Dispatches from the Front Lines

In this series, we interview the people on the front lines of Canada’s thriving small business community to learn about their experiences and what it takes to successfully run your own business.

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Rob Clark, Founder and Principal at RC Design

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Rob Clark, Founder and Principal at RC Design

This conversation is with Rob Clark, Founder and Principal at RC Design. RC Design is an independent team of creative thinkers that define and build brands by leveraging both traditional print and digital technology. They create meaningful experiences by marrying design and technology to generate results for businesses, brands and...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Charles Bennett, Founder and Principal Consultant at Triella

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Charles Bennett, Founder and Principal Consultant at Triella

This conversation is with Charles Bennett, Founder and Principal Consultant at Triella. Triella is a full-service technology consulting company that helps small & medium-sized businesses create, implement and maintain their technology infrastructure. They proactively recommend technologies that reduce risk, increase revenue or lower expenses and deliver 100% Canadian based Private...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Heather Purcell, Principal at Finally CPA

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Heather Purcell, Principal at Finally CPA

This conversation is with Heather Purcell, Principal at Finally CPA. Founded in 2019, Finally CPA exists to guide entrepreneurs to be financially successful. Unlike most firms, they provide a complete solution—part-time CFO, financial planning and analysis, management reporting, monthly accounting, payroll and benefits administration. Their solution is delivered through cloud-based...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Marilyn Barefoot, Founder of Barefoot Brainstorming

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Marilyn Barefoot, Founder of Barefoot Brainstorming

This conversation is with Marilyn Barefoot, Founder of Barefoot Brainstorming. Classically trained in tier-one companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, General Mills, Nike and Microsoft, Marilyn combines a wickedly smart and analytical brain with an intuitive gut. Having worked at major advertising agencies like Vickers & Benson, Bozell Palmer Bonner, Cossette Communications...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Jed Schneiderman, Executive Vice-President, Growth & Marketing at EQ Works

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Jed Schneiderman, Executive Vice-President, Growth & Marketing at EQ Works

This conversation is with Jed Schneiderman, Executive Vice-President, Growth & Marketing at EQ Works. EQ Works provides a smarter way to target customers using Location Behaviour. Proprietary algorithms and data, combined with Artificial Intelligence, generate attribution models that connect consumer behaviour in the physical world to behaviour in the digital...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Erica Pearson, Co-Founder and CEO of Vacation Fund

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Erica Pearson, Co-Founder and CEO of Vacation Fund

This conversation is with Erica Pearson, Co-Founder and CEO of Vacation Fund. Vacation Fund is the first employer-matched saving tool specifically for employees’ travel goals. It allows employees to direct a portion of their paycheque into a separate Vacation Fund Account, and allows their employer to match a portion of...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Alan Smith, Co-Founder of Strategyzer

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Alan Smith, Co-Founder of Strategyzer

This time, we’re speaking to Alan Smith, Co-Founder of Strategyzer. Strategyzer builds practical tools to help businesses understand customers, design better value propositions, and find the right business model. Their Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas make it easy to rapidly sketch business model ideas and their tools allow...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Alanna Nathanson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Giants & Gentlemen

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Alanna Nathanson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Giants & Gentlemen

This time, we’re speaking to Alanna Nathanson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Giants & Gentlemen, a highly awarded independent strategy & creative shop offering powerful ideas and zero attitude. As entrepreneurs, they bring a grow-or-die attitude to make brands tower like giants, while always acting like gents. Unique to...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Jessica Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Metrix

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Jessica Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Metrix

This time, we’re speaking to Jessica Knox, Chief Executive Officer at Metrix. Metrix creates custom learning solutions to help clients build their most competitive workforce. Their expertise is in how people learn. They pair this expertise with powerful design and development capabilities to create inspiring training programs that improve employee...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Israel Diaz, Founder & CEO of Sunday+Night

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Israel Diaz, Founder & CEO of Sunday+Night

This time, we’re speaking with Israel Diaz, Founder and CEO of Sunday+Night. Israel is a 20+ year creative professional and business leader. He started his career as a Designer/Art Director and steadily moved up the ranks to Chief Creative Officer to lead some of the most renowned and awarded Advertising...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale of Raw Signal Group

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale of Raw Signal Group

This time, we’re speaking to Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale of Raw Signal Group, and best-selling authors of How F*cked Up Is Your Management? An Uncomfortable Conversation About Modern Leadership. Johnathan and Melissa have been building tech companies for 20 years. They met in the early days of Mozilla — Johnathan...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Mark and Carissa Stewart of wonderMakr

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Mark and Carissa Stewart of wonderMakr

This time, we’re speaking to Mark and Carissa Stewart of wonderMakr, an Innovation & Creative Technology Studio that turn ‘what if’, ‘if only’, and ‘I wish’ into award-winning human experiences for brands and agencies. wonderMakr was established in 2014 and since then, their work has been showcased in Brazil, South...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Shari Walczak, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of The Garden

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Shari Walczak, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of The Garden

This time, we’re speaking with Shari Walczak, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of The Garden—one of Canada's top independent Creative and Brand Strategy Agencies. Shari has amassed over 20 years of experience leading breakthrough strategic work for organizations like Capital One, Samsung, Interac, Roots, Cineplex, The United Way, Audi, TMX...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Tom Nickalls, Founder & CEO of Castle HR

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Tom Nickalls, Founder & CEO of Castle HR

This time, we’re speaking with Tom Nickalls, Founder & CEO of Castle HR. Tom caught the entrepreneur "bug" when he was employee #5 at his father's industrial sales company. He then went on to co-found a consulting firm, lead a SaaS sales division, build and lead a sales team of...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Erin Bury, CEO of Willful

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Erin Bury, CEO of Willful

This time, we’re speaking with Erin Bury, CEO of Willful, an online platform that makes it affordable, convenient, and easy for Canadians to create a legal will online. Erin is a journalism grad who has spent over a decade working in startups. She's spent time as a startup marketer, tech...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Hussain Bandukwala Founder & CEO of Parwaaz Consulting

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Hussain Bandukwala Founder & CEO of Parwaaz Consulting

This time, we’re speaking with Hussain Bandukwala, Founder & CEO of Parwaaz Consulting, a  boutique consulting firm focused on helping organizations set up and optimize their project management offices. Tell us a bit about your business. Every organization focuses on strategy, but oftentimes they struggle to figure out how to...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Amanda Munday, Founder and CEO of The Workaround

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Amanda Munday, Founder and CEO of The Workaround

This time, we’re speaking with Amanda Munday, Founder and CEO of The Workaround, a parent-friendly workspace in Toronto’s east end.  Tell us a bit about your business The Workaround is a co-working space with childcare onsite. We want to be a solution for parents who need childcare in alternative situations....
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Roger Thorpe, President & Owner of Thorpe Benefits

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Roger Thorpe, President & Owner of Thorpe Benefits

This time, we’re speaking with Roger Thorpe, President & Owner of Thorpe Benefits. Thorpe Benefits are senior specialists in Group Benefits that help their clients by bringing a new perspective to how we should measure success in a benefits plan. They help HR and Finance teams build awesome benefits programs...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Olivier Bue from The Hull Group

Dispatches from the Front Lines: an Interview with Olivier Bue from The Hull Group

When we read stories about what makes a company successful, they’re usually told from the point of view of the business owner (we’ve even shared a few such stories ourselves). We thought it would be interesting to examine things from a different perspective, so we reached out to some operational...
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Dispatches from the Front Lines:An Interview with Photographer, Writer, and Podcaster, Darius Bashar

Dispatches from the Front Lines:An Interview with Photographer, Writer, and Podcaster, Darius Bashar

Every entrepreneur has their own stories of trials and tribulations – particularly from an operations perspective. In this series, I’m speaking with owner-operators to learn what makes them tick, along with some of their best advice for successfully running your own business. This time I’m speaking with Darius Bashar, a...
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