Earlier this month, I joined Ashley Smith on the Canada Now podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on Vancouver tech, venture capital, media, AI, and why community might be the only real moat left.

Here are five takeaways from that discussion.

The last half decade reshaped the ecosystem.

We went from a COVID-era surge—unicorns, billion-dollar exits, soaring valuations—to a much more disciplined moment. Capital is tighter. Expectations are sharper. Founders are thinking harder about what actually makes a venture-scale company.

This isn’t decline. It’s recalibration.

More founders are building further before raising. More are questioning whether venture funding is even the right path. And investors? They’re either writing very early, high-risk cheques—or deploying large, late-stage capital. The middle is thinner than it used to be.

When software can be built in a day, the question shifts.

If product development is increasingly commoditized, what actually differentiates a company?

Two themes stood out in our conversation:

If anyone can build, then the advantage goes to those who iterate faster, learn faster, and adapt faster. AI lowers the barrier to entry—but it raises the bar for defensibility.

We’re entering a strange era of the internet.

AI creates content. AI distributes it. AI engages with it. Sometimes bots are talking to bots.

So what’s left for humans?

Connection.

At Vancouver Tech Journal, we’ve learned that 120-person events create energy—but 12-person forums create trust. The deeper value comes from curated rooms where founders can ask, “What are you actually struggling with?” and get real answers.

Community isn’t a buzzword. It’s infrastructure.

Canadian media is polarized between massive national institutions and small, focused publications.

The middle is shrinking.

What works? Niche focus. Discipline. Multiple revenue streams.

VTJ doesn’t try to be everything. We cover Vancouver tech—deeply—and monetize through events, memberships, partnerships, and advertising. Overstory Media Group follows a similar principle across brands like The Georgia Straight, The Coast, and Fraser Valley Current: serve a defined community exceptionally well.

In a fragmented world, specificity wins.

If you want access to rooms, communities, or opportunities, don’t just network.

Build.

Publish your ideas. Start something small. Host a dinner. Ask better questions at events. Do interesting work in public—and the network forms around you. (I heard this from someone else.)

You don’t wait to be invited into community. You help create it.

For the full conversation, listen to Canada Now.

For a deeper dive into my thinking on media, tech, and community in 2026, read 26 notes on community, media, and the offline reset on my personal blog.