Entrepreneurs from across the board agree that failure is not only accepted, but part of the entrepreneurial journey. Randy Thompson, a successful Canadian angel and entrepreneur, says his biggest failure cost him millions.
“I sold my Internet company in 1996; what a stupid idiot. I sold it, not because we wanted to, but because we needed $1m in funding and we got a great offer to exit. We didn’t believe in our own kool-aid that we could raise that million. I raised that million in 1999, and I believe that exit could have been 10 times that.”
Thompson is a true leader in the Canadian startup scene, is a member of The A100, and has fostered the community through years of mentorship. He is currently invested in twenty two companies and has been working in the startup venture space for 20+ years. In 2014, Thompson won the Startup Canada Award for Angel of the Year. As an entrepreneur he has been the founder or founding partner in four entities, and is currently building GenerUS Marketing Solutions, a platform for not-for- profits to raise money.
In this week’s #StartupPodcast, Rivers Corbett talks with Thompson about Calgary’s startup community, goes inside the mind of an investor, and learns the ins and outs of building a fundable and investment-ready business.
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/.