Join us as Zack Storms and Jade Alberts share the story behind Startup TNT.
Transcript
00:00
hi everybody welcome to lunch without
00:02
lunch
00:03
i am bridgette lego community manager in
00:05
calgary we have amber rowden here
00:07
community story retailer in calgary and
00:09
a few folks from our edmonton steering
00:11
committee who can give a wave um james
00:13
kirsten will be introducing us to all
00:15
things rainforest here in just a moment
00:17
but prior to doing so we’ll just take a
00:19
moment to reflect and acknowledge
00:22
the beautiful lands that we have to
00:25
enjoy across our country and whatever
00:28
area you might be in today for those in
00:31
the calgary region
00:33
we acknowledge um the lands of the sikh
00:36
sika
00:37
uh kainai pakani blackfoot confederacy
00:39
that suits cinna
00:41
estonia dakota nations the metis nation
00:43
region three and everyone who makes
00:45
their home within treaty seven and for
00:47
those in edmonton we acknowledge the
00:49
unseated traditional lands of the treaty
00:51
six territory of the cree danae
00:53
blackfoot salto nakota sioux as well as
00:56
the metis um again if you find yourself
00:58
in another area of the world um we ask
01:01
you to take a moment and reflect on the
01:04
traditional territories on which you’re
01:06
uh you’re sitting on
01:08
and so with that i’m gonna turn it over
01:10
to james to give us a
01:12
refresh on what is the rainforest
01:17
welcome everyone
01:19
i think we get a video up here talking
01:21
about the rainforest
01:23
really quick so i can spare you that
01:26
my explanation this one will be better
01:28
i’m sure
01:30
here we go
01:34
what does it take to realize an idea
01:36
or for a seat to sprout
01:38
at rainforest alberta we know the answer
01:41
is rooted in trust
01:43
traditionally albertans have cultivated
01:45
their ideas in established systems
01:48
inputs that don’t fit these systems are
01:50
weeded out
01:51
opportunities for growth are missed but
01:54
now albertans want a dynamic landscape
01:57
that can evolve organically
01:59
like a rainforest
02:00
at rainforest alberta we believe a
02:02
culture of trust is the fertile soil
02:04
where ideas grow
02:06
our budding innovation ecosystem is a
02:09
network of relationships pulling each
02:11
other up as they push forward in their
02:13
own field
02:15
trust breaks down barriers an open
02:18
inclusive network increases
02:20
collaborative innovation successful
02:22
breakthroughs inspire new ideas
02:25
a cycle begins
02:27
rainforest alberta is a movement to
02:29
amplify trust by cultivating honesty
02:32
inclusion and accountability
02:34
how our social contract holds us
02:38
accountable to demonstrate trust across
02:39
the province we need to have honest
02:42
conversations around collaboration this
02:44
leads to more inclusive spaces for
02:46
everyone to fearlessly build new ideas
02:49
together
02:51
by raising the standard of trust
02:53
alberta’s ideas talent and resources can
02:56
be evergreen
02:58
visit
02:59
rainforestab.ca to sign the social
03:01
contract and start growing together
03:07
right so we use six pillars to guide our
03:09
conversations and actions not our all
03:12
are weighted equally like any ecosystem
03:14
the right balance is crucial
03:17
these are measured each year through uh
03:19
our scorecard assessment and for those
03:21
of you from the edmonton region we just
03:23
launched the scorecard
03:26
assessment here in edmonton for
03:28
november because we wanted to get it in
03:31
our normal annual cycle so if you’re
03:33
from the edmonton region and you want to
03:34
fill out the scorecard
03:38
let me know i’ll drop a drop it into the
03:41
chat as well
03:42
30 percent is culture 20 leadership
03:46
we’re also looking at resources engaged
03:48
activities policy and infrastructure and
03:51
role models
03:55
next slide
03:57
so
03:58
tips for making the most out of lunch
04:00
without lunch introduce yourself in the
04:02
chat connect with individuals through
04:04
direct messages
04:06
put your camera on it’s always great to
04:08
see faces i know this is virtual but the
04:11
more we can interact with another one
04:13
another the easier it is for us to build
04:15
that trust
04:16
and create
04:18
that
04:19
connection
04:20
ask questions keep connecting on the
04:22
rainforest slack workspace and check the
04:25
lunch without lunch notes for capture of
04:27
today’s chat
04:28
and recordings are also posted on
04:31
youtube
04:35
we added this last week i forgot
04:38
well hey this is great so we’re talking
04:40
about one of the uh principal values in
04:43
the social contract today it’s about
04:45
free help
04:46
i understand that i receive valuable
04:49
help from others for free
04:52
yeah that’s the great thing
04:55
and i think we have to pay it forward as
04:56
another one which is i’m always ready to
05:00
help the community help others without
05:03
expecting anything in return
05:06
absolutely and that was kind of the
05:08
purpose of uh
05:09
of this exercise we started adding one
05:11
of the social contract values at the end
05:13
of this intro every week and we ask for
05:16
you to reflect on how you live this
05:18
value and if you’d like to share that in
05:20
the chat please feel free um or you can
05:23
just uh you know think about that on
05:25
your own um
05:26
i sometimes get feedback in the
05:28
rainforest uh
05:29
you know that um there’s lots of
05:31
especially like uh
05:33
not selling your wares but a lot of kind
05:35
of promo being had on our flat panel and
05:38
that sort of thing so um part of
05:40
flashing the social contract values in
05:42
front of us every week is to
05:45
um get re-rooted in those and and maybe
05:47
reframe some of our conversation around
05:50
you know how can we not just ask but
05:52
help others and many if not everyone
05:54
here is is well versed in in practicing
05:57
this but it’s always a nice reminder and
05:59
we should also always be aware that
06:03
this isn’t about us creating a network
06:05
to sell our wares it’s about supporting
06:07
one another
06:09
so that should come
06:11
at in time as those relationships get
06:14
built and are stronger
06:16
people will naturally do business
06:18
together
06:19
but my recommendation to build trust
06:23
don’t ask
06:24
for people to
06:25
buy your stuff
06:28
yeah
06:29
yeah well said james yeah it takes time
06:31
to build that trust um so that’s great
06:34
i’m gonna stop sharing here
06:38
super excited to be here bridget to hear
06:40
both jade and my good buddy zach
06:43
share with us what they’ve been up to
06:45
and with that i’m gonna pass it over to
06:47
you to lead us on
06:49
thanks james that’s great um
06:52
yeah really excited about today i’ll
06:54
just make a really quick mention jamie
06:55
james mentioned the edmonton scorecard
06:58
as many of you know because we talked
07:00
about it a few weeks ago the calgary
07:02
scorecard is getting a bit of an
07:03
overhaul we’re hoping to get it out to
07:06
you all either before the end of the
07:08
year so we can capture 2021 data if not
07:11
it will be very early in january um so
07:15
watch for that in calgary i do know
07:16
there are two separate scorecards at
07:18
this point in time one for the edmonton
07:19
region and one for calgary um
07:23
we hope to see that combined next year
07:25
to be unified
07:27
totally
07:28
awesome okay so really excited about
07:30
today hi zach i see you in the polka dot
07:33
door there uh and jade is here um
07:36
i
07:37
am really excited because some
07:38
announcements today for awards that
07:40
startup tnt has been receiving both zach
07:44
individually and the organization as an
07:45
ecosystem supporter from start alberta
07:47
so i’ll let you guys maybe touch on that
07:49
more but um just to give like a really
07:52
quick intro and i don’t i don’t have
07:53
formal bios on either of you other than
07:55
i know you’re both entrepreneurs
07:56
co-founders investors um zach i think
07:59
you’re a scientist tell us more about
08:01
your background because i’m intrigued um
08:03
phd maybe i don’t know all sorts of
08:05
things and you add a lot of like uh
08:09
authenticity and um kind of grassroots
08:13
movement to what’s happening in the
08:15
ecosystem which is why i was really
08:16
happy to see you guys awarded with
08:18
ecosystem supporter this year because
08:20
the work you’re doing is like you’re
08:21
doing it you’re not just talking about
08:23
it so wonderful to see um so i’m just
08:26
gonna pass it over to you guys and we’ll
08:27
have an open conversation with you both
08:29
um you can tell us uh the the journey of
08:31
uh startup tnt
08:34
sure like um thanks i’m really happy to
08:36
be here and i’m really happy to be here
08:37
with jade
08:38
um who i met through startup tnt and um
08:41
actually i prepared a couple of slides
08:43
just to kind of give everyone an
08:44
overview but jade why don’t you and i
08:45
give us
08:46
give a quick intro for ourselves so just
08:49
everybody knows um and maybe i’ll go
08:51
first i’ll do a quick intro
08:53
there is a bit of a rainforest
08:55
connection to uh to the start of our
08:57
happy hour that i’ll also share which is
08:59
um
09:01
so quick background i mean i’m american
09:02
i like to share that up front with
09:04
everyone and uh i went to i went to
09:06
mcgill for my undergrad and phd in
09:09
chemical engineering moved out to
09:10
alberta to do a phd or to do a
09:12
postdoctoral research fellowship i
09:14
should say
09:16
but made a choice at that time to really
09:17
focus on
09:20
commercializing technologies rather than
09:21
building a research group
09:23
um so as soon as i got here i really
09:25
focused on
09:26
technology commercialization
09:28
uh actually met james kirsten early on
09:30
in those days who mentored me a little
09:31
bit on a few projects because he’s a
09:33
volunteer and helps out the community
09:35
quite a bit uh always giving back
09:37
um
09:39
and then you know at the same time that
09:40
i did this i also got involved in the
09:41
angel community so i’m able to be an
09:43
angel investor because my wife and i
09:44
have inherited some money so i was
09:46
experiencing our ecosystem as a
09:48
scientist with a background that wanted
09:49
to become an entrepreneur interacting
09:51
with other entrepreneurs uh through
09:53
those networks but then also interacting
09:55
with the local angel investing community
09:57
um and when i first heard about the
10:00
rainforest movement i actually got
10:01
really excited about it because i was
10:02
like we need something that’s a little
10:04
bit more grassroots that’s happening uh
10:06
james was one of the leaders in edmonton
10:07
who’s bringing people together to have
10:09
discussions and it was at one of those
10:11
kind of like all-day um forums
10:14
where i think it was before summit yeah
10:17
one of the summits one of those summits
10:19
um there was a sort of like an activity
10:20
towards the end where we broke off in
10:22
the tables and thought about what’s
10:24
what’s something that we could try out
10:26
like how can we get started bringing
10:28
like improving our culture improving
10:30
connection doing something that we want
10:31
to see in the ecosystem and in my table
10:33
we talked about having a regular meetup
10:35
of some kind where people could get
10:36
together
10:37
and this was when i think at the time i
10:39
was an mba student i was a new dad i
10:41
honestly didn’t really have the capacity
10:43
to launch a weekly happy hour but i did
10:45
it a couple of times with people we
10:46
tested it out it was really nice and
10:48
then i think it was about six months or
10:50
a year later when i finished my mba
10:52
i was a little bit older and i said you
10:54
know what i want to go back to that idea
10:56
and i want to do it i would have a
10:57
regular place where entrepreneurs can
10:59
meet um back when i was in university at
11:02
mcgill there was this thing called
11:03
thursday night tradition where all the
11:04
where everyone got together at the local
11:06
pub i said we should have something just
11:07
like that for entrepreneurs every single
11:09
week so i called it startup tnt
11:12
thursday the tnt stands for thursday
11:13
night tradition and we’ve now been
11:15
meeting for 100 tomorrow’s week 132 132
11:18
weeks we’ve been meeting every single
11:20
week and it’s very much embodies the
11:23
spirit of the rainforest get people
11:24
together are so we have a simple
11:25
philosophy have fun make friends build
11:27
companies
11:29
and that’s really all about get to know
11:30
people in a genuine way first
11:32
um you know
11:34
don’t complain about how other people in
11:36
the ecosystem aren’t pulling their
11:37
weight let’s all pull our weight let’s
11:39
all be the people that we need to be in
11:40
our ecosystem and let’s do in a way that
11:42
builds genuine relationships because
11:44
that’s what business is all about um
11:45
doing things with people that are great
11:47
so
11:48
that’s my quick intro and one of the
11:49
great people that i met was none other
11:51
than jade alberts i mean look at jw j
11:53
now it’s a perfect example of what i
11:55
love about tnt
11:56
the first time i saw jade alberts he was
11:58
on the zoom screen and i’m like who is
11:59
this guy he looks like he’s in like his
12:01
little son’s room or something like
12:03
what’s going on back there turns out
12:05
this guy is like a marketing aficionado
12:06
used to run like nathan’s franchises
12:08
across the country uh now he basically
12:10
works full-time uh peer mentoring other
12:13
entrepreneurs uh brother’s done a bunch
12:15
of great things he joined us many times
12:17
at the investment summit he’s one of our
12:18
leaders down in calgary jade
12:20
i like i like to tell people that
12:21
they’re gonna introduce themselves and
12:22
then i introduced them for them
12:24
the zack storm introduction hey this
12:26
takes it over
12:28
oh it’s good to meet everybody i i pop
12:30
in here uh at least once a month but my
12:33
background is is a heck of a lot
12:34
different than uh than zach’s i’m a
12:36
university dropout so i got no phd no
12:39
nothing just a small town sasky who
12:41
started his career in sales and
12:43
and ended up being an entrepreneur and
12:45
we exited our company which allowed me
12:47
to become an angel investor and we were
12:49
kind of doing it on our own for a while
12:51
with a couple buddies and a little bit
12:53
of an investing group and uh
12:55
i went into startup tnt because i heard
12:58
about it i think it was through the cic
13:00
i went and applied i got denied and they
13:03
said you can’t invest with us
13:05
and i was like what the hell
13:07
so i just left it alone and then
13:09
i i ran into another person who said
13:11
they’re investing through tnt and i said
13:13
how did you get improved and he goes i
13:14
didn’t get approved i just applied so
13:17
long story short i was approved and uh
13:20
and i wanted to go through the process
13:22
and to see what what it was like um
13:25
because i heard good things about them
13:27
and if they were going to be the company
13:29
that you know took the longest shot at
13:31
the biggest risk and things along those
13:33
lines i wouldn’t be interested
13:34
so the you know the training of the
13:36
angel investors to help our community
13:38
which will benefit you know two five 15
13:40
years down the road is priceless uh the
13:42
due diligence good we you know it
13:44
follows my investor thesis of really
13:46
looking at the founder and you know now
13:48
in two and a half years we’ve handed out
13:50
24
13:51
almost 4 million to 24 companies and and
13:54
growing and expanding across uh
13:57
across the country so that’s a little
13:59
bit about myself
14:02
thank you jay all right jake jade
14:04
jade points out that our initial vetting
14:06
process for the entrance for the
14:07
investors was a little bit uh confusing
14:10
so thank you
14:13
okay i got a couple of slides i wouldn’t
14:15
mind sharing the slides and showing just
14:16
like kind of key messages but then
14:18
definitely opening up i want to get
14:19
questions and have a conversation so
14:22
let me show everybody a couple of slides
14:24
that i’ve prepared
14:25
um they kind of give a bit of an
14:26
overview
14:28
i’ll go into present mode um so yeah at
14:31
the risk of getting a shameless plug we
14:33
are having our big like marquee event
14:35
tomorrow so if you’re in calgary or
14:38
you’re in edmonton you can join us in
14:39
person in calgary we’re gonna be that
14:41
brand new platform innovation center in
14:43
edmonton we’re gonna be at polar park
14:45
brewing uh the location of our original
14:47
happy hour um and uh it’s also gonna be
14:50
a virtual event too so if you wanna if
14:52
you wanna sign in uh from home you can
14:54
sign in from home
14:55
um you know and we i really view the our
14:58
investment summit program that i’ll talk
14:59
about a little bit here in the event
15:00
itself as part and partial to the happy
15:02
hour kind of building off the spirit of
15:04
the happy hour um
15:06
we got these sponsors on here this makes
15:08
me look really corporate but um these
15:10
sponsors are super helpful you know like
15:12
kind of just like give you a little
15:13
background here i can point to some of
15:15
these sponsors like i’ve heard of
15:16
enterprise corporation and accelerate
15:18
fund i literally just had like a call
15:20
out in my newsletter back when we first
15:22
started the happy hour and said hey i
15:24
want to put together some cool event in
15:26
february where we raise money for local
15:28
companies who can help us and both
15:30
alberta enterprise corporation and
15:32
accelerate fund responded and said we
15:34
can give you a little bit of money if
15:35
you’d like some money for that and now
15:37
they stuck with us and uh and they’re
15:39
still sponsors um and since then we’ve
15:42
built great relationships with people
15:43
like bdc cbre krp and am fm um you know
15:47
who really are helping the entrepreneurs
15:48
in the community uh people like peer
15:50
guided flip jade’s in there jade’s
15:52
company’s in there um
15:55
okay well let me give you let me give
15:56
you a little more history there so i
15:57
kind of talked a little about the tnt
15:58
again it stands for thursday night
16:00
tradition and here’s a fun image on the
16:01
left of our very first investment summit
16:05
uh or actually it might have been one of
16:06
the pitch nights for the investment
16:07
summits um and i think this like kind of
16:10
captures this spirit as well like if i
16:11
look at this image this is actually kind
16:13
of cool see this person here on the
16:15
right in the in the dress and like the
16:16
black and pink with the long hair that’s
16:19
victoria she was there at pitch night
16:21
back in like this is january 2020. uh
16:24
she’s pitching tomorrow or shelby her
16:26
partner is they’re in the summit they’re
16:27
raising money for their startup uh
16:30
that’s like such a cool story to kind of
16:32
see this happening right before our eyes
16:33
as part of the community which i think
16:35
is like really special if i make this
16:37
personal for me like really special uh
16:39
to be able to you know become friends
16:41
with the entrepreneurs become friends
16:43
with the investors and then watch them
16:45
grow and raise their companies right
16:46
before our very eyes and showcase and
16:48
celebrate them uh all in like one kind
16:50
of comprehensive experience um and then
16:52
over here on the left we have a couple
16:53
of investors that joined us that first
16:55
night and they’re still investing with
16:56
us now so and then everyone i think
16:58
that’s aaron budnik there one of the
16:59
founders of the rainforest here at mit
17:01
um okay so a lot of great local people
17:02
are recognizing and here fast forward to
17:04
today we’re still doing it um you know
17:07
here we’re we’re making a toast to one
17:08
of the local um
17:10
executive directors of startup edmonton
17:12
here in edmonton uh and actually this
17:14
person making the toast
17:16
uh works now she used to work at startup
17:18
everton now she works at drug bank the
17:21
first company that won our our
17:23
investment summit back in february 2020.
17:25
um and they’re actually in the process
17:28
now of of uh you know going like
17:31
gangbusters and building and probably
17:32
doing another round in the very near
17:34
future here um
17:36
so that you know this is kind of like
17:38
if i look at this and i summarize the
17:40
organization it’s get together with
17:41
great people uh bring different parts of
17:44
the community together and then actually
17:45
help them build companies in a real way
17:48
which is which is with investors and you
17:50
know on the topic of investors like the
17:52
thing that appeals to me about our
17:54
investment summit and the process i
17:55
actually borrowed this from another
17:56
ecosystem i went to a seminar i learned
17:58
about this thing called an angel summit
17:59
that they’re doing down in seattle i
18:01
said this is perfect
18:02
because really what it focuses on is
18:04
simultaneously training entrepreneurs
18:07
and training investors and when you do
18:10
it with a process where
18:12
it’s casual and approachable and it’s
18:14
part of like a weekly cadence of meetups
18:16
you know it’s just about generally all
18:18
working together to build community as
18:19
like kind of one cohesive ecosystem and
18:21
i know that’s exactly what the
18:22
rainforest is all about
18:24
um and so we’re very much in line with
18:26
that so you know and i think that like
18:27
this is maybe a bit of an overlooked
18:29
aspect of any ecosystem any startup
18:31
community which is the amount of time
18:33
and energy and sophistication that’s
18:35
required to become a good angel investor
18:38
and like you know just because you have
18:40
the money or you have the experience in
18:42
business from a more traditional
18:43
background there’s a lot of things that
18:45
are quite different about angel
18:46
investing in a tech startup than in like
18:49
say a real estate company or a
18:50
traditional business
18:52
and start t investment summit offers an
18:54
opportunity for all those people that
18:56
are interested in it to learn in a very
18:58
hands-on way
18:59
where they’re they’re committing up
19:01
front to invest five thousand dollars
19:03
into one of the local companies that
19:04
supplies and basically education is
19:06
built into it we do proper education
19:07
seminars but we also do a bunch of
19:10
peer-to-peer learning you know people
19:11
like jade alberts that have been here
19:12
for a while
19:14
they ship they basically take the lead
19:16
on doing due diligence and they share
19:17
directly with the other investors you
19:19
know what they think and that’s where a
19:20
lot of the learning comes from
19:22
um actually maybe i’ll maybe i’ll stop
19:23
here and ask jay if he wants to add any
19:25
context to that yeah i i
19:27
you know talking about startup tnt the
19:30
i say you hear me say it all the time
19:31
the people that the entrepreneurs are
19:33
gonna meet are almost more important
19:35
than the money that they’re gonna
19:36
receive or not receive i mean and not
19:38
only through like our company that pure
19:40
guidance that does it but there’s many
19:42
opportunities that we sit there and help
19:44
these uh companies out that don’t win
19:46
we’ll sit on a monthly call with them a
19:48
weekly call with them make sure we’re
19:49
guiding them in the right direction
19:51
making sure they’re getting the right
19:52
advice
19:53
and that’s only me it’s the other 90
19:55
angels that we have
19:57
that are willing to give back and give
19:59
their time to help the the ecosystem
20:01
grow so it’s a very collaborative
20:03
community which ties into
20:05
you know even some of the main investors
20:07
you know not only are there ones that
20:09
just commit five thousand there’s ones
20:11
that’ll cut checks for a hundred
20:12
thousand or two hundred thousand dollars
20:14
so
20:15
and you know those comp those people
20:16
have had big exits so and they’re
20:18
willing to give back and even on telling
20:20
it like it is today when i had james
20:22
lockery on you know that’s kind of the
20:23
next level of them building their 100
20:25
million dollar fund to really give back
20:27
but it’s got to start somewhere and
20:30
these small little angels that are
20:32
starting at 5000 maybe two investments a
20:34
year
20:35
might have a couple exits in a few years
20:37
and then they’ll give back they’ll give
20:38
more and and learning how to properly
20:40
invest in a company is extremely
20:42
important
20:44
and you know you know i think jade
20:46
really hit it there which is like the
20:48
money is the thing that maybe grabs
20:49
headlines but the experience
20:52
of the relationships you’re building
20:53
especially like you know slowly building
20:55
genuine relationships over time is what
20:57
we go for um and we really work hard to
20:59
instill that culture among the
21:00
entrepreneurs and the investors like
21:02
it’s not it’s not supposed to be a
21:03
winner take all business plan
21:04
competition it’s real deals real
21:06
investors real transactions happening
21:10
um
21:11
okay and so actually the next slide i
21:14
believe is a quick summary
21:17
3.9 million dollars raised
21:19
um that’s incredible um you know
21:21
considering that when we do one summit
21:23
like
21:24
in one city we basically ask 25 to 30
21:27
investors each to commit
21:29
you know
21:30
five thousand dollars up front but what
21:31
we always see happening is that multiple
21:33
companies raise money because the
21:35
investors do all these dozens together
21:36
they gain stress amongst each other they
21:38
get excited about the deals
21:40
and we’re we kind of a system where we
21:41
can rapidly syndicate
21:43
many small checks so it’s beneficial to
21:45
the company the companies in the end
21:47
receiving fifty hundred even two hundred
21:49
fifty thousand dollars sometimes um as
21:52
basically one uh one check that they
21:55
receive on their cat table
21:57
and we kind of do all that kind of
21:58
hurting of cats behind the scenes and
22:00
look at the look at the types of
22:02
companies you see here and this i really
22:03
want to stress this you know these are
22:05
i’m showing you the 18 formal syndicates
22:07
that we’ve done there’s been another
22:08
half dozen deals that happened
22:10
uh just directly between the
22:12
entrepreneurs and the investors
22:14
um
22:15
but if you look at the ones we formally
22:17
syndicated you see
22:18
um basically a representation of our
22:21
startup community you know look like
22:22
future fields is in cellular agriculture
22:24
zs2 is in cleantech and building
22:26
construction drug bank is
22:29
a health technology company
22:31
um uproot foods is a food company i mean
22:34
this is a food company
22:35
like with an innovative business model
22:37
around
22:38
um
22:39
you know high quality local uh goods
22:42
arbor’s is a b to b
22:44
i’m sorry b to c sas company with uh
22:46
with an esg focus 2s water is you know a
22:50
hardware company aerolytics is a b2b sas
22:52
company that’s in cleantech focus on oil
22:54
and gas wine crush another clean tech
22:56
company um you know you’ve really just
22:58
got everything i think this is what’s
23:00
really interesting to me
23:01
um is that at start tnt where industry
23:04
agnostic you know any company that meets
23:07
the key definitions of a startup which
23:09
is they’re going for a global customer
23:10
base or scaling to create something big
23:13
uh is a fit for raising money at sarptnt
23:15
and all sectors have been represented
23:17
and that’s really exciting
23:19
and even to what allison has a question
23:21
here that says all people it’s amazing
23:23
of all the lives you touched and one
23:25
thing that zach didn’t say is
23:27
we are putting almost 120 150 companies
23:30
from alberta now into saskatchewan
23:33
on the
23:34
on on a global stage where companies
23:36
from all over the world are seeing them
23:38
they’re they’re and they’re investing in
23:39
them we’ve had five companies
23:41
that we weren’t allowed to invest and
23:43
while four of them we got to james led
23:45
us in with arbor but four other
23:47
companies that started off in our summit
23:49
and they were fully funded because
23:50
someone saw them so it sucked as an
23:53
investor not getting to get in on them
23:54
but you know what you’re happy for them
23:56
because they filled their round and and
23:58
and having these people having these
24:00
companies you know seeing in these
24:02
summits for top 20s and top 30s
24:05
it is priceless to to show how great
24:08
and what great companies are starting to
24:10
come out of alberta yeah i think i think
24:12
that’s actually pretty a pretty
24:14
important point
24:15
that we really like to focus on is that
24:17
showcase like let’s let’s celebrate and
24:20
and broadcast what we’re doing here as a
24:22
community so everyone knows and let’s be
24:24
really proud of it
24:25
um and we there’s some great like some
24:28
of the highest quality investors that i
24:29
know in alberta are also investing in
24:31
these deals which i think is quite
24:33
special
24:34
for first-time investors and i think
24:35
this to me what it’s all about as a
24:37
first-time investor you could be
24:38
investing in a company like drug bank
24:40
that received investment from the
24:42
accelerate fund receive an investment
24:43
from raymond zika like these are like
24:45
top quality investors in your ecosystem
24:47
that you’re co-investing within some of
24:48
these deals very very cool
24:50
yeah
24:51
um okay i think that’s kind of kind of
24:53
all we had yeah that’s kind of where i
24:55
wanted to stop with the slides to be
24:57
honest with you
24:58
um
24:59
here’s here’s current stats for the last
25:01
summit so well actually maybe i’ll just
25:03
touch on this one briefly which is you
25:04
know we started off with in edmonton
25:07
this was before the pandemic hit and
25:09
everything was in person we did in
25:11
edmonton
25:12
and then with the pandemic hit we
25:13
realized that everything had to be
25:15
virtual for a while in fact i joke that
25:17
we actually ran our happy hour virtually
25:18
for longer than we did in person i think
25:20
we might have caught up at this point
25:22
but um that was true for a while
25:25
we now are running three independent
25:27
streams so this isn’t just like an
25:28
edmonton this isn’t even just an alberta
25:30
thing anymore we now have alberta and
25:31
saskatchewan happening so tomorrow if
25:34
you join us you will see five companies
25:35
from edmonton five from calgary and five
25:37
from saskatchewan
25:39
and we have independent investor teams
25:41
from each of those regions also
25:42
evaluating all the deals and you’ll see
25:44
a minimum of three companies raising
25:47
money
25:47
um and we’ll see how many end up how
25:49
many deals actually happen but i would i
25:51
would anticipate more than three
25:55
um so there i think i can leave it there
25:57
maybe i’ll stop sharing my slides
26:02
um yeah
26:04
yeah really incredible guys um yet the
26:07
work you do is like alan said it touches
26:09
so many but it’s just uh it’s inspiring
26:13
to see to watch the summits one of the
26:15
first virtual events i i did in the
26:18
ecosystems act was like a jeopardy thing
26:19
you hosted at the la was it last summit
26:22
yeah it was
26:24
hilarious
26:25
um
26:26
i was just getting to know everybody was
26:27
a great way to get to know everybody
26:28
really funny um
26:30
so you make it all fun and you make
26:31
investing accessible to many it’s
26:34
incredible uh we got questions so so
26:36
let’s go to v uh v you want to mute
26:39
yeah love it amazing
26:42
uh can’t wait to get involved
26:44
and i just wanted to know what uh what
26:46
are your thoughts on trust and getting
26:48
people to share their ip
26:52
so general thoughts on trust um i mean
26:55
i’ll be honest with you the philosophy
26:56
of startup tnt is kind of in the order
26:58
that i think is important for building
27:00
trust and building relationships have
27:02
fun
27:03
make friends build companies so
27:05
you know we we try to focus on i think
27:08
how bridget put it was perfect
27:10
accessible casual fun kind of all those
27:12
things together
27:13
um and so you can sort of get to know
27:16
people slowly over time that’s why it’s
27:17
a weekly happy hour like when we first
27:19
launched this people like no one’s gonna
27:20
show up every week and i’m like i know i
27:21
am because i want to build trust and
27:23
relationships with everybody slowly over
27:25
time um so i try to focus on kind of
27:27
genuine relationship building through
27:29
the happy hour and then um
27:32
maybe on the ip question i think that’s
27:34
one that
27:36
actually is a bit of a challenge because
27:37
people are nervous about sharing their
27:38
ip
27:39
um but
27:41
you know don’t don’t share it willy
27:42
nilly but i think sometimes we keep our
27:44
ip too close because we’re worried that
27:45
people are gonna steal it even though
27:46
it’s very very low probability that
27:48
happened
27:49
yeah i guess on on that i mean we have
27:52
i think once out of all the investments
27:54
at summits that i’ve been in i think we
27:55
signed one nda right i mean we have a
27:58
slack channel everybody that is in as an
28:00
investor understands the importance of
28:03
of keeping someone’s technology ip
28:05
whatever patents um secret or to
28:08
themselves so it’s not shared it’s it’s
28:10
discussed internally when we have our
28:12
due diligence and where they think it’ll
28:14
go what the value it brings to the deal
28:16
and things like that so it’s again i
28:18
mean maybe it’s a western philosophy
28:20
thing a prairie thing that uh that the
28:22
trust is there but uh you know there
28:24
hasn’t been any i don’t know i don’t
28:26
know leaks i guess if that’s what you
28:27
want to call them but the trust is there
28:29
in our in our ecosystem
28:32
thank you so much
28:35
peter
28:37
hey nice to see you jade zach and uh
28:40
thanks very much and uh i think this
28:42
whole approach just embodies the whole
28:44
concept of the rainforest uh social
28:46
agreement quite frankly that whole idea
28:49
of getting together and working together
28:51
um emmy comments zach on how you see the
28:55
relationship
28:56
expanding into the larger
28:59
uh equity players and the big financing
29:02
companies and the stage three stage four
29:05
and
29:05
are they uh onside with that kind of
29:09
infectious nature that this kind of
29:11
sharing agreement looks like
29:14
um are you referring to people that are
29:15
doing like
29:16
series a series b rounds like
29:18
ventricular yeah yeah the big players
29:20
that want to come in after things you’re
29:22
kind of moving ahead and yeah all that
29:24
stuff yeah well you know this is this is
29:26
actually a big part of our philosophy at
29:27
tnt is that you know if you want to
29:30
build a great angel investing community
29:32
the angel investors have to be
29:33
approachable but i could actually
29:34
explain that to investments if you want
29:36
to build a great investment community
29:38
they have to be approachable and
29:39
basically a part of the startup
29:41
community so any any high quality great
29:44
entrepreneur in your local ecosystem
29:45
should be talking to the angel investors
29:47
at kind of those very early days
29:49
um and you know what we find is that
29:52
the like we actually work hard to try
29:54
and build relationships with vcs
29:56
because we know that we might be
29:58
investing in a slightly earlier state
29:59
than them but you know
30:02
all those vcs realize that you know the
30:04
deal funnel in the pipeline it’s a
30:05
long-term play so i think they actually
30:07
aren’t quite open to we especially we’re
30:09
doing it virtually we actually had quite
30:10
a few that would join us
30:12
um virtually there’s less dc’s
30:14
physically in say edmonton although
30:16
there’s more in calgary so we don’t get
30:17
them we get them fairly often at our
30:19
happy hour in edmonton uh the ones that
30:21
are active so i think the vcs that i
30:23
know are generally quite open and
30:25
embracing this spirit and i might on
30:27
this note bridget mentioned an award
30:29
earlier um i just was received this
30:32
award that is actually sponsored by the
30:34
venture capital association of alberta
30:36
so
30:37
i think like if you guys believe that in
30:39
our spirit that’s like pretty formal
30:41
recognition that the venture capital
30:43
industry also believes in it
30:46
and we also get a lot of uh
30:48
a lot of phone calls from the vcs right
30:50
they want our opinion they know that you
30:51
know we’ve run businesses we’ve probably
30:53
exited businesses or are still running
30:55
them
30:56
and they want to know what it’s like to
30:58
work with that founder right i mean
30:59
everybody will have their investors
31:00
thesis and so will vcs and they’re
31:02
looking for certain things you know if i
31:04
was to share mine i would say i’m
31:05
looking for mrr i’m looking for the
31:07
founder and then i’m looking for
31:09
scalability and it kind of goes from
31:10
there if you talk to someone like edon
31:12
he’s focused more on tech and and then
31:14
and it filters down from there for him
31:16
but a lot of vcs want to know how are
31:18
they how are they to work with you know
31:20
are they coachable
31:21
in are
31:22
any and and tons of questions i mean i’m
31:25
probably on one or two calls with vcs a
31:27
month asking questions about some of the
31:28
companies that we’ve invested in
31:30
and you know honestly again it starts
31:32
with the founder right and that’s if
31:34
you’re going to sit there and be a dick
31:36
to angel investors vcs aren’t going to
31:38
want to invest in you so you know it’s
31:41
it’s start you got to treat everybody
31:42
the same and and make sure that you’re
31:44
coachable
31:55
richard you’re muted
31:58
oh
32:02
it’s nice of you to all wait for me to
32:04
unmute like that
32:06
uh you could have just started talking
32:08
uh i’m just laughing at james’s comment
32:10
to great comments though jade but uh i
32:12
was just chuckling at james’s comment to
32:14
zach about uh his pivot from phd in
32:17
chemical engineering uh to this to this
32:19
work uh comment zach
32:23
uh you know that’s
32:24
that’s uh that’s a great question james
32:26
um
32:27
i you know i was uh sometimes i was
32:29
sharing this recently with people
32:31
where i feel like
32:33
it took me
32:34
until i was 35
32:37
so between the ages of roughly like 18
32:39
and 35 to figure out kind of like my
32:42
professional life
32:43
in a way that made sense for me and like
32:45
what i wanted to do like i joke like
32:47
back when i was in high school like made
32:48
sense to me i played sports i was good
32:50
at school i had great friends we did a
32:52
lot of fun stuff it was like like this
32:53
is what life was about and i felt
32:55
amazing and then once i graduated from
32:57
high school i felt like i literally
32:58
spent the next almost 20 years trying to
33:01
re-figure out how to how life makes
33:02
sense as an adult um and i feel like as
33:05
a phd and purely a phd it only semi made
33:08
sense because i wanted to do more with
33:09
my life
33:10
so now i feel like star tmt brings it
33:12
all together for me that’s my short
33:14
answer and i’m 49 and i still have no
33:16
idea what i want to do
33:19
you’re in good company and i’m older and
33:20
i have no idea
33:23
alan did you have a question i know
33:25
you’re needed
33:26
any comments questions
33:28
um no i’m just in total i don’t know how
33:31
i kind of didn’t really uh become part
33:33
of i guess it’s because i kind of
33:34
returned to the entrepreneur’s space
33:36
that i didn’t really know that much
33:38
about you guys so um
33:40
i’m wowed
33:41
um from where you are because it’s not
33:43
just
33:45
about the entrepreneur’s space it’s you
33:46
know it’s really that community
33:48
connection and
33:49
um
33:50
you know bringing people together like
33:52
and it’s not always easy but your
33:53
concept is
33:55
fantastic
33:57
and we actually have a lot of people
33:59
that are current entrepreneurs that are
34:00
investors as well right they want to
34:02
give back and start building their
34:03
portfolio before they retire or exit or
34:06
they’re tired of the stock stock market
34:08
or like al probably al daldegan have too
34:10
much bitcoin so they they want to do
34:12
something else
34:14
well i think and
34:16
we actually see this a little bit
34:17
already like actually one of our
34:18
investors in um
34:20
calgary was the co-founder of one of the
34:23
companies that raised money at the
34:24
springs summit
34:26
um but you know i’m like i’m looking
34:28
forward to the day when some of the
34:29
early entrepreneurs that participate
34:31
with us you know grow their businesses
34:32
to a point where like yeah exactly now
34:34
now they want to invest with us and i
34:36
think we’re going to start seeing that
34:37
pretty soon here which is pretty
34:38
exciting for me
34:40
now what about if i’m an individual with
34:43
a bit of cash that i want to try i want
34:45
to try this out as an investor
34:48
we have a rigorous application process
34:50
you have to talk to jade about it i
34:51
heard it
34:52
i heard that
34:57
you know this is what i like about it
34:58
right i mean we have we have accountants
35:00
we have hr professionals we have
35:03
um construction workers that want that
35:05
want to invest in yeah and they can’t
35:07
write a maybe a bigger 25 or 50 or 100
35:09
000 check but they want to start
35:11
building their portfolio so at 5 000 at
35:14
a time they really start to understand
35:17
why you should invest in company
35:19
um and and and i don’t want to say why
35:22
you shouldn’t invest in a company
35:23
because every company we look at
35:24
probably has a thousand reasons not to
35:26
invest and we try not to focus on that
35:29
we want to you know think more
35:30
positively and and that everyone’s going
35:32
to be successful even though we don’t
35:34
but it’s very it’s it’s a very good
35:36
community where you even as i have i
35:39
think 15 or so investments out there
35:41
i’m still learning every time i’m going
35:43
through a due diligence whether it’s
35:44
from the entrepreneur or someone a new
35:46
investor that comes in i was like oh man
35:48
i never thought of that before or well
35:50
that’s a very valid point so
35:52
you really get to understand the the art
35:55
of investing through tnt which is in my
35:58
opinion priceless
36:00
yeah and you know it’s it’s a continuous
36:02
learning process
36:04
um so but i mean this i think your
36:06
original question was like how do you
36:07
get involved it’s really just we
36:09
generally just have coffee with you and
36:10
confirm there are some specific criteria
36:12
you have to meet that are set by the
36:14
elder securities commission which is i
36:16
think why we accidentally rejected jade
36:17
originally
36:19
there was a miscommunication about those
36:20
criteria and how to meet them uh but uh
36:23
once we confirm that you meet those
36:24
criteria and honestly the conversation’s
36:26
really about understanding you have the
36:27
right mindset because keep in mind
36:28
people aren’t committing if you’re an
36:30
investor in our process you’re
36:31
committing to more than just like
36:34
angel investing as an angel investor
36:35
you’re committing to learning you’re
36:37
committing to a sort of team-based due
36:38
diligence process you’re committing that
36:40
the money is going to go into one of
36:41
these companies even though it might be
36:43
your second choice you know it’s usually
36:45
competitive we don’t have like 100
36:47
investors saying this is the number one
36:48
company
36:49
you know we have a subset of that
36:51
we use a ranked ranked ballot process to
36:54
determine the winner but it’s each each
36:55
investor gets an equal vote
37:00
anyone else want to throw out a question
37:01
before we head into breakout rooms
37:04
i’ll throw out a quick question hey zack
37:08
so
37:10
so much is going on thankfully you know
37:13
we’re getting a lot of uh momentum going
37:16
on in the tech sector
37:17
and so it’s great to see uh you know
37:20
this investment mindset and the
37:22
entrepreneurs getting supported through
37:24
dollars and through you know we help
37:27
employ people through the first jobs
37:28
program and then the accelerators the
37:31
alberta accelerators are coming and uh
37:34
which are funded by alberta innovate
37:37
and the the international accelerators
37:40
coming as well as that pre-accelerator
37:43
with platform calgary and innovate
37:45
edmonton so
37:46
how do you see in the next three years
37:49
perhaps whether it’s this year or next
37:51
year that um all of this can come
37:54
together to help create just just a
37:57
better future in alberta for the tech
37:59
industry
38:01
well i think the real thing those
38:02
accelerators bring is like a world-class
38:05
and international network of experienced
38:07
people that can really help our local
38:09
entrepreneurs
38:11
um you know take their companies to the
38:12
next level
38:14
and i i view
38:16
startup tnt’s role is getting
38:18
more of our
38:20
local wealthy individuals that are ready
38:22
to invest able to invest
38:24
and supporting entrepreneurs at the very
38:25
early stages and building community
38:27
around that but also working closely
38:28
with those new accelerators so that say
38:30
a company comes through tnt maybe they
38:32
raise money maybe they don’t they might
38:33
be a good fit for one of those
38:34
accelerators to get to the next stage
38:36
and
38:37
um that’s 100 what we plan to be doing
38:39
uh and working closely in many ways you
38:41
know i see what’s happening here is like
38:43
another
38:44
pre-accelerator um that that you’re
38:46
running or or next level up but also uh
38:51
i i think three years out five years out
38:54
these types of grassroots initiatives
38:56
whether it’s rainforest or technology
38:58
alberta or tnt
39:01
it’s what’s going to keep the companies
39:03
here in alberta and create the new ones
39:05
right because that’s kind of it there’s
39:06
always a concern if you bring some
39:08
external in here we could lose our
39:10
companies if there’s nothing keeping
39:12
them here but the community and a
39:14
supportive community is what can do that
39:17
so i think you’re already seeing that uh
39:19
gail right i mean even when talking to
39:21
james today right who have to leave and
39:23
what does he do he comes back and he’s
39:25
going to be investing in the majority of
39:27
alberta companies but i think you know
39:29
benevolent has proved that cement has is
39:31
proving that jobbers are showing that uh
39:34
um who just got you know a lot of them
39:36
now are here and they live here they
39:38
stay here and they’re gonna play here
39:40
and they’re gonna invest here when
39:41
they’re done and that is like we are
39:43
early on in that cycle right now
39:46
and accelerators will help that as long
39:48
as companies don’t get accelerator happy
39:50
and start jumping from one to one they
39:51
got to focus on growing their business
39:53
but people are going to stay here invest
39:55
here and play here and and and over the
39:57
next 10 to 25 years it’s just going to
40:00
be a booming economy for for many
40:02
sectors not just tech yeah i think i
40:05
think bridget brings up a really good
40:06
point there in the chat too which is
40:08
there’s a lot of advantages and that are
40:09
that make alberta very attractive from a
40:11
practical business standpoint we were
40:13
just talking to future fields one of our
40:15
first companies we’re gonna do a virtual
40:17
lab tour with them
40:18
and they actually like they tell they
40:20
tell other people that they know
40:21
internationally like how much they’re
40:22
paying for rent and it like blows their
40:24
mind and like what they can accomplish
40:26
with like a two million dollar raise is
40:28
like ten times it’s like feels like two
40:30
or three times maybe not ten but two or
40:31
three times more than what people with a
40:33
two or three million race can accomplish
40:35
in a place like silicon valley or boston
40:36
so i agree like kind of that community
40:38
piece to support everyone
40:40
you know complements the the practical
40:42
business reasons why you want to build a
40:43
company here and and we’re we’re golden
40:47
yeah i i just thought to you that
40:48
manitoba government just announced
40:50
funding into neo’s uh neo’s staff which
40:53
is pretty
40:54
pretty great um that it’s heading east
40:57
into and that you guys are operating in
40:58
saskatchewan sasky girl so
41:01
bring it to the prairies that’s awesome
41:02
okay but we will pop into breakout rooms
41:04
we have time v i see your hand up but um
41:06
maybe we can ask it in the breakout
41:08
rooms or when we come back so we have
41:09
some time to connect on a smaller scale
41:11
and everybody can have a chance to chat
41:14
so i will open up the rooms um i just
41:16
want to say that uh
41:18
normally we do reserve uh the last five
41:20
minutes for community announcements but
41:22
if you could please check out the link
41:24
amber put in the chat for um uh
41:26
nominations for people’s choice guest
41:29
and host for the libby podcast awards if
41:31
you could take some time while you’re
41:32
here at lunch without lunch to nominate
41:34
your best your favorite rather host or
41:36
guest be uh really greatly appreciated
41:38
and don’t forget to join us on the 25th
41:40
rooms are opening i’ll see you in about
41:43
seven minutes ish
41:45
starting marie okay
41:47
welcome back hopefully you all had some
41:49
great conversations
41:50
um
41:51
a few minutes left for a community
41:53
announcement so before doing that big
41:55
thank you to jade big thank you to zach
41:58
uh for coming and sharing your story and
42:00
inspiring all of us to to take part in
42:03
the work you you’re doing it’s so
42:04
rainforesty and we just love it um
42:08
startup tnt investment tomorrow link is
42:10
somewhere buried in the chat or google
42:12
it for tickets to watch these pitches
42:14
tomorrow um innovation week in calgary
42:17
next week tons going on i’ll throw the
42:19
link up for that
42:20
her story competition female pitches
42:23
tomorrow through the 51 and alberta
42:26
innovates
42:27
you could spend uh the next you know 10
42:29
days just on zoom watching things so um
42:33
or in person so have fun with that any
42:35
other announcements out there other uh
42:37
we do have the livvy podcast awards if
42:39
you want to come and watch we have a bit
42:41
of a fun hour planned an hour and a half
42:44
ish with a lot of networking time
42:45
connection time built into that um link
42:48
is in the chat as well so please come
42:50
help us uh
42:52
acknowledge all of the volunteers that
42:53
take part in the libby podcast
42:56
anybody else
42:59
um can we make event announcements yes
43:02
okay so weekly uh the hubble incubator
43:05
is running uh educational sessions
43:08
uh
43:09
for entrepreneurs who want to build
43:11
their skills
43:13
as they transition from validating to
43:15
skip to scaling and they’re free events
43:18
we have them on thursdays from 12 until
43:21
1 30 and i posted the event registration
43:24
this uh in the chat
43:27
they’re free and today our this week’s
43:29
focus is on uh product market fit so
43:32
going through and making sure you’re
43:34
making a desirable product and then how
43:36
do you go about telling that story to to
43:38
have the most impact possible
43:43
very cool cameron you have a link you’ve
43:45
shared okay yeah it’s just a little bit
43:47
further up i can repost it if you want
43:50
yeah i i sure that’d be great awesome
43:52
thanks for sharing that’s great um
43:55
anyone else
44:01
hello
44:02
can i yes
44:04
hello nice to meet you girls not to meet
44:06
demands for everyone i am here in
44:08
calgary for
44:09
10 days
44:11
and i’m so happy because i can start
44:13
talking to you physically near
44:17
and i am so happy to stay here again and
44:20
the last time when i was in the um
44:24
rainforest moment or in this room is
44:27
from brazil
44:28
so now i’m happy for staying calgary
44:30
nice to meet you guys i put my link
44:33
or linked in in the chat now and i
44:37
will be happy to stay and connect to you
44:39
there
44:40
awesome welcome to alberta jack nice to
44:42
have you uh that’s great
44:44
thanks thanks for sharing anybody else
44:50
all right that’s a wrap next week um
44:54
we’re doing something super cool i
44:55
should really start pulling up the
44:56
schedule so i know what’s happening next
44:59
uh something awesome watch our social
45:01
and we’ll keep the room open if anybody
45:03
wants to stay and continue connecting
45:06
for the next half hour-ish uh you’re
45:08
welcome to do so have a great week
45:10
everybody