Queen's Return on Innovation Podcast

From Queen's chemical engineering to podcast host!  Listen to Steph Smith's career journey from working at an engineering consulting firm to present day, as the host of the A16Z podcast.  Along the way, Steph has worked as a marketer at companies such as Trends.co and The Hustle. In this interview, Steph shares a wealth of advice for navigating one's career by being curious, travelling, constantly learning, and the valuable role of having a side hustle (or two).Follow Steph Smith on Twitter - @stephsmithioCheck out the A16Z podcast here.Lastly, be sure to have a look at Steph's book "Doing Content Right" here.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Shyra Barberstock one of the co-founders of Okwaho Equal Source - an Indigenous social purpose enterprise on a mission to fuel social impact through human-centred design, innovation, and Indigenous-led research. Hear about Shyra's journey building a business while being a full time student and her 'Why' for starting and running a business. Shyra also shares some of her PhD research related to procurement practices in Canada.To learn more, please see the following links and social media accounts:Okwaho Equal Source (website)Shyra's Twitter account (link)Shyra's LinkedIn account (link)For more information on the partnerships and innovation support available at Queen's University, please see the following links:Queen's Partnerships and Innovation (link)

In this episode, we chat with Rob Baker from Kingston's own The Tragically Hip.  We talk about The Tragically Hip through the lens of a startup, growing into a fully fledged company that had a significant impact on the lives of millions of music fans in Canada and around the world.Rob talks about the 'Why?' of starting band. He provides insights into team dynamics and making decisions unanimously amongst the 5 band members. Learn where The Tragically Hip played their first gig! Rob provides a fascinating account of how the band developed a following (hint - the Kingston, Ontario advantage) and the 'product' they were refining in the early days. Listening to feedback from the fans was paramount from day one!  And, networking to find people to 'join them in the boat'. The Tragically Hip had an infinite mindset for goal setting - Rob describes their journey as always looking forward and being mindful of their activities to grow the band 'their way'. Follow the The Tragically Hip on Twitter @thehipofficialLearn more about research and innovation at Queen's University:Queen's Research (link)Queen's Partnerships and Innovation (link)Dunin Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre (link)Centre for Business Venture - Smith School of Business (link)

Hear about one of the fastest growing companies based in Kingston, Ontario.  In this episode we interview MaxSold CEO Sushee Perumal (whom holds an MBA from Smith School of Business at Queen's). MaxSold, with operations across North America, is in the re-commerce space (for customers downsizing their home, for example, MaxSold will photograph contents to be sold via an on-line auction process).Sushee was an engaging interviewee whom shared the founding story of MaxSold, creation of a minimum viable product, finding product market fit through their recent $16M+ financing together together with plans to continue their corporate growth.For more information, please follow MaxSold and Sushee Perumal on Twitter (@maxsold and @susheeperumal, respectively).For Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’s, please see:-          Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - link-          Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – link-          Smith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link

Hear Peter van der Velden  (2x Queen's grad - M.Sc. in pathology and an honours B.Sc. in life sciences), the Managing General Partner at share the story of Lumira Ventures. Lumira Ventures is a North American healthcare venture capital firm with a two-decade track record investing in transformative biomedical companies.  In July of 2021, Lumira announced a $225M (US Dollars) fund, the largest life sciences focused venture fund ever raised in Canada. Lumira also recently launched the Lumira Ventures Venture Innovation Program (Lumira VIP).  The Lumira VIP is designed for a select and highly qualified group of Canadian students from leading academic institutions who want to gain exposure to life sciences venture capital and start-ups, and are committed to pushing the future of life sciences innovation forward.For more information, please follow Lumira Ventures and Peter van der Velden on Twitter (@LumiraVentures and @Petervencap, respectively).For Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’s, please see:-          Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - link-          Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – link-          Smith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link

Hear Neil Wainwright (Queen’s Engineering & Applied Sciences grad and 8x startup founder) share the founding and growth story of Nexonia – a Software as a Service to track and submit expense reports. Neil shares words of advice on the following topics:-          Incubate as a side hustle, use consulting or other work to support yourself-          Have a detailed focus on customer success-          Be patient, but persistent – building a startup can take many yearsFollow Neil on social media: @neildwainwrightFor Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’s, please see:-          Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - link-          Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – link-          Smith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link 

Hear entrepreneur Peng-Sang Cau describe the journey from day one to building Transformix to 100+ employees. Peng’s words of advice in this episode:-        Every startup needs to have a strong focus on sales-        Do not hesitate to think globally and go after the best market for your product or service-        Kingston (Eastern Ontario) can be an ideal location to build a businessPeng also serves as a mentor for a Queen’s University entrepreneurship program.Follow Peng on social media: @PengSangCauFor Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’s, please see:-        Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - link-        Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – link-        Smith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link

Hear Nadia Tatlow (CEO & Queen’s BAH grad) share the founding and growth story at Shift – a Software as a Service to consolidate email and many other subscriptions in the browser). Nadia shares words of advice on the following topics:-        Solving a problem team that members were experiencing, initial as a side project-        Defining product-market fit-        Striking the balance between user feedback and addressable marketFollow Nadia on Twitter @NadiaTatlowLearn more about Shift at tryshift.comFor Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship resources at Queen’s, please see:-        Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - link-        Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – link-        Smith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link

Recorded pre-pandemic, in this episode Alyssa Furtado shares the story of Ratehub - Canada's leading comparison platform for mortgage rates, credit cards, GICs, insurance quotes and bank accounts). Highlights and key advice from Alyssa in this episode:-        Learn how side hustles can help develop start-up readiness skills.-        The importance of listen and talking to mentors/advisors.-        How to scale a team.Follow Alyssa on social media: @AlyssaJRichardLearn more about ratehub.ca: http://www.ratehub.ca Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’s:Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation - linkDunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – linkSmith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link

In this episode, we re-play an interview with Sir Terry Matthews recorded during a visit he made to Queen's campus. Key advice, stories, comments, and insights from Sir Terry Matthews in this episode:-        Give ownership to employees-        Build products customers want-        Write consistent quarterly reports-        Go global – fast (US is local)-        Be persistent – up to half the time a lost contract can become a winFollow Wesley Clover on Twitter @WesleyCloverIntResearch, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Resources at Queen’sQueen’s Partnerships and Innovation - linkDunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre – linkSmith School of Business – Centre for Business Venturing- link