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Inspiring imaginations that will change the world

At the core of Ken Merkel‘s work lies a profound mission—to inspire imaginations that will change the world. As Founder of Unlimit and SciFiHive, Ken empowers individuals and organizations to uncover remarkable opportunities they never imagined possible on their own. Now more than ever, we need to rally together to create a better future. Using a pioneering approach – known as the SciFiHive, participants of all ages and places can explore, get excited, imagine, storytell and prototype solutions. If you are clear on the problem you want to solve, you can participate in, sponsor or lead local, regional or global sprint with engaged experts and enthusiasts.

In today’s podcast, Ken Merkel will provide insights on his story, what exponential growth is, the magic of a sprint process – what makes it unique, what results you can expect, use cases, and how you can get engaged to imagine then build your future.


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Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

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Defying the odds and building a thriving business

Chris Schellenberger, CEO of Purr.ca, is an inspirational entrepreneur who defied the odds and built a thriving business. With a background in sales and a keen understanding of the automotive industry, Chris developed Purr to empower sellers and revolutionize the way cars are bought and sold in Canada.


Get the low-cost insurance protection you need from Canada’s small business insurance experts! For a free business insurance quote visit https://zensurance.com/save35


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

Revolutionizing the way you sell homes

Jason Hardy is the Co-Founder & CEO of the leading real estate e-commerce software, Ownly. Jason has spent the previous 17 years serving the real estate development sector in both Canada and the United States. An industry thought leader and speaker, Jason previously held the position of President / Managing Partner at Chatterson, a boutique real estate marketing firm headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Jason is an instructor of Real Estate Marketing at the Haskayne School of Business’ Real Estate MBA program at the University of Calgary and holds the role of Executive Director of the Real Estate Development Institute of Canada. Jason also sits on the Management Advisory Committee (MAC) and Proptech Advisory Committee at the Haskayne School of Business and serves as Committee Chair at the Westman Centre for Real Estate Studies.


Get the low-cost insurance protection you need from Canada’s small business insurance experts! For a free business insurance quote visit https://zensurance.com/save35


Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

What makes SVB a unique capital partner for Canadians

Caterina Papadakos leads the Technology Banking efforts in Western Canada, building new relationships and managing the bank’s portfolio in the region. She thrives on serving energetic entrepreneurs who are challenging the status quo and disrupting traditional industries, and she’s dedicated to providing them with the strategic capital, advice and connections they need to scale and compete globally.

Caterina has been an active member of the local tech scene for more than a decade; before joining SVB in 2020, she served as a Director at Espresso Capital, where she led venture debt financing for tech companies in Western Canada. In this role, she also managed existing client and partner relationships and opened new US markets for the firm. Earlier in her career, Caterina served as a Director for the Technology and Innovation group at BMO, where she launched the bank’s technology lending program in British Columbia. She has also held roles at Trade and Invest BC, where she helped businesses in the province develop their export and foreign investment strategies. Caterina holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Victoria and an MBA from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

In her free time, Caterina volunteers as a member of the CARE Canada Vancouver Council, which supports projects in developing countries that help lift women and girls and their families out of poverty and crisis.

Caterina lives in Vancouver with her husband and son. Together, they enjoy taking advantage of everything the area has to offer — whether snowboarding in the mountains, stand-up paddle boarding on local waters or simply trekking on foot through the great outdoors. Further afield, Caterina and her family love experiencing the culture, food and landscape of global destinations; their most recent adventures include trips to Japan and South Africa’s Kalahari Desert.


The Silicon Valley Bank team in Canada can help you take your next step. Find out more about the bank that has nearly 40 years of global experience supporting venture-backed tech and life science companies and their investors. We’re in Canada to help leading innovators reach the next stage, faster. Visit www.svb.com/canada/connect. Silicon Valley bank, helping you move your bold ideas forward, fast.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

Faire sa place dans le monde des artistes du Québec

Virginie Fisette, pour Tamélo boutique. Nous sommes établis à Montréal. Après mes études en art dramatique au Cégep Marie-Victorin, j’ai complété un certificat en Histoire de l’art à l’UQAM, puis on BAC en communication également à l’UQAM. Je me suis ensuite investi dans la mise en place du projet de centre d’art Le Livart à Montréal, j’y suis restée environ 3 ans à titre de directrice des opérations. À cette époque, ma soeur Mélodie et mon amie Tamara avaient lancé Tamélo Boutique et m’ont demandé de me joindre à l’aventure. Depuis maintenant 4 ans, je m’occupe notamment des communications (internes et externes), du marketing, de la publicité, des partenariats, collaborations et de toutes autres tâches connexes !


L’équipe de la Banque Silicon Valley au Canada peut vous aider à faire avancer vos idées audacieuses – rapidement.

En apportant une expertise mondiale aux fondateurs, investisseurs et innovateurs.

Visitez svb.com/fr/canada pour en savoir plus.

Les entrepreneurs sont l’épine dorsale de l’économie canadienne.

Pour soutenir les entreprises canadiennes, abonnez-vous à notre chaîne YouTube et suivez-nous sur Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn et Twitter.

Vous voulez rester au courant des derniers podcasts et actualités #entrepreneur? Abonnez-vous à notre newsletter bimensuelle.

What if we could end paralysis?

Sparked by a paralyzing bike crash in Phuket, Kieran Macleod has joined forces with friends in the blockchain ecosystem to source funds for a Robotic ExoSkeleton. This will allow Kieran to regain a level of functionality you can only imagine: from being stuck in a wheelchair every day and walking 2-3 hours per year, to near-full personal autonomy again!

Together, Kieran and his friends’ massively transformative purpose is to Enable Augmented Human Purpose. And, their moonshot is to support 1 million people with mobility issues transform their lives to a better future. Introducing ExOSkeletons to people experiencing paralysis in communities in Canada and around the world would:

  • Help people with paralysis experience first-hand the next-generation technology that can transform their lives to a better future;
  • Save billions of dollars in public healthcare spending;
  • Fast-track the adoption of ExOSkeleton and related technologies so ‘access’ takes on a whole new meaning

Kieran invites you to make an impact – start by sharing your ‘ideas’ for ambassadors, manufacturers, health professionals, health product distributors and community leaders that would love to see the adoption of ExOSkeletons happen!


The Silicon Valley Bank team in Canada can help you take your next step. Find out more about the bank that has nearly 40 years of global experience supporting venture-backed tech and life science companies and their investors. We’re in Canada to help leading innovators reach the next stage, faster. Visit www.svb.com/canada/connect. Silicon Valley bank, helping you move your bold ideas forward, fast.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

How being a Canadian company is a huge advantage

Alison Taylor is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Jane, an online platform for healthcare practitioners that delivers a unified approach to online booking, charting, scheduling, video services and payments. Alison, who is based in Vancouver, built Jane with her Co-Founder and Co-CEO Trevor Johnston after running her own practice and finding that she needed an all-in-one solution for her practice’s needs. Now, Jane helps thousands of practitioners across the world with the business side of their practice, so they can focus on what they do best — helping their clients. Alison’s company has gotten here by pushing the envelope and challenging tech industry norms. Jane doesn’t have a sales team, in fact, Alison calls herself the antithesis of sales, and lets the product speak for itself.


The Silicon Valley Bank team in Canada can help you take your next step. Find out more about the bank that has nearly 40 years of global experience supporting venture-backed tech and life science companies and their investors. We’re in Canada to help leading innovators reach the next stage, faster. Visit www.svb.com/canada/connect. Silicon Valley bank, helping you move your bold ideas forward, fast.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

Adapt your business for each province‘s culture

Ritou Maloni is the Co-Founder, President and COO of Pür & Simple, a proudly Canadian-owned breakfast and lunch franchise. Originally founded in Quebec in 2016, Pür & Simple has become one of Canada’s fastest growing breakfast chains with more than 20 locations from the Maritimes to British Columbia. Ritou is driven by a passion for hospitality that has allowed her and her team to successfully reinvent breakfast, bringing affordable luxury to diners from coast to coast.

Growing up in a very entrepreneurial family herself, Ritou has always been eager to run her own business. A dynamic leader, Ritou’s charismatic nature and genuine interest in the success of everyone around her have allowed her to excel in business development and in providing an intuitive support system for her franchise partners.

Ritou has maintained hands-on involvement in opening every Pür & Simple location over the years. She has trained both franchise partners and front/back of house staff firsthand, while finding balance as a parent to also be hands-on in her family life. For Ritou, finding balance and setting an example as a strong female entrepreneur has been about understanding the ebbs and flows of both her personal and professional life. Equally important to her success has been having a support system in place that has allowed her to prioritize each aspect based on where her focus was most needed at any given point in time. Ritou credits her business partner, her family and the Pür & Simple team with the success of the business and encourages her franchise partners to find their own definition of success.

Ritou holds a BAC in marketing from Concordia University and has more than a decade of entrepreneurial experience from a variety of business ventures. She currently resides in Montreal, QC.


The Silicon Valley Bank team in Canada can help you take your next step. Find out more about the bank that has nearly 40 years of global experience supporting venture-backed tech and life science companies and their investors. We’re in Canada to help leading innovators reach the next stage, faster. Visit www.svb.com/canada/connect. Silicon Valley bank, helping you move your bold ideas forward, fast.

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on FacebookInstagramLinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

La fidélisation des employés en passant par le féminisme

Geneviève Provencher est la co-fondatrice et PDG de Jus DOSE. Malgré qu’elle ait grandi bien trop loin de la civilisation, à Rouyn-Noranda, Gen a presque fait le tour du monde. Elle a déjà vécu dans quatre pays différents, a travaillé comme bénévole au Costa Rica et a appris l’anglais en Nouvelle-Zélande. Avec son diplôme en Finances de l’Université McGill en poche, elle a mis à profit sa connaissance du « retail » et du commerce électronique – seulement pour attraper la piqûre de l’entrepreneuriat après un an chez nos amis de Frank and Oak. Munie d’une perspective de la vie teintée de son expérience internationale, d’un sens aigu des affaires et d’un don pour mettre en équilibre pragmatisme et créativité, elle a transformé sa passion en carrière, et est en train de s’entourer d’une équipe du tonnerre. Aujourd’hui, Genevieve est PDG et guide DOSE dans la prochaine phase de sa croissance. Son plus grand accomplissement? Sa fille, Rose, laquelle elle souhaite inspirer à se faire confiance, être « fearless » et indépendante comme nous nous le devons tous d’être.


L’équipe de la Banque Silicon Valley au Canada peut vous aider à faire avancer vos idées audacieuses – rapidement.

En apportant une expertise mondiale aux fondateurs, investisseurs et innovateurs.

Visitez svb.com/fr/canada pour en savoir plus.

Les entrepreneurs sont l’épine dorsale de l’économie canadienne.

Pour soutenir les entreprises canadiennes, abonnez-vous à notre chaîne YouTube et suivez-nous sur Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn et Twitter.

Vous voulez rester au courant des derniers podcasts et actualités #entrepreneur? Abonnez-vous à notre newsletter bimensuelle.