Should Canadian Entrepreneurs Choose U.S. Venture Capital?
Roundtable Luncheon with Richard Nathan and Michael McDerment
Rick Nathan, Managing Director, Kensington Capital Partners
Rick Nathan is a Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners, where he has lead responsibility for the firm’s venture capital business. He is a Founding Co-Chair of the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX), and served as President and Chair of CVCA – Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association from 2005 to 2012. He is also a member of the Small and Medium Enterprise Committee (SMEC) established by the Ontario Securities Commission. Rick is a Board member of several companies within the Kensington portfolio, including D-Wave Systems Inc., Blue Ant Media Inc. and TouchBistro Inc., and is an Advisory Board member for the Novacap, Vanedge Capital, Georgian Partners and Relay Ventures funds. Rick was previously a founding partner of Brightspark Ventures, a Toronto venture capital fund focused on incubating early stage technology companies, and spent more than 10 years as a corporate and securities lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, including as leader of the firm’s Technology Business Group. Rick holds a B.A. (Computer Science) from Dartmouth College and an LL.B. from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.
Michael McDerment, co-founder and CEO, FreshBooks
Mike McDerment is co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, the #1 cloud-based accounting software for service-based small business owners, with more than 10 million users worldwide. Launched in his parents’ Toronto basement in 2003 and bootstrapped for more than a decade, FreshBooks took its first round of VC funding in 2013. A passionate advocate for building a strong Canadian tech industry, Mike speaks regularly to entrepreneurs about the importance of building their companies in Canada and raising the next generation of tech leaders. A lover of the outdoors, Mike has been bitten so many times he is reportedly the first human to have developed immunity to mosquitoes.
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