The Haystack Way
24 November 2020 2022-08-23 7:02The Haystack Way
The Haystack Way
Meet The Needle Seekers
Haystack Fund is a hard-driving team of veteran entrepreneurs who push for the best, but don’t take themselves too seriously. We know what starting out in business is all about. We’re here to help.
Alexandre Panneton (co-founder)
Alex started his career as a lawyer and spent four years as a sports media executive before focusing on entrepreneurship and early stage ventures in 2014. He is an expert at launching businesses and starting new brands. Alex’s passion for uniting people around vibrant projects has led to great success.
Frédéric H. Proulx (co-founder)
Frédéric is an expert in global marketing & monetization of digital projects. He is also a known speaker and influencer in the entrepreneurship space from Canada to Cambodia. Among other things, he is in charge of Haystack Fund in Asia.
Jean-Francois Morin (co-founder)
Jean-Francois was first a naturalist - biologist, before being a pharmacist and has been a pharmacy owner specialized in palliative and ambulatory caring on several occasions and also an entrepreneur in multiple fields. Curious, self-taught and unifier, he has been interested in projects as diverse as the cosmetics industry, cabinet-making, maple syrup production, micro-breweries, beekeeping and real estate. Jean-François has been successful in multiple challenges by surrounding himself with the right elements and adapting to various environments always with a new outlook.
Martin Cabanes (collaborator)
Martin is a born entrepreneur and has a deep-seated love for the field of business. His tenure as a 19-year lawyer within the Québec Bar, coupled with his experience working with highly reputable corporations allowed him to grow into a mature, devoted and competent advisor. Martin helps his clients understand and solve the complex challenges that they face. He implements risk management strategies within their corporate framework, guiding them through and resolving crisis situations.
Jonathan Bondy (collaborator)
Jonathan Bondy, chief actuary at Manulife Cambodia and board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia. Jonathan is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the Foreign Credit Insurance Association and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst.
Zoe Beaudry (collaborator)
More about Zoe coming soon.
Pierre-Olivier Gagné (Business analyst & Portfolio manager)
Pierre-Olivier holds a B.B.A. with a major in finance and international business and an M. Sc in strategic management. He has several years of experience in consulting, among others in the financial services and construction sector. He loves to travel and practices many sports such as jogging, tennis and alpine skiing.
We want to contribute. That Means:
Don’t be a stranger
Call when you need us. Really. That’s it. Call us.
We will hang out
Meetings can be fun. Let’s kick around ideas on strategy, product, marketing, operations, finance or whatever we can help you with.
Your street cred
Good governance early in a business contributes to growth and credibility. We can help. Consider us for your board or as advisors. You won’t regret it.
What Your Friends Will Find Cool
Haystack HQ
We are building a kick-ass HQ for Haystack in a barn (barn… haystack, get it?) in Bolton-West in the Eastern townships (we know… sweet!). You will be invited to work on your project with us and our contributors in an inspiring and stimulating setting with other entrepreneurs.
Work hard / Play hard
We invested in a company that makes really good alcoholic beverages and we don’t particularly enjoy going to bed. We also live for that fireside chat when the only limit is our imagination. We are not hardcore Linkin Park fans, but we like something Chester Bennington once said: “We saw brilliance when the world was asleep.”
“We saw brilliance when the world was asleep.” - Chester Bennington
We Don't Do It Alone
Experts and mentors are a huge part of how we evaluate and grow our investments. We want to build a team around you and your project. We will help you find the right advisors and investors.
Subject matter experts and mentors are a huge part of how we evaluate
and grow our investments.
