BUSINESS Episodes

In case you missed it, from November 2025: 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist and World's Fastest Man Ben Johnson talks about Charlie Francis, Dr Jamie Astaphan, Carl Lewis, Diego Maradona, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son Al-Saadi, nearly joining the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and a complete breakdown of his blazing 9.79 second 100m Gold Medal winning run at the 1988 Seoul Olympics!


For everything Ben Johnson, please visit https://ben979.com/
TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum at andrew.a...

PBS Travel Journalist Joseph Rosendo talks about visiting 104 countries around the world, his upcoming shooting schedule around the Thousand Islands, his popular PBS shows Joseph Rosendo’s Steppin’ Out and Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope, his 21 episodes focused on Canada, why he respects the business model of his PBS stablemate and fellow travel expert Rick Steves, why he ends every episode with a Mark Twain quote, and how he manages to condense 100 hours of footage into each 26 minute and 46 seco...

NHL Player Agent Ritch Winter talks about the business and lifestyle of his career, why the Head Coach is apparently never wrong, the key components of any contract being 'opportunity' FIRST and THEN 'money,' his made-for-marketing PWHL client Abby Hustler, his thoughts on Marty Walsh and the NHLPA, his positive relationships with the NHL’s Gary Bettman and Bill Daly, his interactions with entertainers Hilary Duff and Carrie Underwood, and that surreal dinner he enjoyed at the dearly departed Wa...

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman talks about his 33 year (and counting) reign at the NHL, his time at Cornell University and NYU Law School, working under David Stern at the NBA, moving over to the NHL in 1993, and his candid thoughts on Snoop Dogg, Don Cherry, Wayne Gretzky, Ron MacLean, Ken Dryden, the 50th anniversary of Darryl Sittler’s 10 point night, the FoxTrax glowing puck, his portrayal in the BlackBerry movie, fans booing him at the annual Stanley Cup presentation, and why we don’t have a...

Memorabilia Mogul Hersh Borenstein talks about getting into the business via Pavel Bure’s desire to ride roller coasters, his relationships with Gordie Howe and Johnny Bower, his final goodbye to The King Borje Salming, his time with William Shatner, Ralph Macchio, Heather Locklear, Dogpool and Michael J. Fox at Fan Expo, cleaning 30 years of bird poop off of the signature sign atop Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant, his sly technique to get autographs from a reticent Ken Dryden, his interactions with ...

1992 and 1993 Toronto Blue Jays World Series Champion Todd Stottlemyre talks about growing up at Yankee Stadium (Mrs Babe Ruth supplied the ice cream), his dad Mel Sr’s amazing life in baseball, getting drafted not once not twice but three times before joining the Blue Jays, that historic 1992 World Series championship, the World Series back-to-back repeat in 1993 featuring the Bloody Chin incident (and telling Philly’s Mayor which body part he could kiss), why he did NOT know that Joe Carter hi...

Bay Street Titan David Kassie talks about his McGill basketball career, his first job out of Western MBA at Wood Gundy, his ‘culturally controversial’ business pairings at CIBC, launching Genuity Capital Markets from an office over his garage, monetizing Genuity via the merger that became Canaccord Genuity, his acceptance of algorithmic-guided investment strategies at Outcome (leveraging the ‘magic of compounding’), his recent hobnobbing at the Sundance Film Festival & the Academy Awards, becomi...

Business Journalist/Host/Author Amanda Lang talks about her Ottawa/Winnipeg roots growing up as the daughter of a Prime Minister Trudeau cabinet minister (with Justin two grades behind her at school), why like George Costanza she always yearned to be an architect, getting her print journalism start at The Globe & Mail, moving to New York City and joining CNN, the benefits of her Financial Post being mistaken for the Financial Times, her interactions with Paula Zahn & Hilary Duff, her 13 years of...

Entertainment Industry Titan Stephen Stohn talks about developing the Degrassi franchise with his wife Linda Schuyler, his interactions with Aubrey [Drake] Graham/Kevin Smith/Billy Ray Cyrus, the transformative experience of seeing The Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1964, his entertainment law work for some of Canadian music’s biggest names, why he keeps gold records on his wall from KD Lang/Cowboy Junkies/ Alannah Myles, his longtime friendship/collaborations with OG Much Music VJ Christopher...

Journalist/Politician Peter Kent shares adventures from his TWO distinguished careers [is he the REAL Forrest Gump??], his first day in Toronto being the same day as the 1967 Maple Leafs Stanley Cup parade, finding the right balance between being scared shitless versus youthfully exuberant, his interactions with Saddam Hussein/Hillary Clinton/Mikhail Gorbachev/Margaret Thatcher/Stevie Wonder/Nelson Mandela, his thoughts on Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper as a person, and an update on his little...

Music Promoter and Merch Impresario Norman Perry talks about cutting his teeth at Pink Floyd’s 1971 Montreal show, unveiling Brian Johnson with AC/DC on their 1980 Canadian tour, why Disney & the NFL are better marketers than Gene/Paul/KISS, continuing to honour the legacies of David Bowie/Tom Petty/Miles Davis, his surprisingly successful collaboration between AC/DC and Gucci, why his goal is to 'feed you what you want, when you want it,' and how he has succeeded for over 50 years with the simp...

Sable & Rosenfeld's Myra Sable talks about approaching her 55th year running Canada’s pre-eminent gourmet food company, her big business breakthroughs with Eddie Creed/Garfield Weston/Eli Zabar, why she trademarked ‘Tipsy’ as part of her product names, her memorable interactions with Andy Warhol/Gloria Steinem/Flo Kennedy/Dr Henry Morgentaler/Brian Mulroney/Ed Broadbent/John Turner/Dave Nichol, her forays into e-commerce via Amazon & Shopify, taking advantage of the resurgence of the (Spicy) Dir...

Mabel’s Labels Co-Founder Julie Cole talks about starting the business as a way to fix something that was pissing her off, starting from scratch in 2003 and then selling out for $12MM cash [!!!] in 2016, why she both likes and loathes the term ‘Mom-preneur,’ the process of her bootstrapped startup being acquired by industry leader Avery Labels/CCL Industries, and whether there is an actual MABEL out there [or not!]


For everything both Julie Cole and Mabel’s Labels, please visit https://mabels...

Financial Strategist/Author/Podcaster John McGuire talks about advocating for financial empowerment, his Wealth Eazy podcast, his interactions with the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, and the lessons from his new book "Wealth Without Wall Street: Taking Back Control of Your Money in A Rigged Financial System."


For everything John McGuire, including his book Wealth Without Wall Street: Taking Back Control of Your Money in A Rigged Financial System, please visit https://www.johnwmcguire.com/
TO...

Atlas Co-founder Turi Mercuri talks about the benefits of his firm’s hospitality management platform, why tip management is such a pain point for restaurants, how ‘growing up around the fryers’ led to 30+ years in hospitality, his interactions with ARod/Wayne Gretzky/Alex Lifeson/Chantal Kreviazuk, and the importance of mastering the Art of Hospitality!


For more on Turi and Atlas, please visit https://atlasrms.com/
TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum at andrew.applebaum@gmail.com
Al...

Karrot North America CEO Robert Kim talks about the Korean neighbourhood marketplace platform jumping into the Canadian & US markets, why we need yet another peer-to-peer app and how Karrot is different from Craigslist/Kijiji/EBay/Facebook Marketplace/Nextdoor, why in Korea the app is listed under the ‘Social’ category rather than the ‘Commerce’ category, how they are using AI to build a trust layer at a hyper-localized level, and some tales from his past experiences with tech startups [or as th...

The City of Toronto’s two-term former Mayor David Miller talks about immigrating to Canada, his transformative experiences at Harvard, vivid memories from his campaign victories in 2003 [the BROOM!] and 2006 [the REPEAT!], his assessment of Mayor Chow’s current reign, governing in a system with 44 Councillors that have no party affiliation, why David Crombie remains a Toronto Legend [both are former Swansea boys], why they still call him Mr Mayor in the United States [although he misses wearing ...

Nextdoor Canada’s Managing Director Christopher Doyle talks about serving as a neighbourhood 'digital bulletin board' for 90 million verified users, why PROXIMITY differentiates them from other social media platforms, building upon their 'hyperlocal at scale' business model, serving as the gateway to actually putting down your phone and connecting in person, his past work experiences with Jack Dorsey and Scott Moore, why the ‘thanks’ button is utilized more in Canada than in any of their 10 othe...

'The Shopify Story' author Larry MacDonald talks about how a Canadian startup rocketed to become an e-commerce giant by empowering millions of entrepreneurs, the unexpectedly dynamic partnership of a quirky game-playing programming nerd [Tobias Lutke] and a demanding power-extrovert [Harley Finkelstein], getting ghosted by his main subjects Lutke and Finkelstein, the ‘flywheel effect’ of Shopify’s API, the cultural importance of Shopify staying based out of [and growing from] its downtown Ottawa...

Elevate CEO Lisa Zarzeczny talks about the upcoming Elevate Festival, curating their 200+ speakers/thought leaders, Michelle Obama’s in-person presence [and her ‘driving directly onto the stage’ security requirements], recommending that Al Gore use the UP Express as a transit alternative, the surreal experience of grooving to The Fugees ‘Killing Me Softly’ in front of Wyclef Jean, the ‘super-smartness’ of Eric Schmidt and Sam Altman, the possibility of leveraging her relationship with Martha Ste...

Ex-City of Toronto/TTC Communicator Brad Ross talks about putting out a shingle and opening up his own firm, collaborating with Seth Rogen on TTC public service announcements, the most grievous cases of poor TTC rider etiquette [fornication! toenail clippers!], his adventures working under various Mayors [Lastman/Miller/Ford/Tory] and TTC Heads [Webster/Byford/Upfold/Leary], and why we have it much better with the TTC than we think we do!


For his Substack Hot Takes and everything else Brad Ro...

HOVER founder Cameron Rowe talks about autonomous drone deliveries, his pitch on Dragons’ Den [turning DOWN an investment offer!], piggybacking on the investment injected into drone deliveries by Amazon and Google, his experiences in the Techstars startup network, acquiring his drone pilot’s license, the challenges behind landing in ‘unsecured delivery areas,’ and why he is counting on his drones to support his upcoming swim across Lake Ontario for SickKids!


For everything Cameron and HOVER, ...

Love bowling? Love the music of the 80s? Ed Sousa talks about his love for BOTH, his signature trilby hat, turning a one-night charity concert with Honeymoon Suite & the Spoons into the largest indoor music festival in North America, growing up 5 minutes away from radio station CFNY, Curtis Joseph’s wife’s adoration of When In Rome, learning the value of intimate artist/fan interaction from Randy Bachman, why his dream show would be booking Simple Minds, spending time with Midge Ure/Martin Fry/G...

The ‘Father of Vehicle Return Insurance’ Vince Beretta talks about his trademarked/copyrighted WALKAWAY protection, his Jerry Maguire-like bedtime epiphany following an enlightening meeting with car dealer Michael Croxon, the product blowing up for Hyundai USA after Jeff Bridges’ voiced-over TV commercials aired in prime time, Nav Bhatia jumping aboard with his FOUR point play [even better than a trey!], his entrepreneurial partnership with Robert Varga, and a passionate defence as to why the au...