Popular
Venture for Canada Founder Scott Stirrett to Step Down as CEO in Fall 2025 After more than a decade of leadership, Venture for Canada Founder and CEO Scott Stirrett will step down in Fall 2025. Since launching VFC at just 22 years old, Scott has helped shape a national movement supporting over 10,000 young Canadians in developing entrepreneurial skills. His departure marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the organization as it continues to expand access to entrepreneurship and build on his enduring legacy.
The Fellowship
2025 Employer Advisory Council: Driving Innovation in Canada’s Startup Ecosystem Meet Venture for Canada's 2025 Employer Advisory Council—a diverse group of leaders from across Canada, offering insights from startups, small businesses, and various industries to shape the growth and evolution of VFC's programs.
VFC News
Venture for Canada Launches New Pathway to Business Ownership with ETA Academy Venture for Canada launches a new program to help aspiring entrepreneurs explore business acquisitions. The 5-week course runs from March 22 to April 27, 2025. Applications are now open.
VFC News
A New Wave Podcast
“There could be more than one truth. Everyone has a different perspective.”
Meltem Kilicaslan
Conflict Resolution as a Superpower, Building Compassionate Communication, and Creating Workplace Harmony
S11 Episode 15
[00:03:00]
Listen
Conflict Resolution as a Superpower, Building Compassionate Communication, and Creating Workplace Harmony
With Meltem Kilicaslan
With Meltem Kilicaslan
Challenging Startup Myths, Finding Product-Market Fit, and Enjoying the Journey 
With Dave Sinkinson
With Dave Sinkinson
Raising Money Before Traction, Building Investor Trust, and Leveraging Partnerships 
With Mehrsa Raeiszadeh
With Mehrsa Raeiszadeh
Recent
5 Must-Haves to Set Yourself Up for A New Role in our new Virtual Work Reality If you’re lucky enough to land a new job during the pandemic, you’ll likely be starting the role while working virtually. Transitioning to remote work can definitely be a struggle, and joining an organization while working virtually comes with its own separate set of challenges.
The Fellowship
WEATHERING THE PANDEMIC: How employers dealt with the COVID-19 forecast History shows that crisis breeds innovation. Venture for Canada has the unique privilege of connecting startups with young talent, and supporting their training.
HR Employer Resources
Books that Bind us and the Reason to Read + Join a Bookclub (or not!) Twelve years ago my father had one big concern about my future.
It wasn’t a typical concern about my career path, my scholastic achievement, or the woes of teenagehood. His concern was one entirely about my hatred of reading.
The Fellowship
The Non-Linear Paths towards Entrepreneurship and Pit-Stops Along the Way Entrepreneurial solutions to address local problems can come from anywhere - government, private sector, or NGOs. There are plenty of people working within various levels of government who are taking an entrepreneurial approach to addressing the challenges that they see.
The Fellowship
Pick a Direction and Walk On July 29, 2020, like most technophiles with a day job, I put my work computer on split-screen to watch the U.S. senate absolutely roast Silicon Valley’s most elite: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai.
Leadership
Venture for Canada Announces Members of its 2nd Alumni Council Venture for Canada (VFC) is excited to announce the committee members of its 2021 Alumni Council. For its second year of operations, the council has expanded its seats from five members to seven members to serve the growing VFC Fellowship community.
VFC News
VFC supports over 1500 student jobs with Internship + Entrepreneurial Training program Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) expanded their partnership with Venture for Canada (VFC) in August 2020, providing a total of $20 million to date in funding for student internships and entrepreneurial training as part of the Federal Government’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP).
VFC News
Why investors should put their money in an often under-looked area Technological innovations have taken us by storm. Smart technology and digital tools have created a world of opportunities and employment in several industries. Across cities, tech-hubs exist and grapple with some of the most complex and straightforward challenges we face - always coming up with new answers to old problems.
The Fellowship
The Active Work of Imagining Your #DreamJob and Entrepreneurial Career I decided pretty early in my University degree that what I was studying was not a good fit for me. Much to the dismay of my parents, who immigrated to North America in early 2005 from Nigeria with myself and three siblings, I realized in the summer of 2015 that I was not passionate about my degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Leadership
A 2020 Crash Course: Three methods for Leading with empathy as a (new) SDR during a global pandemic
The Fellowship
The Leisure Clash Kick in my door on any given workday, and you would only be able to tell if I’m at work or not based on which computer I’m using. This isn’t uncommon. Remote workers everywhere are making the basic distinction between work and leisure in their space, in their time, or out of thin air.
The Fellowship
Venture for Canada announces the VFC Quebec Advisory Council Venture for Canada (VFC) announced the launch of the VFC Quebec Advisory Council. The entrepreneurs, innovation ecosystem leaders, and post-secondary representatives who serve on the council will work together for 16-months to advise VFC on how to grow its social impact into Quebec. The council members include representatives from organizations such as Bonjour Startup Montreal, Element AI, and L’Université de Sherbrooke.
VFC News
Recent VFC News
Venture for Canada Launches Fellowship Academy: A 60-Hour Shortcut into Canada’s Startup World
September 18, 2025
Venture for Canada Announces Recipients of the 2025 RBC Inclusive Entrepreneurship Award
September 18, 2025
ETA Academy Opens Waitlists for Three New Business-Buying Programs
September 18, 2025
Venture for Canada Announces the 2024 TD Clean Prosperity Award Winners
September 18, 2025
Morgan Tate is the founder of Breakwater M&A, an M&A Advisory specializing in the sale of profitable...
Jessica Lee is an experienced Learning Design Manager, curating learning experiences for new...
Touhami Abi is a learning design expert who specializes in creating transformative educational...
Jada Charles is a qualitative researcher and sociologist dedicated to conducting research and...
Kaileigh Klein is a creative and analytical person who mixes her passions for both the creative side and...
Rebecca Scott is a creative person who believes in leading with kindness. At VFC, you’ll find her using...
Sarah Mariani Sarah is an emerging voice in inclusive innovation, previously leading digital...
Jonathan Hutchinson Jonathan brings experience in IT project management, particularly for non-profits, and a...
Johanna Lao is a 2022 VFC Intern and BCom student at McGill University majoring in Sustainable...
Claudia Hepburn
Irfhan Rawji
Ownr By simplifying and automating business formation and everyday legal work, Ownr helps...