If you couldn't make February's Startup Grind Ottawa event, here's a handy recap of the best moments and a video of the entire thing!
Steve Beauchesne is the co-founder and CEO of Beau's All Natural Brewing Company, a multi-award winning microbrewery in Eastern Ontario.
Prior to starting Beau's, Steve worked for six years in Business Planning within Ontario Public Service (OPS). He graduated from Ryerson University and had his own band and record label prior to starting Beau's.
In 2012 Steve was a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, and was a nominee for the Desjardins Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards.
Here's some of the best advice Steve had for us:
1. Create a reason. You need to have a compelling reason for people to buy your product. Often small businesses can't compete on price and they can't compete on advertising, but the reason will drive fans your way.
2. Timing. Beau's operates a lot the a record label. Those big companies (like Sony) release new albums near the holidays. So smaller companies or indie labels need to time their products for the spring and early fall - which is exactly what Beau's does.
3. Zig when others zag. Beau's main focus isn't on massive profits, but rather supporting the community. Their 3 main pillars are charitable work, community building and independent arts.
4. Be nimble. You can't change the entire system right away. You need to learn to work within the system, don't waste efforts on what doesn't exist or trying to fight the bigger companies - you'll lose.
5. Create super fans. You do this by having real conversations with them and doing special/unique things for them. Sometimes, especially in the early days, we have to be super creative to overcome problems and challenges.
6. Build something that really matter to others and to yourself. Beau's is a legacy project. You need to be willing to trust your gut and put absolutely everything into it.
You can checkout Beau's Brewery at beaus.ca or on Twitter @BeausAllNatural.
My huge thanks and appreciation to Steve and Beau's for the amazing event, as well as to Robert Decher for recording the event, and to Marc Gagné and Microsoft Bizspark for hosting us.