Innovation Saskatchewan is responsible for implementing the province’s innovation priorities and helping grow Saskatchewan’s tech sector. Effective April 2022, this includes operation of the Innovation Place technology parks in Saskatoon and Regina.
A seven-episode series featuring 25 guests from the amazing UP Conference held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada this year — elevating prairie tech!
Episode 34
UP Conference #7
"You can build companies and get profitable really quickly, or get angel investment and grow more quickly in this region than in any other region."
— Matt Golden, Golden Ventures
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference talking about why secondary markets are becoming some of the hottest tech hubs in North America.
At Startupville, we reject the notion that the next big thing can only come from Silicon Valley. Secondary markets like the Canadian prairies, the Colorado Rockies, and many more have exploded into vibrant tech hubs in recent years. Startups and investors have started to notice the benefits that smaller centres present, like lower operation costs, high employee retention, and diverse ideas outside the bubble of Silicon Valley hype cycles. At UP Conference, there was no ignoring the energy of the Canadian prairie tech region.
Uniting the Prairies, or UP, is a new conference in Saskatoon that brings together the top Prairie Canada startups, VCs and angels, Prairie expats, and tech leaders to come together and share knowledge and experience with startups, elevating the Prairie tech community.
Episode 33
UP Conference #6
"So many times people ask ‘how do you become successful,’ and it’s never just this one thing you ever do, and that’s why no one can answer it. It’s all these little tiny things you do, that create relationships that really matter."
— Katherine Regnier, Coconut Software
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing management tips, and what they’ve learned as leaders of top startups.
Transitioning from a scrappy startup founder to an inspiring leader isn’t always smooth sailing. So in this episode, we’ve featured insights from some of the best captains on the sea to help you be a better leader at your startup.
Episode 32
UP Conference #5
"Measuring your customer journey, you might actually find out that this isn’t the well-oiled machine we thought it was, and people do some pretty weird things we didn’t think they were going to do, despite the way we designed it. It doesn’t necessarily matter, what does is that you took the time to measure and understand the experience in the first place."
— Bryan Larson, Vendasta
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing their tips for building a product that customers can’t live without.
Learn from some of Canada and Silicon Valley’s top product experts about building a truly engaging product by listening to your customers and putting that data to work.
Episode 31
UP Conference #4
"I would rather hire somebody who is slightly less of a specialist, but a culture fit 10 out of 10 times."
— Michael Scissons, Founder & CEO of Careerlist
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing their tips for building culture and attracting top talent to your team.
With top leaders from billion dollar unicorns, major multinationals and the scrappiest of high-growth startups, this episode is packed full with amazing insights to help you attract and retain top talent!
Episode 30
UP Conference #3
"I always talk about it like the Olympics. If you’re going to take venture capital, that means you want to win gold, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to win gold. If you look at these athletes, they’re training every day, and they’re masters in their sport."
— Debbie Landa, founder of the Grow Conference
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing their tips for raising capital for your startup, from when, to how and everything in between.
Amazing fundraising tips from the best in the business, including Neal Dempsey, one of Starbucks' early investors, Debbie Landa, founder of the Grow Conference, and more!
Episode 29
UP Conference #2
"Get used to pushing people to ‘no’. You see this with price. As a startup, you don’t know what your price is so you put one on the table. When someone says yes, you’re like “awesome!” and then you find out later that they would have paid double. So push people to no, and when they say no, that defines what the boundaries are."
— Alex McCallum, COO of QRA
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the UP Conference sharing their tips for nailing your sales funnel and refining your customer journey.
Get great customer acquisition and retention tips from top leaders at Loblaw Digital, Jobber, Vendasta and more!
Episode 28
UP Conference #1
"There’s a lot of people who talk, but haven’t done. The one’s who’ve done it before, that’s who I want to hear talk. When I got started there wasn’t anybody doing it here, but now there’s lots."
— from the UP Conference
Uniting the Prairies, or UP, is a new conference in Saskatoon brings together the top prairie Canada startups, VCs and angels, prairie expats, and tech leaders to come together and share knowledge and experience with startups, elevating the prairie tech community.
UP was an electric conference that featured dozens of amazing speakers from companies like Shopify, Eventbrite, SingularityU and many more. We've distilled the best of UP into a seven part series giving you the best tips from the best in the business on how to build your tech startup, whether you're in the Canadian prairies, or from a small region anywhere in the world.
This episode is a compilation of clips from speakers at the conference sharing their tips for early-stage founders, and some great startup stories from their lives in the trenches.