Canada gives entrepreneurs plenty of reasons to look elsewhere. A smaller market, concentrated industries, regulatory complexity, and an investment environment that can make pursuing ambitious ideas exceptionally difficult.

But what if those challenges are precisely what make building here worthwhile?

That question was at the heart of a conversation at Vancouver Tech Days between Rob Khazzam, co-founder and CEO of Float, and Daniel Eberhard, founder and CEO of KOHO.

Moderated by Ada Slivinski, founder of Ad Hoc, the discussion was ostensibly about disrupting Canadian finance. But as Slivinski pushed the founders on competition, investor expectations, and their motivations, the conversation became something much bigger: what it takes to build a consequential company in Canada.

"I want Canada to win… and I'm fucking sick and tired of all the negativity in this country," Khazzam told the audience.

After spending years abroad, including five at Uber, Khazzam returned to Canada convinced that the country could produce globally competitive companies.

He sees opportunity where others see limitations. Canada's relatively underdeveloped fintech market, strong engineering talent, and lack of competition offer founders the chance to build businesses that might face far greater obstacles elsewhere.

Eberhard shares that ambition, but cautioned against confusing building in Canada with competing only against Canadians.

"You don't want to win Canada because you're not competing against the best companies in the world. That's a very Canadian response," he said. "You want to go against the best in the world and try and win."

When Slivinski asked about the benefits of building in Canada, both founders acknowledged the country's challenges. But neither appeared interested in treating geography as a ceiling on their ambitions.

For them, the objective isn't to build the best Canadian version of something. It's to build something that can compete with the best anywhere.

Both companies have raised significant capital to pursue their ambitions, but money introduces its own complications.

Slivinski asked whether pressure from investors could force the founders to change how they operated, particularly as their businesses pursued increasingly ambitious financial products.

Eberhard explained that KOHO approaches fundraising with an unusually long horizon. He described telling investors that building a generational financial institution could take 25 years.

That requires alignment not only on financial returns, but on timelines and risk tolerance. The wrong investors can make an already difficult journey considerably harder.

Khazzam offered a similarly revealing perspective. Float engaged more than 300 investors across its Series B and C fundraising processes, learning that relationships become increasingly important as companies grow.

For founders, the lesson is straightforward: raising capital is not the same as finding people willing to support your conviction over the long term.

Despite their enormous ambitions, neither founder began by trying to reinvent the entire financial system.

Float started by eliminating the frustrating process of corporate expense reporting. KOHO began by helping Canadians better understand and manage their spending.

Both have since expanded into broader financial services.

The approach reflects a shared understanding that ambition needs discipline. Solve something meaningful, earn customers' trust, and build from there.

Khazzam recalled a lesson from his time at Uber, where competition was relentless.

"If you're running around running a business just trying to win and compete, and you're not actually serving the people in this audience or doing anything very well, then you're going down, you focus on the wrong thing."

That distinction matters. Conviction isn't simply believing your company will become enormous. It's believing enough in the problem to keep making the product better.

Perhaps the most revealing exchange came when Slivinski shifted the conversation toward the founders' personal motivations, asking about the missions behind their businesses.

Eberhard spoke about growing up with a single mother who drove buses and cleaned houses, and how those experiences shaped his understanding of financial inequality.

"I think it's okay to be romantic about the problem that you're engaged with. I think it's an advantage," he said.

"It's really fucking hard. And so if you're just going to do it to make money, I don't think you're going to last."

Khazzam echoed that sentiment, reflecting on how his own understanding of mission had evolved as Float grew.

"You can't change the world with a bunch of people or yourself if you don't actually care enough about the things that you're doing," he said. "You can't fake it. You really can't."

For Khazzam, Float's success means more than building a valuable company. It means helping Canadian businesses grow, hire, innovate, and contribute to the country's prosperity.

For Eberhard, KOHO represents an opportunity to meaningfully improve the financial lives of Canadians.

Different companies. Different customers. Different problems.

But the message from both founders was unmistakable: building something consequential requires an unusual amount of patience, ambition, and belief.

And for those willing to make that commitment, Canada might be one of the most interesting places to do it.