🛠️ OWNERS WHO BUILD · SESSION 1AI for Small Business Owners, TorontoGetting Your Customers to Come Back

Part of a new event series from Retify for small business owners - real conversations, hands-on practice, and lessons from people who've actually built and run things, not just talked about them. Brought to you by Retify and The AI Collective Canada.

Built the AI. Ran the business. Learned the hard way.

This isn't a generic "AI 101" talk. It's a small, hands-on evening with a founder who spent 15+ years in Tech big & small building AI products, now using her experience to build a Tech startup and leverage AI for her own Viet coffee Phin & Go Cafe in Toronto West.

The real lessons, the mistakes, and what actually works when you're trying to turn one-time customers into regulars.

Capped at 20–25 people, so it stays a conversation, not a lecture.

👤 Who this is forSmall business owners, managers, and anyone hands-on in running day-to-day operations, retail, food & beverage, services, e-commerce. No AI experience needed. Bring your questions, not your slides.

🔑 What you'll walk away with

  • A clear, no-hype answer to "should I actually be using AI in my business?"

  • A practical checklist for evaluating any AI tool before you adopt it (data, privacy, evaluation)

  • Hands-on experience writing your first real prompts

  • A seat in a community of local owners doing the same thing you are.

🕐 Agenda

  • 5:30 – 6:00 PM, Networking

  • 6:00 – 6:30 PM, AI's role in getting your customers to come back

  • 6:30 – 7:00 PM, Case study: What I wish I knew about AI before running a business

  • 7:00 – 7:30 PM, Hands-on practice and checklist

  • 7:30 – 8:00 PM, Q&A and join our merchant community

🎤 Your Host

Katie Duyen Nguyen is the Co-Founder of Retify, helping independent restaurants, cafés, and small businesses build direct sales channels on Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, no app, no signup friction, checkout in two taps.

Before founding Retify, Katie built AI and data products from the inside:

  • A Founding AI Product Manager at Murror (a genAI startup in healthcare),

  • Leading Global Data & Analytics initiatives at Unilever, and driving product strategy as a Regional Logistics Product Manager at Lazada - an Alibaba company

  • She's also the Regional Director of Business Development at CyStack, a cybersecurity company, so she brings both an AI-builder's and a security-first lens to how small businesses should actually think about adopting AI.

  • She was among Top 100 mentor in ADPList 2026, specialized in Product Management & AI,

  • She also a community builder - host, speaker and judge on several tech events in Toronto focus on AI security, AI implementation, AI evaluation.

She's not here to sell you a tool. She's here to share what she wishes someone had told her.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to our venue partner, Scadding Court Community Centre. Located at Dundas and Bathurst, Scadding Court is a vibrant community hub dedicated to supporting local residents, small businesses, and community innovation through diverse programming, youth initiatives, and local micro-entrepreneurship projects like Market 707. We’re thrilled to host tonight’s event in their space