ascent
@ascent_hi
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593
Following
19
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313
Statuses
972
/// ASCENT | startup foundry | we build up world class founders //// ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| a project by @McMillanLLP ||| 🇨🇦/acc
Canada
Joined April 2024
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Pinned Tweet
new playlist unlocked
if you're still grinding on a Sunday,
enjoy...
Q3 Funky Town.
Keep on pushing! 🦦
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Who in Canada is doing cheque writing at the first meeting? Who in Canada is investing in people + ideas not data + markets?
Talked to a lot of Canadian VCs, wonderful people, great finance folks, but they're not investing in people + ideas. Who is investing in people + ideas?
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If any Waterloo students want help staying in CANADA/finding an epic startup job/start a company in CANADA, HMU!
Can help troubleshoot visas too 😌✨
If any Waterloo students want help staying in SF/finding an epic startup job/start a company, HMU!
Can help troubleshoot visas too 😌✨
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btw don't really give af if you're a Waterloo grad, a U of T grad or you went to Vancouver Community College. If you're Canadian and you want to hit it out of the park, call me. Literally know how to build $781MM ARR from scratch. Will teach you: if you're VERY serious.
If any Waterloo students want help staying in CANADA/finding an epic startup job/start a company in CANADA, HMU!
Can help troubleshoot visas too 😌✨
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We asked Jessica,
@TheFirstLadyy
, who has scaled startups from literally zero to millions multiple times... "When it comes to People, what do you think is fundamental knowledge for founders just starting out?" She always nails it! Thanks Jess!! 🥰
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Gonna be at Lakeview Diner till around 11:45pm est
you bring pitch decks, questions, extremely unrealistic unit economics etc etc
I bring the pain
gl
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Tried that coffee shop the minion person recommend.
Decent recommendation.
🦦
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Here is what one of our founders said about us:
"You just have to work with ascent. I remember doing a live demo of my product to the ascent team at a networking event because they were curious - not realizing the impact they'd have on my startup from then on.
Having ascent in
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Hello, new followers, welcome to the party. This Twitter account is mostly about unhinged raw skills maxing, so feel free to unfollow now if you're going to be annoyed by that.
Who are we?
We're a bunch of founders, operators, engineers, designers, and lawyers who decided
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We have our first founder moving to Canada from the States to launch their startup with our startup foundry. Candadaaaland!
The first thing I will do is march them over to Vin and Fahd for indoctrination classes.
Reverse brain drain.
It's working, folks. LET'S GO!
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We get some flack because our sugar momma is a huge old law firm. McMillan, doing startup stuff feels sus for sure, but here is the real deal:
@TJHisLaw
and his leadership team genuinely believe in helping make Canada better. Retiring having just worked at the firm is not in the
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Enough. Of. This. Bullshit.
What he said is right.
What we need to do is change it.
Find the most 5head, imaginative, ambitious Canadian's you know. Send them to me.
Time to put an end to this BS.
🦦
The biggest brain drain in the world is the one from Canada to the US.
As a result, the biggest and most successful mafia in the world isn’t the PayPal Mafia in America but the ex-Canadian Mafia in the US.
From Berkshire to SpaceX and many companies in between, there are so
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Founder: Cool, so how long is the program?
Me: Till you IPO.
Founder:
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Let's all root for
@rootlyhq
- Great Canadian startup, they are IN THE GRIND. Send them happy vibes, bake them cakes, take them over some sativa, whatever, just support them!!! Let's all root for rootly!!!!!
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Wish you could hear
@internetvin
tonight. Dude is spitting bars and taking names. Vin is hard as nails. 😈🦦
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"we're a group of friends and strangers who get together to explore the magic that can happen when creative people get together in a room" very cool
@soto_place
/
@lychkel
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People often asking me for the inside scoop on 535 and
@fahdananta
- by way of explaining -
@maloriek
paints the picture incredibly well.
Our take: A great group of people executing good things. 🏄🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️
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When you get asked to explain "internetvin" to the management team of a 100 year old law firm.
🦦
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I wouldn't dismiss 535.
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Tuesday 16th our friend and colleague
@MitchWainer
will be taking over our Twitter. He'll be tweeting a couple of important go to market nuggets & answering your questions all afternoon. Attached is a tiny snapshot of his career. He's a 3 times founder.... ಠ_ಠ
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My Startup Failed, But It's OK:
It's ok to start startups. It's ok to fail startups. It's all ok, just relentlessly build things.
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One of the main objections we got in the early days of DeviantART was... ready for it?
.......
"nobody wants to put art on the internet, that's stupid"
no pix on teh inter webs k folks?
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y not
yo if you live in Toronto and make stuff, we should support each other man, why not? Let’s just do it, ride or die for each other.
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In startup,
It doesn't matter how powerful you think you are.
It only matters how powerful you are.
You can only know how powerful you are after the wash.
So get into the arena,
because it all comes out in the wash.
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Ha, can't believe they let me take over their Twitter today! I'm Mitch Wainer, co-founder of DigitalOcean and marketing enthusiast. Let's dive into some marketing stuff together and feel free to ask me anything!
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Janet is one of the best investors in Canada and you can take that to the bank.
Work for her money because lord knows she will work for you. We are extremely lucky to have her.
"How quickly do they execute? Do they test, learn, iterate, and move on?" - Janet Bannister (
@jebannister
) the Founder and Managing Partner of Staircase Ventures.
In this episode we discussed...
-Working at eBay early days.
-Launching Kijiji in Canada.
-Getting into VC and
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Did the midful mile with
@adamchenchew
and
@_sophysun
this morning now at RAG from scratch with
@70by7
The RAG from scratch workshop is A++++ - you're missing out and I'm moving to 225IQ era.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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A bit about me: I’ve been building brands and driving growth for years. From DigitalOcean to Welcome Homes, it's been a wild ride. Today, I'll share some key insights from my journey as a 3 time founder.
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Looks like those pre-seed rounds are all going down in the beaches rn. Makes sense if you think about it...
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Finally did it, building in public y'all, Finally made the MVP of that stupid blog thing I've been yatter on about all week. Think it's a pretty good idea but I'm not sure yet, so we'll see...
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Starting ascent, someone in the venture industry here in Toronto said "oh that's cute" - You know what
@bradgillespie
said? "let me know when you have demo days I'll fly up" - That frustration you showed last night. We share it. ascent is not CUTE. ascent is very badass.
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@bmann
@steventen
Get them the money get them to me. I'll take care of the rest. I just can't do the whole thing end to end,
@MapleVCFund
will always take a pitch from my founders, Janet at staircase, Eric at Yale has been stepping up big for me.
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What to know about real robots deployed in the real world. STRONGLY believe we need to figure out how to make Canada the new gen robotics epicenter of the world. This is something we should, in theory, be very good at.
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@fahdananta
Spent a solid seven hours last week focusing on the thought: If the population is highly educated, full of risk-takers and forward-lookers, how do we just turn the whole country into startups and everyone into startup employees? Your idea riffs hard off this; love it!🥰
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Got to having a few public companies under my belt, because of sleeping on the office floor.
there was a 3 year stretch of 365/24/7 nothing but the startup
work/life balance is for people who want work and life to be balanced, startup is for people who just want the work.
I’m confused about this work life balance debate flaring up every so often.
I 100% understand folks who decide to prioritize other things in life than work.
But I never got how you could argue that hard work didn’t matter. It is so crystal clear that it’s just become a signal
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may not be able to reply to all 47 of you today, but will reply, promise....
🦦
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A short circuit happens when I hear "but Canadian founders are just..." Canadian founders are just founders. Founders are founders. Hard as nails and that is that. Cannot tolerate this "Canadian founders are" thing. You build a billion dollar business or you don't. Founders swing
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People think Collision has a lot of founders, but collision ain't nothing compared to Taste of Italy Conf.
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As you approach IPO, prepare for INTENSE scrutiny.
Every decision you've ever made will be under the microscope. Hope you've been keeping good records and making ethical choices.
Remember: It all comes out in the wash.
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Just tried
@Boardy_ai
- the AI is SERIOUSLY good. Like by far the best I've ever tried by a mile (and I try everything) - no clue how useful the app itself will be, but the AI is actually mind blowing and I'm never impressed. Interesting work
@andrewdsouza
! 🦦
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Want to do something helpful for your country today? Here are 5 founders we work with. Reach out to them, tell them:
ascent said you're a badass founder, I want you to win! Let me know anything I can do to help you.
Then help them.
Give them real help. Lift them up with us.
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Be cheap with everything except equity. Give your employees plenty of that, schedule the vest, OKRs and KPIs, keep the vision and mission very sharp. Easy.
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Left
@535Toronto
tonight feeling inspired, excited, and at peace. It’s all coming together, and they are the keystone. Thank you! Thank you!! Thaannkk youuu!! ☺️
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@fahdananta
As far as gov assistance programs, ElevateIP is pretty great but nobody knows about it and it's super good so, ofc, because it's good they're shutting it down soon.
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Biggest volume of pitches I've seen recently is AI agents for dating. Walking through the Eaton Centre right now, and there are two dudes in front of me discussing wanting this.
Product, meet market. 🦦
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One of the Ascent co-founders worked in the States for almost 20 years, building from zero to one. They said:
the most stark thing coming to Canada is that every conversation doesn't end with 'How can I help you?'
Ask anyone who has done business in SF or NYC; if the other
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여기는 앉아서 일하기에 정말 평화로운 곳이에요! 한국 음식도 정말 정통적이에요!!
(Decent place to work and snack!!)
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@araghougassian
Imagine SF and NYC combined into a new better city, that is Toronto. Imagine SF and Chicago combined into a new better city, that is Vancouver. Imagine Boston and NYC combined into a new better city, that is MTL. Imagine the arctic circle but more boring, that is Winnipeg.
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On our blog we put our critical conversations. () - this one will go up next week:
World class founders or bust.
🇨🇦/acc
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GOOOOOODDDD MORNING COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM THE
@NEXT_Canada
DEMO DAY!
One of our cohort companies
@konaerosystems
are demo'ing....!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
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Founders Spotlight:
Canada Computers & Electronics was founded by Gordon Chan in 1991. He started the company to provide affordable computer parts and services, particularly targeting university students who needed cost-effective computing solutions.
The first store was
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'Sleepless Founder'
The burnout idol every YC wannabe deserves!
Armed with an overworked laptop and a never-ending cup of Joe, this figurine embodies the glamor of unpaid overtime and VC rejection.
Perfect for those who aspire to endless pitch decks, all-nighters, and living
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Seems fair.
plus, if the east end west end Toronto beefing wasn't fun enough, and we want to see a level above even Toronto vs Van... Waterloo vs Calgary would be quiet the thing.
@TateHackert
and
@jrodgers
in the octagon.
🍿
Hey Toronto, Waterloo would like to see itself as an individual ecosystem… the time as a corridor was fun and all but it’s time we went back to building our own thing
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Had a great morning walk with some new friends!! Thanks
@_sophysun
@adamchenchew
for hosting mindful miles!
We discussed:
Art as math and math as art
Quantum mechanics
Simulation theory
Free will
Ice cream flavors
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Got some sad news.
@TokyoPoliceClub
are breaking up this year.
Here is a banger to ease you into the evening hours.
(if you play this at any event and people don't like it, red flag)
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🇨🇦🥰🏄🏻♂️
🦦
Big news from Boom! 💥 We've just launched our 100% Free Forever plan. Bring energy to your video calls without spending a dime.
And for the power Boomers (no, not those Boomers) we've got new Pro plans: Monthly, Annual, and Lifetime.
Boom is proudly indie and AI-free. We're
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Me: where is the community leadership?
Fahd: shhhhh child.
We just follow the leaders. This man is a leader.
🙇♂️
Today we announced the
@535Toronto
Community Fund
We will fund interesting and inspiring projects that are in the Toronto (and Canada) ecosystem with $100-500.
Will be public record of donors and funded projects. More details shortly.
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Everybody always beefing on who has better builders east end or west end and we just up here on Money Row chuckling.
downtown > *
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@stripe
@slack
@SlackHQ
@github
Peter T says building a startup is kinda like building a cult, but think about what YC/a16z etc have done. For better or worse, they built the startup cult, as in... getting cultish about building startups.
The
@keen_io
founders used to have all the other dev tool founders over
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nice try bot, but not even close.
"The best place on earth for people to grow into world class founders"
(See, I'm working on it Dad!
@jrodgers
)
(And Dad2!
@bmann
)
@ascent_hi
𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲.
#startup
#BusinessSolutions
#industry
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“Hard times create strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times create weak people. And, weak people create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain
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Judging the
@LassondeSchool
startup pitches today! Fun to come out to Nunavut once in a while!
🦦
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One of the folks running went through the
@urbanxtech
program with
@supermanuelsaez
can confirm he's a great guy, and this is a great read. Self blame is holding you back:
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@cattybk
Tracks with what we’ve seen: at around 100/150 people, folks start to be interested in your startup and you inevitably hire some slick ricks. 80% of them inevitably leave after a few months once they realize they need to do real work.
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How long do you think this took?
6 minutes or 6 hours?
100% GenAI end to end.
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Does anyone know how I can get access to this app everyone is always talking about? It looks cool but apparently it's super hard to get an invite 😰
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Remember that in startup, roles are extremely fluid. The job you hire someone for today will likely evolve into something quite different within 3-6 months as priorities shift. This makes adaptability a critical trait.
Don't just evaluate candidates based on their current skill
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Whoah, just discovered
@magicaltome
- Uhm, Magical is an understatement, seems like a tool that should be in every founders box of tricks. Very cool!
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We've only spent sponsor dollars on one thing so far, and that was the SVIC podcast, because ngl, it's the only tech podcast worth watching. 🦦
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this bot so wild
imagine a world without limitations. where abundance replaces scarcity. where humanity transcends its current form. it's closer than you think.
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@mwseibel
Michael this is starting to get glib for no good reason. You're a leader in the space and you're not helping right now. The point is good, the delivery is wound up. Chill my dude, chill.
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@amplituhedron
Fun fact, Sonique was a vcool skinable mp3 player back in the day, Andrew one of the dudes who built it went on to work on building DeviantART. One of the first use cases for DeviantART was skins, and me, the person behind this twitter, helped build deviantART from there! 🤗
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Focus on building a strong brand narrative from day one. Your story is what sets you apart and resonates with your audience. I always made sure our brand voice was kind but honest, we spoke the truth.
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¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´ ?----------updated
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)?------the
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•----blog! :D
(¯`v´¯
.`·.¸.·´ ?)-----
¸.·´¸.·´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ .·´ ¸
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