Founder Poker Toronto

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A COMMUNITY // NOT A CASINO


This could be you.


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Founder Poker is for Members Only. If you're a member & you don't see emails from us, check your email, or contact Derek.If you want to join our community, read the wall of text & fill out the form.



Joining Founder Poker

Establishing Culture - A Letter From Derek, the creator of Founder Poker Toronto.The goal of FPT (Founder Poker Toronto) is that this community becomes an always-available in-person group of friends for any founder in Toronto. We're more about learning poker & having fun than high intensity & high stakes. This is just the most fun way to hang with other founders.How do we describe ourselves? We're an inclusive group that treats each other like friends, not business prospects. FPT is a haven to unwind and experience the people behind the companies. FPT is reliable; we'll always be here on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. If you're a part of FPT, you're also reliable, and won't no-show if you say you're coming.On that note: we don't overbook tickets. If you say you're coming, there's a seat here waiting for you. If you no-show, now it's empty and tables are short players. FPT does not let their friends play alone. FPT makes sure that 100% of those who sign up are accounted for every month. You don't ghost your friends; and there are consequences for ghosting us.FPT is not for profit, and it's not even a not-for-profit. It's a friend group. So, if you contextualize the decisions that FPT makes, a lot of things will make more sense.- There's no Slack group (we're only meant to exist for 1 day each month; the expectation is that for founders on the other days, you're building).- There's no official social media (the only way to experience FPT is to actually show up).- There's no 'name-tags' (single events in time have name badges; FPT exists each month, and it won't take long before you know your new friends by name).- That if you don't show up, expect I'll be in touch to let you know that your no-show made me sad (because I care about my friends, and you wouldn't ghost your friends).Fill out the form below to apply to join Founder Poker Toronto.

What is a Founder? Who is this for?

We are an exclusive club for Founders. We also allow select VC/Angel investors to join our club, as they play an integral part in the tech-ecosystem.So, what is a Founder? Or at least, how do we define it?We define a Founder as: You are the person who created a tech or tech-related company, and you pursue this company as your sole full time focus....okay, what's a tech or tech-related company?It all comes down to how a venture scales. Tech companies (vs. a 'normal business') can create scale by producing more technology; instead of say, hiring humans to do serve the core function of the business. This technology is typically unique and defensible; generating IP, data-moats, trade secrets, etc.Because of the nature of how tech companies scale, they can achieve billion dollar status in 5 years or less; whereas more traditional businesses can take multiple decades to do the same. This means that tech-companies have vastly different problems, desires, and need a different set of resources to win.A 'normal business' is like a cafe, an accountant, or a real estate firm; all of these can only achieve scale by hiring more people. These people provide a service, and the service is dependent on how the people are trained. If you change out all the staff in a 'normal business', you likely have a completely different business. If you change out all of the people in a tech-company, the product remains the same. Normal businesses are awesome ventures to build, and are way more likely to actually be profitable/successful. But the needs are different; we're trying to cater to Toronto's tech ecosystem.So, who's allowed in?-Startup Founders of Tech Companies who are building full time.
-VCs and Angels who invest in such Tech Companies (subject to approval by FPT).
-Founders of agencies that support the Toronto Tech ecosystem (subject to approval by FPT, and requiring a referral from an active founder who's already in the community)
Approval is a privelege, not a right: We review everyone who applies to join and if we sense something is off, we won't let you in. If we sense that you're just joining to try and sell something, we're going to say no. We may ask for referrals / references from founders who are in the community if we don't know you.If you don't see yourself in those categories above, but you feel you should be allowed in anyways? Feel free to apply below to join! We'll consider it. Derek responds to all inquiries in a day or less.

Min 5+ words in the long answer text box or it'll be filtered by the spam check!



The Poker

COST/BUY-INIt's a community; not a casino.It only costs $10 to reserve your seat. This funds a few things. It includes a contribution to a winner's pot*, your dinner, your drinks, and supporting general club ops (like buying decks of cards, prizes, the venue rental, and more). For the first 1 hour and 20 minutes, you can re-buy for $10 if you bust.*If you cannot participate in the winner's pot for personal or religious reasons, you can opt out of contributing to the winner's pot when you register. Your contribution instead will be used to fund other club ops.YOU GET:-Dinner - veg, vegan, meat options
-Drinks - beer, seltzer, and non alcoholic options
-Toronto's most exclusive hat... but only if you win
SCHEDULE:6:00PM - 6:45PM: Poker 101 for First Time Poker Players
6:45PM - 7:00PM: Arrival / Check-In
7:00PM - 7:30PM: Dinner / Networking
7:30PM - 7:45PM: Secret Rituals
7:45PM - 11:00PM: Tournament Starts
THE POKER-We teach Poker 101 before every meetup from 6pm to 645pm
-Texas Hold'em Style (~7 players/table) + 1 dealer.
-Turbo blinds; they raise every 20 minutes.
-If you place top 3, you'll win a seat at the yearly $3k Freeroll. It takes place in late-November/early December.



Upcoming Dates

We (usually) play on the 2nd Tuesday of every month

DateDoingLocation
May 13th, 2025PokerIYKYK
June 10th, 2025PokerIndex Exchange
2nd Tuesday of Each MonthPokerIYKYK

Founder Poker was founded by Derek Jouppi & is co-hosted by Simran Nanda


Title Sponsors

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Ticket Availability

For transparency, here is how we do it.We can seat 8 people per table, up to 8 tables. Caps at 64 people.The first people to be emailed the password are the tech startup founders. They will have a week to claim their spotThe second group to be emailed the password are aspiring startup founders, VCs, & agency founders. They have a week to claim their spot.Then, everyone (i.e. including ecosystem partners, retired founders, etc.) will be emailed the password.Our meetup first and foremost caters to tech founders actively building - so they get priority! Hope that's cool with you.


2025 Glory

We play for glory, not for money. These points earn you a right to play in the $3k Freeroll at the end of the year. If you earn 3 points, you qualify.

NameFounder OfOverall
Nasib Ahmed*Quantigo AI10
Raymond Sam*30chars8
Matt Ting*Peak Frameworks7
Henry Li*Bullets Club5
Jennifer Schell*Finliti4
Archie Wood*Evidence.dev4
Paul Rogich*Sponsor @ BoastAI4
Yair Korok*Flair4
Masoud Azizi*Soberfy3
Simran NandaSimply Revenue2
Hamza FarooqBiobox Analytics2
Sam WuSabba1
Josip VulicAdvite1
Nimalan ThavandiranTissueX1
Sergiy DybskiyAcctual1
Vishar YaghoubianToothPod1
Alysha-Rae WeekesHalo Law1
Mario SegoviaVC @ McGill St Laurent1
Leonid TkachenkoNovelMaker1
Marc RacettePulseFX1
Javad SiahkamariKon Aerosystems1
Jordan WallU Got Game1
Ankil PatelDebugging.Sucks1
Sam WuSabba1
Julia PiaMent Projects1

*Qualified for Yearly Finals


2024 Winners

NameFounder OfOverall
Derek JouppiAdvite & Founder Poker1st
Zachary McCueREPWR2nd
Javad SiahkamariKon Aerosystems3rd
Timur LuguevEcomtent4th
Varun SetlurProphetT-5th
Mayuran YogarajahIndex ExchangeT-5th
Paul CroweMetronome7th
Jayson DaleQuiktix8th
Stephanie CurcioNLPatent9th-12th
Osama SiddiqueKruzee9th-12th
Sennah MostovacMaRS IAF9th-12th
John GoffHIPO9th-12th

2024 Glory

NameFounder OfOverall
Abhijit KeriwalHostelmatch11
Stephanie CurcioNLPatent9
Kate GrantFasken7
Derek JouppiAdvite & Founder Poker6
Varun SetlurProphet6
Osama SiddiqueKruzee5
Javad SiahkamariKon Aerosystems5
Christabel KimStealth5
Prathna RameshFutureSight Ventures5
Arya ShahBanjara5
Timur LuguevEcomtent5
Matthew WongClaymoo5
Mayuran YogarajahIndex Exchange4
Lily TseThinkDirty4
Saud AzizVault4
Aditi SitolaySynoromed4
Paul CroweMetronome4
Mikerah Q-CHashcloak4
Salim FakhouriStealth4
Sam WuSabba4
Jayson DaleQuiktix3
Masoud AziziSoberfy3
Ashwin SureshkumarDentacloud3
Josh SoferAsk Lilac3
Neil GrunbergStorytime Capital3
Rachel BakerTejo.ai3
Marium KirmaniStarterHacks3
Sennah MostovacMaRS IAF3
Zachary McCueREPWR3
Inaara HasmaniPassage3
Zahin HussainAnkur Capital2
Sentil PillaiPalatar2
Nino MelikidzeImmitracker1
Adrian SavinSyzl1
Godwin ChanMedMe1
Isaac StrangWilderness Union1
Ethi KotiahVeniceFi1
Jayden JungStealth1
Chris JonesCannabis Xpress1
Eunice WuAsepha AI1
Kevin WuGreenfreight1
Aziza WaringSHILO1
Emil KastroCaria Global1
Artem ChaykovskyyStorytime Capital1
Mila BanerjeePronti AI1
Ali MirjahaniFlowjin1
Erica CarnicelliImpression Ventures1
Laura GaborEcologicaa1
Colleen ChangTuuli1
Kajal BansalSpark Career Co1
Fab HepburnCloud Company1
Jackey ChengDentacloud1
Dmitry G.Vendors.ca1
Miro CupakDNAStack1
Michael StychContend Legal1
Max SinclairEcomtent1
Jon ChristensenBidmii1
Nick Di ScipioPantheon Prototyping1
Ryan OvasPolar Labs1
Nicole BaranowskiHairstrong1
Erica CarnicelliImpression Ventures1
Trista GileParmazip1
Kirill MoisyeyevThe Fitting Room1
John MaggiriasDentacloud1
Zain SiddiquiThe Fabricats1
Simran NandaSimply Revenue1
Linda MontgomeryMempool Ventures1
Daniel RizziWe-Watch1
Alexis WeiStealth1
Dragos CadaPathPeer1
Shabs BadshaTrustNet1
Dan Benin021 Strategic1
Harrison AmitHovr1
Sara FeldsteinBarumba1
Mohit AroraIndietech1
Sid RaghuvanshiHerald Labs1

2023 Winners

NameFounder OfOverall
Sophia StoneIndietech1
Artem ChaykovskyyStorytime Capital2
Chris TuffordGreen Apple Gives3
Tavis LochheadKadoa4
Alex LamRvere5
Luigi La CorteProvision6
Mohit AroraIndietech7
Derek JouppiAdviteT-8
Rachel Cohen-MurisonViduuT-8

2023 Glory

Name (☑-Finalist)Founder OfPoints
Varun Setlur ☑-10
Dan Pappo ☑Agota Health9
Timur Luguev ☑Ecomtent7
Rich Emrich ☑Acuity Insights7
Sophia Stone ☑Indietech7
Luigi La Corte ☑Provision5
Tony QuSequestr5
Shazia Akbar ☑[Stealth]5
Max BirnerBoxhub5
Nimalan Thavandiran ☑Tissue-X5
Justine Ward LuchiniThirdzy5
Ishika Mittal-5
Mohit Arora ☑Indietech5
Brian Li-5
Derek Jouppi ☑Advite4
Josip VulicAdvite4
Tavis Lochhead ☑Kadoa4
Rachel Cohen-Murison ☑Viduu4
Joe Noss-4
Roy Wainer ☑Townish4
Chris Tufford ☑Green Apple Gives3
Artem Chaykovskyy ☑Storytime Capital3
Alec McIlwraith-BlackFasken3
Josh ScachnowVisto3
Tarun AgarwalTwo Small Fish VC3
Zeeshan Jafri ☑OVRA3
Rahul Kulkarni-3
Lily Tse ☑Think Dirty2
Hannah Brennen ☑ArtHaus2
Marium Kirmani ☑StarterHacks2
Karan SawantRelyft2
Alex LamRvere2
Aria AlimRBCx2
Antonio PericaoNoocleus1
Ian SplinterZap Metals1
Max WooLavaReach1
Juanita Lee-GarciaUpside Foundation1
Evelyn WainewrightHyperscale1
Nadia PulcovaTalentFund1
Ryan WongMana Knight1
Farial KarbasiDesAcc1
Paolo LeoneBranding Centres1
Chelsea VandermeerCaldera Trade1
Michael SousaSingleKey1
Eunice WuAsepha AI1
Matthew WongTriage Tickets1
Daniel LeeAcutehat1
Martin HauckThe People People Group1
Sean BillingsOutPoint1
Daniel RizziWe-Watch1
Alvin ChengIconthin Biotech1
Karem TopalismailogluThe Dressing Room1
Bernhardt GarlippGoodX Healthcare1
Eliana BravosND Connect1
Daniel MossPadder1
Natalia Bakaeva[Stealth]1
Arthur SousaLittl1
Ege YayCloudSale1
Daniel BeninGlissner1
Arron LinRBCx1
Anna BilanArlos1
Jake WoloshynFasken1
Vit VimalTuuli1
Simran Nanda-1
Karan Deep-1
Zainab Bokhari-1
Aman Lohia-1
Amin Sammara-1

2022 Glory

DateFirstSecondThird
May 2022Akshaj JainNael CavazosDerek Jouppi
June 2022Flawnson TongOliver WalerysDerek Jouppi
July 2022Aman LohiaBenjamin ParryOliver Walerys
August 2022Derek JouppiArchie WoodVincent Chang
Sept 2022Dragos CadaMaria O'RiellyNims Thavandiran
Oct 2022Donna YangLewis LiuSameer Dhar
Nov 2022Nino MelikidzeJohn GoffAdam Gronowski
Dec 2022Aman LohiaAdel SahawanehDerek Jouppi