
Kyle 00:03
If I'm ever like, unsure or questioning myself, and I'm kind of in this like point of like weakness, like a low I, like, made a deal with myself a long time ago that I won't make a decision, so I just keep going with whatever decision I made before, because I think that I was probably in a better space when I made it.
Leah 00:23
Hi, thanks for being here. And welcome to Season Two of The Founder Mindset, brought to you by ATB. I'm Leah Sarich, your host, and I'm super excited to talk to more Founders about the human experience of being an entrepreneur. In this podcast, we're digging into what it really feels like to build a company from nothing. I was a broadcaster for over 20 years. So I've interviewed thousands of people, but entrepreneurs, not that many. And yet they have the best stories. They're solving big problems. And they're creating incredible impact. But it is hard work. So why would they do this? Let's find out. Joining me in studio today is Kyle Friedman, Co-Founder and CEO of Quickly, an early payment platform that ensures businesses can pay their vendors sooner while they maintain their working capital. Hey, Kyle, thanks for being here.
Kyle 01:20
Yeah, you have a beautiful voice.
Leah 01:22
Thank you. I'm in my happy place here in the studio. Thanks for sharing it with me. So good of you to be here. So as we do with all of these conversations, we kind of go way back to the beginning and go, when did you start thinking about being an entrepreneur? I know for you, it was very early days.
Kyle 01:36
Yea, it definitely was. I think I was an entrepreneur all my life.
Leah 01:39
No kidding.
Kyle 01:40
Yeah, I grew up in New Brunswick. I come from a very entrepreneurial family. My father was in the video game industry with my mother, and so they were a power couple, and she was great with finance, and he was great with vision and ideas. So I grew up seeing it. Being a part of it, the positives and the negatives of that type of lifestyle. And so I think it was imprinted in me in a very young age, you know, when we'll tell you, you could do anything. Maybe you don't believe it, you could do anything. I definitely believed it, and still do. I'm a big preacher of that to my children and yeah. So entrepreneurial spirit started early, but I grew up in New Brunswick. It was a very, kind of poor area. There just wasn't a ton of, like, you know, growth and opportunity in the economy. So you kind of figured out how to make money however you needed to. So we would, like, do, like Christmas wreaths and like pick the trees for it, or dig clams or hay bales or whatever it was to make money when we were, like, pretty young. So, that was kind of how it started to really understand that, you know, I could be in control of my income, I guess is where it started. And then passion and all those things came later.
Leah 02:59
Came later. Amazing. I mean, we'll get to Quickly in a minute, but first before Quickly, you had a painting business, right? Yeah, tell me a little bit about that, because that actually kind of went very well for you, didn't it?
Kyle 03:08
Yeah, it went really well. So I went to school for audio engineering, music production, and basically went to view this apartment. It was like 10 o'clock at night, and that was the only appointment I could get. So I went there, show up, and the guy's painting it, and he's like, Oh yeah, it's like, so busy. And I'm like, Oh, this is a sweet apartment. And he's like, Yeah, but you know, he's like, painting, and I'm like, Well, why are you doing that? And like, why are we seeing it so late? And he's like, Well, you know, we're just so busy and we don't have people to do it. Like, if you had a painting company, you could make a pile of money. And I was like, I have a painting company. I didn't, but I didn't, you know, I mean, like, I knew how to do things, so I figured I could figure it out. And he's like, Oh, that's so great, you know, but you were giving out the contracts and everything I could get you into the office, but, like, we're doing it all right now. And I was like, well, I could come tomorrow. And he's like, Sure, I'll book you in. So they booked me in.
Leah 04:00
Okay, so hang on, let me just stop you for a second. Are you telling me that this guy is like, oh, man, if you had a painting business and you didn't have one, no, and you were like, Yeah, I got that.
Kyle 04:10
Well, I mean, I did, like, I grew up being able to do all sorts of things. I knew how to paint.
Leah 04:12
Yea, but that's it?
Kyle 04:13
Yeah, exactly. So I showed up there, and they were like, Oh, it's so great. Yeah, it sounds wonderful. But like, you have to, actually, yes, be a business. You have to have, you know, workers compensation, you have to be incorporated, you have to have insurance. And they're like, this so good, like, you know, we're giving all the contracts away now, but next year, you know, you would be a shoe-in for it. And I was like, Well, why don't you give me till noon? Because this was, like, nine when they opened, and if I can't put it together, then, then, so be it. But if I can, then, you know, I'd like to do this. And they were like, okay, and I got out and figured it all out within a matter of hours. And, yeah, reach back out to them. And then they gave me a bunch of contracts. I was killing properties. They're like the boardwalk of the East Coast. And then instantly, I had a painting company.
Leah 05:12
And which you created in a matter of hours.
Kyle 05:15
Yeah, exactly, out of thin air. Nice one. So, yeah, so I had this company, and then it's like, Okay, I'm going to college to study music. The hours are intense. It's in the music industry, your recording albums at night, all this stuff. And then now I'm suddenly painting these apartments on the side. So I have no employees, I have nothing. So, I started, like, painting them myself, and then it started snowballing a bit. I'm like, getting more and more. And the thing about New Brunswick is it's poor. As I mentioned, there's tons of people renting. This was like a city that's built on the universities. So there's like 4500 new people coming every year, and these people are, like, dashing on their apartments, like mid-year when they can't afford them. And there's a rule, like a law, because there's a Rentalsman hat's like a governing body for rentals to be able to give people the rights, and essentially, one of the rules is that if someone moves out, it has to be repainted. So I was repainting the same units, like, two times a year. So, it got fairly busy because I was pretty performant. So then I'm, like, going to school. All my friends are now starting to paint places with me, but that's how it kind of all kicked off.
Leah 06:20
That's incredible. Okay, so tell me where that painting business is at now?
Kyle 06:25
I had that business going, and then I decided to move out west to Calgary and pursue music. And then I got to Calgary and realized there wasn't much of a music scene at that time. I had no idea. So, really, that kind of evaporated fairly quickly, and I realized, okay, what am I going to do? And I'm going to paint. I incorporated the business at that time because before, it was actually running as a kind of sole proprietorship. So to say, yeah, that's how I expanded up so quick, if anyone's listening and checking on things, and kind of went for it. So decided to build up this painting business that was focused on new homes, and I scaled that up over the years to come, built it into the 86th fastest growing company in Canada by 2019 and then by 2021, it was Sherwin Williams’ largest Canadian customer in the new home industry.
Leah 07:22
That's incredible.
Kyle 07:28
Yeah. So it was a real success story in the painting industry, which is pretty funny, but it really like is what kind of brought me into the business that I'm in today. It really kind of opened my eyes to the challenges that you have as a independent contractor, subcontractor, so to say. But this painting company, I was always trying to get away from it before then, I thought I was going to do something cool, like in music. I created an online school for music production. I like did all these different things. I had a restoration company and a construction company and all these things. But this painting company just kept, kind of like growing off the side of my desk, and growing in 2016 is when I put all my energy into it. And I was like, I can make this cool. So I could be rambling, but
Leah 08:08
Anyway, that's what the bottom line is. Is that that painting company did incredibly well?
Klye 08:13
Yeah, it did incredibly well. And it got to the point of where it had many staff and operated across many provinces and in many cities, and I got to go to the next life cycle of bringing in a president and a whole team to be able to kind of manage and grow this entity. And they're still growing and operating today independently, without me, while I'm focused on Quickly. Okay, so
Leah 08:38
What did you learn about getting that, that business off the ground that informed how you started to think about Quickly?
Klye 08:45
I think it's all the different businesses that I formed, right? There were, like, little snippets that got applied to quickly. But essentially, you know that business, if I really fall into it or kind of like, think about how I grew it, and what it was, it was really cheap. It was a low-cost of investment that could get an ROI. So essentially, I could start selling before I really had invested any money. And that theme carried true to Quickly in all my businesses to come is like, you know, an MVP approach, a minimum viable product. What's the cheapest way that I can test my assumptions? And usually, the big assumption is, like, is there a product market fit? Will people buy my services or buy my widget? And I'm a big believer in, you know, how can I prove that without really putting a ton of investment into it? So that was really successful with quickly, because I was able to start transacting and executing the business before we really even had anything
Leah 09:46
Cool. Okay, so then tell me what is Quickly right today?
Kyle 09:50
Yeah. So, great question. So what Quickly is today? Well, what Quickly was supposed to be, okay, was the first invoicing technology that would make it so you could get paid instantly when you send an invoice. And, like, it sounded so cool, sounded so awesome, but incredibly difficult. Every time someone has an invoice to be able to, like, get them this capital, was just like the concept was this big lending product. What we realized, Amar and myself, later on, was that what we actually built, which is much better, is an early payment technology. So we flipped the whole thing on the head. So, instead of making it so someone can send an invoice and get paid today, we made it so that a company can offer early payment at a discount to all the companies that work for them. And that was like the beautiful realization, and that's what we do.
Leah 10:41
Amazing. And really, you had to get a big lending partner, didn't you? To really get that off the ground?
Kyle 10:47
Yup, we did. We're partnered with the Alberta Treasury branch. So ATB, great company. Love to work with them.
Leah 10:52
Sponsor of this podcast, just full transparency.
Kyle 10:56
Okay, fantastic. Yeah. So, yeah, they're fantastic. I had no idea. But we're with ATB, they've been super helpful. And essentially, we needed a banking partner to help us facilitate these transactions. Because what we learned was that companies why this hasn't really been successful in the past, or isn't just, you know, a big thing is everyone's kind of in the same boat of this cash flow trap. One company is waiting to be paid, and that's causing them to, you know, not be able to pay the other company. So we had to come in with the capital to be able to facilitate these transactions. So essentially, ATB came in to help us to be able to offer early payment at a discount, even when a company doesn't have the capital to do it themselves.
Leah 11:42
So, I mean, we'll talk a little bit more about impact, but just right now, while we're thinking about it, what does that mean for some of these small businesses when they can do this?
Kyle 11:50
Well, it's huge. It's almost like thinking about, like operating with handcuffs, or like, like running with handcuffs, or your shoes, like tied together, or whatever it might be, or, you know, swimming, holding your breath. It's just really difficult. You can still do it, but it's very challenging. So once you add capital into the mix, and essentially not a lending product like actually money that you've earned, and you give access to that, it just takes those shackles off, and a company can grow. And what we learned was that that's what they want to do. They take the money, and they grow their business. So a service company maybe has like one truck and then goes to five or 10, or maybe they need to hire employees, or manufacturing company needs to buy more materials at a discount, be more profitable, or whatever it might be. So we see these time after time again success stories of companies that are able to really grow, faster, bigger, but sustainably. And it really just gives them kind of like, instead of waiting so many years to be able to achieve and build the war chest that you need to do this, they're able to kind of get there a bit quicker.
Leah 13:07
So, there it is. I love it. I love it. Okay, so I remember when you guys had, like, one person working out of the Thin Air Labs space, and now you've got, like, a whole team. So how many employees do you have now?
Kyle 13:18
I think there's 12 of us. One fantastic intern, Samir, last day, congratulations.
Leah 13:25
Congratulations. Yeah, that's incredible. Wow. So look at you guys go. So, in every conversation that we have here, as we're talking about the building of these companies, these ventures, every Founder has a story about this one sort of pivotal moment, this do or die moment where you just really weren't sure how things were going to go. If you're thinking about that for you and for Quickly, does a certain moment come to mind? Can, is there a do or die story you can tell me?
Kyle 13:49
So you tipped me off on this question and I gave it some good thoughts. It's actually the only thing that I thought about, because I was like, oh, there's so many, how do I answer this? And it really comes down to, I'm just going to be… we were successful out of the gate, and we were big believers in what we were doing. It was like, one of the biggest problems that I've dealt with and all of my peers, and we had so much support of people like, being like, wow, this is incredible. But in the eyes of the investors, when we went to raise capital, it was the opposite. It was like, this won't work. There's too much risk associated to it. This is not like a normal business model. We only want SaaS-based revenue that's predictable, not transaction-based. Like, Oh, how are you going to put together? You know, debt facilities as well as equity, how will the funds be used? It was just thing after thing. And then it was like, Okay, we got through all that. So it was like, okay, great, write this down. Now I'm going to solve these things. Because that's like, what I do. I ask questions, and then I listen, and then I solve it, and then I come back, and it's like, Oh, wow. Like. This is perfect, but it was never perfect. It was always like something else. And then we were like, oh my god, like this is so discouraging. And it was like, Are we ever gonna be successful? Because it's a capital-intensive business, so we really questioned it, and the tipping point was when we gave up on the market. We gave up on the venture capital route. And most VCs, except for Thin Air Labs—was very instrumental, they were a believer. And they follow the shoot bullets, launch cannons, as do we. So they give a small check to go. And that was amazing. And we put our head down and just decide to focus on the business, and we let it all go, focused on it, and the success just started to catch up and snowball, and the story started to become a bit infectious. Once we were seeing all of these results, it started to become a lot easier to raise. We had the right time in the market. We proved the product market fit, and so on. So it wasn't just a good idea anymore. And then those smaller checks turned into bigger checks, and then other checks started to come and so on. And we were able to close that real serious seed venture capital-backed raise.
Leah 16:18
So, let's just dig into that a little bit, because, I mean, this is one of the reasons that the subtitle of this podcast is, why would you do this? It's because I find that amazing, that when you're hearing no over and over and over again, this doesn't make sense. It's not going to work. I mean, how do you decide to just keep going?
Kyle 16:36
It’s just persistence. It's like what we are doing, I think is going to be as impactful as credit cards. I think that most companies will offer some sort of early payment to their supply chain, and Quickly will be like a Coca-Cola or a Pepsi, and others will come. And I think it will be like that. I think this will be a basic requirement and offering, because net payment terms are challenging. The idea of executing a service or selling goods and waiting to be paid is difficult, right? You know, in the service world, with consumers and all these things like, you know, terms aren't really a thing. You pay for stuff when you want it, but somehow in B2B, it's the opposite. So just the will of wanting to solve, you know, such a big problem, and knowing that like this is so valuable and important really kept us going. And if I'm ever like, unsure or questioning myself, and I'm kind of in this like point of like weakness, like a low I, like, made a deal with myself a long time ago that I won't make a decision, so I just keep going with whatever decision I made before, because I think that I was probably in a better space when I made it. And then as time passes and I can get into that better headspace, I can then decide if it's different. So there was a bit of just, like, well, this what we decide to do, so we're just gonna get it done.
Leah 18:06
So, how did you even learn to trust that initial instinct when you are feeling that low? Like, that seems like a pretty hard thing to do.
Kyle 18:15
I'm a huge introvert, so big thinker. I've done a ton of self-work. I was a really nervous child. I've really, like, had to, like, come up with my tools to be able to be, not even successful, just like, like, capable of executing life. And they've served me really well. Maybe I matured at a really young age, or whatever it might be from these but I really got to explore myself and my being and learn to come to terms with who I am, and then to really, like go beyond that. So I'm not really sure. It's just been a lot of.
Leah 18:55
But you figured it out at an early age. That's incredible. Well, it sounds like that all really serves you well as an entrepreneur.
Kyle 19:03
And husband and father.
Leah 19:05
Oh, this leads us to my next question.
Leah 19:10
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Leah 19:39
Being an entrepreneur, as you said, has a lot of highs and a lot of lows. So how does that factor into your personal life?
Kyle 19:40
Yeah, well, the highs and lows. Another selfless plug: I've been a member of the Entrepreneurs Organization so EO, it's one of the largest collectives of CEOs, a nonprofit, in the world, where everyone is is working on kind of three foundational pillars, their self, their business and their family. And there's a non-soliciting rule. So it's a very safe space. So the Entrepreneurs Organization and my forum, my smaller group of peers that that I get to kind of unpack all of this stuff with, so it's not just me. They give me a safe space to kind of talk about the challenges or the fears and celebrate the successes, and then I just don't have to bring it home to my family as much. I have a place to question things, because questioning things in front of everybody isn't always the best. Sometimes you got to be, you know, decisive, and you need to be happy and confident and different things, but we all go through moments of weakness or or questioning and it's great to have a place where I can do that, where it's accepted. And that's really been beneficial to my family, I think, and especially my relationship with my wife. So
Leah 21:00
What you're saying is that you have a support network outside of your family unit where you can really chew on some of these big ideas and issues and strategies and problems
Kyle 21:11
100% Yeah.
Leah 21:12
That seems essential.
Kyle 21:14
I think, yeah, it really is, too, because, like, even, like, your family, you know, it's okay, it's the business. So then it's like, well, do I really want to have these moments in front of employees or executives or whatever it might be, I've built that safe space and cultivated that together. I didn't build it. We built it. Amar, my Co-Founder, and I, so that's like, really special to have that. So to be able to build out. So that's, like, very important to me, because, like, it is like that, and I have that safe space with my wife 100%, as as we all do, or as we all should. But it doesn't mean I need to bounce work stuff off of that. Like, can't some things be sacred?
Leah 22:01
And when it comes to just the day-to-day life of you, and I know you've got what, three kids, right? Yeah, that's amazing. Do you think about balance and or is it just like you protect your time? Like, how do you actually put it together? Like, your life when it comes to being an entrepreneur and a guy with three kids?
Kyle 22:18
Yeah, good question. Well, I'm thinking about it right now. I would say, protect my time. I think I'm almost in like an autopilot type thing when it comes to it. One of the big catalysts to my success was actually when we had Olivia, my first, and it was just me coming to terms being like, I don't want to be, can I swear on here?
Leah 22:42
Of course.
Kyle 22:43
Yeah, I don't want to be a shitty dad, yeah, I don't want to be like an absent father or anything like that. So I was like, I'm gonna stop work, you know, and be home for dinner, yeah? And I'm not gonna work on the weekends. And this was crazy, because I was like, building that, that big painting business and all the other ones. And it was like, I just like, did it. And what happened was, where I see most entrepreneurs and company owners and stuff get stuck, is like they're building a business, and then it's like they found product market fit. It's like, successful, but then they have to, like, get it to a point. I always build bootstrap businesses, but to make enough, you know, money that they can hire teams of people, and then that's like a first hurdle. The next biggest hurdle is, like, making it so that it makes enough money that you cannot work and work on the business, and a lot of people get stuck at that. So by having a child and committing to the non-like, being a workaholic, like, like I always said, like, I didn't do anything special. I just worked 20 years and 10 so, like, yeah, you want to go out and do that, you can sacrifice your 20s, and you'll have, you know, I had in the 30s or whatever, right? It's just choice. And then, you know, move to 80 hours a week, and you'll see. But anyway, so the the change of that, like, really made me, you know, not work harder, work smarter. And I had to, like, figure out, okay, how am I going to balance and get it all done? And then I feel like I figured that out then, and it just kind of like, flowed over because, like, that's, like, something I keep sacred, like, I'm not going to be a shitty Dad, I'm going to be there, I'm not going to be a shitty husband, I'm going to be there. And now it's really like, well, I don't want to be a shitty son and so on. Like, the relationships you have with friends.
Leah 24:25
And they’re important to you, so you want to protect the.
Kyle 24:27
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, we've talked with a lot of Founders on this podcast about that, being really mindful about how you spend your time, and you see these patterns emerge. And one of the patterns that I see is that if Founders don't make a conscious effort to make that choice to protect relationships, then they often get more burnt out more quickly, and they just don't have that support that they need to do this very hard work.
Kyle 24:52
Totally. Yeah. It is so easy to get caught up in everything. There's endless work like you'll never. Really be complete. So it's very easy to just get sucked into all of it, and then the next thing you know, you know, your battery is completely drained. You have no tools or idea of of how to recharge or fill it. And you're working, you know, 10-15, hours a day, but your productivity is like 30 minutes, right? Which, is like, that's not good for anybody. I'd rather work 30 minutes and have that full productivity versus 10 hours of the same.
Leah 25:26
I understand it completely. That's how I worked half-time in television for eight years. I was, I did eight hours and four that's what I did. I get it. I get it. Okay, so we've talked about how, of course, challenging being a Founder can be, but how wonderful is it? What do you love about being a Founder?
Kyle 25:42
When you're successful with the company and kind of like, get it to a place, it's just so rewarding to see, like, the impact that you can have on people or an industry, or whatever it might be, the time you can get with your family, the time you can get with friends like that, freedom and autonomy, the real ability, regardless of if you have, you know, the money or the time, because like that, stuff will come and not necessarily tied to being a Founder or the impact, because that comes to is being able to work on the things that inspire you. And that's like the earliest reward, probably the one I would recommend to get the most excited about, because that's like the, you know, the one at your disposal in the beginning, and the other ones are kind of like a product or an outcome of you being in your happy place and solving something.
Leah 26:33
You mentioned it briefly right there, which was impact. And as you know, at Thin Air Labs, we're very intentional about creating meaningful human impact. So when you think about impact, when it comes to what you're doing, it Quickly, how do you think about it?
Kyle 26:46
I've thought about it in a lot of different ways, but what I'm starting to see is almost the impact of the companies that are receiving the early payments, that are having this type of freedom, flexibility, autonomy and access, and the real, like, measurable impact was when we started, like, really diving through, like, what's going on in your business. So we are just breaking 500 companies on the platform, super exciting. So, like, one individual story is a company that came on with Quickly. They had 20 employees in a matter of, like, eight months or sub one year, they went to 100 employees, open, like, two facility shops. They're, like a huge contender to take market share within their industry, but just like, massive impact. And that's like one company, right? So, these stories, these changes that are happening, they're pretty special, you know, and kind of seeing, like, Okay, I like, I've been there, and you have a solution, and you're not there. That's really, really cool to see.
Leah 27:50
Yeah, that's amazing because that's one story. And if you've got 500, you know, on the platform, there's 500 of those stories, totally.
Kyle 27:58
Yeah, and that's what we're trying to do, is really talk to them, release little snippets and understand, oh, yeah, we're huge on communicating to our customers, if you think about it, on the other side too, like we have one company that's been a fantastic believer of what we're doing, early adopter. They're, you know, going close to a year on the platform or longer now, and you know, they're set out to save a couple $100,000 in early payments by offering people what they want. So it's like, you know, it's really a win-win on both sides. And really kind of like teaching people, you know that this solution is right for everybody, and by doing the right thing and offering what your trades and service providers and suppliers want, you can also have like, a great success story as well.
Leah 28:47
I love it, all right? Well, I'm having these conversations. I end on two very typical questions each time. And so this is the first one. You're the Founder of Quickly you're writing the story for your company. How do you hope the story for Quickly goes?
Kyle 29:02
We're building a company full of owners. So each employee is an equity holder. We have investors that are equity holders. They're believers in our purpose, in our mission, in what we're doing, at the biggest degree, because they are investing their money or their time, and time is the most valuable commodity, so seeing a success story where they win is much bigger than almost anything else, right? Like there's some vanity elements to other stuff, like being able to see some big brand or be synonymous with early payments, but really it's like if I can create, or if we can create, Amar and myself, because it's not just one person. All of these winners along the way that were the believers, that were the actual ones that could make this happen that will be pretty special, so.
Leah 30:01
Okay and then, as a Founder, you're the Co-Founder of this company, how do you hope your own personal story goes as an entrepreneur, as a Founder?
Kyle 30:09
I want to be a good dad and a good husband. So we had our third child recently, Banks. He's like 14 months. I always say you can't talk in months so, but he's not quite a year. He's two months older. My reasoning for having that was us being able to stay kind of in this phase of having kids and being in this part of our life. So I think, like the big success and everything for us will be being able to have that next chapter together as a family and everything. So I hope that answered the question that kind of like blanked.
Leah 30:45
No, no, no. I love it. It's obvious to me that when you think of yourself as a Founder, it's not just you, it's you and your family. You think of it as a whole and that's what you want to protect and celebrate moving forward.
Kyle 30:57
Yea, and, I mean, like looking back, right? I want to make sure, like we put everything into it. We put our all. But you know, as I was saying, that I can be proud of the Founder, the Co-Founder, the CEO, the husband, the dad, like all of it. So it's not like the one thing of my life. There's many things to my life. I just want to be proud of how I executed them.
Leah 31:22
And executed all of them.
Kyle 31:25
All of them.
Leah 31:26
Yeah, that's amazing. Kyle. Thank you so much for this conversation.
Kyle 31:28
Yeah, it was great. It was nice.
Leah 31:38
As the lead investor in Thin Air Labs - Fund One, Sandstone Asset Management believes in building the commons through innovative Founders who are creating meaningful, positive impact, both locally and globally. Sandstone is doing just that by backing the next generation of emerging entrepreneurs. Picture this, a Founder start-up goes from idea to international impact supported by strategic investors who believed in their vision. That's the power of Sandstone's approach. Sandstone doesn't just manage wealth, they cultivate it, supporting Founders at all stages. Visit sandstoneam.com to learn how sandstone builds legacies that last.
Leah 32:21
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In this episode of The Founder Mindset
Join host Leah Sarich as we hear about Kyle Friedman’s entrepreneurial journey to success with his payment platform Quickly. Kyle makes it clear that there’s no linear path to success in business, but when you have a strong belief in yourself and the possible, great things can happen. Listeners will be inspired by Kyle’s resourcefulness and sheer audacity when it comes to following intuition. He’s also a great example of how to maintain a fierce commitment to family while running a business. He shares advice and wisdom on how to balance family life with entrepreneurial aspirations and finding the right community to help you through it all.
From discovering his entrepreneurial roots in small-town New Brunswick to growing a company he put together in an afternoon into one of the largest painting companies in the country, Kyle’s tale is about determination and a willingness to keep trying. He shares examples of his ideas that failed and how he found the courage to keep trying until he created a product that fit the market, even if it meant starting over.
Kyle also shares his biggest secret to success—creating a boundary between work and home and protecting his time to keep family a priority. Busy entrepreneurs will hear how finding a safe space with other business owners can help provide a safe space to celebrate success and discuss fear and doubt with like-minded people rather than bringing all your business trouble home. Whether you’re new to starting a business or have been a Founder for decades, there are valuable lessons to be learned inside this episode!
About Kyle Friedman
Kyle Friedman is a seasoned entrepreneur with over a decade of experience at the helm of innovative ventures. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Quickly Technologies Inc., Canada's foremost leader in Earned Revenue Access, he's pioneering a tech platform that empowers businesses to tap into their earned revenue on demand, fuelling their growth and efficiency.
Kyle's entrepreneurial journey spans diverse industries, including service, education, product procurement, and technology. His reputation for driving innovation, providing visionary leadership, and achieving remarkable growth is underscored by Zoom Painting's recognition as the 86th fastest-growing company in Canada in 2019.
Beyond business success, Kyle is an active member of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, where he's held the role of forum chair for the Calgary chapter. He's also lent his expertise to numerous Canadian non-profit organizations. Passionate about harnessing entrepreneurship and technology for positive social impact, Kyle is committed to making a difference in the world through his work.
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Join host Leah Sarich as we hear about Kyle Friedman’s entrepreneurial journey to success with his payment platform Quickly. Kyle makes it clear that there’s no linear path to success in business, but when you have a strong belief in yourself and the possible, great things can happen. Listeners will be inspired by Kyle’s resourcefulness and sheer audacity when it comes to following intuition. He’s also a great example of how to maintain a fierce commitment to family while running a business. He shares advice and wisdom on how to balance family life with entrepreneurial aspirations and finding the right community to help you through it all. From discovering his entrepreneurial roots in small-town New Brunswick to growing a company he put together in an afternoon into one of the largest painting companies in the country, Kyle’s tale is about determination and a willingness to keep trying. He shares examples of his ideas that failed and how he found the courage to keep trying until he created a product that fit the market, even if it meant starting over. Kyle also shares his biggest secret to success—creating a boundary between work and home and protecting his time to keep family a priority. Busy entrepreneurs will hear how finding a safe space with other business owners can help provide a safe space to celebrate success and discuss fear and doubt with like-minded people rather than bringing all your business trouble home. Whether you’re new to starting a business or have been a Founder for decades, there are valuable lessons to be learned inside this episode!