Carol Leaman CEO-in-Residence Communitech

UPDATE: Carol is now the CEO of AideRSS

Carol’s background includes senior roles at Electrohome and overseeing the growth of virtual reality pioneer Fakespace from a $3- to a $30-million dollar company. In 2004 she became CEO at RSS Solutions. She began working with Communitech after its sale in 2006.

You went from a healthy revenue company (Fakespace) to one with the same number of employees but much lower revenue (RSS Solutions in 2004) Why?
RSS Solutions had not executed in terms of growing the company from a revenue standpoint. The financial partners were looking for somebody to come in and tell them what could be done to scale the company. The numbers, staff-wise, were about the same.

Is that a strength of yours? I saw that you spoke on the topic of budgeting at Entrepreneur week.
That was more a more a roundtable discussion, very basic budgeting for Startups. I had helped with a turnaround at Fakespace and RSS Solutions needed a turnaround – or so they thought at the time.

RSS Solutions was sold, was that a successful turnaround?
Yes and no, it wasn’t a turnaround in the ‘growth’ sense, it was an issue of going in and assessing what was there and realizing that the best exit for everybody was an acquisition. A question of getting on that path and making it happen.

How long were you with RSS?
Almost two years, I left in May of last year.

And now you’re with Communitech as CEO in residence?
Yes and no. I’ve gone from primarily helping startups informally or as a consultant to committing two days a week to Communitech’s member companies in any way that I can.

How do you like that?
Good and bad. It’s great in the sense that I’ve seen lots of interesting stuff, and have talked to lots of entrepreneurs – both at an idea stage to stuff that’s actually happening, it’s been very good and I think I’ve helped a few places.

The part that’s not so good is that I love being in a company, rolling up my sleeves and digging in, making it happen and doing it on a long-term basis. I’m biding my time and waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

I interviewed Mark Ruddock, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ventures West and we talked about how he’s more or less mandated to jump into a company. How does that compare to your role?
I don’t think there’s the (same) expectation. If it’s there and it happens, great. My mandate is to go and do whatever needs to be done, to offer my assistance in any way, shape or form – whether it’s strategy work or process development. It’s fluid.

A few of the companies Carol has worked with

I had one company come in (who were) thinking about starting an RSS clone, it was at the idea stage and so I spent an afternoon with them, telling them about the industry, the target markets, etc. Then they went off and did their thing. There was another company in town and the CEO was struggling with ‘what to do next’ from a strategy perspective, so I helped him pick the path forward.

How many companies would you say you work with per month? How much time do you spend with them?
Anywhere from four hours to weeks. It’s been all over the map.

Do you find that invigorating?
You learn a lot about many different kinds of businesses – I find all of it extremely interesting and often educational for me, and hopefully beneficial for the companies as I apply what is often common sense business logic and my own experience to each unique situation.

Do you work mostly software, hardware, web 2.0?
It’s mostly been software, and I’ve been doing a couple of projects for companies both outside the region and outside of technology.

It must put you on a first-name basis with a lot of CEOs in the KW area
I am very fortunate to know many of the CEO ’s in town. It is delightful to be able to pick up the phone and call on any one of them if I need something.

So companies come to Communitech informally and are directed to you?
Some come through Communitech; member companies saying ‘we’ve got this particular issue, where can we find someone to help us with it?’, others contact me directly or through the VC community.

It seems like the residence program is a holding area for talented CEOs waiting for their next challenge, a win-win for both the individual and the companies they help
Yes, absolutely. By staying in touch with what’s going on at an early stage level I (and others) get to see a lot of activity.

So you’re going to keep doing it?
There’s no reason not to. Hopefully something permanent will happen at some point and I’ll dive into another company and make it happen.

Are there other CEOs in Residence at Communitech?
There’s going to be another one shortly.

How would you characterize the CEOs or founders of the startups that come to you? Is there a certain demographic?
There is the founder/entrepreneur/technology contingent – Engineers and PhDs – I’ve also dealt with more seasoned “non-technology” types with a Sales or marketing background. It’s a wide range of people.

Do you have a technical background?
No, I’m a finance person by background – a chartered accountant. I read recently that most CEOs in Canada have a finance background. Number two was a background in sales and technology was number three.

K-W is growing like gangbusters, how did it pull you into its orbit?
I’m originally from Ottawa. I went to school at the University of Waterloo and that’s how I ended up here, I’ve been here permanently since ‘92. It’s a great place to be…I feel lucky that I it just sort of happened that I ended up here.

So you’ve seen the area explode as a technology ecosystem
I’m amazed, and in the past few years with Communitech I’ve just seen a tremendous explosion there in terms of market knowledge and perception of tech in the area.

What’s the mood in like terms of growth and technology?
The mood is extremely positive at all levels. It seems like much of the hard work of many people to foster KW as a technology hotbed over the last 15 years is paying off in many ways. There’s a sense of momentum and positive energy here that other communities would love to have.

Is there a common piece of advice that you find yourself dispensing?
Yes! Over and over again…...it doesn’t matter how unique and wonderful your product/technology is, and it very well may be….if there isn’t a market for it that cares, you are wasting your time. If you think you can make a market, your chances of success are severely diminished.

If you were going to get back in the game tomorrow as a technology CEO, what kind of company would you like to be running?
Ideally, it would be another early stage technology company that had a great market opportunity, lots of heavy lifting yet to be done, but the basic building blocks in place or that could be put in place to make it happen.