We hear a lot about building a community and creating startup ecosystems, but what does that really look like? Our guest today, Brendan King , Co-Founder and CEO of VendAsta has built both a community-focused platform and has helped build the startup ecosystem in Western Canada. VendAsta helps small and medium businesses create SaaS offerings by combining best-of-breed software vendors and the expertise of local media companies. About Brendan King: Before founding VendAsta in 2008, Brendan served as COO and a Director of Point2 Realty solutions, growing its membership to over 165,000 agents and brokers in 85 countries. In 2007, he was named one of the '100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders' by Inman News. Prior to that he founded and sold two successful computer retailing operations and also worked for Cameco Corporation as a Geophysicist. Brendan holds an Advanced Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Saskatchewan. In this episode we discuss: 01:31 Brendan’s career journey 04:39 Lessons he learned that gave him grit and stick-to-itiveness 05:48 Why he and VendAsta are focused on the SMB segment 07:15 How VendAsta helps serve SMB with a three-sided marketplace 10:15 Pain points VendAsta addresses for SMB 12:56 The mistakes he made and how they can solve problems for time-starved businesses 14:28 Helping build a startup ecosystem in Western Canada 16:51 The way VendAsta is adjusting to remote work 19:50 Why resuburbanization is a trend moving forward 21:52 How remote work is exposing VendAsta to stronger recruiting competition 23:40 What Canadian investors can do to further accelerate the startup scene across the country 28:02 What government in Canada has done to support VendAsta 31:16 The decision of when to go public 34:53 What other communities around the globe can do to jumpstart a startup ecosystem Fast Favorites Podcast All In SaaStr Newsletter/Blog James Clear David Skok For Entrepreneurs Tech Gadget Nest New Trend Remote Hybrid Organization Design Book Good to Great Working Backwards Thinking Fast and Slow Life Lesson Being challenged is inevitable, being defeated is optional Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency