George Damian, CFA’s Post

Calling all #Founders: Venture Capital Association of Alberta (VCAA)’s Deal Flow Calls represent a great opportunity for #PreSeed to #SeriesA companies to gain exposure to some of the countries most active Venture Capital #investors. If your company is raising equity capital, I strongly encourage you to check out the link below!

“She’s got #GUTS” It was the best descriptor I could come up with when thinking of a tremendously skilled founder in my orbit, and yet, I was aware that this simple phrase can sometimes carry unwelcome connotations. The types that can be weaponized against otherwise clever, hardworking, and bold individuals who should be heralded for their ambition, rather than penalized for it. When I think of someone who’s got “guts”, it goes beyond courage and tenacity to include the boldness to stare down the naysayers (even your own self-doubt), in service of a higher goal, even if you don’t ultimately achieve it. Having guts becomes an invaluable practice. Here are just a few examples of the incredible founders, leaders and badasses I know who demonstrate what it means to have guts: Alison: She’s the real deal, and despite her considerable success, she still has a fire inside her that compels her to take on big challenges in the name of building the world she wants to see. Plus she’s never afraid to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work herself if need be; an incredible trait to find in a leader. Amy: A modern-day oracle whose insights into the future help shape emerging trends as they become reality, Amy is a wise leader who doesn’t take the responsibilities she’s earned lightly. Her work at Future Today Institute continues to inspire legions to think more critically about our collective role in shaping what’s to come. April: Underestimate her at your peril, because some have done it before, and they have come to regret it. But before you think she’s just kicking ass and taking names (which she most definitely is), recognize that she’s a generous connector dedicated to opening doors for those coming behind her. Colleen: Sometimes it’s unclear if Colleen has Guts or if Guts has Colleen - that’s how much she embodies this trait. As she embarks on her latest disruptive journey with Proxure, one thing’s certain: it won’t be her last. Danielle: She leaps. Even when she isn’t sure where she’ll end up, she trusts herself to stick the landing, recognizing how many times she’s done it before. And she does. Every time. Geri: Though I’ve only met her once (when we spoke on a Tech Thursday Panel together) I could tell immediately that Geri’s a skilled and capable operator who knows what it means to act with conviction. Janet: Before I met her at this year’s Banff Venture Forum, someone described Janet as bigger than Taylor Swift, to which I responded: then consider me a #Swiftie! As a solo GP launching her own venture capital fund in a male-dominated field, some might have thought she’d bitten off more than she could chew, and yet they would have been woefully ignorant. She’s crushing it, and the founders she champions (like the indomitable Alice) are thriving. This list is by no means exhaustive, rather, it’s meant to spur a conversation and showcase some incredible people. Who else would you add to this list? Let’s highlight some rockstars!

Scott Galloway’s “No Mercy / No Malice” is one of the few newsletters I read right when it arrives in my inbox. His latest edition on the topic of #Agency offers a thoughtful perspective on the opportunity each of us possesses to make an impact in the areas we care about while still being mindful of the fact that a lot of factors remain out of our control. The notion of agency is particularly important to the people I work with through my strategy and design consultancy press PLAY: #Entrepreneurs, #Leaders and #Students; all of whom are seeking to make positive change while dealing with the inevitable obstacles that emerge when challenging the status quo. Reflecting on my frequent counsel to those groups, the following section of #ProfG’s newsletter resonated with me: “You are not your cohort. You are not sentenced to be the average of your peers, the median of your race, or the mean of your gender. Agency begins with this insight. Within the mass of humans lumped together by statisticians, on several dimensions, you are an outlier. Your range of possible outcomes is invisible to the statistician’s eye. Statistics are observations, not conclusions.”

Once again Allen Lau of Two Small Fish Ventures offers a deeply thoughtful perspective on recent trends we’re observing in the #VentureCapital space, and how they don’t tell the full story. To borrow some wisdom from the great Warren Buffett: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”, and the platform shift catalyzed by #AI promises to reveal who’s actually harnessed the potential of this game-changing #technology vs those that have been selling a dream. Check out Allen’s Op-Ed at the link below for more info!

I have always felt there’s a strong connection between the #Alberta and #Texas tech ecosystems, so it was a pleasure to join 50 Alberta companies at #SXSW2024. As the article below highlights: “There are notable parallels between Alberta and SXSW’s host state, Texas. Both regions initially thrived on natural resource economies but are now pivoting towards innovation and technology sectors. Austin, in particular, is rapidly becoming a major global tech hub, a shift being mirrored in cities like Edmonton and Calgary.” Thank you to Laura Kilcrease, Douglas Holt, Lyndsey Vandament, Lan (Scaleup) Tan and the rest of the incredible team at Alberta Innovates for providing this important platform for our companies to engage with prospective customers, partners and investors. Looking forward to next year’s delegation!

It's hard to believe that SXSW 2024 was over a month ago, because the experience of sharing this workshop with nearly 400 participants over two days was so rewarding that it still hasn't fully sunk in. To those who supported our #SXSW2024 proposal, I'm grateful to be able to share this recording of our presentation. I hope you'll check it out, share it with someone who can benefit from our insights, and ultimately provide me with your thoughts and feedback, as I'm always keen to learn and refine my approach to the invaluable skill that is the Art & Science of #Pitch. And if you're looking to refine your own pitch, wether as a #startup seeking #funding, a corporation looking to build its #innovation infrastructure, or anything in between, feel free to Direct Message me or drop me an email at george@pressplaystudio.ca to see how the team at press PLAY can help you better connect with your audience.

#Agriculture ranks among the greatest areas of economic opportunity for #Canada, yet we’re punching far below our weight. Join Kevin Taylor of SVX to learn more about Canada’s #food #future and how #investors can catalyze scalable growth across this incredibly dynamic sector.

When Kate MacGregor told me about her vision for the #OpenConcept series, I was inspired. Sharp as broken glass, Kate is a do-er who’s using her time, resources and influence to catalyze enriching cultural conversations in our city by serving as curator of some of the best #design thinkers on the planet. On April 30, Open Concepts returns with guest William O’Brien Jr., principal of Cambridge, Massachusetts firm WOJR, founding member and collaborator in Collective LOK, and Associate Professor and M.Arch Program Director at MIT. William comes to #architecture from a background in #sculpture and #music. It’s no surprise, then, that his firm’s designs are masterful works of order and expression - simultaneously intimate and expansive, they balance the familiar with the transcendental. I find William’s background fascinating, and I couldn’t be more excited to hear him speak in #Calgary very soon. I hope I’ll see you there. Details at the link below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gq-v79Ec P.S. special thanks to Kayla Browne of BOLD Workshop Architecture for always connecting me with incredible design minds like Kate and doing her part to make Calgary one of the greatest places in the world to live, work and play!