Category: Inovia Insights

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Breaking the Founder-Led, B2B SaaS Sales Ceiling: A Guide to Transitioning to Growth Team Leadership

Transitioning from founder-led sales to a scalable, growth-oriented B2B SaaS sales team is one of the most critical steps for the long-term success of your business. The shift requires strategic planning, focused leadership, and the right talent to drive results.  This guide will walk you through eight essential steps to effectively execute this transition, from…

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State of SaaS in Canada: Trends, Challenges, and Growth

2024 has been a pivotal year for Canadian tech. While challenges remain, the opportunities are even more significant, making this the perfect time to build world-class companies in our own backyard. As we prepare to release our State of Canadian Software Report in early 2025, here’s a preview of the key trends shaping our ecosystem,…

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Patrick Pichette & Dennis Kavelman: Fueling the Canadian Tech Flywheel for Our Economic Prosperity

By any global measure, we should be proud to be Canadian. According to the 2023 Best Countries overall ranking by U.S. News and measuring global performance on ten metrics, Canada is the second-best in the world, only behind Switzerland. So I guess we should feel good about ourselves, right? The truth is that we are…

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Optionality and the Conversations You Need to Have

No entrepreneur wants to sell their company. No investor can stay invested forever. Everyone knows this. Yet, honest conversations about the next steps often occur too late. In the current environment, founders should prepare for several outcomes, and investors should be there to support them along the journey.  I’ve long been an optionality enthusiast. For…

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Beyond Buzzwords: Exploring Cybersecurity Trends Pre-RSA 2024

Like any other industry, cybersecurity evolves in response to market trends and drivers that steer innovation and technology development. As alluded to in Inovia’s 2023 State of Canadian Software Report, the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work models, the emergence of Generative AI, and other influential factors have significantly impacted all sectors,…

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Impactful Leadership: Key Insights from Manon Brouillette

Leadership is a journey, not a destination – an evolving process of learning, adapting, and increasing self-awareness. In a recent roundtable organized for our Inovia Portfolio CEOs, we had the privilege of hearing from Manon Brouillette, a strategic partner at Inovia and former CEO of Verizon Consumer Group and Videotron. Her session was a deep…

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AI, Data, Teams and Innovation

I have spent my life building high-performing teams ranging from my startups to roles at the largest tech companies in the world. The one truth that has never failed me is that the investment in hiring and retaining the best possible people pays for itself over and over repeatedly. Different approaches and strategies exist to…

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Perspectives on Generative AI from our CTO Office: A Moment In Time

There are many accessible introductions that explain what Large Language Models (LLMs) are, how they are built, and what they can and cannot accomplish. Check out this example for a reasonable overview aimed at a non-technical but interested audience. As with any significant innovation, much has been said about the implications of LLM based technologies.…

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Celebrating Clearparth’s Journey: From University Halls to Making the Impossible a Reality

Building robots is hard. Building a robotics company is even tougher. Building a successful robotics business is almost impossible. It’s a good thing that 15 years ago, a group of University of Waterloo students ignored all of that and started Clearpath Robotics. This week marks a crucial milestone as Clearpath Robotics joins Rockwell Automation, Inc.,…

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Navigating Startup Sales: Insights for Founders and Sales Leaders

The journey of early-stage startup sales or leading a budding sales team can feel like sailing into uncharted waters. Fortunately, there are guiding stars and seasoned sailors to illuminate the way. Our recent workshop, led by Inovia EiR Simon Leroux, uncovered valuable insights for early-stage startup founders and sales leaders in their initial stages. Let’s…

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