Jake Karls

Canada just dropped $25M into a single gap in the venture pipeline. CIBC and Women in VC announced a $25M fund targeting female-led SaaS companies. The data is simple: → Women-led startups get <3% of global VC funding → Yet they consistently show higher capital efficiency and stronger early retention → And still, they receive less than 3% of global venture funding → Most never raise again because they weren’t funded properly to begin with This fund is one of the first signals that Canada’s capital markets are starting to price talent with discipline. Because this isn’t about “supporting women.” It’s about investing in founders who are already outperforming, even when under-resourced. The bigger signal? → Founder profile ≠ founder potential → Capital is starting to chase performance, not pitch polish → SaaS isn’t just a sector - it’s systems. And women are building better ones. I’ve seen it first-hand: when capital sharpens, better companies emerge and cleaner GTM systems get built. Some of the best I’ve seen are led by founders the market still underestimates. It shows the ecosystem is stronger when capital chases performance over pattern. #femtech #womeninvc #womenintech #saas #femtech #womeninvc #womenintech #saas

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Canada can’t keep funding everyone and expect to build global winners. Harley Finkelstein (Shopify's President) just dropped a bunch of SR&ED reforms: ✅ Pre-approvals ✅ Cut out middlemen ✅ Reward companies that keep IP in Canada ✅ Expand support to commercialization All great ideas. Here’s the problem: Canada wants to fund everyone. But in tech, outcomes follow a power law. Most companies will fail. A few will drive all the value. SR&ED helps any company that qualifies. Doesn’t matter if you’re the next Shopify or a zombie org running on government dollars. Yes, we increased funding. $4B in tax credits is no joke. But if we want to build real winners, tax credits aren’t enough. We need a second playbook for companies at the tipping point. Series A and B teams ready to scale. Ready to win global markets. That means: ✅ Strategic co-investment alongside private capital ✅ Government and pseudo-government procurement contracts going to startups (not just grants) ✅ Direct incentives to hire, sell, and export allocated to scale-stage companies ✅ Fast lanes for regulatory and pilot approvals SR&ED fixes are great. But if we want to build the next generation of category leaders, we have to do more than simplify paperwork. We have to pick winners and bet bigger. Another 100 seed-stage startups won’t change the economy. Five more Shopifys would.

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My latest Financial Post article discusses the complexities of estate planning: “There are numerous estimates predicting that the transfer of wealth from baby boomers to the next generations — mainly millennials or gen-Xers — will be in the range of $1 trillion to $2 trillion in Canada within the next 10 to 20 years. The taxman, of course, is poised to take a significant bite of that wealth… There are no cookie-cutter approaches to estate planning... I recall reading a full-page newspaper article about estate planning…more than 25 years ago in Saskatchewan. It was written by a local insurance adviser who espoused a method of estate planning that advocated having “mom and dad” sit down with all their ultimate beneficiaries around the “kitchen table” in a planned meeting facilitated by him where the ultimate estate plan would be laid out. If there were any problems or issues, they would be dealt with right then and there. I was happy that approach worked for him, but I knew that taking that kind of approach with most of my clients would be a disaster. For Seinfeld fans, it reminded me of Festivus, where everyone gathers around a pole at dinner for an “airing of the grievances.”… It also involves aggressively keeping up to date…For example, you have to consider if another country has jurisdiction over some of your assets that you wish to pass along. Many countries will charge a tax — in some form or fashion — on the transfer of those assets, such as real estate, either during your lifetime or on death. The most obvious example is the estate tax in the United States that applies to its citizens and U.S. domiciles. Americans can take advantage of an exemption, but the amount has been a political football over the years. For 2025, the amount is US$13.99 million, but it was scheduled to decline to approximately US$7 million at the end of this year. However, President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act has erased that possibility by making the exemption amount US$15 million for 2026 and indexing it to inflation for every year after… What does all of this mean? In short, the $1-trillion to $2-trillion wealth transfer is well underway. Developing an effective estate plan requires more than a will from 20 years ago, a few beneficiary designations or the advice of a single professional who claims to do estate planning. It demands a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach…working in concert. It demands constant vigilance to keep pace with shifting laws, cross-border complexities and changing family realities. Estate planning is an ongoing act of stewardship. Done poorly, it’s an expensive gift to the government — to help fund their latest spending spree — and a recipe for family strife.” https://lnkd.in/gFVjjFEj

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"If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough." For Brett Barakett, HBA ’88, founder and CEO of Tremblant Capital, resilience and risk-taking aren’t optional. His philosophy is that success isn’t just about outcomes, it’s about fully engaging with challenges along the way. Barakett kicked off Ivey’s new MBA/HBA elective "Navigating Change: Lessons from CEOs on Managing Strategic Transformation," led by Dean Julian Birkinshaw and Doug Murphy, HBA ’85. The course blends case discussions with unfiltered insights from top executives who are also Ivey and Western University alumni. Read more on how Barakett approaches risk, resilience, and change: https://lnkd.in/e6Y9x3uW  

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You don’t have to leave Canada to build a seven-figure tech company. This needs to be said louder for those in the back. 🇨🇦 We’re building Clover Labs primarily from Canada — and hit $1M ARR in 42 days. The idea that ambitious founders must relocate to SF or NYC to “make it” is outdated. Our last three hires? All Toronto talent. Not an accident. A strategy. Canada produces world-class builders who are: - Incredibly talented - Loyal - Hungry to prove something - Tired of watching our best leave - We’re betting on Canadian talent — because we are Canadian talent. The ecosystem here already has what matters: - Elite universities fueling the pipeline - Investors who get it - Lower burn rates than SF - A founder community that helps each other win What’s missing? Proof points of global scale built from Canada. We’re building that proof. The best companies of this decade won’t all come from the Valley. Some will be built right here. And we’re just getting started.

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🚨 NEW POD ALERT 🚨 On the latest episode of the #humanunicornpod, I sit down with Amar Varma — co-founder of Mantle ($10m raised), Autonomic (acquired by Ford for <$400m), Xtreme Labs (acquired by Pivotal), longtime builder of Toronto’s tech ecosystem-- and maybe most importantly, amazing father of 4. From pioneering mobile app development before the iPhone App Store existed, to scaling two of Canada’s most successful exits, Amar shares what it really takes to build durable companies outside Silicon Valley. We dive into his founder journey, lessons learned from working with global tech giants, and his vision for the next wave of Canadian unicorns including the one he's building now- Mantle. 🇨🇦🦄

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