Last weekend I got to see first hand what the future holds, and it was awesome. (Tweet this)

I was with the Next 36, one of the country’s best programs for identifying and nurturing new generations of great Canadian entrepreneurs. My peers and I (mentors in the program) weren’t looking at products and technologies (yet), but rather at the innovators, thinkers and dreamers who were vying to be the Class of 2016.

And the candidates we interviewed were truly phenomenal. I mean, these young people are crazy impressive. Often when selecting young entrepreneurs for programs like this, you’re looking for characteristics like vision, leadership, resiliency. This year, the candidates had not just that, but most had already started their own ventures.

That means Next 36’s already impressive history of launching great entrepreneurs and businesses will likely get even better.

There’s not much that gets an entrepreneur as excited as seeing new ideas in action, which is why I’ve been a mentor for Next 36 for a couple of years now. I’m really looking forward to seeing what this crew does in 2016.

For more info on the Class of ’16, here’s the Next 36 announcement. Congratulations to all the candidates.