Staircase Ventures

When launching Staircase Ventures almost two years ago, I foresaw a future venture capital landscape that would increasingly become a barbell, with mega funds able to write massive cheques at high valuations on one end, and small, focused funds that focus on adding significant value on the other end. The article below from The New York Times supports this thesis as it compares the Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark models. While Andreessen has $44 Billion under management and uses size to outbid other firms and get into companies such as GitHub and Clubhouse at rich valuations, Benchmark has raised the same size of fund for the past 20 years and wins the opportunity to invest in companies such as eBay, Cerebras, and 11x.ai based on its thought leadership, hustle, and hands-on involvement with its companies. These two different strategies require different team resources and skills, and can produce different results, both in terms of returns and stakeholder outcomes. I do not believe that one model is inherently better than the other, but it is important that venture capital firms make a clear choice as to where they want to play, as there will be limited room in the middle of the barbell. At Staircase Ventures, our strategy is to consistently raise the same size of funds and focus on investing in the very best companies, doing everything we can to improve their outcomes, and provide the very best returns for investors. We are not trying to raise successively larger funds; we are focused on investing in, and supporting, the very best companies, and delivering the very best returns for our investors.

As Taylor Swift's Eras Tour wrapped up this past weekend in Vancouver, I have been thinking about her incredible prominence and the undeniable impact she is having on an entire generation.  I attended a Taylor Swift concert last summer in Seattle with my two nieces and was tremendously impressed by the scale of what she has created and the business acumen behind her success. Regardless of whether you are a Taylor Swift fan or not, every entrepreneur can learn valuable lessons from observing how she has built her remarkable empire, and how she continues to connect with her customers, innovate, and build a world-class team. https://lnkd.in/gJYT_fQA

Staircase Ventures hosted its annual Founders Days last week. It was a terrific two days of our founder learning, sharing, and bonding. The group was inspired by guest speakers Dan Park, CEO of Clutch, who talked about leadership and resiliency and Noura Sakkijha, who shared her story and lessons learnt in building Mejuri to a global brand. The highlight of the two days was evening cocktails with our founders and investors. Staircase Ventures has an incredible community, working together to create the next generation of massively successful tech companies. Thanks to our incredible founders, Alice Reimer, Ted O'Grady, and Brian Reimer of Fillip; Anthony Mouchantaf and Alexander I. Mosa of Biossil; Tomas Ronis and Erin Chan of Rhenti; Alik Sokolov and Vova Golubin of Sibli; Chad Hayden and Cara Haberstock of Galatea Technologies. You always bring your energy, enthusiasm and generous spirit to every event. You are why we do what we do every day.

The energy was great this morning and the momentum didn’t stop. After a lively delegates luncheon, Ken Elgarten, a Credit Strategist from Seaport Global Holdings LLC provided a US IG Corporate Market Outlook that explored key themes from major market participants and the impact on investment grade flows and spreads. Ken also discussed new issue expectations and demand for fixed income and credit, as well as expected performance going into year-end and starting in 2025. This was followed by a CIO Panel on Fixed Income’s Evolving Role in Global Multi Asset Class Portfolios with @Ian McKinnon, CIO at Addenda Capital and Erwan Pirou, CIO at Aon Canada. Starting with a brief overview of current asset class valuations and overall market trends, the discussion turned to the most current thinking about fixed income and its role within multi asset-class portfolios. A deep dive into the transformative role of AI in bond markets and fixed income portfolio management was the topic of the next session. Vova Golubin, Co-Founder and COO, Sibli and Duncan Rowland, Founder and CEO, Migrations.ml delved into the game-changing impact of AI on market and credit research, analytics, and beyond. #CBIA #CanadianBonds #BondInvesting #FixedIncome #CBIAConference 

From early days at McKinsey to Silicon Valley stints, Janet Bannister’s (Founder & Managing Partner at Staircase Ventures) journey to venture capital was fueled by a fierce drive to support founders. After years with top VC firms, she launched Staircase Ventures—a solo GP fund doing things differently. Her Formula? Invest in Founders, Not Just Companies. Every investment goes beyond funding. Founders get full commitment: executive coaching, peer groups, family stipends, financial advice, and a built-in founder community supported by real advisors from billion-dollar companies. The goal? Help founders scale holistically. Why? Because a founder’s growth is the company’s growth. Canada’s tech ecosystem is strong, and she’s all in to help it thrive. A big thank you to Sean Silcoff for moderating the session! And thanks to Dentons for sponsoring the session! #SAASNORTH #VentureCapital #CanadianTech #FounderSupport #StaircaseVentures #Scale

Just wrapped up a phenomenal week at SAAS NORTH Conference! It was an inspiring week connecting with founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and partners – the energy and innovation in this space is truly amazing. The week kicked off with an Executive Government and Industry Roundtable at the Hub350 Summit, bringing together leaders and decision-makers to drive growth and collaboration in the tech eco-system. Jenna Sudds Karen McCrimmon Cathy Curry Nahaja Black Kelly Daize Kanata North Business Association Hub350 The highlight was undoubtedly our SaaS North Tech Social Mixer, hosted in partnership with Deloitte, Dentons, Humi, L-SPARK Startup Accelerator 🇨🇦, and SheBoot. Huge thanks to our partners for helping us create an unforgettable evening of networking and celebration! Special shoutout to the incredible team at RBCx for their hard work organizing this event and to our leadership team, who traveled in to connect with clients and investors. Your dedication made all the difference! I feel extremely lucky to be part of such an incredible team RBCx! Here’s to building even stronger connections and supporting the next wave of innovation! #tech #rbcx #saasnorth Sid Paquette Tony Barkett Amanda Filipe Anne No Dr Lindy Ledohowski 🇺🇦🇨🇦 Jake Malette Darryl Duncan Lorie McCarthy Ishia Ryan Michael Tayler Gina Shin Filip Stoj Laith Shukri Nick Lalach Italo Voso Blake Farquharson John Rikhtegar Abdelrahman(Abood) A. Mohamed Leo L. Patrick White Jennifer Francis Saleh Taebi Glenn Cowan Alok Ahuja

Last week I spoke at three events in two days, and attended three evening events. A lot of people ask me how I am able to find the time and energy to speak at/attend so many events. Like all decisions in life, it comes down to priorities and values. My number one Staircase Ventures priority is to support our current portfolio companies. That comes first and I will always have time for our companies and their teams. Our Staircase Ventures values are reflected in the number and type of events I support. Our values are: 1. Give-first mentality: Speaking at events and sharing my experiences and lessons with entrepreneurs, business leaders, students, and others is a powerful way to give back to a tech and business community that has given me so much opportunity. 2. Positive, can-do attitude: The ability to work in venture capital and alongside the brightest, most driven founders is a privilege. We love our work and appreciate any opportunity to spend time with others who share our energy, enthusiasm, and passion to make an impact. 3. Hustle & hard work: Being successful in VC requires incredible drive and energy to show up, meet new people, understand different perspectives, learn new things, and make valuable connections. This gives us privileged access to entrepreneurs and is one way we can add meaningful value to our portfolio companies.

I had the opportunity to re-connect with my grad school roots and sit down with Dean Susan Christoffersen, alongside Neil Peet, to share my experiences around building Rhenti and how our ecosystem of mentors, advisors, and other sources of insight helped us to grow. When I attended Rotman over 10 years ago, the path of entrepreneurship was a seed of an idea at the school, with marginal student interest. Fast forward to now - I was happy to see a room full of students and mentors interested in supporting innovation and building better human experiences. A special shout-out to Hussam W. Ayyad and the rest of the Rotman team for launching the Startup Rotman Mentorship platform. I'm excited to be a part of this new system of support for budding entrepreneurs.