BC Business
BCBusiness will announce the 2017 30 Under 30 winners on April 13. In the meantime, here's what a 2016 winner had to say last year
To help us choose last year’s 30 Under 30, we sent each candidate a series of questions to see what made them tick. Here’s how Daniel Eberhard, CEO of Koho Financial Inc. responded.
What motivational quote gets you going?“The plays I am going to write may not be suited to the tender bellies of old maids, sweet young girls, or Baptist Ministers but they will be true and honest and courageous, and the rest doesn’t matter.’ – Thomas Wolfe.‘That is the great fallacy; the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.’ – Hemingway.”
Beyond family and friends who inspires you to succeed?“I read a lot. I’m fortunate to have a very good advisory board of very accomplished people who are also entrepreneurs. I’m in regular contact with them, not just with things that are related to the business but related to life in general. I read a lot of business books. Letters From a Stoic by Seneca the Younger. It’s embarrassing, but I’m reading Eat Pray Love right now. It’s my girlfriend’s favourite book.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?“I started playing hockey later than most kids (8). At the end of the year we would have an awards night and a handful of kids would win awards. Every year I would win most improved and I would always be bummed out, wanting to win MVP. I remember my mom telling me that if I keep working hard, and improving the most, that one day I’d win the MVP player. Eventually I did. That lesson, to focus on improvement and not results, has guided everything I do.”
What’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?“You can’t be too careful.”
What’s your biggest fear?“Does our value proposition appeal to people? But we have thousands of people waiting for the product at this point, an a lot of them have emailed us saying how excited they are so that scares us a little less each day.”
What’s your biggest regret?“Picking post-secondary because that’s where my friends went.”
What’s your favourite TV show right now?“The Newsroom and Seinfeld.”
Favourite magazine?“The Economist.”
What song is on repeat on your device right now?“ILYSB’ by Lany, and ‘Pachelbel’ by Canon in D.”
A little-known fact about me is…“Probably that I’ve travelled as much as I have… 34 countries.”
Meet the 2017 winners at the 30 Under 30 celebration.