🔥 Hot Takes From Tech Thursday's First Event in 2026
A recap of January 22nd's Calgary Tech Thursday's session touching on 2026 Hot Takes in Calgary Tech.
Last week’s Tech Thursday session kicked off 2026 in style, featuring a fantastic panel, with Kelly Schmitt of Headversity, Mark Le Dain of Fuelled, and Graeme Harrison of Augur VC taking the stage, diving into some hot takes for 2026.
This is our recap of the top ideas shared from the event.
“There has never been such a good time to start a company.”
Graeme Harrison, CEO and Managing Partner, Augur VC
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TL;DR
AI Can Help, but Core Skills Remain Vital: AI is a significant part of the future, and with more widespread uptake, there will be a core need for people skills and other culture-building abilities in organizations.
Business Models Are Actively Changing: As evidenced, the emergence of AI will have indirect impacts that businesses will face, relating to core business practices and value extraction.
Remote Work Will Be Altered: As with most drastic shifts, what was believed to be the new ‘norm’ is already changing; and while this shift evidences a focus on culture and productivity, it’s important to remember that these shifts, while important, are rarely permanent.
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Calgary Tech Hot Takes for 2026 from Industry Leaders:
1. AI Can Help, but Core Skills Remain Vital
AI, naturally, was at the forefront of the conversation; and while it was mutually agreed upon that it is fundamentally shifting how work will get done, it can’t be a replacement for everything. As Kelly mentioned, the need for people skills will only grow, as human connection is what builds culture and motivation, and if the people part is right, more often than not, everything else will fall into place.
Why this is important:
This reframes how people should think about an AI-driven future. While there is plenty of wondering about how AI will change the workforce, it also provides significant opportunity for people to grow their intrinsic abilities, like people skills.
Key Takeaway: AI is a significant part of the future, and with more widespread uptake, there will be a core need for people skills and other culture-building abilities in organizations.
2. Business Models Are Actively Changing
As AI changes how businesses think about things like productivity, there will be an increase in reviews across the board, including things like the current SaaS business model (per user per month for example). As a result of increased scrutiny on business practices and expenses, there will be an emphasis on value, leading to a fundamental change on how some businesses operate, both internally and to their customer.
Why this is important:
While AI isn’t directly the result for changes like these, the shift in business practices as a result of AI’s emergence will change how leaders and businesses think about the decisions they make. It serves as further evidence of the technological impact that spans wider than simply increasing productivity.
Key Takeaway: As evidenced, the emergence of AI will have indirect impacts that businesses will face, and while this example is specific to SaaS, these behaviours will be seen cross-industry.
3. Remote Work Will Be Altered
As with other business practices, the emergence of AI will create another shift in jobs, similar to what we saw in 2020/post-pandemic. While the change will be less drastic, similar to the aforementioned people skills, there will be more of an emphasis on qualitative work, especially in positions where automation could be more efficient.
Why this is important:
The belief post-pandemic was that remote work was the way of the future, but with the automation of tasks that can be time-consuming, there will likely be another shift, focused on culture, people, and qualitative results.
Key Takeaway: As with most drastic shifts, what was believed to be the new ‘norm’ is already changing; and while this shift evidences a focus on culture and productivity, it’s important to remember that these shifts, while important, are rarely permanent.
Hot Take: We Are NOT In An AI Bubble
What is consistently mentioned when talked about AI is the concept that the widespread uptake of AI, both in business and every day life, is forming the newest ‘bubble’. While it is understandable why some might believe that, the panel came to the consensus that this is not a bubble, given the actual commitment (vs. strictly speculation), the solution of the intelligence bottleneck, and the upside it provides.
Why does that matter? Dispelling the belief that this is just a bubble or fad is crucial to addressing the productivity crisis. If more businesses buy in to AI helping solve problems, free time, and solve the bottleneck, it would serve as a meaningful step forward to sorting out Canada’s productivity crisis.
Don’t Miss Our Next Events!
🧩 January 29th
Topic - From Service to Scale: Turning Real Problems into Productized Solutions
Co-Hosts - The DMZ and TDIP
We’re thrilled to be co-hosting this panel with our good friends, the DMZ and TDIP, who’re flying in from Toronto for this event! They’ve brought together three incredible founders that have gone through their program. The conversation will be around taking a service, and bringing it to scale through productized solutions.
Speakers:
Amanda Julian, Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder at Monark
Addy Graves, CEO and Co-Founder at Cashew
Lourdes Juan, CEO and Co-Founder at Knead
Moderated by: Justine Clark, Strategic Partnerships Lead at DMZ
🧩 February 5th
Topic - Innovation in Insurance: Next-Gen InsurTech
Co-Hosts - Flora Fertility
We're thrilled to co-host this event with Flora Fertility to explore what the future of insurance actually look like. We’ll break down the biggest innovations in InsurTech and what they mean for the industry moving forward.
Speakers:
Christy Lane, Co-Founder & President at Flora Fertility
Finn Magee, CEO at Insurtech Canada
Diane Horsfield, VP Client Success at Trufla
Moderated by: Philippe Burns, Co-Founder at Tech Thursday
As always, a big thank you to our sponsors who help bring Tech Thursday to life: Boast, Neo Financial, Skip, Motiv, Alberta Innovates, Crestview Strategy, and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG).