“What do you think about becoming general manager of Launch Academy?”
In November 2015, I met Launch Academy co-founder Alex Chuang. A couple of bites into our lunch he asked that question.
Who knew a few words could leave me speechless?
What is Launch Academy?
It’s Western Canada’s most successful incubator. Since 2012 we have incubated more than 500 early-stage tech startups that have collectively raised over $100 million and created more than 1,000 Canadian jobs.
It’s a place where breakthroughs are made possible by crazy people bringing ideas to life and getting shit done.
How a failed job search led to a successful incubator
As any new immigrant with a wife and two young kids should do (according to my wife), I went to WorkBC in May 2014 to learn how to get a job.
Two hundred job applications later, I was losing the battle against the world’s most ridiculous label: “overqualified.”
With no connections or friends, I was running out of money fast. So I focused on people.
Two months, 6,000 LinkedIn connections, five job offers and two consulting gigs later, I was having coffee with Collin Stewart, CEO of Predictable Revenue, who offered to give me a tour at Launch Academy in the generous spirit of a true Vancouver entrepreneur.
I immediately felt an incredible sense of belonging and a vibrant, infectious energy. The next day, I joined. Three years into it, here are three surprising lessons I’ve learned:
The way to the top is down
To learn about success, I decided to model two highly successful entrepreneurs and investors – Ray Walia and Shafin Diamond, partners at Victory Square Ventures.
I thought I would be dealing with big egos. I was wrong.
They work harder than anyone else. Worked weekends, stayed late and got their hands dirty. They rarely talk about themselves. They always look for ways to help you. They listen to a starting entrepreneur as if they’re listening to the CEO of a unicorn.
Stop waiting for your moment. Create it
At that lunch with Chuang, I experienced a moment when the stars aligned and things fell into place. It was a moment I had always been waiting for.
I couldn’t help but feel lucky to be chosen, believing I had nothing to do with it. But Chuang reminded me that I created that opportunity.
When I took a job and left Launch Academy, I offered to stay as a mentor to give back to the community. Within a few months I was asked to lead the startup training program. Six months later, Chuang and I were having that lunch.
I created my moment by practising the “million-dollar mindset,” which means:
•Say yes to opportunities, no matter how small.
•Do it as if you are going to be paid a million dollars.
•Do it as if your life and your future depend on it.
Get shit done
Because we are the most successful incubator in Western Canada, one might think we must have a large team and budget. We don’t.
We’re a non-profit, with a four-member team and very little government funding, that mastered how to get shit done. We did it by keeping three things in mind:
•It’s either done or not. Never almost done.
•Make sure you do it better the next time.
•Do it. Do not waste time asking whose job it is.
In less than five years this simple idea of a place for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs has become one of the cornerstones of Vancouver’s vibrant tech startup community and part of the success story of many remarkable startups.
Check out Launch Academy; it may be where your next startup success story begins.
Hussein Hallak, general manager of Launch Academy, is a serial entrepreneur who has built 10 startups.
