As the Canadian Tech scene expands, we often are aided by Canadians abroad who have gained experience and expertise in various aspects of startup life and culture. Our guest today is Andre Charoo, Founder and GP of Maple Ventures, which invests in founders with Canadian roots.
We spoke about the lack of early-stage Canadian investors on the cap tables of successful companies like Instacart and Wish even though their founders have Canadian roots and what it was like being an early employee at both Uber and Hired.
Maple started in 2016 with just $1.2m in commitments and currently has over $16M in AUM.
And John Ruffolo is back to discuss the news.
About Andre Charoo:
Andre Charoo is the Founding Managing Partner at Maple VC, an early-stage venture capital fund based in San Francisco that backs Canadian-led companies. Andre’s deep operational expertise stems from helping to scale some of the most successful companies around, including his time as one of the first 25 employees at both Uber and Hired. He is also a Co-Chair of The C100, an influential community of Canadians in tech.
In this episode, we discuss:
(0:01:11) News rundown with John Ruffolo
(0:14:09) Andre’s jounrey from Markham, Ontario to Silicon Valley investor
(0:31:19) Lessons from being an early employee at Uber and Hired
(0:38:21) The problem with Canadian investors
(0:40:11) Why all successes are unique
(0:43:03) How he signed on to be a Venture Partner with Inovia Capital
(0:47:23) Operating from his homebase in Seoul, SK while investing in North America
(0:53:39) Tools he uses to stay organized
(0:55:48) How Maple’s portfolio construction has evolved
(1:00:20) Demonstrat value and viability to his LPs
Fast Favorites:
🎙- Favorite Podcast: Acquired
📰- Favorite Newsletter / Blog: The Generalist
📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Too many to name
📈- Favorite New Trend: AI
📚- Favorite Book: Shoe Dog
🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Put yourself in uncomfortable situations because that's how you will grow
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Expanding Canada's Global Presence with Andre Charoo of Maple VC