April 24, 2023: This Founders Best Advice Might Surprise You

What is Valence?

Valence is AI for Drug Discovery.

It combines best-in-class technologies with intuitive infrastructure to enable seamless integration into existing workflows.

Valence is harnessing a revolution in computation to improve human health.

What was the insight/inspiration that led you to launch it?

Drug Discovery is still a very slow and expensive process. Takes between 10-15 years with a very high rate of failure (99%). I wanted to change this.

How did you know you were ready to found a company?

I knew I was ready after generating our first POC model that was able to surpass the SOTA.

What has been the hardest thing and the most pleasant surprise?

Going after a global market from day 1 from Canada has been the hardest.

The most pleasant surprise was outperforming big tech in AI competition.

Who are the 5 Canadian startups you like in your market?

Pathway Medical - modern evidence-based clinical decision support

Ubenwa Health - ai powered software for early detection neurological and respiratory conditions in infants using their cry sounds

Eli Health - the first at-home technology giving you real-time and life-long health insights

Maket - generative design for architectural planning

Nomic Biosciences - building the nELISA, the world's most versatile, high-throughput proteomic platform

Learn more about Therence and Valence here

Therence will be taking the stage in Montreal on April 25 (tomorrow) to share more about his journey, Valence Discovery and how AI continues to change our lives for the better.

TechTO's Founders Journey Series gives you unparalleled access to some of today's top Founders and Leaders from across the Canadian Tech Ecosystem. We chat with our guests about their journey's to building their current business and the lessons they learned along the way.

Our most recent episode of The Founders Journey features current AngelList Venture CEO Avlok Kohli. 

Along with his current role at AngelList, Avlok is a long-time entrepreneur, building successful companies like Fastbite. He also worked alongside Jack Dorsey (Founder and former CEO of Twitter) at Square.

Today, Avlok plays an active role as an angel investor, and advisor, supporting many other rapidly growing technology companies on their journey's.

In today's podcast we discuss:

• The current market

• Tips for raising

• What investors look for before making a deal

• Advice for builders

• Lessons from working with Jack Dorsey

• Lessons learned from launching multiple companies

• What the future of investing looks like

• The importance of trusting your gut

• Surprising advice to help you make better decisions for your company

Listen now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts

In this episode, we cover:

(0:00) Introduction to Avlok and his background

(1:55) Time as a student at University of Waterloo

(3:32) Early experience working in Canada

(5:00) The importance of building a Founder network

(6:54) Venture Funding

(8:54) Being deliberate with your ideas

(10:50) Starting Fastbite

(11:03) Building

(15:40) Lessons learned from Jack Dorsey

(16:01) Working at Square

(21:00) Real scale and what it looks like

(22:50) Pulling together an Investment Round

(25:00) Exiting Postmates

(32:00) AngelList

(35:00) The current venture market

(37:00) The future of the market

(40:00) Raising money in Canada

Where can you connect with Avlok?

Find him on Twitter, or LinkedIn 

Research Engineer, Valence Discovery (Montreal, QC)

Why is this cool? Valence is building the world’s most powerful chemistry engine, unlocking new therapeutic options for previously intractable diseases. In this role, you will help bridge the gap between their Research and Engineering teams.

Product Designer, Buf (Toronto, ON)

Why is this cool? Buf is building a new paradigm for APIs. They create both open-source and commercial software that enables teams to create, maintain, and consume their Protobuf APIs systematically. In this role, you will help them by delivering a leading developer experience for their products.

Senior Flutter Engineer, Swift Medical (Toronto, ON)

Why is this cool? Swift Medical delivers advanced wound care visualization and touchless 3D measurement through their smartphone-ready Swift Skin and Wound software. In this role, you will be an integral part of an exciting new project that will help redefine how their technology is influencing healthcare.

*Reply to this email and let us know the jobs you'd like to see

Check out the interesting content, events, and happenings for the community here:

• TechTO Together: MONTREAL April 25, 2023: You'll hear from Katy Yam, Sarah Jenna, Kyle Boulay, Therence Bois - learn from some of the top leaders from the Montreal tech ecosystem - LIMITED TIME "First-timer" discount available. If you've never been to an event in Montreal, enjoy a discounted ticket and come see what you think!

• Prompt Engineering Hackathon, brought to you by Voiceflow. You could also win up to 10k USD in cash prizes!

• TechTO Together: TORONTO May 1, 2023: Learn from the greatest Founders, Investors, and Innovators including Janet Bannister, Alex Gould with more announcements coming soon! 

• TechTO: Retail May 24, 2023: Learn from Lauren Steinberg, Amber Foucault, Drew Cashmore, Marie Chevrier, Kelly Brawn about all things technology, brands, and retail

Want to showcase your company, events, and opportunities to 60,000 subscribers across the Canadian Tech Eco-system? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more!