Another week, another amazing conference for the Boast AI team and our Canadian friends and partners! This time, members of the Boast team convened in Montreal for two of the biggest events on our summer schedule: FounderFuel Demo Day and Startupfest 2023.
FounderFuel Demo Day took place on July 11th and featured pitches from the ‘Fantastic 7’—aka the 2023 FounderFuel Cohort. While we had a lively booth during the event (complete with the hottest socks of the season) all eyes were on the main stage, where founders were joined by special guests to show off the amazing innovation taking place in Canada.
“The way we create more Shopifys is for more entrepreneurs to be more ambitious” was just one nugget of wisdom from special guest Harley Finkelstein.
“Who is that real ‘you’ that is building your company…knowing yourself is about cultivating the wisdom of founders” were a few of the wise words from John Stokes of Real Ventures.
And one of our favorite lines from the night, out of context, “It’s been like driving an investment Ferrari!“
This was the perfect launch to an exciting Startupfest! Seeing amazing new startups and hearing the founder stories from AIM Colours , ARTEMIS, LeaseSimple, Prospecer | The Operation System for Interior Designers, Quack, Roll Games Inc. and SnapWrite was an inspiration.
Boast also made the rounds during the official Startupfest event over at the Grand Quai in Montreal! That’s where we caught up with some familiar faces from Demo Day and new friends in town for the festivities.
Watching Josh Gray pitch ARTEMIS at FounderFuel Demo Day was one of our pre-Startupfest highlights, and we were thrilled to catch up with him and William Shi before the Day 1 keynote in the video above. HUGE congrats on the epic pre-seed announcement, guys!
We met some new friends at the show during the setup on Day 1 too. Take, for instance, the team at Startup Atlantic—including our new pal Kyle Hickey from Propel—who share our vision for bringing founders from across Atlantic Canada access to the tools and resources they need to make their vision a reality.
Khatidja and the team at The team at Startup Montréal exemplifies what makes doing business in Canada such a great proposition—especially for startups and founders.
Off The Grid gave us another “Get SREDed” moment at Startupfest putting our pedaling skills to the test—and putting power back into the energy grid!
Scenes from Startupfest Day 2
Carlos Coelho, MBA and Paul Davenport were at the show bright and early on Day 2 to catch up ahead of Oceanfest from Ocean Startup Project.
There, the Boast team was thrilled to see new players from across Canada’s Blue Economy pitch their innovations and offer hope for the future.
As Eric Siegel noted, “today, we have the penthouse with 75 guests, next year we’ll have 150, and the year after that, the whole cluster.” And he might be selling it short. The oceans industry in Canada is set to see 5x growth to reach $220 billion by 2035, according to Jennifer LaPlante from Canada’s Ocean Supercluster.
And with the exciting innovation pitched by the entrepreneurs in the room from Blue Lion Labs, Coastal Carbon, OnDeck Fisheries AI, Rising Tide BioAcoustics Inc., Smartrek Technologies, and Voltai, there’s no doubt the Blue Economy in Canada is set to boom.
From putting shipping vessels to work generating megawatt power, to rethinking how our infrastructure supports our access to clean water, to giving seaweed farmers a tool to measure their carbon credits, the innovation in the room was incredible!
These are just a few of the sights and sounds from Montreal Startupfest 2023. Check out images and recaps from the show on LinkedIn and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest customer testimonials!
