In this episode of The Backbone, I am joined by Dennis Kavelman, a former financial executive and now a Partner at Inovia Capital, a comprehensive venture capital firm that invests in dedicated tech entrepreneurs with global aspirations.

Dennis became a part of Inovia Capital in 2018 to establish the Growth Fund alongside Chris Arsenault and Patrick Pichette, and he is responsible for leading the firm's value creation initiatives. By utilizing insights from the venture team and expertise from the growth team, Dennis plays a crucial role in managing deal flow and refining investment processes to enhance impact and value for entrepreneurs. His operational experience has earned him a prominent reputation in the Canadian tech landscape for offering unique solutions to operational challenges and growth issues.

Before his tenure at Inovia, Dennis was a seasoned technology executive and investor. He began his career at KPMG and later joined RIM, a nascent company, in 1995. As CFO and COO, he was instrumental in establishing the global smartphone market, helping RIM expand to over 15,000 employees by the time he left in 2010. During his time with RIM, he oversaw the scaling of a comprehensive software, hardware, and services enterprise, managing all financing activities, including the IPO and raising over $1.8B in equity. After RIM, Dennis became an active angel investor and took on the role of COO at D2L, a global educational technology platform. He currently serves on the boards of AlayaCare, Symend, WorkJam, and Vidyard.

I engage with Dennis on various topics, including:

• His 15-year experience as CFO and COO of Blackberry, starting when the company was relatively unknown with just 20 employees and around $2 million in revenue in 1995. During this period, Blackberry scaled to over 15,000 employees and achieved $20B in sales. Dennis was pivotal in the company’s transformation from a startup to a global leader, also playing a key role in taking Blackberry public as CFO.
• The factors that contributed to Blackberry's global success and its evolution from a small team to a major player.
• The dual CEO management model at Blackberry and its applicability to modern companies.
• His ability to adapt and grow alongside Blackberry, ensuring he remained suitable for his role despite limited prior experience.

Additionally, we discuss his transition to venture capital as a Partner at Inovia Capital and his areas of focus within the firm. He shares valuable advice and insights for emerging technology businesses today, including the importance of recruiting top talent.

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Check out previous episodes of The Backbone: - Episode 60: IPO readiness and what it truly means to take a company public today with Curt Sigfstead, CFO at Clearbanc - Episode 59: Determining the core competencies of the finance function with Etienne St-Martin, Director of Finance at Roadmunk - Episode 58: The makings of a well-rounded finance leader with Brian Montminy, CFO at Lessonly - Episode 57: Lessons learned from hyper-growth & scaling to $100M+ ARR, 100k customers and raising $100M with Tim Compton, SVP of Finance at ActiveCampaign - Episode 56: Lessons from raising $50M during a global pandemic with Aly Khan Musani, CFO at Symend - Episode 55: The most important SaaS metric for a high-growth software company with Rob Froment, CFO at Clio - Episode 54: Getting the most out of a finance function with Srikant Nayak, CFO at GroupBy - Episode 53: Every finance leader must become a great storyteller with Darrell Cox, CFO at Vena - Episode 52: Why the tradeoff of balancing profitability and sustainability is a false dichotomy with David Reid, CFO & COO of Boll & Branch - Episode 51: The art of value-based pricing models with Karthik Srinivasan, Director of Finance at Chargebee - Episode 50: Behind the 7-year journey of scaling WIND Mobile to $500M in revenue and $1.6B sale with Brice Scheschuk, Managing Partner at Globalive Capital - Episode 49: Fiscally responsible growth vs growth at all costs with Johnathan Mirian, VP Finance at Justworks - Episode 48: Setting the right foundation in the first 100 days to scale the finance function for hyper growth with Khoi Le, VP Finance at Hopper - Episode 47: A framework for managing M&A as a CFO with Saeideh Fard, Chief Financial Officer at Tulip - Episode 46: Pushing company-wide transformation of a craft brewer through technology with Trevor Young, Chief Financial Officer at Steam Whistle Brewing - Episode 45: Driving growth through an omnichannel approach at an established wellness brand with Michelle Armstrong, Chief Operating Officer at Saje Natural Wellness - Episode 44: Striking the balance of growth and profitability as a bootstrapped company with Jessica Katz, Director of Finance at Format - Episode 43: A framework for growing and scaling finance functions with Mustafa Nafar, VP Finance at Modsy - Episode 42: What investors really care about from a CFO turned VC & the top metrics for direct-to-consumer businesses with Amy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners - Episode 41: The key differences between marketing-driven SaaS companies to sales-driven ones with Amar Shrivastava, VP Finance at Clubhouse - Episode 40: Mejuri’s data-driven approach to managing inventory as an omnichannel, emerging direct-to-consumer brand with Katie Sellers, Director of Finance at Mejuri - Episode 39: Balancing short term expectations of investors with longer term strategic roadmap decisions as a public company tech CFO with Shouvik Roy, Chief Financial Officer at Versapay (TSXV: VPY) - Episode 38: The Consumerization of the Enterprise & Key Differences Between a Strategic and Financial Acquirer with Alok Pandey, VP Finance & Corporate Development at AnchorFree - Episode 37: An Inside Look at Salesforce’s $689M Acquisition of Buddy Media & Lessons Learned from Raising $150M+ with Oliver Bell, CFO at Springbot - Episode 36: Key Considerations + Metrics for Expanding a Localized Marketplace with Corey Noyek, Finance Manager at Platterz - Episode 35: Getting Dirt Underneath Your Fingers as an Operator with Tom Finn, VP Finance at Solstice - Episode 34: An Inside Look into Lightspeed’s $275M+ IPO & Scaling a Global Organization with Brandon Nussey, CFO at Lightspeed POS - Episode 33: Behind the Scenes of SnapTravel’s $21m Slam Dunk Series A from Steph Curry with Ankur Bansal, Head of Finance and Business Development at SnapTravel - Episode 32: A CFO Must Master Being a Capital Allocator with Sujeet Kini, CFO at Solium Capital - Episode 31: A Former Banker + Growth Investor Turned Operator on the Consequences of Raising Too Much Capital with Steve Isom, VP Finance at Flywheel - Episode 30: Customer + Revenue Churn at a SaaS Company with Recurring + Services Revenue with Cory Michalyshyn, CFO / COO at Solink - Episode 29: The First 100 Days as a Finance Leader of a Venture-Backed Startup with Bryn Knox, Head of Finance at BenchSci - Episode 28: Scaling a Finance Function of a High Growth Company with Strategic & Institutional Investors with Tiffany Hsiao, VP Finance at Rubikloud - Episode 27: Raising a $27M Financing Round & Managing the Ever-Changing Priorities as CFO with Dave Pooley, Chief Financial Officer at Axonify - Special Feature: Exploring a New & Revolutionary Revenue Model for Education with Austen Allred, Co-Founder and CEO of Lambda School - Episode 26: Lessons Learned from Raising $32M Growth Round + the Symbiotic Relationship Between Finance & Operations with Samiksha Khanna, VP Finance and Operations at Uberflip - Episode 25: Correlating Non-Financial Metrics into Financial Outcomes + Balancing Ad-load & Revenue Generated Through Sponsored Content with Trisha Egberts, Finance Manager at Figure1 - Episode 24: Learnings from Starting and Shutting Down a Startup + Balancing Multiple Product Stakeholders with Mark Jarvie, VP Finance at Drop - Episode 23: Learnings from Raising/Exiting $700M+ in Deal Value for Software + Hardware and the Importance of a People-First Approach in Finance with David Brennan, Chief Financial Officer at Ecobee - Episode 22: Raising $47M from Strategic vs Traditional VC & the Level of Finance Leader to Hire at Each Stage of a Company’s Evolution with Danielle Cerisano, VP Finance at League - Episode 21: Using Analytics and Predictive Models to Improve Budgeting + the Role of Attribution in Assessing Digital Marketing ROI with Emma Lyndon, CFO at Canopy Labs - Episode 20: Considerations for CAC and Churn in a Self-Serve Pricing Model with Matt Dove, VP Finance at Celtx - Episode 19: The Journey of Raising $100M ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as a Venture-Backed Unicorn with Brandon Brunet, Controller at Kik - Episode 18: Bootstrapped to $12M Series A & What it Means for the Finance Function with Jennifer Pollock, Director of Finance & Operations at RateHub - Episode 17: The Added Complexities of Hardware Tech Companies & How to Price a New Medical Device with Travis Phung, Director of Finance & Administration at Exact Imaging - Episode 16: Monetizing a Free Product & Navigating Complexities of the Financial Services Space with Brian Wu, Finance Lead at Borrowell - Episode 15: Serving the Restaurant Industry & Breaking Into Tech in a Finance Capacity with Rob Curcio, Director of Finance at TouchBistro - Episode 14: Scaling the Finance Function, Fundraising, Making Acquisitions & Operationalizing Metrics with Ryan Magee, Chief Financial Officer at Cority - Episode 13: Serving the SMB Market at a Publicly Traded Software Company vs a High-Growth Startup with Darren Wood, Director of Finance & Operations at Jobber - Episode 12: Leading Finance at NPOs to High Growth Tech & Bootstrapping vs Raising Venture Capital with Anthony Scolaro, VP Finance & Operations at Lucova - Episode 11: Raising $17M Series A Round & What it Means to be ‘Venture-Backed’ with Frank Jessop, Director of Finance, Sensibill - Episode 10: Vendor Selection Considerations & Viewing the Finance Function from an Engineering Perspective with Gerti Dervishi, VP Finance at Flybits - Episode 9: The Process of Acquiring Companies as a Startup & Best Practices for Investor Relations with Ryan Levenberg, VP Finance at Q4 Systems Inc. - Episode 8: Raising VC Funding to Executing an $110M Acquisition + Demystifying the Progressive Roles of the Finance Leader within a Startup with Dwayne Walker, CFO at LookbookHQ - Episode 7: Going Through an Acquisition of an eCommerce Company & Keeping Both Sides of a Marketplace Happy with Elena Armstrong, Co-Founder & VP Finance at Exact Media - Episode 6: From Finance to Founding an IoT Startup & Bootstrapping vs. Raising Venture Capital with Sacha Sawaya, Co-Founder and CFO at Litmus Automation - Episode 5: Difference Between Being an Advisor vs Finance Leader for Tech Startups & When to Raise Capital with Eugene Bomba, CFO & VP Operations at ThoughtWire - Episode 4: Transitioning from Professional Services to Finance Leader of Pre-Revenue Tech Startup with Chris Parkes, CFO at NuraLogix - Episode 3: Why Finance & Operations go Together & Dealing with the Highly Regulated Financial Services Industry with Leen Li, Head of Finance at Wealthsimple - Episode 2: How Finance Scales Growing from 25 to 200+ Employees & Transfer Pricing with Les Cullen, Director Finance & Operations at TopHat - Episode 1: Managing Churn & Being Private Equity Backed with Daniel Israelsohn, VP Finance & Operations at Firmex

The Backbone is a podcast hosted by Shubham Datta that delves into the finance journey within startups. Each episode features a finance leader (Director/VP, Finance, or CFO) who shares their story of entering the startup world, discusses their company's operations, and highlights the unique challenges they encounter in their roles.