In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Keegan McCallum, co-founder and CEO of uRUN, an inference provider built for persistent, steerable, interactive AI experiences. Keegan’s path took him from jailbreaking iPods in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to building the infrastructure that powered Luma AI’s viral Dream Machine launch, scaling from 500 to 9,000 H100s in six hours to process over half a million videos.

They break down why the industry is wrong to shoehorn interactive AI into old request-response systems and why the future belongs to persistent, stateful, real-time experiences. Keegan explains the technical differences between LLMs and video models, why infrastructure is the biggest bottleneck for the next wave of AI, and what it takes to recruit top engineering talent.

He also shares hard-won lessons on selling to developers, the Canadian AI talent landscape, and his bold, contrary views on the AI supply chain. From avatars and steerable video to coding agents generating 1,000 tokens per second, this episode is packed with frontline insights.

Whether you are a founder building in AI, an infrastructure engineer, or simply curious about where human-computer interaction is headed, Keegan delivers a clear-eyed look at the future of interactive AI.

–

A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo Canada

This is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.

Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.ca

Watch it on YouTube

The Luma AI Experience: From 500 to 9,000 H100s (04:18)

• Joining Luma after building an early LLM infrastructure startup

• The Sora demo and the pitch to build and release a competing video model

• Building the inference infrastructure for Luma’s launch

• Scaling from roughly 500 to 9,000 H100s in six hours as Dream Machine went viral

What a Viral AI Launch Actually Looks Like (06:03)

• The request queue hitting 100,000 during the Dream Machine launch

• Processing half a million videos in 12 hours and reaching one million users in four days

• Why having a queue protected the user experience during the surge

• Building infrastructure that could run across raw VMs, Slurm, Kubernetes, and different GPU providers

• Why founders need to plan for success before the product takes off

Why AI Production Infrastructure Is Being Left Behind (10:50)

• The tension between training the next model and supporting production workloads

• Why infrastructure teams can lose talent to model research

• The opportunity Keegan saw in building a dedicated ML infrastructure team

• Creating infrastructure that model labs across different modalities can use instead of rebuilding it themselves

Why Video AI Needs a Different Infrastructure Stack (12:32)

• The limitations of moving media through traditional object storage

• The latency problems that make real-time previews and interaction difficult

• Streaming audio, video, images, and text as continuous inputs and outputs

• uRUN’s focus on making persistent, interactive AI experiences easier to build

• Moving AI from something you message toward something that feels present with you

The Shift Toward Omnimodal and Interactive AI (19:01)

• What Keegan learned working closely with Luma’s research team

• Why understanding the research direction matters when building infrastructure

• The move toward AI that can understand vision, audio, language, reasoning, and sensor data

• How AI has evolved from single prompts to conversations, agents, and interactive systems

• Why highly interactive, real-time AI experiences could become the next major interface

Small Models, Specialized AI, and the Future of Inference (26:31)

• Keegan’s previous startup thesis around smaller models and delegated inference

• Why continual learning remains a difficult problem

• Running capable smaller models locally and knowing when to delegate to larger models

• Why enterprises may increasingly want differentiated models running in-house

• The potential shift toward using large models for the hardest problems rather than every task

Where uRUN Is Seeing Early Demand (30:38)

• AI avatars for customer support and sales

• Steerable video generation that lets users intervene while content is being created

• Video transformation for creators, avatars, and live experiences

• Real-time visual effects for music festivals and live events

• Why world models could eventually have applications in open-world gaming

The Infrastructure Problem Holding Back World Models (00:32:54)

• Companies developing world models without the infrastructure to serve them

• Why scaling world models remains difficult

• The enormous context requirements involved in tracking everything happening in a simulated environment

• The need for distributed infrastructure as these models become more capable

Building a Team Around Hard Problems (35:18)

• Finding engineers with deep experience in infrastructure and low-latency inference

• Bringing together expertise from New Relic, AWS, Superorbital, and other infrastructure environments

• Why Keegan looks for engineers who can work across multiple areas

• Building a small team of high-leverage people instead of optimizing for headcount

The Trait Keegan Looks for in Exceptional Engineers (37:47)

• Why culture and quality matter more than quantity

• Looking for people who take ownership and solve problems without waiting for instructions

• The importance of urgency and experience operating under pressure

• Why hard problems can attract customers, investors, and exceptional talent

• Hiring people who can wear multiple hats and produce at a high level

Building AI Companies in Canada (41:29)

• Why Keegan keeps finding Canadians throughout Silicon Valley

• The advantages of building a strong team in Canada at a lower cost

• Government funding and the opportunity to build ambitious companies with smaller teams

• The challenge of Canadian companies and talent being pulled toward Silicon Valley

• Why Canada needs more ways for companies to grow instead of selling early

Selling Infrastructure to Developers (44:23)

• Why developers want to try the product rather than hear a list of performance claims

• Giving technical users something they can get their hands on and test

• Why open-source surfaces can help developers understand how a product works

• Documentation and developer experience as a core part of selling infrastructure

• Why developers have a very high tolerance bar for technical errors

The Infrastructure Shift Coming Next (46:43)

• Why persistent streaming infrastructure could become standard

• Moving away from request-response systems toward long-running streams

• The importance of maintaining state across continuous interactions

• Potential applications in real-time video, virtual try-on, image editing, and coding agents

• The infrastructure required for AI systems that can generate and respond almost instantly

About Keegan McCallum

Keegan McCallum is the co-founder and CEO of uRUN, an inference provider built to handle persistent, steerable, and interactive AI experiences. A self-taught engineer who started by jailbreaking iPods in Thunder Bay, Keegan has built a career on tackling the hardest infrastructure problems in Canada. He has held leadership roles at Colony Networks and served as the Head of Engineering at Luma AI, where he led the infrastructure team that scaled the viral Dream Machine launch from 500 to 9,000 GPUs in a single day. His deep technical expertise spans ML infrastructure, cloud-native systems, and low-latency edge computing.

Connect with Keegan McCallum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keeganmccallum3?originalSubdomain=ca

Visit uRUN’s website: https://urun.sh/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

Canada is back at the negotiating table with the U.S., looking for relief from tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum, forestry, and other goods. Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo break down the latest developments, including the possibility of a revived Keystone XL project and the concessions Canada may have to make to get a deal across the line.

But John’s bigger concern is what Canada could give up in the process. He argues that digital services and technology are becoming the new economic battleground, and Canada risks protecting traditional industries while giving away ground in the sectors that could drive future growth. Matt and John also question why Canada is negotiating from a fragmented position while the U.S. approaches the talks as a unified front.

The episode delves into Ontario’s new rules for AI data centers, the growing debate over who should pay for the massive infrastructure needed to power AI, and Anthropic’s unusual founder-control structure ahead of a potential IPO. Matt and John also look at Stripe’s decision to remain private while making a major AI acquisition, Clearco’s unexpected comeback after securing new financing, and why Canada may be falling behind the U.S. on blockchain despite having some of the strongest talent in the space.

If you want a sharper read on where the U.S.-Canada trade, AI infrastructure, and digital sovereignty are heading next, this episode is a must-listen.

–

A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo Canada

This is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.

Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.ca

Watch it on YouTube

Canada’s Trade Gamble (03:05)

John warns Canada may trade digital sovereignty for short-term wins on oil and agriculture, calling it “solidifying the past and giving up the future.” He explains how U.S. statecraft has cleverly undermined Canada’s domestic tech industry through data and content restrictions.

Ontario’s AI Data Center Crackdown (08:54)

Ontario rolls out new rules forcing AI data centers to pay higher electricity rates and cover infrastructure costs. John says the move was inevitable and raises legitimate questions about whether AI’s benefits will be widely shared.

Anthropic’s Super-Voting Share Plan (12:52)

Anthropic plans super-voting shares and a trust to insulate its founders, who own only about 2% each, ahead of a potential $2 trillion IPO. John calls it bad governance but admits the public likely won’t care given the company’s explosive growth.

Stripe Stays Private and Buys Big (17:24)

Stripe acquires OpenRouter for $8 billion in stock while staying private, with revenues up 41% and free cash flow rising 43%. John asks why they’d ever go public if secondary markets provide liquidity and they can avoid quarterly scrutiny.

Clearco’s Comeback (19:48)

Clearco secures a $100 million Macquarie facility, cutting its cost of capital by 50% in a stunning turnaround. The chairman describes it as rebuilding an airplane mid-flight, and they’ve pulled it off.

Is Canada Losing the Blockchain Race? (20:56)

With U.S. crypto rules advancing and Canada stalled since the Stablecoin Act, John warns the real opportunity is in unified ledgers, not currencies. He notes Canada’s best blockchain talent is building for American companies, not Canadian ones.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Karl Holmqvist, co-founder and CEO of Lastwall, a FedRAMP-certified identity security platform built for the highest-risk use cases. Karl has been deep in cybersecurity since the 1990s, with early experience building critical infrastructure, including Canada’s first high-speed mobile data network, and a recent focus on identity security at the forefront of making systems quantum-resilient. In this conversation, they explore the evolution of Lastwall from early behavioral biometrics and cognitive signals to today’s hybrid post-quantum cryptography.

They also dig into the journey to FedRAMP approval and what it really takes to sell to the hardest customers on the planet, from the DOD’s Innovation Unit to critical infrastructure operators globally. Karl shares his view on why hybrid cryptography is the only responsible path right now, the magnified risk of the AI agent era, and his strongly held belief that when it comes to quantum resiliency, you’re either going to be too early or too late.

Whether you’re a founder navigating a path into regulated markets, a security leader thinking about the agentic AI era, or just curious about what it takes to protect critical infrastructure, Karl delivers a grounded, technical, and occasionally unsettling look at where identity security is headed.

–

A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo Canada

This is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.

Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.ca

Watch it on YouTube

Growing Up in Dubai During the Gulf War (03:50)

• Karl’s childhood in Dubai as an expat during the Gulf War

• Visiting the USS Nimitz and seeing 5,000 people living on an aircraft carrier

• How jets overhead and allied ships shaped his early view of technology and defense

• The BBS era and the thrill of finding information that wasn’t available to everyone

From Mobile Data Skepticism to Building Canada’s First High-Speed Network (05:31)

• Why people thought mobile internet was “the stupidest thing” in the early 2000s

• Building a data-only carrier when no one believed you’d want internet everywhere

• The Nokia Communicator as his favorite tech gadget and early glimpse of mobile data

• Connecting critical infrastructure and discovering default credentials left wide open

The Wake-Up Call: Wastewater Plants and Unsecured Dams (12:58)

• Finding a wastewater flow control valve dangling on the internet with admin/admin credentials

• The “air-gapped” power plant where an engineer plugged his BlackBerry in to charge

• How Shodan and friends revealed dams and power facilities publicly accessible

• The founding of Lastwall: “Hackers will be everywhere. We’ve got to do something.”

From Behavioral Biometrics to Quantum Resilience (19:11)

• Why 85% of hacks still use valid stolen credentials, the same as the 1990s

• Early experiments with keyboard dynamics, mouse movements, and cognitive biometrics

• Tracking Peter Shor’s algorithm since university and the IBM factorization of 15 in 2001

• The 2017 to 2018 decision to embed quantum resiliency natively into Lastwall

Selling to the Pentagon: DIU and the “Hard Mode First” Strategy (26:07)

• Landing the first major deployment with the U.S. Department of Defense Innovation Unit

• How DIU pioneered procurement that matches innovation cycles, months instead of years

• The advice from Carbon Black founders: build the regulated stack first

• Why defense tech used to shut VC doors and how times have changed

FedRAMP, Canada, and the Case for Harmonization (33:25)

• FedRAMP as the gold standard: do compliance once, reuse everywhere

• The Canadian challenge: every agency doing its own security review

• Why Canada should base its program on NIST 800 and harmonize with the U.S.

• The reality of the integrated North American power grid and shared defense

AI Agents and the Blast Radius of Credential Theft (37:44)

• Why 50 to 100 agents per human in 2 to 3 years will magnify damage exponentially

• The OpenClaw lesson: agents do what agents do, not what you expect

• The “YOLO” approach to AI deployment and why enterprises aren’t calling enough

• Advice for founders: sandbox first, don’t connect your whole drive, go slowly

The $60M Series A Extension and the Path Forward (43:13)

• Raising BDC Capital’s Strong North Fund led by Major General (Ret.) Peter Dawe

• The milestone of FedRAMP certification and opening the floodgates to U.S. agencies

• Deploying in disconnected environments: field containers for critical infrastructure

• Why defense is ultimately about protecting the economy

About Karl Holmqvist

Karl Holmqvist is co-founder and CEO of Lastwall, an identity-as-a-service platform built on Zero Trust principles and public key infrastructure, hardened with post-quantum cryptographic resilience. Lastwall serves the U.S. Department of Defense and a growing number of civilian government agencies and critical infrastructure operators. Karl has been a cybersecurity enthusiast since the 1990s, with a background spanning telecommunications infrastructure (including building one of Canada’s first high-speed mobile data networks), renewable energy infrastructure across the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe, and international investing. He studied at Mount Allison University and is based in Vancouver, BC.

Connect with Karl Holmqvist on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlholmqvist/

Visit Lastwall’s website: https://www.lastwall.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

Canada’s venture capital market is showing signs of life, but the recovery comes with a catch: more money is flowing into fewer companies. Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo unpack what that means for Canadian founders, why promising tech companies keep getting acquired before they reach scale, and whether Canada is at risk of becoming the world’s R&D shop instead of building lasting global champions.

They also dig into Canada’s $2.3 billion Telesat sovereignty bet, the growing backlash against AI data centers over energy and water use, and Mark Zuckerberg’s push for a more decentralized AI future. John agrees with parts of Zuckerberg’s argument, but questions whether the Meta founder is really the right person to lecture the world about distributing power.

Finally, Matt and John break down Ontario Teachers’ massive SpaceX win and what it could mean for how Canadian pension funds think about venture capital. If you want a sharper read on where Canadian tech, AI infrastructure, venture capital, and economic sovereignty are heading next, this episode is a must-listen.

–

A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo Canada

This is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.

Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.ca

Watch it on YouTube

Canada’s VC Rebound Comes With a Catch (01:53)

Canadian venture funding is rising, but deal volume keeps falling as more capital concentrates around a smaller group of companies.

John explains why this “flight to quality” could create huge winners while making life much harder for strong startups outside the hottest deals.

Canada’s $2.3B Sovereignty Bet (06:15)

Canada’s major investment in Telesat and secure satellite communications is about much more than competing with Starlink.

John argues that defence and other sensitive infrastructure cannot depend entirely on foreign providers, making sovereign technology a strategic necessity.

The AI Data Center Backlash Is Getting Political (09:19)

AI data centers are running into growing resistance over electricity demand, water use, and the strain they place on local infrastructure.

John believes the issue could become much more political in Canada if rising AI demand starts pushing up energy costs for everyday consumers.

Zuckerberg Wants to Decentralize AI Power. Really? (14:48)

Mark Zuckerberg is pushing a vision of personal superintelligence that puts powerful AI tools into the hands of individuals and small businesses.

John agrees with some of the open-source philosophy, but calls out the contradiction of hearing a message about decentralizing power from the founder of Meta.

Can One SpaceX Bet Change How Pension Funds Think? (18:55)

Ontario Teachers’ SpaceX investment shows how a single exceptional venture bet can have a meaningful impact even inside a massive pension portfolio.

John explains why pension funds should remain disciplined, but says wins like SpaceX and Shopify prove that venture capital absolutely can move the dial.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Wayne Pommen, Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm and founder of PayBright, Canada’s first e-commerce buy now, pay later platform. Wayne shares his unlikely journey from competitive rowing, including the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, to a PhD in international relations, Bain Consulting, and private equity at TorQuest, where a failed deal set him on the path to building a fintech unicorn.

Wayne pulls back the curtain on PayBright’s early days, from spinning out a tiny 5-person division called HealthSmart Financial Services to pivoting into e-commerce and landing Casper and Endy as launch partners. He offers a practical breakdown of running a successful M&A process, sharing the dos and don’ts that led to Affirm’s acquisition of PayBright in 2020.

Now a senior executive at a public fintech giant, Wayne reflects on what he’s learned from working alongside Max Levchin, why Affirm refuses to charge late fees or deferred interest, and how AI is transforming everything from underwriting to go-to-market. He also shares his views on agentic commerce, the Canadian consumer credit landscape, and why “don’t quit” is his favorite life lesson.

Whether you’re a founder navigating a pivot, an operator scaling through acquisition, or just curious about the future of payments and AI, Wayne Pommen delivers the kind of straight talk that comes from building and scaling one of Canada’s most successful fintech stories.

–

A big thanks to our sponsor, Moomoo Canada

This is the kind of tooling that used to live on a Bloomberg terminal, but now it is on your phone, just a few taps away. They offer real-time data, full options chains, and an AI assistant that actually explains trading strategies.

Moomoo is the perfect place for people who want to take their money seriously. Open an account today at moomoo.ca

Watch it on YouTube

From Cambridge to Bain to Private Equity (03:10)

• The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, a broken wrist, and a comeback story

• Why he chose Bain over academia and how consulting shaped his career

• Joining TorQuest and zeroing in on non-bank financial services

Finding the Kernel: HealthSmart Financial Services (05:18)

• The summer of 2013, losing a deal but falling in love with the point-of-sale lending model

• Why banks ignored this niche and how technology was changing the game

• Spinning out a tiny five-person division with no CEO

The Pivot to E-Commerce (10:14)

• Doubling the health business in 2016 and realizing it would take forever

• The epiphany: Canada had no point-of-sale financing for e-commerce

• Mapping out the user experience over Christmas 2016 and pre-selling Casper and Endy

Building PayBright: Scrappy, Fast, and Capital Efficient (15:00)

• Running a “double-headed monster,” healthcare and e-commerce side by side

• Advice for founders navigating platform shifts, from legacy platforms to AI-native products

• The economics of buy now, pay later, merchant fees, interest rates, and cost of risk

The Affirm Acquisition (21:02)

• Growing annual loan volume from $6 million to $220 million in five years

• The COVID boom and inbound interest from Klarna, RBC, TD, and Affirm

• Running a mini process, dos and don’ts for founders

Staying On: Becoming CRO at Affirm (27:34)

• Why he stayed past the earnout and has now been there for more than three years

• Lessons from Max Levchin and the “dog on a bone” approach to going deeper

• How to stay focused across multiple products and jurisdictions

Agentic Commerce and the Future of Shopping (33:09)

• What agentic commerce really means and what it doesn’t

• Why agents will read the fine print and guide consumers to better choices

• The partnerships with Google, Stripe, and Shopify

Banning Deferred Interest and Late Fees (36:04)

• Why deferred interest is “borderline abusive” and hard to defend

• Affirm’s no-late-fee, no-compounding, transaction-level underwriting model

• Aligning lender and consumer interests, the Max Levchin insight

From Private to Public: Lessons in Discipline (40:32)

• How being public forces discipline without over-dictating the quarter

• Advice for CROs on timing the public markets

• Why Stripe staying private proves there’s no one-size-fits-all path

AI at Affirm: Supercharging Revenue and Underwriting (44:11)

• The proliferation of AI tools internally and the excitement of experimentation

• How transformer-based models are improving underwriting

• The future of work, querying Slack for tribal knowledge in seconds

About Wayne Pommen

Wayne Pommen is Chief Revenue Officer at Affirm, where he oversees the company’s revenue-generating teams and products. He joined Affirm in January 2021 through its acquisition of PayBright, Canada’s leading buy now, pay later provider, which he founded and led as President and CEO starting in 2015, growing it from 5 to 250 employees with retail partners including Apple, Hudson’s Bay, Wayfair, Samsung, and Sephora. Before PayBright, Wayne was a Principal at TorQuest Partners and a consultant at Bain & Company. A former competitive rower for Canada’s national team, he holds a degree from Harvard and a PhD from Cambridge.

Connect with Wayne Pommen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-pommen-8844021/

Visit Affirm’s website: https://www.affirm.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Julia Maltby, a Principal at Fengate Asset Management who has lived the full venture capital lifecycle. Julia started as the first employee at Plum Alley Investments, ran partnerships at WeWork during its hyper-growth phase, spent over five years rising from Associate to Principal at Flybridge Capital, and even ran her own seed fund, Deco Ventures, before moving to the LP side at Fengate in 2025. Today, she invests in early-stage VC funds and direct opportunities across North America.

Julia offers a brutally honest perspective on what she wishes every emerging manager knew about fundraising. She explains why LPs value process over outputs, why founder references from failed companies are more valuable than those from winners, and how GPs can stop leaving first meetings as a “polite maybe” and start qualifying LPs like a sales funnel. She also pulls back the curtain on LP-to-LP communication (which she says is 10X stronger than GP gossip), shares tactical advice on building data rooms that actually get read, and reveals how Fengate pre-approves co-investments to move at startup speed.

Whether you’re a GP in the middle of a raise, an LP sorting through an endless stack of emerging manager pitches, or just curious what venture looks like from every seat at the table, this episode is for you.

Watch it on YouTube

From Liberal Arts to Venture Capital (02:07)

• Julia’s unconventional path from studying architecture and social inequality to becoming one of venture’s most respected emerging investors.

• How a cold LinkedIn message landed her first job in venture capital.

• Why having no finance background became an advantage instead of a limitation.

Learning Venture from the Ground Up (04:13)

• Building crowdfunding platforms and SPVs before venture became mainstream.

• Why early-stage investing means wearing product, operations, and fundraising hats.

• Lessons learned from saying “yes” before knowing exactly how to do the work.

Inside WeWork’s Hypergrowth Machine (05:11)

• Joining WeWork during its explosive expansion and learning from one of startup history’s fastest growth stories.

• What Adam Neumann got exceptionally right about building mission-driven teams.

• The leadership lessons worth keeping and the scaling mistakes worth avoiding.

The Flybridge Investing Framework (10:39)

• Why durable venture investing starts with disciplined systems rather than intuition alone.

• The importance of pricing integrity and staying focused on core business strengths.

• How evaluating customer urgency shaped Julia’s investment philosophy.

Becoming a Solo GP (14:14)

• Launching Deco Ventures with Flybridge’s support.

• The challenges of making investment decisions without partners.

• Why every solo GP needs trusted people whose job is to challenge—not validate—their thinking.

What Makes a Venture Manager Truly Different? (18:00)

• Why there isn’t just one formula for becoming a successful GP.

• Understanding your competitive advantage instead of copying other managers.

• How LPs think about portfolio fit beyond fund performance.

The Data Room Mistakes GPs Keep Making (23:18)

• Why withholding information often slows fundraising rather than helping it.

• Julia’s advice: send everything instead of drip-feeding documents.

• How GPs should reference-check LPs before sharing sensitive materials.

Looking Beyond Markups and Valuations (27:16)

• Why portfolio KPIs matter more than inflated funding rounds.

• How disciplined reserve strategies separate thoughtful investors from reactive ones.

• Using follow-on decisions as a measure of investment discipline.

The Power of Great References (31:45)

• Why founders from failed companies often provide the strongest references.

• How LP references reveal governance, transparency, and communication quality.

• Why perfect references can actually make LPs more skeptical.

Stop Leaving Meetings as a “Maybe” (34:35)

• The questions every GP should ask before ending a fundraising meeting.

• Understanding the difference between genuine interest and structural misalignment.

• How qualifying LPs like a sales pipeline saves months of wasted fundraising.

Building Better Co-Investment Relationships (37:06)

• How proactive communication makes co-investments move faster.

• Why LPs build internal pipelines long before deals officially launch.

• The importance of giving institutional investors time to prepare.

The Future of Early-Stage Venture (39:27)

• Why Julia remains optimistic despite today’s challenging fundraising environment.

• The growing divide between mega-funds and smaller venture firms.

• Why smaller funds continue delivering meaningful returns that often go unnoticed.

Using AI to Build Better LP Portfolios (41:17)

• How Fengate uses AI to understand portfolio exposure across hundreds of startups.

• Moving beyond broad fund branding into detailed market analysis.

• Why better portfolio intelligence leads to better future investment decisions.

About Julia Maltby

Julia Maltby is a Principal at Fengate Asset Management, where she invests in early-stage VC funds and direct opportunities across North America. She has lived the full VC lifecycle: she was the first employee at Plum Alley Investments, ran partnerships at WeWork, spent 5+ years rising from Associate to Principal at Flybridge Capital, and founded her own seed fund, Deco Ventures. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and writes about her LP experiences on her Substack, Julia’s Field Notes.

Connect with Julia Maltby on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliamaltby

Learn more about Fengate Asset Management: https://fengate.com/

Read Julia’s Field Notes:

Julia’s Fieldnotes

Ad Hoc thoughts of a VC turned LP

By Julia Maltby

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

Everyone Has the Same AI Tools Now. So where’s the Moat?

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Jacob Jackson, partner at Julian Capital and founder of Deep Checks. A physicist turned SaaS founder turned deep tech investor, Jacob brings a unique perspective on the shifting landscape of venture capital. He shares his personal journey from developing MRI techniques at UBC to founding MedStack, and why he made the full-circle pivot back to backing companies building real, hard technology.

Jacob offers a frank assessment of the defensibility crisis in software, explains why AI is democratizing superpowers across every industry, and makes the case that deep tech offers faster exits and higher unicorn density than its reputation suggests. He also breaks down how Julian Capital supports founders with growth and go-to-market muscle, and why the team behind the idea matters more than ever in today’s market.

Whether you’re a founder building hardware, an investor looking for the next generation of venture returns, or just trying to understand where technology is headed, Jacob Jackson delivers the kind of straight talk that cuts through the hype.

Watch it on YouTube

Why Software’s Moat Is Gone (04:00)

• Jacob’s firsthand experience building MedStack, where Amazon, Google, and Azure built competing products almost overnight

• Why the defensibility crisis in SaaS is making it harder than ever for new companies to get off the ground

• The shift from competing on product to competing on capital and go-to-market

Redefining Deep Tech: What Everyone Gets Wrong (06:44)

• The biggest misconception: that deep tech requires 20-year fund cycles

• How SpaceX-style private market liquidity proves milestone-based exits work

• Why the hottest sector of the year is never where the biggest company gets seeded

How AI Accelerates Hardware Development (08:23)

• AI as a democratizing force that makes everything faster and more competitive

• From CAD design to patent strategy: how AI is becoming a founder’s essential tool

• The commoditization of vertical robotics and what it means for defensibility

Building Moat in Deep Tech: Talent, Networks, and Network Effects (10:30)

• Why network effects and talent density matter more than patents alone

• How to pull the “ladder up” behind you as you scale

• Incumbents vs. upstarts: why everyone has access to the same tools now

The Rise of Deep Checks (18:01)

• How Deep Checks became the world’s largest network of deep tech founders and VCs

• The platform that helps founders run a tight, accelerated fundraising process

• Over $100 million deployed and 5,000+ founders submitted in just two years

What Jacob Looks for in Founders (24:50)

• The 50/50 split between team and idea

• Why obsession and speed matter more than business experience

• How to spot the founders who will learn to sell, recruit, and negotiate

Frontier Tech vs. Deep Tech (29:20)

• Why Julian Capital backs “picks and shovels” companies in spaces like fusion and quantum

• The importance of market pull and meaningful near-term milestones

• Why a 20-year fund cycle makes financial math nearly impossible

The Data That Surprised Everyone (32:58)

• Deep tech exits are 25% faster with more unicorns per dollar invested

• Why historical data shows deep tech outperforming software

• The role of capital flooding and dilution in venture returns

About Jacob Jackson

Jacob Jackson is a partner at Julian Capital and the founder of Deep Checks, the world’s largest network of deep tech founders and VCs. A physicist by training, Jacob pivoted from academic research to founding MedStack, a privacy and security SaaS platform, before returning to his engineering roots as an investor. He now backs founders building hardware and tackling the world’s hardest problems. Jacob is known for his data-driven approach, obsession with team quality, and candid takes on the future of venture capital.

Connect with Jacob Jackson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlovekingsett?originalSubdomain=ca

Visit Julian Capital’s website: https://www.julian.capital/

Submit to Deep Checks: https://www.deepchecks.vc/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

Matt Cohen is joined by John Ruffolo for another hard-hitting Tank Talks: The Rundown, covering the biggest stories shaping Canadian technology, venture capital, defence, and artificial intelligence. They break down TouchBistro’s dramatic fall from Canadian tech darling to a roughly $100 million exit, examining how inflated valuations, founder transitions, and restrictive financing can leave a company with nowhere to go.

The conversation also explores Dominion Dynamics’ major defence technology funding round, Meta’s $13 billion AI data centre investment in Alberta, and the growing open-weight AI movement that could threaten the business models and valuations of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other leading AI companies. John explains why foreign-owned infrastructure alone will not create true AI sovereignty or lasting economic value for Canada.

Finally, Matt and John discuss Mark Carney’s efforts to attract Saudi investment and whether renewed international interest in Canada will translate into real capital and economic growth. Listen to the full episode of Tank Talks: The Rundown for candid insights on startup valuations, Canadian defence technology, AI infrastructure, venture capital risk, and the decisions founders and investors must make before the market forces their hand.

Watch it on YouTube

TouchBistro’s $100M Exit: When Valuation Becomes a Trap (01:57)

John breaks down how TouchBistro went from a promising Canadian tech company to a sale far below its expected value. He explains how inflated valuations, founder changes, and restrictive financing can leave a business with no room to recover.

Canada’s Defence Technology Gold Rush (10:06)

Dominion Dynamics’ major Series A signals growing investor interest in Canadian defence technology. John warns that the sector requires deep expertise, trusted government relationships, and strategic investors, not just capital chasing the latest trend.

Meta’s $13B Alberta AI Bet: Infrastructure or Sovereignty? (14:24)

Meta’s massive Alberta data centre could bring billions in investment, jobs, and energy demand to Canada. But John argues that the highest-value assets, the models, chips, data, and intellectual property, will still be owned outside the country.

Open-Weight AI Could Change the Entire Market (18:14)

Powerful open-weight AI models are giving startups alternatives to expensive closed platforms. Matt and John discuss whether this shift could weaken the business models of OpenAI, Anthropic, and other frontier AI companies.

The AI Valuation Reckoning Is Getting Closer (20:32)

John argues that many leading AI and technology companies are priced far ahead of their current economics. A public market correction could quickly drag down private startup valuations and force founders to accept difficult resets.

Carney’s Saudi Capital Push: Interest Is Not Investment (24:01)

Mark Carney is working to attract Saudi and international investment into Canada. John believes Canada’s global credibility has improved, but warns that meetings and interest mean little until they produce actual deals and committed capital.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Paul Ziadé, CEO and co-founder of North Vector Dynamics, a Calgary-based company building full-spectrum precision missile systems for Canada and its allies. A former tenured professor at the University of Calgary turned defence entrepreneur, Paul brings a deeply personal and historically literate perspective to the Canadian defence landscape. He shares his family’s story of displacement from Lebanon and Armenia, and how that legacy of resilience informs his mission to build a sovereign missile capability for Canada.

Paul offers a frank assessment of Canada’s defence complacency, arguing that the culture of risk-aversion is “upstream of everything.” He explains why the obsession with “dual-use” investing is holding the country back, why pure-play defence innovation is critical, and how startups like his can deliver capability faster than the traditional 10-year procurement cycle. He also breaks down the massive opportunity presented by the Golden Dome NORAD modernization and why Canada must participate not just as a buyer, but as an active builder.

Whether you’re a defence founder navigating the Canadian ecosystem, an investor trying to understand the shift in risk capital, or a policy wonk watching the Arctic heat up, Paul Ziade delivers the kind of straight talk that cuts through the noise.

Watch it on YouTube

From Civil War to Canadian Soil (00:01:20)

• Paul’s upbringing as the child of Lebanese-Armenian immigrants who fled civil war and genocide.

• How his parents’ appreciation for Canada’s peace and rule of law instilled a deep sense of responsibility.

• The household rule: “Laziness was never an option” , competitive soccer, piano, student government, and French schooling.

The Kennedy Space Center Spark (00:04:00)

• How a grade 10 family trip to the Kennedy Space Center “lit the fuse” for his obsession with rocketry.

• Touching the Saturn V and realizing what human ingenuity could achieve.

• Why he needed a strong goal to anchor his focus and drive.

Academia to Entrepreneurship (00:05:38)

• Why he left a tenured professorship after 10 years at the University of Calgary.

• The mindset shift: moving from committee-driven, overthinking academic life to the velocity and action-mentality of startups.

• How academia trained him to be a better communicator, but startup life gave him instant feedback on every decision.

The North Vector Vision (00:08:53)

• The mission: precision missile systems on every continent protecting allies and Canada.

• Full-spectrum air defence , from low-and-slow drones to hypersonic threats.

• Assembling the “Avengers” team from his university labs, including co-founders Craig (aerospace research chair) and Colin (former TA).

The Supply Chain Blind Spot (00:10:36)

• Canada’s massive gap in energetics , from solid rocket motors to warheads, and upstream chemical synthesis (RDX, HMX, C4 propellants).

• Why “vertically integrated” doesn’t always mean what people think.

• The need for government signals to encourage private companies to take the risk and spool up.

Defence Investing: Then vs. Now (00:14:48)

• In 2022, no one wanted to look at North Vector , squeamishness around defence was rampant.

• The gap between the narrative and reality on the ground in Canada.

• Why most Canadian investors are still obsessed with “dual-use” investing, which Paul argues is historically misguided.

The Dual-Use Delusion (00:29:31)

• The problem with forcing every defence tech to have a civilian application.

• Historical examples: GPS (missile guidance), duct tape (waterproof ammunition sealing).

• The parallel to basic science , pure math and quantum mechanics funded with no immediate application, yet yielding enormous real-world benefits.

Canada vs. The U.S. (00:18:43)

• Honest admission: it’s easier to build defence tech south of the border.

• Why North Vector chose to stay in Canada despite the friction.

• Canada as a “frontier market” , a massive opportunity for those willing to build.

• The debt of gratitude to the country that gave his family refuge.

ACDC & The 70% Target (00:21:20)

• Paul co-chairs the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies (ACDC) , now nearly 200 members.

• The goal: champion Canadian-owned, Canadian-controlled companies and advocate for fast contracts.

• Holding the government accountable to the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) without displacing primes.

In-Q-Tel & The Culture Shift (00:23:16)

• What a Canadian version of In-Q-Tel would need to get right.

• The critical need: give delegated authorities permission to take risks and accept failure as part of the process.

• Moving money out the door faster to small, scrappy startups that could win big.

The Golden Dome Opportunity (00:27:13)

• Canada’s lack of commitment to NORAD modernization and the Golden Dome.

• The upside: a $500B–$1.2T opportunity.

• Paul’s proposed win-win: “Give Trump the $61B win, but ensure $40B goes to Canadian firms.”

• How Canada can participate as an active builder, not just a buyer.

About Paul Ziadé

Paul Ziadé is the CEO and co-founder of North Vector Dynamics, a Calgary-based company building full-spectrum precision missile systems for Canada and its allies. A former tenured professor at the University of Calgary, Paul holds deep expertise in high-speed propulsion and aerodynamics, having spent over a decade in academia before pivoting to the startup world. He is also the co-chair of the Alliance of Canadian Defence Companies (ACDC) , advocating for Canadian-owned, Canadian-controlled defence firms. A first-generation Canadian with roots in Lebanon and Armenia, Paul brings a historically literate perspective to national security and the urgent need for Canada to build sovereign defence capability.

Connect with Paul Ziadé on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-ziade/

Visit North Vector Dynamics’ website: https://www.northvectordynamics.com/

Learn more about ACDC: https://www.alliancecanada.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this special episode of Tank Talks, recorded live during Toronto Tech Week at Moomoo Canada’s flagship store in Yorkville, Matt Cohen sits down with two of venture’s sharpest data and investment minds for an unfiltered conversation on the state of private markets.

Peter Walker, Senior Director of Insights at Carta, brings the hard numbers from 60,000+ companies and 3,000+ US venture funds, revealing the stark reality behind valuation markups, unicorn deterioration, and the widening dispersion between top-tier and median deals.

John Rikhtegar, Vice President at Northleaf Capital Partners and former RBC investor, offers the LP perspective on why trust matters more than ever, why emerging managers are bearing the brunt of capital allocation challenges, and how disciplined pacing and vintage diversification separate winning funds from the rest.

Together, they tackle the 4.3 trillion-dollar NAV overhang, the brutal graduation rates for 2021 vintage funds, whether valuations have permanently shifted, and why the ATM analogy might be the best way to understand AI’s impact on venture careers.

If you’re a GP raising capital, an LP sorting through manager pitches, or just trying to make sense of where venture is headed, this episode is a must-listen.

Watch it on YouTube

The Great LP Reset: Trust Over Performance (08:05)

• Why LPs are letting go of newer relationships while sticking with 15-year partners.

• The COVID furlough analogy: why junior and newer team members are the first to go.

• How trust became the ultimate table stakes in today’s fundraising environment.

The 4.3 Trillion Dollar NAV Problem (12:33)

• Why SpaceX’s IPO would return only 10% of capital deployed over the last decade.

• The staggering number of unicorns still sitting on stale marks from 2021.

• What happens when 50% of unicorn down rounds become the new normal.

Valuation Dispersion Is Breaking the Model (17:38)

• Seed valuations jumped from $15M post-money (2022) to $24M (2025).

• Series A went from $46M to nearly $80M in the same period.

• Why the gap between the top decile and the median has never been wider.

• How GPs must adapt ownership expectations or get priced out of deals.

The Unicorn Graveyard: Stale Marks and Deteriorating Assets (19:28)

• December 2021: 640 unicorns on Carta; 85% of current US unicorns.

• 30% have raised new up-rounds; of the rest, half raised down rounds of 50% or more.

• How GPs are forced to tell LPs that their “trophy assets” are no longer real.

Pacing, Reserves, and Portfolio Construction (22:53)

• Why disciplined 3-4 year deployment beats 18-month “firehose” strategies.

• The 80/20 reserve debate: why leading rounds can become a net negative.

• How “deal 13” is just as likely to succeed as “deal 12”, and why slightly larger portfolios make sense.

LP Diligence: It’s Not About the Marks (31:55)

• Why TDPI and DPI are just 2 of 100 mosaic factors in LP decision-making.

• How LPs now go company-by-company, not fund-by-fund.

• The importance of founder references, especially from failed companies.

Canada vs. The US: A Fractal Problem (40:44)

• Why every market (Toronto, Sydney, London, Seattle) faces the same “Silicon Valley problem.”

• The importance of domestic liquidity and secondary markets over chasing US LPs.

• Why returns, not international capital, will ultimately scale Canadian firms.

AI and the Future of Venture Careers (44:44)

• The ATM analogy: AI will eliminate tasks, not jobs.

• Why the role of the investor becomes more important as noise and froth increase.

• How family offices are shifting their mix between fund investing and direct deals.

Retail Access to Private Markets: Feature or Bug? (53:27)

• Why illiquidity in private markets is a feature, not a bug.

• The absurdity of allowing crypto “shitcoins” but blocking friends from investing in startups.

• Why “401k-entrance” to private equity is a bigger story than retail venture access.

About the Guests

Peter Walker is the Senior Director of Insights at Carta, where he leads the team responsible for analyzing data from over 60,000 companies and 3,000+ venture funds. His work on valuations, liquidity, and fundraising trends is widely cited across the venture ecosystem. He is a regular speaker at industry events and writes extensively on LinkedIn about the intersection of data and venture capital.

Connect with Peter Walker on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/peterjameswalker

Learn more about Carta: carta.com

John Rikhtegar is a Vice President at Northleaf Capital Partners, joining in early 2026 after a distinguished career at RBC and as an operator at Shopify and in the UK. He brings a unique blend of LP and operational perspectives, with deep expertise in due diligence, portfolio construction, and the dynamics of emerging manager investing.

Connect with John Rikhtegar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrikhtegar/

Learn more about Northleaf Capital Partners: https://www.northleafcapital.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

Canada is entering one of the most important moments in its innovation history. As global tensions rise and national security becomes a growing priority, founders, investors, and governments are being forced to rethink how Canadian defence technology is built, funded, and scaled.

In this special episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen steps into the guest seat as part of a live panel recording from the Arctic Edge event, held during Toronto Tech Week on May 26th, 2026. Against the backdrop of escalating Arctic sovereignty concerns and a new era of national security, this panel, aptly named “The Backers,” brings together leading Canadian investors to dissect the burgeoning defence technology sector in Canada.

Moderated by Matthew Lombardi of The Icebreaker, the discussion features Matt Cohen (Ripple Ventures), Devin Galloway (Garage Capital), and Mark Maybank (Maverix Private Equity). Together, they explore the seismic shift in Canadian capital markets, from the historical reluctance to fund defence to the current “cultural permission” that is finally opening doors. They tackle the complexities of dual-use technology, the harsh realities of government procurement, the critical “Series A gap” for sovereign-interest companies, and what it truly takes to build a world-beating defence company from Canada.

Whether you’re a founder navigating the defence landscape, an investor looking for the next frontier, or simply interested in the future of Canadian sovereignty, this episode offers a raw, unfiltered look at the challenges and immense opportunities ahead.

Watch it on YouTube

Why Defence Investing is Finally Changing in Canada (02:48)

• Why Canadian defence technology has become a national priority after years of limited investment

• How changes to venture fund mandates and government policy are opening new opportunities for founders

• Why investors believe Canada is only at the beginning of its defence innovation journey

Defence vs. Dual Use: The Debate Every Founder Should Understand (04:08)

• Why some investors believe dual-use businesses reduce risk while others see them as a distraction

• The challenges of serving both commercial and government customers at the same time

• Why simply having the conversation around defence represents major cultural progress for Canada

Why Procurement Still Matters More Than Capital (10:00)

• The encouraging signs that Canadian procurement is beginning to move faster

• Why government demand signals remain one of the biggest barriers to investment

• How procurement reform could unlock the next generation of defence startups

The Hottest Trends and Biggest Mistakes in Defence Tech (12:06)

• Why AI, robotics, drones, and autonomous systems are attracting enormous investor attention

• How experienced operators separate themselves from founders chasing hype

• Why understanding military procurement is just as important as building great technology

What Great Defence Founders Do Differently (15:33)

• Why credibility, patience, and long-term relationship building matter more than moving fast

• The importance of recruiting exceptional talent around a mission that inspires people

• Why fundraising skills are critical for capital-intensive defence businesses

Building Companies for Decades, Not Years (17:44)

• Why defence investing requires a completely different timeline than traditional software startups

• How venture firms are adapting to longer company-building cycles

• Why patient capital is essential for creating world-changing businesses

Expanding the Definition of Defence (21:00)

• Why protecting critical infrastructure is becoming just as important as military applications

• How ports, utilities, emergency services, and cities fit into the modern defence landscape

• Why startups should think beyond government procurement when building go-to-market strategies

Helping Startups Win Beyond Writing the First Check (25:11)

• How strategic corporate relationships can accelerate growth alongside government contracts

• Why investors are building networks of executives who actively support portfolio companies

• The growing momentum behind procurement reform across Canadian institutions

Advice for Founders Building Canada’s Next Great Defence Company (27:20)

• Why founders should spend time with customers before perfecting the product

• The importance of building relationships in Ottawa long before contracts arrive

• Why the ambition should be to build a company that leads the world, not just Canada

The Funding Gap Threatening Canadian Innovation (34:18)

• Why Canada still struggles to fund companies through critical growth stages

• How government matching funds and institutional investors could help close the gap

• Why keeping Canada’s best companies at home will require larger pools of patient capital

Valuations, Venture Math, and Keeping Canadian Founders in Canada (39:29)

• Why Canadian and American venture markets operate under very different economic realities

• The dangers of raising oversized rounds before a company is ready

• Why solving Canada’s capital challenges is essential for keeping world-class entrepreneurs at home

About the Panel

Matt Cohen is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ripple Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in exceptional founders across Canada and the United States. Ripple has expanded from its roots in B2B software into frontier technologies, including defence and dual-use innovation.

Mark Maybank is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity. Maverix focuses on growth-stage investments across North America, with defence and dual-use technologies forming a core part of its investment strategy.

Devin Galloway is a General Partner at Garage Capital, one of Canada’s leading early-stage venture funds. Since 2014, Garage has backed founders building category-defining companies across software, deep technology, and defence.

Connect with Devin Galloway on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devongalloway

Visit the Garage Capital website: https://www.garage.vc/

Connect with Mark Maybank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-maybank

Visit the Maverix Private Equity website: https://www.maverixpe.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this special episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen brings listeners inside Toronto Tech Week with a live podcast studio recorded at the Toronto Homecoming event. This episode captures a fast-moving snapshot of the Canadian tech ecosystem through candid conversations with Boris Wertz of Version One, Lawrence Mandel and Farhan Thawar of Shopify, Ben Vinegar of Modem, Andrew Chau of Neo Financial, Fahd Ananta of Opendoor, and Eliot Pence of Dominion Dynamics. Across venture capital, AI-native engineering, product management, fintech, defense tech, and startup turnarounds, the episode explores why Toronto Tech Week feels like a real inflection point for Canadian founders, operators, investors, and returning global talent.

Matt and the guests dig into the biggest questions shaping startups in 2026: how AI is changing the speed of company-building, why “AI wrappers” are becoming harder to defend, how Shopify is rethinking engineering culture around AI, what agentic coding still gets wrong, why Neo Financial is taking on Canada’s banking oligopoly, what Opendoor’s turnaround reveals about velocity, and how Dominion Dynamics is building sovereign Canadian defense technology for the Arctic. The recurring theme is clear: Canada has talent, capital, technical depth, and ambition, but the ecosystem needs to move faster, take bigger risks, and stop hiding its best builders under a very polite rain jacket.

Whether you’re a Canadian founder, venture capitalist, AI operator, fintech builder, defense tech investor, or someone trying to understand why Toronto Tech Week has become such a high-energy gathering for the startup community, this episode is packed with sharp insights from leaders building at the edge of what comes next.

Watch it on YouTube

Boris Wertz on Early-Stage Investing in a No-Playbook AI Market (02:16)

Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures compares Toronto Tech Week to other tech gatherings and explains why today’s early-stage investing environment is unlike anything he has seen before. He discusses the faster pace of innovation, why founders need to be nearly perfect from the start, and how AI-native companies require a different mindset than traditional SaaS startups.

Lawrence Mandel on Shopify’s AI-Native Engineering Culture (07:13)

Lawrence Mandel shares how Shopify’s engineering organization is building for merchants, APIs, analytics, and the third-party ecosystem while operating with a mostly remote team. He explains how Shopify’s intern program, engineering culture, and AI-first mindset are shaping the next generation of Canadian technical talent.

Farhan Thawar on Remote Work, Bursts, and Shopify’s Meeting Armageddon (16:46)

Farhan Thawar shares a blunt view on Shopify’s remote-first culture, saying most companies should not simply copy it unless they are deeply intentional. He explains Shopify’s “bursts,” company-wide summits, hackathons, and Meeting Armageddon, where recurring meetings are deleted so teams can rebuild their calendars from first principles.

Ben Vinegar on Modem and AI Product Management (31:52)

Ben Vinegar introduces Modem as an AI product management platform focused on the non-coding work behind software development. He explains why user conversations, product feedback, and customer experience are harder to understand deterministically, and why LLMs create a new way to analyze human signals at scale.

Andrew Chau on SkipTheDishes, Neo Financial, and Taking on Canadian Banking (45:23)

Andrew Chau shares the origin story of SkipTheDishes and how that experience led him to build Neo Financial. He explains why Neo chose one of the hardest and most regulated industries in Canada, and why the big five banking oligopoly creates a massive opportunity for a better consumer banking experience.

Fahd Ananta on Opendoor, Turnarounds, and Speed (59:20)

Fahd Ananta shares how he joined Opendoor during its turnaround after reconnecting with Kaz from Shopify. He explains how a simple congratulatory message turned into a strategic document, a fast offer, and a move into one of the most closely watched public-company turnaround stories in tech.

Eliot Pence on Returning to Canada to Build Dominion Dynamics (01:04:34)

Eliot Pence shares why he is moving back to Canada after years abroad and why he believes this is a unique moment for Canadian ambition. He explains that Dominion Dynamics is being built in Canada because the customer is here and because Canada is reinvesting in defense.

About Boris Wertz

Boris Wertz is the founder of Version One Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm known for backing ambitious technology companies across emerging markets and frontier categories. A longtime investor in the Canadian and global startup ecosystem, Boris brings a clear-eyed perspective on how venture has changed in the AI era, why founders now need to move with more speed and precision than ever, and what separates truly defensible companies from short-lived AI wrappers.

Connect with Boris Wertz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bwertz/

Visit the Version One website: https://versionone.vc/

About Lawrence Mandel

Lawrence Mandel is a VP of Engineering at Shopify, where he helps lead major parts of Shopify’s core technical infrastructure, including merchant-facing systems, analytics, API layers, and the third-party developer ecosystem. With more than eight years at Shopify and a team of hundreds of engineers, Lawrence has been closely involved in how one of Canada’s most important technology companies builds, hires, trains, and adapts in an AI-native world.

Connect with Lawrence Mandel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmandel/

Visit the Shopify website: https://www.shopify.com/

About Farhan Thawar

Farhan Thawar is a senior engineering leader at Shopify and one of the most distinctive voices in Canadian tech on AI, software development, and engineering culture. Known for his practical, high-conviction thinking, Farhan has helped shape how Shopify approaches remote work, engineering velocity, AI tooling, internal systems, and company-wide habits like Meeting Armageddon and Delete Code Club. His perspective blends deep technical experience with a founder-style obsession for speed, leverage, and better systems.

Connect with Farhan Thawar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fnthawar/

Visit the Shopify website: https://www.shopify.com/

About Ben Vinegar

Ben Vinegar is the founder and CEO of Modem, an AI product management platform built to help teams understand users, product feedback, and the non-coding work behind building great software. Before starting Modem, Ben was VP of Engineering at Sentry, where he spent years working on developer tools, engineering productivity, and software observability. His work now sits at the intersection of AI, product development, user insight, and the future of agentic software workflows.

Connect with Ben Vinegar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benvinegar/

Visit the Modem website: https://modem.dev/

About Andrew Chau

Andrew Chau is the co-founder and CEO of Neo Financial, one of Canada’s most prominent fintech companies, and a co-founder of SkipTheDishes. After helping build and exit one of Canada’s breakout consumer technology companies, Andrew turned his attention to one of the hardest markets in the country: banking. Through Neo, he is focused on giving Canadians a modern alternative to legacy financial institutions, with digital-first products spanning credit cards, savings, checking, mortgages, rewards, and major brand partnerships.

Connect with Andrew Chau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-chau-1046749/

Visit the Neo Financial website: https://www.neofinancial.com/

About Fahd Ananta

Fahd Ananta is an operator and investor with experience across Shopify, Opendoor, and Roach Capital. He recently joined Opendoor during a major turnaround period, bringing with him the systems-driven operating mindset shaped by his time around Shopify’s culture of speed, abstraction, and company-building discipline. Fahd represents a new kind of Canadian tech operator: globally experienced, deeply technical, quietly intense, and focused on helping large, complex companies move faster.

Connect with Fahd Ananta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fananta/

Visit the Opendoor website: https://www.opendoor.com/

About Eliot Pence

Eliot Pence is the founder of Dominion Dynamics, a Canadian defense technology company focused on sovereign capability, Arctic security, and dual-use technology. A former leader at Anduril, Eliot returned to Canada to build a defense company designed for speed, risk-taking, and real-world deployment. His work is centered on helping Canada rebuild ambition in national security, defense procurement, Arctic infrastructure, and the kind of company-building required to create globally consequential Canadian technology.

Connect with Eliot Pence on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliotpence/

Visit the Dominion Dynamics website: https://www.defendthedominion.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

This episode is brought to you by Deel. Receive our exclusive offer here: https://www.deel.com/partners/tanktalks/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner-sourced&utm_content=rippleventures&utm_place=organic-community

In this episode of Tank Talks, recorded live at the Global Startups Conference, Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo take the stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of Canada’s innovation economy, the AI infrastructure race, and why this moment feels different, even if John still refuses to fully believe “this time is different.” The conversation opens with SpaceX’s historic IPO, massive valuation hype, and the question of whether public market demand can support a new wave of AI and frontier tech giants like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Matt and John then dig into one of the biggest strategic questions facing founders today: should startups build on top of frontier AI models, or will those platforms eventually come for their margins? John draws a sharp comparison to Hootsuite’s dependence on social media APIs, warning founders not to build businesses where a monopolistic platform can eventually “come calling.” From LLM unit economics and inference costs to local models, edge compute, AI sovereignty, and Canada’s weak position in the full AI stack, this episode breaks down why real moats may come from deep tech, defense, energy, chips, space infrastructure, and hard-to-build businesses.

The discussion also tackles Canada’s AI strategy, the tension between innovation and regulation, the rise of dual-use defense startups, the shortage of domestic growth capital, and whether Canada is becoming a farm team for U.S. acquirers. John and Matt close with a candid look at family offices, immigrant founders, Canadian ambition, and what actually separates fundable founders from the noise: purpose, focus, and the ability to build something hard when everyone else is chasing the latest shiny object.

Watch it on YouTube

SpaceX’s IPO and the return of the hype machine (02:48)

Matt and John open with the massive SpaceX IPO, its soaring valuation, and whether the market is being driven by fundamentals or pure scarcity-fueled hype. John argues that discounted cash flows still matter, even when investors are caught up in the next great frontier tech story.

Satya Nadella’s warning to AI founders (05:56)

Matt brings up Satya Nadella’s warning about relying too heavily on frontier models. The discussion explores why businesses built on top of OpenAI, Anthropic, or other LLM platforms may eventually face direct competition from the very infrastructure they depend on.

Canada’s AI strategy: long overdue, but too unfocused? (16:14)

Matt and John assess the government’s AI strategy and the promise that Canadian AI adoption could add massive GDP growth. John says the strategy contains useful objectives, but risks becoming a laundry list without a clear answer to the question: which pedal are we actually pressing?

Building trust in AI without creating regulatory capture (21:46)

The audience asks how Canada can build trust in AI adoption. John argues for clear guardrails, but warns that large AI players may eventually welcome heavy regulation because it protects incumbents and locks out smaller competitors.

Defense tech is hot again, but not every startup is real (25:19)

Matt and John discuss the surge of interest in dual-use defense technology. John warns that when government money appears, everyone suddenly claims to be a defense company, making it harder to separate serious builders from PowerPoint tourists.

Is building in Canada patriotic or financially irrational? (33:19)

Matt asks the blunt question: in 2026, is staying in Canada a patriotic endeavor or a financial mistake? John argues Canada has the talent, ecosystem, and raw materials, but lacks confidence and ambition at the capital layer.

Why Canada needs real growth capital, not just early-stage funding (37:34)

John explains why he created Mavericks to address the gap in Canadian growth equity. The issue is not founder ambition, but the lack of domestic capital willing to write meaningful checks once companies need to scale past the early stage.

Family offices, education gaps, and Canada’s missing innovation capital (43:56)

Matt explains why many Canadian family offices are still learning how venture and startup investing work. Unlike real estate or private equity, venture requires patience, a tolerance for the J curve, and a different understanding of risk and return.

Canada’s AI edge may be hiding in resources, minerals, and chip substrates (49:43)

The episode closes with a discussion of Canada’s possible edge in AI infrastructure through natural gas, rare earth materials, zinc byproducts, indium phosphide, and semiconductor supply chains. Matt and John argue that Canada’s issue is not a lack of resources, but a lack of permission, capital, and long-term conviction to build around them.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen sits down with Michael Arbus, CEO of moomoo Canada, for a wide-ranging conversation on Wall Street trading floors, Canadian fintech, crypto regulation, AI-powered investing, and what it really takes to build and scale financial technology companies. Michael’s career has taken him from the chaos of Bay Street and Wall Street desks at firms like RBC Capital Markets, TD, UBS, and Merrill Lynch to operating industrial businesses, helping scale Bitbuy into a regulated Canadian crypto marketplace, and now leading moomoo Canada as it pushes into self-directed retail trading, AI tools, options education, and investor communities.

Michael shares the lessons he learned from covering major hedge funds, why one trade during the financial crisis made him rethink his role as an advisor, how spreadsheet-driven decision-making helped him turn around operating businesses, and why retail investors in Canada are ready for better tools than the legacy banking platforms have historically offered. They also dive into moomoo’s AI-native product strategy, agentic investing, algorithmic trading in natural language, Canada’s loyalty to big banks, the rise of retail options trading, and the founder advice Michael wishes more entrepreneurs would hear before wasting years on a business that cannot support them.

Whether you’re a fintech founder, startup operator, retail investor, trader, or Canadian tech ecosystem builder, this episode is packed with sharp, practical insights on the future of investing, AI, and financial platforms.

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From Trading Floor Chaos to Wall Street Scar Tissue (03:30)

Michael describes life on massive institutional trading floors as a “casino with pumped oxygen and insanity.” The early mornings, morning meetings, nonstop client calls, and constant pressure to be relevant. Why the trading desk taught him how to process information quickly and turn noise into action.

Investing in Businesses vs. Investing in Stocks (12:12)

Matt and Michael break down the difference between knowing a ticker and understanding the actual company underneath it. Why some good businesses can be bad stocks, and some bad businesses can still become great trades.

Scaling Bitbuy and Learning the Reality of Regulation (22:33)

Michael shares how he joined Bitbuy when the business was growing but still needed operational structure. The shift from institutional finance to B2C financial services. Why serving retail customers creates a much deeper sense of accountability, especially when people are trusting a platform with their hard-earned money.

What moomoo Actually Is and Why Canada Matters (27:41)

Michael explains moomoo’s global footprint across markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, the U.S., and Canada. The scale of Futu Holdings, the role of product and R&D, and why joining a 4,000-person global fintech machine was very different from building Bitbuy from a smaller startup team.

Canada’s Loyalty Problem With Big Banks (29:44)

Why Canadian retail investors are deeply loyal to legacy banking brands. Michael explains how trust, safety, and brand recognition are baked into Canadian financial behavior, and why moomoo believes a regulated challenger brand can win by offering a product Canadian investors have not seen before.

AI Trading Inside the moomoo App (35:55)

How moomoo became one of Canada’s first AI brokerage platforms. Why its AI tools are different from generic public LLMs because they are connected to paid, live market data behind the platform’s firewall. How this changes the quality of answers retail investors can access.

Can moomoo Challenge Canada’s Banking Giants? (41:24)

Michael explains who moomoo is built for and who it is not built for. Why the next generation of investors may care more about control, education, and outperformance than branch loyalty. How AI, job market uncertainty, and personal financial pressure could make self-directed investing more important.

Canada’s Top Trader and the Nasdaq Partnership (43:20)

Michael shares moomoo Canada’s trading competition, including real prize money, a $100,000 top prize, and partnership with Nasdaq. Why the initiative is designed to bring retail investors into the market in a more systematic, educated way.

Can Your Startup Actually Pay for Your Life? (47:42)

Michael explains why founders need to calculate their personal take-home pay before committing years to a venture. The danger of getting caught in a self-fulfilling story that feels exciting but cannot support the builder behind it.

The Leadership Lesson That Still Matters Most (51:32)

Michael closes with a simple but powerful lesson: kindness goes a long way. After scaling multiple teams from small groups to dozens or more than 100 people, he explains why intelligence is common, but kindness is what compounds in leadership, hiring, and company building.

About Michael Arbus

Michael Arbus is the CEO of moomoo Canada, a global self-directed investing and trading platform under Futu Holdings focused on retail investors, trading tools, market data, options education, and AI-powered investing experiences. Before joining moomoo, Michael built a diverse career across institutional finance, entrepreneurship, industrial operations, crypto, and fintech. He spent years on Bay Street and Wall Street trading desks at firms including RBC Capital Markets, TD, UBS, and Merrill Lynch, working with global hedge funds and covering M&A event-driven situations, mining, and energy stocks. He later moved into operating businesses, including oil, scrap metal, industrial recycling, and crypto mining, before helping scale Bitbuy into one of Canada’s leading regulated crypto marketplaces. Today, Michael is focused on expanding moomoo Canada, bringing institutional-grade tools to retail traders, and helping Canadian investors understand the future of AI, options trading, and self-directed financial platforms.

Connect with Michael Arbus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-arbus-cfa-mba-299a49/

Visit the moomoo Canada website: https://www.moomoo.com/ca

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen sits down with Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Partner at Eclipse, for a sharp conversation on physical AI, frontier tech, robotics, manufacturing, and the future of building in the real world. Aidan shares her unlikely path from a small mountain town in Penticton to Harvard, Bridgewater, Apple, Samsara, and now Eclipse, where she invests at the intersection of atoms and bits.

She breaks down what factory floors taught her that most software-first founders miss, why physical AI is becoming one of the biggest venture capital opportunities of the next decade, and what the U.S. and Canada must understand about China’s manufacturing advantage. From launching the first Apple Watch manufacturing lines to scaling Samsara’s hardware operations and investing in autonomous excavation, robotics, energy, defense, and supply chain technology, Aidan brings a rare operator-investor perspective to one of the most important shifts happening in tech today.

Buckle up to understand why the next wave of AI won’t just live in software; it will reshape factories, robots, infrastructure, and the physical world around us.

Watch it on YouTube

The Unlikely Path from Penticton to Harvard (00:04:25)

Aidan shares the wild story of growing up in a tiny Canadian mountain town, applying to Harvard almost by accident, and nearly missing her acceptance letter because it sat undelivered in a PO box. She reflects on how community support, risk-taking, and a willingness to swing big shaped the rest of her career.

Bridgewater, Systems Thinking, and Conviction Investing (00:09:00)

Aidan explains how Bridgewater’s fundamental, systematic approach to markets shaped how she evaluates venture opportunities today. She breaks down why Eclipse starts with deep theses, pressure-tests industries, and backs founders before the market fully understands where the world is going.

The Factory Floor Lesson Every Founder Needs (00:17:27)

Drawing from her time launching Apple Watch manufacturing lines, Aidan explains why the best founders must balance brutal honesty with extreme optimism. She argues that founders who get “high on their own supply” lose touch with reality, while founders without belief cannot rally a team to do the impossible.

Why Physical AI Was the Bet Before It Was Cool (00:20:34)

Aidan walks through her career pattern of choosing the “unsexy” path before it becomes obvious: Bridgewater before it was famous, Apple supply chain when software was eating the world, Samsara before industrial IoT was hot, and Eclipse before physical AI became a major venture category.

China’s “Vibe Manufacturing” Advantage (00:28:37)

Aidan unpacks Eclipse’s China Field Notes and explains what “vibe manufacturing” really means: a deeply layered, highly competitive, fast-moving manufacturing ecosystem that can turn ideas into physical products at extraordinary speed. She discusses China’s compounding advantage in tooling, suppliers, human capital, robotics, and government-backed industrial competition.

Where the U.S. Is Ahead and Behind in Robotics (00:37:18)

Aidan breaks down the robotics race between the U.S. and China. She says the U.S. remains highly competitive in embodied AI, autonomy, and goal-oriented machine intelligence, but lags badly in manufacturing depth, actuators, magnets, physical iteration speed, and lower-level robotic control.

The Robotics Data Problem (00:41:14)

Aidan explains why video data alone is not enough to build general-purpose robotics. She discusses the need for proprioception, haptics, physics data, and real-world interaction data, plus why China’s robotic data farms could become a major strategic advantage.

Canada’s Opportunity in AI, Energy, and Deep Tech (00:44:47)

As a Canadian-born investor, Aidan lays out where Canada can win: talent attraction, smart immigration policy, abundant clean energy, AI infrastructure, university research, biotech, quantum, defense, and strategic government offtake. She argues Canada has the raw ingredients to become a major player if it moves with urgency.

Eclipse’s Interest in Canadian Founders (00:49:20)

Aidan shares that Eclipse is already investing in Canada, including companies in Toronto and Vancouver, and is actively interested in deep tech and physical AI founders coming out of Canada’s strongest ecosystems.

About Aidan Madigan-Curtis

Aidan Madigan-Curtis is a Partner at Eclipse, where she invests in physical AI, robotics, manufacturing, energy, defense, supply chain, and frontier technology companies. Before Eclipse, she was an early executive at Samsara, helping scale the industrial IoT company from pre-product to public company. She previously worked on Apple’s manufacturing team for the first Apple Watch and began her career at Bridgewater, where she developed a systems-thinking approach to markets and complex industries.

Connect with Aidan Madigan-Curtis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-madigan-curtis/

Visit the Eclipse website: https://eclipse.capital/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo unpack the latest leaked details around Canada’s national AI strategy, including a proposed Canadian Tech Growth Fund that would take direct equity stakes in AI startups and scale-ups. John pushes back on whether creating yet another government-backed fund solves the real problem or simply adds more confusion to an already crowded funding landscape.

The conversation then moves into the AI capital arms race, where Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Alphabet appear to be racing toward public markets and massive equity raises at the same time. Matt and John unpack Anthropic’s reported path toward a late 2026 IPO, Alphabet’s massive $80 billion equity raise to fund AI infrastructure, and why even companies with enormous free cash flow may be rushing to secure capital before debt markets tighten further.

The episode closes with what Matt calls the “fugazi” layer of the AI boom: complex GPU financing structures, off-balance-sheet debt, SPVs, and Michael Burry’s criticism of NVIDIA’s xAI-related financing arrangement. From Canada’s AI strategy to Alphabet’s infrastructure spend to opaque AI financing models, the core question is clear: is this the beginning of a new AI-driven market cycle, or are the biggest players trying to raise capital before the music stops?

Watch it on YouTube

Canada’s New National AI Strategy & Tech Growth Fund (00:52)

Matt introduces leaked details of Canada’s expected national AI strategy, including a new Canadian Tech Growth Fund that would take direct equity stakes in AI startups and scale-ups, along with additional funding for the AI Compute Access Fund.

Direct Investment vs. Backing Canadian VC Funds (05:02)

John argues that government capital may be more effective when deployed through BDC, EDC, and Canadian venture funds, rather than direct government selection of startups. The concern is that direct investment could create political complications and distort private capital markets.

Anthropic’s $65B Raise and Potential 2026 IPO (09:02)

The conversation shifts to Anthropic’s massive fundraising round, reported $900 billion pre-money valuation, and potential late 2026 IPO path. Matt frames it as part of a broader wave of trillion-dollar AI and space-related public market activity.

The IPO Race Between Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX (10:04)

Matt and John discuss whether the IPO window is reopening or whether the biggest private companies are rushing to get out before capital markets become less forgiving. John speculates that Anthropic may want to reach public markets before OpenAI captures investor attention.

Alphabet’s $80B AI Infrastructure Raise (12:18)

Matt outlines Alphabet’s reported $80 billion equity raise, including a private placement to Berkshire Hathaway, a public offering, and an at-the-market equity program. The raise is positioned as fuel for Alphabet’s unprecedented AI infrastructure build-out.

The AI Infrastructure Cold War (14:41)

Matt argues that hyperscalers like Google are proving that frontier AI economics are fundamentally different from prior technology waves. John compares the AI arms race to baseball owners escalating salaries because no one can afford to fall behind.

Michael Burry, NVIDIA, xAI, and “Fugazi” GPU Financing (16:01)

Matt breaks down Michael Burry’s critique of NVIDIA’s GPU financing structure involving Valor, xAI, Apollo, Athene, and an SPV. The arrangement raises questions about revenue recognition, asset ownership, credit risk, and who ultimately carries the liability.

The Real Question: What Happens When the Music Stops? (17:55)

The episode ends with Matt and John questioning how these layered financing structures will play out as AI CapEx continues to explode. From public markets to SPVs to off-balance-sheet risk, the AI boom is starting to look less like a clean growth story and more like a capital market stress test.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks: The Rundown, Matt Cohen and John Ruffolo break down a huge week across Canadian tech, quantum computing, SPACs, AI infrastructure, vertical SaaS, and the reported SpaceX IPO filing. They start with Xanadu’s $300 million at-the-market equity facility and what it reveals about the funding challenge facing Canadian quantum companies that need billion-dollar scale capital to compete globally.

John argues that Xanadu should use current market hype to fully fund the business now, even if short-term shareholders hate the dilution. From there, Matt and John unpack why quantum remains a long-term binary bet, why SPACs may be coming back for Canadian growth companies like UniUni, and why Clio’s jump from $100 million to more than $500 million in ARR proves vertical SaaS is far from dead, especially when the product is mission-critical and deeply embedded.

The episode then shifts to OpenAI, Anthropic, and the AI infrastructure boom, with John warning that massive top-line revenue can hide dangerous burn and accounting optics. Matt and John close with a deep debate on the reported SpaceX IPO, Starlink’s growth, Starship risk, xAI, and Cursor being folded into the story, SPV cap table chaos, and whether trillion-dollar tech IPOs could pull capital away from the Mag Seven.

Listen to this episode for a sharper read on where capital is really flowing across AI, quantum, SaaS, and space. Matt and John cut through the hype to show which tech narratives are built to last, and which ones could crack under pressure.

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Xanadu’s $300M ATM Facility and the Quantum Funding Problem (00:49)

Matt opens with Xanadu’s $300 million at-the-market equity facility, explaining how the structure gives the company access to capital while raising questions about dilution, public market volatility, and the long-term cost of funding a quantum data center.

John Ruffolo’s Advice: Fund the Business While the Market Is Hot (02:45)

John explains why Xanadu should take advantage of momentum in the public markets and raise as much primary capital as possible, even if short-term shareholders dislike the dilution.

Why SPACs Are Coming Back for Canadian Growth Companies (07:17)

Matt brings up UniUni’s $1 billion SPAC agreement to list on the TSX, and John explains why companies struggling to raise late-stage private capital may see SPACs as their best path to primary money.

Could Clio Be Canada’s Next Major Tech IPO? (10:56)

As Clio’s valuation grows, John argues that the universe of private equity buyers gets smaller, making an IPO one of the more realistic paths for investor liquidity.

The Accounting Trick John Says AI Investors Need to Watch (12:23)

John criticizes the capitalization of compute, infrastructure, sales, marketing, and partnership costs, arguing that burn may be a better proxy for the real economics than adjusted profitability claims.

The Reported SpaceX IPO and the $1.75 Trillion Valuation Debate (14:20)

Matt introduces the reported SpaceX IPO valuation and breaks down how much of the story depends on Starlink growth, Starship launches, and the company’s ability to scale space-based broadband.

Why Everything Hinges on Starship (18:51)

John explains that Starship is the key dependency behind the SpaceX story, because Starlink’s ability to scale depends heavily on launch capacity, satellite economics, and execution.

SpaceX vs. Canadian Banks: The Scale Shock (22:37)

Matt points out that the reported SpaceX valuation could be roughly twice the combined market cap of Canada’s big six banks, underscoring the staggering scale of the next wave of tech IPOs.

The Early Investors Who May Win Big (25:26)

Matt and John close by highlighting early institutional bets from Washington State University’s endowment and Ontario Teachers, showing how patient capital in breakthrough companies can create generational outcomes.

Connect with John Ruffolo on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joruffolo

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Jason Shuman, General Partner at Primary Ventures, New York’s largest dedicated seed fund. With a journey that spans from raising money for a nonprofit at eight years old to driving Uber at night while sourcing deals like Latch, Jason’s experience offers valuable insights for founders, especially those navigating the challenges of building companies in the AI era.

Jason shares his entrepreneurial beginnings, the painful lessons from shutting down his DTC footwear brand Category5, and how that shaped his investing philosophy at Primary. He also discusses why software-only moats are dead, how Primary’s 60-person impact team delivers customers (not just capital), and the firm’s unique incubation model that backs founders only after the wedge is validated. From vertical AI to hardware-activated agent networks, Jason dives into the key principles he follows in his investing and why he still believes backing great founders beats incubating anything.

Whether you’re interested in AI, venture capital, or building deep-tech companies, Jason’s story provides inspiration and practical wisdom.

Watch it on YouTube

From Sick Kid to Serial Founder: Jason’s Origin Story (01:53)

• Growing up outside Boston with a family of entrepreneurs and a mother who was a therapist

• Being diagnosed with primary immune deficiency as a child and becoming a spokesperson for the Jeffrey Modell Foundation at age eight

• Why a life lived with urgency became the defining trait of his career

Building and Winding Down Category5 (05:33)

• Launching a direct-to-consumer boat shoe brand while still in college - before Shopify was good and when Facebook ads were cheap

• The hard realization that a brand without a visual cue has a ceiling, and why he saw the Allbirds story coming

• Hitting his quarter-life crisis at 23, burning out, and what he learned from the process

Breaking Into Venture: Sourcing Deals While Driving Uber (11:38)

• How Jason made money driving Uber nights while sourcing deals during the day in 2014

• Building a bridge between Boston founders and New York VCs - one warm intro at a time

• The story of Latch: why a B2B mortise lock for apartment buildings, with near-perfect logo retention and CapEx billing, was the first deal he ever sourced

Working with Mark Gerson and the Family Office Years (16:17)

• Meeting Mark Gerson at a dinner, not knowing who he was, and getting a cold call months later

• The lessons in trust, urgency, and delegation he learned running the family office

• Backing AI sales enablement, AI accounting, and robotics in 2015 - and why being too early is almost always better than being too late

Joining Primary: The Case for Concentrated Seed (21:14)

• Why Jason chose a principal role at a six-person, $190M AUM Primary over a partner title elsewhere

• What he saw in founders Ben and Brad that others were missing - the depth of diligence, the buttoned-up fundraising, the point of view

• How Primary has scaled from $190M to $1.6B AUM while staying obsessively focused on seed

Primary’s Differentiated Model: Impact, Incubation, and the 60-Person Team (25:56)

• The three things companies need most - customers, people, and capital - and how the Impact team is built around them

• How a VC firm’s email address can deliver a 25X higher outbound conversion rate than a startup’s own SDRs

• The “glass ball” monthly review process: triaging the highest-priority risks across the portfolio before anything breaks

Why Platform Is Broken - and What Primary Does Instead (31:36)

• Why most VC platform teams are set up to fail: too few people, too many companies, treated as second-class

• Primary’s Impact team is run by former C-suite executives from multi-hundred-million-dollar ARR companies

• The shift to AI-native operating inside the platform team - and what that means for portfolio companies

Vertical AI, Hardware Agents, and Why Software Moats Are Dead (42:09)

• Why Jason is spending more time on physical-world businesses than pure software right now

• The wedge vs. system of record debate: why jaw-dropping UX and fast customer acquisition beat “10X better” enterprise replacements every time

• Hardware-activated agent networks: how cheap cameras, sensors, and downstream automation are eating vertical workflows - and why Flock Safety is the model

What Jason Looks for in Founders Today (50:07)

• The qualities that define the founders Jason is most excited to back: urgency, learning velocity, customer obsession, and the ability to sell product and equity

• Why he would always rather back a great founder than incubate a company himself

• Where incubation and inbound sourcing sit in his priorities heading into the new fund

About Jason Shuman

Jason Shuman is a General Partner at Primary Ventures, New York’s largest dedicated seed fund with over $1.6 billion in AUM. A former founder himself, Jason built Category5, a direct-to-consumer footwear brand, before transitioning to venture capital. At Primary, he leads investments in vertical AI, hardware-enabled systems, and incubation, and has been part of building one of the most differentiated seed platforms in the industry. His portfolio includes companies like Latch, Dandy, and several active incubations. He is known for his operator-first investment approach, his conviction in hardware-activated agent networks, and his belief that software-only moats are no longer enough.

Connect with Jason Shuman on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonshuman

Visit Primary Ventures website: https://www.primary.vc/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder of Kepler Communications, one of the world’s most ambitious space infrastructure companies. With a journey that spans from winning $75,000 in university pitch competitions to building the world’s first commercial optical data relay network, Mina’s experience offers valuable insights for founders, especially those navigating the challenges of building deep-tech and hardware-driven companies.

Mina shares his entrepreneurial beginnings, the lessons he learned while scaling Kepler, and the hard pivot from off-the-shelf software to a vertically integrated satellite manufacturing model. He also discusses the Arctic surveillance gap, why real-time space data is critical for Canadian sovereignty, and how Kepler was selected as prime contractor for ESA’s Hydron Element 3 project.

From launching 10 satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 to shooting lasers across 6,500 kilometers in orbit, Mina dives into his journey and the key principles he follows in his entrepreneurial endeavors. Whether you’re interested in space tech, defense, or sovereign infrastructure, Mina’s story provides inspiration and practical wisdom.

Watch it on YouTube

From University Rockets to Building Space Infrastructure (02:03)

• Mina’s journey from a first-generation immigrant family to co-founding Kepler at the University of Toronto

• Why Kepler’s original mission of bringing the internet beyond Earth has never changed

• The ultimatum that convinced his co-founders to leave traditional career paths behind

The Early Days of Kepler and Finding Product-Market Fit (06:36)

• How Kepler survived the early years with limited capital and massive ambition

• Why remote communications in the Arctic became one of the company’s first real-world use cases

• The challenge of convincing investors in 2015 that orbital laser networks were even possible

Satellites, Orbital Networks, and Why Space Connectivity Matters (08:25)

• A breakdown of low Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, and why northern connectivity remains difficult

• How Kepler built the world’s first commercial laser-based relay network in space

• Why real-time data transmission is becoming critical for everything from disaster response to defense

Building Canada’s Largest Orbital Data Center (14:22)

• What it actually means to put compute infrastructure in orbit

• Why SpaceX, Starship, and falling launch costs could completely reshape the space economy

• The engineering, thermal, and regulatory challenges of scaling orbital infrastructure

Inside Kepler’s Falcon 9 Launch Moment (16:48)

• What it felt like watching Kepler’s satellites launch from Vandenberg for the first time

• The emotional significance of one of Canada’s largest space milestones in years

• Why launch economics and insurance remain misunderstood parts of the industry

Defense, Arctic Surveillance, and Sovereign Space Infrastructure (19:42)

• How Kepler is helping governments access real-time intelligence from space

• Why the Arctic has become a major strategic priority for Canada and its allies

• The role of orbital infrastructure in missile detection, surveillance, and national security

The Geopolitical Tailwinds Behind Space Sovereignty (23:19)

• Why middle powers are increasingly investing in sovereign technology infrastructure

• How defense ministries around the world are approaching space-based intelligence differently

• The recurring revenue model behind Kepler’s government partnerships

Why Space Tech Moats Are Built Over Decades (26:56)

• Why Mina believes infrastructure, regulatory access, and time are harder to replicate than capital

• The importance of spectrum rights, security clearances, and orbital heritage

• Why Kepler’s biggest competitive advantage may simply be the years it has already spent building

Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II, and Inspiring the Next Generation (28:43)

• What Canada’s moon mission means for the future of the country’s space sector

• Why Mina believes visibility and inspiration matter as much as technology itself

• How astronauts have become both cultural icons and catalysts for innovation

Why Ambition Still Matters Most for Founders (31:00)

• Mina’s advice for founders building difficult, long-term companies

• Why independent thinking matters more than following trends

• The types of space startups Mina believes are still too early to realistically succeed

About Mina Mitry

Mina Mitry is the CEO and co-founder of Kepler Communications, a Toronto-based space infrastructure company building the world’s first commercial optical data relay network. A first-generation Egyptian-Canadian, Mina started Kepler out of the University of Toronto in 2015 with $75,000 from pitch competitions. Under his leadership, Kepler has grown to over 200 employees, vertically integrated its satellite manufacturing, and launched 10 optical relay satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in January 2026. Mina holds advanced degrees in engineering, left a PhD program to start Kepler, and has become one of Canada’s most outspoken advocates for sovereign space capability, real-time data infrastructure, and ambitious engineering.

Connect with Mina Mitry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmitry?originalSubdomain=ca

Visit Kepler Communications website: https://kepler.space/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/

In this episode of Tank Talks, host Matt Cohen sits down with Jon Love, founder and executive chair of KingSett Capital, one of Canada’s largest and most experienced private equity real estate platforms. A seasoned investor who has navigated multiple market cycles, Jon is known for his frank, unfiltered takes on Canadian policy, regulation, and capital deployment, and this conversation is no different.

Jon shares his honest assessment of the federal government’s newly announced $25 billion Canada Strong sovereign wealth fund, the push to fast-track major resource projects, and what’s really holding Canada back: not a shortage of capital, but a shortage of permission. He also breaks down where the real estate market stands today across office, retail, industrial, and residential, and why he believes a sharp recovery is coming for those with the balance sheet to wait it out.

Whether you’re a developer, investor, policy watcher, or simply trying to understand what’s actually happening in the Canadian economy, Jon Love delivers the kind of straight talk that cuts through the noise.

Watch it on YouTube

Canada’s $25 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund: Progress or Déjà Vu? (02:48)

• Jon’s honest take on the Canada Strong fund and what’s still missing

• Why the real barrier to investment isn’t capital, it’s permission

• Lessons from the Heritage Fund and what discipline looks like in practice

Resource Fast-Tracking and the Major Projects Office (08:36)

• The bull and bear case for Tim Hodgson’s promise of 5–10 shovel-ready projects by spring 2027

• What regulatory bottlenecks remain under the Carney government

• Why Shell’s takeover of Arc Resources signals renewed confidence and what still needs to happen next

Institutional Capital Coming Home (14:50)

• What’s different about this wave of pension fund repatriation

• OMERS, the Maple Eight, and why Canadian real estate returns are among the best in the world

• The case for Canada as a technology superpower and why Jon is more optimistic than most

The Real Estate Cycle: Where We Are and What’s Coming (20:25)

• Triple-A office as the surprise strongest asset class in the country

• Why for-sale residential is in pain and why a sharp recovery is inevitable

• How banks are behaving with stressed borrowers, and the Oxford story from 1992 that defined a strategy

Creative Repurposing, Affordable Housing, and the HST Rebate (30:44)

• Office-to-hotel conversions in Toronto and why adaptive reuse is just getting started

• Why streamlining affordable housing approvals matters more than new funding programs

• The HST rebate: right medicine, but the prescription still isn’t written

Media, Trade Wars, and What Jon Would Tell Carney (33:24)

• Why the Port of Vancouver’s seven-day container turnaround vs. Dubai’s seven hours is a symbol of a much bigger problem

• How media fragmentation and social media have made constructive policy debate nearly impossible

• The one frank piece of advice Jon would give Prime Minister Carney if he had 15 minutes: give permission

About Jon Love

Jon Love is the founder and executive chair of KingSett Capital, one of Canada’s leading private equity real estate platforms. With decades of experience across multiple market cycles, Jon has built a reputation for candid, principle‑driven commentary on Canadian policy, regulation, and investment. He is a former CEO of Oxford Properties and has been a key figure in shaping Canada’s institutional real estate landscape. Beyond investing, Jon is known for mentoring young talent, championing affordable housing, and relentlessly advocating for cutting red tape.

Connect with Jon Love on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlovekingsett?originalSubdomain=ca

Visit KingSett Capital website: https://www.kingsettcapital.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/