The Entrepreneur Podcast

Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of innovation. They change the way industries work and impact the global, the local and the personal. Christopher Misch embodies that innovator ethos. As the CEO of ChargerQuest, a pioneer in the electric vehicle industry in Canada, Misch is on a mission to change how Canadians travel and impact their world. In this episode, discover Misch’s surprising late entry...

Most kitchen experiments end up as unedible dead ends. But every now and then something new captures a niche and graduates to grocery stores all across America. That is the story behind Margaret Coons, founder and CEO of Nuts for Cheese. Coons, an English literature grad talks through her journey with Ivey faculty member Dave Simpson, on how a young vegan chef selling products at farmer's markets...

Entrepreneurs often reflect their companies. That is definitely the case with Matt Phillips, founder of Phillips Brewing and Malting Co.! Phillips rejoins the podcast to dive deeper into the unique brand he has built over two decades, how and why he started a craft brewery while others were shutting their doors, and what the future holds for British Columbia’s biggest small brewery.   The Entrepre...

With the new season of The Entrepreneur Podcast just around the corner, here's a story from our upcoming episode with Matt Phillips, Founder of Phillips Brewing & Malting Company, on the creation of their popular ale, Blue Buck.

Mark Healy started his first entrepreneurial venture during his Ivey MBA in 2005. Through the years he has led established brands and started a variety of ventures in the marketing and consulting space. But most recently, Healy joined two other Ivey alums and acquired a horseradish brand in Norfolk County. And that right in the midst of a global pandemic. In this frank conversation recorded at the...

Attempting to forecast the future can be dangerous but this episode is all about that and more. Previously in our series on Entrepreneurship Research, we have explored the history of the field, its dramatic rise, and the variety of research areas that our faculty are currently engaged in… but what about the future? What are the unexplored areas of entrepreneurship research that will draw new schol...

Despite its relative youth, a story we covered in our first episode, the world of entrepreneurship research has grown vast and wide. With the currents of economics, cognitive science, psychology, and various fields of business streaming in; entrepreneurship has been able to incorporate a whole host of frameworks and perspectives to forge its own identity. In part two of our series on entrepreneurs...

“Entrepreneurship” can often seem like a buzzword. Since the 1970s, there has been a strong narrative of the entrepreneur; a visionary leader, who is changing the way we live our day-to-day lives, and driving human innovation to the next level. But amidst the glamour and mythology, entrepreneurship also has a science to it. And the "scientist" that dissect and study the world of entrepreneurship a...

Join us for a new series on the Entrepreneur Podcast that will explore the fascinating world of entrepreneurship research, from its origin and growth, to what the future holds, featuring our world-class Ivey faculty. The three-part series debuts next Thursday, August 3, 2023. To ensure you don't miss out on this series, subscribe to The Entrepreneur Podcast on your favourite platform or visit: htt...

If the world of business is a sport, entrepreneurs are often the ones making the rules. That was definitely the case for Ivey MBA ’07 Trent Kitsch, who changed the men’s underwear industry forever with the introduction of Saxx Underwear. Born and raised in Kelowna, BC, Kitsch has always had the energy, passion, and determination that marks out the best entrepreneurs. Throughout his still young car...

If talking about the weather is Canada’s favourite past-time, Pierre Morrissette is the nation’s weatherman. Since 1989, Morrissette has been at the helm of Pelmorex Media Inc., the parent company of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, which provides remotes towns, and major cities lined across the 2nd largest country in the world, with accurate, up-to-date weather information. In this episode of...

This season, the Entrepreneur Podcast - Legends Series includes a sit down with Pierre Morrissette, discussing his journey of creating one of the most trusted brands in Canada, The Weather Network, and his role as a leading innovator in the rapidly evolving media space. You will also hear serial entrepreneur and founder of SAXX Underwear, Trent Kitsch, on revolutionizing the men’s underwear indust...

This week, The Entrepreneur Podcast is featuring one of our fellow podcasts from the larger Western ecosystem, Ivey Academy Presents: Leadership in Practice, which discusses critical issues in business, unpacks new research, and talks to industry leaders about the latest trends. In this episode, Erik Mikkelsen, HBA '06, co-founder and Managing Partner of Auxo Management LP, and the President and C...

Melissa Sariffodeen has a number of roles and titles on her profile. One of them is "lifelong student." And it’s fitting. As Co-founder and CEO of Ladies Learning Code and Canada Learning Code, lifelong learning is integral to her founder’s journey. Since 2011, over 700,000 Canadians from all walks of life have had the opportunity to learn critical skills and build up the confidence to become buil...

Silicon Valley Legend is a prized descriptor, and few fit the term as well as Guy Kawasaki. A renowned author, marketing specialist, angel investor, and tech evangelist, Kawasaki has a storied career in the Valley - including a major role at Apple marketing Macintosh computers in 1984. Today, Kawasaki is the chief evangelist for Canva, the Australian graphic design platform, and the host of his po...

For Rick Cytrynbaum, BA'96, the entrepreneur life can feel like a game of snakes and ladders. Yet rolling the dice, doesn’t have to be a game of chance. Through years of hard work and hustle, Cytrynbaum has built a diverse and innovative career in the fashion space, where he has developed footwear for New Balance, co-founded House of Harlow 1960 with Nicole Richie, worked with celebrities like Kan...

“The reward for taking out Bose, Panasonic, and Samsung was getting to play against Amazon, Google and Apple,”  That’s a common joke at Patrick Spence’s Santa Barbara-based audio giant, Sonos; which is chiefly responsible for the rise of the smart speaker. An HBA ’98 grad, Spence joined the company in 2012 and took over as CEO, five years later. But Sonos wasn’t Spence’s first rodeo in the fast-mo...

Jake Karls, BA’16, exudes the enthusiasm that one would expect of an entrepreneur. But the co-founder of Mid-Day Squares is not playing a part. He is a true believer that their chocolate bar will become the modern-day Hershey’s bar. After the failure of his clothing brand, Karls was invited to join Mid-Day Squares by his sister and brother-in-law, Lezlie Karls and Nick Saltarelli; to bring his ent...

This Summer, the Entrepreneur Podcast is back! Featuring the likes of Jake Karl of Mid-Day Squares, the Montreal-based chocolate company that’s taking the world by storm, Patrick Spence from the innovative audio giant Sonos, and Rick Cytrynbaum, a true trailblazer in the direct-to-consumer fashion industry. Join us on August 3, 2022 for our kick-off episode.

The path of an entrepreneur is rarely a straight line, but some paths are more unconventional than others. Since the age of 15, Michelle Kwok was working in research labs. When she joined Western University to pursue a degree in Medical Science, everything seemed set for a future Dr Kwok. But then she started to wonder… and then wander… soon she was helping companies with social media marketing, w...

From East Side Mario's, Fionn MacCool's and Bier Markt to Swiss Chalet, and The Keg, millions of Canadians have celebrated their special moments in John Rothschild’s world.  Graduating as one of the youngest MBA students in 1983, John Rothschild didn’t take the obvious entrepreneurial path. He built his career as an accountant, and then an investment banker who soon discovered how much he enjoyed...

‘Entrepreneurship can change the world.’ This can often feel like a throwaway line to make something seem more important than it really is. But Jocelyn Mackie, HBA ’03, is a believer. In fact, she lives it every day as the Co-CEO of Grand Challenges Canada, an innovation platform that has supported over 1300 innovations in 90 countries. Joining the Entrepreneur Podcast, Mackie shares many of their...

“Those who can’t do, teach.” If you enjoy dispelling popular myths, this episode is for you. MBA ’64 Bob Nourse was in his element when teaching in the classroom. After completing his doctorate at Harvard, Nourse began a nine-year teaching career at Ivey. But in 1976 that world was upended when a private equity firm came knocking for his expertise to turn around some struggling companies. From air...

Adversity is an essential part of great stories, and few things spell adversity like muscle damage, broken bones, shoulder and chest injuries. Arriving at Western in the 1970s, David ‘Patch’ Patchell-Evans, BA’77, LLD’12, was all set to pursue a degree in business before a horrific motorbike accident intervened. As he took the long road to recovery, Patch discovered the life-changing power of phys...

The demand for sustainable products has never been greater – and perhaps, never been more necessary. From climate change to the creation of vast trash islands, more and more consumers are realizing that real change is needed to protect and preserve our environment. For Jayme Jenkins, HBA ’07, and Jessica Stevenson, HBA ’07, real change wasn’t just about making a donation or changing their buying h...