Founder Fridays | Help a Startup Out

Facilitated by Brandy Old & Craig Elias, Founder Fridays was a series of fireside chats with authors of entrepreneurship-related books that started in April of 2021 and ran from September to June until June 2024.

They were typically held on the 1st and 3rd 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.

Recordings of most Founder Fridays are found below, with the words FIRESIDE CHAT in call caps below linked to the Zoom recording from that session.

Each month, we held two sessions:

A fireside chat with an author, during which 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. During the first Founder Friday of each month, Brandy and Craig asked 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!
Discussions were 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 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

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.
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.
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. 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Roadmap Rituals, Erica Keswin.
Nov. 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Erica’s fireside chat and her book.
Dec. 1: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Jobs To Be Done, Tony Ulwick.
Dec. 15: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Tony’s fireside chat and his book.
Jan. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of The Founders Dilemmas, Noam Wasserman.
Jan. 19: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Noam’s fireside chat and his book.
Feb. 2: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Unstuckable, Heather Kernahan.
Feb. 16: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Heather’s fireside chat and her book.
Mar. 8: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Will Work For Pie, Mike Moyer.
Mar. 22: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Mike’s fireside chat and his book.
Apr. 5: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of Faster Than Normal, Peter Shankman.
Apr. 19: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Peter’s fireside chat and his book.
May 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with authors of The Intellectual Property Guide Myra Tawfik and Karima Bawa.
May 17: Roundtable discussions on how to apply the learnings from Myra and Karima’s fireside chat and their book.
May 3: FIRESIDE CHAT with the author of People Powered, Jono Bacon.