SPEAKER_01: 0:00

To me, that's such a cool like it's ingrained in the culture of this city and this province of like by operating and being here, you are you are contributing to the growth of this province.

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

Welcome to another episode of Sell Me This Podcast. This week I am excited to have Philip Burns, the host of Tech Thursday, where we dive into a conversation around building community, the event scene in Calgary, and the collaboration between large enterprise and the startup scene here right in our backyard. Hopefully you enjoy. So welcome to another episode of Sell Me This Podcast. Today I am super excited to have with me today Philip. Um Philip, I feel like you need no introduction, but but I'm gonna it's I know it's a it's a big uh big go right off the start here, but I'm gonna let you do it anyways.

SPEAKER_01: 0:47

So sell me this fill-up. Sell me this fill-up.

SPEAKER_00: 0:50

This is a this is we're actually renaming the show. We wanted to bring you on to tell you that uh in person. Yeah, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01: 0:57

Sell me this, yeah. Uh uh no, Keith, thank you, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome to be here. Uh and beautiful podcast room. This is incredible.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05

And um and you match the the stockings behind you, so it might it might it might give the time of year away, but I'm glad you wore the the red sweater and we're good to go here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Yeah, okay, that's awesome. Uh but yeah, I um I uh I mean we know each other through um I run an event series called Tech Thursday, and so we host events a little bit across the prairies, also now into Ottawa, so Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton and and Ottawa, obviously. Um and yeah, typically they're they're public panels uh and and we'd like to cover areas that we think are are super interesting in the tech space, either like people building really cool things or um or topics that we think uh people will get value from. So things like you know, go-to-market strategies, or if you're a developer, some nerdy stuff too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49

So I feel like that like uh it's been really interesting to watch the Tech Thursday series. Like I feel like they've grown and grown. Like it's really interesting to see you expand to different cities and geographies. How how did you even get started in that? Because I I feel like and we've put on a few events, yeah. It is a lot of work to put on the one event per quarter that we put on. Um you do it every week.

SPEAKER_01: 2:09

Yeah, yeah. Um, exactly. So you know what is actually interesting? We started it through my role at Neo Financial. So I was at Neo fairly early days, let's say I was like um employee 50, and um after about working there for for about like a year, uh we raised our Series C. Um, we had about 300 employees, but we wanted to scale to about 800. So I stood up a team called the talent marketing team, all focused on like our employer brand, getting more people to want to work for us, and so events became a really big part of our strategy. Like we wanted uh to get in front of people that we would eventually hire. And so we actually took Neo's logo off of it. We called it Tech Thursday, and we ran it in the cities that we had uh offices, so in Winnipeg and Calgary, and uh yeah, every week on a different topic, and the topics were kind of around like okay, this week we have like a priority to uh to hire like um anti-money laundering people. Let's see if we can crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 3:06

So then you'd bring together all the yeah exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 3:10

So okay, we'll bring together this panel for AML and see if anyone in the crowd comes and and we're able to like meet them and maybe like entice them to come in for an interview. Uh and so that's like the the OG origin story. And we didn't add our logo back on until we got sponsors. Our first sponsor was Skip the Dishes, and then uh we kept adding more and more sponsors. And then 2024, it had been like two, two and a bit years that we had been running them. Um we had successfully scaled our team, we had about 800 people, and then we uh we were prepping for a series D, so we weren't really hiring anymore. Uh, and I kind of did the numbers and we were revenue positive if I took my salary out of the equation, uh and so I was like, ah, this could maybe be its own company. So I went to the founders and uh with a proposal to spin out the company, and they were keen. So it's been about a year and a half that I've been off running at full time.

SPEAKER_00: 4:03

That's amazing. And so what's that transition like? Like I feel like it was kind of your baby from the get-go.

SPEAKER_01: 4:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 4:08

Um, has it felt different kind of becoming its own entity?

SPEAKER_01: 4:12

Yeah, that's a great question. I feel like people um people are often like, oh, it must be so fun to be your own boss. And I think when you're your own boss, you realize like just how good of a boss capitalism is. It's just like, yeah, I just you know, capitalism is my boss and and like rent is still due. Yeah, you know, I still have to eat, and and so um, yeah, it's been pretty fun to like just like learn how to hustle on my own and and to find my own schedule. But um, it hasn't been too different, and I think incredibly I I'm incredibly lucky to have like ru started a company that I've been running for two years and to kind of know what's required of me um and and know it intimately well, so there's not a lot, not a huge learning curve. I just had to kind of learn some of the other stuff that goes behind it too.

SPEAKER_00: 4:56

Well, in a in a really crude way, it's almost like you had an incubator for it. Like you kind of incubated it within Neo.

SPEAKER_01: 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:01

And then then when you could stand on your own two feet, it's like, okay, you're you know, um out of the nest.

SPEAKER_01: 5:06

Exactly. Yeah, go off on your own. And I think the founders of Neo are like super keen on like seeing seeing more things happen in the ecosystem. And I think they weren't ready to to like kill Tech Thursday, and so we're really keen to like say, like, okay, you've you've built this pretty cool thing, go off and do it, and and and and uh see you know, they they were they also want it to have its own legs as well.

SPEAKER_00: 5:28

So and so so is there still a tie in terms of the recruitment side, or is like are you you still supplying some of the the people and the connection back to the you know the skip and the neo, which I know we're kind of um in similar families, we'll call it.

SPEAKER_01: 5:42

Yeah, in similar families. Um the tie to the recruitment angle, definitely. Like I I think our focus for our panels is we still want people who are you know senior members of the tech ecosystem to find value in our events. So if that's like if we're doing something that's marketing focused or again developer focused or whatever it might be, we we want we want people who have titles like director or VP of marketing to come to our events and learn something and be able to apply it. Um and then it really depends on sponsors. And so when we spun out, uh interestingly, we uh we made the like conscious decision to spin out as a for-profit company. And I think that maybe surprises a few folks because um oftentimes I think people look at uh uh companies like ours or or organizations like ours, and they're often non-profits, right? They're often funded by the government, which is not not you know a problem. I think it has its role. Um but I think at a certain point they s stop losing um uh traction with larger scale tech companies who who uh who have set requirements from community events or or act activations like the ones that we do. So when we spun out, we spun out as a for-profit company, and I think what that's done is it's required us to ensure that we meet the needs of our sponsors as much as we can. And so we still do have sponsors who come to us saying, We're trying to hire like a program manager. Can you put together an event that's gonna bring those folks out? And we'll do our best to to make sure that's true.

SPEAKER_00: 7:15

Well, and and I love what you said at the very beginning that would and to kind of paraphrase you, you know, capitalism was a great boss.

SPEAKER_01: 7:21

Right.

unknown: 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:22

And and I think that the idea of having to worry about the economics, having to worry about the sponsors, I think keeps you on your toes a little bit. Totally. And it doesn't become safe. Yeah. And so I I I love exactly what you're saying, which you you know, you kind of have to continually push the envelope. How do you evolve? How do you keep current? How do you keep providing more and more value over time and not just in this short-time burst of the front end?

SPEAKER_01: 7:44

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think like uh yeah, it like if if we were if we were had the opportunity to sit on our like sit back and say, like, cool, well, we know we have funding coming in uh in December, we're chilling. Um well, then you you wouldn't innovate. And I think like what at least what I saw at NEO is like if we can't pay the bills, I probably should back up and go somewhere else, right? Like I should go, you know, get a job somewhere else and and not run Tech Thursday. But so long as we like keep pro the the the market keeps proving that we add value by um sponsors coming back to us and saying, Hey, can you keep running these events for us? We're we're still we're getting the ROI. You are like showing the the value that you're creating, keep going, then we should be allowed to keep doing what we're doing, right?

SPEAKER_00: 8:33

I I agree a hundred percent. And then and I think that there's so much competition for events. Like it's a weird, it's a weird system right now in Calgary where I I think you could probably go to five different events a day or an evening and still have five more to go to.

SPEAKER_01: 8:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 8:47

But I also think that there's still this incredible craving of community that a lot of people are still asking for. And and I'm like you probably have an interesting lens into it. But I I think that there's a lot of events, but there isn't necessarily a lot of high-quality events still. Right. Um and maybe I'm I'm setting up a landmine and I'm not trying to do that either. I don't want to skewer anyone, but no, that's true.

SPEAKER_01: 9:07

Can I swear on this podcast? 100%. Yeah, okay. Yeah, let me shit on all the other podcasts organized. Um no, that's uh I think I think there is um there is a lot of quality content. Like I really like um I think Intergen does a really great job. Um and there's a few, like I think Graham Edge uh with his energy disruptors is like an incredible conference. Um and I think there is like the there's quality content. Um yeah, but I I yeah, I I think maybe some of it is missing. I I think to us when we do weekly events, like that that recurring aspect is a big part of what we do. And like I think you mentioned community. Yeah, I I do think people really care about the community and and care about meeting people week over week and uh building those relationships over time. Otherwise, like you know, you can kind of lose those those connections that you made, right? So um, yeah, I I I think that is probably a big part of it. Um but definitely ensuring the quality of our content is super important as well, otherwise, kind of the same thing, right? Otherwise, you know, we'll be forced to kind of innovate because people aren't coming out anymore, right?

SPEAKER_00: 10:18

Yeah, and and so has Tech Thursday then moved past like just your your Thursday events, um, and and is it kind of kind of turning into an ecosystem then or kind of like what is the what is the um influence we'll call it of Tech Thursday look like today?

SPEAKER_01: 10:32

Yeah, what's kind of next for us? Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh one of the things that I think is is next for us. So we expanded to Edmonton, Ottawa last year. Um that's been great. On the event side, we've shifted our model so we still host weekly events, but now we're doing more like private dinners as well. So we'll do dinners for founders, or we'll do some poker nights, or we just like launch a hackathon. So trying to like do some more like engaging events, not always like the panel style. And those have been a lot of fun. And then I think to me the flywheel that we're looking to explore is um we have the Thursday, Thursday events at the top, but are there opportunity to cross-sell our in-person audience to a digital platform as well? So if that's like turning our events into video content, or if it is um, you know, standing up maybe uh podcasts, or or not just necessarily our podcast, but helping other creators get access to our in-person audience and create a bit of a larger like online community is something that we're hopeful to do. And then I think once you create that sort of platform, there's then opportunities, if you have distribution, to help other companies start companies as well, or other founders start companies. So what what is maybe very nascent and and probably not ready to talk about, but is this like labs concept of of things that we're playing around with can we get some founders in and help them grow and then get them exposure and and also get them distribution and help their companies start off? So those are some of the things that we're trying to uh play around with. And I think each one of those aspects feeds into the next aspect.

SPEAKER_00: 12:08

Yeah, you can definitely see how it comes together as an ecosystem that each part kind of feeds one part. And I, you know, I'm a big fan of the Jim Collins flywheel, and yeah, um, I'm a little bit of a nerd for some of the good grade books.

SPEAKER_01: 12:19

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 12:20

But but I think that that concept of the flywheel, is that something you're using actively in your business today?

SPEAKER_01: 12:25

That's like the only way I think about our strategy is through the flywheel. Um I I'm like anti-goals. Yeah, I don't know if you want to talk about this.

SPEAKER_00: 12:34

Um we can talk about anything. So what let's I want to talk about anti-goals. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:38

I'm anti-goals. I I actually think goals are stupid. Um and I I think that a lot of people disagree with me. And I think people are like, how are you an entrepreneur? Think goals are stupid. Like that's wild. But I think we in my life personally, I think I've I've always thought, well, why would I make a goal? Like, I have no idea where I'm gonna be in my life. That goal might be super hard for me in a year, like in a year's time, or it might be super easy. And so why would I like pigeonhole myself, give myself like the dopamine hit of like, oh, I accomplished this goal in February, now I've got nothing to do for the rest of the year. Um and so I've always tried to make decisions based on like uh like value-based decisions, like um curiosity, authenticity, empathy, um and and hoping that if all of if if you think those values are like compasses and each decision, those compasses are like largely pointing north, it will get me to like where what kind of impact I want to have at the end of my life. Um, and so when I was starting Tech Thursday, I was like about to write goals, like 2025 goals, this is where we want to be at the end of the year. And I stopped myself of like, why would I do this? Like this is ridiculous. This is really like this is not how I live my life. Why would I run my company this way? And so um I you know, I I think probably the values of Tech Thursday are closely, you know, oriented to my personal values of like authenticity, empathy, and curiosity. Um, but also I just think about it in the flywheel of like each one of these I want to strengthen as much as they can, as much as they can be, and then ideally each one of them is is gonna like support each other, and that's kind of the only thing I think about.

SPEAKER_00: 14:15

Yeah, and I it make it comes clear in kind of how everything feeds into one another, yeah. And then it becomes really clear where if you're getting hung up in a certain spot, it just stops.

SPEAKER_01: 14:26

Yeah, totally. And I think each one has to be like commercially viable in itself as well. Um and I think that's that's important too, right? Like you can stand one up uh and it can fund the other ones, but at a certain point the other ones also have to be commercially viable um and stand on their own two feet and and then they'll really start to work together really well, I think. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 14:46

So I want to dive more into this goals conversation because I find it fascinating because uh I'm I'm one of the people where I have a really hard time with setting goals, because to your point, I I think that they're somewhat subjective, and so many people will set a series of goals, yep, and then they'll run around telling everyone those goals, and they get that you know, like high five and oh what what amazing goals. Like I can't like and you kind of get pre-rewarded for without having to do anything. Totally. And and I think they're kind of made up and BSy.

SPEAKER_01: 15:16

Yeah. All right, now I can talk some shit. I feel like let's talk shit. This is I feel like one thing I really don't like. I spend too much time on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00: 15:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:24

But what I mean, first of all, to your point, I think um there's actually science with goals that if you set a goal and then you tell someone that goal that it's even your goal, your brain gets like 80%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:38

And this might you you know, fact-check me before quoting it, but no, this is it's I'm uh 100% science right here.

SPEAKER_01: 15:43

Yeah, yeah, gets it gets at least like enough dopamine for your brain to be like, oh well, why would I accomplish that? I just I got everything I needed from you know that goal, right? Like in my brain, I've already sort of gotten the dopamine of of having done it. Yeah, like if I had the goal of of publishing a book, like I really want to publish a book, and I told you, hey Keith, I really want to publish a book. You're like, dude, that's awesome, good for you. My brain is going I would bring your book it on exactly reward thing, like okay, you know, you don't have to worry about it anymore. And and so um, yeah, but then maybe it's a talk some shit. It's like I I feel like a lot of people are are are um are like you know just post their goals on LinkedIn and they're like, oh great, a hundred likes. Like either I don't have to do it, or you know, they take that enough as like, oh, they're doing it. Yeah, I would love to see more people do stuff and post about that they did stuff, you know?

SPEAKER_00: 16:37

Well, and I feel like and and um this might be controversial, but yeah, I feel like we're diving into this water anyways. Let's go. Um like like I feel like LinkedIn sometimes is a bunch of people like high-fiving each other for like the generic vague content. And like we're like LinkedIn is a huge part of our strategy. Like we um through both for through like our company and through our consultants, like we have like we're very um we've invested heavily in helping them tell their stories through LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_01: 17:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:02

But there's so much just like fluff.

SPEAKER_01: 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:06

And like I said, there's everyone high-fiving, and um, it's not real.

SPEAKER_01: 17:11

Yeah, it's not real. Uh people often like I think, yeah. I I do a pretty good job of posting on LinkedIn. Yeah. So I don't want to talk too much shit.

SPEAKER_00: 17:19

No, but like I just like I we're like in like probably the top like 1% of like LinkedIn users for like how often we post. Like we like, yeah. Right. We're similar. You got you do a great job on LinkedIn as well.

SPEAKER_01: 17:30

Like, yeah. Um, but I yeah, I do think you're right that like um but I I also think that people often think I'm like too I'm busier than I am. They're like, oh, you must be crushing it. Oh, we all your updates on LinkedIn. Well, you know, LinkedIn does a great job, I think, of making it seem like you're busier than you are. But um, but yeah, I don't know. Uh LinkedIn's very interesting. I I've been um trying to pull back on social media recently. Uh like I have logged out on my Instagram and and like try and only check once a day. Um and and I was doing something similar with LinkedIn too. And it's like really interesting now when I log in, I realize like how posts will affect me. Like I I feel it in turn, like I'll get like my cortisol was spiked, I feel like, and I'll be like, what am I doing on these apps? I feel like when you're sort of in the rush and you check it all the time, you don't realize that you're like getting spiked in cortisol and these posts are stressing you out. But I'm trying to do a better job of like staying off these platforms.

SPEAKER_00: 18:25

It's all those, so even email I found like so. Email is something like that I believe that genuinely I was addicted to, and so really, yeah, like you and you it's so easy if you think well, you check your email, it's like okay, I got three, okay, I'll quickly like and crush these off. And um, and that like some of them are not so unnecessary, but you kind of look forward to and you kind of pride yourself on always checking your email in every kind of free moments, and eventually it's the same as you. I just said, Okay, well, I'm just gonna batch it, I'll do it twice a day. Yep, and um occasionally if I'm like I'm waiting for something, I'll come check my email. But yeah, it's crazy how more efficient you can be with stuff like that when you start to batch it versus trying to like sneak it into every waking moment of the day.

SPEAKER_01: 19:03

Yeah, uh yeah, that's it. That's actually smart. I should do with that with email. I feel like if I don't do that with email, sometimes I'll just be like doing email for the whole day. Like I'll just like slowly be answering that.

SPEAKER_00: 19:14

And and so like there's a there's a friend that I have um out of Vancouver Island, and he has this kind of like band busy campaign. And so email is I think one of the like biggest culprits where it can feel like you have been slaving away all day.

SPEAKER_01: 19:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:27

And you're you've done like 12 minutes of work. Um, oh you're doing I was just so busy today, I was with emails, blah, blah, blah. And he's he he has on the big I can't even talk today. Uh he's on this big campaign of Ben Busy. Okay. Which is you can't busy is a terrible descrip like descriptor of anything because it doesn't actually describe what you're busy with. Right. Um and so email is the big culprit, but he's actually on this Ben Busy campaign right now.

SPEAKER_01: 19:55

Yeah. Um interesting. That's awesome. I l I love that.'Cause I also think there's there's um I uh I I I think that uh it sometimes it frustrates me when I ask how people are doing and they're like, Oh, I'm busy. I'm busy. Well that's not a good thing. It's not a yeah. It's a horrible thing to just be like plainly busy and not happy about it, right?

SPEAKER_00: 20:16

Yeah. Well, even on I think that there was some interesting reading that I did around just even the question like how are you doing? It's just such an autopilot response for people now. Yeah. Um I hate that I hate it. Yeah, it's like, hey, how are you doing? Good, how are you doing? Good, awesome, nice to see you. Move on.

SPEAKER_01: 20:32

Yeah. Or or it's like, how are you doing? Oh, busy. And it's like, oh well, that's so boring.

SPEAKER_00: 20:38

And just they're just like it's like the ER, like the air is out of the room. It's like, okay, well um, and so like the the the suggestion is asking questions like, you know, what ex what exciting things are you working on right now? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 20:49

Um I love that stuff. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 20:51

And so just kind of breaking that like circuit where we're kind of on autopilot for saying hello to people.

SPEAKER_01: 20:55

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really like that. Yeah. Um what are you excited about? What's your deepest insecurity? You know, yeah, things like that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:02

Yeah, you gotta be at the right. Imagine just meeting someone. Hi, uh, nice to meet you. Uh I'm Keith. What's your deepest insecurity, by the way?

SPEAKER_01: 21:09

It's right. It breaks the ice, you know, it brings people together.

SPEAKER_00: 21:12

I think so. Um I'll I'll let you take your sip of water before I ask my next question here. I'll just put it.

unknown: 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:18

Um so I I do want to talk a little bit about because you're also part of a nonprofit.

SPEAKER_01: 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:23

And um, and so why don't you tell me about the nonprofit? It sounds like you were you're doing some incredible things there.

SPEAKER_01: 21:29

Yes. Um I so it's called the Patrol Foundation. And it's we um it's me and eight of my friends, um, and uh, or seven of my friends, eight including me. And we started it because actually 2023, um, there was like a grant from the city of Calgary that me and one of my friends applied for, and we got it. It was like four grand that was like deposited into my bank account. And it was in order to for us to host like a party downtown with music. And we didn't know what to do. Same day we got the money, um seven guys posted that they were running a Movember campaign. It was actually called the Prostate Patrol. Um but they like we're getting a lot of traction, raising a lot of money. And so I reached out, I was like, hey guys, I got this money. I don't really want to be a promoter. Can we like host an can I host a party for you guys at the end of the month? And like the original mustache or Movember was these like Australian guys who wanted to throw a themed party, and so they threw a mustache party at the end of the month, um, which is like the origins of of Movember. Um, and so I was like, Can we throw like a mustache party? And it became the mustache bash, which was like this formal gala, and we ended up selling out in our first year. And so then going into last year, 2024, we decided, hey, this is pretty fun. One of the guys is a lawyer, and his firm was like, pro bono, you guys can set this up as a nonprofit. So we spun up a nonprofit, matured the name a bit, called it the Patrol Foundation. Um, and so now we run three events throughout the year. We run um uh what our first rodeo and then our second rodeo, and next year it'll be our third rodeo. Um, and that's around raising money for local kids sports around Stampede. Um, and then we run in November two events. We added a charity 10k, so it's called the Cold Patrol 10K on November 8th. Um, and so one of these years we're gonna get like you know, snowed on, it's gonna be horrible, it's gonna be super cold. But so far it's been like incredible weather, and and so we had that um a month ago, and it was and we um we raised a hundred K. We actually were in the middle of speeches and we crossed the 100k threshold, which was really cool. That's amazing. Yeah, and we had uh 600, 600 runners, uh, and then uh again the mustache bash. So um those two together, I think now we've raised 127k for Alberta Cancer Foundation. Um and to be honest, it's just been a really fun like excuse to get drunk with my friends and have like a really productive hobby. Um because I know you love golfing. I like can't stand golfing. So this is my version of golfing.

SPEAKER_00: 24:04

And so I feel like um I feel like your your version of golf and my version of golf are probably very different things. And I'm the least like I like to spend four hours hanging out with friends on the golf course. Right, okay, yeah. And and so I'm you know, I'll probably I'm a good enough golfer to kind of um stay out of trouble, but I I I am definitely a very recreational golfer that enjoys the camaraderie and the activity a lot more than the act of actually golfing.

SPEAKER_01: 24:27

Yeah, if there's a if it's best ball and there's drinks, then I'll play a golf. Okay, yeah. So you would you would we would enjoy golfing together. Okay. Okay, I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 24:35

Yeah, yeah. We like a lot of times. Like I just got back uh actually last night from Mexico when we were golfing, and um, you know, one of the days we'd actually did a best ball tournament. One of the guys got like um actual shirts made up. Like there was it was four neighbors that that had essentially started this where we um won a Mexico trip in a solid auction and have kind of gone back a couple times since.

SPEAKER_01: 24:54

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 24:55

And and so Bays versus Narrows is like just like the area of the street that you're on.

SPEAKER_01: 24:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 25:00

And um we would we'll go golfing, but like yeah, this year we had shirts made up and everything, but you do a best ball, it's an excuse to hang out with your friends.

SPEAKER_01: 25:06

Yeah, that's great. I love that. That's that's acceptable golfing. I like that.

SPEAKER_00: 25:10

Yeah, a couple shenanigans here and there.

SPEAKER_01: 25:12

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 25:13

Yeah, but none of it none of us are trying out for the PGA tour.

SPEAKER_01: 25:16

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00: 25:17

Yeah, we're not tracking our handicaps and all that kind of stuff. And but so I and when's the mustache patrol one or the The mustache bash. The mustache bash, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 25:26

So this year that was on November 22nd. Okay, yeah. And um, yeah, so so for that one, again, sold out uh three years in a row. Um and this year, maybe what was unique is we brought in we used to have this creative director at Neo Financial. He had like taken portraits of like David Hasselhoff and stuff. Um and I like didn't want a traditional photo booth, and so I reached out to him. I was like, hey, can you come and set up these like portrait dramatic portraits of everyone? And so he did, and and he crushed it, and so we have all these like incredibly cool photos of all of our attendees like posing and these like dramatic portraits that um are just like hilarious, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 26:10

But amazing. Well, well sign me up for both of those things next year.

SPEAKER_01: 26:13

Okay, yeah, you're in.

SPEAKER_00: 26:14

Yeah, I will uh I'll it'll be the year that it just snows horribly.

SPEAKER_01: 26:17

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And it'll be like, yeah, all of us will have to run with shovels and stuff to yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:23

I'm the I'm a 100% a fair weather runner. I'm uh there's the people that are like rain or shine or minus 30, they'll be out there, and it's like I I run run outside in the summer and that's about it.

SPEAKER_01: 26:33

Yeah, that's it. That's when everyone prefers to run, right? Like so nice. I was out there yesterday actually going for a run, and I'm kind of like in my mind going, This I can't wait for it to be sunny.

SPEAKER_00: 26:43

Yeah, you're like this is yeah, and and then like Thursday, I think it's going to minus 20, so you got some Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 26:48

I'm not doing that, by the way.

SPEAKER_00: 26:49

You're not so you're you we found your limit. Yeah, my limit is like minus five. Yeah, not out there. I can't I feel it would hurt the lungs.

SPEAKER_01: 26:56

Yeah. Yeah. I did it once um last year. I did it once. Um just because I you know when you don't work out for like a week and you just feel bad for yourself.

SPEAKER_00: 27:09

I know exactly what that feeling feels like coming back from Mexico yesterday.

SPEAKER_01: 27:12

There you go. Yeah, tonight you're probably gonna have like some big workout. And so I tried to go out, it was minus 20, but I just like couldn't look at myself in the mirror unless I went out for a run. Uh and so I did, and it was the wor it was the worst, and I'm not doing it anymore. Yeah, that's hurt the lungs, it hurt everything. I was like afraid I was gonna like freeze to death.

SPEAKER_00: 27:28

Yeah, yeah, that's that's not ideal at all. Yeah. So I want to jump into the Calgary ecosystem a little bit. So you you are um you know, you have your not-for-profit, you have you have Tech Thursdays. Yes. Um I feel like you you're you're building two really interesting communities. I know that you're a big advocate for Calgary in itself. Right. Um and I know that you're diving into some other cities as well, but I like what what's so special that you found about Calgary that it seems to kind of keep drawing you into what we're building here?

SPEAKER_01: 27:58

Man, yeah, that's a great question. I so I just got back from Montreal um last week. I was also in Quebec City last week. Um and I I went to university in Montreal. Um so I definitely like there was a day where I was like hit with this like big pang of nostalgia, like, oh I'm missing so much. It's a world-class city. But then after a while, I was like, you know what? I think Calgary's still better. Like Calgary feels like a playground where you must feel this too, like having built stuff here, it really feels like everyone wants to see you succeed and wants you to build. And I I've been doing a lot of reading as well, but like some of the pioneers of Alberta more generally. Um, like uh my friend John Whitaker wrote this book on on George Lane, uh, and he was one of the like uh big four for the stampede. And there's just like constantly this feeling of like people who operate and and do stuff in in Alberta, it's like yes, I'm building a company, but I'm also building a province. And uh to me that's such a cool like it it's ingrained in the culture of this city and this province of like by operating and being here, you are you're contributing to the growth of this province. And so I I I think that's felt from everyone who just like wants to help you succeed and and wants to give back. Um, and I think that's unique to to us, and I also think there's some other factors that are unique to us, like um one is obviously like quality of life and sunshine, and like I actually think our winters are probably the best winters in Canada. Um basically like the only one that comes close is probably Vancouver, but I think it's too gloomy in Vancouver.

SPEAKER_00: 29:41

So so I was at an event this morning um talking to someone about this exact thing, and they're like, I had to move from Vancouver because it's too gloomy in the winter. It's too gloomy. Um I I grew up in Klona. Yeah. And so in Klona, um on October 1st, like the suns come into the like the clouds come into the valley and they don't leave until March. Um and you know, you can go to the ski hill and kind of go above it, but you don't see the sun for and I this is a gross overstatement, but yeah, it's not sunny in the winter there.

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

Yeah, and yeah, so so like I think the sun here is is awesome and and the Chinooks make it like you know, great long term. But then um the other thing is like affordability. I think um though obviously different factors and and different people consider that differently, but I do think we've done a good enough job of of building and home prices have stayed affordable enough that I think more people are in a position where they can take risks at a younger age. Um and so I just like for me, I have a lot of my friends who are uh age like similar ages to me, 28, who quit their job and are starting companies and and they can't because you know they're in a position where they're not spending too much on their on their you know rent and are able to do that. Again, you just wouldn't be in that position if you're in Vancouver or in Toronto, right? So so I think I think um there's just really both culturally, um the the the maybe economically um and and then the like tangential benefits of like it just being a really nice city to live in, I think all make this city incredible.

SPEAKER_00: 31:12

I I couldn't agree more, and I I think that you're you're spot on about everyone willing to lend a helping hand too. Yeah, you know, even when I was launching our business. Excuse me. The even when I was launching our business, like the people that um put out their hand and said, Hey, let me help you, let me introduce you to this person. Oh my gosh, you have to meet someone over here, go to this event. Like everyone is so generous with their time, with their um connections, like and and it just creates this sense of community. Yeah. And and I I love that you're doing the research into kind of OG Alberta. Right. Yeah. Because the the oil patch and oil sands and kind of the wasn't what it was today for all time. Yeah. There was this point when it was this group of renegades that were kind of you know the crazy people that came out here and started building something, and they were they were going against the grain, yeah. They were pioneers in a certain way, and they were they were taking weird risks. They were um, you know, I wouldn't in some degrees not even calculated risks. Yeah, they were they just said, I believe we can change X, Y, and Z and let's go figure out how to do it.

SPEAKER_01: 32:16

Yeah. I you the first people I mean, um one of the other, it wasn't George Lane, but I think George Lane was part of the cattle drive. Um, but someone just bought like a herd of like 3,000 cattle and drove it up from Montana and was like, let's see, let's see if this works here. Uh and uh uh and and you're right about not being calculated risks. Um you know the Fairmont here is called the Palliser. Um you might already know this, but um, from this book that I read. Uh the Palliser, he was actually an explorer, uh and he came out to Alberta and he wrote he came out twice and twice wrote that like the land was too arid, nothing would survive here, no one should ever move here. That's exactly like nothing will ever come. And so it's actually like tongue in cheek that it's called the Palliser. Like, you know, we hated this guy.

SPEAKER_00: 33:09

He was the biggest antagonist ever for the cities.

SPEAKER_01: 33:11

For the cities, yeah, exactly. He was like our collective um yeah, antagonist.

SPEAKER_00: 33:15

Yeah, it's yeah, I I think that that's it's super interesting, but uh that's uh part of the DNA that I think is starting to come back, where whenever you take a leadership position, there people like just always start to play a little bit safe. Yeah. Right? And I and I think that you have an industry that started to um play it safe, right? That as it matured, and I think that's kind of how economics and everything like works just by nature of how the world works. Yeah, as you get shareholders, as you have more dollars involved, like your your risk tolerance goes down. But all of a sudden you have that DNA that's starting to pop back up that says, like, hey, um let's just figure it out. Yeah. And I think you have that tech energy that's starting to come in. And you know, one of the conversations that I love to have, and I think you're doing it with Tech Thursday really elegantly as well, is how do you connect that energy from the kind of the youthful pioneering startup scene with the traditional um technical mindsets of some of these more established digital operations IT teams.

SPEAKER_01: 34:14

Right. Within oil and gas companies.

SPEAKER_00: 34:16

Within within any really established organizations to kind of bring those two worlds together more. So you're starting to see, you know, probably a happy medium that has um elements of both things in it.

SPEAKER_01: 34:27

Yeah, totally. I I I also think a lot of those companies want to hire Calgary talent for for you know, whatever it might be, um if it's like consulting gigs or and stuff, and and want to do it more. And so the more I think um we can like build that like really world-class um tech talent right here in in Calgary, the the more those larger companies will will like hire them for roles and and hire them for for like projects, um, and hopefully like feed itself. Um, but I think you're totally right. I think um there's a lot more that could be done. Um and some of some of those like big oil and gas companies are super interesting. I I had the opportunity to go up to um Christina Lake um the and and visit uh Sonovis' SAG D plant up there. Oh amazing. Yeah, that's like a really cool, unique um innovation. SAG DNA. It's it's incredible, yeah. Um like for for those who don't know, it's it's like um you basically like pump steam into the ground and that allows um gravity to pull down the oil, and so it's it's ideally a lot less sort of uh carbon intensive. And also I was flying in thinking it would look like Mordor. Um like just these open pit bitumen mines. And it really wasn't at all. Like it was it was kind of like just this beautiful land that's all gonna get sort of um put back once once they're done drilling as well, um, of the land that of the small footprint that they are sort of you know have built on. Um so so there are like really interesting developments, and when I was up there, they also were like, look, one of these wells, um we would be willing to like trial things and partner with someone. And so there was actually a lot of interest from from at least uh Sinovis of like, yeah, if if you're like an entrepreneur and you have an idea for how we can like make more money off a well, we would let you try it.

SPEAKER_00: 36:18

Yeah, and that's amazing. I I think that when we start to find those partnerships, yeah, um, the the that's when the magic starts to happen. Totally, yeah. Um, and and you know, even going back to your initial comment about the lab side of things and how do we how do you start to kind of build some of those those new and different businesses in town, creating some of those partnerships with industry right in their backyard is gonna be a really important part of that too.

SPEAKER_01: 36:42

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, um, and being able to do that and and like I said, again, there's like all these companies who are operating here, I think they also feel a very strong like Alberta mindset. Um and so the more that we're able to as like a tech ecosystem prove that we are serious people and and like um and we can build serious companies and and there isn't a risk to your project if you go with like a Calgary-based um founder or or company. Um I I think the more uh the more these these companies will act as as first customers, um, but also I think that the more we'll we'll be able to win long term. So I'm pretty excited to see what that looks like.

SPEAKER_00: 37:26

I love it. So as you're taking your your Tech Thursday story on the road, yeah. You know, you you mentioned Edmonton, you mentioned you're going out east further. Um I know there's a big Tech Thursday thing in uh Winnipeg as well. Yeah. Um what are you seeing? What are you learning as you start to expand into different markets?

SPEAKER_01: 37:42

Yeah, I mean, every market is different. That's the one thing that we've learned. That's like the headline of what we learned. Um, every market is incredibly different, is like the subtitle. Um uh yeah, it's been like super interesting, I think, to to go in um to these communities. I I think though broadly across Canada, there's a lot of interest in building great companies in Canada, um, like uh uh doubling down on on like Canadian talent and Canadian companies. Um so that's certainly been really cool to see, but um each city has their own added value, like Ottawa um has has really strong IP talent and and really strong um uh quantum research, actually, interestingly, and and so does so does Edmonton as well. Edmonton's a lot of really strong like AI um AI companies too. Um and then obviously Winnipeg is like the home of skip the dishes. Uh but understanding the the like how these ecosystems play together, who the like maybe network nodes are, and tapping into them has been like a really interesting and and like um both challenging but also exciting part of like expanding to new cities and trying to like hack growth.

SPEAKER_00: 39:01

I I love it. And and what's next on the horizon for you? So you talked a little bit about your ecosystem plan. Yeah, um, but if we think about things we can expect in the short term from from the Tech Thursday team, yeah. Um what are what's next on the horizon?

SPEAKER_01: 39:15

What's next on the horizon? Um so we're actually really focused on the markets that we're in right now. We don't want to expand any any further. Um what we want to do is become the undeniable convener in these markets. And so our our kind of growth strategy going into the new year is um just double down on the conversations that we're having um and uh make sure that they're like incredible speakers. Um our audiences are possibly as big as they can be, and the connections that we're making are are really, really strong. Um and uh and and then sort of what we want to do as well is is start looking at can we cross sell into our digital audience as well? Can we build our YouTube presence, our Instagram presence? Can we also help other people um build their own audiences through like what I talked about, a podcast network possibly? Um, and then we can you know place ads across all of our our sort of media assets as well. So that's gonna be a big area of focus too. Um and then maybe just to like tease some of the events that we have coming up. Let's hear it. Yeah, I mean, you we're talking about yeah, getting Suncor uh in, we're doing a fireside chat, I think on February 19th with John Hill. He's the CIO at Suncore. Um, and so that should be a great conversation about like he really wants to spend time talking about um, you know, domain-specific AI and and what that looks like. But I I assume also a lot of that conversation is going to be about um how do we get more folks in the tech space um solving problems in in the oil and gas space. Um so that one should be fun. And then uh we got a cool like open banking one on January 22nd. A couple of folks are flying in from Toronto, um good friends of mine as well, from Zero and Crestview to just talk about like some of the big changes in the federal budget now that it's passed, uh, in terms of that now living with the Bank of Canada and what that looks like. So um those are the two that are on the top of my head that I'll kind of tease right now.

SPEAKER_00: 41:11

I I love it. And and um to put it uh for people that that don't know what Tech Thursday is, um if you were to give uh we joked about the very beginning, I haven't done like a sales pitch in a long time on the show, but but in the spirit of sell me this podcast, like if someone wanted to attend one of the Tech Thursday events, like what what would you tell them? Um like why would they want to come to one of the events?

SPEAKER_01: 41:33

Sell me this Tech Thursday.

SPEAKER_00: 41:35

Sell me this Tech Thursday. I feel like this is a great way to wrap up the episode.

SPEAKER_01: 41:38

Yeah, totally. Uh to me, I think Tech Thursday is is all about um I think in our DNA, we've always wanted our events to be. Um, if you'll permit me to like use this term tech term for an event series, but I think we've always tried to think about our events in first principles of like let's trip away everything else in events and understand why people are coming, and let's make sure they're coming for the right reasons. Um, so like people will always suggest like, oh, you should do like raffle prizes or you should like have free food even. And it like I want to limit that stuff as much as possible. Um, because as soon as people are coming for those things, they stop coming for the reasons um that you want to look you want them to come, which is the uh topic of conversation. Um and so to sell you this podcast, I would say like if you see a topic that you're interested in, you should come because it's gonna be the the kind of best iteration of that conversation that at the very least you can have here in Calgary or or here in in whatever markets that you're in. Um and uh and and I think also like um what we want to do is we want to take uh content that you could probably only get from like a podcast, a really niche podcast that's recorded in California, and have it with people in this ecosystem, with people that you can meet and and like ha build relationships with and and hopefully like iterate on some of the problems that you're building. So um that's kind of the the sell of this podcast, and maybe the like additional ethos is to us. I think when we looked at how San Francisco became a tech hub, a lot is is given to like um obviously concentration, but also concentration of capital. Um and and like Intel is often one of the first companies that are cited as like helping this. But I think also what what's maybe less talked about is is uh the the uh close proximity of a lot of these executives from these um semiconductor companies who would meet at pubs for pints and just have casual conversations about what they were building, uh what problems they were facing, and the innovation that spurred from there. So um to us also, I think what we're trying to do with Tech Thursday is create the space for senior members of the tech ecosystem to like engage with new ideas, but also have casual conversations and hopefully you know, over a beer we can change the world, maybe.

SPEAKER_00: 44:08

I love it. What an incredible way to wrap up. Yeah, um, Philip, if someone wanted to get a hold of you, yes, uh, what's the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_01: 44:14

Yeah, my phone number is 825. I was like, that is brave. I would have never I've never had anyone start with the phone number. Yes, call me. Uh no, uh connect with me on LinkedIn for sure. Um and um yeah, uh try and get back to everyone who reaches out on LinkedIn or follow uh Tech Thursday on LinkedIn as well.

SPEAKER_00: 44:32

Amazing. Thank you so much for the the chat today. This has been an absolute pleasure um and a blast to have you on. Um and thank you for not giving out your whole phone number because I feel like we would have had to bleep that out. Um I feel like we'll have you on again, and and I I love what you're doing with Tech Thursday, so thanks so much for coming.

SPEAKER_01: 44:48

Well, Keith, thanks so much for having me in this beautiful space. Thank you for making the stockings match my shirt. And this was a lot of fun. So I I appreciate it. I was I was looking forward to selling more things. I thought you were just gonna hand me stuff and I was gonna have to sell them, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 45:01

Next time. Next time we're just gonna have one episode. I'm just gonna it'll be surprised. Sell me this sell me this Christmas tree.

SPEAKER_01: 45:06

Yeah, it'll be mystery boxes that we have to sell. Yeah, I'm into it.

SPEAKER_00: 45:09

Awesome, thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01: 45:10

Yeah, of course, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 45:13

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