Founder Fridays
Founder Fridays are typically held on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month from September to June.
We are currently seeking author / book suggestions for January to June 2024.
Please call or text Craig Elias (+1.403.874.2998) if you have an author or book you would like to suggest.
On the first Friday of the month, we interview an author about the best parts of their book in a fireside chat format and share a link where participants can provide their mailing address so we can ship them a free copy of the author's book.
A recording of that Fireside Chat is then emailed to all those who registered for the session. Recordings of past sessions are linked to the words FIRESIDE CHAT in all caps in the "Past Sessions" section below.
On the third Friday of the month, we return to discuss what participants learned from the interview and from the book and how that can be applied to startups, the startups community and Alberta's tech sector.
Upcoming Sessions
Sept. 22: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Alisa's fireside chat and her book
Oct. 6: Fireside chat with the author of Blue Ocean Strategies and Beyond Disruption, Renée Mauborgne
Oct. 20: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Renée's fireside chat and her book
Nov 3rd: Fireside chat with the author of The Founder's Dilemmas, Noam T. Wasserman
Nov 17th: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Noam's fireside chat and his book
Dec 1st: Fireside chat with the author of Jobs to be Done: Theory to Practice, Tony Ulwick
Dec 15th: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Tony's fireside chat and his book
Those who register for the entire series or individual sessions will receive recordings of the Fireside chats they register for.
Founder Fridays are a series of fireside chats with authors of books that are typically held on the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month; the initiative is based on the success of a fireside chat with Ian Hathaway (Brad Feld’s co-author on their latest book) that had 600+ registrants and gave away all 100 copies of The Startup Community Way to attendees from across Alberta in less than two minutes.
Each month you can register for either or both of two sessions:
A fireside chat with an author where the last 15 minutes is an audience Q & A session with the participants, and a link is provided so those from Canada can request a free copy of the author’s book.
Discussions held two weeks later (sometimes with, sometimes without the author) to discuss the different ways the content from the fireside chat and the author’s book can be applied to Alberta’s startup community and tech ecosystem
Founder Fridays are designed to support Alberta’s entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, ecosystem builders and service providers by:
Upskilling entrepreneurs, mentors, ecosystem builders and service providers
Developing entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship support in and around post-secondary institutions
Helping startups grow faster and develop the expertise and traction required to attract capital
Increasing the volume of startups and the velocity at which they progress through the Startup Commons stages
Working with existing entrepreneurship support organizations to expand their mentor network
Founder Fridays is a joint initiative of 150 Startups, Bow Valley College, Futurepreneur, Rainforest Alberta, and the Venture Mentoring Service of Alberta and are made possible by the generous support of Bow Valley College, The Hunter Family Foundation, the Calgary Innovation Coalition, Alberta Innovates, and the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network (CARIN).
Past Sessions
FIRESIDE CHAT in call caps below is linked to a recording from that session.
April 9: Fireside chat with the author of Sales Playbooks: The Builders Toolkit, Cory Bray
April 23: Roundtable discussion with Joseph Fung on how to apply the learnings from Cory’s fireside chat and book
May 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The Three Box Solution, Vijay Govindarajan
May 21: Roundtable discussion with Wally Thorson on how to apply the learnings from Vijay’s fireside chat and his book
June 4: Fireside chat with the author of Remote Work Revolution: How to Work From Anywhere, Tsedal Neeley
June 18: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the content of Tsedal Neeley’s book Remote Work Revolution to Alberta’s startup community and tech ecosystem
Sept. 10: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Magnetic Stories, Gabrielle Dolan, who joins us from Melbourne, Australia.
Sept. 24: Roundtable discussion with Colleen Stewart, author of The Story Compass, on how to craft powerful stories
Oct. 1: Fireside chat with the author of Demand Side Sales, Bob Moesta
Oct. 15: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Bob's fireside chat and his book
Nov. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Effective Sales Enablement, Pam Didner
Nov. 19: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Pam's fireside chat and her book - especially chapter 4 and page 87.
Dec. 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Permission to Screw Up, Kristen Hadeed
Dec. 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Tristen's fireside chat and her book
Jan. 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Naked at Work, Danessa Knaupp
Jan. 21: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Danessa's fireside chat and her book
Feb. 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the Creator of the Growth Hacking Box that contains 100 ways to hack growth, Tiffany daSilva
Feb. 18: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Tiffany's fireside chat and growth hacking box
March 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The 7 Essential Stories Charismatic Leaders Tell, Kurian Mathew Tharakan
March 18: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Kurian's fireside chat and his book.
April 1: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Stop Hustling: Start Scaling, Scott Sambucci
April 15: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Scott's fireside chat and his book.
May 6: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Startup Program Design: A Practical Guide for Creating Accelerators and Incubators at Any Organization, Adam Berk
May 20: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Adam's fireside chat and his book.
June 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Founded: The No B.S. Guide for Student Entrepreneurs, Mike Raab, Executive Director of The Garage at Northwestern University.
June 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Mike's fireside chat and his book.
Sept. 9: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business, Amos Schwartzfarb
Sept. 23: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Amos' fireside chat and his book.
Oct. 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Jenny Blake
Oct. 21: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Jenny's fireside chat and their book.
Nov. 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Fix This Next: Make the Vital Change That Will Level Up Your Business, Mike Michalowicz
Nov. 18: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Mike's fireside chat and their book.
Dec. 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey Cohen
Dec. 16: Roundtable discussions led by Wendy Muise, Wunmi Adekanmbi and Jennifer Jensen on how to apply the learnings from Geoffrey's fireside chat and his book.
Jan. 6: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Raising an Entrepreneur, Margot Machol Bisnow
Jan. 20: Margot Machol Bisnow will join us for roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from her fireside chat and her book.
Feb 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Sell the Way You Buy, David Priemer
Feb 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from David's fireside chat and his book.
Mar 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Escaping the Build Trap, Melissa Perri
Mar 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Melissa's fireside chat and her book.
Apr 14: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Say Less, Get More, Fotini Iconomopoulos
Apr 28: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Fotini's fireside chat and her book
May 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Scale Your Everest, Erik Severinghaus
May 19: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Erik's fireside chat and his book
Jun 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres
Jun 16: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Teresa's fireside chat and her book
Sept 8: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of From Start-up to Grown-up, Alisa Cohn
Call or text Craig Elias (+1.403.874.2998) if you have any questions or suggestions for future authors and their books.