Armen Bakirtzian: Choosing Control Over Capital at Intellijoint | Scale Canadian Founder Series

Intellijoint Surgical once had ten US investors in its data room and walked out with three term sheets. CEO Armen Bakirtzian said no to all of them, because taking the money meant handing control of the company's future to someone else. Today the business is profitable and still growing more than 30 percent a year, yet it took seven years after its first Canadian medical device license to win its first public hospital customer at home. In this episode of the Scale Canadian Founder Series, Graphite Ventures GP Aaron Bast, an Intellijoint board member who has worked with Armen for 12 years, sits down with Armen Bakirtzian, co-founder and CEO of Intellijoint Surgical, the Waterloo medtech company that started as a fourth-year engineering project and has since been used in almost 100,000 surgeries across eight countries, to talk about why control mattered more than capital, how profitability became a growth strategy, and why winning at home has been the hardest market to crack. They cover: • Why Armen and his co-founders chose Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada, and what the region gave them in technical talent, academic hospitals, and surgeon access • Why Intellijoint said no to three term sheets after a data room with ten US investors, and why control mattered more than the size of the check • Why Armen says fundraising strategy and commercial strategy have to be designed together, from testing sales models head to head in two US cities to relying on angels until Graphite's cheque became Intellijoint's first institutional round 15 years in • Why staying profitable while growing more than 30 percent a year gives a founder control, security, and room to take risks • Why it took seven years to win a first public hospital in Canada while Intellijoint was in more than 200 US hospitals, and what Armen thinks procurement needs to change • The first question Armen asks every young founder, "What do you want to do with this business?", and why he describes himself as optimistic but paranoid about advice Scale Canadian is Graphite's commitment to helping exceptional founders build globally competitive companies from Canada — and proving that Canadian seed investing can deliver both world-class returns and lasting economic impact. Learn more at scalecanadian.ca. _____________________________ Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:05 Why Did Armen Build a Medtech Company in Waterloo? 5:34 Would Armen Choose to Build in Canada Again? 7:49 Why Did Intellijoint Say No to Three Term Sheets? 10:46 How Do You Build Repeatability in a Regulated Hardware Business? 13:45 What Made Graphite the Right First Institutional Partner? 17:25 Why Does Armen Treat Profitability as Control? 19:41 What Does Armen Ask Every Young Founder First? 21:48 What Advice Did Armen Follow and What Did He Ignore? 25:09 Why Is Procurement the Final Frontier at Home? 28:19 Why Is Graphite Backing Canada? 30:39 What Would Surprise People About Armen? Stay Connected: ➡️ Watch more from the Founder Leadership Series:    • Scale Canadian Founder Series   ➡️ Follow Graphite Ventures on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/graphitevc/ ➡️ Follow our GPs on LinkedIn: • Aaron Bast: linkedin.com/in/aaron-bast-4834b723/ • Craig Leonard: linkedin.com/in/vcyogi/ • Kevin Madill: linkedin.com/in/kmadill/ ➡️ More on Scale Canadian: scalecanadian.ca Graphite Ventures is Canada's seed-stage venture capital firm for B2B founders. We invest in Canadian B2B software and hardware companies, helping founders scale globally with capital efficiency and discipline. Learn more at graphitevc.com. #ScaleCanadian #CanadianTech #VentureCapital #ArmenBakirtzian #CanadianVentureCapital #CanadianStartups