About Scott Stirrett

Scott Stirrett is a Canadian entrepreneur and author. He is the Co-Founder and Principal of Carrying Place Holdings, where he is focused on acquiring one enduring Canadian business and personally leading it for the long term. Carrying Place is built around a simple model: acquire one strong company, lead it directly, and build on what its owners, employees, and customers have created.

 

Before starting Carrying Place Holdings, Scott spent more than a decade building Venture for Canada. He founded the national charity in 2013 to help young Canadians develop entrepreneurial skills and gain experience with startups and growing businesses. He led the organization for more than a decade, completing his transition from Venture for Canada at the end of 2025. During that period, Venture for Canada grew from an idea into a national organization that has supported more than 10,000 young people and raised more than $80 million. Its partners have included Employment and Social Development Canada, RBC Foundation, TD Bank, and Mastercard.

 

Growing up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia shaped Scott's view of entrepreneurship. He saw the role that local businesses, entrepreneurs, and institutions can play in creating opportunity and strengthening communities. That perspective now informs his work at Carrying Place Holdings. He is particularly interested in established Canadian businesses that have earned the trust of their customers over many years and can continue to prosper under long term, committed ownership.

 

Scott is also the author of The Uncertainty Advantage, published by Dundurn Press in 2025. The book examines how people can make better decisions, recover from setbacks, and build successful careers amid artificial intelligence, technological change, and economic uncertainty. It has been endorsed by business leaders and entrepreneurs including Eric Ries, Michele Romanow, and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy. Scott regularly speaks on entrepreneurship, leadership, careers, and navigating uncertainty, including as a keynote speaker. His speaking engagements have included Rhodes House at Oxford, the Banff Forum, and RBC. 

 

Scott is a Fellow at the Shorefast Institute for Place Based Economies. Before becoming a Fellow, he served as a Senior Advisor to Shorefast and Fogo Island Inn founder Zita Cobb, helping shape the Institute’s strategic direction and supporting work related to public policy and community led economic development. His work with Shorefast strengthened his interest in the relationship between local ownership, entrepreneurship, and the long term economic health of communities.

 

Before founding Venture for Canada, Scott worked at Goldman Sachs in New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.

 

Scott's work has received national recognition. In March 2026, he was invested with the Meritorious Service Medal by Governor General Mary Simon in recognition of his work founding Venture for Canada. He has also been named a Globe and Mail Changemaker, an Action Canada Fellow, an Ashoka Fellow, and a TELUS LGBTQ Innovator of the Year.

 

His writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Business Insider, and Fast Company. Across his work, Scott has focused on building organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, and creating lasting value through long term leadership.