Gary Vaynerchuk didn’t come to Calgary to coddle Canadian entrepreneurs.
In a high-energy fireside chat with BetaKit CEO Siri Agrell, the outspoken investor and media executive, better known as Gary Vee, delivered a series of truth bombs aimed squarely at the excuses he hears too often from startup founders in Canada.
From hiring woes to capital complaints, Vaynerchuk’s message was simple: adapt or get out of the game.
“Move, or don’t. But stop complaining.”
When Agrell brought up the common refrain that it’s hard to hire or raise in Canada, Vaynerchuk didn’t hold back. “You can’t hire because you’re in Calgary? Move. Or stop whining,” he said. “There’s no crying in baseball, and there’s definitely no crying in business.”
The crowd laughed, but the message was serious. Whether it’s time zone differences or lack of local talent, Vaynerchuk sees complaints as distractions from what really matters: solving problems.
“Everything that’s great is hard,” he said. “Love is hard. Building a business is hard. You chose this. You said you wanted to live in the 1 percent, with no boss and full control. That comes at a price.”
Talent shortage? “Use AI.”
Vaynerchuk also challenged the idea that headcount is the only path to scale. With artificial intelligence transforming workflows across industries, he sees massive opportunity for leaner teams and smarter execution.
“Can’t hire? Use AI,” he said. “You don’t need to outsource to the Philippines anymore. You can outsource to a bot.”
For Vaynerchuk, the future of work is about curiosity and adaptability. Entrepreneurs who fail to experiment with AI tools and automation, he warned, aren’t under-resourced, they’re complacent.
“Build a business, not a fundraising deck”
The conversation turned to venture capital, and Vaynerchuk didn’t mince words. “Too many founders became professional fundraisers,” he said. “They were chasing metrics for the next round instead of building something that makes money.”
He praised the recent downturn in venture funding as a long-overdue reset, one that’s forcing entrepreneurs to focus on profitability instead of pitch decks. “Capital helps, but it became cool. We lost the plot. The job is to make money, not raise it.”
A wake-up call for founders
While his tone was often blunt, Vaynerchuk’s message was ultimately empowering. Canadian entrepreneurs have everything they need to succeed if they are willing to take full ownership.
“There’s money in Calgary. There’s talent. There’s tech. There are planes. There’s Zoom,” he said. “You have access to everything. So the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Image: Ian Macdonald
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