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Tech Pulse: Why Canadian Founders Can’t Afford to Ignore AI
Plus: The Best Way To Increase Your Focus Backed by Science
Notable Daily
July 16, 2025
What’s In This Email
Tech Pulse: Why Canadian Founders Can’t Afford to Ignore AI
The Best Way To Increase Your Focus Backed by Science
Why The Best Leaders are Hands-On
Notable Spotlight: AGO 125: DJ Delicious
Notable Plug 🔌
✍️ TAKE NOTE
Tech Pulse: Why Canadian Founders Can’t Afford to Ignore AI
At this year’s Startupfest in Montréal, one message echoed loud and clear: if you’re building a business in 2025, an AI strategy is no longer optional. Whether you’re a seed-stage founder pitching investors or a growth-stage operator scaling operations, artificial intelligence is now considered a fundamental pillar of success, not a futuristic bonus.
Across multiple panels and pitch stages, Canadian VCs and startup leaders emphasized that the bar has officially been raised. It’s not just about playing with generative tools — it’s about embedding AI into your business model, your customer value, and your long-term roadmap. Those who don’t? Risk falling behind in both funding and relevance.
While Canada has made early investments in AI leadership, many startups are still figuring out how to operationalize it. The good news? There’s still time to catch up — but the clock is ticking.
Key Takeaways
Investors are looking for AI fluency, not just AI buzzwords
At Startupfest, venture capitalists made it clear: startups that aren’t exploring AI must have a strong reason why. It’s no longer impressive to say “we’re using ChatGPT” — investors want to see how AI is driving efficiency, improving margins, or creating a competitive moat.
Most Canadian companies are still in the early stages of adoption
A report from Georgian Partners revealed that only 7% of Canadian companies are using AI at a “run” level, meaning in full-scale, production-ready applications. The majority are still experimenting — meaning there's room to differentiate by moving faster.
Success requires ROI, not just experimentation
Throwing AI at a problem isn’t enough. What investors and customers want is clarity — how is AI improving your product? What does it mean for your business model? And what’s the tangible return? Startups that can articulate this are already a step ahead.
Why It Matters
For entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and career professionals alike, AI isn’t just changing how we work — it’s changing what’s expected of us. In Canada, especially, where the startup ecosystem is rapidly maturing, demonstrating an understanding of AI isn’t optional. It’s a credibility marker.
Whether you’re launching a SaaS tool, building a consumer brand, or leading strategy at a growth-stage company, embedding AI thinking into your business isn’t about jumping on a trend. It’s about signaling that you understand the tools shaping the future — and that you’re serious about competing in it.
So if you’ve been “waiting and watching,” consider this your sign. You don’t need to be an AI company, but you do need to know how AI fits into your company. The ones that get it? They’ll be the ones getting funded, scaling faster, and winning bigger in the years ahead.
🌐 AROUND THE INTERWEBS
Gaining focus and keeping focus isn’t just about your routine, science says it goes much deeper than that. Watch more from the Huberman Lab.
If you’re not ready to engage at the team level, leadership may not be the best fit for you says Airbnb’s CoFounder.
🔦 NOTABLE SPOTLIGHT 🔦
AGO 125: DJ Delicious
Celebrate AGO 125 with an evening of jams and bangers from the 1990s with DJ Delicious.
🔌 NOTABLE PLUG
🎙️ Get Into It: Fluently Forward. Mentioned by Reddit users as a feel-good, banter-filled option, perfect for laughs and light culture chat. Listen on Apple and Spotify.
📄 Notable Hires: Client Partner @ Snap (Full-time, Canada)
🌍 Notable Destinations: Calgary to Paris ($527 846 ) Dates: Nov 17-25, 2025. Click here to see the link for this flight.
🧠 Today We Learned: Male penguins search for the smoothest, most perfect pebble they can find to offer to a female as a proposal for mating.
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