Building Blocks With Brendan Herjavec

03/11/2022

EP: 49 Earn Rewards For Paying Your Rent W/ Abtine Monavvari

Abtine Monavvari is the CEO and one of the co-founders of Chexy, the new standard for paying rent.

Chexy is the first tenant-facing payments platform that allows renters to earn rewards & build credit on rent, all while bringing rent payments into the 21st century. ​We know renting can be hard. Month after month, an eye-watering sum leaves your bank account leaving you very little to show for it. ​Unlike your everyday purchases, when it comes to rent, you don't benefit from travel incentives or the convenience of paying online... That's all about to change.

In this episode, you will learn the following:
1. The challenges in solving a double-sided marketplace?
2. How going direct to the consumer may be the best business model?
3. Why build in public an focus on your health?

19/08/2022

EP: 48 How Voiceform Is Changing The Way We Collect Customer Insights W/ Philip Brook

In a world of online surveys and customer feedback, one company is changing the game by making it easy for customers to speak their mind, literally.

Philip Brook is the CEO and one of the co-founders of VoiceForm, a customer feedback and customer insights tool that allows users to create, send, and share surveys, forms, and questionnaires that can be spoken into, rather than just typed.

06/07/2022

Is eSports copying the UFC?

Is eSports on a similar road as the UFC, with both having heavy investment, TV shows, and now the rise of stars will we see eSports take off the same way as ...

10/02/2022

EP 37: A Bright Idea to Make Rooms Darker W/ Mark Coombs

Close your eyes and relax, but that damn streetlight is shining in your eyes. Having a dark room is key for getting a good night sleep, but light leak is an annoyance many of us face. Today we speak with Mark, the co-founder and CEO of Sleepout the world's best portable blackout curtain.

Mark and Hannah started Sleepout over a year ago during the beginning of covid. They saw a problem they believed they could fix with an innovation. On today's episode we go over how they came up with the idea, how they got to manufacturing and developing a product as well as some of the surprisingly difficult things that come with being a founder (with a partner). Hope you enjoy the episode, please subscribe and get your darn sleep to live a healthy and productive life.

28/01/2022

Ep: 36 Health and Wealth Through Smoothies W/ Chelsie Hodge

Today we speak with Chelsie Hodge, the CEO and Founder of Blender Bites Ltd. Bites. Blender Bites are 100% organic superfood pucks for smoothies with National distribution across Canada in both retail and foodservice. She created her first prototypes in her kitchen and then moved manufacturing to a rented popsicle shop in North Vancouver, where she had the help of her family to make every bag of blender bites by hand for the first 3 years. We get to learn about how Chelsie went from the corporate world and built experience that helped launch the successful publicly traded company Blender Bites is today. Hope you enjoy the episode.

21/10/2021

EP: 30 Livestream For Finance, Investing and Trading W/ Tobias Francis Heaslip

Over the past few years, we have seen a shift of individuals wanting to take more control over their finances, this is no more apparent than with the rise of retail investors and crypto. We have also seen a shift in how media and learning is consumed with the ever-growing interest in live streaming and content creation. Trading.tv looked to combine these worlds to allow financial content creators to have a platform built for them while also having a place for individuals looking to gain financial knowledge. We speak about some of the challenges of founding a startup such as creating an in-house development team and how Trading.tv is able to monetize a social platform without needing to rely on advertisements. Check out Trading.tv and sign up for the beta to learn about new ways to invest.

14/10/2021

Ep: 29 Making Dough with Dough and How To Be A Solo Entrepreneur W/ Erica Rankin

Turning a passion into a business is always challenging, especially when you are solo in this journey. In this episode I connect with Erica to learn how she turned tasty treats into healthier alternatives, creating Bro Dough. We learn about some of the challenges that come with being a solo entrepreneur and how to navigate the complex world of entrepreneurship. We hear about how Erica started in business and overcame challenges such as having to use a balcony as a fridge and a dining room as a conference room. If you are interested in how to start a CPG company or want to know more about starting without a cofounder, this is a wonderful and “sweet” episode.
Hopefully, you enjoy this episode and pick up some guilt-free cookie dough.

16/09/2021

Ep: 26 Attention Economy and Growth of TikTok Marketing W/ Adam Silverman

With the ever-changing world of social media, what is “hot” can change year over year. Keeping up with trends can not only be intimidating but risky for organizations. Adam saw this and wanted to make an avenue for content creators and organizations to connect for mutual benefit. Adam started Hot Media, which has been acquired by Wondr Gaming where he now is the Head Of Media. One of the big takeaways was that while others may have looked down at TikTok Adam realized that the retention and viewership were high and at the end of the day no matter what platform attention is worth money. In this episode, we speak about how Adam was able to find an opportunity in a new platform, grow a business from the ground up, and how he was able to bring value to large clients.

02/09/2021

EP: 24 A Boys Club But For All The Women W/ Monday Girl

Networking is often challenging because 25 or more people are competing for the attention of one VP and inquiring about the same employment opportunities. Only the extroverted people speak and the loudest people seem to be the only ones heard and remembered. Guests leave with little to no value unless they are one of the lucky few to get a coffee chat to network after the networking event.

Rachel and Istiana have a similar perspective on networking and wanted to create an event they would want to attend. It started with a small event over brunch then grew larger and larger over the years with events reaching over 250+ people and speakers are being flown into Toronto. Rachel and Istiana have created Monday Girl. Monday Girl is Canada’s first career platform built for ambitious and diverse women. During Covid Monday Girl started a digital “social club” a “ A Boy’s Club, But For All The Women”. Today we talk about how Monday Girl was started over one coffee a few years ago as well as some of the learnings they both have from being women in the entrepreneurial world.

05/08/2021

Ep: 21 Care About Your Skin with Skin Theory W/ Caralyn Hale

Our skin is happiest when we are happy, so let’s start there! Caralyn is a Registered Holistic Nutrition Practitioner RHNP™ and Acne Expert. As a holistic skin coach, she empowers her clients to listen to their bodies and make tweaks to their lifestyle, skincare routine, mindset, and nutrition to clear their skin naturally. In this episode we talk about how Caralyn was able to make this business her full time job and how she has been growing as a solopreneur handling and learning all the business functions. Hope you all enjoy this episode and wear your sunscreen.

29/07/2021

Ep 20: Live Shopping in an Online Store, and Creating a Repeatable Startup Process W/ Amer Abu-Khajil

Today I speak with Amer from TTT Studios. With the help of his team at TTT Studios, Amer launched Shop Studio Live. This Shopify App empowers brands to foster meaningful relationships with their customers while supercharging conversion rates through engaging live videos. Amer and I discuss how he developed a repeatable process to create new startups for his organization and how he brought Shop Studio Live to market. This is a fantastic episode if you want to know more about how Amer got a product on Shopify and how your business can bring more innovation and creativity while running lean.

22/07/2021

Ep:19 Liebs & Co - Help Employers and Employees Better Understand Disability W/ Max Lieberman

In this episode I had the opportunity to speak with Max to learn more about his story and his mission “We believe that education and empathy create a better workplace for all” . When entered the workforce he quickly realized that many companies lacked the knowledge on how to accommodate people with disabilities. Just like many entrepreneurs he saw a challenge he wanted to solve.
Many companies refused to accommodate his learning disabilities, which made it difficult to climb the corporate ladder. He realized there must be other people facing similar challenges. Max created Liebs & Co. to ensure people with disabilities are better understood and given fair opportunities in the workplace.