The Entrepreneur Podcast

Family businesses have been important pillars in the history of Canada, where they have developed industries and enriched communities from coast to coast. Jonathan McCain is part of that tradition. Hailing from a family legacy that includes McCain Foods and Maple Leaf Foods, Jonathan decided to take the consulting route after university before exercising his entrepreneurial talents in an industry...

In 2014, Erik Mikkelsen and Rob Cherun made the first successful exit for a Canadian search fund when Auxo Management LP acquired Toronto-based security firm UCIT. The move cemented the two Ivey alums in the relatively young history of Canada's entrepreneurship through acquisition (or ETA) sector; a form of entrepreneurship popularized by Harvard in the 1980s, where leaders would buy and run pre-e...

Scott Stirrett was the Founder and CEO of Venture for Canada, a national charity that fosters entrepreneurial skills in young Canadians by recruiting, training, and supporting them to work for innovative Canadian small businesses and startups. After running the venture for a decade, Stirrett has collated many of his learnings into a book, titled “The Uncertainty Advantage: Launching Your Career in...

If you are talking about start-up law in Canada, John Wires is often at the top of that list. Wires is the CEO of Wires Law, a corporate commercial law firm that has delivered legal services to entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses across Canada for over a decade. While it can often be seen as an intimidating or boring topic, legal implications can often be the making or breaking of a b...

Eric Brass didn't hate his job in asset management. He had a terrific boss, wonderful colleagues, and the pay was great! But six years before, on an exchange trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, Eric fell in love with premium tequila. So much so that it planted a seed that ultimately led him to create a world-class Tequila brand. In this episode, Brass revisits The Entrepreneur Podcast and talks about his...

Some founders don't have "entrepreneur" as part of their plan. They slowly evolve into one. That's what Chris Barnard shared with students at Ivy's New Venture project. After a slew of jobs, including investing money for other companies, Barnard wondered, 'why not invest in his own venture?' That venture became Points.com, one of the earliest loyalty programs in the world.  Barnard, his co-founder...

This season of The Entrepreneur Podcast is packed with discussions that range from instructional to aspirational: From stories of founders who’ve built incredible brands and placed themselves in the history of Canadian entrepreneurship to the mental and legal building blocks that are integral to launching a career in entrepreneurship. The new season of The Entrepreneur Podcast launches on November...

Kevin Sullivan has a storied history as a founder and investor in Canada’s modern entrepreneurship story. An early backer of Blackberry, Sullivan was part of GMP Capital from its inception and went on to serve as its President and CEO. In 1995, He co-founded one of Canada’s leading independent investment dealers, GMP Securities LP. In this episode, Sullivan shares stories from his 30-year-long car...

The global video game industry is a behemoth that is worth more than the music, television, and film industries put together. That’s not bad for a sector that was considered niche before the 2000s. As the former President of Digital Extremes, Michael Schmalz had a front-row seat to these seismic changes. The London, Ontario-based game studio started by his brother, James, rose to prominence with i...

Entrepreneurship is often viewed as a discipline within business and that makes sense. Entrepreneurs are dealing with finances, crunching numbers, raising money, and balancing payroll. But Entrepreneurship is more than business. It’s an art. Entrepreneurs build products, services, companies, and brands that carry a piece of who they are. It’s a form of expression that reflects who they are; just l...

This summer season of The Entrepreneur Podcast kicks off with international DJ duo, Loud Luxury, talking about their origins, partnership, and the intersection of art and business.   We speak to Michael Schmalz, former President of Digital Extremes, on how a Canadian gaming studio, based in London Ontario impacted the global gaming industry. Then, we explore the future of entrepreneurship and inve...

A Technology sector deal maker, entrepreneur, diversity advocate, and community builder. These are some of the terms that describe Mona Sabet. A Silicon Valley veteran, Sabet combined her expertise in engineering, law, and business to forge an impressive career that has included 100s of tech deals and nearly 50 acquisitions. Sabet served as Chief Corp Strategy Officer for UserTesting and played a...

Google, Microsoft, Twitter and The Weather Network, Rory Capern has really done it all. But while he has built a career with some of the most exciting brands around, the art of the possible keeps drawing him back to the world of entrepreneurship. An alum from Ivey’s HBA and MBA programs, Capern currently serves as the Chief Operations Officer at Redbrick, a B-Corp Certified firm that has built and...

A pioneer, and legend in the banking industry, Arkadi Kuhlmann first introduced the world to direct banking when he founded ING DIRECT Canada in 1996 and ING U.S. in 2000. As Chairman, President & CEO, Kuhlmann created the largest savings bank in the U.S., with more than $88 billion in deposits and 8 million customers. Since then, Kuhlmann has gone on to launch six startups in the banking sect...

Welcome to a new season of The Entrepreneur Podcast featuring the likes of Arkadi Kuhlmann of ING Direct Canada and US, Silicon Valley veteran Mona Sabet, and tech entrepreneur Rory Capern, whose career has included stints at some of the biggest brands in the world.

In a world filled with information, there’s always something to learn. But how can we learn to learn? That is a topic right in Scott Young’s wheelhouse. Young is the author of The Wall Street Journal Best Seller, Ultralearning, and you can discover more insights in his most recent book, Get Better at Anything - 12 Maxims for Mastery. A blogger, entrepreneur, and author of the Wall Street Journal B...

Entrepreneurs are always at the forefront of change and innovation, and Ray Sharma certainly fits that billing. Graduating from Ivey in 1996 Sharma went into the world of investment banking and became the top-ranked technology analyst in his first year after securing the title for five of his eight eligible years, Sharma joined the startup world and set up extreme Venture Partners. Over the years,...

In our continuing series spotlighting female entrepreneurs, we wanted to talk to a few founders who are just beginning their journey. Part of the Summer Entrepreneurial Internship program at Western University, Lily Yang, Maura Selvakumar, and Madeline Noftle are current students who are spending the summer working on elevating their start-ups. Ivey entrepreneurship faculty member Janice Byrne sat...

Building a high-growth business is like launching a rocket! The founder is the engine builders and venture capital is the rocket fuel. It is a two-sided relationship where priorities are different, but the goals are the same. But what does it take to get lift off and break through the atmosphere? How can entrepreneurs and investors work together to discover the full potential of their ventures? In...

Kristine Beese of Untangle Money talks about her experience pitching at CBC's Dragons' Den. Watch her pitch on Dragons' Den here: https://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/pitches/untangle-money Catch the full episode with Kristine Beese here: https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/services/ondemand-learning/podcasts/2024/06/untangling-the-gender-wealth-gap-with-kristine-beese/ The Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored...

While there has been rising awareness of the gender wage gap over the past few years, another important gender issue - the wealth gap between men and women – often goes unacknowledged. In 2020, for every 1 dollar men had in Net Wealth, women had only 32 cents. Financial plans are an option, but they are expensive and out of reach for many women. More importantly, most plans are created without tak...

Jaymie Crook didn’t start off thinking he would be an entrepreneur. He married one. But even the two of them couldn’t have guessed that their luxury dog kennel would branch off to a dog cookie empire stretching across the United States. Co-Founder of Bosco and Roxy, Crook has had to learn entrepreneurship on the go; from pivoting during a pandemic, and building a corporate culture, to taking the l...

CEO of Hotspex, Shane Skillen, HBA '00, talks about the importance of partnering up well in business and in life. To view Brene Brown's list of values from "Dare to Lead," visit: https://brenebrown.com/resources/dare-to-lead-list-of-values/ Catch the full episode with Shane Skillen here: https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/services/ondemand-learning/podcasts/2024/05/improving-your-luck-with-brand-guru...

Whether you’re talking about Greek philosophers or Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, success can often hinge on luck. But what if you could improve your luck? What if you can bend the forces of fortune just enough? That’s exactly what Ivey HBA 2000 grad Shane Skillen was eager to share with our community of entrepreneurs. For over 20 years, Skillen has been leading the award-winning market resear...

The Entrepreneur Podcast is launching a new series, handing the microphone to women entrepreneurs doing exciting things in a wide array of industries. In this series, we hand them the microphone to share their stories, experiences, trials, tribulations and successes. And we kick it off with Bryn Davis Williams and Jessica Bosman, two Ivey HBAs, who’ve joined forces to disrupt the women’s undergarm...