Douglas Magazine - Apr/May 2020

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A P R / M AY 2 0 2 0

rule-bending businesses with the passion, vision and drive to change the world

HOW TO ESCAPE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME VICTORIA’S GROWING GLOBAL APPEAL CLIMATE CHANGE MEANS BUSINESS Mercy Southam, Eir Mobile Medicine

SPECIAL 10 TO WATCH ISSUE

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APRIL/MAY 2020

CONTENTS FEATURES

28 Climate Change Means Business

Local industries — from tourism to viticulture to transportation — are starting to take action on climate change. BY PAUL WILLCOCKS

64 Arrivals

Businesses from as far away as Brazil and the U.K. are setting up shop in the city, putting Victoria on the global entrepreneurial map. BY ALEX VAN TOL

74 The Reality of Food on Demand

Third party food delivery services are great for customers, but this highly competitive industry faces a host of challenges.

BY LAURA BROUGHAM

38

10 TO WATCH AWARDS These up-and-coming businesses are the real deal.

80 Just Watch This

SendtoNews is very big news as it soars to one billion monthly views on its sports video distribution platform — and expands beyond sports. BY KEITH NORBURY

86 Advice for Entrepreneurs

Jim Hayhurst’s friends want to tell you some things about entrepreneurship — and when these experts offer advice, it pays to listen. BY JIM HAYHURST

38

74 DEPARTMENTS 8 FROM THE EDITOR 13 IN THE KNOW The Dutch Bakery’s staying power, more police needed downtown, Dragons’ Den auditions, Langford’s big deals and more.

22 CASE STUDY Forests Forever uses

interactive storytelling to create discourse around modern forestry. BY ATHENA MCKENZIE

24 BIG IDEA Plurilock’s cybersecurity

solutions have positioned the local company for global growth. BY ALEX VAN TOL

98 LAST PAGE The Cowichan Milk Company BY ATHENA MCKENZIE

INTEL (BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE) 92 GROWTH Succession planning isn’t just

for retiring business owners. BY CLEMENS RETTICH

94 RETAIL The customer experience effect BY DAVID ADELMAN

96 MINDSET How to escape

impostor syndrome BY ERIN SKILLEN 6 DOUGLAS

MODERN MID-CENTURY “This intriguing mid-century room is modernized by a mix of materials and flexible furnishings to create a day dreamy lived-in feel. And that view calls for a good book and a cappuccino please!”

— ELAINE BALKWILL, LUXE DESIGNER

2655 Douglas St | 250.386.7632 | www.luxevictoria.ca

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

FROM THE EDITOR

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8 DOUGLAS

We’re in This Together

THIS IS THE STRANGEST EDITOR’S NOTE I’ve had to tackle in my seven years as editor-in-chief of Douglas magazine. As we head to press amidst the COVID-19 crisis, I can’t predict with any certainty what life will look like on our Island by the time this issue comes out.

What I am absolutely certain about is that we’re a smart, innovative, resilient community that cares about each other and we are taking the necessary steps to stay in business while staying safe. Here at Douglas, that means postponing our annual 10 to Watch Awards until this crisis has passed — and it surely will. Please read about our winners — this year’s best new businesses on Vancouver Island — and send them notes of encouragement and congratulations.

It’s a tough time to be in business, especially for new businesses like our 10 to Watch winners, but I’m reminded that great companies have emerged from downturns stronger than ever. Electronic Arts and Adobe were launched in 1982 amidst the worst recession since the Depression.

Most businesses right now are reviewing cash flow, making contingency plans and trying to figure out how to navigate the crisis. This, more than ever, is the time to innovate. I’ve been hearing about yoga classes going virtual, bookstores that deliver and clothing boutiques posting inventories on Instagram for virtual shopping.

In Austin, Texas, Antonelli’s Cheese Shop has started taking orders for delivery or curbside pickup, and launching Facebook Live events, so you get your cheese, go home, fire up Facebook and they’ll walk you through the selection.

Locally, both Agrius and Paul’s Diner by Foi Epi have temporarily closed, but owner Cliff Leir is focusing on his Fol Epi bakery so customers can still buy artisan bread.

As a community, we need to do our best to help local businesses survive. Here are some suggestions: • Buy gift cards to a favourite shop or restaurant. This is a fast way to put cash into the business.

• Shop local, online and off. Choose our neighbours instead of Amazon whenever you can. Many local businesses have online components and are happy to take phone or email orders for pickup or delivery.

• Tip more than usual. Consider being a little extra generous with tips for restaurant staff and delivery people, since a big part of their income is tips.

• Support local arts organizations. Many, like Dance Victoria, have had to cancel entire seasons. If you can afford it, don’t claim refunds from cancelled events.

Instead, consider this a donation.

The months ahead won’t be easy, but in times like this we need to work together, even virtually, to reframe our perspectives and embrace innovation. There’s no way to soft pedal this situation, but let’s use this as an opportunity to empathize with our neighbours, focus on what really matters and see what innovation emerges.

Things will get better.

We need to work together, even virtually, to reframe our perspectives and embrace innovation.

— Kerry Slavens kslavens@pageonepublishing.ca

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SALES CENTRE

THE PEARL

www.douglasmagazine.com VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3

We believe the ultimate measure of our performance is our clients’ success. It has guided our approach for over 30 years.

PUBLISHERS Lise Gyorkos, Georgina Camilleri

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kerry Slavens

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jeffrey Bosdet

PRODUCTION MANAGER Jennifer Kühtz

SALES AND MARKETING MANAGER Amanda Wilson

LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER Ben Barrett-Forrest DEPUTY EDITOR Athena McKenzie

ASSOCIATE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Janice Hildybrant, Jo-Ann Loro

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Rebecca Juetten

DIGITAL COORDINATOR Belle White

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Laura Brougham

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Deana Brown, Cynthia Hanischuk, Gary Hollick

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Adelman, Jim Hayhurst, Keith Norbury, Cormac O’Brien, Danielle Pope, Clemens Rettich, Erin Skillen, Alex Van Tol, Paul Willcocks

Ian Clark, CIM, CFP 250-405-2928 iandavidclark.com

Joseph Alkana, CIM, FCSI 250-405-2960 josephalkana.com

Steve Bokor, CFA 250-405-2930 stevebokor.com

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jeffrey Bosdet, Belle White, Cathie Archbould

PROOFREADER Paula Marchese CONTRIBUTING AGENCIES Getty Images p. 18, 23, 76, 80, 88 GENERAL INQUIRIES info@douglasmagazine.com SEND PRESS RELEASES TO editor@douglasmagazine.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@douglasmagazine.com

TO SUBSCRIBE TO DOUGLAS subscriptions@douglasmagazine.com

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES sales@douglasmagazine.com ONLINE www.douglasmagazine.com FACEBOOK DouglasMagazineVictoria TWITTER twitter.com/Douglasmagazine INSTAGRAM @douglas_magazine

COVER Mercy Southam, owner of Eir Mobile Medicine. Photo by Jeffrey Bosdet Published by PAGE ONE PUBLISHING 580 Ardersier Road, Victoria, BC V8Z 1C7 T 250.595.7243 E info@pageonepublishing.ca www.pageonepublishing.ca Printed in Canada, by Transcontinental Printing

Do Canadian citizenship & immigration rules leave you puzzled? We can help.

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10 DOUGLAS

Ideas and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Page One Publishing Inc. or its affiliates; no official endorsement should be inferred. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for the contents of any advertisement and any and all representations or warranties made in such advertising are those of the advertiser and not the publisher. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in all or part, in any form — printed or electronic — without the express written permission of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs.

Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement #41295544 Undeliverable mail should be directed to Page One Publishing Inc. 580 Ardersier Road, Victoria, BC V8Z 1C7 Douglas magazine is a registered trademark of Page One Publishing Inc.

ADVERTISE IN DOUGLAS! Douglas is a premium magazine dedicated to innovation, leadership and business lifestyle. Established in 2006, Douglas is the first choice for business leaders and achievers.

Align your business with Douglas. For more information or to request an advertising rate card, please call us at 250.595.7243 or email us at sales@douglasmagazine.com.

M A G A Z I N E’S

TO WATCH

THANK YOU In its 11th year, Douglas magazine’s 10 to Watch Awards foster business growth by increasing awareness of new local businesses that exemplify innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. This could not be done without the support of our sponsors.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

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EVENT SUPPORTERS

I N N O V A T I O N | D E S I G N | B U S I N E S S | S T Y L E | P E O P L E

[IN THE KNOW]

GOING DUTCH Walking into the Dutch Bakery on Fort Street is a little like stepping into Victoria’s past. But don’t be surprised to see some millennials hanging out at the lunch counter along with long-time regulars.

“We’re starting to attract some of the younger generation who are working and living in town and who think that we’re this trendy retro diner,” says co-owner Michele Byrne, with a laugh. “But JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

we’re just kind of this way out of longevity.”

Kees Schaddelee, who moved to Victoria from the Netherlands, founded the business in 1956. It is now run by three cousins — Jack and Brook Schaddelee and Michele — who are Kees’s grandchildren. Michele is front-end manager and bookkeeper, Jack is head baker and Brook is the chocolatier.

Other than a few tweaks to the recipes to account for differences in flour and butter, the

bakery still follows all of Kees’s original recipes.

Vanilla slices, dollar rolls and the mocha tarts have always been the most popular pastries.

The diner serves traditional comfort food for both breakfast and lunch, with some regulars stopping by twice a day.

“We do everything by the recipes my grandfather used back in the 50s, and that’s what people like,” says Jack. “It’s good products and good service — those are the two key ingredients.”

VICTORIA’S BUSINESSES WELCOME INCREASED POLICE PRESENCE

“There is a meet-and-greet strategy, in terms of getting into businesses and getting to know them.”

— Constable Cameron MacIntyre

RESPONDING TO CRIME IN THE CORE, VICPD AIMS TO INCREASE VISIBILITY AND ENGAGEMENT. BY ATHENA MCKENZIE

HERE + HAPPENING

of business owners who may not be so familiar with some of the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Having the police go around and talk to business owners about security is awesome. It’s time and energy well spent.”

The money for the project, which was piloted in December by members of VicPD’s Community Services Division, will come from the department’s overtime budget, as it is considered a special duty.

Jeff Bray says the DVBA is “very supportive” of Project Downtown Connect and the increased presence is important in ensuring more eyes on the street supporting business owners.

Gayle Robinson, owner of Robinsons Outdoor Store, says the trial has been very effective.

“It is making a critical difference for downtown merchants,” she says.

“We are hoping the project will be extended past the four month trial.

Unfortunately, members of City Council have declined to fully fund the police for some time now ... The most important part of this is to have a fully funded police department so residents and business alike feel supported.

Having a visible police presence downtown is a gamechanger.”

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

A

new four-month initiative by the Victoria Police Department, Project Downtown Connect, will see officers maintaining a highvisibility presence in the downtown.

“The number one priority of this initiative is to have police officers visible and engaged in the downtown core,” says Constable Cameron MacIntyre. “We’ve also heard from business owners there have been issues in terms of thefts, and various forms of aggression and street disorder … any time police officers are visible in an area, I think it’s going to deter crime.”

Late last year, merchants along Lower Johnson met to discuss the possibility of hiring private security to deal with increased crime. Project Downtown Connect will see officers talking to business owners about security improvements. In addition, officers will provide the businesses with a better understanding of how and when to report incidents to the police.

“I sat in on that meeting, where the merchants on LoJo discussed hiring Themis,” says Teri Hustins, owner of Oscar & Libby’s Gift Store and Kaboodles Gift Store. “I think [Project Downtown Connect] is fantastic. We’re seeing a newer, younger demographic

[ GET IN THE KNOW ]

[ GET TECHIE]

[ GET SOCIAL ]

How is Greater Victoria doing anyway? Find out when the South Island Prosperity Partnership launches this year’s Prosperity Index, annual report card on the region’s economy. Explore trends and discover how we’re doing compared to other cities in jobs, equity, education, affordability and innovation.

April 23, Union Club, southislandprosperity.ca

Known for never-ever being dull, the annual VIATEC Awards aren’t your typical awards. And 2020’s awards show promises to be another big, bold evening in celebration of the tech companies and people who for make Greater Victoria the fastest-growing technology region in British Columbia.

June 5, Royal Theatre, viactecawards.com

Get set for SOCIAL MEDIA CAMP 2020, with its interactive workshops, expo, networking and keynotes including Jillian Harris (HGTV’s Love it or List it Vancouver; Mark Cohon (former CFL commissionaire, now chair of the Juno Awards; and Nicole Smith (CEO of Flytographer). May 5 to 7, Victoria Conference Centre, socialmediacamp.ca

14 DOUGLAS

THE BIG PITCH

ISLAND BUSINESSES THAT HAVE ENTERED THE DRAGONS’ DEN

HERE BE DRAGONS DRAGONS’ DEN PRODUCERS LAND IN VICTORIA LOOKING FOR THE NEXT BIG THING

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

If a business owner wants to get their idea in front of the investors on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, it needs a real hook, according to executive producer Tracie Tighe.

The show’s producers held open auditions in Victoria on March 5 at the Parkside Hotel, searching for companies to make Alicia Vanin of Handsome Stitchery auditioning for Dragons’ Den pitches to the six executive producer Tracie Tighe in Victoria.

Canadian business shared that as a small business owner moguls who make up the Dragon panel. from the Island, it was a bit of an Eighteen different Island companies made their case to be sent to Toronto. Tighe was awakening to face off against a big-time producer. “I think it went well. I don’t clear on what the show is looking for. come from a business family or have a “We could litter the country with all lot of mentorship available to me. While of the footage of people with boring tech it would be great to get the $25,000, companies and distribution services and what I’m really looking for is some help things like that,” she says. “The thing to figuring out how I take this to the next remember is that it’s a TV show and it’s level.” entertainment. Yes, you’re going to need Getting through the auditions is no to back it up with some good business guarantee a business will get on air or figures, but you’re not going to make it to make a deal. The show’s producers expect TV unless you’ve got a great personality to audition around 3,000 people this year and a great story to tell.” for just 250 slots on camera.

One entrepreneur hoping to tell her story “We’re the match-making service,” to the Dragons is Alicia Vanin of Handsome Tighe says. “We bring in the entrepreneurs Stitchery, a company in Nanaimo that and we put them in front of the investors. offers unique memorial gifts, including What happens at that point is up to both grief support bears made from the special sides. We create the show based on that clothing of deceased loved ones. meeting, on whatever happens there. It’s a “My ask was for $25,000 for 20 per cent of the business,” says Vanin, who bit of a ride every time.”

REAL ESTATE WEBMASTERS In November of 2014, Morgan Carey, president and CEO of Real Estate Webmasters, made a record-making, on-air deal with Dragons Mike Wekerle and Jim Treliving for a $2-million investment in exchange for a five-per-cent stake in his business. Carey left the deal on the table, deciding instead to join forces with Barbara Corcoran, real estate maven and investor on ABC’s Shark Tank.

The new Porsche Taycan at Porsche Centre Victoria.

RUMBLE Sharing his inspirational health story, founder Paul Underhill and his team pitched their nutrient-dense supershake in December 2013. While Dragon Arlene Dickinson offered $200,000 in exchange for a 20 per cent equity stake, the company instead decided to work with a start up incubator in Toronto with beverage experience.

FATSO PEANUT BUTTER When founder Jill Van Gyn appeared in September of 2018, her goal was to get a $200,000 investment in her company in return for a 15 per cent share. Although Van Gyn made a handshake deal with Arlene Dickinson for 30 per cent, Van Gyn later wanted the deal to reflect the increased valuation of her company and ultimately walked away.

LIL WORKER SAFETY GEAR James Flawith, founder of Lil Worker Safety Gear, appeared in October of 2017 looking for $75,000 for 20 per cent. All the Dragons expressed initial interest.

“It’s really cute,” said long-time Dragon Arlene Dickinson. “Kids would love this, because it’s so bright, and I could see kids not having to be convinced to put it on.” In the end, Flawith made a deal with Dragon Manjit Minhas for the $75,000, but for 33⅓ per cent of the company.

INNOVATION SPACE

PORSCHE’S ELECTRIC LAUNCH You may not know this but Porsche built its first electric vehicle back in 1898. More than a century later, on February 27, the luxury car company unveiled its much anticipated full-electric Porsche Taycan across Canada, including at the local Porsche Centre Victoria.

Considered a game changer, it boasts a system voltage of 800 volts instead of the usual 400 for electric cars. It can be charged to a 100-kilometre range in just over five minutes under optimum conditions.

TAYCAN STATS

260 KM/H TOP SPEED 22.5 MINS TIME TO CHARGE

FROM 5% TO 80%

450 KM MAX RANGE DOUGLAS 15

taxmaster With her Master of Laws (Tax) degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, Kathleen Butler, LL.B, LL.M is a bona fide TaxMaster at Vancouver Island’s Award-Winning Tax and Estate Planning Boutique Law Firm

MEET UP

WHERE BUSINESS HAPPENS

“Terrific food and drinks; a great local ownership group! They always make us feel at home — setting up our sake flights and giving us history about different kinds of sake, regions the sake is made in ...”

— PHILIP BISSET-COVANEIRO, CHAIR, YOUR ENTREPRENEURS SOCIETY, WHICH HOSTED ITS RECENT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AT E:NE

Savvy businesses are opting out of boardrooms to meet at atmospheric eateries like E:Ne Raw Food Sake Bar.

900 - 1175 Douglas Street, Victoria www.dwyertaxlaw.com

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

(L to R) Philip Bisset-Covaneiro, IG Wealth Management; Chantelle Pasychny, DesignHouse Salon; Rahul Bhatia, Ghostit; Yolande Johnston, Who Dyd Your Hair

Dwyer Tax Law

16 DOUGLAS

SAKE TO SAVOUR In the Mad Men days, martinis meant business. Now it’s everything from shaft bombs to sake. Find Canada’s largest sake collection at E:Ne where you can order Japan’s national drink in flights (great for sake newbies).

IN THE MOOD Vibey E:Ne sets the mood for rich conversation with shou sugi ban burnt cedar panelling, gold wall hangings and a chandelier of vintage sake jugs over a loungy bar.

UNIQUE BITES E:Ne’s menu earns rave reviews.

Think raw yuzu ceviche, hot stone dishes like Beef Ishiyaki and Osaka-style pressed sushi prepared using aburi, a flame-searing technique with bamboo charcoal.

WORK STYLE

5 TRENDS THAT WILL AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS IN 2020 It’s here! For what feels like forever, 2020 has been every trend watcher’s near-mythical time horizon. Now, we’re about to live it.

New challenges — and huge new opportunities — are ahead. So here are five key emerging consumer trends to supercharge your planning.

Each one is a powerful opportunity to build new products, services, campaigns, brands and more that people will love in 2020 and beyond.

#1: CONSUMERS MOVE FROM ECO-STATUS TO ECO-SHAME

When sustainable alternatives are widespread, affordable and just as good or better than the legacy option, then eco-consumption becomes less about the status of opting in, and more about the shame of opting out. That’s why in 2020, millions of consumers will seek out products, services and experiences that help them alleviate rising eco-shame.

#2: BRAND AVATARS ON THE FRONT LINES

The media landscape continues to fragment. Digital channels multiply. One opportunity? In 2020, consumers will pay deeper attention to brands who embody themselves via new virtual characters and avatars.

#3: CONSUMERS DEMAND RELEVANCE AS A SERVICE

The desire for personalization — ‘give me exactly what I want!’ — has always been a part of the story of consumerism.

Meanwhile, a decade of on-demand and ‘everything as a service’ has reshaped the meaning of convenience for millions around the world.

The next chapter? In 2020 consumers primed by constantly evolving digital services and smart physical spaces — and accustomed to the ultraconvenience of ‘everything as a service’ — will increasingly

Investing. One Entrepreneur to Another.

I’m pleased to have an “MRBA” – a Masters degree in the realities of business administration. I founded and sold two businesses before joining Odlum Brown Limited and have lived the life of an entrepreneur – including sleepless nights, trying to make payroll and worrying about cash flow. You may remember those days too.

If you have had success with your business and are considering how best to protect your hard-earned assets, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you. As one entrepreneur to another, I understand where you’re coming from.

expect relevance as a service, too. That means services and experiences that constantly adapt around the changing needs of the user.

Feel free to contact me for an introductory conversation.

#4: SMART BRANDS HELP ALLEVIATE BURNOUT

Associate Portfolio Manager, Investment Advisor

R. H. Mark Mawhinney, CPA, CMA Tel 250-952-7755

In May 2019 the World Health Organization recognized burnout as an occupational health phenomenon. Constant pressure to be on fire all the time — personally and professionally — is causing many to burn through their mental and physical reserves. In 2020, they will look to brands to help them battle the burnout. The best organizations will recognize this, and re-orientate their internal culture around it.

#5: MAKING SOCIAL CIVIL

In 2020 consumers will seek an antidote to vast and toxic online communities and social media platforms.

They’ll embrace smaller and more intimate digital spaces that facilitate respectful and meaningful connections, let them interact with like-minded peers and allow them to be truly themselves.

mmawhinney@odlumbrown.com

Member-Canadian Investor Protection Fund

Odlum Brown Limited

@Odlum_Brown

Odlum Brown Community

OdlumBrown

Appointment of PRESIDENT & COO Effective March 1, 2020 Megson FitzPatrick Insurance is proud to announce the appointment of Laura Bolster as President & Chief Operations Officer.

We welcome Laura into this role after 31 years with Megson FitzPatrick.

Congratulations Laura!

Excerpted from TrendWatching Quarterly’s report 5 Trends for 2020 by David Mattin, global head of trends and insights at TrendWatching.com

DOUGLAS LISTENS Omar Zenhom is a Wharton Business School dropout who did ultra well at business when he co-created a podcast to challenge the MBA system. His $100 MBA podcast provides no B.S., in-the-trenches, actionable lessons for entrepreneurs. Most lessons are less than 15 minutes and packed with knowledge and freebies, something Zenholm’s 50,000 plus followers love. 100mba.net

Laura Bolster

Partner, president & COO

250.595.5212 megsonfitzpatrick.com

DOUGLAS 17

BUSINESS IN ACTION NIMMO BAY WILDERNESS RESORT

FROM DESIGN ...

Ampersand Distilling Co. uses traditional distilling techniques and organic farming to produce handcrafted small-batch spirits.

3D renderings, conceptual planning and permit drawings

... TO BUILD

Full-service construction

Congratulations to the 2020 Winners of Douglas magazine’s 10 to Watch Awards!

AMPERSAND DISTILLING CO., a small-batch distillery in the Cowichan, was recognized as the best in its class at the 2020 World Vodka Awards.

The competition awards and promotes the world’s best vodka to consumers and trade across the globe. Ampersand’s Per Se Vodka was not only the Canadian winner in Varietal Vodka but also voted as the World’s Best Varietal Vodka. Ampersand started 2020 off with wins at the World Gin Awards and the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition as well.

JIM PATTISON, chair and CEO of the Jim Pattison Group, is the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business’ 2020 Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year (DEYA).

Pattison, who receives his award on May 27 at the DEYA gala at Victoria Conference Centre, purchased a General Motors dealership in 1961 by borrowing $40,000 from the Royal Bank and putting up his home and life insurance policy as collateral. That launched the Jim Pattison Group, now Canada’s second-largest privately held company with 46,000 employees worldwide, annual sales of $10.6 billion and involvement in food services, manufacturing, communications and more.

REDBRICK has acquired Minneapolis-based Leadpages, a marketing-focused, no-code website builder enabling businesses to create websites with a focus on generating leads and transforming clicks into customers. The acquisition brings Redbrick’s annual revenue run rate to $80M CAD in 2020.

CHECKFRONT, a booking management platform for travel experiences, has announced the closing of a $9.3M Series A investment round. Based in Victoria, Checkfront is the largest independent global booking platform, with more than 5,000 customers in over 120 countries and $5.5B in online bookings processed.

An international research project led by OCEAN NETWORKS CANADA (ONC), a UVic initiative, is one of the highest-scoring proposals in the prestigious 100&Change competition by the MacArthur Foundation to help solve climate change. The Solid Carbon project brings together researchers from Canada and the U.S. with the aim to turn greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) into rock by permanently injecting it beneath the Earth’s ocean floor.

MIND POWER

250-880-1188 FLINTSTONESDESIGNBUILD.COM

18 DOUGLAS

MindNode is an intuitive visual brainstorming and mind mapping app to help you capture thoughts, clarify and organize ideas and personalize the look and feel of your map. And it’s all done on an infinite canvas that creates a stunning visual you can share with your team. Mac or IOS. mindnode.com

DESIGN | BUILD

FAST FORWARD LANGFORD

The concept for Langford’s new Pacific Maritime Centre

L

angford’s mayor Stew Young loves to tell the story of how his city’s commercial tax base has grown from three per cent in 1991 to more than 21 per cent today.

That growth shows no signs of stopping, as B.C.’s fastest growing city announces its next big project — the Pacific Maritime Centre. The $87 million project, to be built on McCallum Road near Costco, will include a 40,000-square-foot conference centre, an office tower, a 1,200seat performing arts theatre and a new home for the Maritime Museum of British Columbia.

Young says Langford will provide land and services and pay for the $30-million

performing arts theatre through fundraising, lease agreements, developer amenity fees and federal infrastructure funding.

The Museum will be responsible for financing the $57-million Pacific Maritime Centre.

“This project will create several new Canadian iconic attractions for the City,” says Young, “and will further enhance our commitment for providing family-based entertainment, youth training initiatives, educational programming and exciting new public events that help support our local economy.”

David Leverton, executive director of the Maritime Museum, says along with bringing events and visitors to

CITY OF LANGFORD

Langford doesn’t hold back when touting its ability to get things done. Next up? A conference centre and performing arts theatre. BY LAURA BROUGHAM

Langford, the project means jobs, both in the building phase and the subsequent operations phase.

SPORTS CENTRAL Langford is also expanding its ever-growing list of sports facilities. BoulderHouse climbing gym and Boxing BC will build facilities in Langford.

An oceanfront eco-outpost for Rowing BC is underway. As well, Wheelhouse Cycling Society is building the Jordie Lunn Bike Park in honour of the popular

Vancouver Island mountain biker.

Jon Watkin from the Wheelhouse Cycling Society says the bike park will bring significant economic benefits to the community.

“In Whistler — known as a big [biking] hot spot, they get over 533,000 rides and $46.6 million in visitor spending directly attributed to mountain biking,” Watkin says. “I don’t know if we can hit that number, but we can come pretty close.”

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DOUGLAS 19

DOUGLAS EVENT

A NIGHT OF IDEATION Another sold-out crowd enjoys sips, bites and insights at Douglas magazine’s forum for big, bold ideas Douglas magazine’s exciting speaker series IDEATION proved to be a magnet for local influencers, entrepreneurs and professionals this February.

Douglas editor-in-chief Kerry Slavens moderated a candid and entertaining discussion with guest panelists about experiences that held them back in business, careers and life — and the ideas that freed them to move past their plateaus to new levels of success.

Hosted at KWENCH work + culture club and sponsored by Monk Office, IDEATION featured Olympian and realtor Ryan Cochrane of The Agency; Diane Lloyd, CEO of Inspired Results Group; Iain Duncan, Social Impact lead at The Roy Group; and Angela Coté, franchise and business growth consultant.

IDEATION was launched by Douglas magazine in 2019 as a forum to help people to connect to fresh ideas, meet engaged people and get unstuck in an inspiring, entrepreneurial atmosphere where ideas ignite.

Stay tuned for details about the next IDEATION.

20 DOUGLAS

Kerry Slavens, Douglas editor-in-chief; Ryan Cochrane, The Agency; Diane Lloyd, Inspired Results Group; Iain Duncan, The Roy Group; and Angela Coté, franchise and business growth consultant

PHOTOS BY BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

Presenting sponsor Monk Office: Joanne Boyer, Caitlin McKenzie, Kris Montanini and Frank Baker

Peggy Kulmala, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure; Amanda Wilson, Page One Publishing; and Rory Kulmala, Vancouver Island Construction Association

Delaney Lyngard and Jaden Long, DL Sound

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DOUGLAS 21

CASE STUDY ■ BY ATHENA MCKENZIE

■ PHOTOS BY BELLE WHITE

SEEING THE FOREST

FOR THE TREES The Forests Forever exhibit uses interactive storytelling to get people talking about modern forestry.

T

here’s no doubt that the forest industry is a big deal in the province, supporting approximately 140,000 jobs and generating about $4 billion in revenues annually. Yet there is much public ambiguity about what the sector entails.

“When you tell people you’re a forester, they’ll say, ‘Oh, do you plant trees or do you cut them down?’” says Kindry Mercer, manager of regional initiatives at Western Forest Service. “That is the interface people have with this industry. There’s really not a lot of places where the public can go to learn about what goes on in modern forest resource management. It is a really complex industry, and there are a lot of different values in it. It’s challenging to get that across.”

To address this issue, stakeholders in the coastal forest industry — including companies such as Western Forest Products, Mosaic Forest Management and the Truck Loggers Association, along with Khowutzun Development Corporation and various government agencies — collaborated with the British Columbia Forest Discovery Centre (BCFDC) to create a new exhibit telling the story of modern forestry innovation. They engaged Karen Sorensen, principal and director of storytelling and brand environments at ReMark Brand Environments, early in the strategic planning process to guide the group from the beginning phase of fundraising through the final design, implementation and public launch.

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A MODERN STORY

sections that visitors flow through, starting with the Living Forest and Sorensen describes designing ending with a “train trip back public engagement and in time.” storytelling environments as her passion. Her career highlights include TARGET AUDIENCE Science World, Royal A major challenge was Tyrrell Museum, The creating an experience that Deeley Exhibition at the appealed to the projected range oldest Harley Davidson of visitors, from grade five dealership in Vancouver, students and forestry workers to Beaty Biodiversity Museum international ambassadors. and several large corporate brand “Throughout the whole exhibit, initiatives. we have a game app, which visitors “Forests Forever is special for me as can download or there are tablets that 6 it is located on the Island and supports a can be borrowed,” Sorensen says. “As you go local renewable industry,” she says. “We needed through the different sections, there’s questions and to differentiate [Forests Forever] from the BCFDC, which then when you get outside, there’s some gamification and traditionally has been all about the history of forestry in you get a prize at the end if you do it all. The app can be B.C. We needed a clear definition that this is the story of customized to the audience.” modern forestry, and we needed a way to connect that Visitors follow the life cycle of a commercial tree, modern story back to the past.” from seedling to finished product, and participate in the The various stakeholders created a content committee forestry process by identifying tree species, measuring the and their input and research generated the Forests forests with lasers, simulating harvesting techniques and Forever’s “storyline,” which is comprised of eight distinct learning how to mitigate climate change.

“One of the key messages of the exhibit is sustainability and value-added wood products,” Sorensen says. “Late last year I presented to an international delegation of 75 ambassadors and challenged the group to count how many wood products they use every day, from the linoleum floor they were standing on and the wood fibre fabrics they were wearing to the tissues they used to combat cold season. This fun exercise illustrated the important point that forest products truly are everywhere, and we all need forests forever through sustainable forest management.”

“It’s designing experiences. You want people to remember after they leave. It’s taking interior design, graphic design, marketing, storytelling and interactive design.”

1 & 2 Interactive elements include tree species identification and handson activities with building materials.

3 Sponsorship levels are represented by different species of wood, based on value.

4 Karen Sorensen, principal and director of storytelling and brand environments at ReMark Designs.

5 Painted rings around the sculptural trees in the lobby share quotes from stakeholders about the importance of forests.

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DOUGLAS 23

BIG IDEA ■ BY BILL CURRIE ■ PHOTOS BY JEFFREY BOSDET

24 DOUGLAS

BIG IDEA ■ BY ALEX VAN TOL ■ PHOTO BY JEFFREY BOSDET

Hackers, Meet Your Match This Victoria company is tackling the challenge of cyber insecurity using new machinelearning technologies and behaviouralbiometric science to create a new, advanced form of authentication for computing systems, identifying users based on tiny yet entirely individual patterns in everyday movements.

T Ian Paterson is the CEO of Plurilock, a Victoria-based company whose cybersecurity solutions have positioned it for global growth.

he cyber-threat landscape develops new thorns daily, with cyberattacks showing increasing sophistication. But where most security firms focus on providing solutions that mitigate risks from automated attacks, we have, until recently, lacked reliable solutions for a significant portion of the threat landscape — human-driven attacks.

Enter Plurilock, a Victoria digital-security company that is changing the cybersecurity game for good. With recent contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Canada’s Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces, Plurilock has achieved a period of record revenue growth for the company and is poised for, well, global domination.

What’s the buzz? An easier way to handle multi-factor authentication — one that doesn’t require a user to jump through hoops like signing in with a password, answering security questions or plugging in clunky hardware.

Rather, Plurilock deploys what’s known as identity-centric security, where the software monitors the way a user types on a keyboard and moves their mouse.

“What Plurilock is doing is ultimately using data to make an identity decision continuously throughout the day,” says CEO Ian Paterson, who has been with the company since it spun out from the University of Victoria.

DOUGLAS 25

How does Plurilock work?

Invisible Presence Analyzes metadata from keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, sensor, network and other existing sources to verify identity, without the need for added user steps or hardware.

Keeping it Private What users do is not stored; only patterns of microbehavior (how keys were pressed, how mice were moved) are represented in each profile.

Continuous Monitoring This metadata is observed and analyzed every three to five seconds to continue to allow or to deny access, providing fingerprint-strong authentication.

75% OF DATA BREACHES ORIGINATE INSIDE THE ENTERPRISE

26 DOUGLAS

“So rather than being asked for a password, either first thing in the morning or maybe sometime during the day … The question is, can we make the security environment so easy to use that users are not even aware that we’re there, and ultimately provide a more secure computing experience?”

ONE PROBLEM, TWO PLATFORMS Plurilock ADAPT is the company’s flagship multi-factor authentication product, used to seamlessly connect to systems or applications. An example comes from a recent pilot, Plurilock wrapped up with a prestigious New York hedge fund with more than 2,000 employees.

Two problems the company faced were ensuring the right people were pushing changes out to their trading models, and enabling those people to do it as quickly as possible. Prior to Plurilock ADAPT, fund employees had been limited to signing in with a piece of plug-in hardware — not an ideal fit for a company culture that promotes flexibility and allows people to work remotely.

“If your hardware key was in your office, that was essentially a delay that could cost them a lot of money,” Paterson says.

Plurilock DEFEND is the company’s second product, an end point capability involving continuous authentication that can run directly on Macs or PCs, or be embedded in iCloud applications. Every three to five seconds, DEFEND makes an identity decision based on the user’s behaviour.

Designed from the ground up to be privacy compliant, Defend doesn’t look at the content of what the employee is doing — it looks at their behaviour or their behaviour biometrics.

“In other words, we don’t look at the words that they type,” says Paterson. “We don’t look at what websites they’re browsing. Certainly, there are other security applications that an organization may have in place that do those types of things. But for us, all we’re trying to do is decide: Is this the right person on that device — and to do it in a way that is both invisible and continuous throughout the day.”

DEFEND is suitable for organizations — banks, for example — where regulatory requirements demand specific measures to safeguard and protect data and use. DEFEND also offers a secondary benefit: a record of non-repudiation to validate which users accessed which records, and at what time.

“This becomes really important in industries like health care, where personal health information is obviously a regulated type of data,” says Paterson.

“Enforcing that only the right people have access to it becomes really important, as well as being able to prove after the fact that, yes, in fact the right people had access to the right data and nobody else did.”

A KILLER COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE What makes Plurilock different than other security and tech companies, in general, is its rich base of applied research and development. Where typically datascience companies work on a pre-sale basis, convincing customers to commit to an idea and then building the idea to suit, Plurilock’s roots in pure research offered the company the freedom to evolve early on without any pressure to deliver a product to clients.

“What that has meant for us is that every single test we’ve done for the technology itself — our capabilities have always been at the top of the pack,” says Paterson.

“And so it’s really provided us a competitive advantage, even as a relatively new company.”

Plurilock puts humans and human identity at the centre of the cybersecurity battle and then builds from there, says its director of Innovation Youssef Nakkabi.

This enables the company to address critical gaps seen in other cybersecurity solutions.

“Our AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology combines three different basic strategies: behavioural biometrics, process analysis and network traffic behaviour analysis.

This three-pronged approach means that we’re able to recognize and prevent both human-driven and automated attacks with remarkable speed and accuracy.”

Plurilock’s cybersecurity software monitors the way a user types on a keyboard and moves their mouse.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Plurilock’s DEFEND product began as the brainchild of University of Victoria (UVic) electrical and computer engineering professor Dr. Issa Traoré, who noticed gaps in cybersecurity offerings and wondered whether there might be a way to identify individual users using a biometric signature. Research led to publications in prestigious academic journals and garnered interest in the cybersecurity market, and Traore and his PhD student, Ahmed Awad Ahmed, were off to the races.

The university filed patents on the technology, known as BioTracker in its early days. In 2008, Plurilock formed as a company, and UVic licensed the technology back to the company, posting some people to board positions and bringing in lawyers and accountants to advise.

“That was our role for the first several years up until around 2015, when they were taken over by another investor group that really helped take them to the next level, so to speak,” says Brent Sternig, UVic’s director of research partnerships and knowledge mobilization.

Growing out of UVic meant the team had access to research funding, an incredible talent pool and the university’s assistance in covering things like patent costs.

“It created a company that’s just a little bit different and unique when you compare it against other tech companies,” says Paterson. “It’s really what I attribute a lot of our success to.”

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DOUGLAS 27

GORGE PENINSULA

SONGHEES ISLAND

ESQUIMALT ISLAND

VIC WEST ISLET

CFB ISLANDS

A CITY OF ISLANDS?

WEST BAY ROCK

While the region’s submersion would take centuries, research says without cutting the world’s current carbon pollution, sea levels could rise more than two metres this century and six metres in the next. This illustration shows a worst-case scenario with 25 metres sea level rise.

CLIMATE CHANGE MEANS BUSINESS Climate change is becoming all too real for Vancouver Island businesses, and it will affect everything from tourism and the wine industry to transport companies.

Douglas talks to companies who are taking action — on the Island and around the world. BY PAUL WILLCOCKS

28 DOUGLAS

MENTION CLIMATE CHANGE AND MOST OF US LEAP TO IMAGES OF DISASTER. Rising seas submerging Victoria’s Inner Harbour walkway. Ultra-rainy winters with devastating storms and flooding. Hot, dry summers with droughts and wildfires.

And they are all real concerns.

But the most significant changes for businesses are taking place globally inside the heads of customers and competitors.

And if you’re not responding, you’re missing out.

TOPAZ SPIT

QUADRA POINT

OAKLANDS ISLAND

ROCKLAND ISLAND OAK BAY ARCHIPELAGO COURTHOUSE ISLAND

GONZALES ISLAND BEACON ISLAND

FAIRFIELD ISLET

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: BEN BARRETT-FORREST/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

MAP LEGEND Destination Greater Victoria (DGV) CEO Paul Nursey says sustainability is a growing factor in travel decisions — especially in the important conference and meeting segment.

Organizers aren’t just looking at costs, facilities or destination appeal, Nursey says. They’re making decisions based on environmental and climate actions, favouring the most sustainable destinations.

That’s already a key focus for Destination Greater Victoria and its members, he says.

“We’re becoming the first carbon-neutral

destination in the world,” Nursey says. DGV has a new sustainability committee and has cofounded the annual Impact Sustainability Travel & Tourism Conference, held in January in Victoria. And industry leaders like the Inn at Laurel Point, the Parkside Hotel & Spa and Harbour Air — which recently tested the world’s first electrically powered seaplane — are already leaders in sustainability.

DGV’s challenge is to “demonstrate the leadership we’re already taking,” Nursey adds.

But what happens if people decide flying

Water level as of 2020 Water level after 6 metres sea level rise Water level after 25 metres sea level rise Global warming has already triggered a rise in sea levels.

This worst-case scenario shows areas that could be submerged.

SOURCE: SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA

DOUGLAS 29

PHOTOS BY BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

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Victoria’s Zero Waste Emporium is one of a growing number of businesses offering eco-friendly alternatives in response to growing consumer concerns about how our buying habits impact the planet and its climate.

creates too many carbon emissions?

“It’s important to recognize the aviation sector is working hard to offset and innovate,” Nursey says.

And in any case, he notes, Victoria is a “short-haul, regional destination.”

Sixty per cent of visitors are from B.C., Alberta or Washington.

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THE ECO DILEMMA While surveys say Canadians consider climate change the most critical issue facing the country, a September Ipsos poll found 46 per cent of respondents weren’t prepared to pay more in taxes or for goods to help fight warming.

But that still leaves a lot of consumers willing to make — and pay for — more sustainable choices.

And that’s creating business opportunities.

Paula McPhee and her husband Nairn started looking for ways to reduce their home waste more than three years ago, and found there were few shopping options for people who wanted to avoid plastic packaging and other waste.

“We realized that there was a huge need in Victoria,” says Paula.

After research and an experiment with an online store, they took “a bit of a leap of faith” and opened Zero Waste Emporium on Douglas Street.

The store offers everything from produce to personal care products — all ready for shoppers to take home in their own reusable containers.

There’s nice lighting, wood shelves full of produce, rows of bulk containers — but no plastic bags for your broccoli.

It’s been a hit with shoppers — and globally.

“We get emails weekly from people all over the world interested in reducing their waste,” Paula says.

The store has tripled its customer base in the last six months, she adds.

Increased environmental awareness and concern about climate change has left people hungry for solutions, Paula says.

And people who offer them will find a growing market.

And then there’s seaweed — specifically farming it.

That’s the goal of Cascadia Seaweed, a Sidney-based startup that’s aiming to become a major producer of cultivated seaweed for the global market, says the company’s chairman Bill Collins.

“As an entrepreneur, you see every challenging situation represents an opportunity,” says Collins. “Climate change was certainly a factor in our business plan.”

Seaweed is a sustainable, lowemission way to feed people, he says. Climate-conscious consumers are reducing their meat consumption or avoiding agricultural products that

require intensive, high-emission farming.

Cascadia’s seaweed, cultivated in partnership with Nuu-chah-nulth Seafoods LP, can be part of a part of the solution, Collins says.

And seaweed sequesters carbon, he adds.

Vancouver Island has many opportunities to combine emission reductions and economic growth, says Collins.

And not just in tech or startups. Even traditional industries like forestry can play a role, says George Hanson, president of the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance.

The alliance has been leading a pilot project in the Cowichan Valley to ensure what’s

now considered “waste wood” after logging is available to value-added manufacturers, supporting businesses while cutting carbon emissions.

Hanson says 20 per cent of what’s considered waste wood, left in slash piles on forest floors, could be used. There are about 150 value-added manufacturers on Vancouver Island, he says, and the one thing they have in common is the challenge of getting wood fibre.

There’s also a growing market for wood waste as a lower-emission alternative to coal, he adds.

But it’s currently left to rot on the forest floor,

L-R: Bill Reid, Adam Taylor, Elizabeth Vannan, Jim Cameron, Sanci Solbakken, Steve Wellburn

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“IMPACTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE MORE SIGNIFICANT IN URBAN CENTRES.” increasing fire risk — and carbon emissions.

The two-year pilot project, funded by the provincial government, has already demonstrated the environmental and economic benefits, says Hanson.

The point is that there are opportunities in every sector — from forestry to tech to tourism — to reduce emissions and grow businesses.

WHAT ABOUT WEATHER? The shift in consumer attitudes is important.

But so is the climate shift.

Dr. Francis Zwiers is director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria, which studies climate change in the Pacific region and the Yukon.

He says solving climate change, both globally and in this region, still depends on the choices we make now. If we make progress on reducing emissions, warming could be about three degrees, he says. “If we keep emitting at the rate we are now, it could be much higher.”

A 2017 Capital Regional District report forecast changes for the region by 2050 if global emissions remain at their current level.

Summers and winters will be warmer. Rainfall will increase by about five per cent.

The devil, however, is in the details. The report predicts the number of summer days above 25 degrees will triple from 12 to 36.

Beachgoers may love it, but given the region’s aging population, the hotter summers could increase respiratory illnesses, especially if droughts bring wildfires.

“Impacts have the potential to be more significant in urban centres due to urban heat island effect, unless adaptive measures are taken, including air conditioning, cooling stations and an increase in the urban tree cover,” the report adds.

While the total increase in precipitation is relatively small, the impact could be big.

The amount of rain in summers is expected to decrease by 20 per cent, with dry spells increasing by the same amount. Rains in the fall will increase significantly, and come in more intense storms. The risks of drought and fire in summer and flooding in winter will rise.

IT’S GETTING REAL It’s hard to predict the effects of climate change.

Everything about the models is complex, from the assumptions about future emissions to the impact of ocean warming.

32 DOUGLAS

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DESIGNER Q & A DESIGNER Q & A DESIGNER Q & A

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

Why Why is is good good design design Why is good design important? important? important?

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But some businesses don’t need to rely on the models.

“We’re definitely seeing climate change,” says Lamont Brooks, coowner of Symphony Vineyard on the Saanich Peninsula. Brooks has dug deep into weather records and found growing degree days — a way to measure heat — on the Peninsula have been 21 per cent higher in the last five years.

Within 25 years, Greater Victoria should have a very similar growing climate to Kelowna today, he says.

Warmer summers have brought increased yield and earlier ripening.

And, says Danica Jeffery of nearby Church & State Wines, warmer summer evenings that will allow longer operating hours this year.

But, as with almost everything to do with climate change, the good news is offset by challenges. Annual rainfall is slowly increasing, while seasonal patterns are changing, says Brooks.

“May, June, July and August are much drier now,” he says. Rain is increasing in the early fall when it can interfere with the harvest and reduce quality.

The changes could mean big challenges. “Quite a few vineyards were planted without any irrigation systems,” he notes. “That was fine 20 years ago, but it’s a problem now.”

The challenge is to balance the benefits and risks of climate change in producing wine. (The risks include increased wildfires — Brooks says grapes grown in smoky summers can affect the taste of wine.)

But wineries — and other agricultural producers — also stand to benefit from the growing awareness of the carbon emission impact of our food choices. A bottle of wine from a local producer comes with a lot fewer emissions than a bottle that’s travelled from New Zealand or Chile.

“Clearly people are thinking about it, just from conversations around our tasting counter,” he says.

LOCAL IMPACT Island producers can play a positive role. “Wineries have some thinking to do about their own carbon footprints,” Brooks says.

Glass bottles, for example, require a lot of energy to make and are often made in China and transported here.

Why not allow people to bring their own containers as craft brewers do? Brooks asks. (That would require a change in provincial regulations, which now bars the practice.)

B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham — not surprisingly — sees big opportunities and challenges for Island food producers facing climate change.

Danica Jeffery of Church & State Wines takes part in winter pruning at the winery’s Vancouver Island vineyard. Like many wineries, Church & State is assessing how climate change will affect its growing season and its grapes.

“We’re at kind of a unique moment in time,” she says. Climate change and food security have become big issues for many British Columbians. And that can help the farm sector on the Island grow. “The opportunities are more and more for food production in B.C. to take care of climate change.”

Popham, who founded and operated an organic winery on the Saanich Peninsula before entering politics, says climate change brings an urgency to increasing local food production. It’s not just a matter of choosing lower-emission food, she says. Our traditional suppliers — the U.S., Mexico and others — face big challenges from hotter weather and drought, meaning higher prices — or perhaps food shortages.

That’s creating a need for locally produced food, at the same time as a new generation of people want to get into farming.

“We’re at kind of a perfect moment to move the dial on production,” she says.

But the sector will also need to change.

“We do see the climate changing on the South Island,” Popham says. Growers can’t depend on early, dry springs to allow planting, for example, creating challenges for traditional crops.

GRAPES GROWN IN SMOKY SUMMERS CAN AFFECT THE TASTE OF WINE. Popham’s ministry is working on programs to achieve more efficient drip irrigation, for example, and to encourage producers to choose the most suitable crops for a changing climate.

Like hazelnuts. Popham launches into an enthusiastic sales pitch for the government’s program to help farmers plant new varieties of hazelnut trees. This once popular form of farming declined as a result of disease and blight.

The new varieties are drought resistant, require few inputs that increase emissions and sequester carbon as the trees grow. And hazelnuts bring high prices, Popham adds.

THE BUSINESS CONNECTION “When you look at all the solutions we have now, they have come from business innovation.”

Catherine Holt, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, is clear. Carbon emissions and climate change are critical issues. Businesses can deliver solutions. And governments need to recognize that reality and

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DOUGLAS 35

Dockside Green features a centralized biomass gasification plant that converts waste wood into heating gas for hot water and heat, making the development carbon neutral in greenhouse gas production.

build partnerships with the private sector.

“Every chamber member I talk to is concerned about climate change,” says Holt.

“Most of our members are trying to adapt and adopt solutions.”

But governments haven’t gone far enough in recognizing the importance of supporting business innovation to reduce emissions, despite the chamber’s advocacy efforts, she notes.

“EVERY CHAMBER MEMBER I TALK TO IS CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.”

THE FACE OF INNOVATION Anita Pawluk | CPA | RaceRocks Hire a CPA bccpa.ca

36 DOUGLAS

“Governments need to recognize that innovation led by business is going to bring the solutions.”

A report last year by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an environmental think-tank, found the B.C. government provided $830 million in subsidies to natural gas producers in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

“If we put anywhere as much money into supporting people who have innovative ideas for reducing emissions, we could make an enormous amount of progress,” Holt says.

The transportation sector is a big contributor to carbon emissions, but could transition to greener options with support, she adds.

“One thing I’m frustrated with is that governments are behind the curve,” Holt says, adding that they are missing opportunities to encourage a switch from fossil fuels in the

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transportation sector, for example.

“If government ramped up its program for bus companies, courier companies and others, that could make a massive difference now.”

Businesses and the public are keen to reduce emissions. “Everyone has got the idea of the big picture of what our life on the planet is going to look like and what we can do about it.

“There will always be local opportunities,” says Holt.

And challenges. Insurance companies are already warning about the risks of increased claims relating to climate change — due to flooding, wildfires or other effects — which will mean higher premiums for businesses.

THE ISLAND ADVANTAGE Geography is destiny.

Dan Gunn of VIATeC, which boosts Victoria’s tech sector, notes people who choose to live and work here are making a choice based on values, not just career opportunities.

“They think differently,” he said. “Their values are different.”

They chose Victoria, with its access to the ocean and forests, over cities like Calgary or Toronto, which suggests a commitment to the environment.

And there’s another difference.

“People who are entering the workforce are really purpose-driven,” says Gunn. They’re looking to build businesses that solve problems — like climate change. And investors and customers are interested in their plans.

“More and more companies will be founded based on that,” he says. “More people trying to solve the problems is going to be a good thing.”

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DOUGLAS 37

DOUGL AS MAGA ZI N E’S

1 0 TO WATC H W I N

Everybody wants to change the world 38 DOUGLAS

J U D G I NG PA NEL MIA MAKI

is a professor of finance, accounting and entrepreneurship at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business and Gill Graduate School and a consultant through Quimper Consulting. Formerly CFO and COO for a Victoria-based technology company, Mia has assisted in raising over $50 million in funds and in international initiatives including acquisitions, strategic partnerships and joint subsidiary creation.

NERS 2020

H E I D I S H E R WO O D

is the founder of Sapphire Day Spa. She is a natural health practitioner, has sat on a number of boards concerned with health and environment and has been featured in the book Waking Up the West Coast: Healers and Visionaries. Awarded Entrepreneur in Residence at Royal Roads University, Heidi has worked tirelessly as an educator, mentor and industry leader in the health and wellness sector.

These Vancouver Island entrepreneurs are doing it. And they’ve only been in business for fewer than three years.

AV R I L M AT T H E W S

is the B.C. director for Beattie Tartan, a global integrated communications consultancy.

Avril has a multi-decade career in the travel industry, with expertise in revenue management, client engagement, and sales and marketing. She is a past chair of the Hotel Marketing Group of Victoria and was a long-term member of the former Tourism Victoria Destination Marketing Committee.

BY L A U R A B R O U G H A M , AT H E N A M C K E N Z I E , C O R M AC O ’ B R I E N A N D DA N I E L L E P O P E . P H OTO S BY J E F F R E Y B O S D E T

S

lowing down climate change. Helping veterans reclaim their health. Sustainably farming the land and the oceans.

Providing mobile natural healthcare solutions from a custom outfitted Winnebago.

As bold as their visions may be, this year’s Douglas 10 to Watch winners aren’t just disrupting for the sake of it — most of them have a much greater purpose in mind as they build their businesses. And that desire to create positive change has helped propel them beyond inexperience, fear and startup financial challenges to make it to the very top of the list of Vancouver Island’s most promising new businesses.

For our independent panel of judges, a company’s vision is vital, but it’s just a dream without a foundation of smart business planning, sales, a savvy management team and scalability. So our judges didn’t just look at the ideas — they looked at whether or not applicants showed a capacity to grow, manage increased demand and demonstrate resiliency to meet the challenges most new business face at some point.

And that’s one of the reasons why Douglas’s 10 to Watch Awards, now in its 11th year, remain such a coveted source of recognition for new Island business. Getting the winning nod from our judges is a vote of confidence that says, “You’re doing the right things and we believe you’ve got what it takes!”

J I M H AY H U R S T

is a partner or advisor in several Victoriabased companies, including Global Remediation Technology, Transcend Victoria and Roy Group. Jim cofounded the very popular Fuckup Nights Victoria and is a regular columnist for Douglas magazine.

In 2016 and 2018, he was honoured with VIATeC Awards for his contributions to the technology sector and is a 2015 Douglas 10 to Watch winner himself.

D R . PE D R O M Á R Q U E Z is VP of Global Advancement, Marketing and Business Development at Royal Roads University (RRU). He originally joined RRU in 2007 as the dean of the Faculty of Management after holding a similar position in Mexico City. He has a PhD in Management and Political Science from the University of Calgary. Pedro is a board member of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

FA

T C I L I AT O R

C AT H Y M C I N T Y R E

is principal of Strategic Initiatives, a strategy consulting firm that works with organizations in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. A chartered director, Cathy serves on the boards of First West Credit Union, Consumer Protection BC, and Peninsula Co-op and is vice chair of the Board of Governors at UVic. She earned her MBA in entrepreneurship at UVic and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for her community service.

DOUGLAS 39

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Welcome to Victoria YOU HAVE ARRIVED

Make the Business Hub your first stop!

The Business Hub at City Hall is your first point of contact if you are an entrepreneur, investor or anyone looking to do business in Victoria. We will help you access information and connect you to the right resources to get your business open quicker. Connect with our Business Ambassador today!

Open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

1 Centennial Square, Victoria 250.361.0629 | bizhub@victoria.ca | victoria.ca/bizhub

10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Eir Mobile Medicine With its mobile natural medicine studio, Eir exists in the “sweet spot between your favourite food truck and your local walk-in clinic.”

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with Mercy Southam

What was the best business advice you ever received?

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

Don’t be afraid to break some rules. Maybe not break, but bend. As I was ruminating on this business model, I kept finding myself stuck with what I should do or what others would do. I realized that I can make my own rules.

Write more of your ideas down. The first day I saw the Winnebago, when I met the seller in the Cowichan Valley, I had so many visions and ideas that day, and they’re gone now. Those moments of inspiration — write them down.

Do some more test runs.

But that’s kind of how I roll. Dive right in and adapt. Maybe that’s where my gymnastics training comes in. Gotta think on my feet!

isitors at the bustling Moss Street Market may not expect to find a walk-in clinic between a table of local ciders and a stall selling bunches of organic kale, but this is not your typical walk-in clinic.

Eir Mobile Medicine is an acupuncture and natural medicine clinic housed in a multi-coloured Winnebago that travels around Victoria and the southern Island doling out natural health care — think doctor’s office meets taco truck.

Owner Mercy Southam learned the power of acupuncture while receiving the treatment as a young gymnast with severe back issues. Even then, it took over a decade before she began training in the practice and formulating her business idea.

In 2017, Southam purchased the Winnebago and began parking it at markets around Victoria a year later.

“I’ve tried to create a space people can feel safe and secure in but also relaxed,” Southam explains. “I don’t want to have that sterile clinical energy to it. No one is actually saying that walk-in clinics have to be boring and ugly.”

Southam wants Eir to be a source of community healing and envisions a future with a brick-and-mortar hub and a mobile vehicle that services vulnerable communities.

Patients need not have had any experience with acupuncture to participate.

All they need to do is write their names down on the whiteboard, pick a treatment from the menu and, with kale in hand, begin feeling better. — C.O. DOUGLAS 43

1980 Wilson’s Transportation Ltd. becomes an incorporated company

2009 After a devastating fire at their head office, Wilson’s rebranded to create a fresh new look!

2016 Wilson’s Transportation Ltd. becomes the Wilson’s Group of Companies to incorporate new divisions, including scheduled services and sightseeing products.

2020 The Wilson’s Group celebrates 40 Years in business

Thanks to our community for coming along for the ride!

10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0 L T O R : B E N D R U R Y, MELANIE PENN AND ANDREW PENN

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with Ben Drury and Andrew Penn What was the best business advice you ever received?

Ben: Your employees — the people you choose to grow your business with — are what will essentially make all the difference for your business. You have to be willing to invest in the right individuals.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Ben: Building a business is a process. It takes time. If what you see happening week to week or day to day feels discouraging, look longer down the road.

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

Andrew: I kind of like where we are!

The process can be scary, but I think seeing how much trouble some people have in terms of making businesses work, I feel that we’re on a good track.

Bilston Creek Farm Maintaining a beautiful balance of progressiveness with sustainability, Bilston Creek Farm is the bestkept Secret Garden on the Island.

W

hen Andrew and Melanie Penn purchased a Metchosin farm, it was overrun by brambles, weeds and empty yogurt pots. Twelve years later, that same land is ripe with lavender, honey and apples.

While many fitting comparisons can be made to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book The Secret Garden, Bilston Creek Farm does seem to have a magically restorative power.

Andrew and Melanie, along with cofounder Ben Drury, recognize that it’s the feeling of restoration that has turned Bilston Creek Farm into a hot spot for weddings, retreats and dinners — and for natural products for the body and home. Whether in the yoga retreats they host or the ciders

they sell, there’s a connectedness that ripples throughout Bilston’s land and brand.

“We’ve been getting reassurance from lots of customers saying, ‘We love seeing where it all comes from,’” Drury says, noting that Instagram has been a huge factor in conveying Bilston Creek’s story to the world.

It can be tough to stay sustainable with that kind of popularity, but Drury and the Penns believe the power of feeling good can be a touchstone for any future endeavours.

“There are vast rewards from the smiles that you see,” Andrew Penn says. “Whether it’s a bride and groom saying, ‘This was really, really special for us,’ or just a young girl working here with a smile on her face.”

Says Drury, “We’re lucky that way.” — C.O. DOUGLAS 45

Innovation.

We encourage it.

Congratulations to all the innovators who dug a little deeper, stayed up a little later and wouldn’t let good enough be quite enough. You’re this year’s 10 To Watch winners. It’s your big ideas and passion that make the Island an exciting place to live and work. And we can all learn a little something from your example. Maybe at a guest lecture? Seriously. Give us a call.

1.877.778.6227 | royalroads.ca

10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Zero Waste Emporium After facing the challenges of giving up garbage at home, Paula and Nairn McPhee created a store to make the mission easier for everyone. Victoria had been waiting.

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with Paula McPhee and Nairn McPhee

What was the scariest part of starting up?

What book or podcast have you found most inspirational?

Nairn: Neither of us came to this with business backgrounds — Paula is a marine biologist and I’m an aquaculture technician — so we had a real learning curve, from understanding inventory to financial management, but we’ve taken everything as it’s come.

Nairn: The documentary Trashed started it all when we began our journey to reduce waste. The film looks at how garbage is managed, worldwide, and how important it is to refuse waste from the start.

Paula: It’s scary opening your own store, but the experience has been very rewarding, especially as we’ve become a resource — not just for customers, but for other collaborators and advocates.

Paula: Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson is a great resource that explains how to go from everyday life to getting your waste down in easy and realistic ways.

hree years ago, Paula and Nairn McPhee decided to stop creating waste at home. They were so committed, they even removed their garbage cans.

That move would motivate the couple to create the Zero Waste Emporium in August of 2018 — Vancouver Island’s first full-serve, zero-waste grocery store. The store provides food, personal care and cleaning items (from milk and meat to veggies, oils and shampoo) all packagefree. Customers can bring their own containers, or use those at the store.

“When we started reducing our waste, we jumped in with both feet, but there weren’t many resources to support us, and it was frustrating running all over the CRD to get what we needed,” says Paula. “We wanted to make it easier on ourselves.”

While they may have started the Emporium to support their goals, the McPhees didn’t realize how many Victorians were looking for the same.

From the pop-up at farmer’s markets to the store on Douglas Street, their growth has been unprecedented. Now, with more than 1,200 items from 100 suppliers — 30 per cent of those from Victoria — the McPhees are looking at next steps, like home delivery, to keep shopping accessible.

“The truth is, things really can be different,” says Nairn, “and we can all be very much a part of this.” — D.P. DOUGLAS 47

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10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Rehab and Performance Steven Inglefield, CEO and cofounder of Rehab and Performance, wanted to create a rehabilitation space for a particularly vulnerable sector: veterans and service personnel.

S

+ O A + OA

with Steven Inglefield

What was the best business advice you ever received?

My dad always told me “delight the customer.” It may sound cheesy, but when you’re able to offer people more than they expect from a service, it means a great deal.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Make sure the business you want to start is something you’re deeply passionate about.

More than anything else, it’s that passion that will keep you going when things get challenging.

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

I would spend more time in the beginning developing ties within the local community. It’s remarkable to me that there are over 7,000 veterans south of the Malahat in our area alone, but we’re the only facility in Canada offering this service. It’s a tight community, and there are great benefits in cross-promoting each other’s work and letting people know you’re here to help.

teven Inglefield knows the difference movement can make. So much so that he dedicated his career to physiotherapy. When he came to Canada from the U.K. eight years ago, he noticed a specific group of people were commonly underserved in this area: military veterans and service personnel.

Inglefield partnered with other experts to open Rehab and Performance, the first physical rehabilitation centre in Canada that caters exclusively to military veterans, the RCMP and first responders. The Langford facility has a mission to help those in the sector reclaim their health and lives and build a supportive community to foster connections.

“We wanted to bring all rehabilitation modalities under one roof, to give people easy access,” says Inglefield. “What we didn’t realize, initially, was how important the community and camaraderie would be in people’s healing processes. You become family.”

It isn’t just the community aspect that makes Inglefield’s business different. The group provides trauma-informed programs through a membership model, which means staff are paid salaries (instead of the pay-per-service model common to the health-care industry) and clients can access a variety of services — from physio and massage to exercise therapy — as they need them.

Says Inglefield, “Our aim is to have our clients leave our facility each day feeling better than when they arrived.” — D.P. DOUGLAS 49

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L T O R : M AT T H E W S M I T H , JA M E S DAV I D S O N AND NICK ADDISON

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with Matthew Smith, James Davidson and Nick Addison What was the best business advice you ever received?

James: This advice was given to me by my dad: He said when things get stressful, you need to treat it like a nine-to-five job. You need to disconnect and hang out with your friends or go to the gym or go out and enjoy nature.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Matt: Don’t fall in love with an idea. Talk to people. All your assumptions are wrong.

What was the scariest part of starting up?

Nick: The scariest part was knowing the statistics of the failure rate of startups, in general, and being able to defy that and having a reason to defy that.

DivDot By digitizing business payments, DivDot solves a major pain point for companies.

F

or businesses, cheques are an increasingly outdated, expensive and inefficient way to move funds. Enter DivDot, a Victoria-based financial tech firm whose integrated, secure payment solution means simplified payments, improved cash flow, less paper and less time spent preparing and mailing cheques or standing in line at the bank.

DivDot is the brainchild of Matthew Smith, James Davidson and Nick Addison — three graduates of the University of Victoria’s software engineering program.

“Our vision is to provide a solution so businesses don’t have to worry about payments being a pain point,” says Addison. Users can quickly import

invoices from accounting software and collect payments faster by sending digital requests to customers who pay directly from their bank accounts through a simple check-out process. The system is compatible with all major banks in Canada and most credit unions.

Customers enjoy no-limit transactions for a flat fee within Canada.

Since its August 2019 launch, DivDot has processed hundreds of thousands in payments through its platform. Where do the founders see DivDot in five years?

“We hope to have captured most of Canada’s cheque market,” says Smith, “which is 750 million cheques a year in Canada.” — L.B. DOUGLAS 51

Congratulations Congratulations to the 2019 Congratulations to the 2020 “10 To Watch” to the 2019 10 to Watch Winners.

“10 To Watch” Winners.

Winners.

TD Business Banking salutes your innovation, achievements, and entrepreneurship throughout our Island communities. At TD Business Bank, weisisare TD TDBusiness Business Banking Banking proud proudto to TD Businessto Banking your innovation, committed helpingsalutes Canadian Small Business grow. 2018 support support Douglas Douglas Magazine’s Magazine’s 2018 achievements, and entrepreneurship throughout 10 10TO TOWATCH WATCH Awards AwardsCelebration Celebration our Island communities. At TD Business Bank, we are For more information reach out to Congratulations Congratulations totoallallthe the10 10ToToWatch WatchWinners.

Winners. committed to helping Canadian Small Business grow.

TD TDBusiness BusinessBanking Bankingsalutes salutesyour yourinnovation, innovation,

Brian Gordon, Area Manager Business Banking. achievement, achievement, and andentrepreneurship entrepreneurship ininour ourcommunity. community.

T 250-507-0088 For more information reach out to Brian.gordon@td.com Brian Gordon, Area Manager Business Banking.

T 250-507-0088 Brian.gordon@td.com For Formore moreinformation information Call CallBrian BrianGordon, Gordon,Area AreaManager ManagerBusiness BusinessBanking Banking atat250-507-0088 250-507-0088

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® The The TD logo TD logo and and otherother trade-marks trade-marks are the are property the property of The of The Toronto-Dominion Toronto-Dominion Bank.

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® The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

M05598 (1118)

3989-0318 3989-0318

10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Cuboh This company’s inventive app streamlines restaurant ordering by integrating meal delivery apps like DoorDash and UberEats with restaurant Point of Sale systems.

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JUAN ORREGO

O+A

Juan Orrego and Sinan Sari

What was the best business advice you ever received?

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Sinan: It was from my dad who said not to look too far ahead and to focus on satisfying our customers.

Sinan: It would be on the communication side. Learn the culture and interact more.

Sinan: I learned this from watching Juan: Engage with your customers.

Juan: It was from Y Combinator: Shoot for the moon. Think big.

Juan: People saw me as a kid and I let that affect me. We should have applied for Y Combinator earlier.

Juan: Just do it. Don’t wait for it to be perfect. If something isn’t working, you can change it.

ho doesn’t love the convenience of ordering online from a favourite restaurant? The owner of that restaurant, probably. With new service apps popping up every day, restaurants have to use multiple platforms to increase their sales — and it can be a struggle to manage the numerous systems. Enter Cuboh.

“We consolidate all third-party ordering platforms into one integrated hub, giving restaurants back the power to automate how their orders are accepted and how order information is sent to their point of sale (POS) system,” says Cuboh cofounder Juan Orrego. “We pre-sold Cuboh to 10 restaurants before we actually had a product, which indicates there was a big problem that needed a solution.”

Despite those presales, Orrego says success was still a hard-fought journey. Launched in 2018 by Orrego and co-founder, Sinan Sari, the startup struggled to find investors.

“As immigrant founders with no network and money, it was hard for us not to give up,” Orrego says.

But the duo knew they had a winning idea. The company recently announced it had oversubscribed its seed round financing, to a total of $1.6 million. The financing builds on a year of rapid growth as Cuboh surpassed the 1,000 live locations mark. Last year, it was accepted into Y Combinator, an exclusive startup accelerator in San Francisco, which Orrego describes as, “an eye-opening experience that taught us so much.”

Cuboh also has big visions for the future.

“In five years I see us at 30,000 customers,” Orrego says. “I want to be the fastest growing company in Victoria’s history and its biggest acquisition.” — A.M. DOUGLAS 53

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10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Covault

Technologies Covault is a powerful marketing app that helps brands and retailers maximize their co-op advertising dollars.

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O O++A A

with Amber Simpson

What was the scariest or hardest part about starting?

What advice would you give other startups?

In order to fully launch Covault, I had to step away from my successful career …

That’s a real risk and challenge, but if you really believe in what you’re doing it’s worthwhile.

Don’t put too much money behind development at the beginning. Start by getting customers and then build the development towards those customers.

What book or podcast was influential for you?

A podcast called Boss Files with Poppy Harlow … It’s really helpful having a woman entrepreneur interview other entrepreneurs.

The questions she asks are the questions I wonder about. A lot of business podcasts tend to have a lot of males interviewing and they tend to ask different questions. But she’s amazing.

hirty five billion dollars — that’s how much money Amber Simpson, CEO of Covault Technologies, thinks is left on the table worldwide because the cooperative advertising process is so difficult to navigate for small businesses.

Cooperative advertising is a centuries-old practice that allows local retailers to access advertising money from the large brands whose products they sell. In her work with a family motorcycle and marine dealership, Simpson learned how time-consuming and grueling the process is — to the tune of billions of dollars left untouched.

That’s why, with her husband Jeff Simpson and business partner Graeme Csath, Simpson created Covault Technologies.

The company acts as a middleman, keeping rigorous marketing data and crafting brand compliant ads (good for large brands) while getting advertisements approved and launching those ads on digital and traditional platforms (good for small businesses) — all without the difficulty that has come to define co-op advertising.

Covault’s biggest challenge was trust — getting both sides to agree to having a thirdparty involved in the process.

“When you’re a startup trying to disrupt a massive industry that’s been running a certain way for so long, there’s a challenge there,” Simpson says.

But Covault has embraced its upstart startup role as a tech company with a female CEO and a big vision. Today, the company is partnering with Yamaha, Nissan and a host of other companies.

It’s an idea whose time has come, says Simpson. “Everyone who understands it says, ‘Well, that’s a no-brainer. I wish I’d thought of that.’” — C.O. DOUGLAS 55

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O+A

with Caleb Bernabe What was the best business advice you ever received?

Things are happening, so be retrospective and just appreciate the whole journey and its process, because it’s really easy to take it for granted.

What was the scariest part of starting up?

It’s scary how quickly things can escalate without you even really noticing.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Think really carefully about why you’re starting your company and what your company is.

You need to be quite certain that there’s an immediate need that you’re addressing.

VINN VINN is an innovative online auto buying platform that makes buying a car simpler and less time-consuming for Canadians.

L

ifelong auto enthusiast Caleb Bernabe was working in marketing for an auto company when he realized the way people bought cars hadn’t changed much in over 75 years. That’s when he got the idea for VINN, an online car purchasing platform he launched with cofounders Tom Avant and Chet Flanagan in the summer of 2019.

With its name a play on the acronym for Vehicle Identification Number, VINN is already partnering with 56 auto dealerships in Victoria and throughout B.C. to help customers find and buy vehicles through what Bernabe says is the first true e-com solution for the auto market.

That’s a relief to time-crunched

Canadians who typically spend about 40 hours researching before buying. “With VINN, the process can be finished in less than 20 minutes,” Bernabe says.

Customers compare and buy vehicles right on the VINN platform, choosing from thousands of cars from different manufacturers at various price points.

VINN’s automated concierge uses machine learning to make custom recommendations.

VINN’s goal is to streamline the process to get customers into cars they want quicker. “We’re using thoughtful design, innovation and transparent business practices,” says Bernabe, “to bring positive change to an antiquated industry.” — L.B. DOUGLAS 57

10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0

Little Fox Design Emma Fanning focused her graphic design and branding studio on something no one else in the industry seemed to be paying attention to — the climate.

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with Emma Fanning

What was the best business advice you ever received?

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

The advice one CEO gave me helped, in a backward sense, to realize no one else was talking about this in the industry.

That meant there was space for it, and also a lot of work to do.

Do the hard reading.

Treat the knowledge base of your industry like an academic work — and study it. Understand what’s going on in your field and know the scope, so you can critique it and be a credible expert.

What was the scariest part of starting up?

It was hard to launch. One thing I understood early on is that knowledge in this sector is changing quickly. That means even the best advice I can offer today may change tomorrow. But as hard as that is, at some point you have to put the research down and start the work.

hen Emma Fanning first stepped onto her design path, she hadn’t planned on creating a certified, carbon-neutral, green graphic design and branding studio. But one moment at a conference changed her fate when she asked a respected industry CEO how designers could help combat the climate crisis. The CEO advised her it wasn’t worth focusing on and suggested she dedicate her time to her own business instead.

Fanning went back to her hotel room and immediately started researching, then rebranded her company to focus entirely on environmental sustainability and green design practices.

“I knew I had a lot to learn to help advise my clients properly, so I started researching and I haven’t stopped,” says Fanning.

Fanning wasn’t a designer by training — her degree is in English Lit — but she was wildly passionate about branding, graphic work and the environment, and wanted to support others to make minor and major changes that add up, from choosing to go carbon-neutral to using environmentally safe inks or supporting aligned initiatives. Her mission is to help businesses integrate sustainability as part of their model.

“I want to support my clients in making choices that can help their business make a measurable, positive impact,” she says. “It’s amazing how many things people can do — often much more than we realize.” — D.P. DOUGLAS 59

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10 TO WATCH W I NNE R 2 0 2 0 L TO R: WILLIAM COLLINS, MIKE WILLIAMSON AND TONY ETHIER

Cascadia Seaweed As Islanders, seaweed is something we see on our beach walks and many of us consider it little more than debris — but Mike Williamson, CEO of Cascadia Seaweed, sees an opportunity.

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with Mike Williamson

What was the best business advice you ever received?

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?

Empower your staff and partners, and let their skills and abilities come through. Give them the tools they need and let them do their jobs.

Have a dream, then turn those dreams into goals. Then have a plan to address the goals; otherwise it’s just wishful thinking.

I would have started it a year earlier because the opportunity was there and the need was there.

This is climate positive and it’s going to make a positive difference, so the sooner it happens the more positive it is.

hen Mike Williamson, a former CFB Esquimalt base commander, attended the 2018 Vancouver Island Economic Summit, his big take-away was the huge, global and still untapped business opportunity in seaweed. His subsequent research revealed a few seaweed harvesters on the Island, but no one was actually farming it. So Williamson — along with Cascadia cofounders, William Collins, Tony Ethier and Steven Cross — set out to commercially farm seaweed.

Farming involves attaching seedlings to a rope strung between two vertical lines, drawn taut by an anchor and a float. The rope is deployed into the open ocean where the seaweed grows until harvest-ready. The seaweed-laden rope is hauled onto a boat, and the plant is cut from the rope, delivered to shore and processed.

Cascadia Seaweed has partnered with Nuu-chah-nulth Seafoods, an Indigeneous seafood company with partnerships to farm the seaweed, starting with sugar kelp, Pacific wakame and dulse.

Cascadia’s goal is to bring more seaweed into the diets of North Americans since it is a nutritious food containing protein, calcium, B12 (one of the only vegan sources of this nutrient), zinc and other nutrients. Williamson says farming seaweed is environmentally friendly, since seaweed sequesters carbon, is believed to reduce ocean acidification and creates a temporary habitat for sea life.

“You’ve heard of vegetarians and flexitarians,” he says. “We want to start algatarians — people who eat seaweed.” — L.B. DOUGLAS 61

PA ST W I N N E R S

Where are they now?

With over a decade of celebrating the Island’s best new businesses with its 10 to Watch awards, Douglas has highlighted an impressive range of companies — from innovators in technology and fitness studios to restaurants and manufacturers. We caught up with some notable winners from years past. BY AT H E N A M C K E N Z I E

Echosec Systems Sea Cider Since being named a 10 to Watch winner at the inaugural awards in 2009, both Sea Cider’s beverage production and event business has grown tenfold, and its sales have expanded from within B.C. to across North America. It has also seen its staff grow from six team members to 50 during the high season.

A major expansion project, just completed this winter, will enable Sea Cider to have more visitors and host more events at the farm.

We checked in with Kristen Needham, founder of Sea Cider.

First Light Technologies A 10 to Watch winner in 2012, First Light Technologies sells lighting solutions for pathways, parking lots and playgrounds to a global audience, “building safer, more usable communities through solar outdoor lighting.”

Since its win, it has averaged 30 per cent annual growth, and was recognized by The Globe and Mail in 2019 as one of the countries’ fastest growing companies. It boasts an impressive client list, which includes Intel, American Express, Marriott Hotels, Mercedes, and Toyota, as well as hundreds of cities and towns, and the military.

We checked in with Sean Bourquin, cofounder and CEO of First Light Technologies.

What did winning a 10 to Watch award mean for your business?

It provided some validation. Most of our work is done in the States, so it’s great to be recognized by people within our local community saying, “This sounds like something that’s got some potential.”

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What did winning a 10 to Watch award mean for your business?

It was just fantastic to be acknowledged by a committee of our peers. And the promotion was really priceless. It really put us on the map.

What has been the biggest challenge for you since then?

Change and growth puts a lot of pressure on resources and on people. In order to be profitable, you need to be a certain size, and we had to scale up quickly.

What advice do you have for this year’s winners?

Be really open to hearing advice and be aware that we all have blind spots and biases. Success is more likely if you’re willing to shed those biases and welcome feedback.

What has been the biggest challenge for you since then?

Getting our heads around how to build a great team has been quite a learning curve. Coming from an engineering background, it was learning how to find the right people that fit with us, so we’re all in alignment and we can do the right things at the right time.

What advice do you have for this year’s winners?

Find others who are on a similar path and talk to other people who are living these challenges. It’s really hard, because you’re so heads down during the formative years, but it can save you a lot of time and pain if you make those connections.

In the four years since its 10 to Watch win in 2016, Echosec Systems’ data discovery platforms — which detect critical online data faster, for threat intelligence and risk management — have become critical components for security and intelligence organizations around the world.

Along with 100 per cent growth every year, last year the company doubled its revenue. It now services global clients from its offices in Victoria, London and Virginia. In 2019, it released Beacon, a dark web discovery platform, which aids in the detection and prevention of security threats.

We checked in with Karl Swannie, CEO of Echosec Systems.

What did winning a 10 to Watch award mean for your business?

It really validated what we were doing. And it certainly helps with recruiting — it’s always great for my team to be recognized by the community.

What has been the biggest challenge for you since then?

Now we’re at that scaling size of a business, we need to meet the needs of our clients while still trying to maintain our culture and values.

We’re competing with a lot of bigger companies for things like resources.

What advice do you have for this year’s winners?

It’s hard to come up with a generic answer, but I would say that you have to find that product market fit; you have to find the differentiated value proposition; you really have to become a thought leader in your space. And all at the same time, you have to stick to your own path — whatever you have that has got you here, you have to be true to that.

AR R IVALS We’ve heard about companies pulling up stakes in Victoria and moving to bigger markets. But the city is now at a positive turning point as businesses from as far away as Brazil and California are choosing to set up shop here — helping to put us on the global entrepreneurial map.

BY ALEX VAN TOL 64 DOUGLAS

N

ot so long ago, many people fled Victoria if they wanted a taste of urbanity and culture and bigger career prospects. Businesses wanting a bigger piece of the pie felt they had to move to Vancouver or Toronto — or head south of the border.

Businesses that remained here were mostly small to mid-sized, houses in now-pricey Fairfield were cheap and all the best career ladders were in the public service.

But for those of us who have lived here awhile and have watched this city polish itself into a gem, shining with top-notch restaurants and festivals, tech companies and an innovative mindset, a big change has become apparent over the past half-decade.

Not surprisingly, companies around the world are taking note as cities like Seattle are becoming increasingly expensive and oversubscribed with the influx of companies like Amazon and Google, says Dallas Gislason, director of economic development for the South Island Prosperity Partnership (SIPP), the economic development organization for Greater Victoria.

Much of SIPP’s work involves building awareness of Greater Victoria in foreign markets — bringing the region to people’s attention as a desirable destination for business — and proactively working with interested companies to critically assess our market in their decision-making process.

Last year, SIPP worked with Seattle-based NetMotion to assess Victoria as an expansion location over other regions of Canada. As a result, NetMotion, a software company specializing in mobile performance management, has since made Victoria its largest location outside of its U.S. headquarters.

At a recent event held at Kwench work+culture club, SIPP introduced several new arrivals into the Victoria business community, including two from Brazil. Marka Developments is a supplier of medical equipment and medicinal capsules to pharmacies, medical labs and nutraceutical product companies; and Daitan is a tech company from Campinas, Brazil, a tech-rich city of one million located about 90 minutes from South America’s largest city of São Paulo.

DOUGLAS 65

SOME COMPANIES HAVE DECIDED TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL OFFICES TO STEM THE BRAIN-DRAIN FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. “We’re building the next generation of software products with AI (artificial intelligence), data science, chatbot and facial recognition,” says Mario Zimmer, Daitan’s country manager for Canada.

Daitan first set its sights on Vancouver as a possible location from which it could service its U.S.-based clientele, many of whom are located in California’s costly and labour-starved Silicon Valley. Victoria wasn’t on the company’s radar until a side trip to Victoria and a meeting with Gislason highlighted the many advantages of Vancouver Island.

Not only is Victoria in the same time zone and just a quick flight from California, but as

a smaller city, it offered many of the lifestyle advantages the Brazil-based company sought for its employees.

“South American culture is very familyoriented,” says Gislason, who recently travelled on behalf of SIPP to the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas in March to explore further areas of synergy between Victoria and Brazil. “The questions they ask about setting up business in a city have less to do with hardcore business than with schools and neighbourhoods and community.”

For Daitan, in the choice between Victoria and Vancouver, Victoria won the day.

Significantly, the company opened its first development lab beyond South America’s borders in Victoria in October 2018. With 700 employees in Brazil, it also plans to add 100 employees in Victoria.

CLOSE TO WHAT MATTERS Another artificial intelligence (AI) company that chose Victoria is London-based CrowdEmotion, which recently opened Element Human, its global AI research centre and North American headquarters, in Victoria.

Element Human observes and quantifies human behaviour through sensors that can detect body language and capture how consenting users interact with their devices,

sizing up how people are using and reacting to the things to which they pay attention.

“We put that into a cloud on a deep-tech platform, which companies and the individuals themselves can access, to be able to understand how emotions drive thoughts and behaviours,” says CEO Matt Celuszak. This helps companies derive insights into their customers.

Even more than the tech brains that surround us, Celuszak appreciates B.C.’s provincial government for its affinity to innovation.

“The chief digital officer, Jaimie Boyd, she’s very tech-forward, very open-government driven and understands the digital landscape and how to use it for economic gain at a governance level. That’s encouraging,” he says.

He also acknowledges the benefit that Victoria offers in terms of the proximity of academia to government.

“We want government and academia next to each other for what we do,” he says.

“You’ve got this micro-ecosystem that’s actually incredibly global-thinking, but stuck on the edge of an island.”

AN INNOVATIVE MINDSET The expansion to Victoria wasn’t an international one for Proof, a company whose workflow and analytics software empowers governments to increase transparency and make

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66 DOUGLAS

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THE LURE OF LIFESTYLE And some moves to Victoria are more organic in nature. Benevity, the corporate engagement software giant founded in Calgary, got its Victoria start with a former employee who had gone to work in Silicon Valley, then boomeranged back to Benevity a couple years later.

“This individual asked if they could work remotely out of Victoria — and from there it took off,” says Andrea Davis-Yue, Benevity’s manager of media and communications. “A few short years later, we now have 75 people in our Victoria office, and it continues to grow.”

A big factor in Benevity’s decision to set up shop here is lifestyle: “In Victoria, the people, the vibe and the culture are a great fit for what we’re trying to do at Benevity — which is to help people be their best selves in their everyday lives by connecting them with a sense of social purpose.”

WHY ARE THEY MOVING TO VICTORIA? Interestingly, some companies have decided to open international offices to stem the braindrain from their own countries.

“The reason to have operations outside of

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

better spending decisions. With a team of about a dozen spread between its offices in Halifax, Winnipeg and Toronto, choosing Victoria was a natural extension for the Yukon-headquartered firm.

A big factor in choosing Victoria was its role as a provincial capital and the progressive approach of the provincial government, according to CEO Ben Sanders, who at press time is the sole Proof team member in the Victoria branch — for now.

“B.C. is just so far ahead of a lot of the other governments when it comes to trying new things,” Sanders says. “And [Proof is] kind of unusual in that we’re exclusively serving government. A lot of companies avoid government because it’s so slow, [but] we have all worked in government and have expertise there, and we understand both the opportunity and also the challenge. We realize that a lot of off-the-shelf tools aren’t working well for governments. So that’s why we’re focusing on it.”

Brazil is because we are starting to lose talent [from Brazil] to different countries,” says Daitan’s Zimmer. And while the United States was once a big attraction, Trump-era policies have made immigration more difficult. Canada, in contrast, has opened its doors wider.

In examining Daitan’s options, Zimmer realized Brazilians would likely balk at the cold climates of other Canadian locations.

“If you go to Winnipeg, Halifax or Edmonton, they are too cold for us,” he says. “And as we are planning to bring Brazilians — we’re going to hire people here as well, of course — we’d

Mario Zimmer, Daitan’s country manager for Canada. The Brazilfounded software company chose Victoria because of the city’s milder climate and Canada’s friendlier immigration policies, compared to the U.S.

DOUGLAS 67

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like to give them a pleasant place to stay.”

Besides Victoria’s milder climate, Zimmer finds the city calm, clean and well organized, a place “where everything works the way it should.” Victorians’ propensity toward welcoming people from other countries is a significant benefit, too, he says.

For Proof, Victoria’s alignment with the Yukon time zone coupled with the two provinces’ overlap in a number of government initiatives and programs showed that the move makes sense.

“It’s a cool moment in time in B.C. right now,” Sanders says. “They just brought in this new chief digital officer from the federal government, and the BCDevExchange is doing some really neat stuff. And we want to be part of it.”

Another big reason for choosing Victoria? A quality of life that is enviable around the world.

“The access to nature and wilderness is pretty remarkable,” says Sanders.

Canada’s position as a leader in artificial intelligence was influential in Celuszak’s decision to expand the U.K.-based Element Human to Victoria, as was the fact that he grew up here.

“There is a lot of globally recognized technological leadership in Victoria,” he

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says. “You have people who still have 10, 20 years left in the tank, businesswise, and they want to get involved in cool new stuff. There’s a really good network in Victoria, and I didn’t realize it until I got back here. It’s a very good network and a very open network.”

Davis-Yue agrees, noting that Benevity continues to grow in Victoria because the tech talent is outstanding.

“We credit the strong tech programs at UVic for much of this,” she says, “and also the quieter Victoria lifestyle that attracts workers from Silicon Valley.”

WHAT’S STILL STANDING IN OUR WAY? But it’s not all calm seas and sunny skies for every company looking to relocate in Victoria. Access to certain types of skill sets — a senior manager with experience at the international level, say, or people with skills in a specific area of data science — represent a barrier. Even the difficulty of finding tradespeople to provide services sets up barriers to easy progress.

Zimmer and his colleagues had to install their own air conditioning in the Daitan offices because their bid was just too small of a project for contractors to bother with.

“Everybody’s building buildings, right?” he says. “Entire buildings. So they would like to work for them, not for us. And I understand, but when you’re on my side, you need that type of work [done].”

Gislason points to spousal opportunities as a second major barrier for people who are considering moving here.

“Let’s say we wanted to attract a GP… but that GP has a spouse as well. And that’s a barrier to get them here, because what is their spouse going to do?” Gislason says. “The reason why you want a diverse economy is because you want resiliency through recessions, but you also want to create opportunities for people of all walks of life.”

Another roadblock is in Victoria’s cost of living, which tags directly back to the issue of

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demand.”

Many of the new rentals that are going up are high-end and require two incomes; and house heavy documents.

It is also prices are too high for pretty much everyone except those fleeing Vancouver and Seattle.

“I worry about this: that we will sprawl outwards instead of upwards,” Gislason says.

“What we need is more density, better land use, better transit. All those things that help us address affordability.”

Proof has been able to attract talent away from Toronto, where the cost of living is even higher, which positions a move to Victoria as favourable; however, it’s been tricky to fill positions with graduates from Victoria’s own post-secondary institutions because of affordability.

“One of the challenges we had recently was

VICTORIA’S REPUTATION AS A FAVOURABLE PLACE FOR BUSINESSES TO LOCATE IS GROWING. trying to hire a co-op student,” says Sanders.

“We had more than 50 applications from the University of Waterloo and only two [from Victoria].”

Sanders, who currently lives with his partner on a small sailboat in Fisherman’s Wharf, sees the city’s cost of living as both an opportunity and a challenge.

“I know it’s something that’s on a lot of people’s minds,” he says. “Part of the reason we’re living on a sailboat is that, as a startup, you’re trying to keep costs down.”

Having just moved into a new building, the Benevity team is already eyeing their next move, knowing that vacancy rates are low but that they’ll eventually need a larger office as the company grows.

“And while many of our people make use of the bike trails, just as many are looking for parking options, which are scarce,” Davis-Yue says. “We look forward to seeing how the city plans to help accommodate both the businesses and individuals that continue to flock there.”

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Businesses will increasingly choose Victoria to rally around world-class thought leaders, says entrepreneur and BC Emerging Economy Task Force member Peter Elkins.

“We will want to consider improving how we support thought leaders and how

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we commercialize and protect intellectual property outside of our universities to create the right environment,” Elkins says.

An entrepreneur like Elon Musk is what we call a tent pole, says Elkins — a big thinker whose ideas generate businesses that, in turn, generate economic development.

Instead of expecting government to be an economic engine, or trying to attract fully developed businesses, he says we also need to find the innovative entrepreneurs — the Musks — and make Victoria a conducive environment for building their next-level ideas.

“We want entrepreneurs as our tent poles,” Elkins says. “We want to attract entrepreneurs who can start and grow companies.”

Gislason of SIPP says Victoria’s reputation as a favourable place for businesses to locate is growing.

In fact, he says the city’s benefits have attracted yet another win: After exploring local options with SIPP, Edifecs, a health-care technology company based in Bellevue, near Seattle, is also setting up shop in Victoria. One of the driving forces for that is the proximity to

UVic’s health informatics program, which is a global leader in transforming the world of health care and health information management.

“The competition for talent is global,” says Gislason, “and companies choose Victoria, in part, because we’re a magnet for that talent.”

At a recent event, SIPP introduced several new arrivals into the Victoria business community, including Button, Canada Side Services and Element Human.

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Langford has the entrepreneur edge AS MORE SAVVY COMPANIES CHOOSE LANGFORD FOR THEIR BASE, THE BUZZ IS THIS DYNAMIC, MODERN CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE FOR BUSINESS. When information technology firm Charter was seeking to build its national headquarters using state-ofthe-art passive house technology, it chose Langford — hands down.

“Langford is simply an exceptional community,” says Charter president Kelly Michell. “Its municipal government is keen to work with businesses, the city is accessible, with all the services and amenities you need close by, and there are parks and trails everywhere.”

In fact, three lakes are just minutes from Langford’s vibrant downtown with its brick pathways, sidewalks,

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custom-designed lighting, benches and floral boulevards, not to mention its growing number of shops, pubs and eateries, including the awardwinning House of Boateng.

Plus, Langford’s parking is free.

“And it always will be,” vows Langford’s entrepreneurial Mayor Stew Young, who has seen his city flourish since it first incorporated in 1992 and grew its commercial tax base from 3% to 20%. To fuel the momentum, Langford — which issues over 200 business licenses a year — has the following business-friendly initiatives: • business licences that never expire • efficient rezoning and development permit processing, the latter of which typically averages no more than 30 days

where it all happens.

Today, with a population of 42,000+, Langford is B.C.’s fastest-growing community. Ambitious and agile, the city attracts young families drawn to lower housing and rental costs, new schools, job opportunities and a family-friendly infrastructure that includes a mountain bike park, a kid-friendly family fun park, several recreation centres including the best in the region YMCA Aquatic Centre, and Westhills Stadium where locals watch Pacific Football Club, Rugby Canada and the Westshore Rebels Football team.

When Scott Gurney of 17 Black Events moved his event-planning company from Victoria to Langford, he was wowed by the number of high-quality commercial spaces. “It was brighter, more dynamic — and more accessible for our clients and stakeholders who can park right in front of our building at no cost.

“I save $3,000 a year in parking costs, and that’s just for my vehicle,” he says. Emma McCormick moved her event business The Good Party to Langford from Uptown last year and hasn’t looked back.

“The City of Langford is supportive and forward thinking,” she says. “They encourage our creativity and don’t say no to everything! As a company, we never want to do the same event twice and are consistently looking to push the boundaries … That’s exactly Langford’s philosophy, so being located here has been fantastic for us.”

saying — it’s a philosophy of ‘Let’s do it!’”

“There’s been a real surge of interest from companies who want to move here,” says Mayor Young, who credits Langford’s Council’s open-forbusiness approach and the efforts of Langford’s multi-sector volunteer Economic Development Committee.

TODAY, WITH A POPULATION OF 42,000+, LANGFORD IS B.C.’S FASTEST-GROWING COMMUNITY. And then there’s FTS. This world leader in remote automated environmental monitoring solutions has been in Langford for 40 years and still sees it as the most convenient location for its employees — now numbering 80 — who come from all over the region, including north of the Malahat, North Saanich and Victoria.

“We’re known as the community that gets stuff done — that operates more like a business than a government.

People are drawn to that and really want to be part of a community where they can raise their kids, get jobs, open a business without all the red tape, buy or rent affordably — and enjoy the kind of lifestyle they dream about.”

“There’s the sense here of a city ‘Where it all happens,’” says CEO David Reid, referring to Langford’s new brand tagline. “It’s not just a

And that’s why Langford has become the region’s place to be — for life, work and business.

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74 DOUGLAS

Third party food delivery services are great for customers, offering convenience and an abundance of choice, but this highly competitive industry faces a host of challenges.

THE REALITY OF

FOOD ON DEMAND

BY L AU R A BR O U G H AM

This delivery driver is from TUTTI, the only locally owned and operated third-party delivery service in Victoria.

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

T

hird-party delivery, which is a part of the rapidly expanding sharing economy, combines the convenience of restaurant food with the comfort of one’s home in a way that traditional restaurants haven’t before. This fusion is resulting in these services becoming a big part of consumers’ day-to-day lives. In Victoria, there are four third-party delivery options: the international companies Uber Eats, DoorDash and SkipTheDishes, and a local company, TUTTI. Before the current four were operating in the market, Dine In Victoria was the only third-party delivery service bringing food to hungry locals for over 20 years. Then, when larger companies joined the market, Dine In was no longer able to compete.

Maggie Rideout, the owner of Dine In Victoria, says she would have liked to have seen her business continue, but when a national competitor entered the market in 2017, she claims they bought up Google keywords related to her business.

“That was the thing that killed our business,” Rideout says. “When I first started putting out Google Adwords years ago I was told you cannot use another company’s name. I couldn’t say ‘delivering for Pagliacci’s’ or ‘delivering for Milestones.’

You could use it on your website but not on a Google ad. So when I saw [my competitor using] ‘Dine In Victoria alternatives,’ well, they were using our name. I called Google

because we noticed a huge drop when that happened and Google said, ‘Well, there’s nothing you can do about that.’”

Rideout says due to this she frequently had customers think they had ordered from her and would call her to complain, then when she would try to sort out the issue, they would realize they had ordered from the competitor instead. She said this happened on an almost nightly basis.

With the closure of Dine In, the only locally owned and operated option currently operating is TUTTI, which launched in 2017 under the name Island Life, then rebranded as TUTTI in November 2018. The CEO of the company says TUTTI remains competitive by offering services the other delivery companies don’t, including grocery delivery, dry-cleaning pickup and drop off, and more.

Learning from Dine In Victoria Though the two companies started out as competitors, Kaisa Aierken, CEO of TUTTI, says he knew Rideout before Dine In closed and is learning from the company in a few ways.

“Before [our competitors] bought Adwords, we started to buy our Adwords, so we’ve now entirely bought out everything. But still, right now if you search TUTTI delivery, probably [a competitor] is the first one to pop up.” Aierken admits.

The company is also working to operate DOUGLAS 75

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76 DOUGLAS

during the same hours as their competitors, spending money intelligently on marketing and developing their app and website.

Something else TUTTI learned from Dine In is the importance of a local presence, so that consumers know there is a homegrown company to support.

“We were at the Cook Street Block Party, we were at Car Free YYJ, we go to the universities too for orientation week, so we can actually go there and talk to people and introduce ourselves,” says Adam McLaughlin, business manager at TUTTI. Rideout says she hopes TUTTI will continue and do well in the Victoria market.

“I definitely hope they make it, and that they can survive this. It’s tough. They can reach out to me if they want any advice or help, but I just think it’s going to be difficult for them.”

Impacts on local businesses Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association and president and CEO of Ridesharing Now for BC, says there are some challenges that come with these services. He says in B.C. third-party delivery apps can account for more than 25 per cent of sales in a restaurant, which changes the way interactions with customers happen.

“If you have a problem with your delivery, you’re dealing with the app company not the restaurant,” Tostenson says. “Some restaurants don’t like that because they want to have a relationship with their customer, but it gets blocked because the way that the traditional third-party delivery companies are is that they own those customers.”

Another challenge is the cost associated with partnering with delivery apps.

“It’s expensive, so a food app can be charging

a restaurant up to 25 percentage points, and then there’s a delivery fee that the customers pay,” Tostenson says. “The restaurant, in theory, will make less money on a food delivery than food ordered in the actual restaurant.”

The heavy hitters In the Victoria market there are three international brands competing with TUTTI to become consumers’ delivery service of choice.

Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes and DoorDash have been vying to be the top option in the region.

“We want Uber Eats to be a great partner to all restaurants we are or will be working with,” says Faye Pang, general manager, Uber Eats Canada. “So we’re investing in strategies to meet restaurants’ diverse needs, like helping them leverage our technology to generate more demand, improve their delivery operations and identify opportunities to optimize their menus.’

DoorDash and SkipTheDishes declined interviews for this article.

In a February 2019 blog post, DoorDash wrote: “In 2018 we expanded our geographic footprint by five times, reaching 3,300 cities and 80 per cent of Americans nationwide, and [in January 2019] became the first on-demand food platform available in all 50 states,” the blog post reads. “Our mission has always been to connect customers with their favorite local and national businesses by being the best last-mile logistics player in North America.”

Bringing in new customers When SkipTheDishes came to town, Troy Barnaby, owner and chef of Sült Pierogi Bar, says he was one of the first to sign up. While the relationship got off to a rocky start, he says most of the issues have been worked out, which makes the resource a great addition to his business.

“Through Skip[TheDishes] we sell almost $5,000 per week, which is a good portion. On a solid month it’s $20,000, anywhere up to one-fifth of our sales,” Barnaby says. “I’d say the biggest benefit is free marketing. A lot of people see [the service], a lot of people use it, our name is out there. Plus, a lot of people get our food who wouldn’t get it otherwise because they never come downtown.”

Barnaby says he is also on DoorDash but doesn’t see as many sales coming in from that service, but thinks that is likely because they are newer to the area.

Unless there is a major shift in shopping habits, Barnaby says he is planning to continue on with third-party delivery services long term.

Shannen Bishop, co-owner of The Chopped Leaf in Victoria and Langford, says managing multiple third-party delivery systems can sometimes be taxing, but she finds partnering with the platforms to be largely beneficial. Her Victoria location is on SkiptheDishes, DoorDash and Uber Eats.

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One of the benefits Bishop sees from thirdTostenson says there has been a rise in “ghost party delivery services is the increased exposure kitchens” in some of the larger cities. to more customers. She says these services “I’m not aware that it’s happening in Victoria account for 17 per cent of The Chopped Leaf’s yet, but it will. What’s going to happen is sales. you’re going to start seeing commissaries, so “It gives our customers another avenue they’re called ghost kitchens,” Tostenson says. [to purchase our food]. There are customers “They develop all these different brands, like who have never been inside our shop, but burgers and pizzas and pasta, that are only have routinely ordered from us through available online, so it’s custom food preparation SkipTheDishes,” Bishop says. “SkipTheDishes and then delivered to your house. You can’t gives you the ability to see how many new go to where these customers you have. products are — they I looked one time and happen to only exist there were 186 new online which is kind of customers that month, cool.” which is a nice number Bishop says she to see.” hears about ghost The Chopped Leaf has kitchens and thinks been on SkipTheDishes they’re an interesting for two years, and while concept, but they lack Bishop says there were one of the key elements some growing pains, of going out to eat — things are running much the experience. more smoothly now.

“It’s just delivery “It has gotten better, service and it gets the but there have been consumer their food, issues like ... the order in the comfort of their is ready and it sits there own home and it’s tasty for hours and hours, food that they didn’t and we have to throw have to make,” Bishop it away for food safety says. “But then you’re because it’s been sitting going to miss out on at room temperature. the experience of going Faye Pang, General Manager, That has since decreased out, seeing your friends Uber Eats Canada quite a bit,” Bishop adds. when you’re out and “When it’s working that vibe, that energy well, it’s a good relationship because now we’re you get from being around other people.” able to get food to our customers that wouldn’t Victoria used to have a service that operated normally come in.” similarly to a ghost kitchen, called Accio. It was Subway Canada has partnered with third-party a kitchen where the food was only available for delivery services since March 2019, and Cristina Wells, director for Subway Canada, says being on online ordering through Accio’s platform. The business closed in July 2018, stating at the time these services is important in order to keep up they could not continue to afford operating and with the changing spending habits of consumers. couldn’t lower costs to meet market demand.

“This past decade has brought with it an age of customization and individual experience that High-speed service goes beyond the restaurant world. Emerging Convenience is taking over the way businesses and improving technology has changed have operated as consumers continuously how we buy clothing, consume media and demand faster and cheaper service. When large entertainment and, of course, how we eat and corporations come knocking on the doors of our relationship with food,” Wells says. smaller communities, existing businesses can “In recent years, we’ve seen rapid growth remain competitive by finding a way to offer with customization technologies in the [quick something unique to the community that serves service restaurant] space. With this new a purpose larger companies aren’t filling. technology, including remote ordering and Consumers are seeing benefits being offered third-party delivery services, our menu items by these services in getting food where and are available to order with just a few clicks.” when they want it. Now that third-party delivery services have been established in The future of food Victoria in a big way, restaurants have to look With the rise in demand for convenience from and see if it makes more sense to be involved consumers, food delivery apps are here to stay, with the services, or find another way to remain are changing the way people consume food from restaurants, and the way restaurants operate. competitive.

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SENDTONE WS — BY THE NUMBERS

1,000,000,000

EXPECTED MONTHLY VIEWS IN SPRING 2020 ON SENDTONEWS’ PROPRIETARY VIDEO STREAMING SERVICE

15,337,000

UNIQUE VIEWERS ON THEIR PLATFORM IN OCTOBER 2019

14,000

PER CENT REVENUE GROWTH BETWEEN 2013 AND 2018

29

EMPLOYEES — FAR FEWER THAN OTHER COMPANIES WITH A SIMILAR VALUATION

1

SENDTONEWS’ POSITION IN THE U.S. AMONG DIGITAL SPORTS VIDEO SITES

80 DOUGLAS

JUST WATCH THIS SendtoNews is very big news as it soars to one billion monthly views on its sports video distribution platform — and expands beyond sports. BY KEITH NORBURY

T

his spring, Victoriaheadquartered SendtoNews (STN) expects to surpass more than one billion monthly views of videos that its proprietary system automatically uploads to media websites all over the world. It reflects explosive growth that landed SendtoNews on Canadian Business magazine’s list of Canada’s fastest growing companies two years in a row.

In the five years leading up to 2018, SendtoNews’ revenues grew nearly 14,000 per cent. Should that rate continue, says CEO Matthew Watson, annual revenues will reach $1 billion by the end of this decade.

“If you look at our growth trajectory, if we stay on it we’re beyond that,” Watson says in an interview at the company’s head office in Bastion Square.

Buoying those prospects is that SendtoNews recently branched out from the sports beat, its primary focus since its inception. Called Beyond Sports, its new service links media sites with videos from the realms of entertainment, travel, lifestyle, news and more.

“It’s taken off like crazy, to the point that, in December, Beyond Sports accounted for over 30 per cent of our traffic,” Watson says.

SendtoNews already claims the top spot in the U.S. among digital sports video sites, citing figures from

Comscore. That ranks it ahead of ESPN, FOX Sports and Sports Illustrated. For October 2019, for example, “STN helped U.S. publishers deliver premium, user-engaging and revenue-generating content to 15,337,000 unique viewers across 475,204,000 video views,” says a recent company news release.

Comscore product marketing manager Cecelia Xu confirmed these numbers.

Another recent Comscore report places SendtoNew 22nd among all video properties, just behind Fox Corporation.

“Almost every company around us on that list are billion-dollar companies,” Watson says.

A BIG DEAL IN NEW YORK SendtoNews has come a long way since it was named one of Douglas magazine’s 10 to Watch in 2012.

“That must have been good PR work back then,” Watson says, adding that the company has since won a slew of awards in the States. “In New York we’re actually a pretty big deal.”

SendtoNews has a testimonial on its website from New York Daily News editor Andy Clayton. (The paper’s senior content editor for digital sports, Clayton confirmed the testimonial.

However, he said by email that, although he was originally the main point of contact between the paper and SendtoNews, decisions about the relationship are now made at the corporate level.

DOUGLAS 81

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

At present SendtoNews has about 29 employees at its open-plan office in a century old heritage building in Victoria. It has another half dozen stationed in New York and two in Toronto. As this article went to press, the company was planning four new hires.

“The advantages to being in Victoria are it’s a great place to live and work in terms of quality of life. We’ve got great schools, producing well-educated kids who want to work in tech. And I can be mountain biking in 15 minutes,” says Watson, who has the lean, wiry frame of an athlete.

A disadvantage is that the company’s customers are far away in locales like New York.

SendtoNews was the brainchild of Keith Wells, a former sports anchor with 82 DOUGLAS

Victoria’s CHEK News, who conceived the idea while covering the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, for BCTV. It took another decade, though, before bandwidth speeds were up to the task and Wells could put his dream to the test. That break came with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics when SendtoNews scored one of its first big contracts, delivering high-definition video for the games.

“And then it was a matter of trying to figure out who pays [and] what the model is,” Wells says.

Early on, SendtoNews received key advice from Jeff Mallett, of Yahoo fame, to concentrate on sports. One of the first significant contracts was with the American Hockey League. Then came NASCAR. “That was our first thing that was significant,”

Wells says. That led to the PGA, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and more.

EVOLUTION OF A PLATFORM “Keith was in the business, so he had a real problem that needed solving, and the problem that really was most acute to him was the client side dealing with digital video,” Watson says.

Since then, SendtoNews has evolved into a platform that marries video clips with digital text to enhance readership on media websites while generating advertising dollars. SendtoNews shares that bounty with video producers and media companies.

More than 100 content providers, including every major sports league, supply video clips that a SendtoNews’ A.I. functionality called Smart Match embeds

SINCE AUGUST 2018, SENDTONEWS HAS OCCUPIED A HERITAGE BUILDING IN BASTION SQUARE WHERE THOSE IN THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT WORK IN THE SAME OPEN SPACE AS THE COMPUTER ENGINEERS.

on media sites of more than 1,800 clients.

They include major publishers like Hearst, National Post and USA Today.

The original business model was to charge publishers for the SendtoNews service. “And that was so much friction because not many wanted to pay for that,” Watson says.

A turning point in its evolution came when the company realized it needed to make SendtoNews work on mobile devices. Videos were typically posted on the side rails of websites, which meant they didn’t display properly on smartphones.

Solving that turned out to be a boon for the company but for an unexpected reason.

“It was a good idea, but then we got lucky and a thing called ‘viewability’ came along,” Watson says.

Unlike television, digital media can measure if someone is actually viewing a video. Because SendtoNews videos were now viewable on mobile devices, it crushed competitors whose videos still displayed on the side rails.

“Even more than that, we created Artificial Intelligence that allows a publisher to just put a snippet of code on their website,” Watson explains. “Whenever they publish a written article, it reads that article and then goes and fetches from our extensive library the most relevant video and embeds it in that article.”

If a hockey game recap mentions a spectacular goal by Connor McDavid, the Smart Match system finds a clip of that play and places it right where the reader can’t miss it. Instead of leaving that page to search for a video, the fan can watch one immediately — after seeing an advertisement.

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DRIVING TOWARD SUCCESS While Wells is no longer active in SendtoNews, having left in 2018 to become executive director of the Greater Victoria Sport Tourism Commission, he is still an investor in the company and enthusiastic about its prospects.

“I put 10 years into SendtoNews and was really, really happy with being involved with that and remain very happy to see how it all progresses,” says Wells, who adds that Watson “has done a very good job of driving this thing the last couple of years.”

The journey wasn’t without bumps. In 2016, the company parted ways with then-CEO Greg Bobolo. SendtoNews declined to comment on Bobolo’s departure other than to reference an Oct. 7, 2016 news release that said the dispute “was resolved amicably without trial” and that both sides “wish each other well in their future endeavours.” Douglas reached out to Bobolo through his LinkedIn profile but did not receive a response by deadline.

Wells also remembers tough times along the way to what in hindsight looks like an overnight success story. He credits the contributions

CEO MATTHEW WATSON, BORN AND RAISED ON VANCOUVER ISLAND, SAYS KEEPING THE COMPANY HQ IN VICTORIA IS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE, BUT IT ALSO HAS AN OFFICE IN NEW YORK CITY.

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

of Art Aylesworth, Mark Hoelscher, David Davies and Peter Beblo with helping launch SendtoNews.

“I just have such respect for guys that put in all of the money to help us get our first contracts,” Wells says.

Davies, now vicepresident of corporate communications, and Watson prefer to focus on the future. Asked about the contributions of the early investors, Watson quips, “Success has many parents. Failure is an orphan.”

Watson himself played a role during the SendtoNews startup phase before leaving to grow his own tech startup, Armorlogic, which was eventually bought by U.S.-based Alert Logic. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, the Duncan native earned economics and law degrees from UBC and returned to the Island to care for his aging parents and take a job with ACD Systems International, a digital imaging software company. He and Davies also worked for solar lighting innovator Carmanah Technologies during its “glory years.” So when SendtoNews lured Watson back in 2015, he had a wealth of tech experience to draw upon.

$20 million to $50 million — occupies the same ballpark as the second fastest growing company in the sector, Levio, which has 506 employees.

How is SendtoNews able to generate that much income with a fraction of the workforce?

“Well, one of the first things is we had no money for a long time. So we automated everything we could,” Watson says. “We also focus on what we do best and then partner with people who are really good at something else.”

The low-hanging fruit for SendtoNews was sports. Wells is pleased that SendtoNews is now coming full circle with its Beyond Sports service and branching into other beats. Still a newsman at heart, Wells finds it most gratifying that what sprang from his brain is injecting a new revenue stream into his beloved news business.

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AUTOMATED OPERATION Since August 2018, SendtoNews has occupied a heritage building in Bastion Square where those in the finance department work in the same open space as the software engineers.

Keeping them company are two office dogs, including a long-haired miniature dachshund named Ginsburg, owned by controller Michelle Reynaud.

SendtoNews is a lean operation. Yet its 2018 revenue — which Canadian Business pegged at DOUGLAS 85

Advice for Entrepreneurs My friends want to tell you some things about entrepreneurship. And when these friends offer advice, it pays to listen.

BY JIM HAYHURST

W

ho were the first entrepreneurs you knew?

Not family, but friends and peers. I asked myself this recently and quickly came up with a list.

So I emailed my friends and peers and asked: “What do most people not say about being an entrepreneur, but you need to know anyway?” and “What words of advice would you have for your younger entrepreneurial self?”

The response was immediate and overwhelming. Too much to include it all here, in fact. But it says a lot about them and entrepreneurs, in general. They’re the busiest people I know, but they take time to help others.

You will know some of these companies, maybe even some of the founders. Except for one, none of them lives in Victoria, and most of them I’ve known for at least 25 years. Hopefully, that combo makes for fresh yet proven perspectives.

Here is some of the valuable advice they shared with me.

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

“An essential trait for any entrepreneur is the ability to recognize opportunity where others don’t.

But it’s the ability to act on that recognition that is essential for a successful entrepreneur.”

Peter and Chris Neal started Neal Brothers Foods in their mother’s kitchen and now make dozens of food products while distributing brands like LaCroix, Raincoast Crisps and TAZO Tea in Eastern Canada.

“You have to plant seeds every single day. There is no magic. It is consistency. For this consistent effort, you have to love what you do.

You need a purpose and a why.”

Sue Henderson started Suetables, a line of personalized jewelry, in 2004.

Today, her clientele includes moms, movie stars and Meghan Markle.

86 DOUGLAS

“Business is always evolving; evolve with it. Don’t be afraid to do things differently in your industry; there is always a better way.”

PHOTO BY: @DAMONEATS

Ian Heaps is CEO of Blundstone Canada and a consummate entrepreneur.

“Many first-time entrepreneurs believe they can do everything. My experience as an entrepreneur and VC is you will never be successful on your own. It’s about learning to give up that control and trusting others to do things better than you.”

“I would tell my younger self to establish a team of advisors who can help navigate you through the process. You don’t have to do it alone. There’s never any shame in asking for help.”

Jennifer Bassett has created one of Canada’s premier luxury event management companies, Bassett Events.

BELLE WHITE/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

Amy Jurries left venture capital to launch The GearCaster and Skeleton Key Media.

“It took a heart attack in 2019 to realign my focus. Place a priority on your connections, so you can remain present for your personal community (yourself, friends, family and networks).”

Darsh Thomsen built WaxSeals.com (now Artisaire) into a global leader.

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DOUGLAS 87

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“Your first mistake is your least expensive. If an idea isn’t unfolding the way you hoped, you need to pivot rather than sink more resources into it out of a sense of commitment. We liken it to the feeling of obligation to finish a book when you aren’t enjoying it … Perseverance can be a great quality and also your downfall.”

Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe are the founders of the Canadian fashion label Smythe, whose fans include a couple of royal duchesses too.

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“One of the biggest gifts of being an entrepreneur is the freedom of how we choose to spend our time, so give yourself the gift of making your kids a big priority.”

Kristi Herold founded the Sport & Social Group, one of the first and largest clubs of its kind in North America.

88 DOUGLAS

“One of my previous investors told me, the best ideas are the simplest ones. I don’t believe that. To create something meaningful, you need to take on something pretty hard and complicated. I do believe, however, you need to find something hard and complicated you can make incremental progress on … You don’t ever want to work on a problem without executing against paying customers.”

Jasper Malcolmson is CEO and founder of the renovation technology company, Skylight.

“I would tell myself to stop thinking and try to ... develop my service or a prototype of my product and just start selling it ... then honour the learnings (mostly failures) and pivot, pivot, pivot.”

“I never sugarcoat this with new entrepreneurs who are lining up for slaughter. Are you an artist or entrepreneur? Do you want to have a hobby or a real business?

Are you chasing fashion or will your product sell forever as it is? If you can design something once and sell the exact same product for more than 10 years, you’ve hit a home run.”

Dax Wilkinson’s company, Red Canoe National Heritage Brands, creates apparel and accessories honouring iconic Canadian and global brands.

Tom Szaky’s latest venture is the global circular shopping platform Loop, which delivers products in returnable/refillable containers from partners like Unilever and Nestlé.

DRINKS, BITES INSIGHTS We hosted another sold-out Ideation by Douglas in February at KWENCH. Guest speakers Ryan Cochrane, Diane Lloyd, Angela Coté and Iain Duncan shared with moderator Kerry Slavens how they got unstuck and became unstoppable in their careers. Stay tuned for details of the next session featuring bold, inspiring conversation!

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“If you think you have to be doubtless to be an entrepreneur, then your first doubt will cause you to fail. The only way to survive self-doubt is to plow ahead.”

Dorrian Porter is CEO/founder of Vestaboard, making beautifully reimagined split-flap displays (think “smart” European train station boards).

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For those with memories to make “I spent the first 20 years of my career thinking that being a woman gave me incredible opportunities.

To some degree that’s true, and I am extremely proud of the unique position I have built for myself. But the unfortunate reality is, I’m still fighting for every penny and negotiating to prove my value against my male counterparts. So to my younger self I’d say: ‘You can do it. But you better be strong, confident, optimistic and unbreakable if you want to succeed!’”

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90 DOUGLAS

“No one warned me about how much time you really need to commit to succeed. It’s very satisfying when things start to click, but never underestimate the effort you’ll need to put in to get it there.

(Whatever anyone tells you, double it!)”

ALEX

Sarah Richardson and Alex Younger have more than a few ventures together (in addition to their family!), like Design Lab and the Sarah Richardson Design media empire.

“Dear Young Selves, Do you remember feeling the three of you might be missing out by not engaging with other retailers, turning down developers’ cocktail parties, and feeling that studying trends was a bit too much like looking in a rear-view mirror? Isolating, yes; but it gave birth to inspiration. It was protecting your crazy ideas from the naysayers; putting up a wall between developers and yourselves to protect those who placed their trust in you; and, finally, giving the customer what you knew they wanted … before they even knew it themselves.

Because you knew and that was all that mattered. It was good to trust your gut, be guided by your moral compass and be the ultimate disrupter for the time. Thanks for staying true to your ideals. We are very happy.”

— OLD SELVES Margot Franssen, Betty-Ann Franssen and Quig Tingley, helped create a new retail category by founding The Body Shop Canada in 1980.

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DOUGLAS 91

INTEL

GROWTH

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

BY CLEMENS RETTICH

WE’RE ALL LEAVING Think succession planning is only about business owners retiring?

Here’s your wake-up call.

I

JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

n the last few years, the business and financial press has forecast a kind of Armageddon of aging in which health-care sucking, unproductive 80-year-olds vastly outnumber healthy productive tax-paying young folk, creating an economic meltdown.

This vision is sometimes called the “grey tsunami.” It is generally applied to fears about an aging population, but it’s also applied to the projected massive turnover of employees and whole businesses as their owners sell out (or fail to sell out, and just shut the doors).

This narrative is simplistic. It may also cause us to miss an important fact: When we think of succession only as a process around the foreseeable retirement of business owners, we risk missing an important fact about the growth of a business — succession actually happens any time anyone leaves any role, planned or unplanned. In response, we have to succession- proof our organizations to minimize the risk of turnover and to maximize the opportunities turnover can create.

MINIMIZING RISK

People leave. Get over it. One of the more annoying stories we keep hearing is how “young people these days don’t have the loyalty we did.” Nonsense. I can’t count the number of jobs I had between the ages of 18 and 28. And that was between 1977 and 1987. I was exploring, failing, getting pissed off at crappy employers, jumping to better opportunities (and getting those wrong half of the time). In other words, I was doing what any self-respecting 20-something does.

Nothing new here. Move on.

If the departure of a 24-year-old employee is a disappointment, a surprise or a threat 92 DOUGLAS

to your business, you’re doing it wrong. The normal behaviour of human beings should not be a threat to the growth of a business.

Starbucks figured it out long ago: Young people move on, so adjust your business model to deal with that reality instead of wringing your hands. Mitigate the risk of departures by reducing the frequency and reducing the impact on the business when someone does leave.

That’s effective succession proofing.

Succession planning is part of the Monk Office culture of continuing success. CEO and president Caitlin McKenzie represents the third generation of her family to take on leadership of the Vancouver Island business, which is now in its 69th year.

THREE FOUNDATIONS OF A HEALTHY WORK CULTURE

G

G

RP

B E LO N

IN

WORK CULTURE

OSE

SAFET Y

PU

MAKING IT WORK

There are two areas where organizations must look to begin the work of successionproofing: • Culture: The three foundations of a healthy culture that truly nurtures employees and retention are (psychological) safety, purpose and belonging (my variant of Dan Coyle’s work as described in his book Culture Code).

Most organizations lack the controls to ensure safety or have not done the work to connect people with a purpose. The consequence is inevitably reduced productivity, followed by accelerated turnover.

• Alignment: Most employees I talk to don’t understand how their efforts align with the results their organization is seeking. Most feel like they are guessing the right way to do things or the right place to put their efforts.

And when they guess wrong, there are negative consequences. When you start to dig beyond the bewildered shoulder shrugs, people have very little idea how their efforts, skills, compensation or advancement line up with what the organization wants. It feels random and capricious.

MANAGING CHANGE

When someone does leave a business or organization, reducing the impact is largely about effective knowledge transfer. Most organizations have such poorly developed training processes that when someone leaves, starting over with a new person takes months before a return to full productivity (which is just around the time the new person leaves).

The fix means hard work, but it’s simple.

It means improving the standardizationtraining cycle. Build onboarding and training programs that not only bring a new hire to full productivity in the shortest time possible, but also evolve to support continual employee and organizational growth.

Remember in primary school when your teacher asked you to lie down on a long piece

of white paper and had another student trace your outline? You then coloured the outline in, put your name on it and the teacher tacked it to the classroom wall?

That outline always comes to mind when I think of the senior leadership positions in many successful businesses. The CEO, CFO, COO are often the only people who ever held those positions in the history of the business.

So when you try to write a description of their activities for recruiting purposes, you’re not describing the activities of a generic CFO, you’re describing the unique combination of the skills and traits of the incumbent.

This creates a problem. The incumbent, as a unique human, is literally irreplaceable.

So instead, you must reimagine the role in a way that it can be filled by another CFO, not a clone of the incumbent.

There are three opportunities created by an organization willing to embrace them.

Improved redundancy: When a single person is our only line of defence in business, we have a problem. That person can never get sick or take a holiday. Succession creates an opportunity to redefine the role so that decision-making responsibilities are distributed across two or three positions. We hire another CFO, but with responsibilities redistributed, especially at the tactical and operational levels, across a flatter team. We often hear “When the original CFO leaves, we are going to have to replace them with two or three other people!” Like that’s a bad thing.

It isn’t. It is a growth opportunity to create a more distributed, collaborative organization.

A change of heart: No matter how good any of us are, we are just us. Our experiences and skills, no matter how exceptional, generate only one perspective. New blood, new minds, new hearts create the possibility of new perspectives.

Operational refresh: Along with the person who has occupied a role for decades comes a host of possibly wasteful and risky processes.

That’s why each opportunity to redefine or restructure a role should involve asking “Should someone different be doing this?” but also “Should we be doing this differently?”

Many of the processes associated with longheld positions can be improved through digital tools, AI and other forms of automation.

Succession proofing isn’t just about retiring — it’s about creating more resilient, effective, creative organizations by looking at every position and process as an opportunity for change.

Clemens Rettich is a business consultant with Grant Thornton LLP. He has an MBA from Royal Roads University and has spent 25 years practicing the art of management.

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DOUGLAS 93

RETAIL

BY DAVID ADELMAN

The Customer Experience Effect Customer Experience (or CX) is transforming brands worldwide to be more customer-centric and experiential, so can it save retail?

I

t’s no secret that e-commerce goliaths like Amazon are making a huge dent in global retail sales with their extensive online offerings and on-demand experience, so how can bricks-and-mortar businesses possibly compete?

Welcome to retail’s biggest weapon — Customer Experience, commonly known as CX. CX has been one of the great concepts to arise out of the experience economy, defined in 1998 by James Gilmore and Joseph Pine as the economic era that followed the industrial economy and then the service economy. It’s an era where, more than ever, customers seek meaningful experiences that are more than product or service based.

CX is the new battleground for success, according to Qualtrics, an experience management software company, at a time when consumer expectations are evolving fast. To succeed as a retailer, you must focus heavily on satisfying customers’ changing needs, habits and desires.

And, by the way, today’s customers are increasingly hypersensitive and tuned in to whether or not your brand meets their demands. A 2017 study, The Customer in Context by SAP Hybris, found a shocking 47 per cent of consumers will abandon your brand for just one reason.

If one bad experience can send a customer packing, imagine what can happen to your bottom line if this continues. In the retail industry, it’s called attrition or customer churn.

To avoid it, you must have a clear vision of all your company’s pain points — those areas where your brand delivers negative experiences — and turn them into wins to grow and align with your target demographic.

However, CX is not merely a one-time repair. Just like your balance sheet and profit and loss statement on the operational side of your company, you must also continuously analyze and fine-tune your CX platform and make it an integral part of your marketing plan.

CX VERSUS CUSTOMER SERVICE

It’s important not to confuse CX with customer service, which usually comes in 94 DOUGLAS

the form of answering questions, helping customers choose the right product and giving assistance with a product after purchase.

Rather, CX is the emotional journey and connection with your customer, not merely customer satisfaction. It measures how a customer feels about your company and includes the emotional and physical connection customers have with your brand. Furthermore, it involves consistently maintaining customer feedback during the customer life cycle at every touch point and acting on it. It’s about more than just a onetime interaction.

HOW DO YOU IMPLEMENT A CX STRATEGY?

The most crucial element in developing a CX platform is making sure your management team leads the way and is committed to

including CX in the overall marketing plan. If you don’t have that, you might as well slam on the brakes now.

Once that is defined and established, it’s up to the leadership team to ensure everyone in the company has the tools and time available to invest in CX. That’s because, at its heart, CX is really about creating positive human connections. So you want your team to feel empowered and inspired to connect with customers.

It’s also vital to create and establish a consistent customer feedback loop. Whether it’s through live qualitative customer observations, discussions or surveys, this feedback is vital for success. Without it, employees will feel handcuffed, resulting in a frustrating work environment that trickles down to your customers. Remember, happy employees equal happy customers.

THE SHOW GOES ON

Contrary to myth, a huge budget isn’t required to develop a great CX program. For example, you don’t need to have a walk-in dressing room freezer like many Canada Goose retailers have to show how effective your winter products are (though creativity like this does score points!)

Brands providing great CX experiences LEVI’S At its in-store Tailor Shops, customers can create a custom fit or add personal touches such as embroidery or pins and patches.

THE ORIGINAL FARM DOWNTOWN Located in a heritage building, this cannabis retailer evokes an upscale apothecary, with knowledgeable, one-on-one service.

L’OCCITANE At its flagship store in New York, customers try products under rainfall cascading from a canopy.

Create a unique customer experience in a way that goes with your budget and brand.

For example, maybe you need to choose music that gets the customer reaction you are seeking, or install exciting visual displays, an in-store coffee bar or even digital interactive catalogue screens and LED signage.

But beyond all the bells and whistles, the most important factor in CX is for your employees to be engaging, caring and highly tuned. As the great American dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse used to say, “It’s showtime, folks!”

CAN YOU MEASURE THE RESULTS OF A CX INITIATIVE?

All of the latest research confirms a good CX platform is vital for retail survival. Think: A custom curated in-store experience is still something e-commerce stores can never duplicate. If you invest in CX, customers will invest in you! A recent study by Bain & Company revealed that 86 per cent of consumers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

Organizations that lead in CX outperformed laggards on the S&P 500 by nearly 80 per cent, according to Qualtrics. Want more proof? A 2018 Temkin survey of 10,000 consumers and 300-plus companies shows that happy customers are more than: • Five times as likely to repurchase • Six times as likely to forgive • Eight times as likely to try more of your products/services • Three times as likely to spread positive fword of mouth With the costs of customer acquisition, the fact is that retail stores cannot afford not to invest in brand appropriate CX. And If your retail brand is not prepared to put on a great live interactive show, all your marketing dollars spent will go down the drain the moment a customer walks through your front doors.

1 6 T H A N N UA L

VI CTO R IA C O M M U N ITY LEAD E R S H I P AWAR D S PRESENTED BY

TRUST CAN’T BE BOUGHT — IT MUST BE EARNED.

Providing customers with a sense of trust and community combined with a tailored, unique experience will lead the way to customer bliss and guarantee your brand’s retail success well into the future.

In the world of CX, you must fall in love with your problems to grow. Canadian singer/ songwriter Leonard Cohen said it best: “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

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leftBrain performance

DOUGLAS 95

MINDSET

BY ERIN SKILLEN

How to Escape the Impostor Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome

Reality

What I know What I know

What I think others know

You’ve achieved so much success, so why do you still secretly feel like a fraud about to be unmasked?

What others know

H

ave you ever woken up in the middle of the night and had the punch-in-thegut thought, “You don’t know what you’re doing and everyone is going to figure it out?” Or you’re networking at an event and suddenly a voice in your head says, “You don’t belong here.” Perhaps you’re in a meeting with your team and think, “You don’t know what you’re talking about and they know it.”

That voice is your impostor syndrome.

Studies have shown that 70 per cent of adults have impostor syndrome, with up to 100 per cent of entrepreneurs experiencing it. So chances are the majority of people around you have it, too. Even heavy hitters like Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Howard Schultz of Starbucks have experienced impostor syndrome. It’s especially prevalent in successful people and can worsen as you ascend in your career.

And that makes sense.

Maybe you started out simply building a fun app on your own and then — BAM! — you’re a CEO leading a growing team with a squad of investors critiquing your leadership. Or you graduate with an MBA and fear your real world experience isn’t good enough. Or you get promoted and have to figure things out as you go. It’s incredibly easy to doubt yourself in business, especially if everyone around you is killing it (or pretending to be killing it to camouflage their own fears.)

Doubting yourself isn’t just bad for your self-confidence — it can be bad for business too. Constantly questioning your choices can cause you to avoid reasonable risks and prevent you from acting on opportunities.

Impostor syndrome can cloud your ability to see a clear path forward and take action. So how can you stop it from getting in the way of your success?

96 DOUGLAS

CONFIDE IN PEOPLE OUTSIDE YOUR INDUSTRY A 2019 study published in the Journal of Vocational Behaviour found that speaking with others about impostor syndrome can actually help alleviate feelings of “impostorism,” but you need to choose the right listener. Sharing these feelings honestly with colleagues in your professional network has been shown to increase feelings of impostorism. Instead, two-thirds of the study participants were able to push through their impostor thoughts by sharing them with trusted friends and family outside of their sector. It helps because these listeners are able to help so-called impostors focus on achievements and a more wellrounded “big picture” take on their perceived worth and success.

IT’S INCREDIBLY EASY TO DOUBT YOURSELF IN BUSINESS, ESPECIALLY IF EVERYONE AROUND YOU IS ‘KILLING IT’ (OR PRETENDING THEY ARE TO CAMOUFLAGE THEIR OWN FEARS.)

GET EDUCATED

“Impostor syndrome” is a psychological term, rather than a disorder, coined in 1978. While it was previously considered to be a disposition, studies are now showing that it’s more of a contextual, situation-based response.

Impostor syndrome entered the mainstream via Valerie Young’s book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women. Since then, a plethora of books on overcoming impostorism have come out, including The Impostor Cure by Dr. Jessamy Hibberd, Presence by Amy Cuddy and Own Your Greatness by Lisa Orbé-Austin PhD and Richard Orbé-Austin, PhD. Learning more about just how common impostor syndrome is, and strategies to deal with it, has been shown to help professionals push back and shut that nasty voice up.

INTERRUPT THE THOUGHTS

Practice becoming more aware of the impostorism narrative in your own head.

Negative self-talk can easily become a spiral of bad thoughts that take you down.

Instead, catch yourself in the moment and give yourself a cue to stop, whether that’s a mantra, an elastic around your wrist that you snap or some other means of interrupting and redirecting your thoughts. Redirect your mind by focusing on your accomplishments, and even take a moment to write them down if you’re really stuck.

BE A SUPPORTER, NOT A SHAMER If you don’t have trusted friends or family outside your industry that you can talk to, try seeing a therapist or coach who can help you push through the negative self-talk and help you cultivate a more balanced perspective.

If someone has the courage to be vulnerable with you and share their feelings of impostorism, that’s an invitation for you to take the high road and support them. Thank them for feeling comfortable enough to share with you. If your knee-jerk reaction is to make

fun of them, or shame them in any way for not pretending to be perfect, you have some work to do to figure out why someone else’s honesty makes you react that way.

CONSIDER DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

It can be a lot easier for some people to discuss their impostor syndrome than others. Currently, women seem to feel more comfortable sharing their experiences with other women than men do with other men.

That appears to be changing, but there’s still a long way to go.

At the same time, if you’re a minority — a woman in a male-dominated company, a person of colour in a company that’s mostly white, the only LGTBQ+ member on a straight work team — it can be significantly harder to feel safe sharing your insecurities. Everyone’s circumstances, experiences and level of comfort are different. It’s fantastic if you feel secure sharing. Just don’t pressure others to do so.

RISING ABOVE

The good news is there’s zero correlation between that voice in your head and the quality of your performance. Impostor syndrome is a challenge to be overcome, rather than a signal that you’re a fraud.

We need to accept that most of us have experienced it, be supportive of those strong enough to share their battles and tell that voice in our heads to shut up and let us get back to work.

Erin Skillen is a writer, serial entrepreneur and VIATEC board member. You may have seen her onstage hosting the VIATEC Awards or telling a story at Fuckup Nights, which the impostor voice in her head said she couldn’t do.

OWN YOUR SUCCESSES 1. When you achieve a goal or complete an important project, acknowledge your own hard work, skill and talent in making it happen.

2. Celebrate achievements in a proportional and meaningful way, whether that’s a champagne toast, a day at the spa or a special vacation.

3. Keep a record of positive feedback from peers and mentors. Practice taking in the compliments, not resisting them.

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DOUGLAS 97

LAST PAGE

Pint-Sized Revolution

PHOTOS BY JEFFREY BOSDET/DOUGLAS MAGAZINE

BY ATHENA MCKENZIE

The Cowichan Milk Company is based on the vanBoven family farm in the Cowichan Valley.

Customers can buy milk through regional delivery and at the on-site farmstand.

98 DOUGLAS

Remember the milkman? Cowichan Milk Company is looking to the future by looking to the past: home delivery of milk in old-fashioned glass bottles.

“We decided to do milk delivery for a few reasons,” says Margie vanBoven, who runs the company’s farm in the Cowichan Valley with her husband Ben and son Matthew. “Glass bottles are reusable, and people don’t have to remember to bring them back to the grocery store. They just put them back in their cooler or porch box and we pick them up and credit their account. They’re also getting the freshest milk possible because we bottle it and the next day we’re off delivering it. Quality control is huge for us. We want to know that the milk is going straight from our farm into your home.”

The farm’s 50 Holstein milk cows are fed a grass-based diet and have 24-hour access to a milking robot in their roomy barn. The rest of the time, they can eat, sleep and roam around as they like.

“We raise all of our own stock, baby calves all the way up to when they become a cow and give us their first drop of milk,” vanBoven says.

The milk comes in three sizes: halfgallons, quarts or pints. The farm also produces cream.

“Our bottles come from Stanpac in Ontario, and they are the only North American supplier,” vanBoven says.

“Glass bottles keep the milk colder, keeping it fresher longer, and it retains the freshness and imparts no foreign odours or flavours.”

Home delivery is available in the Cowichan Valley, from Shawnigan Lake to Ladysmith. Along with milk, the company delivers other local food products, including eggs from Farmer Ben’s and Lockwood Farms, Drumroaster coffee, Tree Island yogurt, Haltwhistle cheese and soup from Ed’s Soup Shack.

Customers can also pick up the milk products from the farmstand, which is open six days a week.

“We do get a lot of interest from Victoria, but we’re not planning on going into that market at this time,” vanBoven says. “I don’t want to say we never will, but we want to give the Cowichan Valley a good shot first. If the milk that we produce here on our farm can be sold out in our local area, that’s just perfect.”

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