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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, this is Josh Wazaprezan, the owner and president of Odax Ventures,
[00:10] SPEAKER_00: and welcome to the Saskatchewan edition of Canada's podcast,
[00:14] SPEAKER_00: where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen here in the Prairies.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: Today's guest is Sris Salanders.
[00:21] SPEAKER_00: Sris is the founder and CEO of Solus Gard and ORA,
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: and her journey as a technology entrepreneur has been anything but typical.
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: Sris spent 20 years in the financial services industry,
[00:32] SPEAKER_00: the majority of those years as a senior executive,
[00:34] SPEAKER_00: however, life through her curveball and her parents went through major health challenges.
[00:38] SPEAKER_00: Despite having no technical background, she invented ORA,
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: an innovative, wearable, personal safety alert device.
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, Sris launched her second company Solus Gard,
[00:49] SPEAKER_00: helping employers to protect employees who work alone or in dangerous situations
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: with a suite of hardware and software safety solutions.
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: Sris, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for taking the time to be here with us and our listeners.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: Super excited to have this conversation with you.
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: I am super excited to thank you so much for having me, Josh.
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
[01:09] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Let's start by you just telling us in the listeners a little bit more about yourself.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: How did you get started as an entrepreneur?
[01:15] SPEAKER_00: And when did your entrepreneurial journey really begin that's led you to today?
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's certainly not a typical story.
[01:24] SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's not as though I've always wanted to be a tech entrepreneur or an entrepreneur.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: It's not like that at all.
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: In fact, I was doing the whole corporate thing for many years.
[01:36] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, life did throw me a curveball when my parents got ill.
[01:40] SPEAKER_01: My mom passed away and then my dad got really sick.
[01:43] SPEAKER_01: And you go through this life change from just being the daughter,
[01:48] SPEAKER_01: jealous, and being a caregiver.
[01:50] SPEAKER_01: And nobody really talks about that.
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: You're not really prepared for it.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: There's lots of challenges that come with it.
[01:55] SPEAKER_01: But one of the challenges was just making sure that my dad could be safe.
[02:00] SPEAKER_01: Because he's super independent and wanted to stay at home.
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: And so I had this idea.
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: I was very naive.
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: I thought how hard could it be?
[02:08] SPEAKER_01: Spoiler alert.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to start a tech company and especially a hardware company.
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: But I didn't know.
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: So I got into it.
[02:17] SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
[02:17] SPEAKER_00: I love it.
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: I love hearing stories, especially about founders who, for example,
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: like yourself had no really technical background and knowledge
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: and then built this awesome tech company.
[02:28] SPEAKER_00: Super cool.
[02:29] SPEAKER_00: I love hearing those stories because you hear so many people say,
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: you have to have that certain experience in order to start.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: But I love when you hear people that they didn't and look what they've
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: been able to do.
[02:40] SPEAKER_00: So that's super cool.
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: Tell us more about Solus Garden in the company and what the business is all about.
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: Clearly it was started based on your experience.
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: With your parents.
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: But tell us more about the company and how it is and your main goal and objectives
[02:53] SPEAKER_00: of the business.
[02:54] SPEAKER_01: For sure.
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: And Solus Garden, as you mentioned before, as our second company,
[02:58] SPEAKER_01: it was aura, the personal safety device.
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: And it was actually out of that that Solus Garden was born because we,
[03:06] SPEAKER_01: here we were helping individual people and we still do to this day,
[03:10] SPEAKER_01: help individual people.
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: But this is what we're saying.
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: And we need to find a way to keep them safe.
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: And so more and more businesses, government agencies were coming forward
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: saying we need this.
[03:25] SPEAKER_01: And I realized that, okay, not only is this something for individuals,
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: but it's also something for employers who are looking for this solution.
[03:35] SPEAKER_01: And so Solus Garden came out of that.
[03:37] SPEAKER_01: It was out there directly in need and ask organizations.
[03:42] SPEAKER_01: We launched just over two years ago.
[03:44] SPEAKER_01: And since that time, it has grown to something more than just where will safety devices.
[03:49] SPEAKER_01: It's grown to software solutions.
[03:51] SPEAKER_01: It's grown to ways that we can help organizations be more efficient and effective at safety.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: So we help with their back end solutions that they've got contact centers and dispatch.
[04:05] SPEAKER_01: Those are all sorts of things that we assist with now where we've evolved to over the years.
[04:10] SPEAKER_00: Very neat. I love the lesson there of you listen to your customers and the demand of what you were being asked
[04:16] SPEAKER_00: and what the market was asking for.
[04:17] SPEAKER_00: And then saw that and pivoted, adapted, created the company.
[04:21] SPEAKER_00: I think that's an awesome story and a great lesson for so many entrepreneurs.
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to some of those initial days of Solus Garden.
[04:28] SPEAKER_00: What were your biggest challenges that you faced, especially as someone,
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: I guess back to Orra, even without the technical skills of being an entrepreneur?
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: What were those biggest challenges from the beginning?
[04:41] SPEAKER_01: Always the hardware quite frankly.
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: Building a business is hard.
[04:47] SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what kind of business being an entrepreneur is really tough.
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: Being a hardware company adds an entirely different layer of complexity and understanding and the challenge is with that.
[04:59] SPEAKER_01: And then the fact that we're a safety company.
[05:01] SPEAKER_01: So again, just layered all along.
[05:03] SPEAKER_01: You know, why make it easy? It's hard as possible. Let's do that.
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: So there was a lot of things that we just had to get right.
[05:10] SPEAKER_01: There wasn't a lot of room for air, margin for air.
[05:13] SPEAKER_01: We had to get it right out of the gates, which led to some great innovations that we have had and spending for.
[05:19] SPEAKER_01: So there's good things that come out of it.
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: So it started that way. More recently was Solus Garden though.
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: We launched Solus Garden right when the pandemic started.
[05:31] SPEAKER_01: So that was great.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: Also, you know, something to help now granted more people are working alone.
[05:38] SPEAKER_01: And there's, you know, lots of there's also opportunities in that.
[05:42] SPEAKER_01: But it's certainly difficult to be growing, building a company, getting your feet up, you know, getting things going.
[05:48] SPEAKER_01: And then at the same time, add in the end of the day.
[05:52] SPEAKER_01: And we're not the only ones by far, but it's just one more thing.
[05:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
[05:58] SPEAKER_00: It made your challenge for sure for so many entrepreneurs.
[06:02] SPEAKER_00: And did you, did you have to raise capital to start Solus Garden or, or, or and what was that process like if you did.
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: So back in the original days, we did raise capital because we, I thought that we could buy something off the shelf and, you know, make that work and realize that there was tremendous amount of limitations and risk factors.
[06:22] SPEAKER_01: And so realize that we had to build our hardware and very few companies do that by the way in our industry, most companies just buy things off the shelf and resell it.
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: But it's comes with a lot of gaps and a lot of risks.
[06:34] SPEAKER_01: And I just wasn't willing to compromise.
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: And so is it okay.
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: We're going to build our hardware.
[06:38] SPEAKER_01: That takes a lot of money.
[06:40] SPEAKER_01: A lot.
[06:40] SPEAKER_01: And we'd already been in this for some time and already I'd already bootstrapped and my husband and I put in a lot of capital.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: And so we did raise money in the early days.
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: And I did it actually with not friends and family because that just seemed concerning to me.
[07:01] SPEAKER_01: But with professionals and business people who've been there done that before.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: So I guess we called them angels.
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: And so I'd work with them.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: This was a few years back.
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: And then just recently did another round to or expansion opportunity.
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. That's great. Did you ever look at grants or apply for any grants as part of your your.
[07:22] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: When scrappy startups, you just do everything possible.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: So absolutely everything that I could possibly apply for I did and was successful in a number of areas.
[07:33] SPEAKER_01: Whether that's I rap or whether that's shred credits or some of the other programs that have come out since COVID.
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: Take advantage of what you can.
[07:45] SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
[07:45] SPEAKER_00: So what's something about the industry that you're in that our listeners may not know?
[07:50] SPEAKER_00: Is there a life or business lesson that you've learned from the business that you think can be applied elsewhere that you'd like to share with our listeners?
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: Well, most certainly where we're going with this conversation so far, which is hardware is really hard.
[08:05] SPEAKER_01: And I remember the early early days when I first started doing this and somebody said,
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: don't don't do hardware. I didn't listen, of course.
[08:12] SPEAKER_01: And so the years are usually don't yeah.
[08:15] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I didn't listen.
[08:17] SPEAKER_01: And so so here we are.
[08:19] SPEAKER_01: And and I just I also just didn't know how hard it was going to be.
[08:23] SPEAKER_01: And I think reflecting back on it, had I known all these things that probably wouldn't have been it.
[08:28] SPEAKER_01: And I'm so glad that I didn't you know, I really trusted my gut and said,
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: this is a problem that needs to be solved.
[08:35] SPEAKER_01: This is something that we need to do.
[08:37] SPEAKER_01: And it's been hard and it's still hard.
[08:39] SPEAKER_01: You know, there's the everyday there's challenges with it, especially with the global trip shortage.
[08:45] SPEAKER_01: There's just big issues.
[08:47] SPEAKER_01: However, at the same time, it's the single greatest thing I've ever done in my life.
[08:51] SPEAKER_01: And I am so grateful that I've decided to go down this journey.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: That's awesome. I look you're asked to how much of your time was spent and is to this day to spend on the hardware component versus the software.
[09:05] Speaker UNKNOWN: And how much of your time was spent on the hardware component of your business?
[09:08] SPEAKER_01: There's not a lot of time spent on it.
[09:11] SPEAKER_01: You know, we were always evolving and improving and making adjustments to it for sure.
[09:19] SPEAKER_01: But are we're more so focused on building out other aspects of our business in particular the software side of it.
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: That is a part of our primary focus.
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: But it's always there because it's such a critical component.
[09:32] SPEAKER_01: Not every customer has our hardware just, you know, for clarification.
[09:36] SPEAKER_01: Some customers only use our software.
[09:39] SPEAKER_01: But the hardware is just something that you can't look away from.
[09:42] SPEAKER_01: You always have to have one eye on it to make sure that it's going well.
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
[09:46] SPEAKER_00: So what's the long term vision for SolusGuard?
[09:49] SPEAKER_00: And what do you think your company will look like in the future?
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: Do you see yourself expanding to other provinces across the country?
[09:55] SPEAKER_00: What's the future look like for you?
[09:58] SPEAKER_01: Well, we are already selling throughout Canada and the United States.
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: Primarily with Cross Canada for sure.
[10:05] SPEAKER_01: That's our major market today.
[10:08] SPEAKER_01: But certainly when we look to expansion and growth, we look to the United States because it's such a massive market.
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: And there's so many opportunities for us.
[10:17] SPEAKER_01: And so we're really focusing on North America today.
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: But what problems that we solve are global problems.
[10:25] SPEAKER_01: And there are certainly things that we can look to in the future as to expand much, much broader than just North America.
[10:33] SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
[10:33] SPEAKER_00: And you see that primarily on the software side, as you mentioned.
[10:37] SPEAKER_00: Both.
[10:38] SPEAKER_01: You know, anywhere that there are people who work alone or in dangerous jobs.
[10:42] SPEAKER_01: And so for us, primarily where we, I guess where we solve issues for.
[10:47] SPEAKER_01: So everything from residential property managers and parole officers to healthcare workers like that go out in the community.
[10:55] SPEAKER_01: Mental health and addictions workers and home care workers through to journalists.
[11:01] SPEAKER_01: So those sorts of individuals, politicians, famous people.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: These are all people that need products and services like ours.
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: So you're in Saskatoon.
[11:13] SPEAKER_00: Why do you think Saskatchewan is such a great place to be an entrepreneur and to build a business?
[11:18] SPEAKER_01: I think there's two reasons.
[11:20] SPEAKER_01: First of all, the community is incredibly supportive.
[11:24] SPEAKER_01: And I think maybe because we're a little isolated, but there isn't a huge competition amongst each other.
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: I think we realize that we're stronger together.
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: And you see that with government initiatives, the private sector, public sector.
[11:37] SPEAKER_01: And it's across the board and amongst entrepreneurs that want to help each other.
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: So I think there's that perspective.
[11:45] SPEAKER_01: I think the other thing is that your people really think they think we can't.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: And I think that plays to our advantage because we can.
[12:01] SPEAKER_01: And so they underestimate us to some degree.
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: And so to some degree, we can we can kind of operate under covers, although it's getting a harder and harder because of some huge successes that are coming out of Saskatchewan this week's announcement of coconut software's series B round of $28 million or vendasta
[12:22] SPEAKER_01: over almost 120 million or precision AI 55 million, seven ships, 21.5 million.
[12:31] SPEAKER_01: You know, so there's huge successes coming out of Saskatchewan.
[12:34] SPEAKER_01: And I think this ability to fly under the radar is quickly going away.
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: Take advantage of it while it's still there, I guess.
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: I would agree.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Awesome to hear all the success stories in the area and in the prairies in general.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: And I guess just across Canada in general too, but the prairies are a special place to start a business I can completely agree with that.
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: If you were to start it all over again, knowing what you now know, what would you do and how would you start all over again as a entrepreneur.
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: I think it's what I said before Josh and that is to become politely frank, if I had known, I wouldn't have done it.
[13:10] SPEAKER_01: I just wouldn't have it. This is this has been a grind. It's been part is an understanding.
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: And I'm so grateful that I didn't know because there's just been so much benefit.
[13:25] SPEAKER_01: And I feel incredibly grateful to have this opportunity in this journey that so many people have not.
[13:32] SPEAKER_01: So maybe I'm cheating on this answer, but I'm just I wouldn't have done it. And so I'm glad I didn't know.
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: So where do you find personally motivation and inspiration to continue to be an entrepreneur and overcome those challenges that you face every day with building a business and being an entrepreneur.
[13:52] SPEAKER_01: Two places. The first place hands down is our customers.
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: I'm in a unique or we're in a unique situation where we say people's lives.
[14:04] SPEAKER_01: And then they tell us sometimes not always, but then they tell us the impact that we've had on our life.
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: And that started right with aura and is continued all the way through SoulSkirt.
[14:15] SPEAKER_01: And I don't think there's many organizations or companies or startups that can say that.
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: So when you know that you're having such a profound impact on people's life every single day, it's just it's what keeps you going.
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: The second thing that just blows my mind is my my team. They are they're just incredible, most talented people I've ever worked with in my whole life.
[14:42] SPEAKER_01: And they come to work every day. They show up every day. So if they show up every day, I show up.
[14:48] SPEAKER_00: Love it. That's awesome. Out of curiosity, why SoulSkirt is there meaning behind the name?
[14:55] SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a combination of different things. We because we really work with people who work alone. They're solo.
[15:02] SPEAKER_01: So that's the that side of it. And the guard, of course, is that we protect them. So then the name sort of comes together.
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: I love it. That's awesome. So every entrepreneur is so different with their routines and how they go about their day and every every day is very different.
[15:17] SPEAKER_00: I guess is a pair statement to for an entrepreneur. But what does a routine look like for you as an entrepreneur? What does that first hour look like for you in the morning or do you have a specific routine or ritual to get your day started or to end your day for that matter?
[15:31] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. I'm not a morning person. I have to admit, but I have no choice because as soon as I open my eyes, the first things that I do, I have to admit that this terrible but true is I check to see what's going on.
[15:48] SPEAKER_01: And most of that reason is because being in Saskatchewan, you know, we're a couple of hours, especially in the summertime, a couple of hours behind the east and where a few hours behind, you know, many more hours behind Europe, et cetera.
[16:02] SPEAKER_01: And so it's the sort of situation where I need to know what's going on instantly. And there's always something that's popped up and not that I've missed it, but I gotta jump on it.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: And so I have to hit the ground running. I need to know what the impacts are going to be, you know, positively, negatively, et cetera.
[16:20] SPEAKER_01: So I start that way. What is the direct impact to our company? What needs to be addressed immediately? And my whole team visits, we have obviously customer success team that start much earlier than I do in the morning.
[16:33] SPEAKER_01: But I need to know what's going on instantly. And then the next thing that I do is I'm getting prepared for the day is to know what's going on in the world.
[16:41] SPEAKER_01: And for me, then it starts at home. I still get the paper. My husband laughs at me. He's like, I really want to five people. I think I still get the paper. But I read the paper.
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: I want to know what's going on in my community. It's extremely important to me to know what's going on in my community and my province.
[16:56] SPEAKER_01: And then I read the news electronically around North American particular to see what's going on and what I need to be aware of.
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: So the morning is very much about being informed and knowing the direction that we're going to be going.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: That's great. Outside of the news and newspaper, are there any books that you're reading right now or that you're really into whether it be audio books or podcasts or physical books and any that you would recommend to our listeners?
[17:25] SPEAKER_01: Well, right now I am knee deep into this book. Obviously awesome by April Dunford. And in for a few reasons, we as a company, we have a lot of parts and services. But most people think of us as just a panic button company and we're not.
[17:45] SPEAKER_01: So I'm currently working with my team marketing and sales department to team to figure out how to position our company so that we can really get that across.
[17:55] SPEAKER_01: And so April's book is helping us considerably. In addition, I was really fortunate to have a one on one with her not too long ago, which is just crazy smart and hilarious.
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: So we've had some great conversations, but that's what I'm reading right now.
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. That sounds like a fantastic book. I'm going to add it to my list.
[18:15] SPEAKER_00: So how do you relax and not think about work or do you have any favorite activities to do outside of work? I know it's not sure you probably don't have a ton of time to not think about work, but how do you escape and get away from work?
[18:27] SPEAKER_01: You know, that's such a great question because as a founder in particular of a company, you tend to be completely immersed in it.
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: Right. Everything is it feels like it's about you wouldn't have not personally put the business and everything that's going on with it.
[18:46] SPEAKER_01: And so for me, it's important to get perspective. And the best way that I get perspective is by surrounding myself with other people with other interests and who have other challenges in life situations.
[19:00] SPEAKER_01: And so spending time with my husband, of course, who is a police officer, spending time with my friends with other entrepreneurs is extremely valuable because
[19:14] SPEAKER_01: and oftentimes that looks like time with the glass of wine, by the way, but I digress.
[19:20] SPEAKER_01: But it's about having broader conversations and opening up our minds to, you know, what's going on in the world, what's going on in their life.
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: And it takes me out of thinking about me and what's going on with my life into into theirs. And I love it.
[19:34] SPEAKER_01: And it's just something I'd love to do is spend spending time with people.
[19:38] SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's great. And I think you can learn so much from other people too, like kind of like what you mentioned by surrounding yourself around those types of individuals and learn so much.
[19:47] SPEAKER_00: And that can then flow into your work too and help you personally professionally. So I think that's great.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
[19:52] SPEAKER_00: If you weren't doing what you are doing now and building your businesses, what would you like to be doing as a profession?
[20:01] SPEAKER_01: So I chose to take this as, you know, if I could do anything, what would it be versus the practical answer?
[20:11] SPEAKER_01: It's not surprisingly based on my last answer because I love talking with people.
[20:16] SPEAKER_01: I would love to be a coach and a mentor. And I'd also like to do more speaking engagements.
[20:22] SPEAKER_01: I think I have a bit to share. I've certainly not made it by any stretch the imagination. I've got a fairly long and decent work history.
[20:33] SPEAKER_01: And so I'd love to be able to go out and share what I've learned in different capacity and hopefully one day be able to travel and do that.
[20:42] SPEAKER_01: And at the same, you know, bring those two loves together, which is it's traveling and communications.
[20:47] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Do you have a favorite word, quote or sentence that you like to use to keep yourself inspired or your team inspired?
[20:55] SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. And this is something that we have written in many places and it is sick first to understand and then to be understood.
[21:05] SPEAKER_01: And I think this applies absolutely in our business as we talk to prospects or potential customers or existing customers.
[21:13] SPEAKER_01: We want to know and understand their life. We want to know the challenges that's going on with them.
[21:18] SPEAKER_01: We need to understand them first before we share, you know, how we might be a fit or how we can solve a problem because the other way around just simply doesn't work and doesn't make any sense.
[21:31] SPEAKER_01: So I think in terms of a business that is something that I live by, it's also those something that I think us as a society could learn more of, especially in light of social media and the challenges that we have.
[21:43] Speaker UNKNOWN: And I think that's what we want to know about the things that are going on.
[21:44] SPEAKER_01: We really just stop to listen and learn from other people first before share thoughts and really listening and really learning that would go along.
[21:54] SPEAKER_00: I love it. That's awesome. So Sri says we wrap up our conversation here shortly. What is one piece of advice that you'd love to share with entrepreneurs across Canada?
[22:04] SPEAKER_01: So first of all, I see you, I hear you, I understand you entrepreneurs that you're out there, I get it's hard, your journey is hard.
[22:14] SPEAKER_01: Mine isn't any harder, it's just different.
[22:17] SPEAKER_01: But we all go through our challenges. And I think most of us expect those big ups and downs, those end versus sort of grab her for it.
[22:25] SPEAKER_01: But one of the things that we don't always talk about are the times where we're stuck or where nothing's happening or there's just a big period big gaps where we just don't know what to do.
[22:38] SPEAKER_01: And I think that's something that is really not talked about very often.
[22:43] SPEAKER_01: So if you as an entrepreneur, I find yourself in the big ups, big downs are in that long period of not knowing what to do.
[22:53] SPEAKER_02: Just keep going.
[22:55] SPEAKER_02: Just keep going.
[22:56] SPEAKER_00: Love it. I think that's such good advice. Any specific advice that if you're honesty for entrepreneurs who are like you without a technical background, but want to start a technical business?
[23:09] SPEAKER_01: For sure.
[23:12] SPEAKER_01: What we need to be doing is solving problems. So oftentimes, you know, you see somebody comes up with some great technology and then they're looking for a problem to solve.
[23:22] SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't necessarily subscribe to that. I think some of us who are non-technical, we have a bit of an advantage in that we really truly understand the problem that we're solving.
[23:34] SPEAKER_01: Because it's something in our life is something that we have experienced that we're trying to make better.
[23:40] SPEAKER_01: And so if you're a non technical founder and you've got something in your life and you're thinking, well, this really sucks.
[23:45] SPEAKER_01: We'll start thinking about some solutions, start brainstorming and figuring out, okay, how could this be done different?
[23:52] SPEAKER_01: And then once you have your idea, surround yourself with those technical people, surround yourself with people who know how to solve that problem in a technical way and work together.
[24:03] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Great advice. I think that's awesome.
[24:06] SPEAKER_00: So, Sris, how can our listeners get a hold of you and is there anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap up our conversation today?
[24:13] SPEAKER_01: The easiest way to get a hold of me is on LinkedIn. And I'm super easy to find because of my name. So by all means, reach out that way.
[24:21] SPEAKER_01: Just make sure to mention that it was through this awesome opportunity. So just do that. So I know where you're coming from because it can be a bit overwhelming.
[24:31] SPEAKER_01: But please do reach out. Happy to chat with other entrepreneurs about our journeys. Absolutely.
[24:37] SPEAKER_01: And if you're thinking about it, maybe this is what I could leave the listeners with. If you're just thinking about have like to be an entrepreneur, I'd like to do something, but I don't know where to start.
[24:48] SPEAKER_01: My advice is just to get involved. Listen to podcasts like this. Absolutely to get inspired. Go to a hackathon.
[24:56] SPEAKER_01: Be and go talk to incubators in your community. I guarantee there's something.
[25:02] SPEAKER_01: Maybe something physical if we could actually depending on where you live, you get together, but certainly online. There's lots of ways, but it's just first starts by being curious. So be curious.
[25:13] SPEAKER_01: Listen, learn, and you never know where it will lead.
[25:16] SPEAKER_00: Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Serees. That's fantastic. Before we do leave, though, I love to at the end with all of my guests do too quick on the spot rapid fire fun questions.
[25:27] SPEAKER_00: So first thing that comes to your mind is fire away. First question. If you could choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what song would you choose?
[25:39] SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
[25:52] SPEAKER_02: Want back down.
[25:54] SPEAKER_00: Love it. Second, last question. If you could have a dinner party with any four people in the world that are allowed to use on your invite list.
[26:04] SPEAKER_02: Oh, my mom, because I miss her terribly.
[26:10] SPEAKER_02: Oprah.
[26:14] SPEAKER_01: And then I would be stuck because my one of my best friends Michelle would be so upset if I didn't do to this dinner party. So I would have to say my friend Michelle and I so there we are.
[26:27] SPEAKER_00: Awesome. Love it. That's a great dinner dinner table. Well, Serees, thank you so much for coming on the show and for sharing more about your story, your journey about Solus Gard and Laura.
[26:37] SPEAKER_00: I've learned a lot from just listening to you and understanding of your journey and the company. And I'm sure our listeners have as well. So thank you again so much.
[26:45] SPEAKER_00: And to all of our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this episode of Canada's podcast. You can like, comment and subscribe to all of our channels to get the latest podcasts and information from entrepreneurs across Canada.
[26:57] SPEAKER_00: So thanks so much again and we'll see everyone next time.
