Chris Simair is the Managing Director of Harvest Builders and former co-founder of Skip the Dishes. Skip the Dishes is a true David versus Goliath story. He and his team bootstrapped Skip through the toughest days and ended up selling for hundreds of millions. Now Chris is running Harvest Builders, a hub for supporting the launch and growth of remarkable technology companies across the Canadian prairies. In this episode, one of the things we talk to Chris about is how he co-founded, built and sold Skip the Dishes. They went against some of the biggest names in the industry.
“We got to the size of about 20 times DoorDash’s size off of about a fiftieth of the funding.” — @ChrisSimair
We also talk about his subsequent project of establishing Harvest Builders. In this segment of the conversation, we talk about how Harvest Builders is a hub for activating potential and helping Canadian entrepreneurs follow the playbook that made Skip the Dishes successful. We look into the landscape of entrepreneurship in Canada, lessons learned about the personality traits of entrepreneurs, and some pro tips about how constraints can be a competitive advantage.
KEY POINTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
An introduction to Chris and the services offered by Skip the Dishes and Harvest Builders.
A deeper dive into Harvest Builders and how they aid startups as a non-profit company.
The early stages of launching Skip the Dishes in the prairies of Canada; bootstrapping to six million in revenue.
How Harvest Builders is helping inject an entrepreneurial spirit back into Calgary.
The business model of obsessiveness and frugality that Chris and his brother followed to build Skip the Dishes without much funding.
Lessons Chris learned about the value of EQ and communication while building Skip the Dishes.
Approaches to raising funding at different stages of the growth of Skip the Dishes.
Different types of investors and the value of attracting the right ones.
Tips from Chris for how companies can optimize their due diligence process.
Observations from Chris about some of the shortcomings of entrepreneurship in Canada.
What influenced Chris and his brother to start thinking ‘bigger picture’ (more globally).
The story of the successful exit of Skip the Dishes; potential buyers, advisors, the exit amount, and more.
Lessons learned from Skip the Dishes and how Chris is applying them in Harvest Builders.
How to get in touch with Chris and learn more about Harvest Builders online.
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