Tech

Andrew Skafel Discusses the Impact of COVID-19 on Edgewater Wireless in the Short & Long Term

00:18:50

Responsible for leading Edgewater Wireless, Andrew Skafel’s broad strategic perspective comes from his work with both multinational equipment vendors and a number of start-up network operators. Andrew has significant multinational experience. He was based in Asia for seven years where he worked for Newbridge Networks/Alcatel; Silicon Valley-based, InterWAVE Communications and the Commercial Division of the Canadian High Commission (Malaysia). His roles included strategic marketing, international business development, and business planning. A proven telecom innovator and leader, Andrew founded an innovative GSM operator in Brasil, taking the project from concept to fundraising, license acquisition and launch phases. Mr. Skafel holds an MBA from INSEEC (Paris), a graduate diploma from the McRae Institute of International Management (Vancouver) and a BA in Economics & Politics from the University of Western Ontario.

Andrew is a Senior level international business development and strategic marketing executive with multi-faceted telecommunications experience. Demonstrated innovative and results-oriented approach to start-up and listed companies on both vendor and service provider aspects of the telecom industry.

Specialties: International business development; strategic marketing; telecommunications; data communications; contract negotiations; channel management; strategic planning; GSM; CDMA; IP; VoIP; hosted key systems

Erica Pearson Discusses Her Business Vacation Fund, Mental Health & Avoiding Burnout, Especially During a Crisis Like COVID-19

00:42:18

After 4 years competing as a varsity athlete, and simultaneously earning her Bachelor of Commerce degree at Queen’s University, Erica Pearson spent several years on the RBC Capital Markets trading floor in Toronto. She held Analyst positions within Debt Capital Markets, Foreign Exchange Institutional Sales, Institutional Equities Trading, Money Market Sales, and Interest Rate Derivative Solutions. Erica then worked as an Analyst for the CEO Office of Investor and Treasury Services. At the end of December 2016, she informed RBC of her intention to resign to start her own company. The idea for Vacation Fund, a Toronto-based startup, was born from Erica’s upbringing. Her family was very frugal, but prioritized spending time and money on travel and experiences. By the time she turned 22, Erica had visited over 40 countries.

Michael Zahra Discusses his Drone Delivery Company and Taking a Company Beyond Startup

00:22:16

Michael Zahra is a seasoned CEO who has worked with many of the larger corporations in Canada. Drone Delivery Canada is a publicly traded, disruptive, pioneering, technology company focused on designing, developing and implementing commercially viable, drone-based logistics systems for government, commercial, industrial & retail customers globally. This podcast episode focuses on what to do as entrepreneur when you are past start, well-funded and ready to take on a major market change. Bringing the right leader/operator onto the mix is often the sign of a wise entrepreneur — and we address this during this interview.micha

Jeffrey Doucet is Helping COVID-19’s New Job Seekers to Find New Opportunities Without Any Fees

00:24:52

Jeffrey Doucet is CEO of Thrive Career Wellness Platform, a software company that helps job seekers manage their job search. Jeffrey just announced that his company is opening up their Career Wellness Platform to all Canadians who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19.

Evan Gilbert

00:39:08

With a partial BCIT degree, investing 7 months working in the corporate world with Rogers, several years working hospitality with the Vancouver Canucks, Evan Gilbert set his mind on living life as a Digital Nomad traveling around the world while engaging technology to establish a niche helping real estate professionals invest wisely in their online content, presence and sales process. He is on a mission to revolutionize the advertising industry by delivering the best online resources for you to succeed in paid traffic! Within his digital marketing agency in Vancouver, he is also developing an education and training program to help other business decision makers & entrepreneurs get started with their own successful advertising campaigns on social media. Learn more about his business on the Block E Media website.

Jordan Lewis

00:29:58

Jordan Lewis is the co-founder and CEO of Stable.work, an online marketplace for Sales Professionals. Prior to Stable.work, Jordan was the co-founder and CEO at Biddwell, an end-to-end property rental platform. Prior to Biddwell Jordan was the interim CEO at Spacelist, Canada’s leading Commercial Real Estate platform, where he oversaw the redevelopment of the company’s short and long-term strategy. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Technology Degree in Network and Security Application Development and Administration, as well as a Computer Systems Technology Diploma in Data Communication and Internet working from The British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Saif Ajani

00:30:41

Saif Ajani is the co-founder and CEO of the Toronto-based startup Keyhole, the world’s leading hashtag analytics tool, where he is responsible for the company’s vision and execution. Before launching Keyhole, Saif worked extensively in the technology space, most recently at a VC-incubated digital media startup. For more than ten years, he has been helping marketing executives at brands and agencies make key decisions by analyzing and measuring social media data. As a founder in this space, he really tries to learn from customers. Not always easy, but always learning!

Saif has an honors degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and an MBA from Cornell University.

Doug Van Spronsen

00:20:04

Doug Van Spronsen is a Partner at Versett a product design and technology company.

James Connolly

00:38:12

James Connolly is the co-founder and CEO of VoxNeuro based in Toronto. VoxNeuro provides the world’s first objective concussion and acquired brain injury assessment that steps beyond diagnosis.

Annee Ngo

00:22:21

Annee Ngo is the co-founder and CEO of Startup League, an educational gaming platform for students to learn creative problem-solving through competition and play. She is a serial entrepreneur whom scaled global ed-tech company into more than 30 cities across 12 countries in under 3 years with clients like Adobe and Stanford. She exited her first startup in 2016, returning 3x to her investors. Annee is also the proud recipient of Women Tech Founders’ Award for Gaming/AR/VR and BC Business’ 30 Under 30.

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