EY CANADA’S SID NAIR is optimistic Canada can collectively overcome that hurdle to not only found more businesses here, but also enable them to scale. Like Margaux, he acknowledges some of that will come from a change in founders’ thinking.
“As a startup you need to be scrappy and you need to be agile,” says Nair, who leads EY’s national Technology M&A practice. “As you scale there is a level of maturity that needs to come with it, because you are dealing with more sophisticated clients, and the implications of you getting things wrong are that much higher.”
Nair says as tech leaders look to scale, mindsets must shift. “Founders will need to go from thinking like builders to becoming evangelists about what they’ve built. They must also rethink what scaling really means. Yes, it’s about growth. But in today’s ambiguous operating environment, founders will also want to frame the idea of ‘scaling’ in the context of market and end-customer diversification. It’s one more way to manage risk.”
That perspective emphasizes another dynamic: scale as a lever for independence, optionality and even sovereignty in some cases. “Everything is so interconnected, scaling takes on new meaning in this context,” Nair adds.
That said, cultivating a scale-up culture in Canada will require more than sheer determination. For Nair, that means public and private stakeholders working together to nurture an ecosystem for entrepreneurial success. By thinking Canadian-made, Canada can also help anchor stability, serve as a new channel for capital and enable founders to both sustain innovation and scale in complicated times.
Potential scale-ups also need local customers willing to take a chance on an emerging firm. That includes everyone from large-scale enterprises — let’s say, a major Canadian bank — to government agencies and departments.
“It’s going to take all of us, working together and empowering one another, to make sure Canadian businesses have what they need to scale up right here. It’s not only the founder’s responsibility. It’s a willingness on all our parts to purposefully reinforce Canada as the world’s premier entrepreneurial ecosystem, a place where you can found and scale a thriving business. That’s what nation-building is all about.”
KAREN HASTIE, founder of the Chamber Perks App, sees that potential, too. Hastie’s firm began as a grassroots effort to help a local chamber of commerce support its business members. Since then, it’s evolved into a Canada-wide tech platform supporting more than 20,000 businesses. Even with that track record, she knows continuing to scale will likely be an uphill battle.
Hastie launched her startup out of Sudbury, but says it has become more challenging to think locally. Operating outside of a major tech hub limits access to talent, available partners and even the ability to get media exposure.
“Some of the baseline metrics include the number of jobs created in Canada, the potential for growth through exports and commercialization through patents. There are also downstream effects to consider. You may be building your company in Canada, for example, but are you also using local vendors?”
AARON SMITH
Partner, Public Sector and Health Consulting, EY Canada
“If we want Fortune 500-level companies in Canada, we need a Fortune 500 level mindset in Canadians. Startup founders in smaller cities need access to mentorship, growth opportunities and platforms that would enable them to think big and step outside their comfort zone.”
From her perspective, part of that must come from policy. “We need more government programs tailored to scale-ups, not just startups, be it grants or access to a network of bigger suppliers and vendors.”
BUT TO NAIR’S POINT, that concept goes two ways. Programs like the federal SR&ED innovation incentive and the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) for tech innovation have existed for years. Yet entrepreneurial business leaders need to understand how they’ll be evaluated as they apply for them, says Aaron Smith, Partner in EY’s Public Sector and Health Consulting practice.
“Some of the baseline metrics include the number of jobs created in Canada, the potential for growth through exports and commercialization through patents. There are also downstream effects to consider. You may be building your company in Canada, for example, but are you also using local vendors?”
As nation-building efforts prioritize procurement at the provincial and national levels, opportunities will undoubtedly emerge for Canadian businesses at different stages of the growth journey. But that business-to-business angle will remain critical.
The EY Winning Women Program™ spots ambitious entrepreneurs and provides them with resources, network and access needed to unlock their full potential. Four Canadian startups were accepted into the program’s North American class in 2025.
“From a biotech company specializing in next-gen molecular diagnostics to a proprietary human-centred design thinking model, puppy-therapy events and a wellness business and AI-enhanced veterinary services group: the Canadian entrepreneurs in this year’s cohort are changing entire industries,” says Vean Hung, EY Canada Entrepreneurial Winning Women Program Co-Leader. “What’s unique about this program is it goes beyond recognition to surround high-potential entrepreneurs with the business network and resources they need to reach that next level of successful growth.”
By providing connections and resources to think boldly and scale companies sustainably to their full potential, Hung sees the program as a key driver of a successful ecosystem. Program co-leader Cecile Van Niekerk points to other ways EY is applying a similar model to fuel Canadian progress.
“The connectivity we’re creating through EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women and also, more broadly, our Entrepreneurs Access Network and the EY Canada Entrepreneur Of The Year program all work in concert to build bridges,” Van Niekerk says. “I really believe that’s essential. To scale up, entrepreneurs need strong networks within the founder community but also with other businesses, governments and potential customers. When we make those connection points, we can make exponential progress.”
The kind of progress that scales Canadian ideas into unicorns on the global stage.
