The Unsure Entrepreneur

Unsure Entrepreneur – Maria Konikov
KEYWORDS
entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, business, program, support, yeti, maria, talk, people, run, give, education, questions, years, skill, international student, small business, funding, students, point
SPEAKERS
Maria Konikov, Roger Pierce

Intro 00:00
You're listening to the unsure entrepreneur podcast with Roger Pierce. Whether you're scribbling business ideas on a napkin, or wrestling with this should I shouldn't tie question, get ready to explore the realities, the risks and the rewards of entrepreneurship as we share the stories, scars and successes of small business owners.

Roger Pierce 00:22
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the unsure entrepreneur Podcast. I'm Roger Pierce. So excited to have you here with us today and so excited for our guests. Here today. Maria Kotlikoff. Welcome, Maria.

Maria Konikov 00:34
Thank you, Roger. exciting to be here.

Roger Pierce 00:36
We're excited to have you. I'm going to give a little bit of background about you before we get into some questions. Maria Connick cough is the director of operations at the York entrepreneurship development institute, also known as Yeti, where she oversees the institute's programs and services for entrepreneurs, with a strong foundation in business from her Bachelor of Commerce and ongoing MBA studies. Maria has over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship development, specializing in creating and nurturing innovation, ecosystems and accelerating startups.

Maria Konikov 01:10
Yes, thank you. That's a long, nice intro. Thank you.

Roger Pierce 01:14
Well, you've got an impressive background. And it's such an impressive organization, you know, I just want to start by for people that don't know what Getty is, you can expand a bit of a what it does for entrepreneurs and for students and your role there.

Maria Konikov 01:27
Sure. So first of all, we're very grateful to have you as a mentor, as well to the entrepreneur. So thank you for dedicating your time for those that that have not heard of yet yet. We are a sector agnostic business accelerator. We're also a charity and academic Institute, VC fund. And we have various designations with the Government of Canada for the startup visa program. So we do many different things. But really what we are, we are a community for entrepreneurs. And what we hope to do is to nurture startups, from their mindset through education, to their connection to their network and the supports that they need beyond the program, so that they don't just come to us for one program, but they become part of the community. And they have the backbone that they need to grow and develop their businesses. You

Roger Pierce 02:13
know, I'm looking through the website, and I'm familiar with Yeti because full disclosure, I'm one of your your mentors. Honored to do that. But you know, I'm a student of entrepreneurship myself, I love everything about entrepreneurs, and the show is about helping people who are curious about entrepreneurship. Thinking about it, maybe on the fence, don't know what what it's all about. Want to know what the real nitty gritty is about entrepreneurship, and if it's the life for them. So the end of the day, and we're trying to, you know, encourage people to take this step where we want to give them access to resources and make sure they understand what they're getting into, because it's a huge commitment, as I know, from running a small business for 30 years. And couple of the programs I want to expand on I really enjoy seeing entrepreneurship and small business management program. That's your one year program, right?

Maria Konikov 03:00
That's right. So I really, I really liked what you said that people want, they're not sure if entrepreneurship is for them, they want to have a way to explore what it's all about. Entrepreneurship is such a unique journey. It's unique for everyone, and everyone's path is different. What is the same across it is having the right skill set, and having the right mindset before you go into it almost. That's why we created this one year diploma program. So to take a step back, we've had our flagship program, which is called the incubator program, since 2013, which is a 12 week program for those that have an idea or an early stage business, to understand how they can bring it to market and launch it faster, bringing in front of investors. Having run that program for many years, we saw a need for a deeper program, exactly for entrepreneurs, like the ones that you described, that they have an interest in entrepreneurship, they're not sure what it's all about. Or maybe they are already growing their business a bit. But they are lacking the skills in order that they need in order to take it to the next level. So this one year program is the first of its kind in Canada, because it's free for Canadian entrepreneurs. Not only are they getting an MBA level education, we want to make it accessible to all entrepreneurs so that they don't have any reason to not gain the education and skills that they need because they're financially limited, or they want to invest the money back in their company. So we decided to take to make the program tuition free. If the student meets an 80% academic average requirements, attend all the sessions and all their assignments, of course, we've removed a financial barrier. And the goal with that is to give an entrepreneur a real look into what running their business would be like because for the entire year although they are studying an academic program, they are studying their own business. So they come in with a business idea or they are working on an existing business idea of one of the Yeti alumni. And every week, every session the home work assignments, everything that they do goes right back to their business. So for example, if they're submitting a marketing assignment, the marketing assignment would be a marketing plan for their own business. So everything is hands on applicable, and really gives them a glimpse of what it would be like to run their business. What's really also important about it is even if the current business that they're working on does not work out, they're gaining the skill set the tools, the networks, and the knowledge that they need to run any other business down the line,

Roger Pierce 05:29
my gosh, so many things to unpack there, I can come into that program, or someone coming to that program with or without an idea. That's correct. And so it's applicable for people who are, you know, looking to get something new off the ground, or have a business they want to fine tune.

Maria Konikov 05:45
During COVID, we saw many people who were used to working in their corporate jobs for many years there were comfortable. And here comes COVID. And they get laid off from their role. And now, they say this is my opportunity, I can finally pursue my entrepreneurial dream. So this type of program is also for individuals like that for maybe currently working in a role that they don't love. And they have this idea in the back of their head, this dream that one day, they're going to launch their business, they just don't feel that they have enough support to take the first step, I think the first step to saying I'm going to do it and actually taking the first step, that's really very scary for most people. And doing that first step and having a support system behind you gives you that cushion to really feel confident to do it. My

Roger Pierce 06:34
gosh, you've just described my target audience, people who have a job a dream of starting a business. So tell me more about that audiences that who's coming to the one year program.

Maria Konikov 06:45
We are really pleasantly surprised by the diversity that we're seeing in that diploma program. We have individuals who currently have jobs and they're looking to launch their businesses, we have younger entrepreneurs that are taking time off from university, maybe they're in that gap year in between deciding what where to go, and what to do with their future. We have individuals that already have a degree. And now they want to launch a business and they realize that they don't have the skill set for it. So it's really diverse. But we do see a big need for the target market that we were talking about of individuals that are too afraid to take the first step,

Roger Pierce 07:22
talking about those folks who are what I call corporate escapees. They've got a job, they don't really like it, they dream of being being their own boss, one of my favorite stats is over 90% of people dream of being their own boss. Everyone has that ambition, I think deep down but you know, as we've talked about, very few people actually take the steps to do it. Because they need the help. And they need the support and the resources. And this is what God can do for them.

Maria Konikov 07:46
I think the scariest aspect of it is the unknown. So the fear of the unknown, how can I leave my current comfortable role with a set salary, and I already know what's expected of me and what's going to happen tomorrow, and then a year from now, two years from now. Whereas being an entrepreneur, you're diving into something that's completely unknown, you don't have that security. But when you have knowledge, you also have power and the knowledge and knowing having a plan having a system. That's what gives you the confidence to move forward.

Roger Pierce 08:16
Yeah, it's really scary. If you jump into self employment without a plan, or a target market or business funding and all that stuff you guys help entrepreneurs to tackle? The biggest thing is the fear of the unknown. It's right. It's like, what, what's going to happen here? And if you can help address those fears, through your training and your support. That's gonna help so many more people take those steps into entrepreneurship. Absolutely.

Maria Konikov 08:42
I hope so. Oh,

Roger Pierce 08:43
so beautiful. I got so many questions for you. But also another big surprise. It's free. How does that work?

Maria Konikov 08:49
Yes. So again, through our experience, we saw that a barrier that's holding entrepreneurs back from getting education, so from going and getting that $100,000 MBA was that they would rather spend the money on their business. We also saw that there is a big failure rate of entrepreneurs that are going in taking a shorter program, and then they see traction in their business. And then they sort of fall into that valley of death between the initial traction that they get. And now they have to jump on to that next level. And they have a gap there where they are not supported. So they don't have a network to fall on. They don't have someone to go and ask questions from, they don't have the necessary funding maybe to make the leap. And that's where they ended up, falling off. So we decided that we are going to use our funding our funds to make the program tuition free. And since we offer programs to international students and to international entrepreneurs, we use their tuition to cover the tuition for the Canadian students, and then everyone benefits from that.

Roger Pierce 09:49
Oh, really? That's how it works. You take the international student tuition and use it to subsidize Canadians,

Maria Konikov 09:55
right so instead of pocketing the international students, we are Putting a ride back into the charity and having the education accessible to Canadian students.

Roger Pierce 10:04
Is there any funding from like the federal federal government involved?

Maria Konikov 10:08
No, we are proudly self sufficient. We don't have any federal funding for this program or for any of our programs at the moment, we did have some funding before but for the last few years, we've been self sufficient, and very proud, because this is something that we also teach our social ventures is how to be self sufficient, be reliant on your own revenue, so that you can continue to pursue your charitable mission without being reliant on external funding for your survival.

Roger Pierce 10:35
Wow. And you're a nonprofit people should remember. So there's no you know, profit motivation here. You're not trying to market the students, some academic institutions, as you know, it's a numbers game, it's a revenue game, because they got to meet their budgets.

Maria Konikov 10:50
We also have a VC fund, and any revenue that comes in from the VC fund is also goes right back into supporting our programs. So that's another revenue stream that we have. And of course, we have donors that believe in the program and want to support it, alumni themselves, who have benefited from it and are now growing their businesses are eager to give back and to support the next entrepreneur. Amazing

Roger Pierce 11:12
circle of entrepreneurship there, yes. You get some going get successful. And then they come back and they support you. That's the plan. Give us some numbers here. How many students have you worked with over the years? Or how many come in through an average year?

Maria Konikov 11:26
So I think our alumni list is over 1200 At this point, and it's worldwide because we have entrepreneurs from all over the world. And we also go to other countries to run different programs. So it's worldwide. And the numbers vary year to year, because it depends on which programs we're running. But we are roughly 150 to 200 entrepreneurs per year. I

Roger Pierce 11:50
know some of the spots are limited capacity. So you got to get in there and watch those application deadlines.

Maria Konikov 11:56
Yes, right. So all of our programs are competitive to get into just because there is a high demand for them. The selection process is rigorous. So we select for example, for incubator program, which is meant for for profit innovative ventures, we have 15 spots in that program. And we typically get between 300 to 500 application per call. And that shouldn't discourage anyone because even those that don't make the cut this time, we always provide feedback, and we'll give the opportunity to reapply. And we have other ways that we can support entrepreneurs that maybe don't enter into this competitive program. We have other ways to support entrepreneurs as well.

Roger Pierce 12:34
So that's a very important point, you've got so much going on the incubator, the Small Business Management Program, I'm going to ask you about entrepreneurship essentials and a second, you got all these things happening, that they shouldn't be worried about getting into one thing, just come and make contact with Yeti, right? And you'll help them into the right path. Right?

Maria Konikov 12:54
Exactly, that's the best thing that they can do is to reach out to us set up a consultation for 15 minutes, speak to our admissions advisors, and then they will guide them on what is the best route for them to take.

Roger Pierce 13:05
I love that, oh my gosh, you and I are going to help the same people. I just want to bring wonderful people who are on the fence about entrepreneurship and will have questions. I'll do my best to talk about it and interview entrepreneurs and help send them your way.

Maria Konikov 13:20
Excellent.

Roger Pierce 13:24
That was the small business entrepreneurship and small business program. Tell me about the shorter entrepreneurship Essentials program.

Maria Konikov 13:29
So the entrepreneurship Essentials program is a four month program that we are launching now it's a newer program. And we have about 25 spots per cohort. The purpose of it is to provide a more in depth learning that is open to entrepreneurs who might not make it into our incubator program. So entrepreneurs that are interested in growing their venture, they have an exciting business idea, especially entrepreneurs from abroad that want to understand how the Canadian business landscape works. I think that's really who this program is most beneficial for is entrepreneurs who may not be coming here as an international student, they don't have the opportunity to come in to study for two years, but they still want to get a good understanding of what the business landscape here is like how they can launch a business and grow it successfully. This is what the entrepreneurship Essentials program is for.

Roger Pierce 14:26
Fantastic. So you've really got all these different options for entrepreneurs and again, they don't need to worry about what's the right one for them. Just make contact and you'll assess and you'll know guide them. Exactly. You know I'm reminded years ago, Maria had a company called co founded a company called biz launch. And we trained entrepreneurs through webinars seminars and a training program. That was like a very short and probably very basic compared to yours but a 30 hour small business training program for you know, early stage startups and people who just had an A Do some people were curious? I love that. And it was great to be in a room with other entrepreneurs they can learn from, you know, we walked them through the financing, we walked them through, certainly marketing and branding operations, all the things I'm sure you guys do much better. But it was so great to be kind of, you know, guided, guided by someone in the program. Instructors had fun with the students. What I'm getting at here is maybe we can speak a bit about the importance of education in general, because I'm an old guy now. But back in the day in the 80s, and early 90s, there wasn't this kind of entrepreneurship training available out there. Now we're seeing a lot of post secondary institutions, including, including secondary institutions, my daughter's in an entrepreneurship stream at her high school. This is new, right? This wasn't really the case 2030 years ago, yeah,

Maria Konikov 15:52
even 10 years ago, which is the reason why we started because we saw that there is a need, we saw that incubators were just popping up. But they were really tech focused, or a sector specific sector focus, we noticed that there wasn't anything sector agnostic that would cater to entrepreneurs across different sectors, and people interested in entrepreneurship to provide those basics. There's the famous question is an entrepreneur born or made, although I personally think that entrepreneurs, there are some entrepreneurial traits that a person may be born with. But entrepreneurship is a skill set. And that skill set can be learned. You could go out of the loan, you could watch online videos, you could talk to people, but it's not giving you a full and complete picture. And it's delaying your time to success. Having a strong educational foundation, what it gives you again, it gives you confidence that you know what you're talking about when you're standing in front of investors, your employees or partners, anybody who you're pitching your business to, you really have a strong understanding of what you're talking about beyond your business idea or beyond the technical features of it. Also, having education, any education that we get impacts are mindset. Even as I mentioned before, even if you're not working, even if the current business that you're working on right now will not be the business for you. Number one, you can learn that it's not a business for you, and you'll fail faster, you'll save your time, you'll save your money and resources, and move on to the next business. But now you've acquired the skill set this mindset, this network, and you're able to take it and apply it to anything else that you do in the future, because it will just be part of you now. So that's the power of education, it really transforms you transforms the way that you think gives you access to networks and to resources that you wouldn't otherwise have. And that's why it's so important.

Roger Pierce 17:42
Talking about transferable skills, yes, learn at once you can apply it over and over again. Right,

Maria Konikov 17:49
it just becomes part of you now, and it changes the way you operate in the future. What

Roger Pierce 17:53
you said is so important and reminds me of, you know, when he asked these billionaire entrepreneurs, what would happen? If you lost it all tomorrow? What would you do and then go? Well, I would build it back up again, because I know how I've been through it, they say so they don't worry about failure, because they've got the skills to your point. The other thing you I'm reminded of this, you know, 50% of North American startups fail within five years. And the number one reason behind that is for inexperience, like you're pointing to they don't know what they're getting into. They don't have the skills or the training, they run into money, usually because it's mismanaged because they don't have the experience, you're going to address all that.

Maria Konikov 18:35
Exactly, precisely. We talk a lot about business model, business, proper financial literacy, proper financial planning, at any point, even after they're done the program, and now they have to go out into the real world, and they're growing their businesses and new challenges come up, they always have the opportunity to come back to us. So we never leave them out there to figure it out on their own. We have entrepreneurs that still come to us and have meetings with our advisors from 10 years ago. And they're facing completely different business challenges because their businesses have grown and evolved. Some of them are getting acquired, some of them have are getting sold different partnerships. And the questions are completely different. But then they always have that home base that they come to. And this is really so key to have a mentor to have a mentors have an advisor to have someone who can be your coach throughout this process, because entrepreneurship is not. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon as we know. And it's good to have someone there with you that you can ask questions that has done. They've done it before. And they're really they want to see your success.

Roger Pierce 19:39
Entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it's a marathon. That's right. And you know what, that's That's news to me too. So you really help them long term. It's not just for the four months or the one year training. It's a longer ongoing relationship you're starting. Yeah,

Maria Konikov 19:56
so we always like to joke but it's the truth that whenever Someone gets accepted to Yeti. They're not just accepted into the program. That's it. They're part of a family. So even though they want to escape, they're part of the family. Now they can't.

Roger Pierce 20:10
No escape from family. That's right. You know, and I want to dig into that a little bit more some of the challenges facing entrepreneurs, you mentioned a few there. But what else do you find entrepreneurs struggle with out of the gate?

Maria Konikov 20:23
thing, a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with loneliness. And this is something that more and more people are starting to talk about now. But really, entrepreneurship is lonely. These entrepreneurs have their business, they often are going at it alone. In the beginning, especially, you don't have co founders for the most part. And it's hard to know, am I doing the right thing? How can I motivate myself? What's the next step? Where am I going with this? Is this even a good idea is anybody even going to like what I'm doing. And when you're going at it alone, it can be very, very challenging. So this is definitely a big, a big aspect of joining a community is to help address this loneliness and to help you bounce ideas off each other and just be in an environment with other people that are facing challenge, the same challenges as you in our program. In our experience, it's actually interesting that we saw many partnerships formed in the classroom of individuals who can help each other, and even businesses that have formed out of to entrepreneurs, and were sitting in the classroom, working on complementary on things that can be done together to create an even better product or an even better company. And it's really exciting.

Roger Pierce 21:31
That's a byproduct, right? The partnerships maybe incubated there. What is so fascinating to me, now, tell me if you got any without naming names, perhaps any great businesses that stick out to you that you've worked with over the over the years?

Maria Konikov 21:45
Yes, there are businesses that have that are generating big revenue and have done great things. But for me, the stories that make an impact are close to my heart. So one of those examples of the partnerships that were made in the classroom, we had a student who was running an innovative ballet school, this is from our very first cohort. And then we had one who is a dance teacher, and she does dancing, she would teach individuals who are in a wheelchair, how to dance with an able bodied partner. And the purpose of the class would be so that those in the wheelchair would It would reduce their social isolation, it would also reduce their muscle atrophy. And it would make give them a sense of being part in the community. So these two businesses were part of the classroom. And they ended up teaming together, creating an innovative wheelchair that could be sold and used for this type of dancing. And they created a brand new program together between the ballet school and this dance company. So these types of businesses I'm really passionate about. Another great example that I can give you is, we had a professor from the University of Toronto, who has been a professor for many years very academic, very smart person, he developed a methodology to treat kids with ADHD without using any medications, so without the use of drugs, and he had this methodology sitting in his computer for many, many years. And he just didn't know how to turn it into a business. He didn't know what to do with it. But he knew that it worked. So he came to Yeti went through the program. And now the business is in its 10th year, they're operating in Canada and in the US, and they have branches, many customers, they've helped 1000s of families at this point. So these types of stories, these are the entrepreneurs that I'm really passionate about.

Roger Pierce 23:29
Great examples. Thank you for sharing that. I was interviewed the other day by the Toronto Star and the article was about side hustle businesses. Someone comes to you with a clean slate. I don't know what I want to do. But I love the idea of being my own boss and starting a business. How do you deal with that? What do you recommend to them? Do you have any kind of trends that you'd like to suggest?

Maria Konikov 23:51
We don't suggest trends per se, but what we do is we match them with an alumni who might be experienced some challenges in their business, and they could use the help of another entrepreneurs to work through those challenges. And then they would take that challenge into the classroom and work through it throughout the sessions. So that's what we do when someone comes to us without a concrete business idea. Okay.

Roger Pierce 24:15
And on that subject, too. Are you seeing any changes in the last few years of small business, the types of businesses people are getting into? I mean, obviously, ecommerce. That's a big one. Now, I'm a big fan of that. Because plugins like Shopify, you don't have to inventory products and services, you can plug it into your website and take orders and dropship it right. So I think it's a fascinating time to become an entrepreneur, because there's so many options available to us with technology and the internet. What are your thoughts on that?

Maria Konikov 24:44
I think it's a really exciting time for entrepreneurship, because there are so many new opportunities that we're just on the cusp of and people are starting to slowly discover them. I almost get a sense that we're in this time right now. The We were when the internet was just getting started. This is almost what it feels like with AI and all the different opportunities. So it's a really an untapped market. And there's many interesting things that are developing every day and it's in, it's just a time to see where entrepreneurship would go. And aside from that, there's so much support for entrepreneurs in Canada right now. It's an easy time to be an entrepreneur, I want to say almost, because you have free funding available from so many sources in the form of grants, you have support systems, education, you have meetups, other entrepreneurs, it's so easy to connect now to other entrepreneurs, also through social media back 20 years ago, LinkedIn and other forms didn't exist. Even podcasts such as yours are such a tool and resource for entrepreneurs. Because, again, there are many things that entrepreneurs go through that no one ever discusses. But I think that now, it's getting discussed all the time on these podcasts and YouTube channels, the entrepreneurs are coming on and sharing their challenges. And it's really refreshing. And it's really makes it transparent. And it makes this a better environment, I think to grow. And as an entrepreneur. You're

Roger Pierce 26:14
so right. It's it's like this ecosystem. It's the support network resources, it's all out there. But the biggest challenge, you know, entrepreneurs have and what we hope to help with is where to get the help. But that starting point, you know, where do you find the answers? And you guys are providing so many of those, not only the answers, but the training and the mentoring and the support. That's that's just fantastic. That's what entrepreneurs need. It's, it's where do I go to get the information I need to get going, and you guys are going to help with that?

Maria Konikov 26:44
Yes, this is very much what what our aim is we want to give some clarity in this sea of information and things that are available. We want to be your starting point to help entrepreneurs get going get started and grow.

Roger Pierce 26:59
You heard it here folks Yeti as a starting point on your path to entrepreneurship and beyond. I love it. I love it. I'm going to ask you a couple of last questions. Unfortunately, our clock is running out. Before I forget, though, and shout out to our colleague, Rick Phillips, for bringing us together today. Thank you, Rick, I know. Because you and your team. Yes,

Maria Konikov 27:19
the Rick is one of the founders of Yeti. He has been here since day one. He's our communications expert. He's also director of international programming. And just overall a great colleague to have.

Roger Pierce 27:31
Fantastic guy. Every time I talk with Rick, I got a smile on my face. A couple glass questions. I'm curious about what do you love most about working with entrepreneurs? Maria, I mean, you get to I know you get you have to manage a lot of things. But you must get to work with entrepreneurs to along the way. What do you love about what you do? I

Maria Konikov 27:49
love that No day is ever the same. There's always something new something developing, seeing the entrepreneurs grow, seeing them come back, I've been with God for 10 years. So seeing the entrepreneurs over the years, developing those relationships with them, having them come back to Yeti and seeing their growth. It's almost like seeing your child succeed on this is what it feels like. So that's my favorite part is to connect with the entrepreneurs, see them, have them come and visit and be part of continue to be part of the network

Roger Pierce 28:19
must be so rewarding. And so in closing, what would be a piece of advice, you'd offer entrepreneurs, you know, something? For someone who is just really the incubation stages of their thoughts. They're thinking about starting a business and awkward sure what they want to do they just liked the idea of it. What would your advice be to that aspiring entrepreneur?

Maria Konikov 28:38
My advice would be, don't be afraid of what you don't know. Go out and find the tools and the answers that you need in order to face anything that you don't know yet. Because this lack of knowledge creates a lack of action. There are so many tools and resources out there to help you gain the knowledge so that you do have the confidence to go forward. The

Roger Pierce 29:03
answers are out there. You're saying, well, I could talk to you all day. But that's all the time we have. I want to thank you very much Maria for sharing your entrepreneurial experiences and your advice and your training and everything about Yeti with us. It means a lot to me and to our listeners.

Maria Konikov 29:18
Thank you for having me on. This was really great. Thank you, Roger. My

Roger Pierce 29:22
pleasure. But before you go, one last favor if someone wants to get in touch with you. What's the best way to do that? Sure.

Maria Konikov 29:28
So we are on social media Yedi at Yedi.ca and they can also email us at info@yedi.ca.

Roger Pierce 29:39
Perfect. That's great. Thank you again and to our listeners. Thank you for being here and be sure to return for more insights next time on The unsure entrepreneur. Bye for now.

Intro 29:52
That's it for this episode of the onshore entrepreneur podcast. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss other candy conversations with small business owners and be sure to check us out at unsure entrepreneur.com