Metiquity Ventures co-founders Bryan Slauko and Jacques LaPointe have shared the significance of ‘being the bad guy’ when it comes to guiding the next generation of local, early-stage companies and founders in Alberta and across the Canadian Prairies.

While the pair celebrate recent success in portfolio companies moving to further seed round, including WaitWell and Arolytics Ltd as well as new investments including $400,000 Investment in Saskatoon-Based Runnr Delivery, and $300,000 Investment in Calgary-Based Mastrius.

Bryan notes that an active investing model means working with companies and guiding them through challenges and that means, “there’s been times where we’ve had to get a little bit tough and have some challenging conversations.

“We are nice guys, but there are times where we have to be the bad guys.That’s all part of managing risk for our investors and invest to make sure that companies we invest in can succeed,” he adds.

In a similar jest, Jacques LaPointe maintains that it is the responsibility of Metiquity Ventures to help founders understand “blind spots” in their strategic vision and subsequent execution – an entrepreneurial void which can only be filled with the right level of experience.

“Often founders feel like they’re doing the right thing based on the information they have,” Jacques says., “But they don’t have the broad experience of seeing (how similar challenges and problems may have played out multiple times before within other ventures and other companies.

“It’s our job as active investors and mentors, to bring those experiences to forefront and share that information so that our founders can have those light bulb moments where they go ‘Oh, okay, I get it!”

So cruel, no but constructive criticism, is key to helping our companies scale.
Read more about the success stories of WaitWell and Arolytics Ltd via our blog.