LaunchPod

In this episode, Joe Canavan interviews Next AI Class of 2020’s Jennifer Arnold, Co-founder & CEO of MinervaAI and her mentor Laura Curtis Ferrera - SVP Marketing, Canadian Banking, Global Wealth Management and Global Banking and Markets at Scotiabank. MinervaAI predicts who poses money laundering and terrorist financing risk to banks. You’ll learn how to approach big banks with fintech, marketing tactics for early-stage founders, tips for commercializing a AI-enabled fintech company, and more.

In this episode, NEXT CEO Joe Canavan sits down with Jesse Abrams, Co-founder and CEO of Homewise and part of our Next Founders 2020 cohort. Homewise automates the mortgage process online, enabling clients to apply in minutes to get the best mortgage from over 30 banks and lenders. Listen in to learn how to turn a great idea into a great business, how to raise “smart money” and why to avoid “dumb” money, build a strong team and why Fintech is such a fast growing vertical in financial services.

What makes a founder? Learn from Chip McCrimmon and his mom, AJ Bird. Chip is part of our Next 36 program and co-founder and CEO of Falcon X - they provide add on technology for local landfills to help them reduce pollution by capturing, separating, and purifying greenhouse gas emissions. We dig into the role AJ has played in shaping his ambitions and the important role that culture plays in shaping founder values. 

NEXT CEO Joe Canavan sits down with one of our class of 2020 entrepreneurs, Eddy Chiang, CEO & Co-founder of Moment Technology. Moment is a start-up striving to provide greater access to renewable and reliable energy storage. They create battery units that can be used in a variety of applications and are currently focused on storing energy for off-grid, end of grid customers and plan on powering remote communities in the future. Learn about Eddy’s journey to entrepreneurship, the opportunities in renewable energy storage and what the future holds for Moment. 

In this episode, we sit down with Jaclyn Ling and Shums Kassam, Co-founders of Hatchways, a digital platform that helps new grads, self-taught programmers, and career shifters get their first jobs in tech. The pair met while going through our Next 36 accelerator and have stood by each other for years, from building and selling their startup BlynkStyle, to working at KiK together and now building Hatchways. They share insights on hiring and talent, nurturing co-founder relationships and making the decision to sell your startup. 

 From our "Power of Entrepreneurship" speaker series featuring Joe Canavan, CEO at NEXT Canada and Jordan Jacobs, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Radical Ventures. They explore building VC-founder relationships and discuss AI startup opportunities that could be a reality even in today’s climate. Jordan is a seasoned AI leader and commercialization expert, having co-founded Layer 6, the Vector Institute and acting as Director of CIFAR. Learn how to weather a storm and navigate your startup through crisis.

As our community of over 600 entrepreneurs face more uncertainty than ever, we want to share stories of resilience and resources to help as many startups as possible. Listen in as we talk to the co-founders of Mapinhood, a free navigation app that provides you, the pedestrian, with personalized routes and actionable data in real time for safe, convenient and memorable trips. Co-founders Arjun Mali and Bin Liu, part of this year's Next AI program, share their story on how they set out to create a safer world for the visually impaired and how they've pivoted to help even more people navigate a socially distanced world. 

As our community of over 600 entrepreneurs face more uncertainty than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, we want to share stories and resources to help as many businesses as possible. Listen in as NEXT Canada CMO Jenn Patterson talks to two NEXT alumni: CEO & Co-founder of Lumen5, Michael Cheng, and CEO & Co-founder of Hatchways, Jaclyn Ling. They share their wisdom on navigating these challenging circumstances, including communication tools and how tips on how to pivot your business. 

As our community of over 600 entrepreneurs face more uncertainty than ever during the COVID-19 crisis, we want to share stories of resilience and resources to help as many businesses as possible. Listen in as NEXT Canada CMO Jenn Patterson talks to Next 36 alum Daniel Rodic, Head of Market Development at Clearbanc and Emily Lonetto, Head of Growth at NEXT alum venture Voiceflow as they try to navigate these challenging circumstances and provide wisdom and hope for those in the trenches. 

Learn from NEXT alumni, CEO and Co-founder of Lumen5, Michael Cheng, as he sits down with fellow alumni, Visha Vijayanand to demystify bootstrapping. Michael has launched more than a dozen businesses – his most recent venture prior to Lumen5, Sniply, was just acquired in a multi-million dollar deal. In this episode, he shares his insights on bootstrapping a startup, including the benefits, downfalls and how to scale a bootstrapped startup.