Founder recognition & thought leadership
Soodeh Farokhi, PhD · Founder & CEO, NexScale
Technology Entrepreneur · AI & Product Leader · Thought Leader · Public Speaker
A curated, source-linked record of Soodeh Farokhi’s awards, pitch-competition results, speaking engagements, media appearances, founder programmes and community leadership, across three companies and 17 years of building technology products.
Recognition highlights
The most significant recognitions across awards, pitch competitions, media and community leadership. Each one links to the organisation that issued it.
Innovation Factory (LiONS LAIR 2026)
Top-10 finalist; AI for member retention in fitness and wellness
Soodeh Farokhi pitching NexScale at LiONS LAIR 2026, Innovation Factory's annual pitch competition, on using AI to improve member retention for fitness and wellness operators. NexScale was named a Top-10 finalist.
TiE Toronto (BVX 2026, Rose Theatre, Brampton)
1st Runner-Up of 75 women-led ventures; AI for member retention in fitness and wellness
Soodeh Farokhi delivering the five-minute NexScale pitch at the TiE Women 2026 grand finale on the BVX 2026 main stage, where NexScale placed 1st Runner-Up among 75 women-led ventures from across Canada.
She & Success Business Magazine (with CanadianSME)
One of four announced nominees, Women in Tech Award 2026
Named among the four announced nominees for the Women in Tech Award at the She & Success Business Awards 2026, a national programme recognising women founders, executives and community leaders across Canada.
Women of Influence / RBC
Finalist, Innovation category, as founder & CTO of C2RO
Selected as a finalist in the Innovation category of the 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards, one of Canada's leading national awards for women entrepreneurs, for building C2RO, a privacy-first AI video analytics company.
Women in Leadership (WIL) Foundation
Award recipient for contribution to the Bridge to Gender Equality project
Recognised by the Women in Leadership Foundation for her contribution and dedication as an Advisory Committee member of the Bridge to Gender Equality project, a Government of Canada funded initiative to advance gender equity in leadership.
Awards & recognitions
Awards and nominations received by Soodeh personally, stated at the level achieved: winner, finalist or nominee. Where the original page is no longer online, the closest third-party citation is linked.
One of four announced nominees, Women in Tech Award 2026 · She & Success Business Magazine (with CanadianSME)
Finalist, Innovation category, as founder & CTO of C2RO · Women of Influence / RBC
Award recipient for contribution to the Bridge to Gender Equality project · Women in Leadership (WIL) Foundation
Provincial finalist, as founder & CTO of C2RO · Jeune Chambre de commerce de Montreal (JCCM), presented by BMO
Finalist, Founder Encore of the Year · Startup Community Awards (Startup Montreal)
Pitch competitions & founder programmes
Competitive pitch results and selective founder programmes across three companies, from She Loves Tech Canada in 2017 to TiE Women and LiONS LAIR in 2026.
1st Runner-Up (2nd place) among 75 women-led ventures across Canada; grand finale on the BVX 2026 main stage · TiE Toronto
Top-10 finalist of 40 companies; live pitch 20 Aug 2026 and gala 24 Sept 2026 · Innovation Factory
One of ten finalists, pitching C2RO · She Loves Tech (Canada round)
Selected for the 2026 Founders Fast Track cohort; portfolio client · Innovation Factory
Landing Pad client; $10,000 grant awarded · SPARK Centre (Regional Innovation Centre)
Accepted into Cohort 8 (Sept to Nov 2026), investment-readiness programme for women-led ventures · Movement51
[Our gallery]
Speaking & panels
More than thirty-five invited talks across Canada, the US and Europe, from university lectures and IEEE events to founder programmes and corporate AI town halls. Available for keynotes, panels, workshops and moderation.
Speaker session, Medium Day 2026 · Medium Day 2026
Invited speaker, Perspectives track (18 Sept 2026) · Medium
Designed and moderated four invitation-only operator roundtables and a webinar, 2026 · NexScale, with SPARK Centre and partners
Invited panelist · TD
Invited speaker · Human Mode Series (host: Nogol Madani), LinkedIn Live
Invited speaker · Women in Product, Toronto chapter
Invited guest mentor, 2024 cohort · Women in Product (global)
Regular on-stage presenter as Chief Product Officer · Nakisa
Invited panelist · The Forum
Invited speaker on building AI product companies · NEXT Canada
Invited founder talk at her alma mater (15 Dec 2021) · IEEE TEMS and TU Wien Innovation Incubation Center
Invited panelist · Women of MENA in Technology, Vienna chapter
Invited speaker · Rocket Club Live
Invited panelist · Women in Leadership Foundation
Invited speaker · SAP.iO
Invited panelist · York Region
Invited speaker · DTL Retail Council
Invited lecturer · University of the Fraser Valley, School of Business
Invited speaker · Women of MENA in Technology
Invited lecturer at McGill's business school · McGill University
Invited speaker (2020) and workshop lead (2019) · AI4Good Lab
Invited leader · Breakfast with Leaders, Montreal
Invited speaker (6 Nov 2019) · Le Wagon Montreal
Invited speaker at WiMLDS, hosted by BDC Capital (17 Oct 2019) · Women in Machine Learning & Data Science, Montreal
Invited panelist (15 May 2019) · Women of Influence (media partner: Breakfast Television)
Invited speaker · #MoveTheDial, hosted at Osler
Keynote presentation as founder & CTO of C2RO · Industry conference, Montreal
Invited speaker · IEEE
Invited speaker · AI for Business event, Canada
Invited panelist · McGill Alumni Association
Media, podcasts & interviews
Interviews, podcast episodes and founder features. Audio and video play directly on this page; every item links to the original publication.
Innovation Factory (LiONS LAIR 2026)
Top-10 finalist; AI for member retention in fitness and wellness
Soodeh Farokhi pitching NexScale at LiONS LAIR 2026, Innovation Factory's annual pitch competition, on using AI to improve member retention for fitness and wellness operators. NexScale was named a Top-10 finalist.
TiE Toronto (BVX 2026, Rose Theatre, Brampton)
1st Runner-Up of 75 women-led ventures; AI for member retention in fitness and wellness
Soodeh Farokhi delivering the five-minute NexScale pitch at the TiE Women 2026 grand finale on the BVX 2026 main stage, where NexScale placed 1st Runner-Up among 75 women-led ventures from across Canada.
BOLD Awards (host: Epi Ludvik)
Video interview published by BOLD Awards
A video conversation with BOLD Awards founder Epi Ludvik on AI, entrepreneurship and building NexScale as an AI-native company.
Women of Influence / RBC
Finalist profile video
Finalist profile video for the Innovation Award category of the 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards, featuring Soodeh Farokhi and C2RO.
Medium Day 2026
Speaker session, Medium Day 2026
Soodeh Farokhi's session at Medium Day 2026, Medium's annual community event on 18 September 2026, on the warning signs that appear weeks before a member cancels and why most operators miss them.
Women of Influence
Founder profile published by Women of Influence
Profiled by Women of Influence, a North American organisation advancing women in business, as a tech entrepreneur and founder & CTO of C2RO.
THE LAUNCH, a podcast by TandemLaunch
Podcast guest
A conversation on THE LAUNCH, TandemLaunch's podcast for deep-tech founders, on how to validate a business concept before investing heavily in building it, drawing on her experience founding and scaling C2RO.
Jeune Chambre de commerce de Montreal (JCCM)
Awards gala video
Video from the ARISTA 2018 provincial competition in the Jeune entrepreneur en demarrage du Quebec category, in which Soodeh Farokhi was a finalist as founder and CTO of C2RO.
Rising Tide (host: Margaret Weniger)
Podcast guest
A conversation with Margaret Weniger on motherhood, tech entrepreneurship and leadership, including equal parental leave and building companies as a working parent.
IEEE Computer Society (host: Indranil Gupta)
Featured episode on the IEEE Computer Society series
Interviewed for the IEEE Computer Society's Immigrant Computer Scientists series about her path from Iran to a PhD in Vienna and founding an AI company in Canada.
Le Wagon
Podcast episode on founding and scaling C2RO
Full-length podcast interview with Le Wagon on founding C2RO and building an AI product company.
Ground-Up Governance (host: Matt Fullbrook)
Podcast guest
Guest on Ground-Up Governance, a Canadian podcast on governance and leadership.
NexScale
Host of NexScale's podcast for wellness and fitness operators
NexScale's podcast series on member retention, community-driven growth and the future of wellness businesses.
Women in Leadership Foundation
Interview as Advisory Committee member of the project
Interview published by the Women in Leadership Foundation as part of the Bridge to Gender Equality project.
Women in Tech World
Founder interview, The voice of tech trailblazers
Interview with Women in Tech World on her journey as a technical founder.
Iris Fisher (Medium)
Published interview
Interview on cloud robotics, AI and the future of work with C2RO.
BetaKit
Quoted in BetaKit's coverage of She Loves Tech Canada 2017
BetaKit's coverage of She Loves Tech Canada quoted Soodeh pitching C2RO as one of the ten finalists.
Ordmen (host: Dr. Alireza Dehghani, UK)
Podcast guest
Guest on the Ordmen podcast discussing her professional life journey.
Women of MENA in Technology
Podcast guest
Guest on the PWITSheros podcast hosted by the founder of Women of MENA in Technology.
Radio Full Stack
Podcast guest
Guest on Radio Full Stack, a Montreal technology podcast.
The Huffington Post (Quebec)
Published interview
Interview on her professional life story published by HuffPost Quebec.
Startup Ecosystem Canada
Founder profile
Founder profile as a partner of the Startup Ecosystem Canada community.
Medium
Regular author at soodeh-farokhi.medium.com
Writes regularly on leadership, entrepreneurship, motherhood, women's longevity and building through uncertainty.
Women in Technology (Medium publication)
Published essay
Essay published in the Women in Technology publication on Medium.
Community & industry leadership
Chapters co-founded, advisory boards, mentoring roles and industry programmes, from Women in Product Montreal to the Lifeboat Foundation's Business & AI Advisory Board.
Launched the Montreal chapter in early 2024; guest mentor, Executive Edge · Women in Product
Launched the Montreal chapter in March 2019 with 130+ attendees · Women of MENA in Technology
Advisory board member since April 2019 · Lifeboat Foundation
Advisory Committee member of a Government of Canada funded gender-equity initiative · Women in Leadership Foundation
Mentor since June 2022 · The Forum
Advisor since May 2025 · NEXT Canada
Ambassador since 2022; programme mentor since 2025 · Information and Communications Technology Council
Product advisor and awards judge, 2021 to 2023 · DevNetwork
Representative at the IEEE WIE International Leadership Conference 2015 · IEEE Region 8
Partner and founder profile · Startup Ecosystem Canada
Academic foundation & writing
A doctorate in computer science from TU Wien underpins the product and AI leadership above; essays on Medium and NexScale's own podcast carry the thinking forward.
Doctorate; dissertation on quality-of-service control in cloud computing · Vienna University of Technology
19 peer-reviewed papers in well-known conferences and journals; 4 patent applications · Google Scholar
Master's degree, Software Engineering · Shahid Beheshti University
Bachelor's degree, Software Engineering · Shahid Beheshti University
Thought leadership
Each theme is backed by the talks, interviews and essays above: practical, evidence-based and drawn from building three companies, leading enterprise product organisations and applying AI to real operations.
Why retention, not acquisition, decides the economics of studios and recurring-revenue businesses, and how to act on early signals weeks before a member leaves.
Movement and community are longevity infrastructure. Scaling the businesses that deliver them is a preventive-health lever, not only a software problem.
Lessons from founding and scaling an AI startup, leading product at a 300-person scale-up, and starting again with an AI-native company.
How owner-led businesses get enterprise-grade AI without a technical team, and why agentic AI that acts beats dashboards that report.
AI should augment people, reduce overwhelm and protect the relationships that make businesses work. Responsible by design.
Turning product organisations from reactive to strategic: discovery, portfolio leadership, and building high-ownership teams.
Building the rooms she could not find: chapters, mentorship and honest conversations about funding, bias and leadership.
Mindful leadership, equal parenting, and building through uncertainty: the practices behind long-term performance.
Translating deep technical research into products, companies and careers; a path she has spoken about at TU Wien, IEEE and SAP.iO.
“The future is better than what we think!”
Soodeh Farokhi, on AI, human longevity and preventive health
Invite Soodeh
Soodeh speaks about member retention in the fitness and wellness industry, human longevity, wellbeing and preventive health, and how owner-led businesses adopt AI that acts instead of AI that only reports. She also speaks about entrepreneurship, product leadership, women in technology and the future of work. Keynotes, panels, podcasts, workshops, lectures and founder programmes, in person across Canada and the US, or online.
Based in Toronto. Speaks English and Persian. Bio, headshots and past talks available on request.
