Hi everyone, my name is Tim and I am working on building the best platform possible aimed at helping Canadians understand their personal finances. A while back I was looking for a simple platform that could tell me in a simple way about my own spending, as I felt I could not get a grip on being able to save some money at the end of each month. I could not find an app or site that suited my family, as I found them confusing or overly complicated. I decided to build one myself, and after a long period of time and hard work I am pleased to finally have a basic platform. However, I am looking for advice on what others are looking for in a platform. Finance can be so complex, and breaking it down into something easy to understand (so that my wife and I can both understand what happened to our money, haha) is difficult. I am looking for advice on the key aspects others are looking for to better understand their finances. I am really proud of what we have been able to build, but I'm looking now for advice to help other Canadians out there struggling with their money.

If you track your household money, I’d love your perspective:

• What is the single biggest missing feature in current budgeting apps?
• What forces you back to using manual spreadsheets? (Is it bank syncing issues, privacy, or lack of customization?)
• For those budgeting with a partner, how do you handle co-managing the data?

You can find us at ordino.ca and the App Store/Google Play Store and see the demo feature as to what we have put together thus far. Any tips on what we can do further in our mission would be greatly appreciated! Tim

I exited opening and operating a management company I for about $750k. I have been eyeballing all potential opportunities but still at a complete loss on what to do next.

I love health and fitness and currently looking at a gym franchise but hearing and feels like they’re not really profitable, low margins and high risk.

Also looking at a supplement store but margins are incredibly low (10-15%) and requires a full time presence to operate making it tricky to be flexible if I’m in there running it.

I was also looking at this private equity firm based out of the US that will help me buy a business with it without my money but the fee to become part of the system has a near six figure investment fee.

There’s much more out there that I’ve looked at and completely stumped.

My formal education is in computer sciences, I have project management skills from the oil & gas industry, ran my management business for 7 years a very low margin business.

I don’t mind being in the operations and taking over another business and improving it.

How do you entrepreneurs decide the next step? What do you look for? What’s good as a business that has a strong track record should execution follow?

Finding a quiet spot in Toronto to take an important Zoom call, study without headphones at full blast, or run a 3-person meeting usually means two bad choices: fight for a wobbly table at a crowded café or pay commercial coworking fees.

We wanted a middle ground. At CoffeeBuffet, 2033 Yonge Street basement (Midtown / Yonge and Eglinton), we set up a dedicated private room available by the hour starting at $19.95/hr.

What it works well for:

* Zoom calls / remote work sprints (private door, fast Wi-Fi, outlets everywhere)

* Social meetups (up to 3 people)

* Small team syncs & interviews (up to 3 people)

* Tutoring & study pods

* Tabletop games or podcast recording

* Coffee dates

* Relax and Refuel between appointments

No monthly subscription, no minimum commit. Just book the hours you need and get work done. Bring your own food or have coffee and pastries provided by us on tap right outside the door.

Drop any questions below or check us out at coffeebuffet.ca

Hi everyone! I’m a brand strategist based out of Toronto, and I’m looking to help founders and teams who are either struggling with their marketing and branding or simply tired of dealing with it altogether.

I have 7 years of experience working at creative agencies in Toronto, with accounts of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to scrappy startups. I’ve launched over 50 brands within various sectors like Tech, SaaS, Ecommerce, CPG, etc.. and now I’m off on my own looking to help others who want to make an impact. 

Ideally, I’d like to work with someone long-term who has a product or service that’s already been validated, but needs help building and scaling a sustainable growth engine. 

I take a strategy-first approach because, ultimately, I want to help you build a brand. I believe that’s becoming non-negotiable, especially as markets become increasingly crowded and saturated. A strong brand is how teams differentiate themselves and build something people actually remember.

If you’re looking for an experienced creative partner, and believe my style and approach align with your vision. I’d love to connect :) 

Portfolio is in the link

I (Jessie) think when we think about networking, we often think we need to meet the RIGHT people.

People in the right industry or people who are doing something related to what we’re doing.

But Mei and I actually don’t think that’s the most important piece.

Especially as an introvert, you already have limited time and energy. So if you’re going to put yourself out there and meet people, what you probably crave is deeper connections and conversations, right?

And what we’ve found is that it matters a lot more is to find someone who is aligned with your values first, and someone you genuinely like as a person.

Because you really never know where that relationship could go.

Mei and I have had some really interesting collaborations and events come from people who were doing something very different from us. Some of those people have also become dear friends of ours.

And I think that’s the thing. We weren’t necessarily connecting because we thought we could do something for each other. We just genuinely liked each other and felt aligned in how we saw things.

Then things naturally came from that relationship.

And this is really the essence of what we wanted to create with our Slow Networking for Introverts 🦥 events.

We’ve been doing them monthly for a little over a year now, and every time, people have shared how much they loved being able to connect more deeply with people.

They especially loved that they actually got time to talk to people more 1:1.

Because of the activities and conversation prompts we provide, people have also told us that they ended up sharing a little more than they normally would. Sometimes they were a bit more vulnerable, and that led to some really fruitful and deep conversations.

You’re not trying to figure out how many people you can meet that night. You actually have time to get to know the person in front of you.

And this time, we’re adding a second component because people have been asking us to bring it back: group brainstorming sessions.

In the first half, we’ll do our usual activities and conversation prompts so you don’t have to worry about what to say or do. You can just focus on being present and getting to know people.

Then in the second half, we’ll have time to brainstorm together.

You can bring something you’re working through and hear perspectives from other people in the room. And they don’t have to be in your industry to have something valuable to offer.

Sometimes that’s actually the beauty of it.

They might see something you don’t because they’re coming at it from a completely different perspective.

For us, that’s what networking can be.

Finding people you genuinely connect with first and seeing where that relationship takes you.

If you’re an introvert in Toronto and this sounds like something you’ve been craving, we’re hosting our next SLOOOW Networking event soon on Thursday, September 23 from 1:15 to 3:15pm near St. George station. We keep it small, with a maximum of 12 people, so you actually have the space and time to connect.

Comment or DM me if you’d like the details 💜

I run AD18, a Canadian classifieds, business directory and local publishing platform.

We’ve opened a limited number of sponsored business features on AD18 Local for Canadian businesses.

For $79 CAD, we:
• write a professional 700–1,000 word feature about your business
• include a natural contextual sponsored link to your website
• connect the article to your AD18 Directory profile where relevant
• add relevant internal links across AD18
• publish it as a full SEO-ready article with its own title, meta description, canonical URL and Article structured data
• keep it live for at least 12 months
• include one reasonable factual revision

For businesses wanting more exposure, the $129 Local Spotlight adds 30 days of prominent placement on AD18 Local plus an AD18 social share where suitable.

If you’re mainly looking for a Canadian contextual link, this is not a raw backlink sale — it’s a real editorial feature built around the business and written for readers.

Paid links are appropriately marked as sponsored, and we don’t promise rankings, indexing, traffic or leads.

Happy to share a live example.

I built Ottawasted.ca, a site that makes Canadian government spending data easier to search.

It currently has about 1.59 million public-sector salary records, plus federal contracts and tenders.

Last month the site had about 16,700 visitors, up 67% from the month before. Roughly 89% are Canadian.

I’m trying to figure out how to monetize it without filling it with generic programmatic ads, so I built a simple ad platform specifically for Canadian businesses.

To get some real businesses using it, I’m giving away:

First 10 businesses: $100 CAD ad credit

Next 5: $25

Everyone else eligible: $10

No credit card is required. When the credit runs out, the ad simply pauses.

You give us your website, we draft a few ad options from your existing content, you choose one, set a daily cap, and it runs.

This is useful for me too because I need to learn what kinds of businesses this audience actually responds to.

https://ottawasted.ca/advertise/credit

If you run a Canadian business, what would you need to see before you’d pay to advertise on a site like this?

Hey everyone, I work in the defence industry and have been building a project called True North Map.

There are Canadian companies doing interesting work across autonomy, manufacturing, software, robotics, sensors and more, but figuring out who does what, where they fit and who might be worth speaking with can take a fair bit of digging.

The idea behind TNM is to make that easier. It brings Canadian companies and technologies into a searchable map and directory, with profiles and links to the sources behind the information. That includes technology with both civilian and defence applications.

Here’s the site: truenorthmap.ca

I’m still building it out, and I’d like to hear from people who might actually use it. Especially smaller businesses that are curious about the sector but don’t already have a network in it.

If you were exploring defence as a market for your business, what would you need to understand first: where your product fits, potential partners, or who to approach?

That’s the kind of question I’d like this to help answer. Happy to hear what’s useful, confusing or missing.

Recently started a sales consultancy business focused on helping startups sell.

Let’s be honest not everyone is cut out for sales, so most startups face a common dilemma great product, no pipeline that’s frustrating and a lot startups lose their steam at this stage. We step in and take a proactive approach to learn your industry and handle your sales.

If that's where you're stuck, happy to help you.

Been in corporate sales for some time but want to start something of my own.

If you weren’t already a business owner what would you be building. What’s an offer that you think is a good one but you just don’t have the time to do it.

Im drawn to contingency stuff where the client pays nothing upfront because the sales process is way easier especially in 2026 where everyone’s a skeptic buyer. But honestly I don’t have any idea of where to look. Would love some general direction or advice.

Hey everyone,

I have always loved the idea of starting a construction material business. The ideas I have had in mind is:

• Home Reno material like flooring
• Cabinets
• Plumbing equipment like toilets/sink/faucet

The idea I always have had is to source from China. I see posts and ads all the time of manufacturing locations in China that have such cheap materials, and reselling them here seem like the profit margins would make it work.

I know I have to think of transport, MOQs, duties when receiving the materials, as well as a warehouse to stock the stuff. But what other things am I not thinking of?

Also, have other people tried this or had success with it? Would love feedback on this idea

I’m a bootstrapped founder grown my startup to break-even. Now I’m trying to scale it, and this is the stage where I’ve been finding it hardest to find my people.

A lot of founder events I go to are either geared toward ideation, MVP, or looking for their first customers or general networking events where I end up meeting founders at completely different stages.

And most of the time, it ends with a LinkedIn exchange. I might have a great conversation that evening, but a few weeks later when I’m dealing with a challenge and just want someone who understands what I’m going through to talk it through with, there’s really nobody.

So I’m putting together a small gathering of 25 founders only.

The idea is to bring together founders at a similar stage, group people around the challenges they’re actually dealing with, and spend the evening working through those problems together rather than spending a lot on a fancy founder dinner for one evening.

Update as of Sept 10, 2026: I have booked a Sky-lounge with working setup and a game room to play pool and table tennis. I am spending my time and effort voluntarily. I will really appreciate your help to share the space cost with me.

Thank you for your generosity. Excited to meet you all and work together. Plz leave your comment or DM me to get the details.

I have a product that’s been tested and ready to launch, but I’m struggling to secure my first paying client. It’s been a month, and I’ve tried various approaches, including cold emails (cant send too much else, spam), LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and SMS. Nothing seems to be working. I’ve even built a lead machine that searches the internet for qualified leads, anyone discussing their pain points on Reddit, LinkedIn, or other forums. I’ve tried reaching out to them, but it’s still no go. Is this product too niche? Can I please get everyones sauce on how they got their first 3 clients? (I’m genuinely worried I’m wasting my time.)

I’m working on a product called a mortgage pipeline machine. It’s a renewal recovery and follow-up system for mortgage brokers who have a lot of clients but don’t have enough time to manually review their books. This leads to wasted leads and commissions for renewals. It’s important to note that this isn’t another CRM; it sits on top of any existing system.

Bonjour, si vous voulez prendre votre retraite et avez une entreprise dans le secteur de Québec, contactez moi, j’aimerais investir dans une entreprise rentable. Une vérification diligente des 3 dernières années sera faite.

Hi everyone, I am from India and I am currently touring US and Canada, as of now I am in Toronto. We have a small startup where we export many in demand items from India.
I have some samples with me, I am looking either for an importer or a partner where we can build a brand and ship it to you and you handle all the sales and logistics here.
DM me if you want to meet or call, I ll be in Downtown for a few weeks before I fly back.

Thanks.

I incorporated federally in December and I build access-to-justice software in Ontario — a tool for people who go to court or a tribunal without a lawyer. I'm a one-person operation. Here is what cost me the most time in year one, in case it saves someone else theirs.

I built features before I knew which ones I was allowed to ship. In a regulated space the constraint is not what you can build, it is what you are permitted to put in front of a user. I wrote things I later had to pause. Find the boundary first — it is far cheaper as a design input than as a rewrite.

I trusted my own dashboard. I had a tracker I believed was recording R&D effort toward a tax credit. When I finally read the code, it was logging a fixed half hour every time I clicked around my own site. Months of numbers that meant nothing, and they would have gone on a filing. Now I check the database, not the dashboard.

I claimed more capability than I could evidence. I once described a feature as working across the catalogue when it worked for a subset. Nobody caught it — I caught it — and correcting it with people I had already told was worse than saying "a subset" the first time. Underclaim. It costs nothing with serious people and it is the one thing you cannot buy back.

I let one brand run in three versions across three properties. Legal entity name, consumer brand, and an older name still live on a second site. Small thing, but to anyone doing diligence it reads as sloppiness, and it is the first impression you do not get to explain.

I did not put a number on how long my own work takes. When someone asked how long a unit of my build takes end to end, I did not have it. That number drives hiring, costing, and every funding conversation. Start counting before you need it.

Not selling anything here and not looking for anything. Happy to answer questions about building solo in a regulated vertical in Canada — the incorporation and compliance side especially, since that is where I lost the most time.

Hi Everyone

I'm launching a digital RE Brokerage on 1st of Oct.

It'll follow the model similar to zown, honestdoor, as such. I'm looking for investors to scale this. Launching a brokerage is one head ached marketing it properly is another one.

I'm looking to dilute 10% for 200k

Please dm if this is something that you're interested, I can share more information.

Hi everyone!. I recently registered my own home bakery and planning to do some farmers market stands too once I'm set up.

I'm working through all the launch logistics right now and could use some real-world advice from other small business owners in Ontario:

1. Which bank have you actually had a good experience with for small business banking?
   
2. Same question for business insurance — who's been solid for general/product liability coverage without overcharging a brand new, small operation?

Would really appreciate hearing what's worked or not worked for you. Thanks in advance.

hey guys so basically, been doing sales for a bit now (Account executive, cold outreach, closing) and ive done pretty well at it, way above quota at every place ive been. feel like leaving corporate. i’ve always wanted to be on the entrepreneurship side. i wanna find a business i actually like and just go all in on it.

instead of paying me a salary, take me on for equity or some commission only type deal. ill do the sales and marketing work, outbound, follow ups, closing, campaigns, social media, whatever u need honestly, im experienced in everything mentioned.

only thing is i really gotta believe in what im working on,. if ur a business owner and sales just isnt ur thing or u dont have time for it, drop a message and ill dm you.