NACO Podcast
The NACO Podcast by the National Angel Capital Organization leverages the collective wisdom of 4,000 angel investors that have invested $1.8 billion into 2,000 companies. Join us on a journey into the depths of the innovation economy and bring you the knowledge you need to build, grow and scale at the intersection of innovation, capital and entrepreneurship.
Learn more about the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) at www.nacocanada.com
Episodes
44 episodes
Reinforcing Canada’s Early-Stage Capital Infrastructure: A National Roundtable
Canada’s innovation economy is at an inflection point.In this National Roundtable hosted by Claudio Rojas, CEO of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), leaders from across the capital pipeline examine the structural gaps limiti...
Canada's $750M Early-Stage Envelope — What It Means and What Comes Next
This national roundtable presents the findings of Seeding Growth, NACO's landmark white paper on Canada's early-stage capital gaps and the federal government's $750 million early-stage envelope within the $1.75 billion Venture Capital ...
Canada's Early-Stage Capital Architecture: Senate Banking Committee Testimony with Claudio Rojas, CEO of NACO
On April 30, 2026, Claudio Rojas, CEO of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy as part of its study on access to credit and capital markets for small ...
Welcome to the World of Angel Investing - Trailer
Built by Angels is a new podcast series that will guide you on the road to venture capital scale and growth. Interested in funding the next big thing? Are you an entrepreneur searching for capital,...
Why do Angels Invest?
This podcast is for informational purposes only and is based on the book "A Practical Guide to Angel Investing, 2nd Edition" authored by Steven Gedeon PhD and published by the National Angel Capital Organization. Content discussed is for genera...
Value of Angel Groups
What will you do with the next 20+ years of your life? For most angels, the answer is: "I want to contribute to the good of my community""I want to continue to do what I love.""I want to be involved in strategy, important deals ...
Angel Capital in Alberta: Senator Doug Black
We are here with Senator Doug Black, Chair of the Senate Banking, Finance, and Trade Committee. The innovation ecosystem in Alberta has a tremendous potential. We see an opportunity to transition the risk capital, that has historic...
Portfolio Diversification and Calculating Return
Angel investors bring more than capital. The knowledge that you have, your experience, what you've done in your professional life is exceptionally important for helping the next generation of entrepreneurs achieve success. High pot...
Valuation and Portfolio Construction
How do you value a company? How many companies do you need in your portfolio? The general suggestion among Canadian angels is 20 companies. Dr. Wade Brooks estimates that you need 40 companies to have a 95% chance of getting the average...
Billionaire Mindset – Sale of iStockphoto to Getty Images: Patrick Lor, Managing Partner at Panache Ventures
Lessons learned from Patrick Lor, Co-Founder of iStockphoto and Managing Partner at Panache Ventures based in Calgary, Alberta. "I don't know if there's anything secret about this. But, we grew iStockphoto off the side of our desks...
The Role of Angels in the Economy
What is the role of angel investing in the economy? If there is no capital, there is no company. It's as simple as that. Without investment capital, there would be no new companies and no new jobs. Our economy would be in zero ...
Roundtable on Angel Activity: Senator Colin Deacon and Professor Thomas Hellmann, Oxford University
Replay of the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel ActivityGood morning everyone. Welcome to today's Roundtable on Canadian Angel Activity. I'm Claudio Rojas, CEO of NACO and I will be your host for today's discussion. Than...
Angel Activity from a Regional Perspective: Roundtable on Angel Activity
Replay of the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel ActivityWe have Ginette Mailhot, Chair at Anges Québec, a prominent angel group and member of NACO that does extraordinary work in unlocking capital in the Pr...
International Insights: Roundtable on Canadian Angel Activity
Replay of the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel ActivityWe have the privilege of bringing international insights from Jacopo Losso, Director Secretariat at the European Business Angels Network (EBAN), and Pat Gouhin, CEO...
Atlantic Canada, Northern Ontario, and Beyond: Roundtable on Angel Activity
Replay of Part 4 the NACO Roundtable on Canadian Angel ActivityIn relation to how do we keep investment moving and in Atlantic Canada… the most crucial things we need to be looking at are… matching funds from gove...
Roundtable on Entrepreneurial Activity: Special Remarks by John Ruffolo, Vice Chair at the Council of Canadian Innovators
Replay of Part 1 of the NACO Roundtable on Incubators, Accelerators, and Entrepreneurial Activity"The Council of Canadian Innovators has determined that the wage subsidy is probably going to help maybe about 25% o...
Insights on Entrepreneurial Activity by Communitech CEO Iain Klugman, OneEleven Executive Director Siri Agrell
Replay of Part 2 of the NACO Roundtable on Incubators, Accelerators, and Entrepreneurial Activity"The biggest issue companies are facing is liquidity and cashflow. And that cashflow can come in the form of a bridg...
Insights by Ryerson University's John MacRitchie, Platform Calgary CEO Terry Rock, Spark Centre CEO Sherry Colbourne
Replay of Part 3 of the NACO Roundtable on Incubators, Accelerators, and Entrepreneurial Activity"The bigger concern we're really seeing is founders that are pre-revenue or at that very early stage of development....
Insights by Accelerate Okanagan CEO Brea Lake, Jordan Dutchak at co.labs, and Emilie Boutros at Tandem Launch
Replay of Part 3 of the NACO Roundtable on Incubators, Accelerators, and Entrepreneurial Activity"The good part about the BDC program for matching funds is that it might help to speed up the process knowing that t...
Special Remarks at Roundtable on Sustaining the Innovation Ecosystem: Claudio Rojas - NACO, David Skok - The Logic, Anthony Lacavera - Globalive
Welcome everyone to our Roundtable on Sustaining the Innovation Ecosystem. Today’s agenda includes Opening Comments by David Skok, CEO & Editor-in-Chief at The Logic, Special Remarks by Anthony Lacavera, Founder and Chair...
The Honourable Minister Mélanie Joly in Conversation with Angel Investors, Entrepreneurs, and Innovation Leaders
Earlier this week, an article that appeared in the Toronto Star stated that “The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program should be broadened to include high growth firms, software-as-a-service firms, firms whose revenues are seasonal or pr...
Introductory Remarks at Roundtable on Innovations in Health Care
We all know the idiom credited to philosopher Plato: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” It means, of course, that new ways of doing things are often created or discovered when there’s a real, intense need for them. And as we navigate this ...
State of the Innovation Economy by Douglas Soltys, Editor-in-Chief at BetaKit
“The main takeaways… are the difficulties people are having in projecting a way out of this and building a plan, and the difficulties in taking care of teams right now, as we are locked in self-isolation in trying circumstances.” — Douglas Solt...
Working Together Will Make Our Ecosystem Stronger: Victoria Lennox, Founder at Startup Canada
“Cultivating that strong grassroots ecosystem from the ground up is so important right now… there are a lot of opportunities here to make a stronger ecosystem and it will take us all working together.” — Victoria Lennox, Founder of Startup Cana...
Super Angels Launch New Fund: Benton Leong, General Partner at ArchAngel Network of Funds
“We have really bright minds working on how to solve various aspects of this pandemic… we want to make sure these folks are able to bring their solutions to market sooner rather than later. We’re changing the way we work. We’re deploying funds ...