3 Years At Vancouver’s Leading Tech Startup Hub, Here Are The 3 Surprising Success Lessons I Learned

"What do you think about becoming General Manager of Launch Academy?" Who knew a few simple words could freeze time for a few seconds and leave me speechless!

On November 2015, Alex Chuang and I met for a no agenda catch up lunch at Shirakawa, a Japanese restaurant on Water street in Gastown, Vancouver.

The newly named co-founder of Launch Academy is known for being exceptional at maintaining relationships, so I thought nothing of it when he invited me to lunch.

A couple of bites into our lunch he asked: "What do you think about becoming General Manager of Launch Academy?"

While I never saw it coming, somehow everything in my life journey so far was about creating that moment.

What the heck is Launch Academy?

Launch Academy is Western Canada’s most successful incubator, a nonprofit founded by Ray Walia, Roger Patterson, Jesse Heaslip, Mike Edwards and Alex Chuang to bring entrepreneurs together as a community, supported by strategic partners, empowered by mentorship and training, and connected to a robust ecosystem to help them overcome the challenges of getting their ideas off the ground.

Since 2012 Launch Academy have helped over 1000 entrepreneurs, incubated more than 500 early-stage tech startups that collectively raised over $100+ million and created more than 1000 jobs in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada.

To me, however, Launch Academy is where breakthroughs are made possible by crazy people given safe refuge where they can bring amazing ideas to life and get incredible shit done.

How a failed job search led to Launch Academy?

When I landed in Vancouver in 2014 I did what every immigrant with a wife and two young kids should do (according to my amazing wife); "go to WorkBC to learn how to get a job."

200 job applications and one bad interview later, I realized I was losing the battle against the world's most ridiculous label; “overqualified!”. No one could make sense of my work history, and how I got to be skilled at so many diverse and seemingly unrelated fields, which made me "overqualified" for every position I applied to!

With no family or friends I could reach out to, money was running out fast. I stopped my job search immediately and focused on the secret of every breakthrough I had in my life; people.

I reached out to people in-person and on LinkedIn, meeting and building relationships through networking, attending events and workshops.

Two months, 6000 LinkedIn connections, five job offers, and two consulting gigs later, I was still doing dozens of in-person meetings with the who's who in the city when I stumbled on a workshop by Rocket Builders featuring Collin Stewart as a guest speaker and a Launch Academy member. The CEO of Predictable Revenue (then Carb.io) and I met for coffee a few days after and he offered to give me a tour at Launch Academy in the generous spirit of a true Vancouver entrepreneur.

From the moment I walked in, I could immediately feel there was something different and special about this place, an incredible sense of belonging and a vibrant infectious energy that made me just want to be there.

The next day I submitted my application to join.

Three years into it, here are the three surprising lessons I've learned:

1. The way to the top is DOWN!

Being new to Vancouver, I was obsessed with quickly building my profile and getting everyone to know me. I wanted to get to the top, earn the respect of the community, and establish myself as a leader

To do so, I decided to model the behaviour of the most successful people I was surrounded with, starting with Launch Academy's CEO Ray Walia and his partner at Victory Square Ventures Shafin Diamond; two highly successful entrepreneurs and investors who made hundreds of millions of dollars, were always in the news, and everyone knew of them.

I thought I would be dealing with people with big egos but it's worth it because I would be learning a few tricks on how to get to the top. I was wrong.

• Be humble and work hard. For many, making it to the top means reaching that place where you have more, get to show off, and others do the work for you. Ray and Shafin are extremely humble and worked harder than everyone else. They worked weekends, stayed late, and got their hands dirty. Nothing in the way they are dressed or spoke gave you the sense that they were more or better.
• Be genuinely interested in others. I quickly noticed a pattern; unless prompted and directly asked, they rarely talk about themselves and their work. They spent their time learning about you, asking questions, genuinely interested in you and your work, and looking for ways to help you.
• Listen. Even with his insanely busy schedule, you can often run into Shafin having an impromptu conversation with a starting entrepreneur or a student at Lighthouse Labs, listening intently as if he was talking with Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, who spoke at Launch Academy in March 2016. Ray and Shafin always had time to really listen.

2. Stop waiting for that moment you were always waiting for. Create It.

We all have a moment when everything is just right, the stars align, and things fall into place; we call it “the moment I’ve always been waiting for.”

I experienced one when Alex asked me "What do you think about becoming General Manager of Launch Academy?"

When you encounter such a moment you can’t help feeling lucky to be somehow chosen, that someone finally realized how awesome you are, so they decided you deserve to be selected/saved/rewarded...etc

But the trap of this way of thinking is that you trick yourself into believing you had nothing to do with it, it’s not of your doing, that moment has been bestowed upon you.

Thankfully I had the clarity of mind to ask Alex “Why me?” and he reminded me that I was an obvious and easy choice, that I created this moment.

I spent four remarkable months as a member of Launch Academy in 2014. I was constantly meeting inspiring entrepreneurs, attending eye opening events, and working with remarkable mentors, including Roger Patterson, CEO/Co-Founder at Later.com.

After one of my consulting gigs turned into a job at a tech startup called 3 Tier Logic, I left my membership, but I offered to become a marketing mentor to give back to the community that gave me so much in so little time. I felt proud for doing my part and I gave it my all.

Within a few months Alex asked me to lead the Lean Entrepreneur Acceleration Program - LEAP, Launch Academy’s premium startup training program, I didn’t hesitate, never even asked how much is in it for me. I gave it my all.

A little over 6 months later, Alex and I were having that lunch.

I was creating my moment by practicing a deeply held value of mine I call the "Million Dollar Mindset":

• Say yes to every opportunity no matter how small. As long as it's in the direction of your goals and dreams, and as long as it's aligned with your values and who you are.
• Do it as if you are going to be paid a million dollars. Give it your all.
• Do it as if your name, your reputation, and your future depends on it.

3. Get Shit Done.

Any Google search in Vancouver with the word "Startup" in it, is likely to bring back a Launch Academy link on the first page. Many of the top events in the startup scene take place at Launch Academy and some of the most prominent upcoming startups in Vancouver are alumni of Launch Academy.

You may think wow, they must have a large team, big budget, and a few marketing gurus making all that happen. We don't.

As a non-profit with very little government funding, Launch Academy survived and thrived because it's four-member team mastered "Get Shit Done!".

I get this question a lot "who came up with this slogan" I smile and proudly answer that this is not a slogan, it's how we do things around here, we just got smart and decided to place it on our shirts :)

Get Shit Done! is made up of three parts:

• It's either done or not. There is no such thing as almost done!
• It's not just what you do, but what you learn. Make sure you do it better the next time.
• If it needs to get done, do it. Do not waste time asking who's job is it.

With such a brilliantly simple focus on getting shit done, and an incredibly committed team, it's no wonder in less than five years this simple idea of a place for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs managed to become one of the cornerstones of Vancouver's vibrant tech startup community and part of the success story of many remarkable startups.

Check out Launch Academy, it may be where your next startup success story begins :)

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