The Waterloo Thesis Waterloo is already Canada’s builder engine. The advantage isn’t just talent, it’s the system that produces it, and the density it creates. The University of Waterloo’s 3-term co-op grind is a uniquely Waterloo experience: - Real work experience every year - Global exposure before graduation - Constant pressure to build, ship, and adapt - A pace few students anywhere else experience Surviving it becomes the shared language. Every Waterloo grad — whether they stay or leave — carries that experience. It builds: - Resilience - Global-first thinking - Quiet confidence - A worldwide network of people who recognize each other instantly. That density doesn’t just exist — it attracts. High-agency people from across Canada increasingly come to Waterloo: - To be around ambitious builders - To plug into peer groups where momentum is already compounding - To learn faster, build faster, and connect to global networks Around this core now sits an expanding layer of: - Remote engineers earning US salaries from Waterloo - Independent contractors building for global clients - Freelancers, AI tinkerers, operators, product leaders - Founders quietly building early-stage companies off the radar The problem isn’t talent. It’s activation. US capital moves first and organizes these builders early. Local institutions hesitate, try to control, or arrive too late. The thesis is simple: Fully activate the builder density that’s already in Waterloo — the founders, operators, remote workers, tinkerers, and high-agency builders who have gathered here — and everything else follows. This isn’t about organizing Canada. It’s about getting Waterloo right. If we do, Canada benefits automatically. The unlock isn’t more programs or bureaucracy. It’s: - High-trust builder communities - Early, small checks - Permissionless collisions - Global ambition, rooted here Waterloo is already producing world-class builders. The system simply needs to bet on them earlier — before someone else does.

And yet, cynicism is the only thing that gets a response. We’ve trained people away from being critical to being something else, something worse. It leaves no room for discussion, or for building anything better. If nothing else comes of @TheBarnWaterloo, I want to create a place where critical discussion is practiced and turned into a superpower.

Somewhere along the way, accountability became conflict. Pointing out what could be better turned into being “negative.” So we smile, we cheer, and quietly stop expecting things to change. F that.

Star Wars

"Any evaluation of this week’s federal budget fundamentally comes down to one question: Is this a national emergency or not? Judging by what the Minister of Finance presented to the House of Commons last Tuesday, the Liberal government’s answer to that question is, “it’s not.”

Enough with the slogans. We need to solve the foundational problem. It is amazing how quickly people jump from clean tech to defense tech. But no one wants to address the reason why its too expensive to do stuff. What we need is abundant energy so we can make whatever 'tech' we want. You can't fix the foundation with some paint. But if we became an energy abundant country. IF we did things like say place AI data centers near hydro dams and build a few more of them... we would grow our north AND create massive oppertunities. The long game is energy abundance. Almost everything will get better if energy is both 'clean' (includes nuclear) and next to free. All of Canada's growth was when energy costs where very little thanks to hydro and nuclear.

He is even apologizing like a Canadian?!? Who doesn’t love this guy.

Who made this political?

Pensions are a sneaky line item in big institutional budgets across Canada... gov included.

Here is my wish for modern politics in the west. Stop acting like you are in grade school. Because the policies you put in place reflect the childish approach to rhetoric and this will not end well. Every idea or policy from either side comes with regulation, hiring people, increased costs, etc. It is like everything else today. Hide the real cost. Say simple stuff to get people in the door. The budget fails to appreciate the cost of regulation. The opposition fails to focus on how both the cost and the interaction with government have eroded liberty. Because everyone has convinced themselves that explaining stuff doesn't get you elected. No one tries. But then you look at what happens next, policies are applied without any depth. Then stuff happens. Good. Taking shots should be a negative for the person doing it. Instead try to explain the problem. Tell a story. Stop name calling and trash talking or at least take a page from Shoresy and do it properly.

This weekend students are hosting a hackathon @TheBarnWaterloo and another one at Catalyst that are both the way hackathons should be. Fun. One is on weird/fun problems and the other is using boxes to make robots. goonhacks.ca/ and luma.com/rqlg2qzr Love it.

Yup

Yeah, the job market is back to 2019 and everyone thinks it’s 2009 all over again.

Spoiler for an upcoming piece. I often hear people dismissing Canada's housing crisis by saying, "Mike, home prices skyrocketed everywhere, it's not just a Canada thing". Turns out... nope. It really is a Canada thing.

Stick to the program. Love this team. There could be ~5 years of this ahead.

No. I need to breathe.

I think this is the only answer... the fact that we don't and leave it to Russia and other nations that just destroy the earth is crazy. If we are serious about protecting the planet, we must use our natural resources/gifts.

I love baseball.

In Waterloo, students/founders can just chat with two highly successful VCs (not at CDN standard, anywhere), a founder with an exit under his belt and making farming robots now, and the CEO/Founder of a successful company he started as a student. No, we haven’t done this enough… we will do it more often. Founder dinner tonight by @TheBarnWaterloo, hosted @akatoshouse.

The orcs.

bobs AI - what would you say you do here?