The Cansbridge Fellowship event, held Thursday night in Vancouver, shifted the focus from technology to the people behind it. Hosted in partnership with BetaKit and La base entrepreneuriale at McCarthy Tétrault’s Vancouver office, the gathering brought together nearly 100 student entrepreneurs and established tech leaders to share stories about personal inflection points that shaped their careers.
Key Takeaways from Tech Leaders
The event featured a panel of 2022 Cansbridge Fellows and other industry leaders, including Anjali Dhaliwal (Avo co-founder and CEO), Callum Woznow (Slate co-founder), Jesse Pound (Vunatec founder), Siri Agrell (BetaKit CEO), Maxwell Nicholson (Blossom Social co-founder and CEO), and Isaac Souweine (Pender Ventures partner).
Embracing Risk and Change
The speakers shared tales of pivotal decisions that led them to where they are today. For some, like Dhaliwal, it was about finding the courage to speak up and shed an introverted nature. She recalled how learning to ask questions in school was the first step in a journey that eventually led her to address large crowds.
Pound discussed her decision to move to Kenya to support a startup focused on reducing post-harvest food waste. Woznow shared how interning at a German car company during COVID-19 travel restrictions opened his eyes to his personal agency.
Souweine recounted his experience as a Columbia University student when he joined a startup called Studentonline.com. Despite the company’s eventual failure, the risk he took helped launch his career in tech, leading to roles at Frank & Oak, Sonder, Real Ventures, and Pender.
Pivoting to Success
Nicholson shared the story of Blossom Social’s significant pivot from building a social brokerage to creating a social network for investors. The decision to broaden their market and enter the US was challenging but ultimately successful. Blossom now boasts over 300,000 users, generated $1.1 million in revenue last year, and is on track to reach $2.5 million this year.
Agrell concluded the evening by sharing her winding career path from journalism to politics to tech and back to journalism. She emphasized that every unexpected turn in her journey led her exactly where she needed to be.
The stories shared at the Cansbridge Fellowship event highlighted the importance of embracing risk, being open to change, and learning from personal inflection points in shaping successful careers in the tech industry.
