Founder Fridays | Help a Startup Out

FOUNDER FRIDAYS ARE BACK, thanks to the generous support of Alberta Innovates and the Alberta Innovation Network.

Upcoming Founder Fridays

Friday, October 3: James Stach and his book 55 Minutes
Friday, November 7: Sheena Yap Chan and her book Bridging the Confidence Gap
Friday, March 6: David Spiegelhalter and his book The Art of Uncertainty.

Here is the link to register.

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Facilitated by Brandy Old and Craig Elias, Founder Fridays is a series of fireside chats with authors of entrepreneurship-related books where we ship 100 copies of the authors’ books free to participants with a Canadian mailing address.

We started in April 2021 and originally ran through June 2024. We took a brief hiatus until new supporters were found.

Recordings of most Founder Fridays are available below, with the words “FIRESIDE CHAT” in all caps linked to the corresponding Zoom recording from that session.

They are held on the 1st Friday of each month; the initiative was based on the success of a FIRESIDE CHAT with Ian Hathaway (Brad Feld’s co-author of Startup Community Way) 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.

Past Sessions

Each month, we host a fireside chat with an author, during which the last 15 minutes are 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.

During Founder Fridays, Brandy and Craig ask questions about the juiciest parts of their latest book. It was like having VIP backstage passes to the minds of some of the world’s best thought leaders and innovators!

Founder Fridays were 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

The original Founder Fridays were made possible by the generous support of RBC, The Hunter Family Foundation, the Calgary Innovation Coalition, Alberta Innovates, the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network (CARIN) and the APEX Regional Innovation Network.

April 9: Fireside chat with the author of Sales Playbooks: The Builders Toolkit, Cory Bray.
May 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The Three Box Solution, Vijay Govindarajan.
June 4: Fireside chat with the author of Remote Work Revolution: How to Work From Anywhere, Tsedal Neeley.
Sept. 10: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Magnetic Stories, Gabrielle Dolan, who joins us from Melbourne, Australia.
Sept. 24: FIRESIDE CHAT 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.
Nov. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Effective Sales Enablement, Pam Didner.
Dec. 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Permission to Screw Up, Kristen Hadeed.
Jan. 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Naked at Work, Danessa Knaupp.
Feb. 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the Creator of the Growth Hacking Box that contains 100 ways to hack growth, Tiffany daSilva.
March 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The 7 Essential Stories Charismatic Leaders Tell, Kurian Mathew Tharakan.
April 1: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Stop Hustling: Start Scaling, Scott Sambucci.
May 6: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Startup Program Design: A Practical Guide for Creating Accelerators and Incubators at Any Organization, Adam Berk.
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.
Sept. 9: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business, Amos Schwartzfarb.
Oct. 7: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Jenny Blake
Nov. 4: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Fix This Next: Make the Vital Change That Will Level Up Your Business, Mike Michalowicz.
Dec. 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey Cohen.
Jan. 6: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Raising an Entrepreneur, Margot Machol Bisnow.
Feb 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Sell the Way You Buy, David Priemer.
Mar 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Escaping the Build Trap, Melissa Perri.
Apr 14: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Say Less, Get More, Fotini Iconomopoulos.
May 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Scale Your Everest, Erik Severinghaus.
Jun 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Continuous Discovery Habits, Teresa Torres.
Sept 8: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of From Start-up to Grown-up, Alisa Cohn.
Oct. 6: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Blue Ocean Strategies and Beyond Disruption, Renée Mauborgne.
Nov. 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Roadmap Rituals, Erica Keswin.
Dec. 1: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Jobs To Be Done, Tony Ulwick.
Jan. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The Founders Dilemmas, Noam Wasserman.
Feb. 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Unstuckable, Heather Kernahan.
Mar. 8: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Will Work For Pie, Mike Moyer.
Apr. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Faster Than Normal, Peter Shankman.
May 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with authors of The Intellectual Property Guide Myra Tawfik and Karima Bawa.
May 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of People Powered, Jono Bacon.