Shift by Alberta Innovates
Shift by Alberta Innovates
Transforming Tech Narratives: Storytelling's Role in Alberta's Innovation Ecosystem
Unlock the secrets of storytelling in Alberta's tech scene with insights from Leah Sarich, head of story at Thin Air Labs and host of the podcast, The Founder Mindset, and startup marketing consultant Kira Kelsie from Kasm Consulting.
Explore how compelling narratives can transform public perceptions of complex innovations, fostering a culture of engagement and support throughout the province. Leah and Kira share their expertise on crafting stories that resonate broadly, bridging the gap between high-tech concepts and everyday Albertans, and creating a unified narrative spanning startups to industry giants.
Discover the challenges and strategies involved in making intricate technologies relatable and accessible. Leah draws upon her journalism background to illustrate how plain language storytelling can highlight the human impact of innovations, while Kira sheds light on the common struggle founders face in simplifying their messages. Together, they offer practical tips for startups to connect with their audience, particularly in the clean tech sector, where skepticism is often a hurdle. Our discussion underscores the paramount importance of building trust and credibility through effective and authentic storytelling.
Dive into ChatGPT: yay or nay? Our guests weigh in. Kira discusses AI-driven marketing strategies that prioritize authenticity and collaboration, while sharing a humorous story about the pitfalls of over-reliance on technology.
Our conversation also emphasizes the importance of community, encouraging founders to share their stories at networking opportunities, open houses, and coffee meetups at places like Platform Calgary, Edmonton Unlimited and any of the Regional Innovation Networks:
Calgary – Calgary Innovation Coalition
Central AB – Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network
Edmonton – Edmonton Regional Innovation Network
East Central AB – East Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network
Northeast AB – Wood Buffalo Regional Innovation Network
Northwest AB – Grande Prairie Regional Innovation Network
Southeast AB – APEX: Southeast Alberta Regional Innovation Network
Southern AB – The Regional Innovation Network of Southern Alberta
Finally, your call to action: just start small.
We encourage founders just like you to take part in spotlighting Alberta's amazing tech ecosystem by contributing a short story about your business on LinkedIn. Start small and build your story telling muscle. You never know who will be listening!
Whether you're a founder, entrepreneur, or tech enthusiast, this episode promises to enrich your understanding of storytelling's pivotal role in driving innovation and engagement.
Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.
Innovation touches us all, whether you're a citizen, an entrepreneur, a founder or a funder. What does it mean to you, and how can storytelling bridge the gap between complexity and understanding, inspiring connection and action? Today, my guests and I explore how we can use collaborative narrative to help continue to shape Alberta's thriving tech and innovation space in a way that builds trust, pride and impact. Sit back, settle in in and welcome to Shift. Welcome folks to Shift. And today I'm really excited to welcome Kira Kelsey, a startup marketing consultant with Kasm Consulting in Saskatchewan. So happy to have you here today. I know you've been very active in the Alberta ecosystem as well, but we'll flesh all of that out in a bit. Alberta ecosystem as well, but we'll flesh all of that out in a bit.
Jon:And Leah Sarich, head of story at Thin Air Labs and a fellow podcast host. Her podcast is called the Founder Mindset. Welcome, leah, nice to have you as well. Thank you so much for having me. So today we're going to be talking about the role of storytelling in innovation, in innovation ecosystems. Now we're kind of focused on Alberta here, but this is one of those things that kind of transcends borders. How do we get better at telling stories? So why don't we start off a little bit and we'll talk about the role of storytelling in innovation? Why is it critical in the tech and innovation space? Now, leah, why don't we start with you when you think about stories? How can they help non-experts understand what's going on?
Leah:Well, storytelling is a fantastic way to help people understand what is going on in the sector, and really good storytelling helps people understand what's being developed, what's going on and why people should care about it. And that's the really important piece there, because if people don't understand what's going on, if they're not aware of what's going on, then they won't care about it and they won't champion it, and so we're growing this sector in Alberta right now. So it is essential that we do storytelling to help more and more and more people understand what's going on in the sector, help more people understand why they should care about the sector and then why they should champion it, and then, if we have all of that going on, then we're attracting investment, we're attracting talent and things start happening.
Jon:Now, when you talk about getting people to care about it, are you talking like everybody all 4.2 million Albertans and why they should have an understanding or a respect for what's going on in the innovation ecosystem and why it matters?
Leah:Absolutely. I mean, I 100% agree. We should all be having those conversations. You know how it's like you go to a dinner party in Alberta and everybody's talking about the oil and gas sector and oh, did you hear about this? And have you heard about that? I think we should be having those same conversations about the technology sector, because our province is evolving right now and we are trying to diversify the economy and this is the way global markets are going. So we just need to get on board with this narrative and it's an evolution, right. So this is just part of that evolution, where we have another sector to start talking about, and I want everybody to understand what that looks like, because when everybody's on board, then again we've got more engagement and interest and we're attracting more talent and investment into that sector.
Jon:So, Kira, tell us from your perspective what your thoughts on that are us from your perspective what, what your thoughts on that are.
Kira:well, I totally agree with leah. Um, I think storytelling is a really wonderful way to get people to resonate, right? So, as leah was saying, right, a lot of people resonate with the oil and gas narrative, but we want them to start identifying with the, the tech narrative and the like, the really cool stuff that's going on and, like she said, that only brings in, you know, more talent, more investment and more ingenuity, right? Like I love the people that work in startups, that's why I built my business around helping them grow and scale with marketing. So, anything we can do we can do to inspire others to participate, collaborate anything like that, I think, is just wonderful.
Jon:Well, you know what I think about when we and I'm with both of you like, how do we engage, you know, the entire citizenry, 4.2 million Albertans to think about it, know what's going on, feel like they've got skin in the game. But often we talk about the innovation ecosystem right, and the innovation ecosystem if you really kind of bear down and go, who is that? You know the entrepreneurs, the researchers involved, the businesses and the services that support them. That's not 4.2 million people, it's a much smaller slice of the pie. And for us to engage that wider, not cross-section, but the wider audience of Albertans, I think we need to do a better job telling those stories, not from a siloed perspective, but how do we tell them together?
Jon:So, Alberta Innovates does something. Thin Air Labs is doing something. Kasm Consulting is working with startups. How do we get better at telling those stories within sharing those audiences, kira? Why don't we start with you on that one?
Kira:Yeah, I think you know you could go a couple different ways in answering that, but I think one of the ways that we can involve more people is having a lot more industry buy-in. So, like ideally, industry would be a beta tester or a pilot for a lot of the innovation that's going on and then it just spreads from there, right, like ideally, you have tentacles, that kind of reach everywhere, and then you're able to have that network and that collaborative community where you know a big oil and gas company could try a new technology and say, oh, wow, like why didn't we build this ourselves? Right? That's the whole idea is. Founders are the experts in their own companies. They found a better way to do something, and it always kind of baffles me why larger companies aren't jumping up for joy to use them.
Jon:Right, yeah, and Leah, from your perspective and I want to go back to that, kira, just after we hear from Leah but that whole notion of adoption of technologies and then sharing that story, but, leah, what are your perspectives on that?
Leah:Well, I think we sort of touched on it in the sense that it really is about collaboration and building partnerships. So, whether it is with industry, or whether with its other podcasters, or with its other organizations, or whether it's with the universities, I think we need to be working together because, ultimately, we all have the same goal right, which is to grow this sector, to create jobs, to create impact. And if we all have that same outcome, then we really should be working really hard to work together to share each other's stories, to come on each other's podcasts, just like this, to really amplify each other's stories, because that's just leveraging everybody else's audience, and when you're doing that, you're getting more eyeballs, you're getting more listens, and that means that that story is just getting out there more and more and more.
Jon:Yeah, I like that and I think that's really key. There is when you step back and you go. Well, we really all have very similar, if not the same, objectives. You know, diversifying the economy, creating jobs and that sort of thing. Let's dive into the challenges of storytelling in innovation and technology, so that whole notion of complexity versus clarity. How do you guys approach making a highly technical story more accessible and engaging? And Leah, let's start with you.
Leah:Sure, well, that's actually a really critical piece because good storytelling, it makes something very complex easy to understand. It's knowledge translation is what it is. So my background was as a journalist. So I was a journalist for 20 odd years and one job that I had for 16 of those years was as a medical reporter, and it's the same idea. So it's the same idea where you have a really complex subject and you have to use that skill of knowledge translation, where you take something really complex and make it easy to understand. And one of the ways you do that is by using plain language.
Leah:And this is really hard for people that are domain experts right, they're experts at the thing that they're building, that they're working on, and so it's very hard for them to step back and remember what plain language sounds like so that everybody else can care about what it is that they're building. And it goes back to that same notion. I mean, journalism 101 is why do I care about this? That's the first question that I would ask. You know, when you're running into a story. Number one first why do I care about this? What's going on? And if you can't help me understand why I need to care about this, then we're not going to have a good story. You want to tell a good story, but it really is about plain language and then helping people understand how it impacts them directly.
Leah:So that human component. So you know, for example with a tech company and for example in life sciences, say they're building something like blood tests to detect breast cancer Syantra, one of the companies in our portfolio. Okay, so that's an easy one to see the direct impact. Okay, so I've got a blood test. I can now detect my breast cancer sooner. I can get preventative treatment sooner. That impacts me directly. So I understand the impact of that. So that's a good example of making that human element easy to understand. How does this innovation directly affect me? Why do I care about it? Well, I mean, maybe this could help, you know, catch my breast cancer sooner. So that's a very impactful story. Just an example.
Jon:Yeah, no, that's a great example. Now, Kira, you've, in your work, you've consulted many, many startups. How do you navigate through that idea of taking something complex and making it clear for the audience?
Kira:Well, something I always say to founders, and everybody laughs and is like oh my gosh, someone said it is, when you're inside the jar you can't read the label.
Jon:And so, oh my God, I love that.
Kira:And so you know, founders are juggling so many different things. They have a staff they're trying to, you know, are juggling so many different things. They have a staff. They're trying to, you know, network with investors. They're trying to build their product they're dealing with so, like they have to be, you know, an inch wide and a mile long, versus you know a lot of industries are a mile long and an inch wide.
Kira:So finding a way, like kind of Leah said, to step out of yourself that's where a lot of my work comes in handy for founders is because I'm able to run them through questions Like I have a messaging framework that I go through with founders and I say a lot of it Leah's around the things that you touch on, like what triggers happen in a user's life that would make them pre-primed for this Right. Like why should I care and at what point in my life should I care? And then how do we target them really effectively? Because we don't have the money to stimulate the trigger, but we do have the money to show up when that trigger happens.
Jon:Right, okay, so in a sense, if I was to distill what the two of you just said is plain language and objectivity and telling the story of why it matters how it's going to impact people, and I really want to.
Jon:As we continue on our conversation, I want our listeners, especially from startups, because you don't have to go it alone doing these things A lot of times. You know I'm sure you know, leah you've got the work you're doing with Thin Air Labs as the head storyteller. There's a lot of support that you can provide your clients. Alberta Innovates does the same thing and in a lot of instances, we share clients. We share the same clients and same for you, kira. You know a lot of the organizations that you're touching.
Jon:I want people to listen to these and go okay, they're not in it alone. There's things that they can do, they can reach out, but if they're going to do things on their own, here's some nuggets of truth, some truth bombs, if you will. So let's dive into this notion of overcoming skepticism. Now, there's a lot of work going on in clean tech, you know, and, as we all know, there's people that deny it, and you know global warming and we won't get into that. But you're going to have people that come to the table very skeptical about things. How do you overcome that when you're telling a story, or do you even worry about that, kira, let's start with you on that one.
Kira:Okay. So there's two ways you could play it right. You can lean into it. You can lean into the skepticism and say, well, that's a. Really. It depends on the stage of the company. So if you're like around series A, you get the privilege of doing that. But if you're, you know, pre-seed or before that, you need to ask those questions to identify potential roadblocks and barriers to adoption. So you kind of should be leaning into that and listening and asking those questions and being there for those conversations, listening and asking those questions and being there for those conversations. But you know, when you're a more junior startup, you're not going to change their mind. So just focus on your ICP that you can win right away to get revenue through the door.
Jon:Okay, hold on a second Plain language me what is ICP?
Kira:Ideal customer profile.
Jon:Ideal customer profile. Okay, so now let me recontextualize that question. And that was a great answer. But let's say company A that got a new product, that they want to write a story, they want to do some social media, how would you suggest they overcome an audience of skepticism or something, or disinterest?
Kira:I mean, the short answer would be hire me. But Good for you, kira.
Jon:Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm really articulating the question well now that I've heard myself say it out loud, but you know you're going to be writing an article, let's say, on a clean tech business, and we're talking about reaching 4.2 million Albertans. Not every one of those people is warmly and openly embracing clean technology. They might think it's a waste of money, but we're putting a lot of money into it as a government, as a society and as a global village. We're putting a lot of money and effort into it. As a government, as a society and as a global village, we're putting a lot of money and effort into it. So, do you worry about the skeptics when you're telling stories, or do you just think about that movable middle that you could maybe? Well, you know they're right on the edge. We want to educate them, entertain them in a way with a story and show them why they should care.
Kira:Yeah, for the sake of you know, all the Albertans. Leah might have a better answer for this, because I'm I'm a marketer, you know. So I'm a hammer, everything's a nail, but All right, Leah, let's put it to you.
Leah:Okay, well, I think worry about the skeptics.
Leah:I think there's a few things that we can pull apart here. So, number one when you're doing really effective storytelling, first of all you want. So number one when you're doing really effective storytelling, first of all, you want to identify the audience that you're trying to talk to first. Like this is the ICP, this is what the marketers are talking about. So you do want to talk to and identify an audience that you want to talk to first. But then what happens?
Leah:If you get some really good, effective storytelling with the audience that you're targeting, I think there's a bit of a spillover effect and as you continue to do those incredible stories that people are continuing to talk about and understanding and caring about, then they start sharing those stories and then you start telling other people and then you kind of get this sort of mass effect that happens eventually. You kind of get this sort of mass effect that happens eventually. So when I think of the tech sector and how rapidly it's growing, I mean, just think of things like an Uber, for example I mean who would have thought that anybody would ever get into a car with a stranger and take a car ride with them? You know, like that was nuts just, you know a couple decades ago no-transcript right. When you are building trust with that person, you're building credibility, and when people feel this trust, then they're more inclined, I think, to share that story as well and amplify it for you. So they're taking some of that lift, if you will, off your own shoulders.
Jon:I love that because, you know, we talked to Marcus Collins a couple of weeks back and Marcus is a wonderful marketer, as I'm sure you're both aware and one of the things he spoke about was that notion of authenticity and trust, like not just going out and doing demographics. And trust like not just going out and doing demographics but going out and really understanding who your audience is and what moves them. And Leah to your point, you know, if you start telling stories that impact those people, that those people see this is how this moves me and how it makes me feel and what it does for me, yeah, they start to share and then there's growth. I think one thing we can say, or we can all agree on, is there's no magic pill, there's no magic pen that's going to take something from zero to 90 miles an hour overnight.
Leah:Correct.
Jon:Yeah, it's a long term.
Leah:It's a long tail yeah.
Jon:Dedicated, dedicated effort. So now let's dive into best practices in storytelling. So the notion of key elements of a compelling story, why don't we Leah? Let's start with you. What are some of those key elements? And you know, we may be repeating ourselves at times, and I think that's okay, you know, because repetition is one of those things that's going to stick in people's memories. But when you're thinking of what are those core components, Okay, so let me give you a little backstory here.
Leah:So I was a journalist, as I mentioned, forever, and then I came into this tech sector and didn't know anything about it, didn't understand, it had no idea what was going on. But this is precisely why I was hired, because they wanted someone from the outside to come in and try to help us tell the story, from the outside to come in and try to help us tell the story. And so what I observed really quickly in innovation was that there was three different languages that were being used that were all highly technical. So in innovation, you get the VCs and they've got their own language. You know pre-seed, seed, series A and all that stuff. I'm like what does that mean? So you get that. And then you get, like, the tech folks with all their like oh, b2b marketing and SaaS and all this kind of stuff, and I'm like I don't understand what that is. And then you get the business language right and you get all these folks talking about product market fit and revenue and business models, and I was like I don't understand any of this business, have no idea what you're talking about. So you're going to have to try it again. And so I would go into meeting after meeting after meeting in that first year saying I have no idea what you're saying. Help me understand it. Okay, I'm starting to understand it, all right. And then you finally get the story out there. And so, here again, when you finally understand what you're talking about, then you can share it and you can sort of bypass all of that language that nobody else is going to understand and communicate this in an effective way. And again, what that does is it builds trust. So when you've got trust right with your audience, then you're also increasing that credibility.
Leah:So people are skeptical. They're like I don't understand this. This doesn't make any sense to me. That can't be right. But if they start to understand it, then they're like oh, maybe they're actually onto something here. And then you're building that trust and you're building that credibility. So, again, plain language is essential. And then getting to that point where how does this impact me? Why should I care about this? Right? So people need to understand how whatever it is you're building is going to affect them. Whether it's a new way to do banking, or whether it's some incredible life science product, medical device, something like that. You know they need to understand how this is going to impact them on a day-to-day basis, and then they start to really believe in it and care about it.
Jon:Yeah, you know, and I had a similar experience when I came on board here at Alberta Innovates and one thing I found that it was almost a fine. Well, there was a very fine line of becoming an acolyte of the dense language, you know. Now you're kind of mired in it and you're like, oh, then you start talking that way. You have to remind yourself daily Absolutely Nope, put rein it in. I'm not any one of those.
Jon:I'm going to speak in general plain language terms and render this in a little capsule that someone can consume and go. Oh, now I understand what that is all about, Absolutely. Using the crazy dense language. Kira, anything to add from your perspective and your experience with startup marketing?
Kira:Yeah, I think one of the things the ecosystem, or one of the opportunities that the ecosystem as a whole has right now in terms of that storytelling opportunity, is making people feel a part of it Right, and so that's one thing the Alberta ecosystem is really great at right is there's, you know, weekly events that you can just a part of something and like they're, you know, hopping on a train that's really exciting and it's growing, and you know you're contributing and like you get to see your impact really fast in startups, which again is part of the reason why I love working with founders and in this ecosystem. So I think that is, you know, a really great way to elevate stories, especially as you know, we're not in the early stage in the Alberta ecosystem, but you know we still need people to jump on the train and, you know, play their role.
Jon:Right, yeah, that notion of networking is huge and with that comes the opportunity to storytell is huge and with that comes the opportunity to storytell. So in a way, communications and marketing and all that is not the sole responsibility of just a communications and marketing team or a consultant. It's people that are running those businesses, people all along the value chain of innovation to develop that storytelling muscle. Almost you know that pitch, have a little pitch kind of deck in the back of your head, in plain language, of course, that you can go and express at various networking events.
Leah:Absolutely, and if I can just jump in there too, I think it's also the responsibility of governments as well that support all the organizations that support the startup community.
Leah:So, for example, I think of like a platform Calgary, for example. It's so great that we have now a building that just represents innovation in Calgary and it's that first stop for a founder or even just a person with a great idea Like where do I go, what do I do, who do I talk to. It's so important to have that first stop and that place where you can just kind of go to get information. And it's also a great place like just to have a visual like what is innovation anyway, like people have picked a bunch of people in a basement working away on computers in the dark. It could be that I mean that happens still but it could also be this incredible building that you know has a pitch stage and a place for people to collaborate and communicate with one another and just have a coffee and take a meeting and collaborate. So it's wonderful when you've got all levels of government supporting these shops of innovation, because they need that support as we build these sectors.
Jon:Yeah, I think that's a great point. And just for the record, I want to add for our listeners that you know we've got that in Platform Calgary and Calgary Edmonton's got Edmonton Unlimited as well, which is a space very similar to Platform Calgary where people can go and meet, and then the other six regional innovation networks in Alberta there's little nodes, little pockets where people, there's innovation centers, there's like-minded people that are willing to help. You know again, so people aren't going it alone in terms of storytelling and marketing, because it's yeah, it's kind of incumbent upon us to come together and do a better job of telling that innovation story of Alberta together.
Leah:And the universities are really good at that too. They're really good at supporting innovation and making connections for people as well, so I love it when we're all sort of in it together to do the same thing, which is lift the entire sector.
Jon:I agree, you know many, all of them. The books and the tides yeah, I agree, you know many, all of them, boats and tides.
Leah:Yeah, that one.
Jon:Rising tides, raise all ships. There you go. Exactly, yeah, I agree. Our VP of Health, tim Murphy, always uses that quote, so it's like there you go, you got it.
Jon:It's my cerebral cortex. If you were to think about like a case study, you know you mentioned Syantra, but if somebody a listener got off this call and went, well, I want to see an example of what Leah and Kira and John are talking about. Where could they go, kira? Where could someone go and maybe have a read of a story that will provide some insight or maybe a model of what they could do to tell stories?
Kira:I mean Google's pretty awesome for that.
Jon:I realize I'm putting you on the spot.
Kira:It's just like, like Leah said, like listen to her podcast, right, that's what, that's one of her things, right. It's like why would you do this? Right In, in the sense of like you have to have a lot of grit and determination, and just like you're really putting yourself on the line and you're responsible for other people in the process and it's a heavy, heavy lift to be a founder. And so you know, like, case studies aside, it's a lot about you know the network and the community and feeling that support. So, like I always say, you know, giving advice to a founder is kind of like giving advice to a parent unless you know their kid, it's probably not going to be super useful, right? So, you know, case studies are great, but you really need that like custom support and whether it's someone to listen to your roadblocks or whether it's someone to celebrate your wins or anything like that, you know it's a really personal journey.
Jon:That's a great point, yeah, and again back to that comment I made earlier about there's no magic pen that will fix everything overnight. Yeah, it's that opportunity to network, that opportunity to sit and listen and talk to like-minded people, to listen to podcasts like this one and like yours, leah to talk to consultants, to go to those centers and meet with people and go. How do I do this? How should I move forward with this storytelling as we're discussing? But there's lots of things, so that's wonderful. So let's try it here. Improving Alberta's innovation ecosystem narrative. Now, we alluded to this earlier. The whole notion of silos we do here at Alberta Innovates. We all talk about collaboration and partnering, but rarely I don't often, see stories that are here's the ecosystem and how we all came together to support, you know, a variety of companies. Is there a way we can address that? Now I'm putting you all both on the spot in terms of collaboration. How can we get better at this?
Leah:Well, I will jump in first and just say that I do think it is essential for all of us to again support each other in our storytelling efforts, to build these partnerships, to leverage others' audiences and to really help tell the story of innovation. So I do think that's essential, but I also think it's on all of us to just start storytelling. I think a lot of people have a block. I mean, I know founders, we work with founders every day and we have such deep empathy for the founders that we engage with and we know how hard it is to do this work. I mean, it's one of the reasons why, you know, being founder first is one of the core values we have at Thin Air Labs. It's also why the podcast is called the Founder Mindset. Right, it's just about the founder and the work they're doing. They're doing.
Leah:But this work is so challenging and I do think it's challenging work and that makes it difficult to carve out 15 minutes to write a LinkedIn post, because they're just so overwhelmed and they're so busy all the time. But I do think the more people we can get, including founders and all the people on their team, just try LinkedIn post, just try a little story here and there Just dip your toes in the water because inevitably you're going to get better. Every time you do a little bit of storytelling and it's kind of like building a little muscle. You sort of build this muscle, you kind of get your skill set going. You improve a little bit more Each time you post. You're paying attention to everybody else's posts and this sort of builds that skill, builds that muscle of that storytelling. And the more people we get storytelling, then more of that collective storytelling happens, more people sharing, more people amplifying each other's stories. And that's what we really need.
Jon:I love that, Kira. Anything to add to that? What?
Kira:we really need. I love that, kira. Anything to add to that? I think that's great.
Kira:Like you know, as Leah said, it's so hard to find time and it's funny. I met with a mentor of mine and he kind of said to me he was like you're working too hard, you need to carve out time for yourself. And I was like, well, the amount of time it would take for me to calm down yourself? And I was like, well, the amount of time it would take for me to calm down, to enjoy the calm down. I don't have that time.
Kira:So it can be really challenging, but, you know, putting a productive spin to it, like Leah said, in terms of just like, let me do something. So I know I'm contributing to my business at the same time, but at the but, I'm removing myself from the fires. If you will for a second to say you know how am I doing today and like there's, I guarantee you there's been a founder that's had the same problem as you, that's that has felt the same way as you in your journey, that has been in a similar stage. Like it's. It's so wonderful. The community is so inspiring and how we go out of our way to help each other so that storytelling can not only, you know, impact the company and and the the region and alberta as a whole in the ecosystem, but can help the founder and the person just having a check-in with yourself and being honest about it. It might not have to go on LinkedIn. You might want to start in journal because big feelings.
Jon:So advice.
Jon:Yeah Well and to add to that, like we were, you know, again talking about places like platform Calgary and it's not limited the other areas. There's places where founders can go to meet other founders, talk about those things and that's a great opportunity. And, leah, what you were talking about, like that challenge. I took it as it a challenge in a challenge yourself, to go and write that LinkedIn post and remember some of those core values of that communication, use plain language, you know, and try and tell your story or make your post. Why would someone care about this?
Leah:And it has to be really genuine, and I think that is. I really want to just talk a little bit about how it has to be so genuine. So it's like, as a founder, what are you worried about today, or what are you really excited about today, or what are you concerned about today? Just focus on that and, you know, build it into your calendar. So it's like, and it doesn't have to be much, it can be one LinkedIn post a month and then once you kind of build that muscle, then maybe it can be once every two weeks and then maybe it can be once a week. Right, but you just have to start. That is the really important thing that I'm trying to encourage everybody in the innovation sector to consider is just start. And we have to lose this notion of perfection, and I can speak to this from personal experience, because back in TV land, when I started, it was like everything was perfect we had lighting, we had microphones, we had really expensive cameras and everything was perfect. Well, now that is seen as disingenuous. That doesn't even connect with people anymore, because it needs to be authentic, it needs to be genuine. So shameless plug.
Leah:Founder Mindset is my podcast. When I built this podcast. You know we were talking about what is this going to look like? And you know I was like, okay, well, we got to talk about product market fit and business models and I was like, no, that's, I mean, if we want to do that, let's get a different host. They could do that. So that's I mean, if we want to do that, let's get a different host. They could do that. Like, maybe someone else wants to do that.
Leah:But if this podcast, if I'm going to host it, I am deeply curious about the founder experience. What is it like to build this company? Because, as you know, my subtitle is why would you do this? Like it seems so hard, why would you do this and why would you put yourself through it? And just in answering that question with these founders, you get incredible stories, absolutely amazing stories of resilience and grit and drive to create meaningful human impact. These stories are incredible and you know I'm really passionate about exploring with founders how hard it is to do this work, because it is very, very challenging.
Leah:And what I've found we're in season two now is that founders get so excited to answer these questions that I'm asking them, like what does that really feel like when all your investors said no, and you're like, fetal in the corner, like tell me about what that really feels like. And they want to share these stories because they don't get asked. They don't get asked these questions, and I've created a very intimate space for us to have these conversations. There's no video component, for example Funny for a person that worked in television for 20 odd years, but I know when you add a camera it changes the nature of the conversation, and so I tried to create this really intimate space.
Leah:And so then, the goal of this is for Kira to your point, have other founders listen to these podcasts and know they're not alone and know that there's people that are going through the exact same thing, and then maybe you can learn from this right, and then maybe the broader community can have a lot of empathy and get really excited about this stuff they're building and these incredible companies that are employing people and creating this incredible impact. This is important work that we're doing, and so I just want everybody to be able to get excited about it, get passionate about it, share those stories. But that, to me, is how I had to build the podcast. It had to be a genuine effort about things that I care about. I care about people. I get really curious about people and why they do what they do, and so that's how we built that podcast in a genuine way that would make me interested and keep me curious.
Jon:Yeah, no, I love that. And you had said drive to create meaningful impact, and that's the truth is. You know it's not frivolous, you know the effort that people are putting in the value that their technologies can have on society, local, community and much broader, and it's pretty cool, just as is as a thing, right.
Leah:Agreed, it's super cool.
Kira:One of my favorite questions to ask founders. Not that there's ever spare time, but if there's spare time, is you know what gets you out of bed in the morning? It's another way of asking leah's question, right, because it uncovers the why. Right, like no one goes into it thinking it's going to be a breeze, but they do it anyways yeah so like what gets you out of bed in the morning, what keeps you up at night?
Kira:right, and finding those, those connections and community, because you know, like your partner may not get it, your kids certainly don't understand it right like there's, and and sometimes it can feel like ecosystem partners don't care. Like you said, leah, when VCs say no or that grant that you really need it gets declined or something like that. Right Like it's, it's not just a job, it's also very emotionally taxing too. So there's a lot that's baked into the founder experience and that's also why I kind of love the notion of, like you said, that vulnerability, that authenticity that you know just sharing, and it makes people feel a part of something because even if you're not a founder, you've felt defeated before. Right, absolutely, absolutely.
Leah:You've felt big wins before too. 100%, 100%. We get asked that all the time. As a VC, can you create an opportunity for us as a founder, to talk to other founders that might be six months down the road or 18 months farther down the road than we are? I just want to ask them questions, and so people. They just want to ask them questions. And so you know people. They just want to learn, they just want to. Okay, who else has been through this? What can I do to learn and move faster? And so they. That's one of the reasons why we do a lot of the work that we do at Thin Air to try to create those collisions for founders and those opportunities to connect and learn.
Jon:Yeah, yeah and you know so there's. You know the opportunities that you're creating at Thin Air Labs. We've talked enough about the regional innovation networks and the spaces there, and there's also events like InVentures, you know, in Calgary that celebrate Alberta's innovation ecosystem every year in May. I want to step back. It's so fun yes yeah, that's where that's right. Last year at InVentures, yeah, yeah, it was well, we're doing it again this year. So awesome, maybe. Maybe we'll have a confab. Well, the three of us can do some sort of collaboration.
Jon:You know when I was thinking everyone you know, as you mentioned, you said, what gets one of the questions that you ask what gets you out of bed in the morning or what keeps you awake at night. Now, leah to your point about encouraging people to just do one LinkedIn post a month to start. Maybe it's frame that. Take Kira's question and answer that in a post. Start with that. Start with what gets you out of bed in the morning, what keeps you awake at night? Perfect. Start with what keeps you in. You know what gets you out of bed in the morning, what keeps you awake at night. And then you know, share it with us on social. And you know we can see that we can share it with our audiences.
Jon:And I think you know vulnerability. People typically don't want to show themselves as vulnerable. You always want to come, not you always want to, but I think there's just this perception that people want to be stoic. They just, you know, unless it's a celebration, I don't want to show that I'm under pressure, I don't want to show that I'm having a really bad day, but the reality is we all have them.
Leah:Absolutely.
Jon:Yeah, and that speaks to that authenticity.
Leah:Yeah, definitely. And founders, I think, like to share that they've been through it because they know that there's lots of other founders out there that are building companies and going through the same stuff and so I think, given the opportunity which I think to your point, john isn't very often they're happy to share quite honestly because they know that there's other folks that can benefit from what they've been through.
Jon:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I want to step back a bit, and we were talking about current perceptions of Alberta's innovation sector. Now, kira, you're in Saskatchewan, so you've got the benefit of kind of being outside of the jar and reading the label. What are the external perceptions of Alberta and its innovation culture and innovation ecosystem?
Kira:Great question, let's add another hour to this podcast.
Jon:I'm just kidding.
Kira:So I am in over 30 incubators and accelerators across Canada as an expert in residence or whatever it is, so I have a really fun and cool bird's eye view of all the different ecosystem um ecosystems around Canada and I love the Alberta one. I just love it. Everyone is so collaborative.
Kira:In Saskatchewan, I was kind of saying before we started this, we're a bit of a flyover province.
Kira:We're working to change that, but we do have a little bit of like a big brother mentality towards Alberta, which I love, because Alberta is amazing, right, and one of the things that Alberta does really well is they champion themselves, right.
Kira:So there's almost like a closed border around Alberta's innovation system in the sense of you know, alberta Innovates only funds Alberta companies, right, and there's a lot of things that are exclusive to Alberta companies and it's that whole notion of it almost works like a big startup in the sense of every dollar that is made gets fed back into the community, which grows it and grows it and grows it, and that's why I love the Alberta ecosystem and we're having conversations like this, right. So there's lots of wonderful people. There are those connections, even, like you said, with the RINs, and that's what makes it such a thriving ecosystem and that's why I love it. And you know you create champions out of it, like if you look at the Zayzuns and things like that, like they're happy to come forward and give presentations and you know just, everyone is lifting each other up there, which I love.
Jon:So it's the rising tide again Now Leah with Thin Air Labs. Now just give me some some background on, kind of or, pardon me, give our listeners some background on what Thin Air does, because you've got a little bit of an external perspective as well.
Leah:For sure. Yeah, so ThinAir Labs is a venture capital and services firm. We're based here in Calgary and our whole mission is to ignite startup growth for greater human impact, and so we do that igniting of startups in a few different ways. So the main way, or one way, is through our fund. So we have Thin Air Fund One and we raised about $20 million and we supported 22 companies in that. Most of those companies are in Calgary and then Alberta and a couple in Canada, and that fund is closed, so just everybody. That fund is closed, but we are working on our second fund and so stay tuned on that one.
Leah:So that's one way we support startup growth is by investing directly in those companies. But we also have these incredible professional services. So we've got two services that help startups. So one of them is called the Funding Catalyst Service and that helps founders and companies secure grants, like Kira was mentioning, so essential to startup growth. So we help them with all of their non-diluted funding needs, whether it's grants or shred or whatever the case may be. So we've got professional services and those services are available to companies across North America. In fact, the Funding Catalyst team just celebrated $50 million they've helped companies secure.
Leah:So, that's pretty awesome.
Leah:So, they do incredible work on that team. Then our other team, our other professional service, is called the Product Traction Service and this is a service that helps companies, startups with, and scale-ups really with their product development strategy, software development and growth data and analytics and all that good stuff, and so they're incredible as well and they've worked with a whole bunch of companies all over North America and just helping these companies scale and get growing. So that's all the work that we do really to that same notion of just helping startups grow.
Jon:Right, so now. But you have, by virtue of what you're doing, with companies outside of Alberta. What's the perspective when you, if you, were to compare Alberta to these other jurisdictions? How do we compare?
Leah:So it's this. We get asked this all the time and what is really unique about Alberta is that we do have a little bit of this Western hospitality, if you will. But it what it is. It's this idea of we're willing to collaborate and the handshake deal is a real thing. It's very, very different from the Toronto ecosystem. For example, if you talk to our VP of Fund One, crystal Phillips, she spends a lot of time in Toronto, a lot of time in Calgary and talking to startups and talking to other VCs, and a lot of startups will say the exact same thing. It's so different in Calgary or Edmonton. If I come to Alberta and ask for help, I get it. Doors open, things happen right away. It doesn't happen quite like that in other markets. So we're told, and so it's really a collaborative environment. And really, to Kira's point, startups and scale-ups in Alberta they just want everybody to win right. They just they're willing to help. They want everybody to get going. You're willing to work hard, you got a great idea. This is the place to make stuff happen.
Jon:There you go, folks. You heard it here. First, come to Alberta. Kira, I want to go back to you real quickly because I didn't give you a chance to really kind of talk about what Kasm Consulting offers. So why don't you give our listeners some sense of what it is you do and what your company offers startups?
Kira:Thank you. So what I do at Kasm Consulting Kasm with a K. My name is Kira Kelsey, very on brand. I help startups grow and scale with marketing, and so what that means is the full funnel. So I would say about seven out of 10 times a founder will come to me and they'll say hey, Kira, I want to run some ads. And I say, okay, great, Like, why do you want to run ads? What are your growth goals? And then they tell me and then I say, okay, what's your onboarding strategy? How did you get them there? What is the full package here? Because it needs to move the needle for your business. I want this to be a cost generating department, not the other way around.
Jon:Why some advertising? Because everybody advertises.
Kira:Yeah, right, and you know you don't need to be on every single platform, right, you need to find the right one and do it the right way, and all the things. So I really kind of come in, get in the weeds with you. I specialize in the implementation. Get in the weeds with you. I specialize in the implementation. Services are around $2,700 a month, which is cheaper than an in-house hire. So we really come in and we are true allies for startups across Canada. That's really cool. And as soon as you said you know you mentioned a price and that breaks down all of the funding federally and provincially so that you can, you know, apply for the grants that cover for our services and oh, wonderful.
Jon:Okay, yeah, yeah, okay, that's really cool. Um, thank you very much for that. It's it's. It's really neat to see kind of the different perspectives of organizations that, going back to what we talked about really early on, have the same goals you know, to see Alberta businesses succeed as we start to move through the conversation.
Jon:What does the future hold? What does the future hold when you see emerging trends or when you think about emerging trends and storytelling for tech and innovation? We've got the benefit of seeing firsthand the virtual reality and augmented realities and stuff like that. Gpt can play the role that social media has played for many years, you know, and now TikTok is one of those sites that are verboten. I understand the federal government is looking at maybe canceling that one. I don't know how you do that, but what do you guys see as kind of an emerging trend in storytelling and should people get worried about that right away? Should they think about it, or should they start right at the baby steps of that? One LinkedIn post a month? Leah, let's start with you.
Leah:Sure, okay, well, let's. I mean, there's so many directions we could go here. But let's just take AI, for example. Here's an opportunity to just again dip your toe in, see how it works, practice, play around a little bit, just see what it looks like.
Leah:What I get excited about is the idea that AI will allow us very likely to do more storytelling faster. But I still think the human is going to have to come up with to Kira's point sort of the strategy like what is the story we're trying to tell, what is the outcome we're going for? So the humans are going to have to come up with to Kira's point sort of the strategy like what is the story we're trying to tell, what is the outcome we're going for? So the humans are going to have to come up with all of that, and maybe the humans in our case.
Leah:At Thinner, I often will take that first conversation with a founder and generally we'll record it with video and we'll have a conversation for 20 minutes. But then maybe we take that 20 minutes of conversation and give it to some AI and it will pull out a case study and a video and a blog post and all that kind of stuff. So all it does is it gives us more content more quickly. But that human element is still essential right from the beginning, because AI is not going to build your strategy and help you understand what your business goals are. You know and have conversations with your CEO and CEO and build that strategy. Your business goals are you know and have conversations with your CEO and CEO and build that strategy. But if, again, if we can use some of these tools to help us do more storytelling more quickly and more effectively, I think that's great. Of course, the human is always going to have to oversee it all.
Jon:Right, so chat. Gpt in your court is a yay.
Leah:Sure, baby steps right, yeah Baby steps.
Jon:Okay, Kira, from your perspective. What are your thoughts on this?
Kira:Yeah, so I love it in the sense of what Leah's talking about, right, like cheaper, efficient, all that sort of stuff when you know, like I've made AI marketing plans for companies. Right, where I'm like these are your prompts, this is what you put in, this is how you measure if it worked right, so they're super, super useful and they're able to give you a lot of like bang for your buck, so to speak. You do need that human element, right, like authenticity is huge, and you know collaboration is huge too, right, like authenticity is huge and you know collaboration is huge too, right? So you know, making sure your voice is authentic is can be challenging With AI. Now, there's ways to train models to be a little bit more effective. But, yeah, I truly think you know. But yeah, I truly think you know, human connection there's nothing like it.
Jon:Yeah.
Kira:And so I want founders to get as much value as they can from it. But just a quick, funny story of how this plays out in the real world. So I made a post on LinkedIn a day or two ago I don't remember LinkedIn a day or two ago, I don't remember and it was about how I am mentoring some startups in global startup that's based out of Toronto, and someone commented on it like innovation is great, Collaboration is key. And it was a total bot, right? Like it was a total bot response. And then I just commented and I said I think you need to recalibrate your bot, right? You don't want to be caught in those scenarios, right? Like? There's a personal touch that does have to be applied to everything. Now, granted, if that bot just would have said hey, Kira made a post that you might be interested in, that would be a lot more useful than what happened.
Kira:Right so setting up the system and the MarTech is really, really important. So I'm also a um I think one of the only certified digital marketing experts in Canada, and that allows me to create a MarTech stack that makes sense for your business uniquely, so that you're not losing those components and you're just getting all the benefits.
Jon:Well, that's really cool. Now MarTech marketing technology.
Kira:Yes. I'm so sorry, you were preaching, you need to be, on the terms and I'm just throwing, but you know.
Jon:What, though, is is just is that people need to think about. You know, it's not bad to go. What does that mean? You know, can you? And I think, if people just get more comfortable with that, it reminds us as communicators because I do it too. You know, we keep saying RINs and stuff like that, regional Innovation Networks. We get so accustomed to the talking, you know and shortening things with, you know, with acronyms or whatever, just using the jargon but it's not bad to go. Oh wait, sorry, I didn't understand that.
Kira:So, dear listeners, yeah, I find founders are so lovely at that, the humility that they bring and the curiosity that they bring? Yeah, it's, you know, it's inspiring to me, I, and with the amount of pressure that's on their shoulders and they're still like, can you tell me more about that? Right, yeah?
Jon:yeah, I think that's. Yeah, my experience as well. I think so from your perspective. Ai gets a check mark, but, like Leah, there's an asterisk there that says human component, essential Innovation, great Collaboration, great no that was my hot response and I just want to remind our listeners, when you go out and you do that first LinkedIn post about what gets you up in the morning and what keeps you awake at night. Don't feed that into chat GPT.
Kira:And tag us in that post.
Jon:Tag us in that post. That's right. Yes, for sure We'll give you a real comment response.
Jon:That's right? Yes, totally. And again, I think I'm repeating myself here and we may be repeating ourselves in this, but when you think about advice for aspiring storytellers and when I say aspiring storytellers I mean those founders that want to talk about their business what sort of advice do you have for them? Kira, let's start with you, and I know we've talked again. We're going to be rehashing and reiterating some of the things we spoke about earlier, but we're hammering home the point.
Kira:I would say focus in on your why and check in with yourself, right? So that's actually one thing that ChatGPT can be helpful for is, like I would like to do some self-reflecting. Can you give me a list of questions that I should be asking myself to check in emotionally with myself? It can do that.
Jon:Oh, that's really cool.
Kira:Yeah, and then you just you know, you read them and then you think, or you journal, or you LinkedIn it or whatever it is right, like staying rooted in your why and you know, think of different and then play it out in different angles, right? So like gratitude or upset or inspiration or whatever. It is right, like it 'll come to you. We're emotional beings.
Jon:Yeah, I love that yeah totally.
Kira:Now what about you, leah? Yeah, I love that, yeah, totally.
Jon:Now, what about you? Leah Some advice.
Leah:I love that. So just start, is my advice. Like, just give it a go right, just give it a go right and use some of these prompts that Kira was just talking about. You know, what are you excited about, what are you worried about, what are you thinking about, what are you inspired by? Like, just answer some of those questions and then just put a couple of thoughts together, just throw it out there. See what happens.
Kira:Right.
Leah:And just start. And then I think, for a lot of founders, because they are so busy, it might be useful to actually just build it into your calendar, right. So, again, like I mentioned, you have to right. So, build in that 15 minutes on a Friday morning. Let me give you a great example.
Leah:So our product traction team they do very, very intense work that I don't understand very well. And so they and we have this incredible team of software developers all over the world working on these projects. And so I stood in there and I said you guys are experts in this field. And they're like yeah, we're experts. And I was like, okay, well then why don't you talk to other experts? Why don't we let everybody know that you guys are the experts? And I was like I cannot write that blog for you because I have no idea what you're talking about, but I can copy, edit for you and I can help you build the practice.
Leah:And so now our product traction team has a practice. Every Friday morning they spend 15 minutes kind of putting some thoughts together into a blog post, and then eventually it makes its way to me. And now we've got this sort of wheel rolling where our team puts out a blog post every couple of weeks and it's just a machine that rolls along and it's built into their daily practice and it's fantastic. It's great and it's an opportunity for them to flex their storytelling muscle, to show everybody how incredibly amazing they are at what they do and share that expertise that they have. So it's great.
Jon:That is really cool. Let me ask you a question, though, about when you get experts writing, sometimes they go really dense and it's like an abstract Totally, and when you say, hey, and this has happened to me personally where you go, okay, well, let's try and make the language more accessible, let's try to use plain language, and I'll get a response like, well, no, we can't dumb it down for example, these product traction blog posts, for example, aren't necessarily designed to talk to the everyday person.
Leah:They're really there to show us the expertise of this team, right? So that expertise may not I can't really understand it it doesn't matter, because it shows how incredible these people are at what they do, right? So, again, it's about knowing that audience. And who are we trying to talk to here?
Jon:Knowing your audience.
Leah:Yeah, yeah, and Kara's got a point.
Kira:Yes, if I could add a point to that, please do. It's also what the goal is. So not to get super nerdy on you guys, but like marketing that's not tied to a business goal isn't super useful. So you know the the goal that Leah said for their team is demonstrating expertise. Right, but there's a whole shift right now with SEO. Turning to AEO, which is answer engine optimization, because everybody uses chat, gpt and you know Google uses Gemini, and so how do you show up for those searches?
Jon:Well, I've never. You know what. I'm ashamed to say it.
Kira:I have a blog on it. Go and read it.
Jon:I'm gonna send me the link. Tell me the link, how the people are going to want to read it Kasmconsulting. com slash blog. You'll find all my blogs there so k-a-s-m-c-o-n-s-u-l-t-i-n-g. com yes backslash blog answer engine optimization, you said yeah answer engine optimization.
Kira:So you know the, the people that are looking for experts. Leah would be using that terminology right, exactly, exactly, so you would be showing up wonderfully there. If your team is using all this, you know expert language, you're going to connect with the people who need that expert help Because they, like I always say, a founder's job isn't to know everything, it's to find the people that do so. That's how you're going to be able to connect with people in a really authentic and meaningful way, Like that's your community right there.
Jon:That's yeah. Now, Leah, were you aware of this answer? Engine optimization as well. Am I the only one that's in the dark here?
Leah:Um, no, that's new to me, but SEO, I'm very much aware of, but yeah, but no, that's super cool and this is why we have experts like Kira to help.
Jon:Right, because we can't know all the things right, but we can know people that do and bring them in, you know what, and I'm just we're going to wrap things up right away, but I just I want to go back to really quickly and just add a comment to that. What do you guys see as a trending thing in communications? For me, it's this sort of thing.
Jon:It's reaching out and developing those relationships with our fellow communicators, with our, with the other organizations that are out in the ecosystem that have similar goals, and how do we work together? How do we start to build something that is that rising tide that's going to raise all the ships? So, as we wrap it up, let's I'm going to give the final word to the two of you. Is there anything that you'd like to add? Anything you'd like to leave the audience with Kira?
Kira:Well, first I want to say thank you, John, for having me. It's been such a pleasure.
Kira:Leah obviously love you most, so right back at you, honey, so happy to be here and I want to say to founders you know reaching out is really crucial and you have an amazing ecosystem going on in Alberta and I'm happy to help. You can reach out to me, ask me any questions that you want, and, yeah, I'm just grateful to be a part of working in the startup community and with founders. And so, last words, I guess, contact me if you have any questions and keep on fighting the good fight.
Jon:Huzzah, yeah, leah.
Leah:Very similar in the sense that, you know, we have profound and deep empathy for founders and the work that they're doing. It is so hard what they're doing as a community, as an ecosystem. Frankly, as a country, we have a responsibility to tell these stories, to champion these innovators and to help them give their gift to the world.
Jon:I love that and everybody go out and subscribe to the Founder Mindset so you can hear more from Leah. Go to Kira's website and read her blog. Reach out to both of these wonderful women on social media and me too, uh, you know, because I again. We've all got those. A similar goal. Uh, leah kira, this was wonderful. Thank you very much for spending time with me this morning thank you so much for having us.
Jon:Thank you shift is brought to you by alberta innovates, and you can find us online at shiftalbertainnovatesca or on any one of your favorite podcast streaming services. Until next time, I'm John. Have a good one, thank you.
