First-class mentors ready to help startups

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This article was published 16/07/2015 (3885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Earlier this year, Jeff Ryzner, the new president of the Eureka Project, won the 2015 BDC Mentorship Award.

A longtime major contributor to the successes at Eureka while his predecessor, Gary Brownstone, was at the helm, Ryzner has a keen sense of how advice from seasoned professionals can make a difference for young startups, seeing how he was involved in three tech startups himself.

No one can predict who the winners will be in the next wave of digital economy enterprises.

But we all have some stake in the process of helping to ensure at least some of today’s entrepreneurs are successful enough to create the jobs for the next generation.

To help keep that flowing, Ryzner has arranged for the commitment of a slate of six mentors with varying sectoral and operational expertise who will work with the Eureka Project’s 21 client companies (which will soon grow to 25).

“It takes a village to raise a startup,” Ryzner said. “We’re creating one at Eureka.”

Noah Decter-Jackson, one of the new mentors, is like a poster boy for the whole process.

His company, Complex Games, has attained the unlikely success of establishing a sustainable business in Winnipeg in the crowded and competitive online game development business.

Decter-Jackson’s involvement in the new mentorship program brings the situation full circle.

Five years ago, Complex Games was a client at Eureka, and Ryzner mentored Decter-Jackson.

“He left me with a great impression,” Decter-Jackson said. “That’s what led me to offer to become a mentor at Eureka.”

Decter-Jackson currently has a business partner based in Quebec who, with much more experience, gives the Winnipeg shop that employs about 40 people warnings and cautions about mistakes that are easy to make and avoid.

“One thing a mentor can provide is a sober second look at the plan the company has, especially early on,” he said. “They can give a heads-up about what to watch out for and suggestions about better approaches.”

None of this guarantees success.

When Milt Reimer started FXR Racing, a company making specially designed apparel for snowmobilers, there was no way of knowing early on it would become the largest company of its kind 20 years later.

But when it was able to survive as a small niche supplier for many years, Reimer was able to learn what he needed to get the economies of scale and systems in place to grow dramatically.

A mentor can help a company avoid a crucial wrong turn early on that can seal the fate of the majority of small businesses before they get the chance to learn how to manage rapid growth.

Christian Dandeneau, the owner and CEO of ID Fusion, a Winnipeg information technology consulting firm, is another one of the new Eureka mentors.

He’s been running his business since the mid-1990s. In his early days, he sought out informal relationships for advice but did not have the benefit of a more formal mentor.

“But even that was very impactful for me at the time,” Dandeneau said.

“This formal process is great. The companies at Eureka are very lucky.”

He excluded himself out of modesty, but Dandeneau said he was impressed with the crew of mentors the Eureka companies will be able to take advantage of.

“That’s a real all-star group that I don’t really belong in,” he said.

The other four are:

• Suzanne Braun, CEO of Quipped Interactive Learning Tools, another Eureka Project graduate.
• Terry Davison, president of Global Office Software, winner of the 2010 Manitoba Venture Challenge.
• Karen Debroni, principal, Debroni & Associates; and
• Blake Podaima, executive director of the Internet Innovation Centre at the University of Manitoba.

There is no magic formula as to how these busy professionals will carve out the hour per week per company, which is the plan, but part of the trick is matching them up properly.

Since Ryzner himself is a champion mentor, he knows a few tricks of his own.

“We’re bringing in people we have worked with in the past,” he said. “We know they are brilliant, and that they will be able to help out these young tech startups.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca