Zach Coleman, the owner of creative agencies GymMark and Creatitive, shares his entrepreneurial journey and the challenges he faced in the creative industry. He discusses the importance of having an entrepreneurial mindset and the influence of his parents' entrepreneurial journey. Zach talks about his transition from the corporate world to starting…

On this episode of Turning Point, Blaine Bertsch interviews Sam Jenkins, CEO of Punchcard Systems. They cover his entrepreneurial journey, focusing on his shift from web design to creating a healthcare analytics platform and the nuances of team management. The discussion highlights culture fit, the art of hiring effectively, and fostering a remote …

In this episode, host Blain Bertsch, CEO at Dryrun, is joined by Matt Howard from Maverick Agency in Calgary, a creative agency known for its innovative work. The conversation explores Matt's entrepreneurial journey, starting from his early fascination with technology and creativity to founding Maverick Agency. Matt shares his experiences navigatin…

In this episode of "Turning Point," host Blaine Bertsch welcomes Rob Danard from Black Owl Systems to discuss his story of entrepreneurship and innovation. The episode kicks off with Blaine reminiscing about meeting Rob in Texas during South by Southwest, highlighting the significance of networking in such events. Rob shares his entrepreneurial jou…

In this episode of "Turning Point," host Blaine Bertsch dives into the innovative world of e-commerce and dropshipping with guest Lior Pozin, CEO and co-founder of AutoDS. Lior shares his story of building AutoDS from its inception as a simple idea to the complexities of managing a global e-commerce platform. Lior shares his entrepreneurial beginni…

In the latest episode of "Turning Point," host Blaine Bertsch chats with Eric Mayville, the Co-Founder and CEO of Fairgame, where they aim to revolutionize the golf tech landscape, concentrating on building community and enhancing the golf experience through cutting-edge technology. This episode dives into Eric's journey, tracing his path back to c…

In this episode of Turning Point, Blaine engages in a conversation with entrepreneur Chris Wehbe from Caissa, an advisory firm that serves small businesses and nonprofits. They discuss Chris’ experiences in managing a business across diverse cultural and regulatory environments. Drawing on his engineering background, Chris shares how it influences …

This episode of "Turning Point," hosted by Blaine Bertsch, features a deep dive into user experience (UX) design with guest Satyam Kantamneni, Managing Partner & Chief Experience Officer from UX Reactor. The conversation explores the intricacies of UX design, Satyam's entrepreneurial journey, and the significant impact of UX on technology and busin…

Join us on a compelling episode of "Turning Point" as we dive into the remarkable story of Mike Snyder, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps reserves, who seamlessly transitioned his military discipline and leadership prowess into the world of business. Discover how Mike's unique blend of experiences shaped his approach to entrepreneursh…

After a storied career building success within creative agencies, Chris Caldwell turned to developing a program called "Focus Management" that helps founders optimize their businesses by aligning teams, improving processes, and fostering a collaborative culture. He understands the importance of creating value for customers and going beyond simple m…

On this episode of Turning Point, Obed Maurice shares his journey of starting a virtual accounting firm through to an exit and on to his latest venture. Obed realized that traditional accounting practices were often painful for both accountants and clients. He developed a prototype for cloud accounting, accounting automation, and CFO services. He e…

In this podcast, Dena Patton, a successful entrepreneur and business coach, shares her journey of starting a PR and marketing agency in New York City in 1996. She talks about the challenges she faced and how she overcame them, emphasizing the importance of having a CEO self-care plan. Dena reminds us that as entrepreneurs, we often forget about tak…

In this podcast episode, we dive into the story of Guy Bauer, an entrepreneur who started his own video agency, Umault, during the 2009 recession. Despite facing challenges in his early days, Guy persevered, and his business grew exponentially. Guy's journey is a testament to the power of resilience, hard work, and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, …

In this episode of Turning Point, entrepreneur Nicole McKenzie shares her journey to founding Momentum Accounting. After realizing that the traditional accounting model was not for her, she took the leap and found a whole new world of possibilities. Nicole believes in empowering entrepreneurs and helping them achieve their goals. Building long-last…

In this episode of Turning Point, Drew English, Founder of Charter and Co. shares his experience of building a successful video production company. Drew talks about his turning point client that gave him the confidence to pursue his passion for video production full time. He explains how he built a team of specialists, but as the company grew, he r…

Co-founder and CEO of Quickly, Kyle Friedman, is no stranger to the challenges of cash flow. A serial entrepreneur, Kyle experienced the effect rapid growth can have on a business. Tied with the ups and downs over the years as an entrepreneur, Kyle decided to turn his attention to helping businesses stay liquid, with Quickly, a service that gets th…

Co-founder and Creative Director of Braind, Eduard Kankanyan sat down with Blaine to talk about the journey that led him to build a leading agency in Armenia, through to their expansion to the Canadian market. Find out how aiming high and thinking big helped Eduard gain significant media attention, putting Braind on the map, as well as the highs an…

Steven Adjei is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs in a region built on entrepreneurs, Steven quickly realized that a life in his chosen profession of pharmacy, wasn’t for him. He had much bigger aspirations. Near the end of business school, the idea for BlueCloud Health came into view. Today, they “provide new e…

Mélanie Villeneuve came from a family of entrepreneurs and credits her parents with the “hustle and desire to serve” that led her to a life as an entrepreneur. Melanie shares a series of happy accidents that took her from Canada, to Singapore and back, with each experience building on another. Her relentless drive and smarts led her to her current …

Idris Fashan’s entrepreneurial journey had many twists and turns, with each experience compounding his skill as a marketer. Jumping from business initiatives to a drummer in a traveling band, a stint as a promoter, through to building a copy-writing business and finally a wealth of experience putting it all together in marketing. Idris is always on…

Startup TNT burst on the scene just three years ago in Edmonton, Alberta with a grassroots, support-local approach to cultivating startup talent in ‘fly over country.’ From a modest start as a Thursday night networking event, to investment summits in multiple cities, TNT is helping investors find top innovators locally. Zack and Tim both cut their …

Discover how Kevin Horek started his entrepreneurial journey as a designer, how he became a radio and podcast host with millions of listeners every month, and how his journey led him to his current role as C0-Founder & Chief Design Officer at Llearner. Master the Future of Your Finances. From cash flow management to forecasting and scenario plannin…

Gregg has a storied career, building numerous tech companies from the earliest days of the web. He experienced wins, losses and exits throughout the years. Today he has taken his vast experience to Llearner, where he and his co-founders are building a social sharing site for life-long learning. Master the Future of Your Finances. From cash flow man…

Adam dove into entrepreneurship right out of college and built his first company to an acquisition. But it wasn’t as smooth as it sounds. It rarely is. Adam shares the challenges and hard-earned experiences that led to his company today, Email Outreach Company, where he helps businesses that struggle to gain customers and grow. Master the Future of…

To say that Jarod has had a rapid accession as an entrepreneur is an understatement. From graduating High Schools at sixteen, through to a brief college career and marketing roles in the corporate world, Jared dove into entrepreneurship at a young age. After experiencing some of the challenges rapidly growing businesses face, Jared retooled, focuse…

After starting out as an accountant, Derek had a long and storied career helping businesses thrive. Even though he views business as a complex series of systems, he preaches that it always comes down to people. Today Derek is still helping businesses through Unconstrained CFO. Master the Future of Your Finances. From cash flow management to forecas…

Shortly after graduating from business school, Jyotsna immersed her self in the world of retail, but a desire to learn and grow drove her to dive into entrepreneurship. After some early success writing and self-publishing books, Jyotsna saw a much larger opportunity and created Happy Self Publishing where they help experts from around the globe cre…

Monique Allen comes from a family of entrepreneurs. It’s built into her DNA. So when she started working as a landscaper at the age of eighteen, it was no surprise that she had a full-fledged, growing business by the age of twenty-one. Fast forward to today and Monique is an author and owns a thriving business built on the back of her lifelong pass…

Arjun has had a rapid ascension in the business world. From graduating high school at 16, mastering marketing soon after, through to building a successful and rapidly growing business. Discover how Arjun got started, the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey, and find out how he’s reached success at such a frantic rate. Master the Future of …

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…

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 dow…

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! Master the Future of Your Finances. From cash flow management to forecasting and …

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 pri…

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. Master the Future of Your Fin…

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 w…

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 boo…

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 t…

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…

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 co…

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 gro…

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 garn…

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 …

Michèle Hecken 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 hersel…

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 solu…

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 …

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 …

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 infrastru…

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’ sa…

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 year…

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’…