Amanda Levin

I stayed up coding until 4am so many nights for two years when I started Lightspeed Commerce — to me, this is part of the entrepreneur journey. Had a blast reflecting on those early years and discussing the challenges and opportunities of navigating a tech startup with Harry Stebbings from 20VC. Some takeaways: - Achieving strong product-market fit requires an iterative, customer-centric approach — especially with early users. Lightspeed wouldn’t have achieved profitability if we weren’t so close to our customers. - Companies can take different paths to scale, each with its trade-offs — some bootstrap profitably for years before taking VC funding. Sometimes you need the slow-burn process to create something truly phenomenal. - Founders must be willing to adapt their sales and distribution strategies as the business matures, especially after going public. If you’re a founder or entrepreneur, I think this episode will provide lots of value. Thank you to Harry and the team at 20VC for having me. Links to the interview in the comments 👇

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Sidewalk Labs (Part of Google), another showcase of Canadian politicians bending over for a big US corp, with ZERO tangible results 💩 Roxana and I attended a "private investor demo" session in 2019. A block of wood was passed among the audience, supposedly the NEXT BIG BREAKTHROUGH in urban development! Demo concluded, by observing a piece of wood! Building blocks of future skyscrapers! The promise? With this, Google will build a "Smart City" for us, the peasants of Toronto, in Queens Quay 🏖️🏢 Sidewalk Labs' website now points to a newer Google scam, it reads: "Build Sustainably with Google Earth"! Bait and switch, but let enough time pass so no one remembers 🤢 https://lnkd.in/gd3B-a6m Guess now the investors and Ontario Government | Gouvernement de l’Ontario have shit loads of these wooden blocks, ready to shove up somewhere, to find a use for! All because the name "Bloomberg" sounds authoritative enough to our ears? Surely that's capital well spent, instead of investing in local talent! 🤔 Will Canada's tech ecosystem ever crawl out of Silicon Valley's shadow, and stand on its own? ⌚👀⛔

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Huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Growth and Financing event last week in Toronto with our friends at Loop Financial 🏦👏 Starting a business is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do… until you start looking for answers to funding and fundraising. Thankfully, we were able to bring together an expert panel of successful CPG founders, VC investors, and entrepreneurs for a night to ask all the difficult, niche, unGoogleable questions. Here's my two biggest takeaways! 👇 💡 Venture financing comes with a high bar of expectations. Look for non-dilutive options like grants and a line of credit first. 💡 Learn the impact between a P&L and a forecasting model. If you don't know how to create a thoughtful forecasting model, hire someone who does! Huge thank you to Laura Burget at Three Ships Beauty, Charlene Li at EATABLE INC., and Colin Harding at BrandProject LP for being our amazing panelists. Also huge thanks to Christian Harinarain and Loop Financial for hosting the event with us at Centro Commerce. Can't wait for the next one! 👏 #fundraising #financing #torontoevents #CPG #ecommerce

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I rarely share podcast episodes here. But this one is a MUST listen to both INVESTORS and founders operating in bricks&mortar hospitality & retail technology. So many true, real, no BS points Dax Harry Stebbings. 👏🏼 Be bold enough to operate with a sales strategy and approach that many VCs won’t understand or approve but that works wonders in that space and builds this amazing, sticky, powerful model that most platforms in the space can’t crack or are afraid to (because it doesn’t tick some boxes you read/hear about from the tech/VC experts) 🚀 A growth trajectory that changes and originally is not on the typical VC path but then, once the “cockroach”, groundwork is done you’re in an exciting and unique position to scale with a product market fit that’s hard to beat - PMF and growth not achieved due to endless millions raised but a real PMF that makes thing sticky, powering your product-led growth 👊🏼 Stay super close to your customers. No matter how big you become, but especially in the first 5-10 years literally speak to them DAILY. Not many manage to make it work for hospitality or retail SMEs, it’s one of the hardest group to find PMF with. But once you nail it - you’re like a constantly growing massive mountain 🏔️ - sky is limit & no one can’t move you no matter what. Don’t build businesses to please an investor’s thesis/POV which you’re currently talking to or following on LinkedIn. Build a business together with your ICP customers and bring them the most value you possibly can. The rest will follow. Even the ticked boxes that you read so much about.

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Episode 3 of The Quality Conversation "Unlocking the Secrets to Quality Hiring" from C Squared Technology is now available. In this episode we welcome Josh Rock Talent Acquisition manager at Nuss Truck Group who joins our host Serge Boudreau to explore how recruitment is evolving and why prioritizing quality over quantity is the way forward. From sourcing strategies to the impact of AI, their insights emphasize what it truly means to attract and hire top talent. Key Takeaways: ✔️ Recruitment must focus on quality candidates rather than sheer numbers. ✔️ Partnering with hiring managers is crucial for success. ✔️ Great recruiters can spot top talent in under a minute. ✔️ Phone screens bring depth beyond the resume. ✔️ Resumes often fail to reflect a candidate’s full potential. ✔️ Relationships with schools and institutions can improve sourcing. ✔️ AI enhances efficiency but can’t replace human connection. ✔️ Candidates should invest time in crafting their applications. ✔️ Recruitment advertising must prioritize qualified applicants. ✔️ Adaptability is the secret to staying ahead in the recruitment game. Enjoy. Link will be in the comments (if I remember 🤦‍♂️). #TalentAcquisition #tatech #recruitmentadvertising

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New episode of IEP with Allan Leinwand from Webflow (previously Shopify, Slack, & Zynga), who's focused on bringing development superpowers to everyone ! GREAT takeaways from our conversation: 💡 An unexpected lesson Allan learned in his career: Hiring the right people makes you a better leader. 💡 The best CTOs do two things really well: drive the industry forward and engage in hands-on technical work. 💡 Engineering teams have to balance tech debt and innovation. Allan's approach is to address P0s and P1s immediately. Allocate resources to avoid recurring problems. And once the urgent issues are resolved, dedicate time to innovation. 💡 AI accelerates development, from writing code to running automation to conducting PR reviews. Allan is most excited about using AI to enhance workflow efficiency significantly. 💡 Allan predicts the future of web development will shift towards integrated platforms. Consolidation of products into cohesive platforms will streamline development and solve the “Franken platform” problem. Thanks Allan for joining the podcast and sharing your wisdom 🙏 #podcast #GenAI #webdevelopment

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In today's 'Ecom Pro Tip' Arielle Levitan and Romy Block, Co-founders at Vous Vitamin, provide us with an incredibly smart tactic to help convert high intent visitors to highly engaged customers. By enabling customers to establish a more personal connection and get to know the brand's founders better via AI personalized videos from them, Vous Vitamin is able to effectively create upfront trust and drive significantly higher levels of engagement. What are some smart ways in which you leverage AI for your brand today?

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If you're a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, or founder then this past week has made it painfully clear that when it comes to innovation and economic recovery the calvary won't be coming and is in fact running in the opposite direction. The federal government and associated regional innovation support agencies (ie Invest Ottawa) are failing to look at solutions aimed at effectively addressing an overall decrease in entrepreneurship and economic activity across the nation and it is now on us, as resilient Canadian entrepreneurs, to empower those who can bring the most value to the table if we are to strive for the quickest path forward towards economic recovery and helping the average Canadian family better their quality of life. I am proud to announce that RHA Ventures Inc. has answered that call 👏 In the face of rising costs for domestic businesses in Canada and competition from abroad, RHA Ventures, an Ontario-based venture capital firm specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced today its investment in Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based company designing real robots for real businesses. This investment marks a significant milestone in the development of Real Life Robotics and underscores RHA Ventures' commitment to supporting true, tried, and tested founders and Ontario’s growing startup ecosystem despite an overall decrease in entrepreneurship across the rest of Canada. “Real robots, real people, and real-world challenges are what differentiate RLR as a technology company. We could not be more thrilled to have RHA Ventures, a group of experienced founders and problem solvers, on board as strategic advisors and investors as we help elevate Ontario globally as a home for first-in-class robotics and automation technology - empowering businesses with transformative robotics solutions that unlock new levels of efficiency, reliability, and scalability,” - Cameron Waite, CEO of Real Life Robotics. The numbers clearly show that the cost of getting involved in a business or launching a new product is too high for the average inexperienced Canadian and our economy has slowed in growth accordingly. On a macro level, we are placing too high an importance on new founders in a down market when we should be rewarding and doubling down on our true, tried and tested investors, founders and legacy businesses who have shown they are willing to take the risk. Thank you, Brian Foster and the rest of the team at RHA Ventures Inc. for taking this first step of the journey with us 🙏 https://lnkd.in/gSr5TP48

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When asked why I called my startup Amical. Essentially, Ami (friend) + Call. When you drop the last L, you get Amical. A french word that translate into Friendly or Amicable in English. Unique, memorable, perfectly encapsulate the product, and highlight the French origin of it's makers :) #startup #branding #branddesign

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"Entrepreneurship is painful and sometimes rewarding." This quote naturally came out during a check-in call with my good friend and fellow entrepreneur, Gilad, who is building a great product at Sequence (I just wish they were available in Canada) 😢 As soon as I said it, both Gilad and I reflected on how true that statement is in describing the journey of building something. Shoutout to all the business owners and entrepreneurs out there taking the pain with a pinch of reward. #startupjourney #pain #entrepreneurship #grit

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Just had to share this gem from Collision Conf in #Toronto. Among the #startups and VCs, I spotted a guy with a shirt saying, "Ask me about my CAC." Naturally, I asked. Sebastian Fallenbüchl, BASc., the wearer, shot back, "My CAC is getting lower as you just approached me." Genius. Seb’s witty remark was more than just a laugh — it was a reminder that business is about people. Metrics like CAC are crucial, but so are the connections and conversations that drive them down. Takeaway? Be #approachable. Humor and humanity can make all the difference. Thanks for the insight and the laugh, Seb. Here’s to more moments like these! #Networking #BusinessInsights

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In startups, the firehose never stops. Either sink or learn to breathe underwater. Startup life is where yesterday's roadmap is today's paper airplane. The truth about building your career at lightspeed: 1️⃣ You'll wear 10 hats badly before mastering 2  ↳ Early on, you'll touch everything.  But true growth comes from finding where you add unique value. 2️⃣ Traditional career paths don't exist  ↳ You might start in finance and end up leading ops.  Your adaptability matters more than your title. 3️⃣ Learning trumps knowing ↳ The expert in legacy systems isn't the hero here.  The person who can learn new tools in a weekend is. 4️⃣ Your job description is fiction ↳ It was outdated the moment you signed.  Focus on solving problems, not defending boundaries. 5️⃣ Speed creates opportunity ↳ When everything moves fast, leadership gaps appear weekly.  Step up before you're ready. Startups aren’t for everyone. But if constant change energises you, there's no better place to accelerate your career. 💬 What's the biggest myth about startup careers? ♻️ Know someone considering the startup leap? Share this reality check. 🔔 Follow James Segal for honest insights about accelerating your career.

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Well RIP 🪦 my inbox from folks asking for the code we went through 😅 Check out our latest cookbook 👨‍🍳 to walk through safeguarding your workflows with Optimodel (https://lnkd.in/g8wchawU)

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Short teaser of my upcoming COO podcast. In this episode, I chat with Jean (John) Lafleur, Co-Founder and COO Airbyte about fundraising, what the role of the COO means to him, how to build teams with talent density, and fighting entropy. I will be posting an update here next week and a link to the full interview! Follow me for more updates and COO interviews.

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Our last episode of FERMÀT Friday featured Maximilien Langlois, Head of Growth at Dose and an amazing FERMÀT customer with a brilliant experimentation mindset. These conversations are invaluable. I discover insights from customers like Max that I wouldn't find internally. Dose is a DTC wellness brand that needed help increasing its subscription orders and experimenting with ad funnels. Historically, experimenting in the post-click funnel is challenging. But Max is expertly using FERMÀT to do exactly that. Traditionally you need dev resources to make it happen on site. There are a lot of potential catalog conflicts, and app conflicts can be a huge headache. Free from the burdens of the site, Max has been able to test landing pages the same way he tests ad creative thanks to FERMÀT. He then uses split destination Forever Links to get an apples-to-apples comparison of a FERMÀT funnel compared to site pages, which, in his words, has been “incredible.” Love seeing FERMÀT being used by Max like this. It’s exciting 🔥 Take a look at the full episode to learn more from Max: https://lnkd.in/g6NPvvYG

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Acquisition offers often start by having initial conversations.   But what happens when those initial conversations evolve into something much bigger? Here's how Étienne Mérineau and the Heyday team’s journey unfolded: Etienne was approached by a product manager from Hootsuite interested in a demo of his platform. At the time, it seemed like a straightforward request, with no hint of M&A on the horizon. But shortly after, Hootsuite went silent. During this period of silence, Etienne received inbound interest from other players in the market. Some discussions even progressed to term sheets and offers, though none were compelling enough to move forward. While Hootsuite remained quiet, it turned out they were busy finalizing an acquisition of a company adjacent to Etienne's. When the news broke, he assumed they were out of the picture.   But Hootsuite had a different strategy in mind—they saw Etienne’s company as a perfect fit to build upon their recent acquisition and bolster their story ahead of a potential IPO. It wasn't until Etienne directly confronted them, clarifying that he was already in talks with other serious investors and potential buyers, that Hootsuite made their intentions clear. The takeaway from Etienne’s experience?   In M&A, timing, patience, and strategic insight are key. It's essential to remain open to all opportunities while also being direct about your expectations and goals.   It's not just about the demo—it's about understanding the bigger picture and navigating the complexities with clarity and purpose.

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I’ve never read a book written by a friend, until now. Fin Heureuse is only available in French for now. In it, Derek Morin reverse-engineers his startup exit in just 24 months. And he does it with flawless execution. Knowing the person behind the words you're reading is a feeling I might not get to experience often, but I loved every page of this book. Here are 3 things that stood out to me: → The ugly > the bad > the good Derek doesn’t hold back. He even shares how he planned to push some people out right before executing his exit plan. → The recipe + the ingredients + the cooked meal From revenue numbers to growth metrics and the accounting books, he shares it all. You’ll also see how he course-corrected in real-time. → From decision made to the finish line, step by step He lays out the 24 months in chronological order, event by event, sharing what he learned along the way. It was a short, fun, and informative read. Reading Derek’s book encouraged me to do two things: → Be more surgical about our growth and direction, even without an exit in mind. → Start planning my own book, a dream I aim to achieve one day. Now while I work on convincing Derek to write the English version, I highly recommend it to my French-speaking founder friends. -- That’s Derek Morin, a successful founder, author, and friend. Follow him to learn how to build a no-BS startup.

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Community is everything. Just got off a call with Marion Siboni who's building La Creme de la STEM ™ - female founders support system, and we kept coming back to this point. Looking for a new tool/platform? 👉 we ask our community Deciding on a new agency? 👉 we ask our community Hiring for the team? 👉 we ask our community Looking for #inspo? 👉 we ask our community Need a new nail salon? 👉 we ask our community Everything comes down to people we trust. ^^ something to remember when planning GTM '25 strategies, too. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐓𝐌? 🧡 build a product people love and talk about with their peers 🧡 foster a community amongst our customers and audience 🧡 genuinely help our customers, audience, and partners 🧡 PARTNERS - build relationships with peer brands and gtm together 🧡 get to know all of these people (customers, prospects, partners, peers, etc) BEYOND work, outside of our to do lists. As people. At the end of the day, building trust and relationships is what drives impact (and hey, revenue is nice too). #tbt to last week @ Pavilion's GTM2024. Misssss you all! 🧡

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🚨 New podcast episode alert! 🚨 Had an amazing discussion with Jean (John) Lafleur, the COO and Co-founder of Airbyte. In this episode, we explore: ⚙️ The behind-the-scenes challenges of building a data movement platform 💰 Airbyte’s impressive fundraising journey, and their Series B announcement leak 👥 The role of a COO in scaling startups 🤖 How to leverage AI for operational excellence Jean’s shares some great insights on leading an open-source company and driving team excellence. Don’t miss out on Jean’s valuable insights on leading an open-source company, in building a high-talent density team, and navigating the complexities of building an infrastructure startup. Link to Spotify Podcast in the comments!

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