PORCH 💚

We really enjoyed making our 2025 calendar! What an incredible year of community. We have now hosted nearly 100 virtual sessions and 30 in-person events. Sessions with incredible speakers, community sessions, potlucks, coaching & coffee, Blue Jays games, exclusive dinners, some awesome collab events, and much more. An end of one year means we now get to share our 2025 PORCH Events Calendar!! CHECK. IT. OUT. Sessions 🎬 ACA: Ask the Community Anything AI Use Cases for Entrepreneurs w/ Andy Jolls Roast My _____ Getting Started on Brand Building w/ Kathleen Booth Financials & Investing Canada & Immigrant Entrepreneurship w/ Sunil Sharma Mental Wellness for Immigrant Entrepreneurs w/ Nina Purewal Accounting & Bookkeeping Make It Better (Cold Email Workshop) w/ Jen Allen-Knuth Real Estate & Housing Current State: The Funding Landscape w/ Paul Irving BIPSY w/ Kevin "KD" Dorsey Crafting Your Elevator Story w/ Ravi Rajani Getting Ready for Growth: Funding vs Bootstrapping w/ Michael Ho The Cold Hard Truth The Talent Marketplace + more community sessions and speaker sessions coming! In-Person Events📍 3 x PORCH Potlucks 4 x Coaching & Coffee 8 x Exclusive Dinners 1 x PORCH Picnic 1 x PORCH Blue Jays Game Websummit in Vancouver and more... Bit of a humble brag but these speakers are fricken amazing and we are so so excited to have them #onthePORCH. Thank you to every one of these amazing people for being part of our 2025 events and sharing your expertise with the international entrepreneurs of PORCH. ➡️ Check out the full calendar: https://lnkd.in/dUqqUpd6 Message us if you want to get involved/support some awesome events! ---- 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣: https://lnkd.in/eJwrnGuv

I just got 3 things to say... What an incredible year of community! We have now hosted nearly 100 virtual sessions and 30 in-person events. Sessions with incredible speakers, community sessions, potlucks, coaching & coffee, Blue Jays games, exclusive dinners, some awesome collab events, and much more. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 2025 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫!! Sessions 🎬 ACA: Ask the Community Anything AI Use Cases for Entrepreneurs w/ Andy Jolls Roast My _____ Getting Started on Brand Building w/ Kathleen Booth Financials & Investing Canada & Immigrant Entrepreneurship w/ Sunil Sharma Mental Wellness for Immigrant Entrepreneurs w/ Nina Purewal Accounting & Bookkeeping Make It Better (Cold Email Workshop) w/ Jen Allen-Knuth Real Estate & Housing Current State: The Funding Landscape w/ Paul Irving BIPSY w/ Kevin "KD" Dorsey Crafting Your Elevator Story w/ Ravi Rajani Getting Ready for Growth: Funding vs Bootstrapping w/ Michael Ho The Cold Hard Truth The Talent Marketplace + more community sessions and speaker sessions coming! In-Person Events📍 3 x PORCH Potlucks 4 x Coaching & Coffee 8 x Exclusive Dinners 1 x PORCH Picnic 1 x PORCH Blue Jays Game Websummit in Vancouver and more... I couldn't be more excited for another awesome year of incredible learning, people, and good times. Thank you to every one of these amazing speakers for being part of our 2025 events and sharing your expertise with the immigrant entrepreneurs of PORCH. ➡️ Check out the full calendar: https://lnkd.in/dAgDcUAs 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓. 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑. 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐒𝐒𝐒! 🏎️ 🏁 DM me to get involved in some of these awesome events! ---- 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣: https://lnkd.in/eC-89QqH

And that's a wrap on 2024... We have hosted 45 virtual sessions and 18 in-person events throughout 2024. We brought on incredible speakers, hosted community sessions, potlucks, coaching & coffee, Blue Jays games, exclusive dinners, and much more. We wanted to thank the incredible guests that shared their experience with the community, along with the great organizations helped make our in-person events possible! Check them out: ↘️ Grants & Taxes: Navigating Canadian Business Funding and Financials w/ Stephen Lopes, CPA ↘️ Startup Law 101 for Immigrant Entrepreneurs w/ Dominic Alfred ↘️ Making Cold Calling Fun w/ Saad Khan ↘️ Let That Sh*t Go: Mental Wellness for Immigrant Entrepreneurs w/ Nina Purewal ↘️ Navigating the Journey of Fundraising w/ Adi Vashist ↘️ Making Marketing Work w/ Craig A Oldham ↘️ Emails that Work w/ Jen Allen-Knuth ↘️ Crafting a Compelling Story w/ Ravi Rajani ↘️ Lessons from 1000 Pitches w/ Kevin Sterling ↘️ The Go-To-Network Strategy w/ Mac Reddin 🦕 ↘️ Pitch Perfect w/ Will Greenblatt ↘️ Ask Samantha Anything (& Top Sales Hacks) w/ Samantha McKenna ↘️ Top 3 Ways to Use AI as a Founder w/ Jonathan Moss ↘️ Startup Law + Q&A w/ Charlie Macfarlane ↘️ Strategic Business Planning w/ Michael Smith ↘️ Venture Capital in Canada w/ Michael Ho ↘️ Financial Challenges in Canada w/ Scotiabank ↘️ Steps to Building Your Team w/ Katie Dolgin & Found People Inc. ↘️ Running a Startup as an Immigrant w/ Dev Mitra 🇨🇦 ↘️ Making Cold Calls Work w/ Will Aitken ↘️ Website Building w/ Julie Michelle Morris ↘️ Hiring Great Talent w/ Asad Zaman ↘️ Creating Community without a Community w/ Leslie Greenwood ↘️ Sales Sales Sales w/ 🏄♂️ Scott Leese Thank you to every one of you for giving some of your time to share with the immigrant entrepreneurs of PORCH 💚 And the groups that made our IRL events even better... Google for Startups, Moving2Canada, Hamilton Economic Development, SalesIntel.io, Aligned, Scotiabank, Commsor 🦕, Collision Conf / Web Summit, Toronto Blue Jays, Yunnan International Innovation & Entrepreneurship Collective (YiiEC), and others! Without the support of all of the people and groups mentioned above, we could not run PORCH. Each one of you has inspired, impacted, and helped many immigrant entrepreneurs towards their dreams of success.

I don't think there is a quick hack to becoming an authority figure on anything. Do the work and earn it.

Most of your inbox is filled with garbage 🗑️ Scott opened a lot of eyes and turned a lot of heads with this session. Cold emailing and calling is harder than it has ever been. Our founder, Neil W., and the expert on everything sales, 🏄♂️ Scott Leese, dove into some trending topics around the world of sales, what's working, what's not, and what they see in the near future. Can anyone be a great salesperson? Where is the line between persistence and pushy in sales? Where will sales as an industry be in 5 years? Will humans exist? Will everything be done with AI? Thank you 🏄♂️ Scott Leese for the awesome session! 💚 & yes, Josh Allen is the best QB in the league! #BillsMafia

As we begin to close out the year, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my sincere thanks for the continued partnerships. I’m incredibly grateful, and upon reflection, blown away. I founded Pure Minds Inc., in 2017 with the option of knowing I’ll go back to corporate sales or marketing, (which I loved!), if the cards didn't quite fall right. Here we are, 7 years, and over 60 companies later…you gave me the opportunity to never look back. This is all thanks to the companies that have prioritized Wellness & Mental Health, and more importantly, the leaders who have advocated for it. Honoured to add and continue to work with the following companies this year: Liberty Mutual Insurance The J.M. Smucker Co. Haleon The Boston Beer Company Align Technology BMO Tim Hortons DPR Construction Milton Hydro Distribution Inc. Equifax PORCH 💚 THANK YOU for continuing to support this entrepreneurs dream of helping others find hope through adversity! #mentalhealth #wellness #workshops #corporateworkshop #wellnessintheworkplace

🗓️ 2025 Event Calendar loading.... We've been working hard the past few weeks planning out our 2025 events! We are pumped to be bringing the community loads of incredible speakers, community sessions, and of course more kiss a** in-person events – potlucks, dinners, socials, sporting events, and more... Keep an eye out for our launch later this week!

Lights. Camera. Action! 🎬 It's time for our Friday PORCH Spotlight 🔦 Introducing...🥁 🥁 Chloe Toka and her company, Aladi Media Chloe has taken her vast experience across the film industry from casting to production and founded Aladi Media – a dynamic production company dedicated to amplifying culturally rich, diverse stories through film, documentary, and commercial projects. With a mission to inspire and connect, it empowers creators and audiences alike by bringing authentic, impactful narratives to the forefront. Aladi Media also supports creators with media training and professional equipment rentals, making it a valuable resource for visionary storytelling. It has been an absolute pleasure having Chloe part of the PORCH community and we can't wait to see her success in this company! Universal look out! 🎥 👀 🔗 Connect with Chloe Toka ------ Check out more PORCH Spotlights: https://lnkd.in/er_FndeK

Most early-stage founders do NOT get the support they need. Especially immigrant founders. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺? 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲? • Immigrants make up 24% of Canada population (14% of the USA) • Immigrant owned firms contribute about 25% of net job creation despite representing only 17% of firms • Immigrants are more entrepreneurial (We need more entrepreneurs!) - 4.4% of immigrant men are entrepreneurs and 1.5% of women (note that's a higher rate than non immigrant women) As a country, we need immigrant entrepreneurs to help the country's economy. As humans, we should want everyone to be given the support they need to be happy and successful (we ALL need support). The best of the best get into a Y Combinator or a Creative Destruction Lab but the rest either; a) hopefully into one of the dozens of gov't funded accelerator programs, or b) don't qualify for any accelerator at all and are left mostly on their own According to the feedback I hear, and what I see, most accelerators don't deliver what these people need. The fact that the government gives millions to many of these accelerators makes the feedback I hear even worse. We need to support them better. Here are some crowd-funded (via PORCH 💚 ) ways to improve the support provided to immigrant entrepreneurs • Stop running events focused on your sponsors. It should be about the founders and helping them be 1% better than when they walked in the door. Make events interactive - run an activity or a workshop. • Teach them how to fish on their own -- this means not just making an introduction (while that is valuable), it means teaching the founder how to network and meet others on their own    • There should be a certification to be a coach, advisor, mentor to startups. It's that important. Accelerators need to stop hiring people to coach founders if they have never been one themselves or never even worked in a startup. • Stop giving government handouts to those good at lobbying. In some cases, those millions would be better spent giving it directly to the Founders.    • STOP accelerators using government funds to reinvent the wheel. I constantly see "brand new" e-guides and programs that are the same as the last one. Work together and see what already exists. Another e-guide on the top ten steps on how to start a business is NOT NEEDED.    • MORE SALES and MARKETING coaching and discussion required. The other stuff is important but most programs I see have only a few hours on sales. Trust me revenue solves all problems.    • Realize that most accelerator programs are only 1-3 months long and no founder learns everything they need in 1 month or even 6 months. The journey is forever. Join forces with programs and communities that provide the ongoing support that you do not. We need to do better for immigrant founders - for the economy - for the country. What did I miss? --

We're past American Thanksgiving but we want to give thanks to some incredible people. We just had our last PORCH Potluck of 2024 and it was a beautiful night. As much as we appreciate credit :) we couldn't do it without some incredible people and companies. So here goes... 💚 We had the pleasure of collaborating with Google for Startups for this special night. Thank you to Iran Karimian and Erchit Sood PMP for doing this beautiful night with us! 💚 A special thank you to Moving2Canada for supporting the night and coming to enjoy it with us! Shoutout to Hugo O'Doherty and Ankit Balooja! 💚 Some awesome people supported the night with prizes, snacks, and goodies! Lavender 💜 (💜 Will GPT), Grüvi (Niki Sawni), SimplyProtein (Michael Lines), Conagra Brands (Paul Hogan, MBA and Ian Roberts), CreatorClub (Mark Simone), Scotiabank (Marlene Le Conte), Hamilton Economic Development (Stefa Sokolowski), WebSummit LLC (Katie Bolger), Pocketed Grant Platform (Brianna Blaney) and others! 💚 Our incredible #PORCHambassadors for always spreading support, love, and simply being great people – Somayeh Akbarshahi, Nida Ateeq, Anna Sotnykova 💡, Olumuyiwa Faulkner, TING Zhou, Yashar Behroozi, Steven Yu, PMP®, Akos Tolnai, CCXP, Sachi Kittur, Adaeze Edokwe (PMP) 💚 Olumuyiwa FaulknerFaulkner and TING Zhou for officially becoming the first PORCH Toronto Chapter Leaders! 💚 Matrix Venture Studio ™️ (Dev Mitra 🇨🇦 and Abhijitt Sankar Roy 🇨🇦) for becoming the first company to join us in the new PORCH Foundation – an NFP providing micro grants for immigrant entrepreneurs!! And that right there is the maximum mention limit. LI doesn't believe we have so many people to thank! When you bring good people together, it's amazing what can be accomplished.