“My job as a CEO is to think of what needs to be done 3 to 5 to 10 years from now.”
– John Baker, CEO and founder of D2L
D2L is an edtech company based in Kitchener that has grown to 850 employees since launching in 1999 and has been used by over 15 million learners.
Baker doesn’t focus his time on the online education company’s current activities. He trusts his leadership team to execute effectively. To him, it’s important to focus on where the company needs to go next. In fact, he carves out at least an hour of every day to reflect on D2L’s strategy.
Although the company started in 1999, innovation remains as important as ever and metrics have become central to the decision-making process. “We’ve defined what we called our ‘mission metrics’…We really purposefully try to measure and even predict the impact of changes that we’re making to the system.”
In this episode of the Startup Canada Podcast, host Rivers Corbett interviews Baker about building a company that has impact, innovating in edtech, and how his role as CEO has grown alongside D2L.
The Startup Canada Podcast Show is a production of Startup Canada, a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement to bring together, celebrate, and give a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurship community. On the podcast, award-winning entrepreneur host Rivers Corbett speaks with the movers and shakers of Canada’s entrepreneurship community to give a glimpse into the future of business, and share insights on everything from social innovation to the future of work, investing, and why we need to think bigger to take our businesses global. Join Rivers Corbett for new episodes every Tuesday airing at 10 AM ET for lessons, trends, and opportunities in entrepreneurship from Vancouver to Fredericton; and Israel to Peru.
You can find every episode of The Startup Canada Podcast Show at www.startupcan.ca/podcasts/.
