Chris Albinson

​Canada has an innovation problem. More specifically, we have an innovation-to-commercialization problem. ​In my latest article, "My Mission: Fixing Canada's Innovation Problem," I dive into why we excel at invention but often fail at turning that IP into globally competitive companies. ​This is more than a passion project for me; it's a mission. I'd love to hear your thoughts. ​Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dkh7QPWz Chris Carder Chris Adams David K. Nafis Ahmed Mandhir (Manny) Kalia Claudia KrywiakRahul Nirula Amber French Martin Basiri Mike Kirkup Alex McCallum Werner Muller Bruce Brown Kurtis Scissons Skaidra Puodžiūnas Benjamin Bergen Colleen Cole Kate Tomen, PMP, MMIE Amir Asif Vigen Nazarian Michael Badham Jim Hinton Sep Assadian Gerry Fung, P.Eng., CPA, CMA Dr .Tom Corr DBA, ADipC, MBA, ICD Eva Lau Ali Esfahani Raymond Luk Keith Loo Nicholas Nadeau, Ph.D., P.Eng. Bart Streppel Brendan Skiffington Jie Chen Stephen Gravel Shawn Poland Mike Commito, PhD Cheick Ismael MAIGA P.Eng Kevin Nguyen Bohdan Zabawskyj Kyle Briggs ​#Canada #Innovation #Tech #VentureCapital #Startups #Commercialization #CanadianTech

101

15 Comments

Proud to share that North Exit Ventures participated in Slate’s $1.3M pre-seed. Slate is building embedded lending infrastructure for Canadian platforms. So marketplaces, vertical SaaS, and AP/AR tools can offer SMB financing inside the product their customers already use, without having to build (or manage) a lending stack. Why this model is so compelling: - Distribution is built-in (no “go find borrowers” problem) - Underwriting gets smarter (platform data, not just bank statements) - Repayment improves (you can sit in the flow of funds) If you’ve seen Shopify Capital, you get the idea - but built for far more platforms in Canada. Huge congrats to founders Scott Elliot (CEO) and Devin Picciolini (CTO) - excited to be in your corner as you bring this infrastructure to market. BetaKit's full article below 👇 https://lnkd.in/eDbpZxZg

94

5 Comments

Good article below featuring a new report from National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) and Startup Genome which shows the need for more early-stage venture capital funding in Canada. The release of this report follows a 500+ person event last week to discuss the state of the Canadian tech ecosystem. I spoke on a panel (with Sandi Gilbert and Solon Angel) about the need to invest in Canada's highest potential, early-stage tech companies. "Janet Bannister, founder and managing partner at Staircase Ventures, argued Canada must improve early-stage fundraising to boost its economic productivity. “Our economy is heavily weighted toward natural resources, and not strongly enough towards technology,” Bannister said at the roundtable. “We need to fix that.”" https://lnkd.in/gm2gc7rb

83

7 Comments

Otto is Framework Venture Partners AI powered data collection, scoring and matching service. Otto’s data corroborated Leaders Fund work. Startups in the software space in Canada peaked in 2018 at just under an estimated 20,000. As of the beginning of 2025 Otto estimates that number is below 10,000. While there is a rebound from the nadir, it is clear Canadian startups have had nearly a decade of decline. https://lnkd.in/g39A2Fqw

42

5 Comments

In an exclusive conversation with TBDC, the architect behind US$500 million in capital deployments reveals what it truly takes to build enduring value in the Canadian innovation ecosystem. From pattern recognition in early-stage investing, to helping founders find the balance between innovation and invention, John Ruffolo shares insights that challenge conventional wisdom about scaling north of the 49th. The good news? The playbook is being written right now, by founders like you. And Ruffolo's been taking notes. Get the inside track on what's actually working, see full conversation live on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eN39ntJa #CanadianTech #StartupEcosystem #FounderInsights #ScaleToNorthAmerica #VentureCapital

36

2 Comments

There is an opportunity right now in the Canadian tech/founder support ecosystem to rapidly update the approach for an AI world A lot of good people, both building and supporting, simply want to see the Canadian tech ecosystem succeed and this is the time to recalibrate to achieve that Without IMMEDIATE action several legacy structures in the ecosystem risk delaying Canadian tech growth vs global peers Example 1. A lot of programs, grants and incubators are milestone based. This no longer applies. In just the last week many public exec teams pulled guidance or said they are recalibrating everything, because of how quickly AI has changed their business, and these are established businesses. By comparison there are still programs in Canada that require multi year milestones to be met by founders. Iteration is the source of innovation and milestones can constrain. 2. A lot of grants, incubators etc review applications over weeks and months (some grants are several months). I can think of several well known Canadian tech founders that have been changing their agentic architecture or approach weekly. If you run a business using any type of agentic tools (which should be every competitive tech business right now) you would submit a grant that is outdated in a week and completely disconnected by the time you review it with the provider. 3. A lot of Canadian awards and credits recognize headcount. This model (SRED etc.) is very good for multi-year, human driven, R&D initiatives. It is not good at recognizing the cost of compute and the rapid iteration on top of it. We don't want to incentivize the wrong thing in the ecosystem. Founders have advisors walking them through traditional org design, to then build things manually, and then apply for SRED, when they need to iterate using AI tools. 4. A lot of incubators provide pitch coaching, intros to legacy advisors, and PMF workshops, but founder needs have changed entirely in the past few months. i.e. people now need an incubator that walks them through cost optimization on interference. They don't even need PMF advice in the same way anymore cause what if their market is just agents. AI is presenting an opportunity to rapidly improve on some of the above for the benefit of all in the ecosystem

44

12 Comments

Today is a big day. For years, I've watched brilliant Canadian entrepreneurs struggle to access AI tools that transform Fortune 500 companies. That's not just unfair - it's economically backwards for our country. Today, agentiiv is solving that equation with the launch of You.Scaled.: $4 million in free AI services for 500 Canadian small businesses and nonprofits across Canada. The goal? To democratize access to enterprise-grade AI across industries and regions and give every organization a chance to scale with the help of smart technology. Read the release and get more info at the links in my comments. And a big thank you to our partners on this: Canadian Marketing Association Ownr Staples Canada CCNDR #AI #CanadianAI #SME #SMB

114

27 Comments