Most founders spend years proving they can build a company. Eventually, a different challenge emerges. Can the company continue to grow without them? In a recent TechExit.io conversation, we sat down with Simon Foster, Vice Chair & Partner at Capital Canada Limited, where he leads the Technology Investment Banking practice. A former SaaS founder and CEO, Simon now advises technology companies on growth equity and M&A, bringing a perspective shaped by both building businesses and evaluating them from the other side of the table.

Markets shift, expectations change and companies that looked perfectly positioned a few years ago now face a different set of conditions and a new set of questions around growth and value. In a recent TechExit.io conversation, we sat down with Anush Sachdeva of RBCx to discuss valuation environments, buyer behaviour and the impact AI is beginning to have on software. One idea surfaced throughout the discussion: durable businesses rarely stand still.

Most founders think about exit at some point. What often gets overlooked is how much of that outcome is shaped long before any process begins. In a recent TechExit.io conversation, Michael Garrity, Executive Chair of Financeit, shared a perspective that reframes how founders should approach building and selling a company.“ Building a company just to sell it doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “It’s like getting into a marriage with the goal of getting a divorce.”

Optionality doesn’t show up when a buyer calls. It’s built much earlier through how a company is financed, how it grows and the decisions made long before any transaction is on the table. TechExit.io recently sat down with JD Saint-Martin, founder of Chronogolf (acquired by Lightspeed) former President of Lightspeed and now Managing Partner at Boreal Ventures, to unpack what it takes to build that kind of leverage. Having built, sold, and then helped scale the business within Lightspeed, JD has seen the full lifecycle and one idea stood out: the best outcomes are designed, not timed.

If you're building toward an exit, it’s easy to focus on growth, revenue, and headline numbers. But when buyers step in, they’re not just evaluating what you’ve built, they’re evaluating risk, durability and what could go wrong after they take over. At TechExit.io Vancouver, moderator Paige Addesi (Explora Partners) sat down with Randeep Janjua (BDC Capital), David Thomas (Terra Dygital), and Maryam Zargar (Miller Thomson LLP) to unpack what’s really driving deal outcomes today.

There’s a point in every company’s growth where the job fundamentally changes. At TechExit.io, moderator Mark Longo (Osler) sat down with Jack Newton (Clio) and Jeff Shiner (1Password) to talk about what it really looks like to lead through that transition, from early traction to global scale. Both have built category-defining companies from Canada. Both have navigated acquisitions, global expansion and the pressure that comes with operating at a completely different level.