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Alright. Are You Ready?
Last days of the TechTO membership discount, the trends founders are watching, and where the community is showing up this month.
Alex at TechTO
January 06, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
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🎯 Final Week: 20% Off TechTO Membership
New year. New goals. New standards.
If 2026 is the year you want to build faster, think bigger, and stop doing it alone, this is your moment.
We are in the final days of the 20% TechTO Membership discount. Use code RESOLUTION to turn your goals into momentum - not just intentions.
Because resolutions only matter when you put yourself in the right rooms.
What a TechTO Membership Unlocks
Unlimited Events
Free access to all Together Toronto and vertical events where real founder lessons are shared.
VIP Access
Priority seating, members-only lounges, and early access to high-impact workshops.
Private Slack Network
A daily line to builders, operators, and investors who move ideas forward.
Newsletter Visibility
Share your story, role, or company with 60K+ subscribers across Canadian tech.
Hiring & Growth Tools
Post jobs, find collaborators, and unlock opportunities that compound over time.
If your 2026 resolution includes growth, clarity, and meaningful progress, this is the easiest win you can lock in.
⏳ The discount ends this week.
Use code: RESOLUTION
🔥 HOT TOPICS
Canadian builders are entering 2026 with rare momentum.
Government budgets now rival late-stage venture rounds. AI investors are demanding execution over experimentation. And for the first time in years, there is a serious push to build companies that stay Canadian.
These three forces are shaping founder decisions, VC mandates, and Ottawa policy right now.
Canada is committing $81.8B over five years to defence and national security - from Arctic surveillance to cyber and AI-driven analytics.
This is no longer theoretical. Thousands of RFPs are opening for:
AI analytics and decision platforms
Autonomous and drone software
Secure data and communications stacks
For years, “dual-use” founders hit procurement walls. That era is ending. Ottawa is becoming a real customer with deep budgets and long contracts - if founders can meet enterprise-grade security and scale requirements.
TechTO question:
Who turns defence spending into the next $100M Rocketships?
Enterprise AI spending passed $200B in 2025, but most pilots delivered no measurable results.
The new bar is clear: show revenue or cost savings within 90 days.
Chatbot wrappers are fading. The winners are building AI directly into workflows - finance, contracts, supply chains, manufacturing - where ROI is obvious.
With on-device AI getting cheaper and sovereign Canadian compute coming online, founders who ship practical AI now have a real edge.
TechTO question:
Your AI looks great. Does it save or generate $10M a year?
Canada built Cohere, 1Password, BenchSci, and Waabi. Too often, the upside left the country.
In 2026, the ingredients are finally aligning:
Massive defence and AI investment
Strong IP commercialization programs
Global-caliber talent pipelines
What determines success? Domestic capital at Series B+, procurement flowing to Canadian primes, and smarter IP strategies that reward scaling at home.
TechTO question:
What keeps the next breakout company headquartered in Toronto?
📡 The TechTO Signal
Investors are spending.
Founders are building.
Communities like TechTO connect the two.
2026 will decide whether Canada scales its champions - or exports them.
The room where it gets debated: Together Toronto, January 12 at MaRS.
🚨 JUST ANNOUNCED
🚀 YSpace Technology Accelerator - Toronto Founders, Take Note
If you are building a market-ready tech product and gearing up for serious growth, YSpace just opened details for its 2026 Technology Accelerator cohort.
This is a no-equity program designed to help founders sharpen go-to-market execution - with $60K+ in support and up to $30K in cash prizes. Toronto-based, hybrid, and built for founders ready to move.
📅 Key Dates (2026 Cohort)
Applications Open: January 19
Applications Close: March 2
Program Kickoff: May 5
Weekly Sessions: May–September (1 week in-person/month)
Demo Day: September
Who It is For:
Founders with a market-ready MVP and early traction
(Revenue preferred; deep tech exceptions considered)
High-growth tech products (sector-agnostic)
Full-time, coachable founders with a growth mindset
Teams able to commit to a hybrid Toronto-based cadence
If you are at $10K+ MRR or building a strong deep-tech MVP, this program is worth a closer look.
YSpace is built to help founders turn momentum into scale.
📢 January 2026 at TechTO: Start the Year in the Right Rooms
January is not about resolutions.
It is about where you show up - and who you learn from.
TechTO is kicking off 2026 with two high-signal events for builders who want real insight, real connections, and real momentum.
Together Toronto is our flagship community event - built around honest founder stories, not polished pitches.
You will hear real lessons from founders navigating growth, uncertainty, and momentum, plus connect with operators, investors, and builders across Toronto.
January speakers include:
• Benjamin Alarie, Founder & CEO of Blue J - building one of Canada’s most influential AI platforms used by global law and accounting firms
• Jason Ramsay, Founder of Nodalli - bringing a sharp operator lens from capital markets and venture building
• Shirley Zhong, Co-Founder & COO of Xatoms - innovating at the intersection of climate, water, and technology
• Kristine Beese, Founder & CEO of Untangle Money - redefining how women approach money, wealth, and financial confidence
Founder talks, community open mic, high-signal networking - and the off-site after party.
Learn From Last Year. Build This One Better.
Here are some talks from Together Toronto 2025, now live on our YouTube channel.
These conversations capture what made Together Toronto the room for builders last year - founders and operators sharing the real decisions, challenges, and turning points behind their companies.
If you want to revisit the lessons that shaped 2025 - or catch up on the stories you missed - these talks are ready to watch.
If you watched those talks and thought “I should be in that room” - this is your moment.
🗓️ UPCOMING EVENTS
Together Toronto: Monday, January 12 @ 6:00pm - LAST TICKETS
Commerce Toronto: Wednesday, January 21 @ 5:30pm - EARLY-BIRD TICKETS HERE
Together Toronto: Monday, February 2 @ 6:00pm - EARLY-BIRD
Sales Toronto 2026: Wednesday, February 09 @ 6:00pm - EARLY-BIRD TICKETS HERE
Health Toronto 2026: Wednesday, February 25 @ 6:00pm - EARLY-BIRD TICKETS HERE
Don’t forget to lock in your year of TechTO! Subscribe to our full events calendar
🎤 Know Someone Who Should Be on the TechTO Stage?
We’re always looking to spotlight founders, operators, and builders with powerful stories; the kind that inspire, teach, and move the Canadian tech community forward.
If you know someone whose journey deserves the mic - from early stumbles to breakout momentum - we want to hear from you.
Help us bring fresh voices and new perspectives to future TechTO events and podcasts.
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