What The Tech?

Hosted by Boast AI

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125

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Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

How are founders, startups and innovators from across the globe accelerating progress and extending their R&D runway? On What The Tech? we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “technological uncertainty” and, eventually, change the world. Brought to you by the R&D tax experts at Boast AI. Boast AI's What The Tech podcast was recently ranked #8 in Feedspot's Top 70 Venture Capital Podcasts on the Web ranking! Listen to What The Tech and other leading podcasts for the latest guidance and startup strategies.

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September 8, 2026Episode 12119 min

Office Hours: Inside Quebec's AI Tax Credit Boom

Quebec has quietly become one of the most aggressive jurisdictions in North America for funding AI-driven R&D. In Part 1 of this Office Hours series, Boast's Joshua Martin (Quebec Sales Lead) and Mat Rutishauser join host Paul Davenport to break down what's changed: SR&ED's evolving treatment of AI work, Quebec's CDAE-IA program, CRIC, and what the 2026 SR&ED enhancements mean for AI companies specifically. Recorded ahead of the All In 2026 conference in Montreal, this episode covers the two government programs every Quebec AI company should have on its radar, the most common eligibility mistakes companies make with CDAE-IA, and how CFOs should think about stacking SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC together. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome to Office Hours: Quebec AI Financing, Part 1 0:00 What's driving Quebec's AI funding boom 0:02 Does SR&ED treat AI development differently? 0:04 The two programs every Quebec AI company should know 0:05 What the 2026 SR&ED enhancements mean for AI companies 0:08 Stacking CDAE-IA and SR&ED: what's mechanically different 0:12 What is CDAE-IA and who qualifies? 0:14 The most common CDAE-IA eligibility mistakes 0:15 How to stack SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC 0:17 Rising scrutiny: how AI is changing government claim review too Mentioned in this episode Catch Boast at the All In 2026 conference in Montreal, Booth V6, all week. [Event link] Boast has helped 2,000+ companies across North America secure $900M+ in R&D tax credits, backed by a 100% audit defense commitment on every claim we support. [Boast Resource Hub link] This is Part 1 of an ongoing Office Hours series on Quebec AI financing. Part 2 coming soon, subscribe so you don't miss it. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

September 2, 2026Episode 12022 min

Why We Lost the "Third Space" And How Blurrt Is Bringing It Back

In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Benhur Bosco, Founder of Blurrt, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur and filmmaker who spent the pandemic discovering that human connection—not content, not vanity metrics—is what actually matters. What You'll Learn: → What happened to Benhur during the pandemic (isolation, ego death, and what came after) → Why social media failed to replace the "third space" we lost during lockdowns → The difference between connection and performance (and why social media optimizes for the wrong one) → How vanity metrics (likes, follower counts, profile pictures) actually prevent real connection → Blurrt's radical solution: voice-based conversations without performance layers → Why voice changes everything (emotion, vulnerability, authenticity without visual curation) → How Blurrt solves the Gen Z isolation crisis (letting young people be themselves, not perform) → Building from authentic pain, not cynical opportunity (why founders should solve problems they feel) → The ecosystem approach: bootstrapping + government funding (IRAP, SR&ED, BCIDMTC) → How Claude helped Benhur prototype and iterate rapidly → The 18-month runway: from prototype to V1 → Why "rationales and opinions" divide us, but "human emotion and experience" unite us → The role of voice in fostering real humanity (the ups and downs you hear in a voice, not the curated image) About Benhur Bosco: Benhur is a Vancouver-based founder, filmmaker, and honors graduate of Vancouver Film School. He spent years in Hollywood and the film industry before the pandemic forced a confrontation with identity, purpose, and what actually drives human connection. That realization sparked Blurrt. He's building from authenticity, not cynicism—solving a problem he felt acutely during isolation. About Blurrt: Blurrt is a voice-based platform for authentic human connection without vanity metrics. Instead of likes, followers, and curated images, Blurrt enables asynchronous voice conversations across multiple threads. No profile pictures. No performance layer. Just voices, humanity, and organic community formation. Users can share thoughts, respond with voice notes, and watch conversations evolve naturally. Currently in prototype/early access phase with an 18-month runway to V1. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

August 28, 202622 min

A Tale of Two States: California's R&D Cap vs. New York's Talent Surge

California is tightening its R&D tax credit cap. New York just overtook San Francisco as the country's top hub for new tech jobs. In Episode 1 of Office Hours, Boast's Ashley Crawford (Director of Customer Delivery) and Mfon Ubaha (Head of Partnerships) join host Paul Davenport to unpack both stories, plus EY's newest CFO survey on the "ownership gap" in R&D investment, whether AI is actually ready to handle your R&D tax credit claim, and the two filing deadlines every claimant needs on their calendar right now. Office Hours is a new weekly companion series to What The Tech, going deep on the R&D tax credit news shaping how CFOs, founders, and finance teams plan for innovation funding. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome to Office Hours, Episode 1 0:01 What's on Ashley and Mfon's radar this week 0:03 California's R&D tax credit cap fight 0:07 New York's talent surge and "a tale of two cities" 0:10 Is the pushback on California's biggest employers fair? 0:13 EY's CFO survey and the R&D "ownership gap" 0:15 Is AI ready to handle your R&D tax credit claim? 0:19 Rapid-fire: filing deadlines and the #1 last-minute mistake 0:21 Action items and where to go next Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

August 24, 2026Episode 11917 min

How Yonovo Is Fixing the Cash Flow Problem Draining SMBs

In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Salman Shawaf, Co-Founder of Yonovo, to discuss why SMBs are wasting thousands of hours chasing invoices—and how AI is finally automating collections. What You'll Learn: → The invisible cash flow crisis: months-long payment delays, forgotten follow-ups, bad debt that compounds → Why salespeople hate being collection agents (and what it costs your business) → How Yonovo automates accounts receivable using AI (90%+ accuracy on payment prediction and collection sequencing) → Salman's origin story: watching his dad chase invoices for 30 years as a wholesale business owner → The unexpected parallel between Yonovo (invoice automation) and Boast (government funding automation) → Why both companies solve the same problem: removing friction so businesses get paid what they're owed → Building community over slides: poker nights, soccer events, World Cup watch parties with other founders → The "ship fast" culture: Feature requests shipped the next day with AI development tools → Bootstrapping strategy: Why non-dilutive funding (SR&ED) should be your first capital move, not venture → The roadmap: From AR to full order-to-cash (AP, forecasting, reconciliation) → Why hiring lean matters (even as you scale) → The role of IRL events in an AI-first world (and why they're becoming more valuable, not less) → How SMBs can reclaim cash flow without hiring more staff Key Insights: "A lot of companies try to solve this, but the tech really never existed until a few years ago. Now you can get 90% there." "I'm an impatient person, so this really works in my favor with the age of AI. We get a feature request from a client and the next day I wake up and get a Slack message from our developer saying, 'Hey, we're done.'" "Boast gets you the money that you're already owed. Yonovo gets you the invoices that you're already owed. The thesis is similar—we both believe businesses deserve to get paid without friction." "As AI gets better, that will actually increase the value of in-person events. People are tired of cold LinkedIn DMs. We're always gonna be human." "The first thing you want to do as a founder is reach for the money that doesn't take any equity away. There's non-dilutive funding available to you, especially in Canada." About Salman Shawaf: Salman is the Co-Founder of Yonovo and a community-first founder based in Toronto. He's passionate about building in-person community for startup founders (monthly poker nights, sports events, casual dinners). His path to Yonovo came from watching his father manage a wholesale business for 30 years—constantly chasing invoices and managing cash flow. He believes the best companies are built by people who ship rather than slide deck. About Yonovo: Yonovo helps SMBs get paid faster by automating accounts receivable and collections. Using AI, the platform predicts payment risk, automates follow-up sequences, and removes manual work from finance and sales teams. Bootstrapped and bootstrapping-focused, Yonovo specializes in AR today with a roadmap to cover the entire order-to-cash process (AP, forecasting, reconciliation). Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

August 11, 2026Episode 11829 min

Why Canada Needs Its Own Social Network: Inside EH!'s Mission to Reclaim Canadian Voices

In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Jessica Glowacki, CEO and Founder of EH!, Canada's local-first social network. After 27 years in tech, Jessica decided to build something distinctly Canadian, a platform designed to lift local communities instead of extract value from them. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

August 11, 2026Episode 11729 min

Building the Financial Infrastructure Canada Deserves: Inside Float's Vision

On the latest episode of What The Tech from Boast, we welcome to the show Float Co-Founder Ruslan Nikolaev. At Float, Ruslan and his team are building Canada’s smartest corporate cards, while combining banking, payments and spend management in one intelligent platform purpose-built for Canadian businesses. His team is on a mission to simplify business finance in Canada, with Float already being trusted by 7,000+ companies to help finance teams save time, improve compliance, and scale with confidence. It’s an amazing mission, and I can’t wait to pick Ruslan’s brain on his path through Canada’s tech and business ecosystem and what’s on deck for Float heading into fall 2026. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

July 28, 2026Episode 11625 min

Why Your GTM Team Is Wasting Time Building Playbooks From Scratch

On the latest episode of What The Tech, we welcome to the show Cleanlist AI Co-Founder and CEO Levon Adamyan! At Cleanlist, Levon and his team are building the world's smartest agents that run GTM for you, giving teams a powerful way to build and execute Go-To-Market playbooks at scale without needing engineers or complex workflows. Levon brings a wealth of experience work at all levels of GTM to his mission at Cleanlist, having started on the Outbound frontlines before eventually lead Growth functions and acting as a Growth Advisor at some of Canada’s most exciting businesses. It’s this expertise combining “systems thinking” with hands-on execution that has informed the vision at Cleanlist to develop powerful GTM solutions that deliver results for teams faster, cleaner and with less friction than legacy tools. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

July 22, 2026Episode 11524 min

From the Gap in Healthcare to a Movement

In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Alyssa Mack-Lee, Founder and CEO of Blissminds, to discuss why women's cognitive health has been overlooked by the healthcare system and how she's building a movement to change that. Blissminds: cognitive wellness products designed specifically for women through major life transitions. Not generic. Not one-size-fits-all. Formulated with bioavailable ingredients (DHA/EPA from microalgae, inulin for gut-brain connection, high-extract chamomile + magnesium) and backed by clinical validation. Alyssa secured Health Canada approvals. Partnered with clinical researchers. And is running actual trials to measure neurological outcomes. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

July 14, 2026Episode 11427 min

The Companies That Win This Decade Will Be the Ones That Learn Fastest: Inside Limitless AI

In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Matthew Dillon, CEO and Co-Founder of Limitless AI, to discuss how AI automation is changing customer discovery—and why the real competitive advantage isn't speed, it's learning. What You'll Learn: → Why the customer discovery phase is moving from Google to AI search engines → How Limitless AI automates the first step of the customer journey while capturing critical intent signals → The self-improving loop: how captured conversation data trains AI to be more effective → Why service-based businesses need enterprise-grade customer intelligence (and why it's now accessible) → Matthew's entrepreneurial journey: from lawn care at age 10 to AI automation at 21 → How real customer use cases drove product development (not the other way around) → The R&D investment required to build AI agents ($10K+/month in Claude API costs alone) → Why SR&ED tax credits matter for bootstrapped AI startups → Partnership strategy: scaling through e-commerce platforms and agencies → How SMBs can access the same customer intent data that enterprises spend hundreds of millions to understand Key Insights: "The companies that win in the next decade, they're not just gonna respond faster. They're gonna learn faster. They're gonna learn about their buyers' signals, wants, needs, pain points, objections—and surface those quicker." "It's not about automating for the sake of automating. It's tracking the conversation, understanding what the customer actually asked for, and using that to improve the AI and the product itself." "We didn't develop an idea. We went out, integrated, worked with multiple different businesses, got proof cases, and then built a product around it." Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

July 7, 2026Episode 11324 min

Bending Gravity To Build Houses Faster

If you have ever watched a new build drag on for months, balloon in price, and still feel like a custom prototype at the end, you already know the real problem with housing: the process does not scale. Today we sit down with Vikas Enti, CEO and co-founder of Reframe Systems, to talk about a different model for construction, one that borrows lessons from robotics, systems engineering, and manufacturing to make housing faster, cheaper, and more predictable. Vikas helped lead major deployments at Amazon Robotics after the Kiva acquisition, and he brings that “complex systems” mindset to one of the most stubborn industries in America. We dig into why jobsite construction stays serialized and weather-dependent, and how Reframe’s low-cost modular microfactories change the equation by decoupling work from the site. He explains the idea of “bending gravity” inside the factory, how worker augmentation enables generalists to do skilled tasks, and why their robotics roadmap is designed to raise automation without the price tag of traditional industrial systems. We also get concrete about where this matters most: infill development in existing neighborhoods, where zoning differences and approval friction can make costs spike to $300 to $400 per square foot. Vikas walks through how computational design and software-driven engineering support mass customization across municipalities, plus what they are learning from projects in Massachusetts and from wildfire rebuild work in Altadena. Finally, we talk team building, vertical integration, and what is coming next: a production-scale facility, a five-story apartment building, and an aggressive push toward higher volume. If you care about construction technology, affordable housing, low-carbon homes, modular building, or the future of factory-built housing, this one is for you. Subscribe for more conversations with builders and technologists, share this with a friend who debates housing policy, and leave a review with your biggest question about scaling microfactories. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .