By: Nate Bek
For young founders, Nazuk (Naz) Thakkar might be your strongest ally — literally.
In college, she took over a powerlifting club and made it more open to women, sparking her passion for lifting and a drive to make traditionally exclusive spaces more inclusive. That experience shaped her mission: make hard-to-crack communities more accessible. It also gave her the grit to advocate for founders taking their first swing.
“It’s founder empathy,” she tells Ascend. “Running the powerlifting club and also being an active member in this traditionally male-dominated sport taught me how to support people building from the ground up.”
Naz also sees massive potential in young founders. “These young founders are fearless and committed,” she says. “They’re willing to take a bet on themselves, and that energy is what’s going to take their companies far.”
As an investor at Ripple Ventures, a Canadian venture firm, Naz focuses on high-conviction pre-seed investments, writing checks between $250,000 and $1 million for core deals and $50,000 - $100,000 through Ripple’s Fellow Fund.
Ripple is currently investing out of its Fund III, anchored by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada's renewed Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative ("VCCI") through BDC Capital. The firm focuses on companies tackling outdated industries like healthcare, logistics, and construction.
Naz was kind enough to sit down with Ascend for our VC profile series, where we showcase early-stage investors from across the US. We talked in more depth about her global roots, her views on young builders, and why sauce is the best ingredient. Read to the end for carve-outs.
*We've edited this conversation for brevity. Enjoy! — Nate 👾
Nate: Thanks so much for doing this, Naz. How did you get started on your journey of becoming a professional investor?
Naz: I grew up in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, but it always felt like a small town. I literally grew up in farmland, surrounded by cows and horses. Back then, I didn’t know much about startups. My dad worked in cybersecurity, and when I was in fourth or fifth grade, he started his own company. Watching him scale the business and take that chance on himself was exciting and left a lasting impression on me.
Later, my family moved to Singapore, where I did high school. Living there broadened my perspective—I traveled to nearly 40 countries, which shaped my worldview. After high school, I returned to Canada to study business at Queen’s University. The standard career paths—investment banking, accounting, consulting—didn’t appeal to me, which was unsettling because everyone else seemed so sure of their career trajectory.
Some friends in private equity suggested looking into venture capital. It clicked. My dad’s tech background and my exposure to Singapore’s fast-paced innovation ecosystem made VC feel like a natural fit. At 18, I cold-emailed around 100 VC funds during my first semester. One fund, Trend Forward Capital in New York, took a chance on me. I spent 4–5 months there as an analyst, and it blew my mind. Venture capital was the most exciting and dynamic space I’d ever seen. Where I could be myself and thrive.
You get back from New York and your internship, what do you do from there?
Back at Queen’s, I helped launch the Ontario chapter of Front Row Ventures (Canada’s version of Dorm Room Fund) and created Queen’s first VC course to make this career path more accessible for students.
To gain operating experience, I became the first hire at a DTC brand in New York called Ruby. I worked on scaling their retail and customer experience operations, handling biz dev and sales. But I missed software and investing. That’s when I came across Ripple Ventures through their fellowship program. I loved their grassroots, operator-focused approach to investing. I pitched myself hard, and they brought me on. Four years later, I’m still here.
You mentioned your operator experience. I worked in retail too — at a fish spot and an ice cream shop. While that doesn’t exactly translate to software, I think there are some shared lessons, like dealing with black swan events and the unpredictability of running a business. As an operator-focused VC, what do you offer founders? Why do they want you on their cap table, both personally and as a fund?
Travel shaped how I work with people. Seeing different cultures and perspectives taught me how humans tick. At university, I accidentally minored in religion because I took so many courses to understand worldviews. That foundation helps build founder empathy and trust, which is critical at the pre-seed stage.
Founders face big risks and uncertainty, and I believe in being a good, kind human first. That’s why they want Ripple on their cap table. We show up—whether it’s answering late-night emails, reviewing decks at midnight, or just listening when things get tough.
It’s about being like a third co-founder, filling gaps and offering support. My own experiences—traveling, being an early operator, and facing challenges—drive that approach. I know how much it matters to have someone in your corner early on.
What are you personally excited about these days? App layer/infra etc.
I spend most of my time around application layer, digging into verticalized applications for cybersecurity and compliance.
I care most about very clear, immediate and costly problems that are ripe for disruption and have budgets to access with unique distribution advantages. I’ve been seeing a lot of these trends in use cases within gov, pharma, healthcare, climate and fintech especially for example where we've done a few deals this year.
You’ve done a few deals in Seattle, like Zealot, the spin-out from the University of Washington, and Climba, the agent company. Being based in Toronto, how do you position yourself in that market? And how do you approach competing in larger U.S. markets and winning allocation there?
Starting with Toronto, it’s about building rapport with founders. There’s a risk aversion here that’s more obvious than in SF or New York. But Toronto is getting to a place where founders are more comfortable. There’s a wealth of resources and a strong sense of community, similar to what I’ve seen in Seattle.
You see people co-investing and collaborating on deals. I’m passionate about building that ecosystem in Toronto. I host monthly VC events and spend time in the community building out our co-investor network. The grassroots approach matters. You need founders to trust you, even if they’re not raising today. You want to be their first call when they are.
Toronto founders often take the time to work closely with investors. But the brain drain is real. You have to win on value-add. That’s why Ripple focuses on pre-seed gaps — both capital and domain expertise. We invest in thought leadership, community work, and founder support. That’s where you win in Toronto.
It’s similar to Seattle. We travel to build our co-investor network and think about strategies to help portfolio companies scale. It’s about setting them up to win — not just in Canada, but globally. That means working with VCs who can back future rounds, building corp dev networks, and thinking strategically about what’s next for the companies to scale.
When I was in Seattle, I saw founders building in a space with gaps similar to Toronto’s pre-seed scene. Ascend and PSL are bridging those gaps, keeping founders from draining to SF. It’s all about post-investment work: graduating companies, co-investor networks, corp dev connections, and helping companies succeed beyond just your capital.
Let’s talk about Seattle. We’re a Seattle VC, and, yes, we pander to our audience — people click for that. You’ve been here, hosted an event, and made a few investments. Coming from across North America, what excites you about the opportunities here? AI talent stands out — that’s obvious. The legacy of juggernauts like Microsoft and Amazon is huge. But beyond that, let’s talk about the personality of the founders.
Our most recent investment in Seattle came from students and dropouts from UW. Making that investment, we realized there are incredibly smart kids here who are just building.
They have this “screw it, I’m just gonna build something” culture. It’s not as common in other universities and we need more of that self-commitment.
In Seattle, it’s different. These young founders are ruthless and fearless. They’re willing to take a bet on themselves, and that energy is what’s going to take their companies far. We saw that firsthand with our investment.
Interesting, I don’t hear that often. I’m friends with some of the most cracked young engineers here, and you’re right: they’re killers. Some that come to mind are Caleb, Jamari, and Parsa at our portfolio company Moondream. You alluded to it, but what’s the bear case?
I think the ecosystem in Seattle, to talk about the bear case, needs to cater more to the young builders. There’s a very strong focus on investing in seasoned founders. We talked a bit about the access gap to capital for early-stage companies, but it absolutely exists for young builders too.
When I was trying to understand what organizations exist within UW and other universities in the PNW, there’s not a lot. But there are these kids who are so inspired. They’re close to SF, so they’re drinking from the firehose, surrounded by all the smart people in Seattle, and they’re willing to build companies.
We’ve spoken to so many who aren’t necessarily looking for capital but for support and value-add investors. The good thing is there’s amazing talent, hustle, and dedication to building here. That’s rare to find outside the traditional tech hubs.
People need to keep an eye on these young builders and pay attention to who’s up and coming, rather than always focusing on three-time exit founders or ex-Amazon execs. The folks coming out of school and building companies are some of the most committed I’ve seen. Turnover and commitment are always challenges for young builders, but what’s coming out of the Seattle schools is very impressive.
I don’t know how much you’ve been following what Kirby has been posting online or some of the things I’ve been involved with, but yeah, there’s a lot happening. There’s DubHacks, CSeed, and YoungTech Seattle. Switching gears, what songs are getting the most run on your headphones?
My partner had never seen Twilight, so I was like, "Okay, it’s officially that time of the year — we have to watch all the movies." And we did. We binged every single one in a weekend. Since then, the soundtracks have been on repeat. I’m obsessed with "Eyes on Fire" by Blue Foundation —it’s such a classic. I also love all the EDM remixes of it. But in the gym, I’m in my punk rock era. And I’m a dubstep girl through and through — dubstep is my go-to for all my lifts.
What’s your go-to shoe?
One, lifting shoes—absolutely. My heeled lifting shoes have changed my life. Seriously, I can’t imagine squatting without them. They give you depth, comfort, mobility and the range of motion you need. They’re 100% my ride-or-dies. Day to day, though, I love Nike Blazers. The color schemes are awesome, they look good with everything, and they’re just such a timeless casual shoe.
Go-to ingredient in the kitchen?
Oh, okay, I love this question. I’m a big believer that food is just a vessel for sauce. Like, literally, the whole side of my fridge is packed with different sauces—especially hot sauce. I really believe in the power of spice. I’ll add spice to anything. As for ingredients, the trifecta is garlic, onion, and chili.
Honestly, you can’t go wrong with those.
