Startups Are Changing & Ecosystems Need to Catch Up

🎙 New Episode: Why Most Startup Ecosystems Aren't Ready for the AI Boom

At the inaugural Web Summit Vancouver 2025, I sat down with JF Gauthier, founder of Startup Genome, to unpack why ecosystems like those in Canada, Europe, and beyond are falling behind, and what cities like Philadelphia are getting right. They also just released their 2025 report.

So many things stuck out for me in our conversation including (and no, this is not a ChatGPT bullet list):

• the fact that startup ecosystem value has dropped 23% globally, its biggest drop ever, but ultimately still grows 4x faster than the rest of the economy
• In ecosystem land, Toronto fell from #13 to #20 and Vancouver from #15 to #36. OTOH, Tel Aviv, Singapore, Seoul all had government-seeded private scaling. And Philadelphia galvanized its ecosystem with no government help at all.
• JF also cited the example of DeepSeek and how the Valley-based companies acted on this innovation. They tested the new models with in days and shared their learning rapidly. He noted innovation velocity isn't just about capital - it's about ecosystem learning loops.

Just so much meat on the bone here...

Whether you're a founder, policymaker, or investor, this is your roadmap to staying relevant in the AI era.

Toronto Tech Week 2025: The Livestream Prep Tour

Toronto Tech Week is coming up this week and one of the primary complaints I heard from friends and a few enemies is that the number of events was overwhelming and just tough to choose from and navigate. So I reached out to the organizers of the event and hosted a livestream this past week (our first 🙌🏻) to hear their perspectives on the event. If you're thinking of attending, have a listen!

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