The Bootkik Podcast

Brian Scudamore is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, which includes franchise brands 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine. At 19 years old, he identified an opportunity, dropped out of school and went all in on 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. His story landed him on Oprah and business news outlets all around the world, and in the years since, Brian has become a master of franchising. Over the course of our chat with Brian, he unpacks perspectives about franchising, and how you...

Boris Mann is an entrepreneur and major contributor to Vancouver's technology and startup scene. His work connects people around blockchain, data, decentralized and open-sourced software, and he has been involved in Canada's tech ecosystem lon genough to have some strong words for both venture capitalists and entrepreneurs here at home. This conversation is filled with hard-hitting wisdom that anyone interested in growing Canada's ability to be a global technology hub should yield.

Jordan Boesch is the CEO of 7shifts, a restaurant scheduling software from Saskatoon that was created to solve a need for Jordan's dad, and has spun into a massive tech company with over 70 employees. After participating in a Silicon Valley-based accelerator, Jordan was faced with a tough choice: stay in San Francisco and put his business in the heart of the most thriving tech ecosystem on earth, or bring it back to Saskatoon, where growth might be slower, but he would be able to create jobs...

Saskatoon's Serese Selanders is the founder of Ora, a wearable medical device that saves lives. What started as a way to keep her dad safe turned into a product that is helping people who live or work alone. Along the way, Serese got a crash course in developing a hardware product, and the importance of falling in love with a problem, not necessarily what you perceive as the solution. For more step-by-step guidance from experts like Serese, make sure to visit http://bootkik.com

Every entrepreneur has a story - Jordan Bower of Transformation Storytelling in Vancouver, BC has made it his mission to help people unlock those stories and leverage them to connect with an audience, whether that audience is a customer, investor, or your internal team. We sat down with Jordan to chat about his background, a new project he's embarking on, and how entrepreneurs and business owners can use storytelling to bridge the gap and share their experience and vision with the world. For...

In March 2016, Winnipeg's Bryce North launched a Kickstarter campaign for TrapTap, a speed trap indicator that drivers place on their dashboard that alerts them to speed traps, and reminds them to drive the speed limit. Over the course of the campaign, TrapTap raised over $350,000 CAD and was featured in TechCrunch, Engadget and on ProductHunt, CBC and over a dozen other outlets. Over the course of the conversation, Bryce unpacked the story of how the Kickstarter came to be, and some of the...

Andrew Lissimore is a the founder of Headphones.com and is a passionate audiophile. Yet how did he go from headphone fan, to owner of headphones.com? During our chat in Vancouver, BC, Andrew unpacked how headphones.com got started, and the logistics of selling something that's not your own, especially very high-end products. Especially in 2018, it can feel like a fool's errand to run any e-commerce outside of Amazon, or Andrew tackles the elephant in the room, and how to build a robust...

Many entrepreneurs dream of a day when their product goes viral, and adoption begins growing exponentially. What they are likely not imagining is the massive cash flow implications for rapid growth, and how it affects a balance sheet. Bootkik CEO Leighton Healey sat down with WaveAPPS Co-Founder Kirk Simpson in Toronto to chat about Wave's journey as it grew from 2 to the 2 million small business owners it serves today. For more expertise and guidance from experts like Kirk, make sure to...

Taking on venture capital can open up new doors, or a can of worms, depending on how your discipline, rigour, and diligence in selecting investors that are a good match for your business. Randy Thompson is the Chairman & CEO of Valhalla Private Capital, and according to him, if you get screwed by investors, it might be your own fault. In our 45 minute chat, Randy doesn't pull any punches. Instead, he's refreshingly honest, and provides an investor's perspective on some of the hardest...

The consumer packaged goods industry is ruthless, with established brands using millions of marketing dollars to keep upstarts from ever getting a foothold. Yet Saskatoon's Natasha Vandenhurk was able to take Three Farmers, a CPG company based around its flagship product Camelina Oil, to new heights, even in the face of strict competition. Over the course of our conversation, we learn directly how she was able to build up a well-known Canadian brand from nothing, and the logistics that went...

Greg Horowitt is the Co-Author of "The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley". Jim Gibson is on the front lines of doing just that in Alberta, following up a decades-long career in technology with the "Rainforest Alberta" - an intiative to bring innovation and collaboration to the province's technology scene. Bootkik CEO Leighton Healey sat down with both to talk about the origins of the Rainforest movement, and how it's growing in Alberta

Joel Semeniuk is probably the closest thing we've found to Canada's Elon Musk. He is a visionary technologist that spends his time foreseeing the future, and then working to build it. Over the course of our chat, Joel unpacks the upcoming AI wave, and how small businesses can get on board, and what other giant technical leaps are coming down the pike. He touches on everything from augmented reality to biosuits, it's a chat you don't want to miss!

Kip Fyfe, CEO & Co-Founder of 4iiii Innovations has a long history of entrepreneurship, featuring highs and lows. During our interview, Kip told the story of developing a FitBit-like device, years before its time, only to struggle with gaining traction. During this process, Kip learned some lessons about Intellectual Property that may have cost him billions. Today, Kip has leveraged those experiences, good and bad, to identify opportunities and build products around them.

Carey Houston, Founder of 321 Growth Academy, is a growth and sales expert, and runs a sales accelerator for B2B startups. Carey gives deep into creating a lean sales process, and how to get over selling, even if you have a natural aversion to it. For more info on selling, check out 321 Growth Academy at 321growthacademy.com - and visit Bootkik at http://bootkik.com

Eva Lau, Head of Community at Wattpad and Co-Founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, chats with Bootkik CEO Leighton Healey about her formula for network effects, or the idea of creating a community that gets stronger and grows faster as more people join the platform. Eva has successfully used these network effects to build up Wattpad to become a website with hundreds of millions of views every month. Over the course of their chat, they also dive into Canada's angel investment scene, with all...

Andrew Chau, Co-Founder of food delivery app Skip The Dishes, sits down with Bootkik to unpack how Skip built up its 3-sided marketplace, starting with getting restaurant owners on board. In a conversation that's relevant for any entrepreneur building a business from scratch, Andrew chats how they were able to figure out the pain points of each customer, and build their pitch around that. Over the course of our 45 minute chat, Andrew also dives into what it's like to compete with behemoths...

Bootkik is back! Season 2 of the Bootkik Podcast launches on August 3rd. This season we sit down with Skip The Dishes, Wattpad, 1800GotJunk, and over a dozen other entrepreneurs and small business owners from cities across Canada!

Emily Baadsvik and Brigette Freel are co-founders of Wild Tea Kombucha, but they seem like an unlikely pair to start a business together. One is a former Olympic Team Member, the other is a former government worker - but their shared love of Kombucha led them to flip off the status quo, and instead pursue the entrepreneurial life.

James Lochrie is the co-founder of Wave Accounting, and had a crucial insight less than a decade ago: for many entrepreneurs, accounting is one of the worst parts of running a business, and very few people want to pay for something they don't really want to do in the first place. James took this insight and turned it into Wave Accounting, a business that has grown to serving over 2 million customers with an innovative "pay-as-you-go" model. Of course, growth like Wave's usually leads to...

Camp Brand Goods is an apparel company that was originally designed to be a creative outlet, nothing more. Instead, it morphed into something far bigger, and took founders Connor Gould & Leslie McNeilly for an incredible ride. Over the course of our 45 minute interview, we sit down with Camp to chat about how they were able to amass over 165,000 followers on Instagram, what it's like to turn your passion project into a full-time gig, and much more.