Information Technology

Ho Kim

President and CEO CAMACC Systems Inc.

finalist

Stephane Bourque

President and CEO

Incognito Software Inc.

A low-risk, low-growth business strategy may not square with the average trajectory of a successful tech company, but it’s worked out well for Stephane Bourque, founder of Incognito Software, which makes off-the-shelf enterprise software for Internet service providers (including Shaw, Telus and Brazil’s NetServices) to help them manage their subscriber equipment. Back in the early 1990s, Bourque was a recent transplant from Montreal, working as an engineer at Banyan Systems, when he saw a need for companies to connect with their customers online. “What we can do with a phone can now be done over a computer—and the way to do this is through the Internet,” he recalls thinking in those early days, adding: “Most companies did not see the Internet as the future in 1991.” Flash forward two and a half decades, and Incognito has survived—and maintained profitability—through three recessions. But his proudest accomplishment? He’s never let go of an employee for lack of work. —J.P.

finalist

Jack Newton

CEO, Clio

Over lunch with a lawyer friend in 2007, Jack Newton thought he might have an answer to the high-cost woes of running a boutique legal practice in an industry notoriously committed to paper: highly secure, cloud-based software that streamlines time tracking, billing and other administrative tasks. A software developer by training, Newton had “caught the startup bug” working at Chemex Inc., a medical diagnostics company spun out of the University of Alberta, in 2000 (“You’re rolling up your sleeves and building something that didn’t previously exist,” he says of that experience). Six years after launching Clio, Newton and co-founder Rian Gauvreau have scaled the company into a 100-person firm, with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Dublin and a $20-million venture capital investment from Bessemer Venture Partners, an early investor in Yelp and Skype. —J.P.

I knew my business was a success when…

Newton: I initially walked into the lobby of our first real office space, with the backlit Clio logotype glowing above our reception desk. Something about that moment felt momentous.

I get my best ideas when…

Kim: I’m flying on planes.

People tell me the phrase I most overuse is…

Newton: Any phrase containing the word “cadence.” 

The most underrated trait of an entrepreneur is…

Bourque: The ability to adapt to changes.

If I weren’t doing this I’d be…

Kim: Carving ski slopes around the world, or “shreddin’ the gnar!”

The person I learned the most from was…

Kim: My dad, who moved to Canada in 1969. He could barely speak English and could only pay for his own airfare to Canada; he literally had nothing. What I learned from him was an incredible work ethic, integrity and not to be afraid to take chances if it is for long-term benefits.