A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson

By Ilan Jacobson

Why are entrepreneurs driven to do what they do? Put in endless hours and endure countless failures in pursuit of their dreams. Ilan Jacobson is one of those entrepreneurs. He's built businesses in se... more

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FAQs about A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson:

How many episodes does A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson have?

The podcast currently has 62 episodes available.

A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson episodes:

September 28, 2021Episode 31: James Burron
How do you get from Canada to Korea? What prompts someone to go into the financial field and succeed? Today’s guest is James Burron, cofounder and president of CAASA, and he’s going to discuss how he ended up where he is and what’s influenced him over the course of his life and career. Listen in to hear James discuss how growing up in a small town affected his worldview, how adversity affected his path, and what he’s learned about the art of cooperation.

Topics Discussed in This Episode
Where James got his start
Why James wanted to be in Korea
How James got to where he is now
How James’s birthplace and childhood home affects the way he views the world
What James’s parents did to contribute to his adventurous nature
How much adversity impacted the person James is today
What CAASA is and what they do
What James has learned about the art of collaboration through his career
Where Canada is leading and failing
Strategies people need to pay attention to as they’re starting their careers
Strategies that James doesn’t think people are taking seriously enough
What fund managers are doing right and wrong when it comes to raising capital

Related Links

James Burron

Quotes From the Show

“It’s not a startup unless you’re terrified every once in a while.”

“In the financial community, everyone knows everyone else.”

“I think taking folks for granted and that they’ll want to do something is a first mistake that people make.”
...more
35min
February 09, 2021Episode 30: Daniel Lewis
How do you go from being a rapper to a tea entrepreneur? Today’s guest has an unusual story and he can tell you all about it. Daniel Lewis may have started out as a rapper, but now you may know him from T by Daniel. He’s an entrepreneur, a public speaker, and a marketer. Listen in to Daniel’s story and hear what he has to say about his journey, the importance of words, and why having passion matters so much.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
Daniel’s current role and self-image
Daniel’s background
What Daniel’s parents think of his journey
Why Daniel believes words are powerful
What Daniel’s inherited from his parents
How Daniel landed on tea
How important passion is to Daniel and why it’s so important to him
Advice and cautions that Daniel would give to new entrepreneurs
How Daniel served tea to the Prince of Wales
Related Links
Daniel Lewis
T by Daniel
T by Daniel on Instagram
[email protected]
Quotes From the Show
“That incident in 2009 was the catalyst for the rest of my life and the change that would come.”
“The way my parents have raised me and my siblings, and continue to, is – they lead with love.”
“Passion kicks in when results are not necessarily there.”
...more
36min
January 26, 2021Episode 29: Mark Skapinker
You may have heard of Mark Skapinker as the managing partner at Brightspark. But what you may not know is that Mark has had four separate careers and that there are through-lines in those careers that have followed him throughout his life. Listen in to hear Mark explain how he ended up where he is and why that’s important. You’ll learn about the importance of passion in building a career, how Mark made a decision that led to the “freemium” model, and what it means to be a good venture capitalist.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
What Mark’s childhood looked like
How Mark ended up in Canada
The importance of passion in building a career
The through-lines between Mark’s various careers
Mark’s decision that led to the “freemium” model
Why it’s important to “go big or go home”
Becoming a good venture capitalist
Patterns for success and failure in cultures and leadership teams that Mark has seen
The success rates that Mark’s seen
Related Links
Mark Skapinker
Brightspark
Quotes From the Show
“For one reason or another, I always knew I was leaving South Africa.”
“It’s no coincidence that the counterculture of the 60s and the Grateful Dead, and people like that grew up in Palo Alto and that Apple grew up in the same part of the world.”
“The beauty of our industry is that when something succeeds, you just ignore all the stuff that fails and make-believe that that didn’t happen.”
...more
42min
January 19, 2021Episode 28: Stella Millis
Stella Millis is already close to FirePower Capital, as a Director of Private Equity at FirePower herself. But how did she reach that position? What is it about Stella that made her the person she is today, and that made her suited for the roles that she has today? In today’s episode, you’ll hear what Stella has to say about growing up in a Greek immigrant family, what kinds of obstacles Stella faced, and how her core values played a role in bringing her to where she is today.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
Stella’s professional background
Stella’s childhood
What role Stella’s obstacles played in making her the person she is today
What gave Stella the interest in engineering
Stella’s core values
How Stella moved into forensic accounting
Advice for someone considering a radical shift in their life
Whether we’re a product of genetics or upbringing
Advice Stella would give to women in industries like engineering
How listeners can find Stella
Related Links
Stella Millis
Quotes From the Show
“At the end of the day, people are people.”
“I was one of the youngest individuals who graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music when I was 16.”
“You gotta have a set of values. They’re developed from when you’re really young.”
...more
36min
January 05, 2021Episode 27: Mariam Ekram
Some of the most successful entrepreneurship stories started when the entrepreneur decided to create a product that they were looking for or solve a problem they were having. That has something to do with how Mariam Ekram came to found Koa Natural Foods, a company that provides healthy and delicious foods.
Listen to hear more from today’s guest, Mariam Ekram. Mariam is the founder and president of Koa Foods as well as the founder and president of Empowering Women. Listen in to what she has to say about her career path as an entrepreneur, why mindset is important, and the value of passion in building businesses.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
What Mariam does at Koa
What led to Mariam’s career path as an entrepreneur in Canada
How an immigrant mentality affects the way Miriam looks at the world
What gave Mariam her mindset
The power in faking it till you make it
Authenticity in relationships
How important passion is in building businesses
Where Mariam can be found online
Related Links
Mariam Ekram
Marian on Instagram
Koa Natural Foods
Quotes From the Show
“I was obsessed with trying to find out what kind of greatness could I achieve as a person?”
“If you walk into a room and don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect others to believe in you?”
“You’re not faking it, you’re putting yourself in a state of extreme discomfort till you make it.”
...more
32min
December 08, 2020Episode 26: Raymond Luk
Is teaching part of the entrepreneur’s formula for success? Today’s guest has some thoughts about that. Raymond Luk is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He’s the founder of Hockeystick and Flow Ventures. In today’s episode, you’ll hear Raymond discuss his background as the child of educators who were immigrants to Canada, the importance of failure in entrepreneurship, and whether or not entrepreneurs need to be extraverted to be successful.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
What Raymond is focused on right now
Raymond’s background
How Raymond’s family ended up coming to Canada
The perception of young founders
How Raymond transitioned to entrepreneurship
The importance of failure
Whether you need to be outgoing and extraverted to be an entrepreneur
Raymond’s take on the nature vs. nurture debate
Advice that Raymond would give to young entrepreneurs
Related Links
Raymond Luk
Raymond on Twitter
Quotes From the Show
“I think that a big part of our job as entrepreneurs and leaders is teaching.”
“We care about the big success and the big failure, not that much in-between.”
“I’ve become a lifelong learner starting from a young age. It’s one of my favorite things to learn new things.”
...more
34min
December 01, 2020Episode 25: Will Sutherland
Will Sutherland is a vice president at Kilmer Group and describes himself as the cowboy in his office. Will joins the podcast today to talk about his views on leadership and business and what he’s working on now. Listen in to hear what Will has to say about what he thinks about when he makes a career move, what the three types of leadership are, and what you can learn from taking a long-term view.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
Will’s current role
What Will’s childhood looked like and how he got to where he is now
What Will thinks about when he’s making a career move
Where Will is in the nature vs. nurture debate
The three types of leadership
The importance of balance
What you can learn from someone with a long-term view
Patterns that Will has seen that led to success or failure
What makes Will hesitate in getting involved with a company.
Related Links
Will Sutherland
Quotes From the Show
“As a young person working with teams, working with contractors, you realize the soft skill stuff is 80-plus percent of the issue.”
“You’re going to find out more about what not to do in the first five years of your working life than what actually works.”
“I am the cowboy in my office, that’s my role, to try to do non-vanilla deals.”
...more
35min
November 24, 2020Episode 24: Perry Dellelce
Why is it important to have fun on the job? Today’s guest is Perry Dellelce, a founder and managing partner at Wildeboer Dellelce law firm. One of the firm’s founding principles has to do with fun, and according to Perry, they were casual at work before casual Friday’s existed. Listen in to today’s episode to hear about how Perry ended up founding a law firm at a young age, why he thinks having fun with your work is important, and what lessons he’s learned along the way.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
What Perry’s childhood and background looked like
How the immigrant side of Perry’s life affected his work ethic
What led Perry to start his own firm
Whether Perry understood how big of a risk he was taking starting his own firm
Whether Perry thinks a chip on the shoulder is a good thing or a bad thing
Why having fun is important
The hard lessons Perry has learned along the way
What you have to have to be an investor in something
An example of a winning investment that surprised Perry
Where listeners can find Perry
Related Links
Perry Dellelce
Wildeboer Dellelce LLP
Quotes From the Show
“I think what your viewers and my viewers will find interesting is more the story of the law firm.”
“We were casual in 1993, long before The Gap made casual Fridays a reality.”
“To this day, I stand up and pay a little bit more attention when one of the seven sister law firms are on the other side.”
...more
35min
November 16, 2020Episode 23: Kevin Moshal
Kevin Moshal is a Reginal Managing Partner at Grant Thorton. Kevin is a proud Canadian who immigrated from South Africa. In today’s episode, Kevin discusses the educational system that helped shape him growing up in South Africa, why South Africa produces so many accountants, why he decided to make the move to Toronto, and what he knows about leadership.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
What Kevin’s upbringing looked like
The educational system in S. Africa and why it works well
The mentality of education in S. Africa in the 80s
Kevin’s thoughts on parenting and educating his own kids
What kids learn from sports
Why so many accountants come from S. Africa
Why Kevin moved to Toronto
How Kevin moved up the ranks in his firm
Kevin’s take on nature vs. nurture
Lessons that Kevin has learned about leadership
The best way listeners can reach Kevin
Related Links
Kevin Moshal
Quotes From the Show
“You’re always trying to prove something, and that adrenaline pushes you forward.”
“It’s not what happens to you that matters. It’s how you respond to it that matters more.”
“We as human beings have the most beautiful wonderful thing that was ever given to us. We actually can make choices. It’s called free will.”
...more
35min
November 10, 2020Episode 22: Michael Morozov
How do you transition from running a window-washing business to selling PPE in the middle of a pandemic? Today’s guest can tell you all about it. On today’s episode of the podcast, you’ll hear from Michael Morozov. In the interview, he’ll talk about his background and how he got started as an entrepreneur, how he goes about getting things done without overanalyzing them, and how he recovered from the sudden nosedive in business caused by the pandemic by getting into the PPE business.
Topics Discussed in This Episode
Michael’s background
How Michael got started as an entrepreneur
Where Michael’s instinct for entrepreneurship came from
Michael’s mentality around deciding how to get things done
Transitioning from B to B to B to C
How to avoid overpromising something that you can’t deliver
The disadvantages of overanalyzing
How to balance your team
How Michael got into PPE
How Michael got his hands on PPE supplies when they were hard to find
Why Michael can thrive on chaos
Why Michael doesn’t think DNA determines success
Advice for other entrepreneurs
Related Links
Michael Morozov
Quotes From the Show
“Whoever you surround yourself with, that’s who you become.”
“I don’t care what the business is as long as it has a return.”
“You can’t have a shark and want him to eat salad all day. You can’t.”
...more
35min

FAQs about A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson:

How many episodes does A Dealmaker's DNA with Ilan Jacobson have?

The podcast currently has 62 episodes available.