Taking the ‘Why Not’ Approach and Running with Opportunities as they come | Donna Litt
AQs Blog & Grill
In this episode, Donna talks about the ‘Why Not’ approach that has led her through much of her entrepreneurial career. Taking advantage of opportunities as they come and following your interests to see where they might lead. With Uvaro, Donna and her co-founders saw a hole within the tech industry and came up with a brilliant way to fill it. Learn all about Uvaro, their platform, what they do, and how they got to where they are today.
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Knowing When to Pivot in Your Startup | Mallorie Brodie
AQs Blog & Grill
In this episode, Mallorie talks about the $24M CAD Series B funding that the company has just secured as well as the importance of maintaining the mindset of a start-up. To always be innovating and looking for opportunities within the industry is a crucial component to growing and scaling any business.
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Building a Successful Innovation Ecosystem With Collaborative Capitalism | Communitech CEO Iain Klugman
AQs Blog & Grill
“We can honestly say that every assumption we made about how we thought it was going to work was wrong.” Iain Klugman has spent the last 16 years bringing together government organizations, businesses, and talent to make Communitech an integral part of the Waterloo Region ecosystem. In this episode, he joins AQ to reminisce on his career of building Communitech to the intentionally collaborative and ambitious environment it is today. Iain shares how his team worked to keep talent in the region when RIM went through a massive downfall, and how Communitech reviews their strategies yearly to...
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Driverseat Director of Marketing talks Franchise Expansion and Opportunities for Entrepreneurs | Dani Bazely
AQs Blog & Grill
In this week’s episode, Alan sits down with Dani Bazely, Director of Marketing for Driverseat, as they discuss the innovative, award-winning business. Driverseat’s franchise-based business model focuses on chauffeur and shuttle assistance, with opportunities for specialized services from accessible transport to tours across wine regions. With low start-up costs, franchise owners range from young professionals and entrepreneurs to business owners looking to diversify their profile and add another income stream. The entrepreneurial opportunities that come from being a Driverseat franchisee...
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How Bridgit Founders Used Customer Insights to Build a Multi Million Dollar Business | Lauren Lake
AQs Blog & Grill
What does successfully breaking into an untapped market actually look like? How do you do it? How do you bring a product to market that the market is ready to adopt right away? You ask the market. What sets Bridgit apart from so many other companies, and what has made them so successful, is that they went to their customers first. Before they ever had a business plan or a product - before they ever wrote a single line of code - they hit the pavement. Lauren Lake (Bridgit COO) and Mallorie Brodie (Bridgit CEO) would pop by construction sites early in the morning all over the city, with coffee...
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Hamilton’s Innovation Factory and the Value of a Startup Supercluster | David Carter
AQs Blog & Grill
"Innovation Factory Accelerates Success" - who doesn't want that!? Incubators and accelerators, like Hamilton's Innovation Factory, are the not so hidden gem that entrepreneurs need to know. In this week's episode, and Alan Quarry discuss the difference between an accelerator and an incubator, why Canada isn't producing enough "mythical unicorns," and how regional innovation centers need to work together to increase the success rates of startups. The City of Hamilton, often known for its Life Sciences presence, has a significant amount of innovation coming through that stream. But often, when...
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Finding Your Way Through Uncertainty and Coming Out Stronger | Jennifer Moss
AQs Blog & Grill
The world is currently going through the strangest thing that any of us will likely face in our lives. And there's a ton of fear and anxiety and doom and gloom that comes along with a worldwide pandemic, of course. But in this episode, happiness expert and author gives us incredible, tangible advice on how to navigate through this uncertainty with less guilt. But also to accept the many stages of grief that we may be moving through right now, no matter what form the emotion may be taking. It's ok to not be thriving right now, but we don't have to completely sink either. *This...
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How to Build a Word of Mouth Strategy | Talk Triggers Author Jay Baer
AQs Blog & Grill
90% of B2B purchases are influenced by word of mouth. Fewer than 1% of companies have an actual “word of mouth” strategy. Jay Baer knows that one of the best ways to grow a business is for your customers to do it for you. In this episode of AQ’s Blog & Grill, Jay shares where to start when building your “word of mouth” strategy. We all know word of mouth is important, but we don’t realize how important or how to accomplish this. Jay gives us direct examples businesses are using today to get the word out, and explains the five types of Talk Triggers: Talkable Generosity,...
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Balancing it all – From Career to #MomLife and Everything in between | Melissa Melnychuk
AQs Blog & Grill
From her demanding and successful career in sports marketing as the VP of Business Development for the to balancing being a single mom to three busy children, Melissa Melnychuk has mastered the art of balancing it all. And it’s not all spreadsheets and Pinterest and spreading yourself so thin that you can barely function, like you may think. Instead Melissa takes the approach that “sometimes it’s ok to float” A certified life coach, instructor, personal trainer, holistic nutritionist as well as a social media influencer, accomplished sales manager at RIM (when BlackBerry was known as...
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How This Startup is Making a Huge Global Impact | Peter Whitby - CEO of O2 Canada
AQs Blog & Grill
“I wanted to do something global and make an impact” - Peter Whitby What started as a leisurely trip in China has become a global product and a growing team. With intensive research, O2 Canada has truly innovated the face mask - creating a product with top notch functionality and unprecedented aesthetic ability. From airline travel and city pollution, to natural disasters and global epidemics - O2 Canada’s mandate is to help people breathe clean air. As CEO of the company, Peter Whitby makes sure this mandate is at the forefront of everything they do - including giving away their...
info_outlineAnn Handley is a veteran of creating and managing digital content to build relationships for organizations and individuals. Ann is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller ‘Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. She is the chief content officer of MarketingProfs; a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine; a LinkedIn Influencer; a keynote speaker, a mom, and a writer.
In this AQ’s Blog & Grill Q&A, Ann talks with Alan about how we are all writers, and provides tips on being a great storyteller. Ann talks about how writing is a habit, not an art. Content marketers need to write a little bit every day to be effective. She also shares her favourite practical tools and apps that she uses to help her with writing.