Alexis Garneau — New York City / Montreal

Fascinated by the journey of building. Currently investing in startups and partnering with outlier founders at Pathlight Ventures.

Startups pull me in for 2 reasons: 1) as a means of expression, 2) as a means of progress.

  1. I believe most of our time on earth is meant for self-discovery. A core pillar of discovering the self is expression (i.e., throwing something into the world), which I find to be one of the purest joys of the human experience. Expression can unfold through several mediums, most notably art. I believe startups to be a means of expression. Like a painting, a startup is an artifact (a living one) deeply tinted by the personality of its founder(s). And a startup is a world of its own, one with its own philosophy, quirks, brand, and feel.
  2. Startups do not simply pop out of nowhere. Someone, somewhere, has decided to apply an opposing (often irrational) force to the world's status quo, because they saw an inefficiency that could be solved for. That makes us all better off. Most of these bursts of irrationality blatantly fail. But some do hit a problem so acute that someone will pay for the fix (sometimes a lot). And that conversion of ingenuity, time, and energy into economic value still feels like magic to me.

Aside from investing, I am also: (click each to unfold)

Listening to people smarter than me

I sometimes get dragged down by the common narrative that my generation was messed up by technology and social media. Candidly, I do get nostalgic for pre-smartphone days. But that is a tradeoff I will take every day in exchange for what an absolute blast it is to live in this golden information age. Having access to world-class experts on any given topic at the snap of a finger is a blessing for anybody that is somewhat curious. I have learned more from podcasts than from anything else in my life and I am grateful for this. Here is a dump of some I can think of that have shaped me (in no particular order):

Reading books

As much as I would like to say that I grew up as a bookworm, crawling the aisles of libraries, I did not. Reading was a very painful exercise when I was little and I always preferred sports and hanging out with friends. For some reason, the switch completely flipped a couple of years ago and I can't imagine myself not reading every single day. It keeps me sane, makes me feel extremely human, and I would spend way more time doing it if I could. Below are some reads that stuck with me, split across business/building, philosophy-ish, novels, and other non-fiction.

Currently reading: The Fountainhead — Ayn Rand and The Dice Man — Luke Rhinehart

Business / building

Philosophy-ish

Novels

Other non-fiction

Writing stuff

I think writing stuff down is the single best detector of mental shortcuts and self-lies. Writing allows for clear thinking and intellectual honesty. I write for myself and want to start writing in public again (I used to run a short-lived Substack which I am too ashamed to highlight here). I treat these lines as a public kick in the ass.

Loading

Going to music shows

Another one that makes me feel extremely human. Especially when several individuals amount to one beautiful melody altogether. My favorites are typically your hippie "nobody" bands that will play in bars, parks, and on the streets, whose names I unfortunately never catch. But here are a few (that I do know) that I particularly enjoyed. A bit all over the place, but a mix of modern alt / indie rock, French, and classical music:

Other shows I really enjoyed but can't find the date: Stromae, Clara Luciani, Mild Orange, Palace, The Backseat Lovers, Green Day, Jean-Michel Blais.

Currently obsessed with: Cameron Winter, Geese, Black Country, New Road

Last updated: August 2026