DISRUPT with Ravi Ravindran

What are the key challenges facing our increasingly digitized democracy, and how might we as citizens contribute to resolving them? 

This special is guest hosted by Matthew Heuman the founder of Neuvote Systems. Neuvote enables modern elections to operate a safe and secure remote voting option. This increased civic engagement opens the need for deeper political discourse on the future of democracy. 

This episode covers four main themes: 

(1) the impact of digital communication on politics and government; 

(2) the future of news and journalism in the network society; 

(3) the potential of digital media to enhance civic engagement and social inclusion; 

(4) visions for the future of digital democracy.

🔱 DEN: Difference between building Brand vs Product

🔱 DEN: Greatness lies in the Agency of Others

🔱 DEN: Alter Egos & Success

🔱 DEN: Are Entrepreneurs Made or Born?

🔱 DEN: Knowledge Workers & the Future of Work w/ Travis Ratnam

🔱 DEN: Books that impacted you?

🔱 DEN: What will replace Smart Phones?

🔱 DEN: Using your Imposter Syndrome - 03/25/21

Gunnar is Co-founder of CARL, a technology platform providing greater financial inclusion. With CARL investors have access to quantitative hedge fund strategies, information and tools to manage their investment portfolios and achieve better risk-adjusted returns.

Nima is an entrepreneur and designer with a lot of passion for building consumer tech startups. Nima is the Co-Founder & CEO of ShiftRide, a car subscription marketplace, providing people access to cars on a weekly basis with everything included.

Sustainability and anti-human trafficking activist, Lindsey Hayzlett has spent over 15 years building and scaling businesses. With her tenacious business acumen and passion for social impact, Lindsey has most recently created PRESERVE: A global fashion statement, with a purpose. It is a platform bridging the gap between cultures, advocating the artisanship of South Asian designers while providing sustainable access to global fashion for the North American market.

Lactiga is advancing its patented therapeutic to protect immunodeficient patients from severe, recurring infections. It's the first company to partner with milk banks to repurpose the global supply of unused, donated human milk into a clinical product.

SaaS development Entrepreneur. I am focused on managing the development of client-centered solutions, focusing on optimizing efficiency and lowering costs of operations. As well as using my international communication skills to build tailored user experiences following the best practices within each market. My company has been in the market for 5+ years (Brazil), and we started our international journey last year.  

I am also a Master’s student at RRU, and an ultrarunner.

Jeffery Potvin, an angel investor in multiple regions who has Invested in 55+ companies; He is a member of the York, Spark & GTAN angels & screening committees while being the driving force behind Open People Network (OPN)! OPN is a group of angel investors helping accelerate the growth of early stage startups through The Supporters Fund and Pitchit Series. Jeffery is a lifelong entrepreneur with a proven track record of building companies and reinventing existing businesses. Working with a list of great startups to enterprise clients over the years. Jeffery is a mentor, coach and loves to climb mountains!

Jennifer Arnold, co-founder and CEO of MinervaAI, a financial crime fighting platform using deep learning and automation to make client risk assessment and fin. crime investigations 10X faster, smarter and completely compliant, compared to today's manual processes.

Eduardo Serna is a Mexican-born entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. He is the CEO and Co Founder of Canadian Based Cardiotrack Their goal is to be a Personalized automated vital signs screening with AI-enabled health data-driven decisions.

Robert Kaul is the Founder & CEO of Cloud DX, Inc., a leader in digital healthcare based in Kitchener ON and Brooklyn NY. The company focuses on analyzing proprietary vital sign data from bespoke medical devices and mobile apps. In the new world of COVID-19, virtual care is in high demand but accurate data from remote, isolated patients is rare – Cloud DX fills that niche. Their team has earned over a dozen awards for innovation excellence, including the Bold Epic Innovator Award in the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, “Visionary” in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Vision 2 Reality Awards, “World Changing Idea” from Fast Company Magazine and most recently Finalist for a 2021 Edison Award. Robert is a contributor to the Forbes Technology Council. He earned a BSc from University of Alberta and an Executive Certificate from MIT Sloan.

xCEO, xCOO helping founders understand their potential from market research to sales and marketing execution to fundraising. Trusted advisor in building early-stage companies. Focused on cleantech, agtech, and fintech to make a better world.

Naveed is an Entrepreneur who is passionate about supporting the Canadian start up ecosystem. Currently Naveed is actively involved in three initiatives: CEO of Heart Health Institute, Advisor with the CAN Health Network and Entrepreneur in Residence at the DMZ Accelerator based in Toronto.

Founder of Acquire Agency and Fates.ai.   

Acquire Agency is an agency that specializes in performance Facebook Advertising. Acquire is a premium partner of Facebook that has deployed over $100M in ad spend.  Fates.ai is a machine learning tool that helps advertisers overcome the challenges of iOS 14.

Kevin Smith is The Story Architect. In his 25+ year career in sales, marketing, & entrepreneurship, Kevin has done over 10,000 pitches. Kevin helps businesses & start-ups unleash their story to secure customers and investors, by helping them understand what their core customer story is and then helping them get their story to market. Kevin spent 14+ years at Dell in consumer sales, B2B sales, Enterprise Sales, Enterprise Marketing, and M&A GTM Strategy. After helping to develop go to market strategies for their acquired startups, he reconnected with his passion for entrepreneurship and began helping startups and growing businesses full time. His expertise include branding, messaging, marketing strategy, SEO, Content and Social Media marketing, presentation and pitch design, web design, lead generation, sales coaching and business development. He’s provided mentorship to startups through the RIC Centre, Humber Launch, U of T i-Cube, Startup Toronto / TorontoStarts, Startup York’s Y2 and Startup Next in addition to delivering educational entrepreneurial workshops as a MaRS facilitator. He also participates as a judge for startup pitch competitions and has spent time with angel investor groups as a subject matter expert.

Patrick Mandic, Co-Founder and CEO, was previously Senior Manager at Deloitte consulting where he led the IoT practice in Eastern Canada and was global Chief of Staff for the Technology Strategy practice, comprised of over 3,500 practitioners globally. Patrick was responsible for large scale digital transformation in a wide range of industries (e.g. automotive, financial services, education, professional services, etc.). Prior to that, Patrick worked in R&D in the telecommunication sector and in digital infrastructure deployment projects for the French Defense contractor Thales. Patrick holds a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication engineering from the UPC in Barcelona, Spain, a M.Sc. in Information Technology from the University of Stuttgart, Germany and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Giancarlo Sessa, 23 year old serial entrepeneur, co-founder of Blade Filters. As leaders in the air filtration industry, Blade Filters has not only created the world’s first zero-waste carbon filter, for odour control in the cannabis industry, but they are also helping schools and businesses reopen safely with their HEPA air purifiers!

Mannr is a personal shopping and delivery service for men based in Toronto. We help men look their best, effortlessly.

GrowthX is a venture capital fund run by operators with extensive go-to-market experience. We invest at the seed stage in B2B SaaS and marketplace opportunities founded by diverse teams who recognize the need and want help finding product-market fit. Being helpful is our primary form of due diligence. Our portfolio founders have access to our Market Acceleration Program, our private accelerator focused on everything you need to go to market, engage with your customers and win revenue.

With over two decades of experience in the business world, Andrew boasts 4 companies that he has helped grow and sell. As a globally respected executive, he has worked with companies and government bodies at the highest level from NASA, USDA, McDonald’s, VISA, Etihad Airways, and many more. While working as a Partner and Chief Revenue Officer at Buytopia, the company was a 3 time ‘Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year’ finalist, was ranked #3 on Profit Guides' fastest-growing companies in Canada, and won a Toronto Board of Trade Award.

Balaji Gopalan is the Co-Founder and CEO at MedStack, an-out-of-the-box privacy compliance solution for digital health companies. Prior to that, he launched BlackBerry's BBM service globally and led platform strategy at D2L, Nymi and EventMobi. Balaji is an expert in product management and software platform ecosystem design, and a well-respected startup educator, advisor and mentor. He is an advocate for the role of ecosystems in industry transformation and in tackling tough problems like improving healthcare.

Suresh Sriskandarajah is a startup lawyer at Suresh Law with a background in engineering and entrepreneurship. Over the course of his professional career, Suresh has held executive roles with various organizations, launched three ventures and mentored dozens of startups. He has also worked for leading companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and BlackBerry. Suresh has earned four prestigious degrees: Juris Doctor (JD) from Osgoode Hall Law School, Strategic Management (MBA) from Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, Electrical Engineering (BASc) and Liberal Studies (BA) from the University of Waterloo.

Anatolii Shkliaruk from Paqt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Paqt. He is responsible for most of the operations, fundraising and sales. Prior to founding Paqt, Anatolii has worked in AML & Compliance at BMO and founded another successful startup Quick-Fix – the first on-demand iPhone repair service in Ukraine. He also has participated as a Secretary-General and part of the organizing team in the 5th Anniversary Kyiv International Model United Nations – a massive diplomatic simulation event for students held on premises of the Parliament of Ukraine.

A technology entrepreneur and accidental educator. William enjoys sharing his startup experience, the good, the bad and the ugly with other entrepreneurs. Currently in Yukon, his goal is to contribute to the creation of a technology industry for the territory.

Penfield.AI is the first real-time quantification of cyber security analyst skill-sets, enabling complex decision making for rapid insightful Incident Resolution in Security Operation Centres.

Kathryn is in the business of raising Baby Unicorns in Atlantic Canada and beyond. With Propel's virtual accelerator, they are focused on quality and producing founders (through dedicated coaching and world-class content) who are earning revenue that matters and are poised for significant growth. From Harvard Business School, to startups in Germany and finally back to her roots in New Brunswick, her background sets her up to steer Propel into the future.

Mohsen Omrani is the CEO and co-founder of OPTT, the Online PsychoTherapy Tool. Mohsen received his MD from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and his PhD in neuroscience from Queen's University. Through his graduate and post-graduate studies, he has been awarded multiple prestigious scholarships and fellowships by the Canadian government including Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. He is curious about how the brain works, how it fails to, and how we can fix it, and his goal is to utilize his wide-ranging expertise in medicine, neurology, and consumer electronics and applications to design tools for improving mental and brain health through society.

Award winning Content and Media Consultant Author of Rethinking Your Content, reaching number #1 on Amazon.ca. New Audible production How to Find Growth Beyond Your Personal Brand.  Co-Founder Dadspotting.com, Thinkstart.ca, MohitsMovies.com, Founding Member Toronto Bloggers Collective, IEmmy Juror.  

Fun Fact : I've also interviewed over 100 people in my career from Bollywood starts to Prime Ministers to Oscar Winners.

For high performers, by high performers. Above Club helps humans realize the full potential of both mind and body. They are bringing you health products that are simple to use, easy to integrate into your life, and backed by real results. Starting with arguably the most underserved area of the human experience in today's modern living, Above Club has created a product line of red light therapy devices called the Apollo series. Starting at just $199 Above Club makes it's easy to jump into light therapy and reap the benefits of red and near-infrared light to give entrepreneurs truly an unfair advantage in their industries. The future of health optimization is here.

Mayu Ganesathas is the Co-Founder of SV Robotics, an Online Coding & Robotics Academy for ages 8-18. Mayu has had a fair share of experiences in engineering from building Robotic Tea Kiosks (teaBOT) to working with endangered polar bears in Northern Ontario!

Mick Be is the CEO & Founder of IAmI Authentications, Inc. (“IAmI”), an Identity & Access Management cybersecurity company. Mick began his entrepreneurial journey after having worked for the financial services and card payment industries across N. America. Since beginning his first company, he has pivoted twice and now leads a highly innovative cybersecurity company, which has reinvented authentication and identity services for both enterprise and customer levels. He continues to be front and center at the crossroads of advancing technologies and user experiences, with a particular focus on privacy and security.

Stephen Wilson has the pleasure to work with an amazing team of colleagues, executives in residence and mentors at Foresight to accelerate the adoption of cleantech. This is both the challenge, and the opportunity, that will define our generation and impact our economy for decades to come.

Entrepreneur and software developer, over the years Samir has worked in a variety of industries and technologies ranging from mobile apps and web systems to shrink wrapped software products. Also worked on a range of medical imaging systems including the world’s leading ophthalmology and PACS systems and the most advanced zero foot-print medical imaging viewer. He also built market research visualization, intranet, e-commerce and knowledge management systems.  

Samir is the founder of Tweepsmap, a social media analytics and management platform. Prior to Tweepsmap, he co-founded RentCompass, a mobile first service for finding homes for rent.

Corey completed his studies at Mount Allison University and worked as a consultant to clean tech companies, in the Caribbean, Middle East and Asia in the areas of solar PV, LED lighting, advanced filtration and energy efficiency. Corey is a driven and detail-oriented business strategist with significant exposure to international and domestic markets.

Affecting radical change.

Innovation is never planned, it is discovered, and never with just a whimper of insight, but with a profound revealing that leads to a passion of commitment.  When leading an innovation centre like The Hub at UTSC, it is about constant, shifting discovery and rapid movement to seize the moment, applying the best talent available to meet a range of hurdles and dynamic challenges.

Dr. Jim Feng is a mission-driven serial entrepreneur. In 2009, Dr. Feng founded Form & Function: Health which has transformed into one of the first truly integrated health models. Not only does Form & function host a repertoire of integrated health care services, it also created a business model that has been paying high dividends to its investors and franchisees year after year. This insight into healthcare and his love for technology-based companies has incubated several start-ups in disruptive healthcare technologies, content aggregation and real-time language translation. Seeing pain points in the physical injury and insurance industry, Dr. Feng has recently founded Phyxable Inc. Phyxable is an end-to-end virtual pain and prevention platform that uses machine learning, augmented reality and gamification to coach people out of pain, while empowering them with better human performance. Alongside his Chiropractic degree, Dr. Feng is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and Medical Acupuncturist, and has directed medical teams for world championships, professional and Olympic Level sporting events in the MMA and Wrestling. On a personal level, Dr. Feng enjoys high-performance individual sports, extreme adventures, diving deep into health-tech & lifespan solutions, Aquascaping, and giving back to what matters.

Joining me today is Brian G. Bachand – a man who is living proof that life is an evolution. His own journey from being a priest to then an executive in New York City, Partner in executive search and now founder of his own company, evolution evolution. His expertise is helping professional leaders and organizations evolve to be courageous and intentional as a Leadership Coach, Evolved Recruitment and Inspirational Speaker. He is based out of Toronto and is proud to be both an American and Canadian citizen. Finally, Brian believes when we ask the question, “What do I desire?” – the truth will intuitively lead us forward.

Building teams and products to shape the future.  Repeat wearable technology co-founder bringing to market bio-sensing to improve mental well-being.  Combining insights from the mind, body and world. Graduate from UW.

Fazal is the co-founder and CEO at Phaseshift Technologies – a Toronto based startup aimed at developing novel and high-performance alloys using Artificial Intelligence and Computational Chemistry simulations to model material properties. Fazal is a first-gen immigrant from India and moved to Canada in 2014 to obtain a degree in Physics from the University of Toronto, where he met his two other co-founders who are currently PhD students in Materials Science. After graduating in 2018, and with the support of Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management, Fazal co-founded Phaseshift in 2019.

Erich is a former athlete whose background stretches from public sector PR all the way to fintech. He is a Next36 Alumnus with a passion for helping young entrepreneurs. Erich has a BComm in Law & Business from the Ted Rogers School of Management with a Bilingual Certificate in French.  

Boyd is the Co-founder & COO of Hop In. He attended James Madison University in the US on a full soccer scholarship and graduated with a BSc in Communications & a minor in French Studies. He has worked for Elections Canada and was previously the sales team lead with Incredible Novelties. Boyd is a member of the Black Professionals in Tech Network, the Brampton Board of Trade, the Northumberland Manufacturers Association, DMZ Black Innovation Fellowship, and is an advisor with Lupus Ontario.

Marko is the Co-Founder of LocalStudent, a platform that connects homeowners who need services done, with a student nearby. In the past year, Marko and his team of 5 have provided 220 students with work that finally meets their needs, enabling them to choose their own schedule, be their own boss, and earn far better pay than they would at standard minimum wage jobs. They have completed over 1400 jobs for hundreds of customers and are now starting to expand to major cities all across Canada.

What started out as a passion for covering conflict zones as a journalist, Matthew transitioned into election technology with a voters assistance application for the 2015 Canadian Federal Election. That experience led to Neuvote which has developed the worlds first hybrid mobile voting system which aims to utilize technology in new ways to solve real social challenges.

inField Solutions is driving Smart City solutions with practical products and services designed for all types of organizations with field resources to standardize how they work and maximize the visibility of their people, assets, vehicles, and equipment.