Canadian Tech Startup Founders Share Insight

It’s always great when successful startups take the time to share their insight with others. It’s exactly what Volta Labs from Halifax, Nova Scotia did with it’s 3 founders.

Volta Labs is a Halifax-based startup house for early-stage technology product companies. Created by founders for founders, they help remove barriers faced by many start-up companies, including free legal, HR/recruiting, marketing, funding, office space, Internet connection and much more. Vendeve, Swept and PACTA are among the 10-15 resident companies who are working, learning and growing at Volta.

Here is a little about the 3 founders of Volta Labs as Laura Whitman shared on the Herald Business site.

Mike Brown. The co-founder and CEO of Swept. Swept began as a commercial cleaning company out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After developing their own technology to improve internal co-ordination and communication, Swept pivoted into a technology startup and begin sharing their technology with the rest of the cleaning industry.

Katelyn Bourgoin. The founder and CEO of Squads, an online mastermind platform. Squads harnesses the power of the Internet and community to empower female entrepreneurs with camaraderie, feedback, advice and accountability.

Charlotte Rydlund. The co-founder and CEO of PACTA, which has designed software that helps companies keep track of their contracts. Over the last four to six months they have narrowed their focus to make in-house counsel their target customer and create as much value for them as possible.

What is the biggest lesson you’re taking out of 2016?

Katelyn: Great things take patience. Especially in the tech world, the backstory of companies often gets glossed over because it’s not as sexy for investors. Founders leave years off of their company’s success stories. When you do a little digging — and a lot of founders are now being more public about this — you find there were years and years of trial and error before they got to rapid growth. Business requires patience and things may not move at the speed you want them to.

Mike: Focus. Just because there’s a lot of opportunities in front of you doesn’t mean you can grab all of them, and when you do, it slows you down. Our advisers and mentors have really helped us fine tune our focus.

Charlotte: One of the challenges is always resources. You have limited resources in terms of people and in terms of funding. I was the one doing sales and also doing the fundraising. Both are a full-time job so neither got the right focus that it needed. Looking back, that is something to be aware of.

What are you hopeful or excited about?

Katelyn: Putting my focus back on building and maintaining strong relationships. I have a comfort-based habit of throwing myself in front of the computer and pounding out work. I know that the one thing that always moves the needle is the relationships. Whether they are with customers, friends, colleagues or peers — when I look back, those are the moments that stand out.

Mike: It seems like government is genuinely interested in assessing their role and developing a better understanding of the startup ecosystem. They are actively listening and seem ready to work with us to provide more relevant support.

The largest association in our industry worldwide is going to be co-branding our technology and working with us, so I’m also excited about the traction and visibility we’re getting.

Charlotte: I’m excited about being part of the ecosystem here; you can feel the momentum. More companies are getting on the radar in places like Toronto, New York and San Francisco, and people are realizing there’s some really great things happening here.

This will be our first full year with a more narrow focus on in-house counsel, so I’m eager to see how that can propel us forward. The more focused you are, the better you can position yourself and the better you can communicate to your target customers.

What do you predict will happen in the local start-up ecosystem this year?

Katelyn: The idea of being a startup is going to feel like an option for everyone, while the bar for what venture-backed startups look like is going to be raised. There’s going to be a new form of start-up where they’re either bootstrapped or are looking to raise capital in different ways other than (being investor funded). Having a sustainable revenue model built into your company from day one is going to be proven and essential.

Mike: The difference between the first year we started and what was available to us and the expertise that’s available now is crazy. It’s amazing to see how the learnings are being shared from one founder to the next, and I think that’s going to continue to grow. People are going to be able to validate their ideas quicker.

Charlotte: More and more people are starting to migrate the startup centres like Volta in Halifax, Common Ground in Saint John and Planet Hatch in Fredericton, making it easier to start. I also see investors who are wanting to see companies that are further along. They’re making fewer deals but bigger ones . . . and are focusing more on your revenue model rather than hyper growth. I think that trend is going to continue.

How will you be approaching 2017 differently?

Katelyn: I will be more patient. I will put as much time and energy into nurturing relationships as I do in completing tasks. I’ll listen more. Not just for what is being said, but what is not being said. And most importantly for me, I’ll remember to enjoy the journey more. I’ll have more fun.

Mike: We’re working with a business coach this year. We’ve switched from a small company to now needing to demonstrate real leadership, and a lot of it comes down to understanding how to run a growth company.

Charlotte: We’ve got a focus now, so we can hash out that vision and strategy towards customers and towards investors. I can now really focus on that. My co-founder has taken on a role in sales and I’ll be focusing more on marketing and investor relations, so we’ve switched things up a bit and I think that’ll be really good. We’re very excited about the direction.

What advice do you have for anyone who is just getting started?

Katelyn: I want to continue to draw attention to the fact that we have such an amazing and supportive ecosystem here. We have experienced entrepreneurs who you can have a coffee with anytime. Recognize that there are people willing to help you and that it’s so helpful to get objective feedback. You can’t always see the forest through the trees in your own business because there’s so much emotion.

Mike: The most basic, free approach is going talk to someone. Show up at Volta for free and walk around and talk to people. If it wasn’t for Volta we wouldn’t be here today. As soon as we had that interaction, getting into the ecosystem changed everything. The way I look at it is, when I’m uncomfortable I know I’m going to learn something. I used to be uncomfortable with public speaking and now I’m speaking at international conferences. You just have to throw yourself in those situations.

Charlotte: There’s always that focus on the unicorn — becoming the next Airbnb or whatever — but I think the risk or the thing you need to conscious about is you need to be able to walk before you run. Take that time to really talk to your customers, understand what problem you’re solving, get that value proposition down and don’t try to do too much too quickly.