Firepower Capital – Rob Lydan

Entrepreneurs can come from anywhere – including from the trades sector. Today’s guest has a background in trades and is even a qualified welder. He’s also the Managing Director at Phoventus, a company that works in renewable power.

Rob Lydan joins the podcast today to discuss how he ended up in renewable power and what factors brought him to this point. Listen to the episode to hear what Rob has to say about what influenced him about the trades, what his professional trajectory looked like, and how to interact with people who are influential in your life.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Rob Lydan

Quotes From the Show

“You can be the general manager, you get the office right next to the front door, not because it’s most convenient for you, it’s because it’s the shortest walk if you have to leave.”

“Seeing the physical object appear is a lot different than doing something that is purely academic.”

“That’s why when I look at how I treat people, I decided I’m just going to be nice to everybody. Because what goes around comes around.”

“I’m a big believer that there’s probably 100 people that you’ll meet or know if your life, that will determine what happens to you, and how you treat them is the sole determination of how your life will turn out.” 

Frank Baylis is an entrepreneur as well as a politician. He’s the president of the medical technology firm Baylis Medical. He also ran for office to represent the riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard in the House of Commons of Canada and was elected in 2015. In today’s episode, Frank will discuss what he’s learned from running a medical technology firm that produces ventilators, what inspired him to get involved in politics, and why having the right business partner is so important.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Frank Baylis

Quotes From the Show

“We may disagree what’s a priority or where we put the emphasis, but the majority of us, we’re almost in agreement 95% of what we want to do.”

“When you become aligned and then find someone that’s aligned and wants to do the same thing you do, that’s the foundation that you build upon.”

“There’s no such thing as a self-made man.”

Giving back can have just as much value as getting, so why not make that a focus? Stephanie Shapiro is the COO of Together We Stand, an organization that supports and serves the military families of the Canadian armed forces. In today’s episode, Stephanie will explain why she believes it’s so important to pay attention to what the military does for citizens.

You’ll also hear Stephanie’s thoughts on mental health, adversity, and vulnerability, and transitioning from a government job into her current role.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Stephanie Shapiro

Together We Stand

Mama Needs a Vodka

Quotes From the Show

“I talk a lot about vulnerability in the workplace. And to me, I’m a huge advocate of that.”

“To me, vulnerability within the workplace is where the magic happens.”

“The reality is that our Canadian armed forces members and their families and veterans have done so much more than simply serve when there’s conflict.”

Being an entrepreneur means being able to handle some strange and wild circumstances. And if you’re interested in being one, you need to be up to dealing with anything, from one end of the spectrum to the other.

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Robin Kovitz, the president and CEO of Baskits, inc. In this episode, she discusses the unusual situations that entrepreneurs have to deal with. She also discusses her lifelong dream of attending Harvard, what criteria she put down as part of the process of deciding what business to buy, and what the value of kindness is in business.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Robin Kovitz

Baskits, Inc

Quotes From the Show

“How you take that failure is at the key, I believe, of being a successful entrepreneur.”

“To be good at this job, you have to be willing to do everything.”

“I had this vision, because of my entrepreneurial roots, of running a small business. I really enjoyed being with customers, helping employees and team members” 

What is the future? How do we affect it? How do we raise kids in ways that help them realize and take advantage of their own abilities to make and shape the future?

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Alistair Leyland, a founding partner at Array of Stars. Listen in to the interview to hear his ideas about how to foster innovative mindsets, why storytelling is such an important skill set for entrepreneurs and innovators, and what the next big transformative thing is likely to be.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Alistair Leyland

Array of Stars

Quotes From the Show

“A big part of the Hippocratic oath is finding any and all ways to deliver maximum care for patients.”

“Web 3 is essentially the next chapter of the internet.” 

“I would say you don’t have to look too much further than what Nike is doing, with scooping up shops within the Web 3, NFT space.”

What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and what does that mean for you? What does understanding this have to do with success in building your finances or having a career as an entrepreneur? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Jason Carvalho, entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Carvalho Capital. Listen to his interview to hear what he has to say about how he got into technology in the first place, what the Fourth Industrial Revolution is, what risk really is and how to balance taking risks with the need to be prudent.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Jason Carvalho

Jason on Twitter

Carvalho Capital on Twitter

Quotes From the Show

“To be frank, when you start building things, you can see, you understand how it works.”

“There’s no stopping the idea of the metaverse.”

“In order for you to be disciplined, you have to wake up every single day and realize the system is trying to take money from you.”

Are you running on autopilot? Do you know how to turn off the autopilot? Today’s guest says that people spend more time on autopilot than they’d like to think, and it can prevent them from getting on the right path. Listen in to this interview with Steve Divitkos, an entrepreneur and the former CEO of Microdea. In this episode, you’ll hear about how Steve views entrepreneurship, why introspection is so difficult, and what Steve did right and wrong as a new CEO.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

 Four exercises to help create a set of criteria against which to evaluate potential career paths:

Related Links

Steve Divitkos

In The Trenches

Quotes From the Show

“The best definition of entrepreneurship that I’ve ever heard is the relentless pursuit for opportunity without regard or resources currently controlled.” 

“Maybe the better way to put it is I remember the moment where I decided I didn’t want to stay on the path that I was in.” 

“The concept that…was helpful for me, is this entire concept of being deliberate. Don’t just let life happen to you.” 

“I think being an entrepreneur, being a CEO, was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my entire life.”

Partnerships are notoriously difficult, but today’s guest has had some notable success with them. Gregory Wade is currently the managing partner of NextBase, but in the past he’s worked for AT&T and with Samsung, to name a few. Listen to the episode to hear what Gregory has to say about how he ended up working with these large brands, what makes a partnership successful, and why Gregory chose to write a book about mentorship.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Gregory Wade

Quotes From the Show

“Setting objectives and setting goals is so important.” 

“Imagine being able to bring together two long-time rivals in Blackberry and Samsung.”

“It was important for me to understand that space, so in business I could at least understand what the heck… the construct to a contract.” 

“I worked very very hard, even at young age, to try and set up what I called these building blocks to a career - wanting to ensure that I built as many components of those blocks that were different.”

Why would someone choose to move from investment banking into cannabis retail? Today’s guest is Mimi Lam, the CEO, and co-founder of Superette, a cannabis retailer. Mimi’s backstory includes a conservative upbringing and a work history in investment banking before she moved into the cannabis world. Listen to her story to hear Mimi talk about how people can check in with themselves to determine whether they’re pursuing their passion, how travel factored into Mimi’s life, and how cannabis has factored into her life.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Mimi Lam

Superette

Quotes From the Show

“We don’t really know what we want to do growing up.” 

“I am not the same person today as I was prior to leaving for Shanghai.” 

“We looked 2w and said, there’s a big opportunity in retail.” 

“I’d rather spend every day doing the things that I love than regretting wasting that time because I had a paycheck or because I did something someone else told me to do” 

Sometimes, a non-linear path is the best path for the person that’s on it. Today’s guest is a good example of learning and living in a less-than-linear way. In today’s episode, you’ll meet Joelle Faulkner, CEO of Area One Farms. Area One is an alternative asset management firm where Joelle created a farmer-centric private equity model. Listen to the episode to hear Joelle explain what made her pursue varying degrees, what kind of impact her science background has on her business success, and what it was like at the beginning of starting Area One Farms.

Topics Discussed in This Episode

Related Links

Joelle Faulkner

Area One Farms

Quotes From the Show

“If you could ask questions about it, you could probably understand the answers.” 

“I think engineering and science – it made me really good at math.”

“Pick something that will get as close to delighting you as possible.” 

“If you want kids to really respect money, and respect hard work that makes that money, they actually have to understand it”