LEADERSHIP
Sometimes people think about hiring the smartest people – the MBAs, engineers, and technologists (which of course are all very important). But if your focus is only on hiring for “book smarts,” you will miss out on something truly additive and meaningful. Emotional intelligence. Balancing book smarts and heart smarts helps create an emotionally healthy workplace and culture. This is the ability to have difficult conversations, and communicate effectively with one another. You can sense one’s emotional intelligence based on their communication, or their ability to deal with rejection, for example. Culture is made of up artifacts, which are tangible elements that make up that group of people. Some assume that if you have a “cool” office, you therefore have a great organization and an excellent culture. But that is an extremely surface level approach. Culture is hard to develop and difficult to maintain overtime. You’ve managed to successfully raise over $20 million in funding ($2 million from BDC and $18 million USD from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital). What strategies did you use to help raise this much capital? Investors are investing in 2 things: the story, and you as an entrepreneur carrying that out. An early stage company will often not have enough traction, so investors will be looking at other cues to understand the potential of the business. When you tell the story, whether it’s verbally or in a brief document, it’s about answering these 3 questions: (a) How big is your market? The first question is the headline and will gather the initial interest. Investors are interested in TAM (Total Addressable Market). Avoid the approach of “if we can capture x% of the market…” (b) Why you? Why are you going to be the person that breaks through
in this industry/market. (c) Why now? You need to create a sense of urgency of why you need the capital right now. And it’s important to describe that plan in less than 1 page. This should be used to keep you on the radar for that investor or distribute that information to their investment committee. If you follow those guidelines, the goal is to receive term sheets from different investors and then decide which opportunity is best. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal are just some of the prestigious companies for which you have contributed your writing to in regards to entrepreneurship. What inspired you to contribute your writing to these media outlets? A simple phrase for how to enter the market in the US, or the 10X mindset… these types of frameworks are about simplifying the approach. I’ve been the beneficiary of that from learning about the successes and mistakes of many entrepreneurs. The by-product of contributing also increases exposure for Voices.com. Voice-over is not the first thing that comes to mind when people think of digital media. Voice is intangible and invisible. By resorting to explaining what the business is, and more about our customers, I have to create these “aha” moments. Communicating through mediums with large audiences certainly helps and it’s drawing attention to our industry.
Another major mistake is being fearful that someone else is going to steal your idea. Investors are not entrepreneurs and they get hundreds of pitches per year. At the end of the day, you know more about your business than anyone else, but what you don’t know are the real unknowns. You may be unfamiliar with hiring your first VP of Sales or expanding into the US, or tax implications, etc. Investors are really good at pattern recognition. Because they look at perhaps 1,000 companies in a year, they can spot a success. And if they don’t, they will ask you something different that makes you think. Those questions are incredibly beneficial and will help you in the long run. You founded Voices.com with your wife. How would you say this has impacted your relationship? We do everything together. We understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and how we both get our energy. Introverts, like myself, recharge their batteries by being alone. Whereas an extrovert gets their energy through other people and bouncing their ideas off of others. My wife and I are opposites and learning about each other’s personalities has helped our marriage and our business. We know that our marriage always comes first, and will continue to always come first.
important not to allow the dining room table to act as the board table. We refer to it as “permission to proceed” which informs the other person when to put the business hat on. The business has been complementary to our marriage. On a final note, did you always know that you wanted to become an entrepreneur? I would say yes. I didn’t necessarily know what my long-term game plan was. Most kids traded hockey cards, and I was the kid that bought entire boxes of hockey cards and would sell them. I would sell pop out of my locker at school. At a young age, I was able to figure out what I liked doing and I found it very natural. After graduating from the audio engineering school, the options were being a sound engineer on a cruise ship and travel, or other cool options. I was toying with the idea of going to business school. My dad made the recommendation that you can always go to business school at any time but being an entrepreneur could essentially be your business school experience. The business skills were learned the hard way. I learned that no circumstances are going to get any better tomorrow compared to right now. Never wait until tomorrow to start realizing your goals and dreams.
It’s been important to learn to understand how to establish boundaries, to allow for each of us to thrive in our own right. It’s
I also wanted to mention that Toronto has become an incredible tech hub. Toronto created more tech jobs in 2018 than any other geographic metro area including the Bay area and Silicon Valley. In your expert opinion, what is the most common mistake that entrepreneurs make? Refusing to receive advice from others is a huge mistake that entrepreneurs often make. CANADIANSME MAGAZINE I MAY 2019 I
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