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EVENT RECAP C A P I TA L B U Z Z
HOW DO YOU DO BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY? Entrepreneurs share their innovative business practices
Here’s what Capital Ideas members took away from the Mar. 31 panel:
“There is no such thing as a good idea or a bad idea, the only thing that matters is execution.”
Hannah Cree, general manager for VA Angels Calgary Chapter, (@hannahcree_)
“Intuition is key to innovation.”
Wilma Slenders, at Transcend Management, (@transcendmgt)
“Lesson four: An obstacle to innovation is fear.”
Melissa Ramkissoon, founders of Office Guardians, (@officeguardians)
“There’s a big difference between would you do this and will you do this?”
Christine Salberg, founder at Innovative PlanIt, (@innov8iveplanit )
“If business was easy, everybody would be doing it!”
Jolanda Slagmolen-Flores, co-owner of Casa Flores Cabinetry, (@florescabinetry)
“(Taking) time to reflect and learn what you like is incredibly important”
Spencer Goldade, senior designer at Post and Beam, (@spencergoldade)
O N I F I N N O VAT I O N CAN BE LEARNED
We had a product that was new and young people were in love with, but when we would bring it to travel companies … they weren’t necessarily interested in expanding their product line. There was fear, and we had to take time for it to filter through in other ways such as through others in the industry ... Then they’d start to see that (our offerings) had value.” C U RT I S S M I T H , f o u n d e r a n d adventure architect at Free and Easy Traveler ( f r e e a n d e a s y t r a v e l e r. c o m )
“ ‘Running a business is like sailing a ship not driving a train’ — Garth Johnson.”
O N W H AT I N N O VAT I O N MEANS
ON OVERCOMING ROADBL O CKS
My goal, across all my teams in restaurants and companies, is we don’t want to follow trends, we want to be trendsetters. That’s where innovation comes and we get new ideas (by looking at) what’s not fitting in the market, how can we make it mainstream … If someone starts copying us we take it as a compliment, then change it and do something better. ”
I think there’s a difference between being an innovator and a business person who innovates … Innovation is a skill people can add to their toolkit in order to survive, but I think there are also people who are naturally driven that way … I think it can be learned and taught, but I think if it comes innately to you, you’re going to have a leg up. ”
CAM DOBRANSKI, chef, restaurateur and co-founder of Medium Rare Chef Apparel (mediumrarechef.com)
GARTH JOHNSON, CEO of Meticulon (meticulon.com)
Denise Tsang, director of business development, Raven Bay Services, @denisetsang
LISTEN NOW
Hear a podcast of the panel You can hear the entire discussion in our podcast.Download: capitalideascalgary.com/ podcast Subscribe: “Capital Ideas Calgary” on iTunes and Stitcher
ONLINE For the full recap of “How you do business differently” visit capitalideascalgary.com/news.
Thank you! Neetu Sidhu, senior manager of Alberta Boostr, presents Chris Best, left, with a door prize after the event.
Questions? Contact us at hello@capitalideascalgary.com