The Disruptors: The New TV Show Every Canadian Startup Should Watch

It’s easy to look at the entrepreneurs who changed an entire industry and discuss their achievements after the fact. The real skill is in identifying those startups long before they make their mark. With The Disruptors, Business News Network (BNN) is taking that challenge one step further and

Salesforce Canada

May 4, 2015 3 min read

It’s easy to look at the entrepreneurs who changed an entire industry and discuss their achievements after the fact. The real skill is in identifying those startups long before they make their mark. With The Disruptors, Business News Network (BNN) is taking that challenge one step further and telling their stories on TV.

Launched in early April, The Disruptors airs Thursday nights at 5:30 pm EST and stars reporter Amber Kanwar along with Bruce Croxon, a well-known figure in the Canadian venture funding scene with Round 13 Capital.

Although potential disruptors can come from anywhere, Croxon explained in an interview with BetaKit where he sees the biggest opportunities for Canadian startups:

We’re in the second biggest revolutionary time, certainly of my entrepreneurial career. The first, obviously, was the Internet and how impactful the old ‘information superhighway’ was to everybody, and now, to me, it’s the incredible amount of data that is being generated. A lot of it is not useful, but we’re increasingly developing the tools and the know-how to separate useful data from not useful data, and to me, it’s the second big sea change in our time, and the opportunities coming from that are phenomenal.

Besides reinforcing the value of analytics, the first few episodes of The Disruptors are full of useful takeaways for Canadians hoping to launch or grow a new company. Here are just a few of the highlights entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs can take away:

VCs are more bullish on startups than you might think

Although Canada has sometimes been given a failing grade in its level of innovation, The Disruptors opened with a discussion that countered that notion. John Ruffolo, CEO of OMERS Ventures, has already funded some of the country’s best-known startups, and he suggested there is appetite for a whole lot more.

“We had a funding crisis and a capital crisis,” he said. “We don’t have a shortage of great quality entrepreneurs.”

Canada is becoming an app-centric nation

Not surprisingly, The Disruptors proves that some of the best ways for businesses to engage their customers is via mobile devices. This includes a look at how wearable technologies such as the Apple Watch are changing the Canadian financial services landscape, but also how more traditional apps on smartphones can arrange transportation, track health care and more. There has also been coverage about the need to boost app development skill sets in Canada to meet those needs.

Cloud computing has entered the mainstream

The whole point of The Disruptors is to look at the tech trends that might scare traditional businesses. According to one recent segment, Canadian firms aren’t prepared for innovation via 3D printing, artificial intelligence or advanced robotics. Cloud computing, on the other hand, is foundational piece of most of startups being profiled, offering them access to data from anywhere and the ability to reduce their costs and scale quickly.

To learn more about how entrepreneurs can succeed in Canada check out Salesforce for Startups. Or learn the secrets of growth from 3 successful entrepreneurs in Salesforce’s free eBook, Secrets to Small Business Growth: Tips from 3 Successful Entrepreneurs.