Summer camp for Canadian tech is back.
Somehow, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of summer.
“Other conferences are phoning it in.”
– Alistair Croll
Back in the day, that would have meant eagerly securing a Startuptrain ticket for Startupfest, which I’ve often described as summer camp for Canadian tech. Canadians haven’t had that luxury for the past two years.
While there’s no Startuptrain this year (a note to my fellow Ontarians: book your travel accordingly), Startupfest is back IRL in a big way, with a lot of changes.
As you’ll hear from Olivia Rossi and Alistair Croll on this episode, Startupfest kind of used the pandemic as an opportunity to deconstruct what people wanted from a tech festival – or at least what they want from Startupfest.
The hypothesis: in 2022, meeting people isn’t easy, and Startupfest is about meeting people. The solution: a shitton of data, some interesting assumptions on human behaviour, a wholly new tech stack, and a live beta test during the festival.
I guess the festival is a live beta test.
So what does Startupfest’s new product look like, and why do we spend half the podcast trying to describe it in video game terms?
Let’s dig in.
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The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Edited by Kattie Laur. Sponsored by Diuca.
Feature image courtesy Dominick Gravel / Startupfest.
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