Francois Lafortune is the Co-Founder and CEO of Diagram Ventures.

Francois is also a Managing Partner at Sagard and Chairman of the Board at Nesto.

Diagram is a venture launchpad building the next generation of global companies based in Canada. They develop and incubate our own ideas, and find exceptional entrepreneurs and technologists to build companies with us.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

2:00 The Genesis of Diagram: A Venture Studio's Origin

05:23 Navigating the Idea Flow: From Concept to Execution

09:49 Criteria for Success: Understanding the Venture Creation Funnel

13:54 Leveraging Competitive Advantage: The Diagram Ecosystem

16:36 Finding the Right Founders: The CEO Search Process

21:14 Funding Dynamics: Balancing Ownership and Attracting Investors

24:37 Team Structure: Blending Operators and Investors

27:18 Navigating the Entrepreneurial Landscape

28:51 Identifying Market Opportunities

31:05 Learning from Experience

36:51 Signals of Success

39:35 Emerging Trends Beyond AI

41:04 Balancing Ideas and Execution

44:15 Transitioning from Hands-On to Hands-Off

46:41 Coping with Challenges in Entrepreneurship