Podcast
Tales from the Tiki Lounge
Hosted by Sam Peng and Colin Harris · EN
Co-hosts Colin and Sam formed an unlikely partnership, motivated by Colin’s vision to reflect, document, and highlight the British Columbian innovation ecosystem and Sam’s passion for telling untold stories and drive to discover the personal truths.
Together, they speak with 26 key players supporting innovation in BC — founders, investors, unicorns, incubators, accelerators and more — to have important and unfiltered conversations about what it takes to build a start-up, a company, or a career.
15episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Catherine Dahl: From Olive Garden to $100M Exit
1w ago00:47:13Tap to summarizeCatherine Dahl's path to founding Beanworks, an accounts payable automation platform that sold to Quadient for north of $100 million, wound through hospitality, accounting, and a stint at the CBC before landing in tech. In this episode, Catherine walks Sam and Colin through her unconventional road into entrepreneurship, including how an early investor pulled funding overnight and left her team scrambling, only for a small group of them to refuse to give up and relaunch as Beanworks from scratch. She shares what it takes to lead a company when you're not the technical founder, how she used every inch of her network to stay alive, and why knowing what you don't know might be the most important skill in the room.
Transcribe →Greg Aasen: Choosing Greed Over Ego Made PMC-Sierra a $50 Billion Company
3w ago00:40:40Tap to summarizeGreg Aasen founded PMC-Sierra out of a scrappy telecom research lab and scaled it into one of Canada's greatest tech success stories. In this episode, Greg joins his longtime right-hand man, Colin, to talk about the five-year grind to spin out of Microtel Pacific Research (MPR), what it took to hire and keep the best talent, and the pivotal dinner where a board member convinced him to choose growth over ego. Whether you're building a company or just trying to understand why BC's tech talent keeps heading south, this one's packed with hard-won lessons from a founder who's seen it all.
Transcribe →Ali Tehrani: Entrepreneur second, Father first.
May 20, 202500:43:21Tap to summarizeHear how the founder of Zymeworks, one of Vancouver's few enduring public tech companies, made his choices in business and life. Ali is brilliant and driven to achieve but has strong core values that make him an integral part of our community. This is the third in our Deep Tech Series, following Glenn Bindley of Redlen and Geordie Rose of D'Wave.
Transcribe →Lisa Shields: Original geek to MIT blackjack pioneer to fintech start-up exit — Lisa is a national treasure.
May 6, 202500:49:54Tap to summarizeLisa Shield's life could be made into a movie, the 2008 film "21" dramatizing MIT's student blackjack card-counting team has got nothing on Lisa's actual life experiences. And only by her own genius did she put herself out of a job and accidentally fall into founding her first fintech company in 2000, Hyperwallet. Hear about how being a geek and Canadian put a chip on her shoulder and led her to a career that is rich in adventure. America's Cup? Yup!
Transcribe →Shahram Tafazoli does what not one else could in mining — revolutionize big rugged shovels.
Apr 22, 202500:55:42Tap to summarizeShahram Tafazoli does a great Colombo imitation - always questioning. He used this modest approach to revolutionize big rugged shovels in mining with Computer Vision & Artificial Intelligence while everyone else failed. Following his instincts, and with some help from influential friends including Ajay Agrawal, he revolutionized the mining industry with technology for diggers. So well, in fact, the Weir Group acquired Motion Metrics for $100M+ in 2021. Hear how Shahram's grit, light-heartedness, and ability to pivot strategies when it counts lends to his success.
Transcribe →Chatting about biotech and bikers with Natalie Dakers.
Apr 8, 202500:47:02Tap to summarizeNatalie's grit and determination to succeed in whatever she does shines through, especially in her latest passion in life — biking! Natalie is a marine biologist turned pharmaceutical start-up founder who has seen Vancouver's innovation ecosystem from every angle. Her unique perspective from founding a heath accelerator to helping translate research into new viable medicines has led her back to another start-up as CEO of A2O.
Transcribe →Geeking out with Geordie Rose!
Mar 25, 202500:43:02Tap to summarizeAs multi-time deep tech entrepreneur Geordie Rose puts it, being a deep tech founder means a "balancing act between science fiction and pragmatic." From founding the first quantum start-up D-Wave, to starting AI and robotics companies Kindred AI and later Sanctuary AI, Geordie is a technology trend-setter. After decades building moonshots, Geordie chats with us on the responsibility founders wield in their work, the 'readiness' of the market for pioneer users of deep tech, thoughts on Sanctuary AI and how he's spending his time post-Sanctuary AI (spoiler: it might involve a Canada-wide trek).
Transcribe →Paul Lee: A timely reminder of what it takes to create a thriving and resilient economy.
Feb 4, 202500:53:05Tap to summarizeHear how Paul Lee’s unrelenting love of Vancouver and British Columbia has driven him to create enormous value for the city. Paul Lee is a venture capitalist and the founder of Vanedge Capital, and his story is a word to the wise for parents who think their kids game too much. His early career was in finance before joining his highschool buds to build a gaming company, Distinctive Software. It was later acquired by EA Games where Paul eventually ascended to the role of President of Worldwide Studios growing EA from 240 to 9,000 employees. Paul left EA to start Vanedge where he invests in early stage deep tech start-ups today. Paul's career took many turns, from working in his father's Chinese restaurant while he was at EA, to helping form the BC Tech Association.
Transcribe →Paul Geyer: Entrepreneur from Day 0, who started by flipping houses and then had 2 medtech exits before becoming a VC.
Jan 7, 202501:01:19Tap to summarizePaul Geyer is a venture capitalist and the CEO of Discovery Parks and Nimbus Synergies, investing in early stage health technologies. After graduating with an undergrad in electrical engineering, Paul flipped houses as a side hustle while working in medical equipment companies. At 27, he founded Mitroflow which exited at $50M when he was 35 years old, and instead of retiring, founded Neovasc which later exited for $150M in 2023. But aside from his many entrepreneurial successes and investments in up-and-coming health founders, Paul has a real penchant for the greater good. He has given his time, expertise, and capital in thoughtful ways to the next generation, and intends to pass on his wealth to make the biggest impact possible one day.
Transcribe →Glenn Bindley: CEO who grew Redlen for 20 years — a study in persistence and strategy.
Dec 17, 202400:51:19Tap to summarizeGlenn Bindley is the CEO of Redlen Technologies, a company that creates high-resolution X-ray imaging technology that is 10x more accurate than CT scans. Glenn started out as a kid on Vancouver's east side, tinkering with tech, before his passion led him to PMC-Sierra. After PMC, he joined four guys in a garage to head up Redlen Technologies where he spent two decades, culminating in a six-figure exit to Canon in 2021. Glenn talks about his earlier days, creating controlled exothermic events (aka explosions), and how his drive to create good for the world kept him steady on his path at Redlen.
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