2020 Virtual Bootcamp - Business Driver Retreat
Espace CDPQ provided exclusive virtual programming to 15 businesses in order to help drive growth as part of its third Bootcamp.
Various heartfelt testimonials praised Québec entrepreneurs who successfully penetrated the market—both here and elsewhere. Here are some of the most inspiring tips from our guest speakers:
Carl Breau - President of Saimen
“As the manager of a growing technology company, you must focus on agility at all costs if you want to survive and compete in the local as well as the international market.”
Sylvain Beauséjour – Vice-President, Talent and Culture at Dialogue
“The key for a CEO is to be surrounded by the right people and then make a decision. Managers must be able to rely on their ability to decide and their managerial courage to make the most difficult decisions. It is in adversity that we see who the real leaders are.”
Sophie Forest – Partner at Brightspark Ventures, Nayla Chebli – Investment Director, CDPQ Venture Capital and Technology and Jean-François Marcoux – Managing Partner at White Star Capital
“Know your numbers and be prepared to answer pointed questions. If you don’t have an excellent command of the figures or your industry, you won’t be taken seriously.”
The Bootcamp also provided tailored support to address very specific issues being faced by participating companies. Three themes emerged as key issues in common for all of the companies: poor work/life balance, optimizing operations management and the shortage of cash. Entrepreneurs took part in co-development workshops and helped resolve issues being faced by their peers.
Entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to meet various venture capitalists one on one, allowing them to obtain financing advice.
During this strategic retreat, experts provided business leaders with various solutions and avenues to explore in order to achieve their more ambitious growth objectives.
Learn more about the participating companies:
• Biointelligence technologie
• Boréas Technologies
• Brizo Data
• Emma Labs
• Immune Biosolutions
• Gray Oncology Solutions
• Grokvideo
• Happy Camper Media
• horoma AI
• Lightbeans Technologies
• Officium Live
• Omy Laboratoires
• Paladin AI
• Technologies Hop Child
Participating companies are referred by business accelerators: LE CAMP in Québec City, ACET (Accélérateur de Création d’Entreprises de Sherbrooke), as well as Espace CDPQ regional hubs. A few participating businesses emerged from the Espace CDPQ | Axe IA initiative.
About the Espace CDPQ Bootcamp and “Hub” initiative
In 2018, Espace CDPQ named three accelerators in Québec (LE CAMP, DigiHub and ACET) as Espace CDPQ Hubs. The “Hub” initiative gives entrepreneurs from across Québec access to Espace CDPQ’s investment and development network.
Read all of the details regarding the initiative here.
