The Second Act - Magazine - Page 4
A LETTER
FROM THE CEO
WE ARE FOCUSED ON FOUNDER
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMITTED TO
SUPPORTING OUR ALUMNI THROUGHOUT
THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY.
KYLE WINTERS
CEO, NEXT CANADA
I
attend
many
meetings
accompanied by Reza Satchu –
NEXT Canada Board Co-Chair
and Co-Founder. Reza has an epic
social and professional network that
spans the country and extends beyond
its borders. I’ve learned that when Reza
invites busy and accomplished people
to attend a meeting, dinner, or even a
costume party – they show up, and they
show up in droves.
Last month was no exception when a
group of 26 friends of NEXT Canada
got together for dinner at the home of
Don Walker (former CEO of Magna).
With script in hand (and no intention
of sticking to it), Reza welcomed the
room of CEOs, board chairs, university
Chancellors, VCs and a few outstanding
4 | GRIT MA GA Z I NE
NEXT alumni. After extolling the virtues
of NEXT and its alumni – he veered
the conversation to the potential role
of failure as an element in the DNA of
successful founders. The turn of phrase
that particularly caught my attention
was “failed spectacularly,” which Reza
used to describe a venture launched
by one of the alumni who was in the
room. I took a deep breath and scanned
the table to see how this was being
received. Our guests were enthralled –
where was this going?
It turns out that this wasn’t the muchused mantra about “fail fast” as a
means of accelerating iteration – it
was about the process of building
fundamental knowledge and building
a network of trusted advisors that are
critical when launching a venture – and
exponentially valuable when launching
a second or even third venture. That’s
where
NEXT
differentiates
from
traditional accelerators focused on
venture success. At NEXT we are
focused on founder development – and
we are committed to supporting our
alumni throughout the lifetime of their
entrepreneurial journey.
In this issue, cleverly packaged as “The
Second Act” we are featuring alumni
who have taken lessons from their first
venture and applied it to their second or
third. Cathy Han offers insight from her
experience leading 42 Technologies and
how she leveraged that to launch Levro.
And Zak Lefevre (who was at the Don
Walker dinner) shares an update from
ChargeLab, where his past experiences
have contributed to his current success
(including a recent $15M Series A
funding round). It’s a significant issue
filled with genuine talent who have
made an impact during their second
act. I hope you enjoy it.
And on a personal note – I wanted to
congratulate my colleague Jaskaran
Chauhan, who was recently promoted
to Manager of Stewardship and Impact.
Jas is an incredible part of our team,
and we are expecting great things in her
second act at NEXT.