About
I’m an entrepreneur, investor, and community builder passionate about helping ambitious…
Articles by Jesse
- Reproducible funding model
Reproducible funding model
The current fundraising environment for startups is not like anything in anyone’s recent memory. Common belief is that…
Activity
6K followers
- Jesse Rodgers posted thisCapital is always the last thing to show up. That's not a complaint. It's just how early-stage ecosystems actually work. The sequence: trust first, then momentum, then money. Not the other way around. The founders who try to reverse that order - who show up looking for capital before the trust and momentum are there - usually find the process harder than it needs to be. Not because investors are wrong to be skeptical. Because what makes capital flow is already missing. What Waterloo has figured out, across decades and multiple cycles, is how to build the conditions for the first two. The trust forms in rooms. The momentum builds through repetition. Both happen before anyone writes a cheque. By the time capital shows up, the interesting part is already over.
- Jesse Rodgers posted thisMost early-stage fundraising advice skips the most important part. It's not the pitch. It's the alignment check. Hongwei Liu built Mappedin for over a decade. His reflection: most angels are functionally private equity investors, whether they think of themselves that way or not. They want their money back with a return on a timeline that roughly maps to PE IRR expectations. That is not what venture capital wants. And neither of those is what a founder building a durable, profitable business wants. The conflict isn't about bad intentions. It's about mismatched models. A founder building something real and lasting is on a different trajectory than an investor who needs an outsized return to justify their fund math. Understanding that structure before you raise is more useful than being surprised by it after. Raise less than you think you need. Grow deliberately. Preserve ownership and alignment. The founders who described themselves as happiest in the game were often the ones who had taken the least from outside the company and built the most deliberately over time.
- Jesse Rodgers posted thisWe're almost two years into Builders Club. That's long enough to see what it actually is, not just what we hoped it would be. Not just founders. Consultants. Hard tech builders. Coaches. Engineers. Operators. All using AI to do things that weren't practical twelve months ago. What makes that interesting isn't the technology. It's the room it's happening in. When a hard tech founder and a consultant and someone building a coaching practice are all wrestling with the same tool at the same time, the conversation gets useful in ways a single-category community never produces. There's something that happens in the physical space I haven't figured out how to manufacture anywhere else. Someone mentions a problem offhand and three people turn their chairs. Not because it's scheduled. Because they've been in that exact situation and have something real to say. The physical space is where trust gets made. Not from a shared channel or a monthly call. From proximity, repetition, and the small moments that don't make it into anyone's content calendar. That part can't be replaced. We're not trying to replace it. What we're figuring out is how to make sure more people can feel it, wherever they are.
- Jesse Rodgers shared thisSince 2021/22 it was obvious people aren’t starting companies at the same rate as before covid. If you were paying attention to that. Not many people were. Now we have data that shows Canadians are still making companies but they are making them in the US. We keep seeing the problem. Everyone keeps adding to defining the problem. Let’s get to work.Jesse Rodgers shared thisOur entrepreneurial culture is on life support, regardless of the sector. I believe that this started with the public service’s embrace of a 1980s industrial strategy that favoured corporate consolidation. We continue to favour oligopolies. Our legislation, regulatory structures, priorities, policies and procurement rules all favour the largest entities based on longstanding, outdated and disproven assumptions. Like a slow-moving but deadly cancer, the problem has been growing for decades — and can only be reversed with bold, versus incremental, action. Kevin Carmichael captures this problem as it relates to our oil industry (below). The current energy crisis created by the US president would, you might think, cause proponents to jump to join the Canada-Alberta pipline agreement. Carmichael explains why that’s unlikely, and why there’s an absence of risk-taking in our oil patch. In the last parliament we saw enormously important changes to the Competition Act. Fabulous… but it’s only a start. Those changes will help to slow the steady consolidation of the Canadian economy, but it does nothing to level the playing field in ways that will make our markets robustly contestable, opening the door to innovators in every sector. (The bathtub is overflowing. We turned off the water, but we’ve not yet pulled the plug.) We require a cultural about-face… where we re-prioritize the entrepreneurial spirit and culture that built Canada in the first place. This is a massive but achievable task. We have all of the necessary elements: 👉 incredible research capacity, 👉 programs that produce fabulous entrepreneurs, 👉 world-leading incubators and accelerators, and 👉 enormous pools of capital. What we still don’t have is a whole-of-government commitment to turning Canada’s entrepreneurial potential into a powerful economic engine. Every one of the seven priorities that Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined in his mandate letter to Cabinet requires Canada to catalyze its latent entrepreneurial culture in order to succeed (https://lnkd.in/eFXuH-GD). Trouble is, with all-too-rare exceptions, the culture of Ottawa’s public service will continue to reflexively respond to every question, request and challenge with answers that cling to past practices. Maybe you don’t believe in Canada’s entrepreneurial spirit or it’s importance. Maybe you don’t believe that it’s on life support. Well, in a world where 90+% of assets are intangible, we need to worry about the success of other countries efforts to capture our IP and entrepreneurs. Lots of data exist: 👉 2023 Banking Committee report (https://bit.ly/3qZ6yp5) 👉 Recent summary from Charles Lammam (https://lnkd.in/e4_zux9g). 👉 The “productivity crisis” identified by the Bank of Canada. 👉 BDC’s report on the decline of entrepreneurs (https://bit.ly/3FVMkUi) 👉 Please add more evidence, or contrary views, in the comments.Carmichael: The math has changed for Canada’s oilpatch - The LogicCarmichael: The math has changed for Canada’s oilpatch - The Logic
- Jesse Rodgers posted thisSocratica is not even four years old. It started as a small group of students who wanted a different kind of gathering - one built around showing your work, being honest about where you are in the process, and making friends along the way. It has become something international. People fly in from San Francisco, New York, Boston to understand what it is and why it feels real. When the students took the stage at the Winter Symposium, they acknowledged the campus. Not as a formality - as a truth. The campus gave them a place to find each other. But here's the thing: the students own this. Not the sponsors. Not the institution. The people who showed up, kept showing up, and built something worth flying across a continent to see. Universities used to enable this by accident - labs open, doors unlocked, resources too thin to police everything. That accident turned out to be generative. When you add resources, you add oversight. When you add oversight, you add qualifications. And the unlocked door quietly closes. What Waterloo needs next isn't another program. It's a genuine invitation to alumni to re-engage. To challenge the institution. To bring back the spirit that built it in the first place. The alumni are here. The goodwill is here. What's needed is someone willing to mean it.
- Jesse Rodgers reposted thisJesse Rodgers reposted thisI like events that make it easy for good conversations to happen naturally. That’s the whole point of this one. Join fellow hard tech founders, engineers, scientists, and technical builders hanging out, bowling for an hour, and talking shop. If you work on technology in the physical world and want to meet other people doing the same, come join us. What to expect: • casual in-person bowling • real conversation with hard-tech builders • no formal programming https://luma.com/6u69v7h5 Can't make this event? Subscribe to our event calendar for more: https://lnkd.in/ev_gEPYC
- Jesse Rodgers reposted thisJesse Rodgers reposted thisI never gave a shit about my "career". I was already a little bit academically burntout coming in to university (my dad famously asked one of my teachers what was the 5% I was missing when I had a 95 in Biology...) And then I tanked in university. Hard. I hated the classes, the people, the competition. If I hadnt worked at the library and volunteered in sexual health education I would've dropped out for sure. So that meant my adult "career" has been a wild ride of just wanting to go to work and then come home and not think about work. Not balance, apathy. Until I discovered nonprofit. A role that had me in the weeds and getting personal with those serving others. And I fell in love. Almost 3 years ago to the day I said out loud for the first time a wild idea I had for community and connection in the nonprofit sector. A love letter to an industry that had stolen my heart and regularly had me raging at the inequities of those working in it. Along the way I became so fortunate as to get to work with my best friend Nicole Jamrozinski which has been a career HIGHLIGHT. We happened to be at a work retreat (fun when it is just two of us!!) to talk about where The Nonprofit Hive is headed when we got the news. Couldn't have felt more serendipitous. To the MANY of you here on Linkedin who have been along for the ride, shared about our work, cheerleaded us on, I am forever grateful ❤️ And we can't WAIT to see what doors this honour from We Make Change opens for us in the year ahead.
- Jesse Rodgers posted thisEvery centralized system builds qualifications. Usually the formal ones get posted - stage, revenue, team size, sector. The ones that do the most damage are the social ones. Have you been seen at the right events? Do you know the right people? Can you speak the language of the room - the vocabulary of traction, the grammar of a well-structured pitch? That's a different gate than it sounds. It's not malicious. It's just what happens when a system optimizes for legibility. Legibility requires pattern-matching. Pattern-matching, over time, closes the room to anything genuinely new. Avery Pennarun demoed something at StartupCampWaterloo that was so early, so unpolished, nobody could have told you what it would become. The room had no qualifications. It just had an unlocked door. That's not a model you can institutionalize. But it is a condition you can either protect or destroy. The builders most worth finding don't look like builders yet. They look like edge cases. Working on something they can't describe, for a customer they haven't found, with conviction that seems disproportionate to what they can show you. The ecosystems that compound aren't the most organized ones. They're the ones that kept a door unlocked long enough for the next thing to walk through before anyone knew what it was.
- Jesse Rodgers reposted thisJesse Rodgers reposted this3 prompts in and you've already burned 36% of your Claude session limit. The model feels dumber than it did last month. It's not just you - and we have proof. Sarthak Mahajan, Saransh Mahajan and I built ClaudeDown(.)com - a tool that crowdsources complaints about Claude across X in real time. Rate limits, model degradation, usage costs - all tracked at an hourly cadence. The status page says everything's fine. Meanwhile, hundreds of devs are independently complaining about the same thing. ClaudeDown(.)com
Jesse Rodgers replied to a comment 21h
Jesse Wiebe 5 years in. Things are much better and some systems are starting to yield to new ideas. The challenges are also real. The US is way ahead on long term investment in talent and how it feeds returns.
Jesse Rodgers replied to a comment 1d
Evan Clark do the return to investors. Invest later, lower returns, less liquidity, etc. I still can't get over it costs less to build on the moon than build high spped rail between TO and Montreal.
Jesse Rodgers replied to a comment 1d
Evan Clark where things break is we call early support 'charitable work' and look to public funding or non-profit or charitable structures... its not charity. But there are a lot of losses before a win. The US just gets it. Help/invest in as many people as possible the returns will appear over time.
- Jesse Rodgers liked thisJesse Rodgers liked thisAre you at that stage of parenting where your child thinks they’re ready for a phone and you’re thinking ... absolutely not!! But also wondering if there is an alternative?! That’s my daughter Dea and that’s my friend Jay. Last week I shared my interview with Jay Shah on the GenNext Podcast. Aside from dropping some serious wisdom for our youth, he also shared something that he’s been building lately (of course he has!) A purpose-built piece of technology designed specifically for kids. Not something made for adults that eventually trickles down to them (Hint hint: social media and we’ve all seen how that goes). Him and his cofounder built Poppy. It's a screenless device kids can talk to. Happy to report we’re early adopters of Poppy and wanted to share what I personally appreciate about it as a parent: 👉It’s actually kid-appropriate. The tone is kind, helpful, and when my older kids try to outsmart it… it gracefully redirects them 👉My daughter can message us through it, and we can text her back (Poppy reads it to her) 👉She uses it for homework instead of Googling things and falling into who-knows-where on the internet 👉Every night I get a little summary of how she used it (a level of insight I wish I had with so many other things in life) We’re still figuring things out as we go because parenting + technology is basically one long experiment. I wish I knew better when my teenage boys were younger but I'm determined to do better this time around. Poppy feels right so far. At least I haven't been asked for a phone in a while. Check it out: talkpoppy.com If you would like to try it out, you can use code GenNext for a 10% discount 🙌🏻
- Jesse Rodgers liked thisWe are super excited to be working with the amazing team at D2L -- a local hero in the tech sector and huge success for Canada on the world's stage!Jesse Rodgers liked thisWelcome to our newest client, D2L. A global learning innovation company, D2L collaborates with leaders, policymakers, and industry innovators worldwide to advance learning, empower educators and support every learner’s journey. D2L is on a mission to transform the way the world learns. We’re thrilled to join them as a partner on this journey.
- Jesse Rodgers liked thisJesse Rodgers liked thisGET had a front-row seat to some inspiring work when we partnered on the latest CivicTechWR event — and it did not disappoint. Guest speaker Kristy Guthrie took us through the journey of co-founding municiPal AI. Her work with municipalities on website content gave her an insider's view of a deceptively complex challenge: how do you connect citizens of all ages and abilities to the full range of services a city provides? (For example: Where does the backyard chickens page belong?) She and her co-founder saw an opportunity and built an AI-driven search tool that delivers clear, accurate answers from the wealth of public content municipalities already produce. We also got to see the CivicTechWR team in action as they close in on projects tackling voter engagement, affordable housing, and mutual aid. These aren't hypothetical solutions — they're being built right now, by community members who care about the people and services in our cities. If that sounds like something worth seeing, follow CivicTechWR and keep an eye out for their upcoming project showcase. A huge thank you to everyone who came out and made it such a great GET together! 🙌
- Jesse Rodgers liked thisJesse Rodgers liked this🚨 Day 1 with Motorola Solutions. We started Hyper with a simple belief: When someone calls for help, there can’t be a delay. AI now has the potential to make 911 faster, more responsive, and more resilient — not by replacing people, but by supporting them when it matters most. This is how we scale it. 🚀 With Motorola, we can move faster, reach more agencies, and help more communities when it counts. Same mission, accelerated. Grateful to Joe Castaldo and The Globe and Mail for capturing this moment. 👉 Full story in comments
Experience & Education
-
Barn Ventures
View Jesse’s full experience
See their title, tenure and more.
or
Volunteer Experience
-
-
Ski Patrol
Caledon Ski Club
- 5 years 1 month
-
Assistant Coach
Bedford Minor Hockey Association
- 3 years 8 months
Children
-
Head Coach - Waterloo Tigers Rookie Tier II
Waterloo Minor Baseball Association
- 2 years
-
Head Coach - Novice Ravens
Waterloo Girls Minor Hockey
- 2 years
Publications
Languages
-
English
-
Recommendations received
24 people have recommended Jesse
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
- Bill McGraw
Bill McGraw
The emergence of GenAI has disrupted the tech world in a way not seen since the dawn of the Internet. It's a new paradigm that is forcing companies, governments and individuals to rethink how we engage with the world and re-evaluate our behaviour. I've been fortunate to be at the forefront of this trend and we've founded two startups that attempt to address this trend by combining the disruption of AI with blockchain. <br><br>We continue to work towards a world where access to AI and Web3 tech is ubiquitous, providing financial, social and environmental benefits for everyone.<br><br>FinTech, DeFI, AI & Blockchain - converging solutions that solve for the next level of advancement.<br><br>FactorChain AI acquired the 3rdSight algorithmic prediction platform and has rebranded as 3rdSight.AI. The platform includes a fully functional side-chain, decentralized data governance and provides treasury management to support the unique needs of nonprofits and small/medium size enterprises focused on sustainability, circular economy and food reclamation. <br><br>Data Value Networks, (DVNet.co) is a joint venture between FactorChain, SIngularityNet & Dectec that enables a value-sharing system owned and governed by community members that includes individuals, charities/non-profits and small/medium sized business operating in the Circular Economy.<br><br>FactorChain AI plays a leading role in bridging DeFi lending into the Supply Chain. By automating risk assessment through the use of data with AI/ML and leveraging the efficiencies DeFi pools of credit, FactorChain creates material efficiencies that lowers the threshold for credit issuance. This is the beginning of financial inclusion for a variety of small, local businesses, individuals and creators.<br><br>We are watching the new Internet of Value radically shift the way money moves and companies interact, unlocking immense value, and when combined with the new data imperative that necessitates awareness of who has access, who is benefiting and how to control your data, the results can be extraordinary. <br><br>I have been working in the blockchain/crypto space since 2016, having founded BlockTech Ventures in which became Northstar Ventures in August 2018. I am a tech industry veteran with hands on experience with startups since the late 1990's. I specialize in assisting early stage companies with investment, commercialization, scaling and monetization. I have a background in M&A, have served on several boards, and been responsible for rolling up firms in several different tech sectors.<br><br>Reach out for advice, collaborations, new projects or just to say hey.
- John H.
John H.
25 years of experience in developing new strategic programs in entrepreneurial development and finance, working to make innovation ecosystems productive for entrepreneurs and to unleash the full potential of creativity and economic advancement.<br><br>-MIT (Sloan) Exec Certificate in Strategy and Innovation, EDP.<br>-CFTP practitioner, extensive technology product development experience<br>-BA (Toronto) MA (American University of Beirut) Political science, theory, history, Canadian foreign relations-Middle East, philosophy<br>-PAS graduate of Birzeit University in Palestine<br><br>Professional firsts:<br>-Canada's first Microfactory Co-operative<br>-Canada's first $250K small town technology startup competition<br>-Venture13 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre<br>-$10M thriveFORWARD industrial innovation initiative in southern Ontario - start-up stream<br>-DELIA national microfinance/fintech platform for women entrepreneurs and ATICA expansion (access to innovation capital for accelerators)<br>-Secured and managed 9 figures in overall programming, mentored and advised over 250 startups as a Venture Catalyst<br><br>Running longer and faster (all distances and endurance duathlons). Coached by Andretti Bain™.
Explore more posts
Explore collaborative articles
We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
Explore MoreOthers named Jesse Rodgers in Canada
5 others named Jesse Rodgers in Canada are on LinkedIn
See others named Jesse Rodgers