Speaker 1: 0:05

On the season finale of Sell Me this Podcast, we're joined by Ian McDonald, business and innovation leader at KPMG and one of the most well-connected figures in the Calgary tech ecosystem. From space photos to custom stampede boots, ian brings his full self to a conversation on innovation, risk and why Calgary is quietly becoming Canada's fastest growing tech hub. We dive in to why he believes imagination and curiosity are the most underrated business tools available today and how KPMG is playing the long game by supporting startups without selling them. If you've ever wondered how to build a better tech ecosystem or how to move your company from stuck to scaling, this episode is your blueprint. Let's dive in.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Ian, welcome to another episode of Sell Me this Podcast. We are super excited to have you here today. I know we talked about this briefly before the show, but you have the honor I guess I have the honor of having you as our last guest of the season. So this is our season finale of season one Season finale. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much, keith, us today. Thank you so much, keith. Really pleasure to be here. We have a tradition with our guests where, before each episode, we get to pick artwork yeah, on the screen. Behind us is a samsung frame tv. It's a little bit of a freudian test around what everyone picks. You picked this piece. You want to tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, I love this piece it's known as earth rise.

Speaker 2: 1:22

So this is the first image taken where you can see the entire Earth and I just I love that idea. I'm a big space and science nerd. I'd love to go to outer space one day. It's been a dream since I was a little kid the idea of looking back on the Earth to everything that ever was in history and every person and everything that was ever written all existed right there on that blue dot. I just think it's a fascinating photo to look back and self-reflect. So yeah, this is a very famous photo called Earthrise.

Speaker 1: 1:46

I love it, and so this is probably a question you've never been asked on a podcast. But do you think you actually do? You think in your lifetime you're going to have the opportunity to go to space?

Speaker 2: 1:54

I do. Yeah, I think the affordability is coming down a lot more than when I was a kid I applied to Virgin Galactic to work there. The idea was that I thought if I could get a friends and family discount on a ticket.

Speaker 1: 2:06

It makes it a little more palatable. It makes it a little more palatable.

Speaker 2: 2:08

But no, I do think in my time there's going to be an opportunity to go to space.

Speaker 1: 2:11

That is super incredible.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Would you go to space oh?

Speaker 1: 2:13

100%. Yeah, I feel like there's some people that are definitely in the camp of this sounds terrifying, and I'm one of those people that thrives in the unknown and even the opportunity. I don't know if you ever watched some of those shows, but if you had the chance to go colonize Mars or live there for a couple years or something, I'd be 100% on board with that?

Speaker 2: 2:36

Yeah, it's just. The flight to Mars is maybe the challenge, but getting there, once you're there, I think it'd be fascinating. By the way, star Trek or Star Wars, but getting there once you're there, I think it'd be fascinating, by the way, star Trek or Star Wars.

Speaker 1: 2:45

What would you pick between the two? Oh, that's an easy choice, it is. I'm camp Star Wars 100%. What about you?

Speaker 2: 2:49

Yeah, it's actually a tough one because I grew up watching Star Trek. Every day after school I come home it's TNG, so that was a lot. But I do love the Star Wars universe. I'm not really picking either gap. I don't want to alienate you.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So tell me a little bit about yourself. So obviously you're a staple in the Calgary community. You seem to know everyone. But tell me a little bit about yourself, about the work that you do with KPMG and the journey that's brought you to where you are today.

Speaker 2: 3:20

Thank you, you're very kind. I don't take the flattery very well.

Speaker 2: 3:22

Ian McDonald, business innovation leader with KPMG. I lead our high growth ventures practice and we're based out of the Platform Innovation Center and our office in Bow Valley Square our head office there. So the role that I'm in is quite unique and I get a lot of people asking me so what do you do? And so it's not something that I really boast about and share often, but when I get asked the question, I share. These three main things One is community support how do I get involved in the ecosystem and support, how do I bring KPMG into that space and really support early stage companies and scaling tech companies?

Speaker 2: 3:53

And that's the goal is to not sell services to those companies. It's really just help, provide advice and guidance, make introductions and just help them on their way so that when they become a scaling, high growth company and they're one of the big companies that are in town right now, that there's an opportunity to work with you down the road. The second part is creating collisions, making introductions between, let's say, a clean tech startup and an oil and gas clients of ours. If we can make those introductions and help them, that might lead to a pilot project, it might lead to an acquisition down the road. Who knows what it leads to, but just creating those connections is really important and valuable. And then the third part would be business development. Once a company is at a certain stage in their growth they're a high-growth company, they're scaling, they're going international, whatever it may be that's an opportunity for us to support them with our tailored services.

Speaker 1: 4:39

That makes a lot of sense and so you've grown a really interesting conversation that's happening here in Calgary and you've been part of that ecosystem, especially with investments like the Platform Center. What role are you seeing the Calgary ecosystem start to play from a technology standpoint when you look at what's happening, a from a larger technology standpoint, but also from a Canadian technology perspective?

Speaker 2: 5:02

I think there's been a lot of evolution in the ecosystem over the last number of years, from one that is fostering young, early stage companies to now we have some incredible unicorn companies, or, as we like to say in Canada, narwhals. There's an attraction now to bringing companies to the province and to the city. We're on the map for a lot of reasons. One namely I'll bring up a recent report, the CBRE's report from 2019 to 2023,.

Speaker 2: 5:28

We were found to be the fastest growing tech hub in North America and so, to put that in perspective, that's a 78% growth, 26,000 net new jobs for a total of 60,000 tech jobs in the city. So that outpaced Vancouver, toronto, new York, silicon Valley. It's amazing to see that growth that we've had in the tech talent itself. So from that we've got a really great foundation that's been built a lot of amazing organizations that are out there supporting early stage startups and getting them on their feet. And now we're into this next stage of evolution, this supporting scaling companies and seeing their growth and attracting companies internationally to come to Calgary and Alberta and across the prairies. So I think that's a really exciting next step in our evolution.

Speaker 1: 6:11

What makes Calgary so special, then? Because that's high praise. Those are huge, globally renowned cities, and to have Calgary sitting right beside or ahead of those in some of those key metrics is phenomenal. So what about Calgary is so special? That's drawing these folks in.

Speaker 2: 6:26

There's a couple of factors, in no particular order. So the talent side is one, the young entrepreneurs that are out there that are wanting to build businesses. Sorry, young and old. I should make that clear there are folks at all ages that are starting businesses.

Speaker 2: 6:40

I would say, when I say young, though, I think of that drive and that enthusiasm and energy to start a business. So the pioneers, the people that built this province and the prairies so we have, that's fueling it. So the talent, the founders that go out and say I want to start and build something new, that's a big factor. We have the facilitators, the organizations that are helping foster and support that, from Platform Calgary, alberta, catalyzer, plug and Play, 500 Global. The list goes on. There's lots of organizations that are out there Introgen, thin Air Labs.

Speaker 2: 7:10

Again the whole podcast is dedicated to talking about people and ecosystem mapping. So there's that support that we see in the facilitation and helping support founders. The funding that's a big factor. So from government funding you can look at the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund through the city and Calgary Economic Development, Alberta Innovates, Alberta Enterprise Corporation, Prairies, Economic Development, Canada the funding is a big part.

Speaker 1: 7:34

And the venture capital, the family and friends that cut that first check into a startup company, the funding is a really big factor that fuels that growth of the company and so funding is a really interesting conversation because I feel like in Alberta and Calgary specifically, the powers that be have done a really strong job in creating some of those supports that have propped up some of these early stage organizations, and I know that there was big announcements recently around some of the OSA fund et cetera. On the private capital side of things, I feel like there's still momentum to be had there and that'll be my euphemism of the day momentum to be had. But what's your perspective in terms of that capital environment in Alberta and Calgary?

Speaker 2: 8:12

Yeah, I think there's just more opportunity to invest. There's more opportunity to create awareness for family offices, high net worth individuals. But let's not forget about the corporate community as well, too the corporate venture capital opportunity. There's a number of companies with a lot of free cash flow and money to invest and there's lots of dry powder and money sitting on the sidelines. This is a perfect moment in our time and our history to invest in the companies that are here, and I've got to give a shout out for our local tech companies and supporting local.

Speaker 2: 8:39

When you go to the grocery store right now, you'll see Maple Leafs everywhere. Right, it's buy Canadian, support Canadian. But if you go onto the app store, do you see a Maple Leaf that says this is a Canadian app. This is a Canadian tech company or a software platform. If you're a local company in town and you're looking to do a software implementation, do you know that's a local company that could use some support? I like to use some names as examples a ticketing company like ShowPass. They're competing with some of the big giants out there and they're an amazing platform that can be used. I'd love to see going to an event in Calgary where I'm using ShowPass as an example, or if I'm going to a local retailer and I'm using the payment provider is Hellsome another great local company to talk about. So that's where I think we need to do a better job of really highlighting, focusing on and supporting those local tech companies to give them that extra boost they need.

Speaker 1: 9:29

And I totally agree with you and I love that analogy that you're sharing around grocery shopping. Everyone's probably familiar right now with the little maple leaf. It's changed buying patterns. You'll see the pile of tomatoes that are Canadian-grown beside the empty bin of tomatoes versus the pile of tomatoes from somewhere else that haven't quite gone yet.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Is there a labeling? What's the solution to that? Or is it just more awareness? Because I feel one thing that I hear all the time is Canadians sometimes and it might be our Canadian-ness we do a really bad job of kind of telling our own stories and we compared to some of our neighbors where we just aren't as self-promoting, and maybe for better or for worse, Is that a problem you think we have or is that?

Speaker 2: 10:11

I think there's a couple of things in your question there, the marketing brain side of my brain kicks in and starts to think about how do we do a better job of promoting? And that's on the companies themselves. But again, some of those companies have figured out that going right to the States and selling where there's less risk aversion and an opportunity to get into a market that's faster to adopt is a great place to go. And then try it out in the U S and great at works and bring it to Canada and that's still a great too. You go where your customers and buyers are.

Speaker 2: 10:39

There is a sentiment about our risk aversion. We're first to be second sometimes, and there is a sentiment that I've heard mentioned a couple of times how good could it be if it was built in Calgary? And I'm like I'm blown away by hearing yeah, that's a really surprising comment to hear, and so they look, for they haven't established or built up enough of a presence or gotten bigger clients or whatever it may be. How do we know that it's been validated and it's been tested? And I think that's a really dangerous comment to make. And there's really some amazing companies that are here working very hard and we've got to give them a really hard look at an opportunity to work with them, to give them business.

Speaker 1: 11:16

That comment made me step back for a second and it doesn't. I'm not even quite sure how to respond to that, but I think that one thing you did mention where it is really alarming and I've heard this story before where companies are having to go external, outside of Calgary, outside of Alberta, outside of Canada, to get their first customers. What about the corporate environment in some of these other places like the States is making it more appealing for these companies to go get their first customers out there?

Speaker 2: 11:44

Yeah, I think just that speed to market.

Speaker 1: 11:46

There's an opportunity for companies that are going to move very quickly and they're going to adopt, and I think that it comes back to that ecosystem as well, because one of the things that I've really observed as well is there's such an incredible ecosystem around the startup community, around the innovation community, around all these people that are really challenging the status quo. But there's also this kind of part B and I come from that world which is the more we'll say corporate technology side of things, which still plays it safe, which is a little more risk averse and, I think, is creating some of those challenges in terms of those initial adoption points. What recommendations would you have and what observations would you have around how we can foster more of that corporate to innovation community collaboration and how can we kind of pour some gasoline on the fire in a positive way to create a spark there? Yeah, before I answer that question, I positive way to create a spark there.

Speaker 2: 12:39

Yeah, before I answer that question, I do have to ask, because there might be a first-time listener on this podcast today. Tell me Deliver Digital. Tell me about what you do. Tell me the work you do.

Speaker 1: 12:49

So thank you for I guess it took till the end of the season to finally turn the microphone around but Deliver Digital. We help businesses with how they make technology decisions, and so our story has evolved, like a lot of companies, over the last two years since we were founded. But really we help small and medium businesses with how they make decisions around technology, and the big observation that we've had is that there's a little bit of a power imbalance. A lot of these enterprise organizations will have the cream of the crop. They'll have IT teams of tens or hundreds of people no-transcript some of these really important to our business decisions and so the role that we play is we'll sit alongside these leaders, whether they're selecting new technology, whether they're evaluating the platforms they currently have, whether they're looking for ways to incorporate AI or new security practices or drive innovation into their businesses, and help them with a framework that makes those decisions and helps them evaluate a path forward, so they get unstuck.

Speaker 2: 14:14

Awesome. And what are you hearing for? Is it risk aversion? Is it a hesitancy on supporting local? What do you hear when you speak with these companies?

Speaker 1: 14:22

I hear paralysis. So the thing that I've observed from a lot of the leaders we're talking to is they're super excited about technology. You can't turn on the news, you can't go to a barbecue, you can't be sitting on the sidelines of a rink at your kid's hockey game without hearing that you need to be using technology in your business, but the problem that happens is that companies have no clue where to start, and so there's just so much noise now, and even if you think about some of the challenges that have been created from AI, some of the challenges that have been created from some of these, like automated marketing and et cetera, et cetera, there's so much noise coming at these buyers that they just simply opt out or they get paralyzed, and so I think that the overwhelming sentiment that I'm hearing is that I know I need to do something, like everyone is telling me that if I don't implement AI under a business, we'll be out of business in five years. But where do I even start?

Speaker 2: 15:10

So the risk of not starting at all, though, is facing irrelevancy, business loss, all of those factors. So starting, though, is the biggest first step.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Yeah, and I'm sure you could even apply that to other frameworks in personal life, right, where, if sometimes the decision becomes so big that the hard part becomes making the decision, and so the ability to have someone that has been through it before sit beside you and help guide you through that is becoming more and more important. Yeah, absolutely. I'll jump on your grocery store analogy, because I just had the opportunity to do a talk at Mesh and we shared this analogy of going to a grocery store. Everyone's been grocery shopping, everyone has looked for the Canadian flag on there.

Speaker 1: 15:51

If you were going to the grocery store and you all of a sudden, on the way there, hear this radio ad that these 14 ingredients that you get are now toxic, if you eat these or ingest these, you and everyone you're cooking for will perish. The way you go to a grocery store changes, and if you go into the grocery store, you're starting to look at every label, you're starting to examine everything, and all those decisions become super overwhelming. And then if you add, all of a sudden, every single product in the store now has a salesperson that's trying to capitalize on this, that you know, the five different types of loaves of bread you buy all have a person standing beside them telling you why the bread is awesome. You're just gonna like order takeout every night.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Yeah, like you're just not participating in the grocery store anymore. My wife and I use an app. When we go to the grocery store we actually scan every barcode oh, that's yeah yeah, so we look into that for the score and the ranking and what are the ingredients and okay, I guess we're not having that product anymore because we've just learned something new. So yeah, we're very information driven when it comes to buying products and then supporting local on top of that too.

Speaker 1: 16:47

That's amazing, but I feel like you're the first person to turn around the questions on me. That's okay. But so, from that standpoint then, what are you hearing? So that's what I'm hearing from my vantage point, which is working with a lot of these leaders the analysis paralysis.

Speaker 2: 17:00

that's definitely a factor. The speed in which technology is developing and evolving is so fast that it's I get it, I can see how it can be very difficult to say if we just wait another month or another quarter, there's going to be some new. Ai technology that's going to be developed. And so, if we've subscribed to this software, if we've implemented this technology, how do we adapt and adopt?

Speaker 1: 17:21

And now we've got vibe coding, which by the time this podcast is released, everyone's going to know what vibe coding is.

Speaker 2: 17:26

But no, I was sitting down with my wife talking about okay, if you could create any app, what would you want to create? And she goes okay, I'd love to take photos of all the clothes in my closet and I'd love, in the morning when I wake up, it could just give me a couple options that I could wear. And I said, okay, maybe we could add in a weather component so it would know the weather, and maybe it integrates with your calendar and it knows you're going to be in an important meeting today, so it's going to give a more professional outfit for you and suddenly using a particular platform and I'm building it, I'm just speaking to it and it's developing right there live.

Speaker 2: 17:56

So it's fascinating to see that. But I think, even though technology is moving so quickly, that inability to make a decision and start just go from zero to one another tech term going zeros and ones.

Speaker 1: 18:08

It's a great book, but yeah, a great book too.

Speaker 2: 18:10

So I think you do have to get in and get involved and get your team in your company. More tech literate education awareness, talking about what's out there and what are the opportunities to help leverage technology in your company. More tech literate education awareness, talking about what's out there and what are the opportunities to help leverage technology in your job yeah, First of all, I would buy that app.

Speaker 1: 18:26

So sign me up. I feel like that's a conversation that I have where I'm the person that gets frantic about it. Though I look at the, do I have a podcast? Do I have a meeting? What do I wear today? And I spend far too much time thinking about that. So please sign me up.

Speaker 1: 18:38

But that idea of education is a really important one, Because I think that things are moving so quickly that if I'm a leader in the space, how do I keep up? What are the programs? And, once again, in that analysis, paralysis I can Google or type into ChatGPT or however. I'm getting information these days AI training and I get 400 different options, and so I think that we're going to probably get a little bit theoretical here. But the idea of trust as well what do I know what's good information and what do I know what's bad information? And that idea of evaluation is becoming really challenging. So how are you seeing that kind of come through? And even some of the ventures either you're supporting or the ecosystem that you're part of, Does that topic of trust come up a lot?

Speaker 2: 19:22

It does and when we see that validation of knowing so, to the comment I made earlier about companies that are looking for that validation and they want to know that someone very respectful and successful has used that technology and that's what they're implementing because they're looking for that qualification. They're looking for that case study to say, all right, who did you use, where did you work and how was it successful? To help them understand what their ROI could be, to make sure that they're making the right decision, to know that this is a trusted product that's in the community that they can work with.

Speaker 1: 19:57

So I think that becomes a factor, that level of trust and knowing through affinity who else is working and using that particular technology. Yeah, in Calgary very much so is sometimes in city too. Who's done this first, and I'm sure you've heard that narrative before. Especially in some large enterprise, they're very quick to adopt something, but there's a challenge of who adopts it first. Yeah, yeah, and so I think that idea of trust definitely builds on that. What are some of the other challenges or roadblocks that you see as companies are looking to kind of bring some of those platforms to market in that corporate space here in Calgary?

Speaker 2: 20:31

Yeah, that's a great question Getting those introductions. It starts with making connections and part of my role is to help facilitate that. It starts with making connections and part of my role is to help facilitate that. It's just to say, if I'm speaking with one of our larger clients and understanding what some of their problems and pain points are is trying to find a way to connect a dot to someone else, and that could be a corporate venture capital arm that's looking to invest because there's a strategic opportunity that could help solve a business problem for them. You can look at a large construction company, a development company, and say, okay, what's that? Prop tech contact, a contact construction technology solution that could be useful for us.

Speaker 2: 21:07

So I think helping out with introductions and understanding the customer's pain points and what they're going through is really important because, at the end of the day, if we're not solving the problem, then what are we doing? So I like to take a more customer centric approach. Whether it's with a startup or a scale-up company or a large client. It's just understanding where their pain points are. What are you going through, what are you dealing with and then, all right, so what are the solutions that are available and how can we make those introductions?

Speaker 1: 21:32

Do you think that's the skill set or that's the gap that's in my center right now? Is that kind of that listening and that understanding of what that attachment context is? It's not about the product necessarily. It's about the paint, and I think we've had this discussion before where people sometimes fall in love with the product, not the problem they're solving.

Speaker 2: 21:47

Yeah, yeah, and I'm in a really unique position where I'm not looking to sell any particular product Just.

Speaker 2: 21:53

Switzerland. I'm in Switzerland in this I've used that example before I'm not in any particular service line within KPMG. I want to support all of them equally, so that's why I want to take that really client and customer centric approach. What is it that you are dealing with? What is your immediate pain point and what's the solution? There might be a solution that we could provide, but we'll make referrals to other organizations that are out there to say what? At your stage, you're a little bit earlier stage or this is a specialty that I think one of our folks that we know in the community that we work with. We would make that introduction and say this would probably be best for you to work together there, and so having a referral network and a group to say let's get you to the right person is really important.

Speaker 1: 22:33

So I want to talk about KPMG a little bit and I think your role specifically, because I feel like the role that you have is very unique. It is and I think that, even as you describe what you did at the beginning of our episode, it's okay. Now I probably understand a tiny bit more exactly what you do on a day-to-day basis, but it takes a special organization to play the long game like that, Because I think we can say that your role is not about how do I turn a ranch tomorrow. It's how do we invest in the community so that in 5, 10, 15 years that you've built up a community, all ships rise at the same time. Is that a unique role in the ecosystem? Are you seeing other things like that, or is that a unique position that KPMG is taking?

Speaker 2: 23:12

It is a unique role. I'm not familiar with any other that's quite like it in the country. There could be elsewhere in the world. The long play that you said is exactly right. It is a long-term investment. It is a focus on supporting our diversification of our economy. We have an incredible leadership team at our office that believes in the future of Calgary and the province and when we look at, let's say, junior oil and gas and building up relationships with those individuals that have grown massive companies now and have been incredibly successful, we were there in the beginning. We were forging those relationships and working and supporting early days, which led to something very big, and so our team feels that there's something very similar happening in the tech ecosystem, that we are in those junior oil and gas days in the tech sector that we want to be a part of and we want to support. So I am very fortunate to be in the role that I'm in and luckily it fits with my personality and my skill set.

Speaker 2: 24:06

And I said earlier, half my brain's a marketing side and the other half is a sales and business development side, and the term I've used for many years in my previous life was marketing is bringing those two together. When sales and marketing work together really well, it can be very effective. I've never heard that term. I might steal it it's marketing.

Speaker 2: 24:21

Please do yes marketing. So just before KPNG, I was at a tech startup for two years growing and scaling that across the prairies, and before that, just over 13 years in real estate and community development across Western Canada.

Speaker 1: 24:33

And so community marketing and marketing, that's all part of your DNA. That's it, yeah communities.

Speaker 2: 24:38

I've literally developed, sold, marketed actual communities that people have lived in, and now we have the community at large, the tech and innovation community.

Speaker 1: 24:46

I feel like there's a tagline, it's like from physical communities to I don't know. Your marketing brain probably does that one better.

Speaker 2: 24:53

From the physical to the meta. Oh, my goodness, there we go.

Speaker 1: 24:56

Trademarked, yeah goodness, there we go, trademark. But to build that kind of innovation, your role in essence is an innovation within KPMG to say, okay, we see this opportunity, we're going to peel this orange a little bit different. How does that innovation fabric? Because KPMG is not a small organization right, it's a fairly large startup. There we go. There's your euphemism check.

Speaker 2: 25:17

I feel like I'm actually a startup within the organization. Because it's so novel Working with this community because, again, we're not selling services to startups. That's not the goal. The goal is to build a relationship, connect them, help them grow so that when they become and I can't mention the names- but, the very large companies that we do work with in the country that we've developed that support, and there's certain companies that we've been there from their very first pitch and they've exited or they've IPO'd.

Speaker 2: 25:45

So I think that's that opportunity that we want to nurture and work with.

Speaker 1: 25:49

But it's a special opportunity that you have. But how do you remain autonomous in a large organization and how does that culture get created? A large organization, and how does that culture get created If I'm a large oil and gas company in Calgary? Let's pick something that's topical and I'm looking to replicate some of the success of creating something innovative within my own organization that isn't slowed down by our we'll call it bureaucracy, by the large organization. What are the tips that you would have that have helped create your ecosystem within KPMG to allow you some of the autonomy and some of the flexibility to do the things you need to do to be innovative and creative?

Speaker 2: 26:27

Innovative and creative. Those are the two big points, and I'm just thinking of sitting down, being client-centric, coming up with, and you've got to have an understanding of what's out there. You have to know who's out there, who's doing what. Why do I attend all the events and conferences and post on LinkedIn? The way I do is I'm constantly researching who are the companies, who are the sectors, where's the growth and opportunity, so that I can make those introductions and bring those up in conversation. And then being creative about things too, and just trying to connect the dots. I'm constantly going oh there's someone here that I think would be really great to help solve that problem. I wish I could turn that into my own AI and just get that into a computer and help leverage that, but at the moment a lot of it is sitting up here.

Speaker 1: 27:06

Yeah, at least you have the right initial for it. Get it artificially in there, it could work. So we have a mutual friend who has also been on the podcast Lindsey. Smiley who shared an analogy that I love. But do you think that's what's being created with your role in the group that you're running, which is you have this tanker, which is KPMG, and the ability to deploy these little speedboats?

Speaker 2: 27:33

Is that kind of the structure that you think works, and we also should mention that we were on a panel together at the Calgary Chamber, I moderated a panel. The funniest, the fun and funny panel.

Speaker 1: 27:43

The fun and funny.

Speaker 2: 27:44

It was meant to be some good jokes there, and we did crack a number of dad jokes.

Speaker 2: 27:49

It's interesting I normally always have my key cards on the side of me to gain access to the building. So I have two office locations, one in Bow Valley Square and one at Platform, Calgary, and if I could pull up the key cards, it would be the perfect time to do that. I have a sticker on each one and for the KPMG card, I have a giant ship. I have a giant ship. I have a giant ship, and why? Because we're a large organization. There's safety and security in knowing that it's a large organization, but speed obviously is a different factor in a large organization to a smaller one. And then on the other key card, I have a rocket ship to be that reminder of.

Speaker 2: 28:21

Yeah, I'm involved in a community where there's companies that are moving fast but they're also potentially dangerous. Right, they might not last, and I was at a company that the same thing happened, where it didn't quite make it, but it was a great learning opportunity. So that tanker and speedboat I live that every single day. And when I think of that concept I also think of when people talk about disrupting an industry. That's a word that I have taken out of my vocabulary. An industry that's a word that I have taken out of my vocabulary. I don't like using the word disruption, because I believe what companies should be looking to do is innovating and working with industries not saying, hey, we want to do this and totally disrupt it. The odds of that happening is really low. Buy a lottery ticket. You probably got a better odds of becoming the next Uber or Airbnb.

Speaker 2: 29:07

So instead, look to the industry that you're wanting to innovate with, because those companies might be the ones that could be your exit. They could acquire you. That's a pilot opportunity. That's an opportunity to learn, Whether you're in construction or legal or wherever. The idea should be about collaborating and innovating together, because that's what's going to get the best result in the end.

Speaker 1: 29:31

And I love that you shared that idea of collaborating as well, because I feel like there's so many people that feel like they need to do these things in a secret, dark cave and unleash them as they're perfect and the ability to work with industry hand in hand, the ability to work with a community to develop in public almost. I feel sometimes and maybe this is from a legal standpoint it's a terrible advice, but I feel like building as a community is so much more fun and so much more rewarding and better than trying to do something off to the side all by yourself.

Speaker 2: 30:00

Yeah, I agree, and it doesn't have to be everything's open source, but collaborating with industry working together, there's just a lot of opportunity to work together and solve those problems.

Speaker 2: 30:09

I also look in organizations for entrepreneurship opportunities for and in some ways I'm a bit of an entrepreneur within the organization it's great to foster an innovation culture, to have people think creatively and come up with ideas. And if you're going to fail, fast, but at least you tried. Because again, if you don't go that zero to one, you won't know you won't advance. And if you're going to fail, fast, but at least you tried. Because again, if you don't go that zero to one, you won't know you won't advance. And if you get it wrong, that's okay. Learn from that Pivot, move quickly and on to the next thing. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:40

There's a really interesting podcast episode with I don't know if you're familiar with Dr Astro Tellerhot Lab and he shares this really interesting story around. If you're trying to build a and I'm going to butcher this as well but if you're trying to build a Cirque du Soleil act, where there's a monkey juggling on top of a giant 80 foot tower, everyone always focuses on building that 80 foot tower first, and then they get nine months down the road and they've built this magnificent tower and then it's okay, now we need to train a monkey how to juggle, and they save the hard stuff at the end to not fail fast because they want to be able to show progress. Is that one of the fabrics where you're seeing either whether it be corporate entrepreneurship programs, whether it be startup founders, et cetera the ability to fail fast and learn if the monkey can juggle first?

Speaker 2: 31:27

Yeah, and you have a safe space to do that, you have a space that you can, yeah, fail quickly and learn from that.

Speaker 2: 31:33

It's funny. We've got space in the background here, but there's examples with NASA where they've built the technology but not the software and they've shipped it and then, by the way, we're going to upload that software over time because, yeah, we weren't there yet with the technology, but we knew we would be in the future. That's a great analogy for the idea that companies can start developing and putting that innovation first mindset into employees. And yeah, we might not have that technology here today, but we're working towards that. And again, we talked about Star Trek, Star Wars. It's just, it's having an imagination and creativity and foresight into believing that this is going to come down the road. So I'm a big fan of those types of thinking.

Speaker 1: 32:13

So as and I'm just making the giant leap here that I feel like we're both a little bit of sci-fi nerds at heart, we're entering an era where imagination becomes a little bit of the secret sauce. Oh, I love that you're talking about this Creativity, imagination.

Speaker 2: 32:26

This is so critical. Let's build on that too, because the phrase knowledge is power it's so wrong. Applied knowledge is power, right, the application of that. So there's so much knowledge and information that exists, so how do we apply it? And that's where we bring in that imagination and creativity and how we're going to apply that. Asking my wife what would you do if you built an app? What would that look like? And suddenly there's something net new that we've created. What's a problem or issue that you're dealing with, that your clients are dealing with? And let's get creative about solving that. And, yeah, do the really crazy wild future thought and then start to backtrack from there and go okay, what are the steps that would take in order to get to that? What would be that solution?

Speaker 1: 33:09

I agree completely, like we are in an era right now where the how actually isn't that hard. The hard part right the. You built, you had your clothing app and you put it into one of the one of the platforms. It's like I was going to start naming them, and I feel like we could have an episode on that too, that's true, but the technology isn't the hard part anymore.

Speaker 1: 33:26

It's the creativity, it's the people, it's the story, and I feel like that is incredibly exciting and unlocking, because the guardrails are off and we can do some really cool things. I feel like there's also some really scary things that happen, and I won't turn this into the episode of what's hiding around the corner.

Speaker 2: 33:41

That's true although for the season finale episode, maybe you want a bit of a hook for the next season. Maybe we need a cliffhanger moment. Maybe we need a cliffhanger, cliffhanger moment, yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:51

And then we can have you back in season two and we can just leave people hanging across the summer. If there's one thing that people need to take away from this episode and there's two personas that I want to focus on the first is, if I'm a business leader, I'm that feeling that I know I need to use technology. I know that it's important. I have no clue where to get started From your perspective, like, very practically, what are some of the first things that I could do to start to either get comfortable around it, to start to make meaningful progress, just so I can start to put myself in a headspace to move forward?

Speaker 2: 34:24

Two things I'm going to give you two things. The first is something my father said at our wedding he quoted Ted Lasso, who quoted Walt Whitman Be curious, not judgmental.

Speaker 2: 34:39

Be curious. Curiosity, I think, is really critical right now. Be curious about what's out there, Don't be afraid of it. Now, a good amount of fear is important, Treating things with some skepticism and understanding things. Questioning is always really important, but just be curious about what is out there to help solve your problems. And the second is creativity. I think that is such a critical part. It's something that I love. It's one of my skills that I really enjoy being creative about problem solving In your organization.

Speaker 2: 35:09

If you're a leader of people, foster that creativity with your team members. Have them think outside the box. Have them be creative about. If we could solve this problem in any way you want, how would it be? And having diverse teams in your organization are really important to have diversity of thought. Someone could be coming from a different culture or background or history and they might have a solution to a problem because of that diversity of thought. So that creativity just adds. You just get more creative in a team when you have more people that are thinking creatively Does that calculus change when you think about an enterprise leader?

Speaker 1: 35:44

So if you think business leader for a mid-sized organization to CMO of large insert oil and gas company, does that calculus change or are those two ingredients the same thing that they're going to need to be able to move their organization?

Speaker 2: 36:00

forward. I think you want to leverage the people that are around you, whether they're from outside the organization or within. But I think you want to make sure you're surrounding yourself with those attributes in people to be curious and to be creative, so that pressure for one person to be everything to everyone, that doesn't always happen, that's not the case. Someone who's maybe more analytical might not feel as creative. But surround yourself with people that are thinking that way. That can add to the conversation and you're not surrounding yourself with just hearing that echo chamber and hearing the same thing over and over. So have diversity in the people that are around you so you can get an outsider's perspective.

Speaker 1: 36:35

I love it? And what about from a startup perspective? So if I'm someone that has a great idea, if I want to get started with building out that idea, or building out my own company, or get started on that entrepreneurial journey, what words of wisdom would you have for them?

Speaker 2: 36:51

Know that it's going to be challenging, that it is not going to be the headlines and an easy ride. There are going to be challenges along the way and it's if you're on social media and you just see the nice photos of someone on a vacation or lifestyle, great, it isn't actually like that. So just know that you're going to be in for a ride and that the most important quality for anyone that's in that is going to be grit and perseverance is getting through it. So look to organizations and support groups that are out there mentors, advisors, people that are trusted. I want to shout out to the Venture Mentoring Services of Alberta and many other groups that are out there that can help.

Speaker 2: 37:33

Earlier I was listing Accelerator and Incubator Program. Cdl Rockies is another organization. So there's lots of folks out there that want to help and support you, and that's part of the thing that I love most about being here in Calgary when I moved from BC to here. I was born and raised in the Okanagan. I just love the people here. I thought they were just so helpful and I knew it by being on a bus or a train. People were talking to one another and very open and oh, let me connect you with this person, that person. So I think that's important is to be around people that want to help, support you, and it takes a village.

Speaker 1: 37:59

Yeah, I actually didn't know that you grew up in the Okanagan, because I also grew up in the Okanagan. Oh, did you really?

Speaker 2: 38:03

Yeah, Okay yeah. Mount Bushiri. You were in Mount Bushiri. I grew up in Lakeview Heights.

Speaker 1: 38:08

Oh, there you go yeah, so I was just down the road.

Speaker 2: 38:10

McCartney Road actually was. Oh my goodness, yeah, so I was born in Pentixson, grew up in Kelowna and then lived throughout the Okanagan, all the way into Lake Country Practically neighbors yeah, practically neighbors.

Speaker 1: 38:23

I feel like I could ask you 100 more questions and I know that we're starting to come up on time here. But from a Calgary perspective, what are the things that you see coming ahead for us, for the Calgary ecosystem? I know it's an incredibly exciting time. What are some of the bold predictions you have about Calgary and our technology community?

Speaker 2: 38:48

That we're going to see that next evolution of those many startups that are out there scaling and growing their business and going international and attracting more attention and focus on the city. So, outside investors, venture capital, more private equity investment into the city, I think we're going to see more family offices and high net worth individuals getting more involved in investing in our city in progress. I'm excited for data centers. That's going to be really fascinating for the province. I think we could have a really unique opportunity and a competitive advantage for access to compute, reducing latency and price potentially too. We'll see where policy comes in for opportunities to help support these companies, because compute is going to be a big thing in the future. So, yeah, maybe that could be a big attractor for a tech company elsewhere in the world to say, hey, this is the best place in the world for you to start and grow your business here in Alberta.

Speaker 1: 39:33

Amazing If you were to wave a magic wand and have one thing come true the old magic wand question if you were to have one thing come true around the Alberta tech ecosystem.

Speaker 2: 39:44

I think my biggest thing is I would just love for everyone in the city to know more about the companies that are here. I just think that's the big thing and just getting back to marketing brain and just promoting and thinking about that. And yes, on the sales side too, I'd love them to work with one another and subscribe to those softwares and to implement them. I just think awareness is really key. Get to know those companies. If you're tapping your card at the grocery store or you're looking to implement a technology in your company, get to know what's out there, just in our own backyard. So that would be. My big thing is I want people to know more about the companies that are here.

Speaker 1: 40:18

I love it and. I'll have to give a shout out to Tyler big billboard. So I feel like I might've ripped off that question.

Speaker 2: 40:28

So thank you, Tyler.

Speaker 1: 40:29

Final question of the day, and this is the real hard hitter. This episode is releasing our season finale on July 7th yes, our first day of Stampede. Yes, words of wisdom for people that are embarking on Stampede today.

Speaker 2: 40:43

Oh, yeah, so this is one that I learned very late in the game. When I moved to Calgary, I bought a pair of used cowboy boots in Vancouver at a thrift store. Big mistake and I wore them for years and I begrudgingly walked through Stampede in very sore feet. It was only recently that I purchased a pair of custom-made cowboy boots. They are definitely worth the investment, so I'm very happy with my custom cowboy boots for Stampede. I think proper footwear is really critical for Stampede there you go.

Speaker 1: 41:12

That's a very sensible recommendation. It's a sensible answer. Yeah, absolutely Amazing. Thank you so much for joining us today, Ian. If someone wanted to learn more, if they heard what you said today and they wanted to pick your brain or ask you questions, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you with KPMG? Yeah, I think you probably know the answer I'm going to say is LinkedIn.

Speaker 2: 41:30

Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active on there. If you're also looking to just follow for news and information and sharing great stories of companies that are out there, please feel free to follow and connect with me on LinkedIn. And, keith, I just got to say you have one of the best voices for podcasts. For anyone that's out there listening, you've probably got to admit that this has just been a great sounding podcast as well, so hopefully there's been a lot of information too.

Speaker 1: 41:52

The questions were terrible, but the audience was fantastic. No, disagree, the questions are fantastic, so thank you Amazing. Thank you so much and really appreciate having you on, ian. Thanks so much, keith. Thank you, cheers.