5 Questions With... David Feldt
Today's 5 Questions features a Torontonian who has leveraged the power of the internet for nearly two decades.
David Feldt, founder and CEO of JazLabs Inc., is passionate about the transformational power of the digital realm, understanding the true significance the internet. It's more than simply an agent of change—it is shaping our world's future.
David completed his MBA back in '94, and sold his first business just two years later. Read more about him here.
KT: What motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?
DF: I strongly believe that ethical, passionate and socially connected entrepreneurs are the key to transforming and reinventing our World.
The old models of the industrial age have failed us. Just look at the global economy and the environment. What can we do about it? We have the most powerful disruptive tool at our disposal to help reinvent our World – the Internet. In our 21st century interconnected, social World, we each have the power to come together and collaborate to evolve our world to make it a better place.
In my role as a founder and CEO of a tech startup in the social business web, I’m playing my small part in this bigger picture. I’m driven every day to fulfill on this larger mission to transform, elevate and reinvent my piece of the World in collaboration with other like-minded people.
KT: Do you have any success start-up tips for people wanting to create a name for themselves in your industry?
DF: Here’s a short list of start-up tips that I’ve learned via my experience over the years:
• In my opinion, entrepreneurs who are focused on building a solution to a personal problem have a clear advantage over those who aren’t. They have personal experience of the problem and they have built-in, natural authenticity and a personal, passionate story they can use to rally their teams, attract investors and sell into the market. They’ve experienced something that got under their skin, drove them crazy with frustration and they said, “there must be a better way.”
• Creating something of value takes time – more time that you think. Knowing this, be agile, be fast, be open to change, get feedback from the market as early as you can and get feedback often. Persevere, persevere, persevere!
• “Just Do It” – There’s a place for planning and strategy but it is meaningless if it not executed. True entrepreneurs get sh*t done and are naturally oriented to action. We live in a world of action and successful entrepreneurs are able to conquer their fears, move out of their comfort zone and execute. In today’s world, success come to those who do, test, learn, measure and iterate.
I have written a longer list on my blog here.
KT: In your opinion why is Toronto a great place for cool tech start-ups?
DF: It is great to see Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver starting to shine in the North American start-up scene.Toronto is increasingly becoming a hotbed of innovation in the tech startup space, especially in mobile apps and social business. This city is hyper-connected and the most culturally diverse city in the World. The Waterloo-Toronto-Ottawa corridor has a critical mass of successful tech start-ups and a culture of risk-taking and innovation that is a prerequisite for entrepreneurial success. I’m amazed at the energy and passion of the people in the tech start-up community. They have a world-view and are not satisfied with simply fitting into the status quo. We have the ecosystem of smart people, great universities and access to a global marketplace.
The one area that has been lacking is on the capital side. An exciting trend is the emergence of new incubators and seed funds like Year One Labs and the $45 million fund established by Real Ventures in Montreal. These are successful, serial entrepreneurs who are eager to spark the entrepreneurial energy of the Canadian market. It feels like this is THE time for Canadian entrepreneurs to succeed on the World stage across the entire of Canada, not just in Toronto.
KT: What's your favourite tech toy and social media site and why?
DF: My favourite tech toy is my trusted iPhone 3GS. It lets me manage my entire personal and business life and lets me stay connected at all times. I had been a loyal Blackberry user since the very first Blackberry in the 1990s but switched to the iPhone two years ago. The entire user experience is superior and the new iOS4 now offers full multi-tasking. There are always new cool apps being launched all the time. I’m playing with a few at the moment: Mayor Maker, Kik and Geodelic. I’ve also fallen in love with the new MacBook Air and hoping to find it in my Holiday stocking in December.
Twitter is my favourite social media site. I’ve been using Twitter since October 2007 and now consider it to be one of my main sources of information and news. It also allows me to connect with new people and I’m constantly using Twitter to discover new trends and new people who I can add to my network. It’s not just an invaluable online tool. It connects the online and real world in a very tangible way – it has allowed me to meet and engage with many people across North America. When I travel to a city I’ll ping people on Twitter and set up impromptu meetings.
KT: Who would you say is one of Toronto’s (or Canada's) tech stars and why?
DF: It’s difficult to choose only one tech star in Toronto or Canada. There are many successful entrepreneurs in Canada at all stages of development, from startup to global leader. Some of my favourites in the Toronto area are Mike McDerment from Freshbooks, Daniel DeBow from Rypple, Sarah Prevette from Sprouter, Satish Kanwar and Verne Ho from Jet Cooper, Afshin Mousavian and Darius Bashar from Daily Challenge, Ken and Garry Seto from EndLoop Studios, Razor Suleman from I Love Rewards and Ali Asaria from Well.ca. There are many, many more who are doing some amazingly cool things that are changing the World and there isn’t enough space here to mention them all …
KT: Thanks for your insightful comments, David. Techvibes appreciates it!
