The Hard Part with Evan McCann

Jim Estill from Danby Appliances


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Jim Estill is the CEO and President of Danby Appliances.

Jim's resume is impressive:

  • Founder of EMJ Data (acquired by SYNNEX)
  • Founding Board Member of BlackBerry
  • Angel in 150+ startups like Miovision, Clearpath Robotics (acquired by Rockwell Automation), PostRank (acquired by Google) and Well.ca
  • Founding member of Communitech
  • Order of Ontario and Order of Canada
  • Active philanthropist
  • Takeaways

    Being a great board member, especially to high-growth companies.

    Founding his first business in university.

    What it was like being a Founding Board Member at BlackBerry and watching its meteoric rise.

    How to be great at sales.

    Hiring.

    His new focus of acquiring "smoke stack businesses" and applying high-growth principles to unlock value.

    His recent acquisition of Arctic Snowplows and future plans.


    Chapters

    00:00 University of Waterloo Experience

    01:10 Starting EMG Data

    02:07 Reinventing Himself

    03:03 Constant Learning and Seeking Help

    04:02 Continual Reinvention and Giving Things Up

    05:07 Time Management and Prioritization

    06:26 Growth and Change of the Team

    07:52 Dealing with Challenging Moments

    09:42 Asking for Help and Finding Mentors

    11:41 Being a Board Member

    14:17 Approach to Sales

    16:12 Joining the Board of RIM

    17:33 Being a Board Member for High-Growth Companies

    19:47 Acquisition of Danby Appliances

    22:53 Transition to Danby Appliances

    26:38 Changes at Danby Appliances

    28:31 Acquisition of Arctic Snowplows

    30:46 Acquisition Strategy and Value Add

    36:13 Being a Humanitarian and Giving Back

    38:37 Favorite Book

    39:09 Excitement for the Year

    40:08 Dealing with Hard Times

    ...more
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    The Hard Part with Evan McCannBy Evan McCann