Building The North

Conversations about the future with leaders in business, tech, and politics.

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"I said, I'll pay my fair share of taxes.

I don't want to spend my brain power trying to avoid paying 5% in taxes.

Why don't I earn 50% more money?"

Frank Baylis on paying his taxes, told through an excellent story about $100 baby boots.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

What we learned about AI for healthcare, a near $2 billion exit, and politics from our conversation with Baylis Medical co-founder and former MP Frank Baylis https://t.co/gjH5BRx9HS

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"There's no question that AI is going to impact a ton of jobs.

And when it happens, I don't think it's going to be gradual. It's going to go along and it's going to click.

So the challenge everybody's going to have, not just young people, is to say, how do we live with this?"

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"One of the things I think is the absolute lowest hanging fruit for AI is the whole Revenue Canada system, your tax system.

It's tailor-made to be done by a computer because it's a set of rules."

Frank Baylis on the opportunity for digital transformation in the Canadian govt.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"Kris and I said, we're tired of living like this, up and down, being just distributors. We want to develop our own products.

That was the impetus to say, we're going to conceive, design and manufacture our products under our own label, so we control our destiny."

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"I'm a huge believer in killing the myth of the self-made man.

And the faster you learn that and jettison that thinking, the better you can build teams, work with people, and build your success."

Frank Baylis ($1.75B USD exit) on the importance of humility as you scale.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"I felt like I was in jail, because I had this drive to do my own thing.

But that advice was excellent, because I learned so much."

Frank Baylis on the importance of working somewhere else for 2 years before joining his mother at Baylis Medical.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"Are you worried about AI coming? He goes, I'm not worried at all. I said, oh, that's interesting.

He goes, I'm not worried because I'm retiring."

Frank Baylis talks about the concerns around AI taking jobs in healthcare.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

AI could revolutionize healthcare. We interviewed Frank Baylis (@frankbaylis) to find out how.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He’s founded Baylis Medical and has exited multiple businesses, most recently selling one of his product lines to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

We interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:10) Montreal vs Silicon Valley
(10:45) Why Grads Are Booing AI
(15:58) AI in Healthcare
(25:32) Automating Revenue Canada
(33:33) Who Owns Our Data
(45:27) His Mother Said No
(57:52) The Myth of the Self-Made Man
(1:10:36) Change or Stop Growing
(1:14:57) The $1.75B Exit
(1:22:08) The Case for Term Limits
(1:32:28) How Parliament Really Works
(1:44:40) The Record-Breaking Petition
(1:50:00) Filming The Last Cargo
(1:55:54) Winner Mindsets Are Expansionist

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

How will AI change the future of healthcare in Canada? We interviewed Frank Baylis to find out.

Frank is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs.

He founded Baylis Medical Technologies and has exited multiple businesses, most recently to Boston Scientific for $1.75 billion USD.

Taylor and I interviewed him in Montreal to learn about his companies, the importance of data sovereignty, how AI could change healthcare, and his time in politics.

The full episode goes live on Wednesday!

[Building The North @buildthenorth]

"It's almost like you have no ceiling.

The opportunity is just there for you to go grab.

You want to be a lawyer, it's right there. You want to go build a business, it's also right there."

When Ahmed moved to Canada, the level of opportunity stuck out. He's since built Venn.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

Why adding AI to Canada's banking ecosystem will create more entrepreneurs with @venncanada co-founder Ahmed Shafik

Venn has raised $26.5m to build better business banking and is now used by more than 15,000 Canadian companies.

We interviewed Ahmed on @buildthenorth to understand how AI will change the future of Canadian banking for the better.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:26) His Parents Wanted a Doctor
(09:42) The $40 Statement Fee
(13:43) The Fintech Trust Shift
(17:50) The $21.5M Series A
(21:53) Running Venn on Venn
(24:35) AI Agents Moving Millions
(31:05) Would He Sell to the Big Five?
(34:14) The First Ten Hires
(45:35) A 10-Year Co-Founder Marriage
(49:28) Growth Hacks & Cold Calling
(1:00:11) Canada in Five Years
(1:04:10) The AI Layoff Excuse
(1:14:56) Idea on Monday, Shipped By Friday
(1:20:58) His Parents Starting Over

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

To grow Venn to its first 100 users, Ahmed built FX calculators, used Discord servers, and posted in random Facebook Groups.

"At every stage it was different."

Now at 15,000+ businesses, Venn is taking a different approach.

They've leveraged events, content, and brand to get the word out.

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

Why adding AI to Canada's banking ecosystem will create more entrepreneurs with @venncanada co-founder Ahmed Shafik

Venn has raised $26.5m to build better business banking and is now used by more than 15,000 Canadian companies.

We interviewed Ahmed on @buildthenorth to understand how AI will change the future of Canadian banking for the better.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(04:26) His Parents Wanted a Doctor
(09:42) The $40 Statement Fee
(13:43) The Fintech Trust Shift
(17:50) The $21.5M Series A
(21:53) Running Venn on Venn
(24:35) AI Agents Moving Millions
(31:05) Would He Sell to the Big Five?
(34:14) The First Ten Hires
(45:35) A 10-Year Co-Founder Marriage
(49:28) Growth Hacks & Cold Calling
(1:00:11) Canada in Five Years
(1:04:10) The AI Layoff Excuse
(1:14:56) Idea on Monday, Shipped By Friday
(1:20:58) His Parents Starting Over

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

“We need more champions.”

@lucyhargreaves4 from @buildcanada on messaging AI better

The divide in sentiment on AI is increasingly becoming an issue of narrative and communication.

We talked about how to improve this on @buildthenorth

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

"Even when people got through to a human agent at CRA to answer their questions... ~70% of the time, they were given incorrect information and advice."

@lucyhargreaves4 from @buildcanada on why call centres are the first thing that governments should look to automate with AI.

From the first conversation of @buildthenorth

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

@lucyhargreaves4 from @buildcanada on how Project Canada can attract builders

"Canada is not a country that has been built and is complete.

We are a work in progress, we are a project, and for any innovator or entrepreneur who sees that, they get excited about it, because they're builders and they want to build big things."

From the first conversation of @buildthenorth

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

In the spirit of Canada Day, @lucyhargreaves4 from @buildcanada on why she keeps coming back to Canada.

"I remember our next-door neighbours went out of their way to teach us what it meant to be Canadian.

We had our first Victoria Day with them, where they showed us the fireworks.

We made Bannock together and had our first Canada Day with them.

We were just really warmly embraced and welcomed, and I love this country.

I've been drawn to it over the years, and I keep coming back."

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

@lucyhargreaves4 from @buildcanada on what education might look like in the future and how she's approaching it with her kids.

"We're going to be more prosperous, and there's going to be more work and different work to do.

Look — if you had spent the last two years of your life doing an MBA, and you were graduating this year into a pretty bad market for a certain skill set that you've trained for, that used to be highly valued and valuable… and now you're entering a market that just has changed and it's not valuable.

So a lot of those people are going to have to pivot, and it's going to be hard for them. So — not trying to minimize that.

My son's going into grade nine in September, so we're starting to have some conversations about what he might want to lean in on or do, and he's really just not sure.

And all I really tell him — we talk a lot about the opportunities — but I also say to him: there's going to be so much that changes in the next four years.

The most important thing is to work hard, put in your best effort, work on stuff you really enjoy, figure out what you're passionate about in life and where you want to spend your time and energy.

This is a decision you can make three or four years down the road.

But bigger picture — setting my own kids aside — I do think a lot about how our academic institutions and the educational pathways we've become so used to in Canada are going to change.

And I'm not really convinced there will be as much demand for post-secondary education in the same way we might be familiar with.

When I was in high school, the message was: you go to high school, then university — or maybe college if you're interested in a skilled trade — and then maybe a master's degree, and then you get a job. That was the path, and most people did that.

And now, a lot of young people who might previously have been thinking about going down the MBA / consulting track — I think they're looking at that now and thinking, well, maybe I don't even need to go to university.

Or maybe I need to go for one or two years, just to connect with some people and figure out what I want to do, get some basic skills.

But there's so much learning that can be done independently, that's now accessible to us through some of these AI tools, that if you're a high-agency person, there's a lot that you can teach yourself."

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

How Canada can win AI with @buildcanada CEO @lucyhargreaves4

Build Canada has published dozens of policy memos meant to inspire change and built tools to push for government transparency.

On the first conversation of @buildthenorth, we discuss with Lucy why becoming the most prosperous country in the world is Canada’s opportunity to lose.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Why Lucy keeps choosing Canada
03:15 Three fixes: tax, open markets, red tape
09:21 Build Canada's mission & Canada Spends
15:28 Why AI became so divisive
20:22 Convincing the AI skeptic
23:26 Should AI be taught in schools?
27:01 AI's biggest win is fixing government
33:50 What is sovereign AI?
39:41 Best case vs worst case for Canada
43:10 Why only 12% of businesses use AI
49:32 The future of education
58:13 Inside Build Canada
1:07:45 What's next
1:22:55 Changing messaging

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

July 1

@buildthenorth ep 001 with @buildcanada CEO Lucy Hargreaves

Why becoming the most prosperous country in the world is Canada’s opportunity to lose

[Julian Wells @julianwells_]

Pretty cool to interview the co-founder of our banking platform @venncanada for @buildthenorth today!

Podcast with @a_shafik coming soon