Venture for Canada + Chili
You may be wondering what the start-up Venture for Canada and chili have in common. Well, here it is: Scott Stirrett. I had the pleasure to chat with the founder of this great not-for-profit organization a few weeks ago and I hope you’ll learn as much as I did from him.
It all started at the end of March, 2 years ago. Scott had graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC and had been working at Goldman Sachs for about 1 year. It was during his trip to visit his parents in New York City when he said, yes, I am going to do this. He was sitting in a hotel room with his parents and telling them that he was thinking about leaving his role to do this start-up he was really passionate about. His incredibly supportive parents said: go chase your dreams—great advice!
After leaving Goldman, he moved to Toronto for the first time: 7 weeks without any furniture, sleeping on the floor, and knowing no one. Looking back, he notes that it was scary! Luckily, he had legally incorporated, had advisers, beginnings of promising talks with organizations and lots of validation. He spent many weekends reaching-out to many, many people. Luckily, Scott said entrepreneurship tends to attract people who are generous. Now, Venture for Canada has a team of 3, with the most recent employee who joined about 6 months ago. Venture for Canada is based off of Venture for America and is a non-profit organization that recruits, trains and guides people to work for start-ups and companies in need of talent with the goal of entrepreneurship.
This success has not come without some challenges. Scott said that many people start running not-for-profits when they are older with a more established network. And some of his advice: meet as many people as you can!! As draining as that was, he said, all he had to think about was how much impact the fellows that come out of the program will make in 5-10 years. There has also been high demand from students and start-ups for Venture for Canada’s services, with over 90% of fellows as rated meeting or exceeding expectations of the employer.
He noted there are tons of benefits to working and founding a start-up. He learned to manage finances for a small organization, payroll, going through an audit, using QuickBooks, recruiting, making and building successful partnerships, to name a few. A day-in-the-life of Scott includes many of the skills above. When I asked him what his typical day looked like, he pulled out his phone and walked me through his schedule. His day starts with an early gym session and a team call by 8 AM sharp. He said a lot of organizations do not schedule team calls so early, but he thinks it’s great for a start-up and gives a sense of urgency. Then, he worked on tasks like the ambassador program for the current students, drafted grant applications, talked to a venture capitalist on his advisory board, for some examples. He also noted that as a founder, you really don’t seem to have an end time. Scott mentioned, as well, when it comes to vacation, it’s good to go do something like camping and to not bring your phone so you can completely disconnect.
Given that it is quite difficult to disconnect, I asked Scott how he stays grounded. Simple: 6 days a week of exercise. He said it’s a big de-stressor. He wakes up, goes to the gym and tries to think of the bigger picture of what he is trying to accomplish. That means trying to be balanced in personal and professional life. He noted that he tries to not do any work 1 day of the week and tries not to have an unhealthy relationship with work. He gets up at the same time every day and finds it helpful to have a regimented routine—very unlike uni life. He also noted it is important to view exercise as much as part of your job as anything else, for a lot of people view it as not essential.
When he’s not working or at the gym, he likes to go hiking when the weather is nice, skiing in Mont Saint Anne, watching game of thrones, practicing French, talking to friends and family, and reading. And he has a lot of great reading suggestions that have both influenced him and are on his radar to read next. There are so many I had to put a book list together here!
And here are some interesting facts about Scott:
Embarrassing moment: It was his first day in Toronto visiting a start-up and he was dressed pretty formal being used to dressing-up at Goldman Sachs. He said it’s more humorous now given the context of his current work, but cautiously noted if you are interviewing for a start-up it is still important to dress smart casual, and probably no flip flops…
Nerdy moment: When he was in middle school he was part of a team “Call to Remembrance,” which were competitions in Nova Scotia run through the Canadian Legion that asked specific trivia based questions on Canadian military history.
If he could be a food item: He said the first thing that popped into his head was chili. If any coworkers and housemates are reading this now, they would laugh because I eat chili for lunch almost every day—Scott, good choice!
Coolest place traveled: Favorite place was Vietnam due to its beautiful, very distinct regions and because it was not as developed. And Israel, because of the Christian and Jewish history. He noted there may be a link between loving travel and entrepreneurship.
For all you entrepreneur dreamers out there, I’ll end with some great advice from Scott. He said you have to make sure when you want to start an organization that it is something that you really want to do and is something that you are really passionate about. When assessing a business idea, look at its viability, your passion, skillset alignment, and you need to be good at executing the business model. A great idea may not be enough. Well that’s it for today. Go chase your dreams! Have high standards for yourself. If you want any more information on Venture for Canada, please find more information at their website here.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It would be great to have any feedback or even start-up suggestions you’d be interested to read about! Please reach-out to me here. Stay tuned for next weeks post!
