​Scaling without Breaking Things: An Operator's Guide

​Scaling isn’t just about growth - it’s about surviving the growth.

At some point, every founder hits the moment where hustle alone stops working. This panel dives into the operational reality of scaling: the messy middle, the hard decisions, and the mindset shift from doing everything yourself to building a company that runs without you.
Join operators and founders who’ve learned these lessons the hard way as they share what actually changes when you move from founder-mode to CEO-mode and how to make that transition without burning out or breaking your team.

Moderated by Arron Lin, VP, Tech & Innovation Banking at RBCx, this session is designed for founders who want to move beyond early-stage chaos and start building a company that’s built to last.

About the Speakers:

Karen Wong:
Karen is a serial founder and operator with over 20 years of experience building, scaling, and exiting profitable businesses. She co-founded and led TAKU Retail, a unified commerce platform for retailers, growing the company through real operational complexity to a successful acquisition by US private equity. Today, Karen is Co-Founder and CEO of Entrustia, an AI-powered file management solution built to help professionals and small teams eliminate file chaos without requiring any changes in behaviour. She is also exploring Toronto-based SMB acquisition opportunities, with a focus on businesses where strong operations and thoughtful leadership can make a meaningful difference. Known for her practical, no-theatre approach, Karen brings an operator’s perspective on how to scale teams, systems, and processes without breaking the business underneath.

Mallory J Green:
Mallory is an entrepreneur working across consumer and technology-led businesses, with a growing focus on products that simplify complex moments and improve everyday decision-making. Her work spans advising founders, launching new products, and developing software that helps companies grow more effectively. Mallory is the co-founder of Eirene, a modern funeral services company that reimagined end-of-life arrangements through transparency, design, and technology. Eirene’s approach and impact were featured in Forbes and The New York Times, and helped reshape how families navigate one of life’s most difficult moments. Earlier in her career, she was part of the founding team at Wealthsimple, where she worked across marketing, operations, and people programs during the company’s formative growth years.

Traci Cheng:
Traci Cheng is an operations leader with experience spanning early-stage startups, high-growth companies, and corporate innovation environments. Throughout her career, she’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of scaling organizations. She focuses her work on minimizing the latter by building strong systems, healthy team cultures, and environments where people can grow and do their best work. A proud generalist, Traci has worked across functions including sales, marketing, operations, and talent, giving her a holistic view of how teams truly operate. Her superpowers lie in people and business operations - where strategy, execution, and human dynamics meet. Outside of work, Traci is an avid podcast listener, Formula 1 fan, enthusiastic home cook experimenting with new recipes, and a dedicated memory-game enthusiast in training

​​About the Host

​​About the City of Markham

​​​The City of Markham is one of the most vibrant, diverse, and rapidly growing communities in the Greater Toronto Area. Home to more than 365,000 residents and a thriving business ecosystem of over 10,000 companies — including 1,500 technology firms — Markham is recognized for its forward-thinking urban planning, dynamic entrepreneurial spirit, and strong pro-business environment.Through the Markham Small Business Centre, the city provides dedicated support to entrepreneurs and small business owners. A team of passionate business advisors offers personalized, one-on-one consulting and access to essential resources, helping local businesses launch, grow, and succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. www.markhambusiness.ca

​​About YSpace

​​YSpace is York University’s pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub supporting startups and entrepreneurs from a variety of sectors and communities. Our programming spans across scaling innovative technologies through customer and investor capital to scaling agri-food businesses into mass retail to diversity-focused initiatives like **ELLA powered by Desjardins** for women-led businesses and Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) for Black-led businesses. Additionally with our Start-Up Visa program, we are building a robust ecosystem, driving positive change and empowering entrepreneurs to shape the future. We are also home to two physical hubs in the City of Markham and the Town of Georgina