FounderArc: The turning point from grit to glory.

Wally has a long and storied career in payment automation. Having exited from technology business in the mid-2000s. Wally switched his attention to helping businesses better manage payments in the digital realm via his company, SparcPay. Discover how Wally got started, the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey, find out how a broken elevator nearly cost Wally his business! Watch on YouTube:...

Starting out her career, Aimee gravitated towards non-profits, helping them to forecast and better understand their finances. Fast forward to today, and Aimee helps her many business clients maintain financial stability and grow, through her thriving business, My Virtual CFO. Find out how Aimee’s entrepreneurial journey got started, the ups and downs, and how she advises her client today! Watch on...

Seasoned entrepreneur, Josh Little, aims to evolve the use of video within business communications to a new level beyond video calls. Discover how Josh got started, the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey, and learn about his side hustle, his amazing pickles! Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/klHk67SpmV0 Subscribe to FounderArc for more founder stories and practical lessons from the fron...

Dubbed ‘The Price Whisperer’, Per Sjöfors is truly an expert in pricing. After founding and selling his electronics business, Per found a deep interest in pricing tactics and created a system that looks at pricing in a holistic manner, rather than as an isolated endeavour. To date, Sjöfors & Partners has helped over 700 businesses rethink their pricing, delivering dramatically improved revenue...

After cutting his teeth at a ‘big four’ accounting firm, Josh took the leap and started his own business advising others as a CFO. He shares how he not only built his own business and drove growth through the value he offered, but how he used his experience to help his clients better manage their businesses and thrive. Find Josh at CFOminded.com Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iViRSJqxAuo Subsc...

David Jenyns’ storied career began in technology but his true talent emerged in marketing. After running a highly successful agency for years, David realized that he wanted a way to reduce the load on his shoulders and found the answer in business systems. That led to his book and business, ‘Systemology’ where he spends his time today guiding the way for entrepreneurs. Watch on YouTube: https://yo...

Rachel Fisch, Chief Global Development Officer at High Rock Accounting, reached her role through a fearless approach to building partnerships, and nurturing her network. Rachel is the Chief Global Development Officer at High Rock Accounting, a rapidly growing firm with big aspirations. The way Rachel reached this role is the interesting part. A bookkeeper by trade, Rachel ran her own business earl...

By accident or opportunity – Ricardo started in the technology industry when he was hired back as a consultant and could never go back to big corporate. Blaine and Ricardo talk technology and the evolution of security and the tools we use every day to support the WFH world we currently live in. Security and the continuous push for individualistic technology that brings people together but also cre...

Making life choices for your career is a driving force for Arshad and what kept him moving from one industry to another. He believes in building experiences and giving clients/customers what they are expecting and hoping for in engagement with his business environment.  When Arshad decided to move into a SaaS start-up his focus was laser targeted on supporting businesses and their employees with a...

From watching his parents have their own businesses to working in the digital space for a number of years for his own agency – Jesse had a solid grounding to be able to take the leap into his own start-up business. Blaine and Jesse talk through the trials and tribulations of the entrepreneur world and the struggles that build strength in a small company and the requirements for Founders to take on...

After building a leading, Toronto creative agency, Erin Bury was looking for a new challenge and found opportunity in the tech startup world. Today, she is Co-founder & CEO at rapidly growing, online will platform Willful. Erin Bury has a natural talent for pulling growth levers in business, tied with true operational savvy. From her experience growing a leading creative agency focusing on sta...

From an award-winning illustrator to tackling the publishing industry with a groundbreaking book, Corey is truly a creative force.  Through early ups and downs in their business, Pulp Studios, Corey and his business partner turned their attention to maintaining a small shop that focuses on high-quality. Over a decade later and the partners have garnered multiple awards for their creative work. Nex...

From a start selling watches in a Kenyan marketplace as a boy, to building and selling a wildly successful software company in North America, Ashif Mawji has experienced a lifetime of ups and downs in the business world. Ashif’s entrepreneurial journey started early in life as he brokered a partnership with a local watch shop, allowing him to sell the timepieces on the weekend in a market in Kenya...

Michèle turned language translation into a global business and an acquisition, that set the stage for her role today as a highly sought after executive coach. Michèle’s entrepreneurial journey started in Germany, pre-internet when she grabbed the opportunity in corporate language translation. Fast forward a few years and Michèle found herself based in North America with a rapidly growing business,...

Starting out as an accountant, Dave Bodnarchuk quickly moved into technology. Several products later and Dave’s company, ElectionBuddy, has revolutionized online voting for organizations.  Dave dove into technology while in college, where he studied accounting. Early on, he found opportunity in the problems of bloated paperwork and devised tech solutions to solve the issues. After college, Dave sp...

The spark for serial entrepreneur, Shaheel Hooda, started young in the family business, leading him into businesses of his own, a Harvard MBA, driving two tech companies to success and finally, a role as a venture capitalist. Hear about his successes, failures and learnings along the way. Shaheel Hooda was responsible for the books for four of his father’s companies at the ripe old age of nine. Th...

From a founder in the tech space, through to an acquisition and multiple businesses along the way, today Scott helps businesses build systems and processes to drive success and growth. Early in Scott Rusnak’s career, he grabbed opportunity and moved his family to the United States from his home in Canada. There, he built a tech business to an exit and began a path taking through opportunities and...

Innovation so often comes from first-hand experience and Bryan McIver has experience in droves. After building and selling a business that managed major construction projects, Bryan is now working on building Vitruvi to bring innovation to the space. Bryan McIver has a unique set of skills. While his core experience lies in managing major infrastructure projects, his ability to build software to h...

After a successful exit from his company, Mailout, Jon Larson has shifted his focus to Zept, an online service that matches international students with perfect-fit post secondary schools across the globe. Finding a niche in a highly competitive tech space is always a challenge but Jon and his partners found a way to that tied a ‘land and expand’ sales model within big organizations, tied with outs...

After thirty years as an entrepreneur spanning numerous sectors, Colin Christensen has transitioned to helping startups across the globe. Via his Accelerator, Fuse42, Colin drives change through innovation and social enterprises. Colin Christensen was determined to be an entrepreneur from a young age and took the leap by the time he was twenty years old. From successful ventures through to ill-tim...

After building a successful and growing marketing firm, David felt the need for a wholesale change, pairing his business acumen with a social cause that he is truly passionate about.  With a foundation in marketing, David Cree built rapidly growing companies, experienced the sting of economic slowdowns, and realized that landing the ‘big deal’ wasn’t all that exciting anymore. Falling back on a li...

An opportunity to earn some money during a tight job market led Colin to his role as a CEO delivering innovative education software that’s used around the globe. A computer engineer by trade, Colin found an opportunity for innovation tying together emerging tablet technology with a need in the classroom. Fast forward a little over a decade and Colin’s company, Showbie, (showbie.com) helps millions...

Ken shares with Blaine the journey and challenges as he moved from the creative industry, to building the startup community, and now revitalizing business communities for the new norm. Diving into entrepreneurship while an education student, Ken diverts from teaching before he even gets started and dives into the world of e-learning and games. His early experience in business leads him first, star...

Starting out working in a gym – Tom Port never pictured himself in the software industry, but ten years, several pivots and a major acquisition later, Tom has been a part of a great success in the FinTech industry. Tom's enthusiasm is truly contagious. He goes back to the early days tackling issues in the accounting industry with their software, AutoRec, and how it was involved in AutoEntry (...

Jason watched his father struggle as an entrepreneur and swore it was not for him. Now – an entrepreneur – Jason is in the education and gamification industry working on amazing projects with institutions and corporations alike. The life of an entrepreneur is not something Jason wanted to emulate as he watched his father struggle, then he ended up in the same position... thankfully. Working in edu...