You deserve to be at the table:

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You deserve to be at the table.

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Most days we feel like frauds.

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Like we’re not good enough.

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Like someone is going to appear out of nowhere and tell us the game is up.

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None of that is true.

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You deserve to be here.

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You’re not an imposter.

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You’ve earned this place in your life.

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I need to remind myself of this constantly.

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Because most days, I feel like a fraud.

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Sometimes the universe gives you signs you’re doing the right thing.

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Was in New York the last few days for a biotech conference.

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Got to meet companies, talk to investors and hang out with friends.

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But today felt different.

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Had a conversation with a distinguished professor and her co-founder about a company she’s working on.

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We’re trying to invest in her company so have been doing a lot of relationship-building the last little while.

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Today was the first time I felt like I had a seat at the table.

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She commented on how we’ve built something different.

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How what we’re doing at Amplitude is unique and something no one else is doing in Canada.

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She also asked if I’d work in a company.

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It’s something I heard yesterday from another CEO.

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Weird how that happened twice in 2 days.

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Maybe it’s the energy I’m giving off.

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Maybe it’s my answers to their questions.

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Maybe it’s just them being nice.

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I don’t know.

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But hearing that felt like validation.

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Then a few hours later, I’m waiting for my flight back home and I see this professor again.

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She introduces me to two folks sitting next to me.

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One of them started Creative Destruction Labs, one of the largest incubators in the world.

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The other used to run investments out of one of the largest pension funds in the world.

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We chatted about investing, start-ups and the change in mentality for Canadian founders.

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I started peppering them with questions but they eventually wanted to listen to me.

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Here are two guys at the top of their industries and they’re listening to me.

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That’s when I knew.

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I deserve to be here.

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All the work I’ve done.

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All the reading.

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All the writing.

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All the learning.

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It’s all been worth it.

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It’s put me at tables I never thought I’d get to.

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When I had breakfast with Richard Branson in 2023, that was a holy shit moment for me.

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I didn’t think I deserved it.

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And yet after today, I know I did.

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I’ve worked hard to be here.

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Never forget this.

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You deserve to be at the table.

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