“An Evening With” played out as a masterclass for Telfer business students on doing it right, with Fullscript co-founder and CEO Kyle Braatz sharing the stage with Shopify’s vice president of brand, Brennan Loh, both of whom are alumni of the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management.
The evening on April 1st was hosted by Telfer’s Entrepreneurs Club (TECDE) at the school’s Desmarais Hall. There to welcome students and alumni were TECDE interim president Etienne Brugerolle de Fraissinette and Diana Kolesarova, who’s a member of the board of advisors for TECDE.
A casual fireside chat was the natural format. “Both of us don’t have the attention span or focus to prepare slide decks,” joked Loh, before asking Braatz a series of smart questions that gave the audience a glimpse into how the Ottawa success story, who had originally hoped to follow his father into firefighting, ended up creating a billion-dollar health-tech company.
Braatz’s journey began at Telfer. He came up with the idea to bike across Canada with friends to raise funds for cancer in memory of his late grandfather. He approached it much like building a business. “And every single day, I woke up and that’s all I could think about,” said Braatz, who ultimately raised $150,000. “As a student, it felt like we’d accomplished something really great. For me, that was the moment I realized, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life; I want to build and create’.”
Braatz urged students to pay attention to the opportunities in front of them. “It’s so easy to see all the exciting ideas out there, the shiny objects, and the things that are cooler than what you’re working on. Stay focused, focused, focused.”
Braatz also touched on the charities created by him and his wife, Rachel Braatz, a graduate of uOttawa’s law school. They’re co-chairing the $220-million campaign for the regional children’s hospital, CHEO. Braatz, who’s part of the ownership group of the Ottawa Senators, alongside owner Michael Andlauer, subscribes to the philosophy: “If you aren’t giving, you aren’t living.”
The discussion turned to the unique opportunities and challenges of building a business in Ottawa, which Braatz described as a city filled with entrepreneurs driven by impact.
He cited Shopify, another Ottawa-born company, as a role model early in his career.
Braatz acknowledged self-promotion doesn’t come easily. “Shouting from the rooftop about how great you are, that’s just not natural, at least not for me, and it isn’t for a lot of Ottawa-based companies,” he said, borrowing a phrase his chief people officer used to describe Fullscript: “The greatest company nobody has heard of”.
“That’s something I want to change. We have the steak but need to add the sizzle.”
Loh related to Braatz’s concern about communicating a company’s brand effectively, reflecting on Shopify’s early days. “The first hurdle in technology is always being able to get to a family dinner and describe what you do to your mom,” said Loh.
Braatz agreed. “Rachel’s parents still don’t know what I do.”
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