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 yea…

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 conver…

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 he…

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 necessari…

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 embark…

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…

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 …

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 …

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 min…

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…

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 Leight…

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 pi…

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…

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 …

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 websi…

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 cus…

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!By Bootkik

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 busines…

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 fo…

Keith Driver is a social justice entrepreneur, whose goal is to help create businesses that feed the 7 billion people on the planet. The agricultural world is not always assumed to be hyper-entrepreneurial, but according to Keith, those who ignore it do so at their own peril. We sat down with Keith to talk about the opportunity the ag-world provide…

Amanda Hehr is the Co-Founder of Cru Juice, UNDRCARD Boxing, and VP of Alberta Operations at the BC-based JuSu Bar. An entrepreneur for less than 5 years, Amanda dreamed of starting her own business for years, but for a long time felt like she didn't have the skills necessary to be successful. We chatted with Amanda about whether the barriers keepi…

Patrick Lor is the Co-Founder of iStockPhoto, the stock photography behemoth that was acquired by Getty Images in the mid-2000s, and sent Pat head first into the world of investing into Canadian startups. Today, Pat is a Managing Partner at 500 Startups, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator investing into Canadian startups. Bootkik sat down with Pat …

Meet Mark Vella, Founder of the "AirBnB of advertising", Advertiise. A serial entrepreneur from Sydney, Australia, Advertiise is quickly becoming a global platform set to overhaul the advertising industry. We sat down with Mark to chat about the back story behind Advertiise, how to build a global tech platform, and the way digital advertising has t…

Suzanne West is an energy entrepreneur and visionary, who is on a mission to change the world. Specifically, she is building a business that values three things: people, planet, and profit. After spending time with Sir Richard Branson, Suzanne realized that, while successful, she hasn't made as much of a difference as she could, which didn't sit ri…

Jen Carlson is the co-founder of Baby Gourmet, an organic baby food company from Alberta that has gone from Farmer's Market to 30% market share in a highly competitive industry against heavyweights like Heinz and Gerber. What has been Jen's biggest advantage? Sure, her planning orientation, and bold vision help, but it's been her ability to craft a…

Uber, the ubiquitous ride-sharing app worth billions of dollars, may be associated primarily with San Francisco, but at its heart it's a Calgarian story, according to Uber's Western Canada GM, Ramit Kar. We sat down with Ramit to learn about Uber's origins, some of the hilarious marketing campaigns Uber ran in its early days, and what the process o…

Jamie Clarke has scaled Mount Everest twice, travelled across the desert on the back of a camel, and has written numerous books on the life of an adventurer. He also is the co-founder of Live Out There, an e-commerce company dedicated to getting the world outside. As someone who has led both expeditions and employees, we asked Jamie what lessons he…

Manjit Minhas is an entrepreneur, beer baroness, and Dragon on CBC's Dragon's Den. While she only recently entered the national spotlight on CBC's Dragon's Den, she has been entrepreneurial her whole life, from having a lemonade stand as an eight-year-old, to co-founding a liquor company when she was only 19. Less than two decades later, Minhas Bre…

Melissa Gunning is the founder of Wean Green, a glass food container company founded in Calgary. After noticing a need in the market for reliable, eco-friendly glassware, Melissa decided to make it herself. What followed is a whirlwind adventure that includes trips to the Golden Globes, her life savings spontaneously exploding on her lawn, and a hi…

Serial entrepreneur Matt Horne, Founder of DECO Windshield Repair and Beep For Service, sits down with Bootkik to provide insights on the role discipline and conviction plays in the life of an entrepreneur, and how his athletic background set him up for success. As someone who has scaled DECO from 2 locations to over a hundred, Matt also has valuab…

If you live in Western Canada and have an affinity for smelling great, you're familiar with Rocky Mountain Soap Company. We sat down with Co-owner Cam Baty to hear the story of Rocky Mountain Soap's origins, how they developed such an exciting brand, and how farmer's markets are entrepreneurship at its finest. Bootkik is an AI-driven, gamified e-le…

Calgary's Village Brewery is known for two things: great beer, and a love for the community. We sat down with Jim Button and Larry Kerwin, two of Village's co-founders, to discuss the craft brewery's origins, social enterprises, and more. Bootkik is an AI-driven, gamified e-learning platform, taught by Canada's best entrepreneurs. Sign up at bootki…

Dragon's Den alumni, investor, entrepreneur and prairie boy Brett Wilson sits down with the Bootkik team to discuss how he wound up on CBC, how great of a marketer Michael Buble is, the hot bed of jewelry manufacturing in Regina, Saskatchewan, and more. Create your own story at bootkik.com!By Bootkik