Ottawa’s Ben Waldman on the cusp of launching new social media site, Gander Social

With more than two weeks before its crowdfunding campaign closes at the end of the month, Ottawa’s Gander Social has already passed its $1.5-million goal to start a Canadian social media service. Gander Social represents an attempt by Ottawa-based co-founder and CEO Ben Waldman to launch a social media site and app run by Canadians […]

With more than two weeks before its crowdfunding campaign closes at the end of the month, Ottawa’s Gander Social has already passed its $1.5-million goal to start a Canadian social media service. Gander Social represents an attempt by Ottawa-based co-founder and CEO Ben Waldman to launch a social media site and app run by Canadians on Canadian servers. Since mid-October, nearly 2,200 people have bought approximately $1.75 million worth of shares through an equity crowdfunding campaign on FrontFundr. Waldman says this represents around 10 per cent of the company’s shares. He calls the interest a “sign that people want better social media, especially in Canada.” The success of the campaign, he says, will help avoid “a world where Gander would have gone down the path of seeking venture capital.” “Most venture capital, understandably, the investor wants to go through a rapid growth phase, wants you to be this unicorn that brings returns as big and as fast as possible. That’s not what Gander is,” Waldman says. “Just about every social media platform, except for maybe Facebook, started with good intentions, but ultimately venture capital money and advertising got in the way. We don’t want to compromise on our values.” To that end, Gander Social was founded as a “benefit company” in B.C., the only Canadian province that recognizes this form of incorporation. Benefit companies are for-profit, but must submit an annual “benefit report” to the province to demonstrate how they’re fulfilling their mission to do public good. Waldman says his site will address the public’s growing concerns about data privacy, misinformation and hateful content on U.S. sites such as Facebook and X, formerly Twitter. It’s also a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and his threats to turn Canada into the 51st state. “Our (current) cloud-hosting environment for easily 95 per cent of Canada, including in many cases governments, are based on technology that comes from the U.S., is subject to the Cloud Act and the Patriot Act, and is owned by the people who Trump surrounded himself with during his inauguration,” Waldman says. “It’s not unfathomable that, with the stroke of a pen, Canada could be annexed without a shot ever being fired.” Waldman says part of what will set Gander Social apart is its equivalent to the “For You” page. Users will only see posts from their “nest,” or the people they follow, on their main feed, rather than a mix of advertisements and content controlled by an algorithm. To continue raising money after the app’s expected launch in the first quarter of 2026 on iOS and Android, some features such as using multiple accounts and viewing post analytics will be part of Gander Social’s tiered subscriptions, none of which have set prices yet, according to Waldman. The Gander Social team may also implement ads into the app’s search function to display relevant products and services from local businesses. Gareth Davies is the owner of Maker House, a Canada-first store in Ottawa that has sold crafts by local makers for the past decade. Davies says social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook play a “crucial” role in marketing, finding creators and promoting contests or announcements.

But it’s gotten harder each year to reach people organically on these platforms, he says. Though he hadn’t heard about Gander Social until OBJ reached out for an interview, Davies has since signed up to join the site on its initial release.  “The main thing I’m looking for is more authentic human content and connection. Less bots, less trolls, less AI,” Davies says, adding that he’s happy to have an alternative social media app that discourages divisive and manipulative content. He also wants social media sites to be more transparent, so he appreciates that Waldman is “a real CEO who’s communicating with people.” Davies says he would need at least a $5 return on ad spend past the site’s initial launch for him to pay for subscription-only features. He adds that most social media advertising campaigns cost an average of $1 to $2 per thousand clicks. He says the site gets “the benefit of the doubt as a new, altruistic and Canadian-based platform,” so he would consider using Gander Social even at $5 per thousand clicks. “You get a good branding association from being a small Canadian business that sells Canadian products and supports a new Canadian social media platform. That gives them a foot in the door,” Davies says. Robin Coull is the owner of Pot & Pantry, which sells Canadian-made kitchenware in Ottawa. She agrees that transparency is an important factor for her, especially when it comes to how content gets discovered and whether users should include hashtags, location tags or certain words to improve the visibility of their posts. “Being clear on how a product works would be easier for the people that are using it, especially for businesses, because it’s our job. We’re using it as a marketing forum,” Coull says. “If the company changes something, really understanding how we’re supposed to use (the site) would be really helpful instead of just wasting our time guessing.” Gander Social extended the FrontFundr campaign into late January after passing its initial $1.5-million goal. The minimum investment is $255 at $1.55 per share, and it’s only open to Canadian investors.