BC Business
BCBusiness marks a milestone: the 25th anniversary ?of our partnership with Ernst & Young (EY). From cleantech to mining to tourism and hospitality, the latest EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program for the Pacific Region upholds a long tradition of excellence.
Shahrzad Rafati has long been taking big risks to chase her even bigger ambitions. The chief executive of Vancouver-based BroadbandTV (BBTV) was born and raised in Iran, but she wanted better opportunities for herself after high school. So she emigrated at age 17 to study computer science at UBC, despite having no family in the city and speaking little English.
Rafati graduated with her degree in 2005, the year YouTube first appeared online. She saw that digital video was about to revolutionize the media landscape, so she started her company to seize the emerging opportunities. “I wanted BBTV to be a pioneer in advancing and redefining entertainment as we know it,” she says.
Rafati discovered a big new problem to solve: fans were making and uploading videos that contained unlicensed, copyrighted content. She found an ingenious way to bridge these content creators and IP holders, helping everyone to benefit. Her company’s search algorithm pores through YouTube videos to find potential copyright violators. It links the uploader with the rights holder, finds advertising for the content and divides the revenue between them.
The digital media industry continues to remake itself and everything it touches. Global digital ad spending surpassed TV advertising for the first time in 2017. Likewise, BBTV continues to evolve and expand its reach, helping to drive the industry’s transformation. The company keeps adding new tools and services to help content creators source music and video footage, grow their audiences, manage social media channels, increase their revenue and optimize distribution. It has partnered with a growing roster of large entertainment Companies, including the FremantleMedia Group, the National Basketball Association and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
BBTV attracts more than 34 billion viewers per month and is the third-largest video property in the world in terms of unique viewers, trailing only Google and Facebook, according to U.S. marketing analytics company comScore. Rafati is quick to point out that BBTV operates on a quadruple bottom line. “We don’t just measure success based on financial performance,” she says. “We also measure success based on employee and culture KPIs, environmental KPIs and social KPIs.” As of April this year, BBTV erased its gender pay gap. Forty-six percent of its managers and 43 percent of its employees are female.
What was your first summer job?Working at my mom’s textile company. I was 13, and I did the accounting. I was very interested in doing mathematics.
Is an entrepreneur born or made? Made.
What is your definition of success?Making a positive, meaningful impact, both personally and in business.
What other career might you have had?I’d be building a business that makes a positive, meaningful impact in a different way, but also with a greater purpose.
What’s one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?I have a big interest in magic. When you look at the work of someone like David Blaine, he really shows that humans are capable of so much more than we can perceive and understand.
Finish this sentence for us: “Entrepreneurs need a lot more ”Support. It’s very hard to make a startup work. Entrepreneurs need to get out of the office and meet with people. If they don’t have a really good contact base, they won’t be able to encounter people who can support them and help them along the way.
What businessperson do you most admire?A dear friend, a mentor and someone I really look up to is the founder and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff. His philosophy is that business is the greatest platform for change, and I completely agree with him. He has not only built a Fortune 500 company, he has built a truly quadruple-bottom-line business.
Another person I truly respect and admire is YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. She’s a shining example of a female leader who is redefining the whole industry. She’s also a great example who shows that everything is possible. She’s the mom of five children, and she’s a true inspiration.
What do you do to relax/unwind? I’m a big advocate for healthy lifestyles, and I train a lot. I work out six times a week. I unwind when I go for a run, work out, do Pilates or go swimming. I also love watching good content.
How would you describe your leadership style?My personal style is to be firm but fair, and I always encourage my team to go after large pools of opportunities. Because at the end of the day, I don’t believe in solving small problems.
Be willing to make mistakes. Be sure that you have quick failures and you learn from them and you move on. You can’t be a pioneer without making mistakes.
Name an item you typically forget to pack on business trips and regret not bringing. I spend a lot of my time on the road. I do so many trips, it’s almost down to a fine art. I usually don’t forget anything. Usually people come to me and ask for things.
Rick Perreault co-founded Vancouver-based software company Unbounce in 2009 because he had an itch nobody else could scratch. He was a digital marketer whose campaigns kept getting delayed because he couldn’t make or change a landing page without getting the IT department involved. Perreault wanted a simple, drag-and-drop tool that even technically challenged marketers could use to build, publish and test landing pages by themselves. It didn’t exist, so he and five co-founders started Unbounce to make it happen.
About 800 customers bought the first bare-bones product in the year after launch. Now Unbounce has 15,000 clients globally. The co-founders have been joined by 160 employees and 15 dogs in the company’s Vancouver and Berlin offices. Perreault says he and his partners wanted to provide careers worth getting up for every day: “Let’s create a place that’s awesome, where people want to workand that can make money.”
What did your summer jobs teach you about business?I drove an ice cream bike my first summer job, and learned that if I was going to make money, don’t stop peddling.
Is an entrepreneur born or made?I think we’re made. It’s not like we’re Mozart. He was born. He had some special gifts, and there are some people born with special gifts like that. I think for an entrepreneur, you’re in the right place at the right time, you see an opportunity, and you’ve got some hustle and some tenacity. Those are things you learn over time through life experience.
What is your definition of success?Having a positive impact on everyone around you. Being able to have a bigger impact on the world than what you take from it.
What other career might you have had?My whole life until I was a teenager, I wanted to be an astronaut. But I remember when I learned that Star Trek wasn’t real. And I became so disinterested in it after that.
What’s one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?I took parental leave. The CEO is supposed to work all the hours. They never take breaks. Working hard is important, but we have to spend time with our families. We need to take time off.
Finish this sentence for us: “Entrepreneurs need a lot more ” Family time. It grounds me.
What businessperson do you most admire?It isn’t one person. I like people who aren’t chasing money at all costs, but try to have a positive impact on the world. Marc Benioff from Salesforce, for example. He’s constantly talking about the emphasis in the U.S. on how the primary responsibility of a company is to deliver shareholder value. And he thinks that’s wrong. He says the primary responsibility of a company should be to look after employees. They’ll look after the customers. And that’s how you reach shareholder value.
What do you do to relax/unwind?Vegetable gardening. Since I started Unbounce, I’ve been growing vegetables. I started with a small balcony in the West End. Now it’s most of my backyard.
How would you describe your leadership style?I think it’s pretty macro-manager. I try to say, “Here’s what we’re trying to achieve,” and get out of people’s way. I can’t hold somebody accountable if I’m telling them how to do their job. Set parameters and let people do their thing.
Name an item you typically forget to pack on business trips and regret not bringing.My iPhone charger. I had to go to Berlin earlier this year. My phone was on red. And I get to the hotel and I have a charger but I don’t have an adapter. I go to the front desk and they didn’t keep any. And the front-desk people were very unfriendly. They didn’t tell me where I could get one. “Quite frankly,” the woman says, “your iPhone is not my problem.”
Nanaimo-based Morgan Carey should be used to accolades by now. This is the third year in a row that his Real Estate Webmasters (REW) has been named an Entrepreneur Of The Year finalist. Carey keeps earning more laurels because he refuses to rest on any of them. He founded his bootstrapped business in 2004 to make websites for realtors, but both the company and its technology have travelled light years since then. Among REW’s latest innovations is the augmented reality feature on its app, which Carey describes as “Pokémon Go for real estate.” Point your phone around a neighbourhood, and instead of Pikachus and Bulbasaurs you’ll see which properties are for sale and for how much.
Carey says his business grows 35 percent year-over-year like clockwork, and he no longer has to fight for every win. “It’s a lot easier to make money when you have relationships and you have money,” he adds. “Success breeds success.”
What did your summer jobs teach you about business?I never really had a summer job. My childhood was, unfortunately, the kind of childhood you didn’t really talk about too much. Children and families are our mandate when it comes to my personal time, but also when it comes to corporate initiatives. We do a lot of support for underprivileged families around Christmas time. We are big supporters of Easter Seals Canada. Anything to do with women at risk and children at risk is right up our alley.
Is an entrepreneur born or made?Both. I think you need to be born with the entrepreneurial spirit, and you need to make yourself into a true entrepreneur. You need to put in the work. You need to make yourself avoid working 40 hours by working 80 hours.
What is your definition of success?Happy kids, happy family. In life, a lot of the things that break down relationships are related to stress. And a lot of the stress that we feel in life has to do with personal pressures to feel adequate and to provide enough for your family and to be able to provide opportunities. The opportunities that come with success do lead to additional happiness.
What other career might you have had?I’d dig ditches and be a landscaper. I love working outside.
What’s one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?I love to cook. I’m the chef of my family. I’m a big carnivore. Whether it’s barbecue, whether it’s a roast, it doesn’t matter. I love sous vide. We do a lot of sous vide and finish it off on the grill or on the cast-iron pan. I’m not a big baker. I don’t do cookies and things like that.
Finish this sentence for us: “Entrepreneurs need a lot more ” Support. From a municipality’s perspective, from the federal government’s perspective—entrepreneurs are our country’s best opportunity, and I think we need a lot more support for entrepreneurs in Canada.
What businessperson do you most admire?This year, I think it’s Elon Musk. And I hate saying that because it’s not his personality. But he’s brilliant, and ego aside, I think he really wants to do some amazing things for this world.
What do you do to relax/unwind?I mow my lawn.
How would you describe your leadership style?Kind of laid-back. I’ve learned over the years that if you can identify the smart people in the organization, support them when they need it, but get out of their way.
Name an item you typically forget to pack on business trips and regret not bringing. Deodorant. All the time. And I have to find it at the store. It’s not that I can’t remember it. Often at the border they’ll take my can of Axe spray and throw it into the garbage. I have to learn to pack travel sizes.
“It was always a question about when I would start my own businessnot a question of if,” says David Gens. His father, older brother and uncle each owned companies and served as early role models for him. He always thought it would be more rewarding to run his own enterprise than to work for others.
After earning a finance degree from UBC’s Sauder School of Business in 2009, Gens was working as a private equity analyst when he read about companies in the U.S. creating what would become his business model for Vancouver-based Merchant Advance. Small storefront businesses like hair salons and auto repair shops often struggle to find financing. Gens’s firm offers these companies loans and collects on them by taking a portion of daily debit and credit card sales. Merchant Advance, which now has 50 employees, has provided working capital to more than 2,300 Canadian small and medium-sized companies.
What did your summer jobs teach you about business?I had the privilege of working two amazing summer jobs during my university days that taught me a ton about business. The first was an internship between my second and third undergraduate years with TD Securities in Toronto, where I worked in the equity research department. It taught me loads about the capital markets, financial statement analysis, and business in general. The following summer I worked at CAI Capital Management, a mid-market private equity firm, where I took my skills to the next level by taking part in active private equity transactions. These summer jobs played a huge role in preparing me for my career as a finance entrepreneur.
Is an entrepreneur born or made?I think made more than born, but a bit of both. It’s all about failing and learning, failing and learning. It’s not something that you become overnight. It’s definitely not for everybody because there are plenty of negatives that go along with the glorified positives.
What is your definition of success?In a business context, I think it’s a business that stands on its own two feet and does it for a length of time. Something that lasts through the cycles and is sustainable. If you have to keep raising money all the time to fund your losses, you haven’t yet built a business that really stands on its own two feet. On a personal level, I think it’s about being surrounded by people you love and who love you back. And being healthy.
What other career might you have had?I used to play a lot of music. I mostly play the drums. I used to tour with different bands. One of the bands I toured with, Head of the Herd, actually had a little bit of success. We had a song, “By This Time Tomorrow,” that was No. 1 on Canadian rock radio. We opened up for some pretty big bands. We opened for Guns N’ Roses in Toronto and Montreal. In the last five years, I haven’t kept it up. And I miss it. I do play one concert a year still: my company Christmas party.
What’s one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you?Same thing.
Finish this sentence for us: “Entrepreneurs need a lot more ” It’s a lonely road, and you need some people to share stories with. It’s hugely valuable from a mental health standpoint and also from a figuring-stuff-out-in-your-business standpoint. The smartest people are those who learn from others’ mistakes.
What businessperson do you most admire?I would have to go with Warren Buffett. I totally ate up his books and quotes. I went to Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings several times in Omaha. To me, he’s always done the ethical and moral thing at the same time while he’s amassed a lot of wealth. He’s been very charitable and has made such a great name for himself. He’s a great role model in all these respects.
What do you do to relax/unwind?I head up to my cabin in Harrison Lake. I like getting out of the city, strumming my guitar and getting some exercise. Tennis is my sport of choice. I play for fun.
How would you describe your leadership style? The opposite of micro-management. I really let people do their thing—to the extent that sometimes not everyone is ready for the shoes they’re in. But I’d rather give people the benefit of the doubt and see if they can make it can work. I think it’s allowed us to scale better, and it’s allowed a lot of people to enjoy the fact that they have all this autonomy. Within my management layer, these people have been with is a long time. and I’m proud of that.
Name an item you typically forget to pack on business trips and regret not bringing.A laptop charger. I have a Lenovo, and those are sometimes hard chargers to buy somewhere. So I end up in a bad spot.
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