The Second Act - Magazine - Page 23
might be easy. But most people are more
reserved and need help building their
network through cold calls, emails, and
networking events. But Bureau feels so
strongly about networking that when
asked how introverts should handle this
assignment, he said they need to “figure it
out…or hire a partner that can do it.”
Bureau himself took his advice and hired
partners. Networking wasn’t his issue, but
he needed someone to put the systems in
place for his business to function and grow
efficiently.
Stephanie and Gabriel and building out
the rest of his team. Bureau credits its
partners for creating the current structure
and urges emerging entrepreneurs to be
careful about which partners they choose.
“It’s important that you and this person are
aligned regarding value. At first, it seems
like, “oh, who cares? We’re not super
aligned. We’ll figure it out later.” But no, it’s
gonna come back and bite you.”
“Today, my days are much more
structured. I put in place an amazing team
who helped create a structure. So I spend
20% of my time managing the team and
answering questions, another 20% of
my time allocated to biz dev (business
development), and 40% of my time on
specific files. Then the last 20% of my time
is spent thinking about how our business
could be ahead of the curve.”
Bureau is speaking from experience, of
course. He’s had to part ways with partners
with whom he wasn’t aligned, which
slowed down the progress of his previous
business. But dwelling on the past is not
how Bureau likes to operate. He’s very
much in the present and puts his time and
energy into listening and paying attention
to the market. That kind of focus helped
him find the gap that started Finalytics,
and Bureau knows it will take even more
energy to continue to grow his business
and provide valuable services to his clients.
That kind of structure wasn’t possible when
Bureau was a solo act. He worked seven
days a week handling every aspect of the
business before finally hiring partners
“To me, it’s not even about money. It’s
not even about success. What keeps me
up at night is how I can help my clients,
the entrepreneurs, get to their goals and
succeed. This is what drives me every
morning when I wake up.”
Looking to the future, Bureau sees an
opportunity to add specific value around
financing. He says it’s never been harder
to raise funds, and he wants to find ways
to “creatively think outside the box and
find clients alternative solutions” to raising
funds. He doesn’t ever want to tell his
clients that there’s nothing they can do,
which is another essential lesson Bureau
stresses: always be valuable.
Finalytics is built around this concept.
Their mission is to be an asset to the
companies they work with. As a servicebased company, this concept is ingrained
in the core of the business. But whatever
businesses you’re starting or running,
you need to find ways to add value to
your clients or customers to avoid falling
behind– And behind is not where Bureau
wants to be. Though all his attention is
centred on Finalytics, he only considers
potentially starting another business in the
future.
“If I find more things to change, then who
knows.”
NEXT 36, 2015
David Bureau shaking hands with Reza Satchu at
NEXT Canada's Venture Day in 2015
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