How Tech Thursday Became the Heartbeat of Canada's Prairie Tech Ecosystem

Paul Davenport: Paul Davenport from Boost here, and I've got my buddy Phil Burns from Tech Thursday. How's it going, Phil?

Phil Burns: Going very well.

Paul Davenport: How are you? I'm having a blast. So Phil is an A host, so I am here as his guest in their podcast studio over at Thin Air Labs. That's the name of this pattern.

Phil Burns: Thin Air Labs. Yeah.

Paul Davenport: This is so cool. Um, not only has he introduced me to the amazing people who are working in his shared co. Working space, but I just love the vibes of this whole area. It's, uh, making me wish I wasn't a remote worker so much.

Phil Burns: Yes. What do you.

Paul Davenport: What do you.

Phil Burns: What do you think about this room? I mean, famously is just a closet.

Paul Davenport: Yeah. That's very hot. Yeah.

Phil Burns: Yeah. Has it been boiling in here?

Paul Davenport: I've noticed when I look over, my face does get increasingly red with each recording. But I think we're doing good. It's, uh, fortunate that it's pretty brisk outside today. Yeah.

Phil Burns: Yeah. You can always go out and, with

Paul Davenport: me, take a break, come back.

Phil Burns: Yeah, that's it.

Paul Davenport: It's been necessary.

Phil Burns: Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough. Um, well, okay. I'm glad you're putting it to good use because, uh, yeah, we, uh, we love this podcast room.

Paul Davenport: Yeah, I love it. So, I mean, I'd love to know a little bit more about, like, the companies that you share your space with, maybe even some of the, like, podcasts that get recorded here. Just tell me a bit about, like, your mission, what Tech Thursday is accomplishing in the broadest sense, and then also just like, what you and the team here are working to build for Calgary.

Phil Burns: Yeah, totally. So, m. We. We started Tech Thursday. Um, I'll give you a bit of the. The context and history behind Tech Thursday. And then, um, you know, sort of talk about where we're at now, current state and this office, because I think it's pretty cool. But, um, the history of Tech Thursday is. We actually started, um, this event here is Tech Thursday through my role. Previously, I was working at a company here called Neo Financial. So Neo Financial, one of the tech darlings of Canada. I joined pretty early on and, uh, uh, kind of joined, um, right after they had raised their Series A, was, uh, with them after Series B. Uh, and then we raised our Series C, which was something like 100,000,000 million dollars. Um, we had about 300 employees, and we wanted 800 within 12 months. And so I stepped in to lead a talent, uh, a marketing team that we dubbed sort of the talent marketing team focused our employer brand. How do we get more people to want to work for us. And so as part of that strategy, one of the core pillars became events, attending events, sponsoring them showing up. And we just found in Canada that there was a gap in terms of events that got in front of senior members of the tech ecosystem, effectively folks that we would want to hire. Uh, and so uh, there was a lot of like you know, hiring fairs or pitch competitions, demo days, things on sort of the former that really focused on um, you know, junior folks looking for work or uh, founders, uh, looking for investment. Nothing that was uh, uh, things that would really entice senior members, people who are actually within these companies grinding and hustling. So we started Tech Thursday as a way to bring those folks out. Weekly panels that was kind of content that you would get from podcasts in the States for example, but with people that you could actually build relationships with, uh, um, hear what they had to say, hear how they had built something in the context of Canadian tech. Um, and with all that in mind, we also knew that no one would want to come to a NEO recruitment event every year, um, every week. So we stripped our logo off of it and by force of doing that we were able to um, we were able to get sponsorship. So by the time we were prepping for our series D, uh, NEO stopped hiring. But the events were revenue positive. Yeah, if I kind of removed my salary from the budget from the equation. So, which I don't know if I should have done. Uh, but I did that and uh, spun out the company. So it's now been uh, about two years that I've been running Tech Thursday full time. We launched in, we always had Winnipeg in Calgary, but we also launched in Ottawa and Edmonton, uh, you know, kind of midsize markets here in Canada. And that brings us to current state. And uh, you might want to queue up a question because I've been talking for so long.

Paul Davenport: That was amazing context. I actually have a few thoughts actually spun out of that. First off, didn't realize how much of like the Neo blood in DNA is all over the place here. We were talking to Sebastian, he's got that background. It's blue. And we're big fans of Neo. Um, I think they're clients of ours. These used to be is a good model to follow. They rocket shipped that business, um, especially in fintech during a very tough time to be a fintech startup with so much noise and so much in the room. So really cool to hear that. Also talent marketing, um, I've heard the term, never seen it actually Deployed, but at least, I mean maybe they took the branding off of things that I've been pulled into for talent marketing. But that's such a good idea to be honest, because again, you need that human expertise. I know we're just throwing AI at the wall like it's spaghetti for a lot of things.

Phil Burns: Totally.

Paul Davenport: You actually need people with a skillset. You actually need the humans who can focus on those things. Doesn't mean that you're gonna take, you're not gonna use A.I. uh, to help them like take the minutiae out of it and everything like that. But getting people and then also third point, making it a non cynical resource too. So like sure, when it was branded neo, you probably couldn't get the sponsors like you were saying, and it probably looked a little bit more like this as a recru, whereas you were providing actual resources. So it wasn't just about getting them to join neo, uh, which again bore out the Tech Thursday of it all. It was about actually being a resource for the community and giving these people a platform to engage with you learn, enhance their skills and then find a career in the field where they have actually been building that expertise and put it to work. So yeah, just to kind of like sum up some of what you were saying. Hopefully I'm not putting words in your mouth, but that was incredible. So what are some of. If you're willing to talk about the success stories that you've had out of Tech Thursday, or maybe just some like highlights since you guys have taken it away and run with it.

Phil Burns: Yeah, yeah, totally. Well, I mean um, launching two new markets has been awesome. We also just hired uh, our first full time employee uh, about three months ago, Angelica. And uh, she's doing a great job and killing it. Um, so that's been super fun kind of trying to build this out. And then recently our big focus has been, I mean to kind of go into current state and where we want to go. Um, we really see our role now developing a little bit to not only obviously supporting our sponsors and Bose obviously is Monotech Thursday sponsors. How do we get you guys in front of um, these communities that we've built really, um, strong connections with and how do we sort of uh, help you guys out but also how do we support founders and tech companies grow within these ecosystems? I think oftentimes similar to what we saw as the gaps in these ecosystems systems in Canadian tech. Um, there's often a lot of folks, um, uh, who support the ecosystem but are supporting it from a lens of being a nonprofit and thus being supported by the government in one way or another. And at some point you start to lose the incentive where the incentive should be. We have to build more incredible companies and we have to be creating value for these incredible companies. But it becomes how do we get butts in seats? How do we continue to show to the federal government that we're working and you stop caring about the companies you're supporting. And so for us we see um, uh, a huge opportunity in um, really getting to that point where we're supporting the companies in our circle. Um, and so we see that through our events both in terms of creating a sense of community, uh, connectivity, uh, but also um, exposure as well and building an audience for some of these companies who come speak on our panel. Um, but also there's a huge media angle to what we do. So um, in this room, for example, uh, we record two podcasts. Uh, uh, one is um, your business is on the line, which is Canada's number one business comedy podcast.

Paul Davenport: More of those

Phil Burns: people come on and sort uh, of pitch silly business ideas and the hosts make fun of them.

Paul Davenport: Oh, that's awesome.

Phil Burns: It's really good. Um, and then we also record some snippets from Tech Thursday Live, which is where we you know, publish our live events. And then uh, we also write newsletters um, that are super localized. So the Calgary Tech Newsletter, Winnipeg Tech Newsletter, Edmonton and Ottawa. And those go out to about 13,000 people across all those. And again those are highlighting stories, getting folks in front of them. And we're really just trying to follow a new media playbook which is kind of podcasts, newsletters, events, um, and I think the best um, media folks in Calgary, or sorry in North America and Europe follow that playbook. You look at like Andreessen Horowitz. I mean it's just any set Bose is doing this, but yeah, yeah, you know Harry Stebbings, uh, I uh, love Molly o', Shea, uh, like so many folks. And so if we can kind of play, play that, um, play in that space. But instead of going to sort of a global audience, hyper niching down into local and creating a real sense of community, you know, that's kind of our goal and growth mission.

Paul Davenport: I love that. That's why there's so much so patico between what you guys are doing and what uh, we're trying to do at Boast too because to your point about getting hyperlocal so you can actually be effective and actually be a like valuable resource to the people who are at every stage of their business Trying to make sure that they're tapping into the resources that they totally have available to them because it's a lot of knowledge share and boast is a North American brand. We serve all 50 states in the U.S. all the provinces of Canada. We want to go bigger too, but at the same time we're most effective because when we can get into those local conversations and when we can work with folks like you who get us into the room with these founders who at the local level might be missing out on R and D tax credits and might be missing out on a funding angle that can actually give them lift to drive global change. Uh, sounds jargony, sounds cliche, but I mean it's very true. Your team gives us the ability to get into rooms that we wouldn't get into on our own. And I also love that you named all of those examples too about that kind of content driven approach to getting this all done because those are all non cynical, uh, deliverables. Uh, they're literally just bringing resources. Sure, it's come work with us or Anderson might want to invest in a company that they see who comes to all of this. There's going to be give and take, there's going to be support in a financial way that will be actually sales. But that's not the primary intent or the. It really is lifting all shifts by getting into those harbors, getting into those communities, really making it known what is available and delivering it.

Phil Burns: Yeah, uh, I think we often talk about ourselves as not like the biggest audience, uh, uh, not the loudest, but the most integrated in our markets. So um, certainly that claim might not be true in some of those newer markets that we just launched. Um, but we really do have, I think a great relationship with a lot of the founders and folks who work in tech. Um, and so continuing to build those relationships is really important to us and working with sponsors who understand that and also understand the long term view of these ecosystems.

Paul Davenport: Yeah.

Phil Burns: And just to talk a little bit more about that and kind of who shares this space as well with us is um, to us it's a lot of folks who we think are building really remarkable companies. And so often the dotted line is to Neo Financial.

Paul Davenport: Yeah.

Phil Burns: In a sense, or actually before that is even to skip the dishes, which is a Winnipeg company started in 2012 if I'm not mistaken, sold in 2016 to Just Eat Takeaway for $200 million. Um, through that spun out a company called Pivot. Um, those founders went everywhere. But then a company called um, uh, Harvest Venture Builders which started Propra One Vest, Neo Walnut, Second Shop. So so many companies came out of that. Um, and then from Nio, uh, you then see Pureland in a sense you see Tech Thursday. Um, and I think there's really a culture that's built around some of those builders who was there at the early stages now know what it fundamentally takes to build a tech company. I think when, when especially in Canada, um, there's a narrative around like slow growth, get to where you want to go. Well fundamentally if you're building a tech company you need to go from zero to a billion within seven, seven years, seven to ten years. That's just venture math. So if you're going to take venture money, that's what you're agreeing to. And I like if you really look at uh, um, at least the Prairies, Winnipeg and Calgary, the only company to have done that is Neo Financial in terms of like actually fundamentally within that strict seven year timeline. Um, and so the folks who are coming out of that know what it takes, know how hard you have to push and I think that's uh, really helpful. Kind of uh, a knowledge gap that will start to accelerate this market.

Paul Davenport: I love it. I mean I think maybe Shopify gets used and abused as like the Canadian example of like a unicorn. But to your point about NIO kind of being where all of these great ideas have spun out from, that is a perfect model like Neo, they understood the like complimentary solutions that they could add onto their core fintech. They listen to their customers and to your point, they scout the best talent so they know they set a good example that others should follow.

Phil Burns: Right.

Paul Davenport: So it's, it's a playbook to rip from honestly. And uh, yeah, and we're seeing it, we've talked about it on a lot of these interviews that I've had today with the team here and I just love to see that there's so much support across the Calgary community. Um, I think that's been the most, not surprising thing to me. But uh, I go to Toronto and I go to Vancouver all the time. I've kind of just flown over the prairies. It's exciting here and there's so much going on too. Like I'm going to be swinging by platform after this today. Um, we're doing a bunch of events. Normally when they fly me someplace, it's for a specific conference or something like that. No, I just need to come to Calgary. Cause there is so much happening here, so many good people to meet and I just need to get that exposure and let's make sure Boast is meeting all these people. We got a big team here. We're actually going to be doing a dinner with you guys tonight.

Phil Burns: That's right, yep.

Paul Davenport: For uh, our manufacturing founders. So again, super fun. Anyone who follows Bose knows about the shred enhancements but manufacturing specifically can really benefit from the new capex. So that is included. You can now claim so much more today than before. I won't go on my diatribe, download our webinars or any of the podcasts to learn more about that. But it's going to be a fun dinner and that's one of many events that Bose is going to be partaking in this um, week. But tell me a little bit about the dinner tonight.

Phil Burns: Yeah, dinner tonight. Well you mentioned it's with some manufacturing folks but we um, I got connected into um, this, this woman, um, Mikal Mikhail Levy and she's uh, the owner of the restaurant that we're in. And um, she uh, is just really cool. Like she's like working on a script um, for feature length film called uh, a Road Trip to the World's Largest Pierogi. And so I saw that sign me up. I saw that in her bio and I was like we have to meet just to talk about that movie.

Paul Davenport: We're going to be friends.

Phil Burns: Yeah, exactly. So we met and we chatted and then sort of the idea of our dinners that we host uh, regularly came up and so she's kind of offered to semi close like her whole restaurant. It's in um, this restaurant has won sort of interior design awards. And um, the food is you know, one of the best sort of restaurants across Calgary. And so um, this is kind of our first dinner that we're doing with Makah and the team at Sad Rock Citizen. But um, we're super excited to see how it goes. Yeah, and the food's going to be remarkable so uh, it should be great. And I think um, the audience that we brought together is very unique. Like I know very little about the manufacturing space so I'm always excited about dinners like that where I can go meet some people.

Paul Davenport: I love it. Getting in the room with founders, regardless of industry, it's just really fun picking their brains. And again I'm not a founder myself but I speak to a lot of them. We've recorded 105 episodes of the podcast so far at this point. That's almost 105 founders that we've talked to.

Phil Burns: That's amazing.

Paul Davenport: M. So I light up at these things. Added bonus I think I saw bison skewers on the menu. I'm getting a true prairie meal today to make sure that I am getting my Calgarian honorary badge, uh, this evening. So I'm looking forward to it. The manufacturing space again. That's why I get excited about both because we're now broadening the kinds of founders we can talk to. I'm going to be meeting people in this space for the first time myself and I can't wait to learn more and uh, again, hopefully delight them by telling them about the non dilutive funding that's on the table, but also just engaging with the community and engaging with Boast as a resource. Not even just as somebody who is going to be working on your claim. If you have questions about it, come to us because we're AI and we're shred experts. We are the human experts. Our AI just helps us work harder. It helps our experts be smarter and more efficient, but it's not doing the work for them. So hopefully we can be a resource to these founders. Just like Tech Thursday has been so far. And uh, yeah, and again, I want to come back to Calgary. It's only been about 24 hours, but I'm already like, I'm surprised you love

Phil Burns: it so much based on how much time you spent in this room. It's not that pretty, but it is also so hot in here.

Paul Davenport: It's getting hot. I'm getting a little shiny. I'm noticing now that I'm looking at myself. It's funny actually, uh, I'm still on east coast time and you probably saw that I was emailing you guys at like 5am today. So I actually did a very long walk this morning. There was like no one on the streets. It was very cold. But Calgary is beautiful. Like, yeah, it's a cool downtown. Like it's very different than Boston, obviously. I think I've been making a lot of like one to one comparisons in the conversations I've had today just because we're both tech hubs and it's like, right, but I'm enjoying it. I'm liking it. I'm like, I just see even the storefronts, all the different kinds of. Just like, even if you're not in tech, there's a lot of art going on here. There's just a lot of. It's a lot happening. There's a lot being built so you can tell big things are happening here. And I'm glad that we're able to again partner with the community on an actionable level. Not just rinsing, repeating our, uh, resources. Actually getting to the heart of the problems. Meeting people where they're at, in the sectors they're at and delivering for them. Just like you guys have been.

Phil Burns: Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's been a ton of fun to partner with you guys, and you guys have been great partners, so I hope so.

Paul Davenport: Yeah.

Phil Burns: It's great to have you in Kowtow.

Paul Davenport: I love in Cowtown. Okay. Yeah, I need to think of, um, for my. I have one more podcast interview. I think I've abused Stampede, um, at this.

Phil Burns: As references.

Paul Davenport: As references. So Cowtown. I did go on the wiki and saw that this morning.

Phil Burns: People do actually use Cowtown.

Paul Davenport: Yeah, I like that one. That's good.

Phil Burns: You're talking about boots. Um, people, uh, love their cowboy boots here.

Paul Davenport: M. Aren't pancakes a thing? Or did I imagine that? I feel like we talk.

Phil Burns: Yeah. Pancake breakfast is a big thing. Um, and, um, yeah, my friend Niall, who's coming in, um, we actually run a nonprofit together. Um, and we have an upcoming m. Stampede, um, event. So you can ask him about that.

Paul Davenport: Absolutely.

Phil Burns: Um, it's called Every year. We've hosted it, we've sort of added. So first year was our first rodeo. Second year our second rodeo, and this year will be our third rodeo. Uh, and so it's just a ton of fun. It's really just a party, but raises money, uh, now for local kids sports, so.

Paul Davenport: Oh, that's so cool.

Phil Burns: Yeah. Yeah. So he'll have a lot to talk about around the stampede, and he's a big fan, uh, so feel free to ask him about that.

Paul Davenport: Absolutely. That's like cherry on the Sunday when, uh, founder. It's not just about the tech you're building. It's the community at large. And that is so cool. All right, buckle up, Niall. I got.

Phil Burns: That's right.

Paul Davenport: But, Phil, this has been a total.

Phil Burns: Of course. Thanks for having me on.

Paul Davenport: Ra.