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Success Stories
The rising stars of Toronto's young entrepreneurs scene
On Oct. 20, 2011, the team from Report on Small Business invited dozens of enterprising owners to attend a networking event. We took photos and videos as a way to introduce our audience to these up-and-comers, all of whom have big ideas and grand ambitions
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Meet some of Toronto's finest young entrepreneurs
Report on Small Business presents up-and-comers with big ideas and grand ambitions
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Aditya Shah
Age: 25
Company: Loose Button
Year founded: 2010
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: The freedom to pursue your passions
Heroes: Steve Jobs and Richard Branson
A-Ha moment: When you work with great people, you can achieve anything you set your mind to
Words to live by: Life is what you make of it
Employees: 10
Website: www.loosebutton.com
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Bill Hennessey
Age: 27
Company: Hennessey Events
Year founded: 2006
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Building things and seeing them come to fruition
Hero: I don't have one hero, but have a lot of mentors and fellow entrepreneurs that I consult with regularly. They all offer different view points. I owe them all a huge thanks
A-Ha moment: Realizing the long-term benefits of investing in the best (people, social media, venue partners)
Words to live by: Work hard. Play harder
Employees: Six, and 30 contractors
Website: www.HennesseyEvents.com
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Yafa Sakkejha
Age: 26
Company: Founder of House of Verona Inc
Year founded: House of Verona: 2008; Beneplan: 1988
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: The addictive highs of making your clients truly happy
Hero: My father, the ultimate entrepreneur, who came to Canada in the '70s with $19 and built four businesses from scratch. And Martin Luther King
A-Ha moment: Finding out that many health gurus in my industry actually cheat a lot behind closed doors. Made me realize that in reality, sometimes the people who teach are the ones who need the most help
Words to live by: Your reach is only limited by your gaze
Employees: 10
Website: http://houseofverona.com
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Heather Payne
Company: Ladies Learning Code (it's a not-for-profit!)
Year founded: 2011
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Seeing something that started as just an idea become reality - and knowing you helped make it happen.
Hero: Anyone - but especially females - who taught themselves to program post-university or college.
A-Ha moment: When I realized that Ladies Learning Code can do more. It's just a shift in mindset, but we're now focused on building an organization that inspires and empowers women and girls to become passionate builders - not just consumers - of technology and the web. And our plans for 2012 reflect that.
Words to live by: You'll never know unless you try.
Employees: 0 (We're volunteer-driven)
Website: http://ladieslearningcode.com
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Dan Jacob
Age: 26
Company: IDIA Events and Socialight Conference
Year Founded: 2011
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Being your own boss
Hero: My parents
A-Ha moment: Losing my best friend to cancer and realizing that time is precious and I should follow my dreams
Words to live by: If not me then who? If not now, then when?
Employees: Two
Website: www.socialightconference.com
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Andrea Lown and Leah Andrew
Age: 31, 34
Company: SmartBrideBoutique.com
Year founded: 2008
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Andrea: Seeing our strategy, hard work and product design make a difference in our customers' lives. Leah: Being in charge of your own destiny
Hero: Andrea: Edna Mode, eccentric fashion design from The Incredibles, for her ability to blend form and function in her product designs. Leah: My husband – because he puts up with my crazy hours, adds his grounded perspective and always listens
A-Ha moment: Hearing someone on the streetcar tell her friend to check out SmartBride for her wedding. It was then we knew that word of mouth was spreading
Words to live by: Andrea: Work smart, not hard. And then work hard anyway. Leah: Always do your best and don’t take it personally
Website: www.smartbrideboutique.com
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Dev Basu
Age: 23
Company: Powered by Search
Year founded: 2009
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Hearing clients tell us how we changed their lives and their businesses. That's both powerful and incredibly humbling at the same time
Hero: Derek Sivers of CD Baby. He's got a quiet charisma and an umistakable drive to achieve success
A-Ha moment: Inbound marketing works! It hit me like a freight train when a marketing director from one of our largest clients found me via Twitter three days after I incorporated. The next thing I knew, I was in front of 1,000 small-business owners teaching them how to use social media to attract leads
Words to live by: Overnight success takes years to happen. As an entrepeneur, sometimes taking a risk is the safest thing you can do
Employees: Seven
Website: www.poweredbysearch.com
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Dirk Propfe
Age: 29
Company: ET Group
Year founded: 2008
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Freedom to do what you believe is right and the ability to execute new ideas quickly
Hero: My father, for always challenging the status quo
A-Ha moment: Flying back from the Galapagos Islands and realizing the devastating environmental impact humankind has had on the planet
Words to live by: Always incorporate your passion into your business and influence others to do better. Embrace sustainability as a business imperative
Employees: 40
Website: www.etgroup.ca
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Jacqueline Prehogan
Age: 26
Company: Canada Pooch Ltd.
Year founded: 2011
Location: Based in Toronto with products available in stores across Canada
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Creating products that people love. That positive feedback makes all the hard work worthwhile
Hero: My mother. She is honest, tough, never afraid to speak her mind, and goes out of her way for other people
A-Ha moment: When I realized that I could make a dog jacket myself, and that a business with that goal would be perfectly aligned with my love of animals and entrepreneurship
Words to live by: If you operate within the boundaries of your values both in business and in life, you will make decisions that you can always stand behind
Employees: We have one employee - a 20 pound puggle whose sole task is to sleep for 18 hours a day
Website: www.CanadaPooch.com
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Winston Mok
Age: 32
Company: Simply Good Technologies
Year founded: 2008
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Freedom to innovate and explore. Sky's the limit! (Insert cheese here.)
Hero: Anthony Mok, the first person to teach me how to 'build'
A-Ha moment: We've had many but the first A-Ha moment occurred when my business partner Ambrose sat on the stairs and said "I'm ready." He saw the light and by the next day we had quit our RIM jobs. Ironically, quitting our jobs was just one step to success, five or six ideas later, we figured out how to re-invent digital coupons to inspire advocacy and loyalty for retailers and brands
Employees: 10-plus
Website: www.simplygood.com
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Rajah Lehal
Age: 38
Company: Multiplicity Accelerator
Year founded: 2011
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Planning your own day
Hero: Sir Alan Sugar
A-Ha moment: A handshake from Molson to fund a concept project , several years ago.
Words to live by (keep it short): Get involved.
Employees: Less than 5
Website: www.multiplicityaccelerator.com
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Dave Senior
Age: 27
Company: Playground Inc.
Year founded: 2009
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Getting to choose who my co-workers are. Being able to work on amazing things with people that amaze you is an irreplaceable experience
Hero: My father. Unconditional love, incredible devotion and someone I'll always look up to
A-Ha moment: The first time I turned off the lights in my first office that I had rented myself. I realized 'I've accomplished nothing yet.' Enjoy every part of the journey, don't worry about celebrating
Words to live by: It's better to try and fail than to fail to try
Employees: 14
Website: www.playgroundinc.com
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Ayla Newhouse
Age: 27
Company: 1THING app
Year founded: 2011
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Being able to take an idea and turn it into something tangible, hopefully changing people's lives for the better
Hero: Ray Eames, for making a career out of exploration and play, and never settling for ordinary
A-Ha moment: I've had a lot of entrepreneurial ideas, but they were always very complex. Then Andrés (my business partner) and I started telling people about 1THING, and they got it right away. It's such a simple, positive idea - make it easy to practice gratitude - that it resonates with people almost instantly
Words to live by: Courage (grit with heart)
Employees: One
Website: www.1THINGapp.com
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Katherine Hague
Age: 21
Company: ShopLocket, a way to embed promotions online
Year founded: 2011
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: The opportunity to build something you're passionate about, failing or succeeding on your own terms. The Toronto startup community is fast paced and filled with incredible people, it keeps me on my toes
Hero: Paul Graham, Y Combinator
A-Ha moment: ShopLocket started when I wanted to sell T-shirts on my blog and realized that there was no easy way to do it. If no one else had solved the problem, why not me? ShopLocket lets sellers create and embed products on their blog, Facebook page, or any other website just as easily as a YouTube video
Words to live by: "Stay hungry, stay foolish:" Steve Jobs
Employees: One
Website: www.shoplocket.com
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Vinay Chopra
Age: 33
Company: Mobiroo
Year founded: 2009
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Freedom to innovate
Hero: Parents
A-Ha moment: Bringing digital to traditional promotional items by transforming paid apps into a promo tool
Words to live by: You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take: Wayne Gretzky
Employees: 20
Website: www.mobiroo.com
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Erik Mikkelsen
Company: Auxo Management LP
Year founded: 2010
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Ownership, flexibility and upside
Hero: My dad
A-Ha moment: Spent six months conducting diligence on the Canadian private equity market
Words to live by: 1. Take (calculated) risks. 2. Work hard/gain knowledge. 3. Network, network, network. 4. Be passionate
Employees: Five
Website: www.auxomanagement.com
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Daniel Patricio
Age: 23
Company: Pinpoint Social
Year founded: 2010
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: Every day you get to build products, your team and the future
Hero: My father, godfather and grandparents. They were all entrepreneurs and never let adversity or new challenges get in their way
A-Ha moment: We found out that simple contests were what worked best on Facebook Pages for our clients, but they took too long and cost too much to put together. We were determined to build an easier and more effective way for others like us
Words to live by: When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back: Steve Jobs
Employees: Two
Website: http://pinpointsocial.com
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Rob Linden
Age: 33
Company: SampleSource Inc.
Year founded: 2010
Location: Toronto
Best part about being an entrepreneur: The ability to see impact immediately, no matter how big or how small. The smallest tweaks can yield tremendous returns
Hero: My mother.
A-Ha moment: When hundreds of consumers and your clients e-mail you to let you know how happy they are with the service - you know you've found something that works
Words to live by: No time like the present
Employees: 10 to 20
Website: www.samplesource.com
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Sidney J. Sommer
Age: 36
Company: UCIT Online Security Inc. (pronounced “you see it”)
Year founded: 2003
Locations: Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver
Best part about being an entrepreneur: It’s incredibly rewarding to start a business from nothing that now employs over 75 people
Hero: Richard Branson, always thinking outside the box and knowing the value of customer service and branding
A-Ha moment: In 2003, over 80 per cent of customers using security-guard services were unsatisfied with the service and effectiveness of the guards. I designed a solution that combines manpower with technology and now we are able to save customers 25 per cent to 50 per cent compared with using on-site guards
Words to live by: Go with your instincts, nobody knows your business better than you do
Employees: 77
Website: www.ucitonline.com
