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At TELUS, we know that to do well, we have to “do good”. On March 8th, at the fourth annual Social Enterprise Dragon’s Den, we heard a twist on that philosophy. Three amazing teams from the non-profit sector described how to do good, they have to “do well”.

Selected from among 24 strong applicants, the three contestants vied for $15,000 in grants from TELUS and Vancity Community Foundation, and $30,000 in valuable consulting time from experts at ASQ, JDQ Systems, KPMG and Junxion Strategy. We witnessed the passion and tenacity of these social enterprisers as they pitched their hearts out, following two weeks of dedicated coaching from KPMG, Vancity and Junxion Consulting. They share a common goal: to ensure a sustainable social enterprise that will enable them to carry on and expand their primary social mission. The contestants were:

The Start Up - The Vancouver Native Housing Society’s Urban Aboriginal Fair Trade Gallery: The Vancouver Native Housing Societies objective is to provide safe and secure housing for those in transition. Their pitch to the dragons was to develop, manage and promote a sustainable fair trade business model for authentic Aboriginal art. Given that 88% of “Aboriginal” products are sold by non-Aboriginals in Canada, the Gallery could give Aboriginals a greater role in selling their products, and create sustainable funding for the Vancouver Native Housing Society

The Growth Stage Business - The Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society’s Natural Resource Management Program demonstrates leadership in Natural Resource Management aligned with community values. Their pitch focused on growing the living campus of Haida Gwaii into a world-class, university-accredited experience in Natural Resource Management. This would enable the Haida Gwaii community to share and grow through emersive relationships with professors and students from across Canada during the low-tourism season, for both community enrichment and economic vitality.

The Mature Business - Embers Staffing Solutions address a gap in employment support services for people in transition by providing temporary jobs as a bridge to full-time employment. Their pitch focused on increasing market share of temporary job placements fourfold through marketing and other strategies to bring in more revenue, enabling a scaling of support and placements.

(Photo left to right: John Morris, President JDQ Systems Inc., Mike McCarthy, VP TELUS Small Medium Business, Janet Austin, CEO of Metro Vancouver YWCA, Lorne Burns, Partner, KPMG)

The contestants were polished, persuasive and, above all, inspirational. And the Dragons? They were an impressive panel of judges by any standard, and reasonably well tamed by the night’s MCs John Rowlands of Junxion Strategy and Pamela Chalout of Renewal. The dragon panel included:

•    Janet Austin, CEO of Metro Vancouver YWCA
•    Lorne Burns, Partner KPMG
•    John Morris, President, JDQ Systems Inc.
•    Mike McCarthy, VP TELUS Small Medium Business

The Dragons pulled no punches, and put some hard questions to the teams. Although the questions were different for each social enterprise, based partly on their particular pitch and partly due to the stage of their evolution, there were some key themes in their line of questioning, that got us all thinking like an investor:

For startups, driving traffic & knowing your numbers were key. The dragons asked: How will you going to drive customers to your site? What is your plan to cover all of your expenses when government grant streams run out?
The growth stage, understand your vision: The dragons asked questions like: What is your vision? What do you want to be?
The mature business – optimize your core business: In this case, the dragons focused on optimizing their core market and asked: You have a market of 0.4% of temporary Construction job market. Why are you thinking about diversifying given there is so much more of your core market to pursue?

While the Dragon’s deliberated, Kevin Lynch, of the US Social Enterprise Alliance, shared both his well-informed insights and boundless respect for every person supporting a social enterprise.

How did it all end? Mike McCarthy summed it up for us: “What a great night! The Dragons were slayed by the hearts and minds of the presenters. There were only winners tonight.” And that’s important because you couldn’t help but come away wanting every social enterprise to succeed in doing good by doing well. Appropriately, our Dragons were both benevolent and wise, allocating a mix of cash and consulting to each team, with enough left over to give to other applicants.

Hats off to Enterprising Non-Profits, JDQ Systems, Junxion and KPMG for staging this event! It was a fantastic opportunity to deepen our friendships in the BC Social Enterprise community while having a lot of fun. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

529 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: strategy, 10-99, 100+, 1-9, business, entrepreneur, small_business, dragons_den, social_enterprise, non-profit

Last Thursday night, Yaletown Roundhouse hosted An Evening with the Dragons’ Den and I once again had the pleasure to be part of an audience that no doubt left the theatre feeling inspired to do what they are passionate about: running a successful business.

Photo: Jim Treliving, surrounded by fans of Dragons' Den

The evening, similar to last year’s, began with a conversation between executive producer Tracie Tighe and main Dragon Jim Treliving, who, due to exposure on Dragons’ Den, is now well known to the public as an ex-RCMP that is today the owner of Boston Pizza International Inc. Although sometimes, he is known to a younger generation as “Mr. Pizza Guy.” This was in reference to a story that Jim told when asked by Tracie why he continues to return to Dragons’ Den. On his flight from Toronto to Vancouver, Jim recalls a 10 year old boy on the plane who greeted him with “Hi Mr. Pizza Guy.” He later found out that this boy watches every episode of Dragons’ Den with his family. As long as he is inspiring people, Jim says, he will return to the show season after season.

Dragons’ Den is all about inspiration. Many people have ideas. Some people have the financing to make something out of those ideas. But what I believe is sometimes lacking is the inspiration and belief that they can build on their ideas and become a success. This is why I tremendously enjoyed the evening because as I looked at the faces around me listening to two successful entrepreneurs describe their Dragons’ Den experience, I can feel the sparks ignite within the crowd.

Photo: Panel discussion with Tracie Tighe (L), Jim Treliving (C), and Brad Friesen (R)

The evening’s two special guests were Brad Friesen and Margot Woodworth. Brad Friesen is the owner of Last Call, a hangover remedy served in a unique, patented bottle and with a delivery system like you’ve never seen before. The ingredients are stored in a twist cap that only gets released with a twisting action. I admire Brad’s innovative idea. For the lack of a better word, it was cool and environmentally friendly. The whole idea is to ship the bottles that contain only the ingredients in the cap. Bottles without water mean less fossil-fuel required to deliver them. Plus, the cap can be recycled once used. In his segment, Brad offered these tips for a successful pitch on Dragons’ Den:

Know your numbers. Know all aspects of your business because the Dragons will only invest in people who know what they are doing.
Practice your pitch before appearing on the show. You will likely be steered off your pitch but you still need to deliver.
Be prepared for absolutely everything. With a 5-person panel, you never know where the discussion will take you.

Next up was a business owner with a unique party favour. Margot Woodworth is the owner of Evergreen Memories, a business that offers tree seedlings as wedding favors, gifts for corporate events and many different occasions. These little trees are packaged in bags that act as a greenhouse, allowing them to survive for two weeks without being planted. Here are some of Margot’s tips to survive a face-to-face meeting with the Dragons:

Know your numbers. Just like Brad, Margot hired an accountant to make sure that she has her numbers right.
Be prepared and practice your pitch. It’s a good idea to come up with an opening line to capture the Dragons’ attention. For Margot, hers was “Money does grow on trees.”
Show your passion and be proud of it.

What I took away from the event was that you really need more than just an idea to be successful. You need a prototype. You need to do your research. You need to make sure that what you have is what people want. And you also need a business plan and map out how you want to make your business successful. Most important, you need to have courage to do what you are passionate about. Starting a business of any kind is daunting but as Margot says it best, “Sometimes you just have to do it.”

Brian Chan has been with TELUS for more than five years and specializes in small and medium business.

1,123 Views 3 Comments Permalink Tags: strategy, 10-99, 1-9, business, tips, entrepreneur, small_business, business_owner, business_case, dragons_den

Talking Business

BC Social Enterprises Enter the Dragon’s Lair

An Evening with the Dragons’ Den – Tips for a successful pitch

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