Founded in Canada Debuts Builder-First Newsletter
May 1, 2025
Canada’s startup scene deserves better. Not another Slack channel. Not another echo chamber.
Founded in Canada has officially launched its builder-first newsletter — a bold, unapologetically useful resource crafted for early-stage founders, side-hustlers, and the people supporting them. Whether you're grinding away in downtown Toronto, building in your garage in Saskatoon, or dreaming up your next venture from a co-working space in the Yukon, this newsletter is for you.
And let’s be clear: this isn’t just another inbox filler with a logo and a list of headlines.
This is the opposite of corporate noise. This is real-time intel, straight from the trenches. Think open grant deadlines, grassroots pitch nights, programs that still have spots left, brutally honest founder stories, and the kind of funding you’d never hear about if you weren’t already “in the know."
“Most newsletters try to sound helpful. Ours is helpful,” said co-founder Cathy Xie. “If you’re building anything in Canada right now — a startup, a product, a movement — we want this to feel like a cheat code. Not another chore in your inbox.”
Since its early beta launch, the newsletter has quickly become a go-to resource for founders across the country who are tired of gatekeeping, broken PDFs, and closed-door networks. Here’s a taste of what it’s delivered so far:
Open calls for $25K+ grants and fellowships, including those for underrepresented founders
Indigenous-led and Black-led startup programs with rolling deadlines
Raw and revealing interviews with real founders — the ones who faced plant closures, failed launches, and painful pivots
National roundups of upcoming events like pitch nights, demo days, hackathons, and underground builder meetups
This isn’t for the polished press release crowd. It’s for the builders who are deep in it. The ones trying to raise a pre-seed round while working part-time. The ones duct-taping their MVP together between coffee shifts. The ones wondering if anyone else is going through the same things.
The answer? Yes. And they’re reading this.
The newsletter is part of a larger movement Founded in Canada is spearheading: to dismantle the closed networks and outdated systems that have kept too many brilliant Canadian founders out of the loop.
It’s free. It’s fast. And it’s built with the belief that access shouldn’t be a privilege. It should be the baseline.
Want in?
Subscribe now to get your cheat code: Subscribe Here
Got something to share? An open program, a founder story, a funding deadline? Submit it here
Because building in Canada doesn’t have to feel like building in a vacuum anymore.
About Founded in Canada
Founded in Canada is a founder-first platform building the connective tissue between the country’s startup talent, funding, and infrastructure. With tools like its verified directory, public policy memos, grassroots events, and now, a national newsletter, Founded in Canada is on a mission to make Canada the best place in the world to build a startup from scratch — no matter your postal code.