For Doug Bunker, the founding sales and marketing leader of Clevest, the third time was indeed the charm. With co-founders Tom Ligocki and Arthur Lo, they set out to transform workforce automation and mobile dispatch for small and mid-sized organizations.
Bob Graham is a classic entrepreneur who started his first enterprise mowing lawns and teaching guitar in his neighborhood. After a succession of jobs, Bob realized he only had one life to live. A chance encounter led him to found Airwaves Music and grow it into Canada’s leading DJ company.
“All businesses are people businesses.” Bob Park, President & CEO, Fincad
Bob Park is an entrepreneur who has overcome numerous challenges and changes in the twenty-five years since he co-founded Fincad. Bob and his original partner started the business in 1990 in the early stages of the modern over-the-counter financial derivatives business. Coming from the brokerage industry, they saw that there was a tremendous imbalance between what the derivatives experts in the big banks knew and what their clients, mainly non-financial companies, knew. As a result, the corporate treasurers and CFOs of those customer organizations were making costly mistakes or even being cheated. Bob and his partner set out to level the playing field by providing the customers of the banks with the knowledge and technology needed to deal in the derivatives markets in an informed way. Bob started with almost no money and has weathered stormy periods to reinvent himself and his company.
My goal is to help entrepreneurs step into and through their biggest challenges. One way that I am getting entrepreneurs to do that is by sharing my 35+ years of entrepreneurial experience in my new book Wind In Your Sails.
I was riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver with my wife Karalee this weekend. We both stopped to take pictures of the Lions Gate Bridge spanning the entrance to Burrard Inlet. It reminded me of how fortunate we are to be able to live in and experience such a beautiful city.
I haven’t always had such deep appreciation for what I have. Seven years ago, I was unhappy in business and as it turns out in life. I hired extraordinary coach Kevin Lawrence who has helped me experience and live life and business in new ways. Looking back on our journey together, I see seven reasons why entrepreneurs need a coach.