What killed your startup? (Live from Startupfest)

At Startupfest 2026 in Montréal, The BetaKit Podcast live panel discussed why startups fail and how AI can help or hinder success. Panelists included Johnathan Nightingale and Melissa Nightingale of Raw Signal Group, Fatima Khamitova of Vector Institute, and Vishar Yaghoubian of Toothpod. Melissa Nightingale said, 'There has never been a more exciting time to found and build a company in Canada.'

It is an immutable law of entrepreneurship that more startups fail than succeed. That’s both a warning and the price of admission for any founder. But it’s not fate, either. And knowing why most startups fail can be helpful in ensuring your startup succeeds. “There has never been a more exciting time to found and build a company in Canada.” Melissa Nightingale Success, failure, and the lessons learned from both were hot topics at our live edition of The BetaKit Podcast https://betakit.com/category/podcasts , recorded at the Startupfest https://startupfest.com/ village in Montréal’s Grand Quay in July. Featuring a killer lineup of Startupfest speakers see list below , we discussed the leading causes of startup demise, playbooks for company scaling, and the potential of AI to be a catalyst for both. The omnipresence of AI throughout the conversation recorded in a very fun rapid-fire talk show format wasn’t just because we had a director from the Canadian research hub, Vector Institute, on the panel. AI has saturated companies across verticals and business units, but like any tool, it can be used in beneficial or harmful ways https://betakit.com/cory-doctorow-ai-reverse-centaur-betakit-podcast/ . The conversational contrast between AI being used as an excuse to treat employees as less than people in one example, and a superpower helping small teams scale beyond their means in the next, was not lost on this humble live podcast moderator. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSS So, how can founders best use the means at their disposal to keep their companies alive and thriving? Let’s dig in The BetaKit Podcast: LIVE at Startupfest 2026 - Johnathan Nightingale – Co-founder of Raw Signal Group - Fatima Khamitova – Director, Startups at Vector Institute - Vishar Yaghoubian – CEO / Co-founder of Toothpod - Melissa Nightingale – Co-founder of Raw Signal Group PRESENTED BY The BetaKit Podcast is presented by MaRS Connect https://bit.ly/4xkfBxu . MaRS Connect https://bit.ly/4xkfBxu . Discover ground-breaking solutions on MaRS Connect, a curated digital platform designed to accelerate real connections between Canada’s top startups and serious adopters, investors, and ecosystem leaders. Visit MaRS Connect to learn more https://bit.ly/4xkfBxu . Feature image courtesy Cecile Roslin for Raw Signal Group.