What The Tech?

From working behind the counter in his family's retail business to overseeing finance, operations, product, and engineering at one of Canada's most innovative fintech companies, Aly Khan Musani's career path demonstrates how foundational business principles remain constant even as industries evolve. As CFO and COO of Symend, Musani brings more than 20 years of leadership experience to bear on a deceptively complex problem: Helping major companies like Telus communicate effectively with customers who've missed payments. On the latest What The Tech podcast, he shares insights on building behavioral science-driven solutions, navigating government funding programs, and why understanding cash flow gives you control over your destiny. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Hello and welcome to What The Tech from Boast AI, where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “Technological Uncertainty” and eventually change the world. For small businesses navigating the complex world of R&D tax credits, finding the right partners can make all the difference between leaving money on the table and maximizing government incentives. That's where strategic partnerships between accounting firms and specialized tax credit providers create real value for entrepreneurs. This week welcome to the show John Hunt, CPA and Sr. Manager at General Ledger Partners (aka GLP). In his role, John and team provide detailed, efficient and accurate bookkeeping and financial consulting services to small businesses. Based in Austin, Texas, John and his team actually partner with Boast to help their clients maximize their access to Innovation Tax Credits to enhance their runway and build stronger products.  For subscribers to the show, you may remember we last connected with John’s colleague Jason Terry last year to chat through what it’s like supporting innovative SMBs in 2024. Needless to say, a lot has changed between then and now, and I can’t wait to pick John’s brain on how doing business at any scale in the U.S. has evolved in 2025, how his team partners with Boast, and what’s on deck for the future. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

What The Tech is back for a new season of innovation insights with leaders across Canada's tech ecosystem. On our return episode, we welcome to the show Leigh Christie, Cofounder of MistyWest. Launched in 2003, MistyWest is an engineering design consultancy that helps create futuristic technologies that enable a healthier planet while bringing prosperity to all humankind. While their primary focus is on projects that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Misty West provides product consulting services to a wide range of industries, from IoT to computer vision systems to battery packs and device packaging.  Leigh and his team at MistyWest are also Boast partners who share our vision for helping connect innovators with the resources they need to bring world-changing products to market. I’m thrilled to pick his brain on how he got into the innovation space, what he’s seen in the two decades since founding MistyWest and what’s on the roadmap.Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

On this episode of What The Tech from Boast AI, we’re thrilled to welcome onto the show entrepreneur-extraordinaire David Brennan!  David is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arkeo AI, which is a SaaS Copilot that enables sales teams to achieve faster win rates and ultimately close more deals. More than just a sales tool, Arkeo AI is designed specifically for SaaS founders and their teams to make informed decisions and drive growth. As customers integrate their systems, Arkeo offers AI Agents tailored to specific departments that continuously analyze data and deliver actionable insights while also alerting to opportunities and threats.  As powerful as the Arkeo AI solution is, this is hardly David’s first go-round in the entrepreneurship space. He holds an Executive MBA with a specialization in Innovative Leadership, co-founded Safety Evolution in 2016, and helped execute the strategic acquisition of SafetyTrek in 2022 before embarking on the Arkeo Ai journey.  It’s an impressive career to date, and David shares some of his expertise for building a successful AI business in 2024, and what’s on deck for the future. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

On this latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome the Founder & CEO of Tuktu Care, Rustam Sengupta!  Rustam is a passionate serial entrepreneur with a focus on senior care technology, climate change, and renewable energy. As the founder and CEO of Tuktu Care, an on-demand marketplace that connects aging adults with local providers and companions, he leads the creation of innovative solutions for better aging in place.  Before Tuktu Care, Rustam worked with SDTC, one of Canada's leading sustainable energy funding organizations, and taught at the University of British Columbia. He also managed research projects for the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP) at Johns Hopkins University.  If that wasn’t enough, Rustam also serves on the boards of several impactful organizations and nonprofits, while also serving as Executive in Residence at the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator in Vancouver—a group that we’re big fans of here at Boast!  It’s an impressive CV and I cannot wait to pick Rustam’s brain on what it takes to achieve success and drive such positive change as an entrepreneur. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Welcome to What The Tech from Boast AI, where we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “technological uncertainty” and, eventually, change the world.  Today we welcome VentureX Principal Sydney Wong onto the show! Sydney is an exited tech founder turned early-stage investor with 10+ years of experience in venture capital, startups, and management consulting. She currently leads investments at VentureX Capital and built their venture studio from the ground up as a first hire. Her expertise spans deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio support, with a track record in PreSeed to Series A.  On top of all that, Sydney is passionate about building high-impact startups and fostering a strong VC community as Chapter Lead for Women in VC. It’s an incredible mission, and we pick her brain on her experiences to date in the startup space, what’s on deck for the rest of 2024, and her take on the tech and startup ecosystem heading into 2025. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

On the latest What The Tech podcast we welcome CTO and Co-Founder of Adauris Ve Sharma. Adauris is a B2B SaaS narration tool for publishers that enables written content to be instantly transformed into rich audio experiences. As an audiophile himself, Ve is passionate about Ad Auris’s mission to help publishers & content creators create greater value from each piece of their writing, increasing accessibility and driving content engagement throughout the day through audio. Their platform combines synthetic narration with a suite of features designed to drive engagement, deliver the best audio experience, and provide rich insights into listeners’ behavior. It’s some very cool tech with a great mission behind it, and I’m excited to pick Ve’s brain on Ad Auris’s success to date, working with partners throughout the North American tech and startup ecosystem, and what’s on deck for the future. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

On this latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome seasoned product executive and award-winning founder of Lodestone, Dennis Chow!  At Lodestone, Dennis and his team have built a product management software platform that helps busy product teams move faster and get more of their product work done. Ultimately, Lodestone helps teams drive towards comprehensive discovery and successful delivery of the right thing, for the right customers, at the right time.  Recently, Lodestone’s bona fides were on display when they took home the Judge’s Choice award at the 2024 CodeLaunch Accelerator event in Toronto, where our team was absolutely pumped to cheer on Dennis from the front row!  But this is hardly Dennis’s first go-round as an entrepreneur or lending support to the Canadian tech ecosystem. He’s currently on his fifth year as a Volunteer Advisor for the MaRS Discovery District out of Toronto, and has played a part in numerous successful startups over the course of his career to date.   I can’t wait to pick Dennis’s brain on his path into entrepreneurship, his philosophy as a product developer and creator, and what’s in store for 2025.Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Driving innovation that truly revolutionizes sectors is a team effort. That’s exactly what Acto Co-Founder and CTO Kumar Erramilli is looking to do in the realm of biopharma, and he’s working with the team here at Boast to maximize his innovation potential and build one of the fastest-growing startups in all of Canada in the process. ACTO is an AI-powered Intelligent Field Excellence (IFE) platform built for Life Sciences that helps Sales, Marketing, and Medical teams improve customer engagement and brand performance by turning field professionals into “Masters of the Message” who engage HCPs and their support teams with authority and impact.With ACTO, biopharma companies can ensure field professionals are always competent, confident, and credible, delivering the right message to HCPs in face-to-face interactions, while providing senior leaders and frontline managers with the insight they need to drive continuous field force effectiveness.While all of this is impressive on its own, Kumar has a wealth of experience across the North American tech ecosystem, having played a role in numerous startups and tech-centric organizations in his career to date. He’s a passionate inventor of AI and software technologies that are looking to change the way Life Sciences industry consumes technology, and I can’t wait to pick his brain on what’s in store for Acto and his take on the state of startups in 2024. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Today’s guest on What The Tech is Styx Intelligence Co-Founder Santosh Nair! Styx Intelligence is a next-generation platform helping organizations manage Digital Risk. In his role at Styx Intelligence , Santosh leads the overall product vision and long-term strategy and development of its StyxView platform. Their Mission is to protect organizations’ digital assets and data with a platform that provides visibility while actually supporting remediation against threats. Their platform is also key to helping businesses manage risk associated with digital transformations across various areas including cyber, privacy, regulatory compliance, third party, and brand.Along with founding Styx Intelligence, however, Santosh has a lengthy background in the Cyber Risk space, as well as a founder building new solutions in Canada and beyond. We at Boast first met Santosh through our friends at GetFresh Ventures, and I can’t wait to hear from Santosh the role that community connections can play in building great products and achieving growth. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.