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U.S. Ambassador David Cohen hosts spirited pitch competition at residence in Rockcliffe Park

September 10, 2024
3:21 PM
ET

David Cohen, the United States ambassador to Canada, was thrilled to welcome 10 entrepreneurs last week to pitch their business concepts – but was equally thrilled that he wasn’t the one who had to judge them.

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David Cohen, the United States ambassador to Canada, was thrilled to welcome 10 entrepreneurs from nine different companies to his residence last week so they could pitch their business concepts – but was equally thrilled that he wasn’t the one who had to judge them. “Startup Canada would’ve loved me to be a judge … but I agreed with my team that I am not a good participant in making pitch decisions because I like every company,” he told OBJ at the event. “My reaction to these companies is, everybody was unbelievably prepared. They had fantastic knowledge of their companies, their revenue model. Everyone had an expansion plan. What I saw here were nine companies that are ready for investment, that are ready for growth.” The 10 entrepreneurs joined Cohen in the cozy living room of Lornado, his residence in Rockcliffe Village. Some were from Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, while others came from throughout Canada. All were from diverse backgrounds and all were there to compete for $5,000 to go toward their business. The competition was the culmination of a months-long salon series hosted by Cohen, which brought together small groups of diverse entrepreneurs from across the country. In partnership with Startup Canada, the competitors were selected from across multiple industries. After a spirited deliberation by judges – Kate Karn, director of public policy at Mastercard; Paul Gaspar, director of small business for UPS Canada; and Armin Norouzi, a software developer and engineer at Citco Group Limited – tech came out on top. Thierry Lindor was named the winner for artificial intelligence platform Happily.ai. After the announcement of his win, Lindor said he felt “ecstatic.” “I just won a pitch competition at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence. I mean, how could you not be happy about the results?” he said. His company, Happily.ai – which is based out of Montreal with offices in Toronto, Paris and soon Los Angeles – is an AI-powered platform that helps entrepreneurs find the funding and economic opportunities that best match their unique profile and needs. According to Lindor, its algorithm digs through everything from grants, loans and tax credits to government programs, incubators and accelerators to track down the ones that businesses are most likely to find success with. It’s an effort he believes will help a new cohort of founders and entrepreneurs break into their industries. “I think (it’s about) democratizing funding for Canadians and ultimately also disinvested communities,” said Lindor. “I don’t really like the term marginalized, personally. I think it’s engineered that we’ve been disinvested, especially women and BIPOC entrepreneurs. Our mission to democratize access to funding can spearhead Canada’s next iteration of what it means to be inclusive in our economy. That’s our mission.” Over the next few years, Lindor said he expects AI to be disruptive to employment as the technology advances and proliferates. That said, he also believes companies like his can help create new avenues for those displaced. “It has the opportunity, and we’re proof of this, to provide people with real socioeconomic advancement,” he said. “We know that 85 per cent of jobs that are going to exist in 10 years don’t exist today. We’re making that gamble.” He added, “With technology and AI, we’re trying to fight the idea that the opposite of poverty is wealth. It’s actually justice. When you give justice to women and BIPOC entrepreneurs, they create wealth for themselves. We think our platform could be spearheading a movement of social economic justice so that people have self-determination and build a stronger Canada.” The $5,000 will be used to provide premium access to the platform for all the finalists who participated in the competition, so they can “maximize their non-valuated funding.” “What we know to be a fact is that when they use our artificial intelligence and technology, they’re able to get five to 10 times, at the very least, of that $5,000,” Lindor said. “So we’re excited about landing each finalist anywhere between $25,000 to $50,000.”

The barrier of ‘acceptance’

The salon series, as well as the pitch competition, focused on providing mentorship and guidance to entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, including women, people of colour, immigrants, and Indigenous business owners. The salons were also an opportunity for businesses to network and create opportunities for partnership. For Cohen, providing this kind of support is a personal passion for him, which drove the decision to start the salon series in the first place. In those conversations over the last few months, he said the same barriers kept coming up. “At the top of everyone's list is funding, access to capital,” he said. “Second is access to markets … and the third point I’d make, which is somewhat controversial though I think it shouldn’t be, is what I’ll call acceptance.” According to Cohen, women-owned businesses, for example, attract less than two per cent of venture capital in both Canada and the U.S. In his days at Comcast NBCUniversal, he said he knew one female founder who had a male business partner make pitches because venture capitalists were more receptive to him. “It’s painful for me to hear that,” he said. “And it’s the same thing for Indigenous businesses. There is difficulty gaining acceptance. That’s been a major challenge for these businesses, it's being able to compete on a level playing field for investments with white males who were pitching.” The competition also extends Startup Canada’s efforts to reach those entrepreneurs who need unique support, according to interim CEO and board chair Jamie Savage. “We're very agnostic and that really does help us create a non-biased philosophy in terms of who needs support and for what,” she said. “What's important to note is that there are communities that will need different types of support in terms of helping them recognize what their barriers are in terms of funding or in terms of growth and expansion.” She added that more people than ever are taken on the challenge of entrepreneurship, especially since the pandemic. “Canada is an entrepreneurial nation,” she said. “We are a small business driven nation and I think what we’ve seen the last couple of years is accessibility. I think we’re realizing now, if you just look at the pandemic, that unlocked an entire vertical of business in ways that we wouldn’t have been able to foresee.” She continued, “We’re continuing to evolve and I think we’re continuing to innovate and accelerate what opportunities are out there.” While Cohen’s time as ambassador may soon be drawing to a close, he said entrepreneurs can expect U.S.’s commitment to fostering Canadian businesses to continue no matter who occupies the role. “One of the things I’ve learned – I’ve learned it in the United States and I’ve learned it here – is that there is an unlimited pool of talented, diverse entrepreneurs,” said Cohen. “We’ll come up with ideas and with concepts to continue engaging (with them) right up until the end. No matter who the ambassador is, hopefully we’ll create an institutionalized focus and interest in furthering the work of diverse entrepreneurs that will continue after I leave.”

Happily-ai CEO Thierry Lindor (second to left) and ambassador David Cohen (centre) with judge (from left) Armin Norouzi, Kate Karn and Paul Gaspar (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Myriam Jean-Baptiste and Stevens Charles, founders of LS Cream Liqueur, an award-winning cordial inspired by cremas, an ancestral recipe native to Haiti. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
CEO Matt Kyazze discusses his creative agency Far From Average, which specializes in social media and guerilla marketing. The company is in the process of developing an app to highlight Ottawa events and businesses. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Lorena Meneses, founder of Mareiwa Café Columbien, discusses investing in cutting edge technology to deliver cold brew infusions products. Photo by Mia Jensen)
Belinda Labatte, CEO of Lomiko Metals, holds of bottle of graphite, which she said is the future of energy. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Thierry Lindor, CEO and co-founder of Happily.ai, explains how artificial intelligence can connect entrepreneurs to funding opportunities. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Beauty Profs founder Debby Macharia discusses the gap in the market for professional grade products made for textured natural hair. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Competition judges Kate Karn, director of public policy at Mastercard, Paul Gaspar, director of small business for UPS Canada, and Armin Norouzi, a software developer and engineer at Citco Group Limited. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
A 100 per cent Indigenous-owned busienss, Jenna's Nut-Free Dessertery is inspired by traditional recipes and the personal experiences of owner and CEO Jenna White. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Inspired by Indian packaging solutions, CEO Nita Tandon said Dalcini Stainless products are a gamechanger in food storage. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Founder and CEO Karla Briones said her company Immigrant Entrepreneur Canada will fill a gap for new Canadian business owners who are no longer considered newcomers. (Photo by Mia Jensen)
Ambassador Cohen's team handed out Mission Canada branded baseball, is honour of the evenings "pitch" competition. (Photo by Mia Jensen)