The StartWell Podcast

Companies need to focus on more understanding their customers - a great way to achieve this understanding is for sales and customer support to be integrated functions.

Kyle Norton joined us for this episode of the StartWell Podcast to explain his perspective on the best way to develop revenue operations with systems and a team that is truly committed to holistically helping customers through the product/service they are selling.

In his current role as CRO at Owner.com, Kyle leads sales, partnerships, onboarding, success, support, revenue operations and enablement - which has enabled him to develop tightly knit systems for optimizing value the organization and its customers.

With 15 years of experience under his belt (and multiple belts at that - he used to own a mixed martial arts academy), Kyle's perspective is informed through experiences running large teams at rapidly scaling companies including League and Shopify.

In this conversation, you'll learn about a systems approach to revenue operations plus Kyle's thoughts on work ethic, the Canadian context for entrepreneurship and much more!

Watch the full episode as a video here: https://startwell.co/blogs/business/the-fearless-approach-to-scaling-revenue-operations-kyle-norton

70% of people in Canada don't feel like they have the skills to be successful at their job.

That number is massive - and is one of the motivating factors behind Mac Gebara's work with Emma-Jean Pride at Atrium; a boutique consultancy focused on developing leaders at fast-growing companies.

According to Atrium's market research, over $300B is spent annually on corporate training yet 75% of managers and leaders say they are dissatisfied with the training they receive from their company.

This episode of the StartWell podcast digs into how Atrium is solving the problem of leadership development through bespoke mentorship programming.

*Watch the full episode here: https://startwell.co/blogs/business/defeat-self-doubt-the-power-of-mentorship-in-leadership-development-mac-gebara

There are few people in Canada more knowledgeable about employment in Canada's tech sector than Lighthouse Labs' co-founder and CEO Jeremy Shaki.

Jeremy joined us for this episode of the StartWell podcast to recap changes in tech since the pandemic - how education has shifted online and how companies are actively pursuing up-skilling and re-skilling workers to future-proof their existing workforce.

This episode will be enlightening to anyone working in HR/People & Culture as well as startup founders and team leads.

Lighthouse Labs is one of the country's first tech educators - now offering coding bootcamps for topics from web development to cybersecurity and data analytics.

For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, 5andVine founder Rahul Raj and Qasim Virjee (CEO, StartWell) engage in a thought-provoking conversation about challenging traditional views of capitalism, emphasizing the importance of caring deeply about how one wins and balancing profit with ethical considerations.

They discuss the impact of social media on consumer behavior and the need for a more holistic approach to business, prioritizing the needs of people and the planet alongside profits.

This engaging discussion provides insights to anyone in marketing or running their own companies in competitive markets!

Mark Evans is a Fractional CMO and advisor to scale startups. He's previously been a news reporter and launched his career as a consultant since 2008. For any online marketer, this episode will definitely be insightful and fun!

For over 15 years Jean has worked on Strategy and Marketing - at agencies (incl BBDO, Cheil, Taxi, VML and most recently at The Hive) and for startups.

In this episode of the StartWell Podcast we hear Jean's career history (which began in fashion) and perspectives informed by her work driving strategic approaches in advertising - including anecdotes from client work; including a recent project to help the Canadian Olympic Committee connect their mission with young Canadians.

*View this episode as a video in the StartWell Magazine here.

In the post-pandemic era, marketing faces challenges such as declining efficacy and escalating costs.

Brands must take calculated risks and create spectacles to capture attention. Differentiation and establishing an identity are crucial, as is prioritizing customer needs.

For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, we sat down with Saul Colt of the Idea Integration Company - and discussed the challenges of creating a distinct brand personality in the digital age, navigating tensions between identity and expression.

You'll hear shared insights on leading a creative agency, including the importance of hiring trustworthy employees and striking a balance between creative and strategic expertise. There are also nuggets of wisdom offered on the challenges of managing client scope and the significance of thorough planning and preparation in content creation.

*Watch the video recording of this session here.

Dan Park has had a colourful career so far - 20 years ago he was at McGill with Qasim, StartWell's founder/CEO, and since then has worked in investment banking and venture capital before taking the helm at Uber to define their UberEats business across Canada.

Through his experience at Uber, Dan learned a lot about transportation and when he was approached to further develop Canada's first online retailer for used cars, he jumped at the opportunity - and has since grown it into the largest operator in segment.

This is a fun and insightful conversation for anyone interested in the Canadian business landscape - from startups to scaleups, and comprises the 60th episode of the StartWell Podcast.

*Explore more via The StartWell Magazine: https://startwell.co/pages/magazine & the full show page for this episode here: https://startwell.co/blogs/business/from-venture-capital-to-running-ubereats-and-building-canadas-premier-online-car-store-dan-park

Roy Pereira's history in tech started in the 1990s - he saw the first boom-bust cycle and has since founded and exited a few startups.

For this, the 59th episode of the StartWell (https://startwell.co/) Podcast, Roy shares his experiences and perspectives as a startup founder, tech innovator, investor and Torontonian.

His current occupation is as a cofounder of https://unified.to/ - a simple way for companies to unify data between multiple SaaS applications.

*View a full film of this episode in the StartWell Magazine here.

Dr Anish Kaushal is an interesting guy – he worked hard to become a doctor but an administrative hiccup led to discovering a career path in VC which he found more interesting that simply practicing medicine.

Now a Venture Capital associate at Amplitude Ventures, Anish invests in companies providing innovative solutions to the industry he almost worked in.

In addition to investing in startups, Anish is also an author – he’s written a ‘ niche guide to navigating career transitions’ as well as a book of poems (one of white he reads for us at the end of this podcast.)

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