Startupville

Dan talks with Jordan Schidlowsky of Noodlecake Games. In this episode, they discuss growing a globally competitive game development and publishing company

Jordan talks about the early days of Noodlecake releasing their first game, and how the mobile gaming market, the broader industry, and Noodlecake as a company has changed since 2011. Since releasing their first game Super Stickman Golf, they’ve become one of the most notable mobile publishers, having published or developed over 100 games on mobile platforms. 

In 2017, Noodlecake was majority acquired by the Chinese gaming company ZPlay. Dan and Jordan discuss the process of being acquired and becoming a part of a larger global company while continuing to grow in Saskatoon. 

Dan talks with Chad Fischl of Farm Boys Design Corp. In this episode, they discuss how Farm Boys is working to bring locally grown, sustainable food anywhere in the world regardless of climate and growing conditions. 

Farm Boys has built a fully automated, self-contained system for growing high-value crops anywhere in the world. The demand for leafy greens and other small crops like tomatoes is high around the world, but unfortunately there are only a few regions on earth where these crops are able to grow. Chad talks more about how their system enables these crops to be grown easily and affordably anywhere in the world. 

As a serial entrepreneur, Chad’s path toward solving one of the world’s largest problems is an interesting one. Dan and Chad talk more about how he got where he is today, and where they’re headed in the future. 

Dan talks with Alicia Soulier of SalonScale. In this episode, Alicia shares her story of how she went from salon owner, to tech entrepreneur scaling her business internationally (pun intended). 

As an experienced entrepreneur and salon owner, Alicia discovered a problem that is core to the success or failure of a salon business. Her deep knowledge of an industry problem was the secret to building a simple and user-friendly solution that solves a problem that costs salon owners thousands, and sometimes is make-or-break for their business. 

Alicia shares how she started SalonScale with no background in tech, and how she is working to save one salon at a time by “scaling” up her company. 

In the first episode to kick off Season 3, Dan talks with Riley Iverson and Davie Lee of Townfolio. In our first season, we talked with Riley in the episode “The $500 Startup,” and learned about their startup story and how they were disrupting economic development. 

Since then, Townfolio was accepted into one of the world’s most respected tech accelerators, Techstars in their Kansas City location. Riley and Davie went through their intensive program through the summer, and they’re back to share their experience on the whole rollercoaster ride. 

In this episode, we go into detail on what it’s like to go through a Techstars accelerator, how it has impacted Townfolio moving forward, and what’s next for their growing startup. 

In the final episode of Season 2, Dan talks with Krystian Olszanski of Viamo, and Kevin Pierce of Eventbrite. Both Krystian and Kevin are seasoned developers who have been working in tech for a long time and are now in management roles in their specific companies. Viamo is a social enterprise solving communications problems in developing countries, and Picatic is a consumer facing event ticketing platform, and the two talk about how making the lives of your users better is core to success no matter who that user is. 

As seasoned developers in management roles, Krystian and Kevin also chat about growing and managing technical teams. From onboarding new employees to making strategic decisions and energizing team members, the two have no shortage of wisdom to share. 

Dan talks with Brett Park, COO & CTO of Shiverware, and Phil Corson, Product Manager with GasBuddy. In this episode, Brett and Phil talk about product management, and some of the cool products they’ve been cooking up at their respective companies. They chat more about their individual approaches product design and how they see an idea through development into a shipped product. 

The two also talk about a rising tide of energy in the Regina tech scene and how the city can capitalize on some of that momentum moving forward.