In Episode 18 of Amplify Your Business, Lance Johnson welcomes James Song, a partner at Prowse Chowne LLP, to share some practical advice for small business owners on exit strategies, succession planning, and preparing your business for evaluation and eventual sale.
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It's no secret that you need sales to grow your business. At Amplomedia, we equip you with an entire marketing department and a strategy proven to deliver you more customers, so you can scale your business and make more money.
Speaker Bio: Jordon Rowse is a dynamic and results-driven leader, serving as the CEO of Set 2 Close, a cutting-edge Revenue Operations Agency. He has a Master’s in Supply Chain Management from SKEMA Business School and prior to co-founding Set 2 Close worked with some of the top Fortune 500 Companies. With a relentless passion for optimizing sales processes, technologies, and teams, Jordon has carved a remarkable niche in the world of revenue generation.
Under Jordon’s visionary leadership, Set 2 Close has helped clients more than 2X their revenue within 6 months of working with his team of Revenue Operations Specialists. Continually investing and fostering a culture of innovation, Jordan has helped Set 2 Close become one of the fastest growing Revenue Operations Agencies in the Pacific Northwest.
When he’s not strategizing ways to revolutionize sales processes and systems for his clients you can find Jordon spending time with his family, friends or setting up his new charity Set 2 Save.
Session Name: Designing an AI-Driven Sales Tech Stack
Session Overview: Explore the impact of AI on sales processes with Jordan Rowse, CEO of Set 2 Close, in a session covering improved customer targeting, enhanced sales efficiency, revenue growth, and effective AI implementation strategies.
Speaker Bio: Hi I’m Jenny, and I’ve been a self-funded founder since I was 25 years old. That’s 15+ years of founder-led sales and PR experience. I’m currently the Co-Founder and President of Pink Shark PR, a PR firm based in Los Angeles that I co-founded with my bestie-in-crime Alex Grizinski.
Our PR agency specializes in and combines our three great loves — storytelling, startups and sales. For early-stage startups, it’s so important to leverage the power of founder-led PR to catch investor interest and start generating immediate cashflow for a startup.
That’s why, in 2022, we developed the Startup Press Accelerator, a one-of-a-kind PR program specifically designed for early-stage companies and their founders.
Because you have to be “found” in order to get “funded.”
Our clients have been featured in elite media outlets like the New York Times, WSJ, LA Times, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, FastCompany, and Fortune, just to name a few.
If an extra $500K of self-funded capital and a Forbes feature sounds like a boss move to you — you should definitely keep in touch.
Session Name: Leverage the Power of PR to Self-Fund Your Startup
Session Overview: Explore the art of utilizing your founder story for mainstream media attention, increasing valuation, catching investor interest, and crafting compelling pitches for revenue generation.
Speaker Bio: Multi-award-winning Television Producer Jesse Schewchuk is the Founder and CEO of a thriving Video Training Agency, Modern Muse Media. With over two decades of television experience, Jesse is now focused on helping industry professionals build their brands with intention and capitalize on the tangible impact of video and content creation as the premier medium for business promotion and marketing. Her achievements led to a Cover Feature in Avenue Magazine’s “Top 40 under 40” and a nominee of a Canadian Screen Award for Best Dramatic TV Series (this is the Emmy of Canada, Folks!). Jesse is currently the President of the Edmonton Business Association and is Past Vice-President of Women in Film and Television Alberta (WIFTA) and has just started a non-profit called The Menopause Mission. Her passion is to educate, empower and elevate people through the power of story and video every single day.
Session Name: Get in the Know About Video
Session Overview: Learn the essentials of video marketing with award-winning Television Producer Jesse Schewchuk, gaining insights on storytelling, technical tips, and pitfalls to effectively engage your audience and meet evolving consumer expectations.
Speaker Bio: John is the President of Stone Oak Capital Inc., an M&A advisory firm. Over the last 20 years, John has closed over $1 billion worth of M&A deals. John is also the co-founder of Divestopedia, the leading online educational resource for entrepreneurs on topics related to mid-market M&A.
Session Name: Masterclass on Selling a Mid-Sized Business
Session Overview: Successfully selling a mid-sized business hinges on mastering three vital elements: Positioning, ensuring a strategic market stance; Valuation, accurately appraising its worth; and Execution, skillfully navigating the sales process for optimal results.
Speaker Bio: As the Managing Partner at Punchcard Systems, I lead a digital transformation studio that impacts people, workplaces, and communities through technology. With over 25 years of experience in the digital industry, I have a passion for creating positive and transformative impact through technology. I have co-founded and led several software startups, including Standard Field Systems, a software toolset for law enforcement, Wellnext, a workplace wellness platform, and Startup Edmonton, an innovation hub for entrepreneurs.
I also apply my expertise in innovation, digital, and governance to various organizations and causes. I currently serve as the Chair of the Winspear Centre for Music, where I am leading the facility’s expansion project, and as a Corporate Director at Impirica and the LGAA. I am a graduate of the University of Alberta and the Institute of Corporate Directors’ Designation program (ICD.D). I have been recognized as one of Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40, a University of Alberta Horizon Award recipient, and as an award-winning leader in business, philanthropy, and community development. I am driven by a vision of building a better future for everyone through technology, creativity, and collaboration.
Session Name: Outcomes Before Outputs: Building a Culture of Innovative Thinking in Your Business
Session Overview: Participants will gain tools and insights to prioritize outcomes over outputs, fostering an organizational culture centered on innovative thinking. Essential for business leaders and teams seeking impactful strategies.
Speaker Bio: Father of 4, co-author of The Visual Sale, believer in the power of being helpful and human. As VP Marketing at Vidyard, Tyler has spent nearly a decade immersed in the worlds of modern demand gen, growth marketing, community building, and customer experience. He’s been recognized by Demand Gen Report as the top B2B Buyer-Centric marketer, is the host of The Sales Feed Show, and is a self-taught (very) amateur video creator.
Session Name: Growth Strategies to Accelerate Your Brand and Demand
Session Overview: Leverage your startup or small business advantages by embracing innovation in marketing. Join an interactive session to understand evolving buyer preferences and implement growth strategies aligned with the modern digital-first prospect.
Speaker Bio: Jeff Waldman is the Founder and Principal at ScaleHR, a growing company that is hyper-focused on building the skills and careers of business leaders and HR professionals, in the technology sector. They have launched a variety of products including training programs and workshops, learning communities, coaching and mentorship programs, and more.
With more than 23 years of experience in leadership, HR, HR tech and entrepreneurship, Jeff has worked with organizations and people in dozens of countries around the world. He is a relentless community builder and has founded and participated in many industry initiatives including SocialHRCamp, HR Leaders Collective, Rethinking Disabilities, DisruptHR Toronto, DisruptHR Vancouver, and many more. Jeff is an avid blogger and speaker and has facilitated hundreds of talks on a variety of topics across the HR, Talent, and HR Technology spectrums. He has advised many startups and currently sits as a member of Venture for Canada’s Employer Advisory Council.
Session Name: Beyond Buzzwords: Real Strategies for Finding and Keeping Next-Gen Talent
Session Overview: Explore strategies for recruiting, retaining, and engaging the next generation of talent in today’s dynamic business landscape. Stay ahead in the race for tomorrow’s leaders!
Speaker Bio: Mike Staver is the author of “Leadership Isn’t for Cowards” and an internationally respected speaker, author, and coach. Mike takes noisy, often complex, leadership content and makes it immediately useful, digestible, and entertaining.
In all of Mike’s work, the goal is simple – helping leaders perform better and live better lives. To accomplish this, Mike uses counterintuitive perspectives, a storytelling style, and an entertaining delivery that makes the often-challenging realities of work and life easier to absorb and put into practice.
Mike has degrees in Business Administration and Counseling Psychology. He is a Certified Speaking Professional and in 2022 was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Companies from Federal Express and Miracle Ear to Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and the Mayo Clinic have repeatedly invited him to contribute to the development of their leaders.
Mike architected a training program ranked #1 by Training Magazine on their 2018 Training Top 125 list, which recognizes organizations with the most successful learning and development
programs in the world. That same program joined the Training Magazine Hall of Fame in 2019.
In the last 30 years, Mike has influenced over 200,000 people in ways that have not only transformed thinking and action but improved results.
His message is grounded in the belief that leadership is about influence regardless of position, title, or power. There’s more, but frankly….while all of that took a lot of work the real work has been hard-earned over the last 30 years in the trenches of businesses from health care to high-end security and guiding clients through a multitude of business struggles. Mike has seen it all and has taken those experiences and used them to help others build better lives and careers.
Session Name: Creating and Sustaining High Performance
Session Overview: Discover the paramount importance of clarifying and applying core values for leaders and organizations. Learn to align behaviour with beliefs, become influential, foster accountability, and cultivate a high-performance culture.
Speaker Bio: Mike is the CEO and co-founder of Fundica. He has assisted startups and multinational technology firms in securing over $350M in government funding across Canada, the UK, and the US over the last 20 years. Previously Mike was Director of Corporate Finance and Development at BCE, Manager of Strategy and Technology Services at KPMG, and worked as an engineer for several software and other technology firms. Mike has a B.A.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from the University of British Columbia, and the CFA designation.
Session Name: The 7 W’s of Funding
Session Overview: Explore the intricacies of funding in “The 7W’s of Funding.” Gain insights into seven important questions, empowering entrepreneurs to secure ideal funding and propel their businesses to new heights.
Speaker Bio: Dave Carroll is a Canadian songwriter, author, social media pioneer and the creator of a one-in-a-billion story, United Breaks Guitars. His $150.00 YouTube music video about his broken instrument and the airline that failed to right their wrong, changed the world and became “one of the most important videos in Googles history”. It empowered consumers and sent ripples across the global business community after it reportedly dropped United Airlines stock by $180 million in market value and resulted in invitations to over 30 countries to speak about his adventure.
As a Story Coach, Dave shares his views on a model he calls Compassionate Design, which advocates businesses plan for success through an intentional process of seeking wins for all 5 stakeholders in any business (Customers, Employees, Suppliers, Community and Shareholders) through more effective use of storytelling. He believes that we all have more in common with each other than we don’t and that all of us have an amazing story that can change the world.
His music, down-to-earth sense of humour and insightful experience have made him a masterful teller of stories that unite, motivate and start movements.
Session Name: Creating a Storytelling Culture
Session Overview: Explore Compassionate Design, a model emphasizing heart-centered storytelling for effective branding. Learn to plan for success by addressing the needs of all stakeholders and creating emotionally resonant content.
Speaker Bio: Carissa Reiniger is the Founder & CEO of Silver Lining, a company with a mission to change the global economy, one small business at a time. She started the company in 2005 and designed the Silver Lining Action Plan (SLAPTM) methodology based on interviews with 400 Small Business Owners.
The SLAP Program is a tech-enabled, data-driven small business growth program that is based in behavior change science and the SLAPmethodology. 14,000+ Small Business Owners in 65+ countries have used the structure and support of SLAP to set and hit their growth goals. In 2021, she founded Silver Lining Capital, giving Small Business Owners access to capital based 100% on the behavioral data in the SLAP Program.
Carissa lives, eats, breathes and sleeps small business and regularly advocates for global corporations to spend their money differently in order to catalyze small business growth. With this philosophy, she has worked with many organizations including The White House, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Spotify, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Origin Energy to bring more resources and support to small business owners globally. Carissa often speaks and writes on small business and the economy and has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, TechCrunch and The National Post.
She is the Creator of Thank You Small Business, a global movement that celebrates, supports and thanks small business owners for all that they do for their families, teams, communities and the economy. She is currently writing her next book, titled Striving for Silver: Celebrating Small, Creating Real Change and Using Business as a Tool for Justice.
Session Name: Forget New Year’s Resolutions – Set & Actually Hit Your Goals in 2024
Session Overview: As we transition to 2024, discover why resolutions often fall short and why values-aligned, measurable goals are key for small business success. Learn a practical framework for setting and achieving your 2024 growth goals.
Speaker Bio: Matt Alderton is a serial entrepreneur and business xpert, with over 40 industry awards, including Business Person of the Year and winner of the Australian Business Champion Awards 2 years running. Matt has written a number of books, with his latest book, ‘7 Steps to 7 Figures’, being released last month. Over the past decade, Matt has founded and grown a dozen, six and seven-figure businesses, generating OVER a HUNDRED Million dollars in revenue, and runs the fastest-growing business networking organisation in the world, Bx Networking.
Session Name: 10 Principles from the World’s # 1 Leadership Coach
Session Overview: Join Matt Alderton from Bx – Business Networking Reimagined as he imparts 10 Principles from the World’s #1 Leadership Coach. Drawing from mentorship by global leaders, Matt shares insights for achieving success in both business and life.