Five Ideas Entrepreneurs Need To Thrive Right Now

There are many overlapping reasons for this: It’s difficult for upstarts to get money, with venture capital in contraction and private equity markets gravitating towards big, blockbuster deals. It’s difficult to innovate, with research and development investment lagging the OECD average amid a persistent national tendency to fumble the commercialization of great ideas. It’s difficult to carry the ever-increasing costs of doing business, as years of fluctuating interest rates, soaring inflation and variable supply-chain expenses take their toll.

And, of course, there’s a wildly unpredictable storm of geopolitical and economic uncertainties, the effects of which tend to disproportionately affect smaller and newer ventures. Indeed, a recent report from the Business Development Bank of Canada revealed that Canadian entrepreneurs are increasingly stressed about economic and political uncertainty, global events and crises, and maintaining cash flow or profitability.

What needs to change to make the road ahead easier for Canadian entrepreneurs? What would it take for them to thrive? Smith Business Insight contributor Deborah Aarts put the question to a panel of entrepreneurial experts.

Idea 1: Recognize our strengths

I always knew I wanted to build my own business, but I needed to find the emotional pull—an idea I felt truly mattered. I started Blair Health when I found that purpose, when I saw just how deeply underserved women’s health needs are.

We launched earlier this year. You can’t time the markets. I believe that when you see a real opportunity, you have to leap. There will always be a billion reasons not to. But at some point, you have to be a little irrational, driven by belief, and pursue it even if the timing isn’t perfect.

I think entrepreneurs are living between parallel realities. On one side, it’s never been easier to go from zero to one. The cost to build has dropped dramatically, thanks to advancements in tooling and AI. On the other, the macroeconomic environment is more challenging than ever.

That’s why we need to build a stronger culture of risk tolerance in Canada. Not just tolerate risk, but welcome it. We need to be bolder with early-stage investment and commit more Canadian capital to backing homegrown innovation. Today, two-thirds of Canadian startups are funded by American VCs. I’ve worked in the U.S. and I deeply value cross-border opportunities, but that number reflects a fundamental difference in risk appetite between our ecosystems.

There are also real regulatory barriers that make it harder to scale. As a virtual health platform, we want to operate nationwide, but every province has its own virtual care regulations, licensing requirements and rules for recognizing providers from elsewhere. It’s like launching in 10 different countries. Canada has an opportunity to harmonize some of these frameworks, which would help innovators get better products into market faster and more effectively.

We also need stronger collaboration—between the public and private sectors, and between companies themselves. In health care, those partnerships are critical to improving access and outcomes. Beyond that, large Canadian corporations, many of which hold significant market share, could do more to partner with entrepreneurs who bring speed, creativity and agility. There’s so much untapped potential in working together.

It’s easy to focus on the obstacles. But I chose to build in Canada because I see tremendous opportunity here. Our talent is world-class and only getting stronger. Our universities do a phenomenal job educating future leaders and we continue to attract exceptional people from around the world. We’re globally competitive and our workforce is motivated and eager to learn. All the raw ingredients are here. Now we just need to give entrepreneurs more support, better platforms and plug more dollars into what they do.

Idea 2: Adopt “elbows up” purchasing policies

I never had any intentions of being in the office supplies business. But I saw this as a way to create value for Indigenous communities and to offer customers a Canadian alternative to primarily American big-box stores. That was the genesis, and here we are nearly six years later.

Right now, it’s more challenging than ever. I run a business that operates in a commoditized space, and as much as Canadians talk about going ‘elbows up’ and wanting to support Canadian and local entrepreneurs, the reality is that it’s difficult to do. The parking lots at Walmart and Costco are still packed on the weekends. People have ingrained habits, and it takes time to unpack that, especially when you’re struggling with work and family demands.

The same is true for businesses. In volatile times, companies like shoring up resources, and they often do that by going line by line: ‘Where can we cut costs? Where can we find efficiencies?’ Often, diversity initiatives are the first to go. It makes it much more challenging for smaller suppliers to gain ground, especially businesses run by Indigenous, Black, women and/or 2SLGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

Ultimately, I think there is an opportunity for folks to be a bit more strategic in their in their procurement to better support entrepreneurs. I think large companies need to be more willing to open up long-term contracts with their suppliers. That would create opportunities to support Canadian businesses, particularly SMEs, because we can’t wait five years.

“Governments could also be more a bit more flexible in their procurement. Yes, they’re working with taxpayer money and need to provide value for dollar, but that often means a race to the bottom. That does not favour the small business. If governments are looking for ways to support Canadians they should be supporting small businesses, because our economy is really based on them.

I also think we suppliers have a responsibility to showcase the story of the value of doing business with us. We’re doing excellent work. We’re creating jobs in our communities. We’re delivering strategic value to our customers. It’s important for us to communicate that, to emphasize that partnering with us is good for business.

At eSupply Canada, we’ve been doing a lot of work to show our customers how the dollars they spend with us support community impact, including our Procurement with Purpose Challenge, which very clearly articulates and quantifies the ways in which spending with us creates jobs and fuels growth—all while helping customers deliver on their Indigenous procurement and reconciliation commitments. There’s no guesswork. That initiative has generated a lot of positive responses.

People do want to buy Canadian and be a bit more prescriptive in where their dollars go. They do want to clearly connect the dots between buying and community impact. We should all be using this moment as a chance to reflect on the strategic value of our purchasing decisions and to make modifications where necessary. 

Idea 3: Develop a national seed strategy

I always say: If you really have an entrepreneurial personality, it will never let you go. You’ll constantly be seeing opportunities and seeing ways things can be done differently. You’ll always be looking for calculated risks.

Right now, entrepreneurs are having to do that amid unusual uncertainty. That creates a lot of problems, especially when it comes to funding. A lot of people—both entrepreneurs and funders—are sitting on cash right now. Few of them want to invest until they figure out what the heck’s happening in the Canadian economy.

Our capital gap—that is, rising costs and decreasing availability of capital—is causing businesses to close left, right and centre. It’s making it hard for entrepreneurs to make it. They can’t get to the stage that they’re sustainable, because there just isn’t a financial way to get there. And if they can’t get to cash sustainability, they can’t scale.

I think we need a national seed capital strategy. This should include a hybrid public-private fund—led by the government, in partnership with venture capital firms—that would make it safer to provide risk-tolerant capital for SMEs and early-stage ventures. Perhaps it could pair venture debt with government grants. This kind of financial instrument is badly needed in all sectors, especially in the tech space. When you fill that cash gap it’s much easier to manage everything else: labour shortages, interest rates, tariffs, whatever may come up.

The national strategy should also include a first-customer program—a procurement partnership that would encourage government and big industry to help emerging ventures get off the ground. The government and corporations would get innovation and speed these startups can deliver, and the startups would get somewhere to test, pivot and validate their offerings.

Idea 4: Get more proactive

I spent 25 or 30 years working for the man: Staff accountant, assistant controller, controller, CFO. In 2008, during the global financial crisis, I decided to hang up my own shingle as a consultant. I began working with entrepreneurs who had really good ideas, but who were terrible at running a business, which turned out to be a good match. I ended up co-founding three or four different companies during that time. Some of them fizzled, but one of them really grew roots: Gear re-Store.

Before Gear re-Store, there were a bunch of what I would call mom and pop shops in the outdoor gear repair space, people doing repairs to support their time in the mountains. We focused on warranty repairs, which meant we were dealing with large, multinational, sophisticated companies. My Queen’s background really came in handy: I had no problem negotiating three-year service agreements that left everybody happy. And that helped us to grow. We made The Globe and Mail’s list of Canada’s Top Growing Companies every year since 2022. I sold the company earlier this year, but I’m staying on as a consultant. And I’ve got two or three more ventures in the hopper.

I totally believe in entrepreneurial culture. I believe in people starting stuff, taking risks and creating jobs. But right now it’s tough. The old saying that it takes money to make money is true: You almost have to have a successful business under your belt for anyone to take you seriously. If it weren’t for the sale of my first business, others I’m building would be a challenge.

I’m not a big fan of government involvement in the process. I appreciate that they have helped many entrepreneurs, but whenever I see a program that promises matching funds or something similar, my instinct is to find a way to do it on my own. It doesn’t matter which party is in office: In my experience, governments just don’t operate on ‘entrepreneur time.’ There’s too much regulation and red tape. And entrepreneurs thrive in environments where there is less regulation and red tape.

I once heard a saying that has stuck with me: ‘If it’s to be it’s up to me.’ I think we need a lot more of that in the moment right now. We entrepreneurs don’t need to rely on the government. We need to go out there and hustle. If we’ve got a great idea, and we find a way to communicate it, someone will believe in it and help out—and it all builds from there. That’s what makes magic happens.

Idea 5: Double down on community

My take on the current moment is that people are not feeling optimistic enough—and without great optimism, not much good is going to happen.

Optimism comes from having confidence that things are getting done. It comes from knowing that the big decision-makers, policymakers and governments—at multiple levels—are listening, understanding what’s happening and taking meaningful action. But I also think optimism comes from community. Most entrepreneurs are incredibly busy, and a lot of them talk about feeling lonely. It’s so easy for them to go down rabbit holes—to just read the headlines and shut out the world, day in and day out. The algorithmic overlord can really crush your spirits.

That’s why I think it’s so important to double down on community. When you connect with other entrepreneurs, you’ll find people who might be going through a similar journey, but with different points of view. They might have tried things that might work for you. You’ll feel less alone. And you might find your attitude shift.

In my experience, entrepreneurs are full of optimism—sometimes unbridled optimism, in the face of evidence to the contrary. When you bring together a group of them, everyone can feed off that energy.

I see it firsthand. We recently had our first on-campus session for the 2026 Class of our Master of Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, which meant we brought together a room full of super-optimists. You could just feel the energy pick up. Some people who came in feeling discouraged or daunted left with a completely different view of the situation, simply by hanging out with a bunch of entrepreneurial people for 10 days.

So, fundamentally, I think entrepreneurs need to prioritize community—whether it’s through in-person meet-ups, in WhatsApp groups, or Reddit threads, or wherever they find it. There really is something to the power of that in times like these.