What The Tech?

How are founders, startups and innovators from across the globe accelerating progress and extending their R&D runway? On What The Tech? we talk with some of the brilliant minds behind new and exciting tech initiatives to learn what it takes to tackle “technological uncertainty” and, eventually, change the world. Brought to you by the R&D tax experts at Boast AI. Boast AI's What The Tech podcast was recently ranked #8 in Feedspot's Top 70 Venture Capital Podcasts on the Web ranking! Listen to What The Tech and other leading podcasts for the latest guidance and startup strategies. </em

What The Tech? is a business podcast hosted by Boast AI, with 128 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Boast AI hosts What The Tech?, a business show with 128 episodes published.

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  What The Tech?

  Office Hours: Stacking SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC Part 2

  Sep 15, 202624 min

  Mat Rutishauser and Joshua Martin are back for Part 2 of their Office Hours conversation on Quebec AI financing. In Part 1, they broke down what SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC actually are. This time, they get practical: can a company claim all three at once, what does a strong audit position actually look like, and where should a CFO or CTO even start if they haven't looked into any of this yet? Also in this episode: a real story about AI drafting an SR&ED claim, and the CRA using its own AI to challenge it, and why the human narrative behind a claim still matters more than ever. Recorded ahead of the All In 2026 conference in Montreal, where Joshua and the Boast team will be at Booth V6 all week. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome back: Office Hours, Part 2 0:00 Can you stack SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC together? 0:04 The one program combination that's genuinely rare 0:06 What a strong audit position actually looks like 0:10 The hidden cost of an audit, even when you win 0:11 Quebec-specific audit triggers: SR&ED vs. CDAE-IA 0:15 When AI drafts your claim and AI reviews it too 0:17 Where should a CFO or CTO even start? 0:21 Why this matters for Quebec's innovation economy Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

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  Episode #121

  Office Hours: Inside Quebec's AI Tax Credit Boom

  Sep 8, 202619 minS2

  Quebec has quietly become one of the most aggressive jurisdictions in North America for funding AI-driven R&D. In Part 1 of this Office Hours series, Boast's Joshua Martin (Quebec Sales Lead) and Mat Rutishauser join host Paul Davenport to break down what's changed: SR&ED's evolving treatment of AI work, Quebec's CDAE-IA program, CRIC, and what the 2026 SR&ED enhancements mean for AI companies specifically. Recorded ahead of the All In 2026 conference in Montreal, this episode covers the two government programs every Quebec AI company should have on its radar, the most common eligibility mistakes companies make with CDAE-IA, and how CFOs should think about stacking SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC together. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome to Office Hours: Quebec AI Financing, Part 1 0:00 What's driving Quebec's AI funding boom 0:02 Does SR&ED treat AI development differently? 0:04 The two programs every Quebec AI company should know 0:05 What the 2026 SR&ED enhancements mean for AI companies 0:08 Stacking CDAE-IA and SR&ED: what's mechanically different 0:12 What is CDAE-IA and who qualifies? 0:14 The most common CDAE-IA eligibility mistakes 0:15 How to stack SR&ED, CDAE-IA, and CRIC 0:17 Rising scrutiny: how AI is changing government claim review too Mentioned in this episode Catch Boast at the All In 2026 conference in Montreal, Booth V6, all week. [Event link] Boast has helped 2,000+ companies across North America secure $900M+ in R&D tax credits, backed by a 100% audit defense commitment on every claim we support. [Boast Resource Hub link] This is Part 1 of an ongoing Office Hours series on Quebec AI financing. Part 2 coming soon, subscribe so you don't miss it. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

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  Episode #120

  Why We Lost the "Third Space" And How Blurrt Is Bringing It Back

  Sep 2, 202622 minS2

  In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Benhur Bosco, Founder of Blurrt, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur and filmmaker who spent the pandemic discovering that human connection—not content, not vanity metrics—is what actually matters. What You'll Learn: → What happened to Benhur during the pandemic (isolation, ego death, and what came after) → Why social media failed to replace the "third space" we lost during lockdowns → The difference between connection and performance (and why social media optimizes for the wrong one) → How vanity metrics (likes, follower counts, profile pictures) actually prevent real connection → Blurrt's radical solution: voice-based conversations without performance layers → Why voice changes everything (emotion, vulnerability, authenticity without visual curation) → How Blurrt solves the Gen Z isolation crisis (letting young people be themselves, not perform) → Building from authentic pain, not cynical opportunity (why founders should solve problems they feel) → The ecosystem approach: bootstrapping + government funding (IRAP, SR&ED, BCIDMTC) → How Claude helped Benhur prototype and iterate rapidly → The 18-month runway: from prototype to V1 → Why "rationales and opinions" divide us, but "human emotion and experience" unite us → The role of voice in fostering real humanity (the ups and downs you hear in a voice, not the curated image) About Benhur Bosco: Benhur is a Vancouver-based founder, filmmaker, and honors graduate of Vancouver Film School. He spent years in Hollywood and the film industry before the pandemic forced a confrontation with identity, purpose, and what actually drives human connection. That realization sparked Blurrt. He's building from authenticity, not cynicism—solving a problem he felt acutely during isolation. About Blurrt: Blurrt is a voice-based platform for authentic human connection without vanity metrics. Instead of likes, followers, and curated images, Blurrt enables asynchronous voice conversations across multiple threads. No profile pictures. No performance layer. Just voices, humanity, and organic community formation. Users can share thoughts, respond with voice notes, and watch conversations evolve naturally. Currently in prototype/early access phase with an 18-month runway to V1. Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

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  What The Tech?

  A Tale of Two States: California's R&D Cap vs. New York's Talent Surge

  Aug 28, 202623 minS2

  California is tightening its R&D tax credit cap. New York just overtook San Francisco as the country's top hub for new tech jobs. In Episode 1 of Office Hours, Boast's Ashley Crawford (Director of Customer Delivery) and Mfon Ubaha (Head of Partnerships) join host Paul Davenport to unpack both stories, plus EY's newest CFO survey on the "ownership gap" in R&D investment, whether AI is actually ready to handle your R&D tax credit claim, and the two filing deadlines every claimant needs on their calendar right now. Office Hours is a new weekly companion series to What The Tech, going deep on the R&D tax credit news shaping how CFOs, founders, and finance teams plan for innovation funding. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome to Office Hours, Episode 1 0:01 What's on Ashley and Mfon's radar this week 0:03 California's R&D tax credit cap fight 0:07 New York's talent surge and "a tale of two cities" 0:10 Is the pushback on California's biggest employers fair? 0:13 EY's CFO survey and the R&D "ownership gap" 0:15 Is AI ready to handle your R&D tax credit claim? 0:19 Rapid-fire: filing deadlines and the #1 last-minute mistake 0:21 Action items and where to go next Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

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  Episode #119

  How Yonovo Is Fixing the Cash Flow Problem Draining SMBs

  Aug 24, 202617 minS2

  In this episode of What the Tech from Boast.AI , we sit down with Salman Shawaf, Co-Founder of Yonovo, to discuss why SMBs are wasting thousands of hours chasing invoices—and how AI is finally automating collections. What You'll Learn: → The invisible cash flow crisis: months-long payment delays, forgotten follow-ups, bad debt that compounds → Why salespeople hate being collection agents (and what it costs your business) → How Yonovo automates accounts receivable using AI (90%+ accuracy on payment prediction and collection sequencing) → Salman's origin story: watching his dad chase invoices for 30 years as a wholesale business owner → The unexpected parallel between Yonovo (invoice automation) and Boast (government funding automation) → Why both companies solve the same problem: removing friction so businesses get paid what they're owed → Building community over slides: poker nights, soccer events, World Cup watch parties with other founders → The "ship fast" culture: Feature requests shipped the next day with AI development tools → Bootstrapping strategy: Why non-dilutive funding (SR&ED) should be your first capital move, not venture → The roadmap: From AR to full order-to-cash (AP, forecasting, reconciliation) → Why hiring lean matters (even as you scale) → The role of IRL events in an AI-first world (and why they're becoming more valuable, not less) → How SMBs can reclaim cash flow without hiring more staff Key Insights: "A lot of companies try to solve this, but the tech really never existed until a few years ago. Now you can get 90% there." "I'm an impatient person, so this really works in my favor with the age of AI. We get a feature request from a client and the next day I wake up and get a Slack message from our developer saying, 'Hey, we're done.'" "Boast gets you the money that you're already owed. Yonovo gets you the invoices that you're already owed. The thesis is similar—we both believe businesses deserve to get paid without friction." "As AI gets better, that will actually increase the value of in-person events. People are tired of cold LinkedIn DMs. We're always gonna be human." "The first thing you want to do as a founder is reach for the money that doesn't take any equity away. There's non-dilutive funding available to you, especially in Canada." About Salman Shawaf: Salman is the Co-Founder of Yonovo and a community-first founder based in Toronto. He's passionate about building in-person community for startup founders (monthly poker nights, sports events, casual dinners). His path to Yonovo came from watching his father manage a wholesale business for 30 years—constantly chasing invoices and managing cash flow. He believes the best companies are built by people who ship rather than slide deck. About Yonovo: Yonovo helps SMBs get paid faster by automating accounts receivable and collections. Using AI, the platform predicts payment risk, automates follow-up sequences, and removes manual work from finance and sales teams. Bootstrapped and bootstrapping-focused, Yonovo specializes in AR today with a roadmap to cover the entire order-to-cash process (AP, forecasting, reconciliation). Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence. Visit Boast.ai , sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth. Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex .

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