep your eyes on this space; we can’t wait to share all the details with you soon! 💥 Details dropping soon! 💥 #YYCDataCon2025 #BlackFriday #BigReveal #DataInnovation #BigDeals

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What’s your purpose? For BuildOps CEO Alok Chanani, it’s not just about leading a tech company—it’s about empowering the “unsung heroes” of the trades and the people they serve. On The Savage Leader Podcast with Darren Reinke, Alok reflects on his journey from Army combat engineer to tech CEO, sharing insights like: ▶️ How focusing on your customers—and their customers—creates deeper impact ▶️ Why copying competitors is the wrong play ▶️ What it means to build something bigger than yourself It’s an honest conversation about leadership, purpose, and building for the long term. Listen now: Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gWzH8jAD Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g33XvyFi

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Like in a VC round, finding a lead investor in an Angel round is crucial. The lead does not necessarily need to invest the most. What matters is that they endorse you to other investors. A lead can be a subject matter expert, a well-known Super Angel with a track record, or just someone who believes in you. They will write the first check, did their diligence on your company, and are willing to share their findings with others. Most importantly, a lead believes in the potential of the company and will be more keen to take risks and grow faster. Read a great story about the lead Angel in Shopify, John Phillips: https://lnkd.in/gkCshb9F #angels #leads #funding

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Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at WEtech Alliance —it’s a core value that drives our mission to strengthen and grow the innovation ecosystem. Our latest collaboration with Communitech exemplifies this commitment, bringing the Scale-Up Platform, supported by FedDev Ontario, to our region. This partnership connects high-potential founders to critical resources, fosters stronger ties between the Windsor and Waterloo tech and innovation ecosystems, and prioritizes inclusivity by supporting women and non-binary founders. We’re especially grateful to Libro Credit Union for enabling us to leverage this opportunity. Their support underscores the importance of collective efforts in driving meaningful change and advancing innovation. Innovation ecosystems are ever-evolving, and a more effective, collaborative approach is essential to driving both innovation and long-term economic impact. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gVQaS6_E Jennifer Gruber CPA,CA Matthew Klassen Avvey Peters Christina Wood Angela Larraguibel Allison Mitchell, CLC Lori Atkinson Shawn Good Liz Arkinstall Adam Castle Susy Kustra Chris Albinson Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario | Agence fédérale de ...

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Over $500M in Sales. 12 Toronto tech leaders. One dinner table... A powerful reminder of what really drives business in 2024. Last night, I hosted top GTM executives from Google, Cisco, OpenText, Stack Adapt & some of the fastest growing startups. In a world obsessed with digital transformation, one truth stood out: real relationships close enterprise deals. Why this matters: • Top execs are flying weekly to NYC & SF • Multi-million dollar deals are getting closed in person • Trust = currency in enterprise sales • Digital tools support, but don't replace relationships The reality of enterprise sales in 2024: • One champion isn't enough • You need buy-in from entire teams • Face-to-face builds deeper trust • Community drives opportunities Key lessons from the room: • Enterprise sales cycles are getting more complex • In-person meetings convert at 3x digital • Community is the new competitive advantage • LinkedIn is underpriced attention This wasn't just another networking event. This was Toronto's top minds sharing battle scars and victories over good food and better conversation. Shoutout to all the amazing GTM leaders for your insights. Max Woo 👋 Saad Khan Yugbodh Singh Steve Young Neil Duffy Shwetha Vincy Michael King Nabeil Alazzam Leo Vynnyk Hamza Farhat Ali Vik Kandeth Want to join the next gathering of Toronto's finest? Drop a 🤝 below. These insights are reshaping how we're building at Virio. #toronto #b2bsales #enterprisesales

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