For founders, by founders

Flightpath is a member-driven venture community uniting growth leaders and builders across Canada

Our manifesto

Start with community

We built Flightpath to unite growth leaders and venture builders across communities.

We are fierce champions of founder-led startup communities. They’re powered by ever-evolving, micro-communities that form and grow, some incorporated, and many more of the “grassroots, organized-by-allies” kind (our favorite).

We've lived it first hand. As a ragtag group of local tech founders, we founded Startup Edmonton to mobilize our home community. We organized DemoCamps, Startup Drinks, Startup Weekends, Launch Parties, Hackathons, GameCamp, Founders & Funders, Preflight Workshops, Startup Week, Startup Crawl, and Student DevCon.

We built physical startup hubs, innovation labs and maker spaces to create gravity and connectivity; helped members organize hundreds of meetups of their own; and started a local fund to invest first and early in founders from our membership, many of whom are anchor companies in our community today.

Our approach has always been simple: create community platforms that empower leaders and peers to build and grow together.

Yet today, local ecosystems are littered with transactional mentorship and accelerator programs, with mismatched coaches and legacy innovation entities that put programs, rankings and funders first, and founders and builders second. We think that's a problem.

At Flightpath, we focus on lifelong connections between community members as peers and allies. We empower members with simplified group structures and starter frameworks to lead and grow, instead of selling them intensive, cohort programs they don't have time for.

Like a strong alumni network, it's when shared context, ambition and trust exist between leaders and builders - big things happen.

That's why we believe that, who you build with is just as important as what you’re building.

Welcome to Flightpath.

Join us →

The beginning

Flightpath was founded by Ken Bautista and Cam Linke, to develop founders and fund early teams through Startup Edmonton (which we also founded and led).

Mobilizing community

From Democamp to Launch Party, Preflight to Startup Week, we led and organized the rise of our local tech and startup community.

Building a hub

We built a home base for hackers, creators and founders at the historic Mercer Warehouse in the heart of our downtown.

Investing in founders

Through our Builders Fund, we've invested early in member founders watching them lead their startups from seed to growth.

Connecting communities

We've collaborated with founders and leaders across startup communities, from Waterloo to Boulder to Reykjavík and beyond.

Flightpath 2.0

We’re expanding as a member-driven venture community to unite growth leaders and builders across Canada, powered by a second gen Builders Fund.

Hi, I'm Ken.

I'm co-founder of Flightpath.

As an educator-turned-entrepreneur, I've grown alongside thousands of founders, leaders and community builders across Canada and abroad - starting my first venture as a university student, mobilizing founder-led communities, building physical innovation hubs, shaping national entrepreneurship initiatives, and investing capital into cities.

These experiences have shaped my perspectives on the power of entrepreneurship and community, and a fundamental belief that who you build with is just as important as what you're building.

Book a call →