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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Hi, this is Celine Williams hosting from Ontario for Canada's podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_02: My guests today are Belinda Gilby and Aaron Graven's co-founders of Bondi Energy,
[00:15] SPEAKER_02: which specializes in decarbonizing buildings with heat pump retrofits from multi-family
[00:19] SPEAKER_02: and commercial buildings across North America.
[00:22] SPEAKER_02: Aaron is also the owner of Titan York Realty. Welcome, Belinda and Aaron.
[00:28] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having us.
[00:30] SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
[00:31] SPEAKER_02: So as we always kind of get started with these podcasts, I'm going to ask each of you
[00:37] SPEAKER_02: to tell me a little bit about your journey as entrepreneurs both individually
[00:42] SPEAKER_02: and then how you came together because Aaron definitely sounds from even just that intro.
[00:47] SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we're doing your own thing, briar or in conjunction with.
[00:52] SPEAKER_02: So if each of you could just tell me a little bit of your story, that would be great.
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: And you can decide amongst yourself who goes first.
[01:01] SPEAKER_00: Sure.
[01:01] SPEAKER_03: Why don't you let me just start?
[01:04] SPEAKER_03: No, you start and then I'll go.
[01:06] SPEAKER_03: I started your first company first.
[01:09] SPEAKER_01: All right.
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: So I own a commercial real estate brokerage.
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: And a big part of understanding real estate is understanding value and how landlords assign
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: value, how vendors lend money based on value to owners of buildings and how those.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: And we own buildings, we manage buildings and we also.
[01:34] SPEAKER_01: We represent also tenant for the marketplace at least space and buildings.
[01:40] SPEAKER_01: So in one of my in one of the assets that we were evaluating, we were looking to understand.
[01:46] SPEAKER_01: How to change the heating system.
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: And I went through this entire process of trying to find someone and.
[01:55] SPEAKER_01: Belinda shows up in my building and to look to install heat pumps.
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: And start talking and going to work for a very large.
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: H.R.A.A. company she can talk about it herself and where she came from.
[02:10] SPEAKER_01: And Belinda started asking me a whole lot of questions.
[02:14] Speaker UNKNOWN: And I said, I'm going to start talking about how to make a real estate brokerage.
[02:14] Speaker UNKNOWN:
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what's up?
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: What do you want to know?
[02:17] SPEAKER_01: And by the time she was we were done talking, I said, OK, let's start a business.
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: And that was three years ago.
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: And we both took a flyer and really.
[02:26] SPEAKER_01: You know, didn't know each other and started something that has grown exponentially.
[02:32] SPEAKER_01: And we are.
[02:33] SPEAKER_01: You know, you'll find from it that we're very different people.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: But together we are very powerful in what we're doing.
[02:41] SPEAKER_01: And it's been an incredible partnership.
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: And I'm.
[02:44] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pass on to Belinda because.
[02:46] SPEAKER_01: You know, at the end of the day.
[02:48] SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm an older guy that's been business for a long time.
[02:53] SPEAKER_01: And Belinda is different from that.
[02:56] SPEAKER_01: But Belinda is the superstar.
[02:58] SPEAKER_01: And anyone that that part of this conversation will know that.
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: She is the president in every way that you can imagine in terms of.
[03:06] SPEAKER_01: And understanding on how to apply this application and managing a company.
[03:10] SPEAKER_01: And she's going to make everyone an Ontario candidate proud.
[03:14] SPEAKER_01: So I'm very proud to be her partner.
[03:18] SPEAKER_00: So I'm passing on to Belinda.
[03:21] SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Aaron.
[03:22] SPEAKER_03: He likes to talk me up.
[03:24] SPEAKER_03: I feel but we're a good team.
[03:26] SPEAKER_03: We're a good partnership.
[03:27] SPEAKER_03: And I couldn't have done this without Aaron full stop.
[03:31] SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I guess from my perspective and how we got started.
[03:34] SPEAKER_03: Aaron mentioned I was working for a large HVAC company.
[03:38] SPEAKER_03: You know, I studied mechanical engineering at the University of Ottawa.
[03:42] SPEAKER_03: You know, following in my dad's footsteps, he was also mechanical engineer.
[03:45] SPEAKER_03: And when I graduated, I decided I didn't actually want to be an engineer.
[03:50] SPEAKER_03: I wanted to get into the business side of things in the world.
[03:53] SPEAKER_03: And realized a good way to do that and to learn a lot about business was to get into sales.
[03:58] SPEAKER_03: So I got into technical sales, working in the renewable energy industry first.
[04:03] SPEAKER_03: Did well in that role for a few years.
[04:05] SPEAKER_03: Then jumped to a new company in HVAC.
[04:08] SPEAKER_03: Also in technical sales.
[04:10] SPEAKER_03: So in that space, I was working with customers that owned buildings and wanted to make them more efficient.
[04:16] SPEAKER_03: And that's sort of where I identified this problem in the market.
[04:22] SPEAKER_03: And the solution to that being heat pump retrofits.
[04:26] SPEAKER_03: So in this capacity as, you know, technical sales engineer selling HVAC equipment.
[04:31] SPEAKER_03: Saw a problem, saw a solution.
[04:34] SPEAKER_03: And sort of spearheading what we're doing now with bond, I within that organization.
[04:40] SPEAKER_03: And sort of thought, okay, there's something here.
[04:43] SPEAKER_03: I think that I would like to focus just on this.
[04:46] SPEAKER_03: You know, I see this huge opportunity at the market.
[04:50] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then long story short, I showed up one day to one of Aaron's buildings that he owns and operates.
[04:56] SPEAKER_03: And was pitching him on this same solution.
[04:58] SPEAKER_03: You know, we're talking about ideas.
[05:01] SPEAKER_03: You know, Aaron being on the flip side of it also being a customer.
[05:05] SPEAKER_03: He understood the value and the value prop of what I was trying to sell.
[05:09] SPEAKER_03: And I remember distinctly he looked at me and he said this one question that, you know, put me on this different trajectory.
[05:15] SPEAKER_03: And he said, Belinda, what do you want to be when you grow up?
[05:18] SPEAKER_03: And I looked at him like, okay, who is this guy?
[05:21] SPEAKER_03: Why is he asking me this question?
[05:22] SPEAKER_03: But I said, you know, what I would love to own my own company one day.
[05:26] SPEAKER_03: That's definitely what I'm working towards.
[05:28] SPEAKER_03: You know, when I think about my future in the long run.
[05:30] SPEAKER_03: And he said, yeah, I think you have some good ideas here.
[05:33] SPEAKER_03: And you should quit your job and start a company and let me know how I can help.
[05:38] SPEAKER_03: So that was a, yeah, transformable day in my career.
[05:42] SPEAKER_03: And I went back and I spoke to my friends and my family.
[05:46] SPEAKER_03: And I said, look, you know, I want to do this.
[05:49] SPEAKER_03: Here is this guy.
[05:50] SPEAKER_03: He wants to invest.
[05:51] SPEAKER_03: He wants to help start a company and be involved.
[05:53] SPEAKER_03: And we should do it.
[05:54] SPEAKER_03: And it's kind of this moment where a door opens.
[05:57] SPEAKER_03: And you have to walk through it.
[05:59] SPEAKER_03: If that's what you, if that's a path you want to take in life,
[06:02] SPEAKER_03: you have to see the opportunities and take the jump.
[06:04] SPEAKER_03: And it was scary.
[06:05] SPEAKER_03: You know, I was doing really well in the role I was in, you know, making good money.
[06:08] SPEAKER_03: I'm in a comfortable position.
[06:10] SPEAKER_03: But this was a new adventure and a door that opened and Aaron opened it.
[06:14] SPEAKER_03: And I walked through.
[06:15] SPEAKER_03: And here we are three years later doing well and having fun.
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
[06:22] SPEAKER_02: I love the, I love the clarity that you had blend around at some point.
[06:27] SPEAKER_02: You want to run your own business.
[06:28] SPEAKER_02: And the gumption you had Aaron to just be like, I see something in you.
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: Let's try something.
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: That's a pretty cool combination up front.
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: No, we've been a really good team.
[06:41] SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: prior to the pushing record,
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: we were talking about what happened.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: We started just before the pandemic.
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden, March hit and.
[06:54] SPEAKER_01: Belinda showed up and.
[06:56] SPEAKER_01: Around our office every day.
[06:58] SPEAKER_01: Well, I would also set home.
[07:00] SPEAKER_01: His relative.
[07:01] SPEAKER_01: Brokage, kind of a lot of Peter offices.
[07:04] SPEAKER_01: And we.
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: We, we, it was inventive creative time.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: Of our lives were in that period of time trying to start the business.
[07:13] SPEAKER_01: We didn't know no one, no one really.
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: We were really kind of first through the door.
[07:19] SPEAKER_01: In what we're doing.
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: There aren't many people that are doing this in the way that we're doing it.
[07:26] SPEAKER_01: And you kind of had to reset the market and reset the tone.
[07:29] SPEAKER_01: We knew that what the demand was for it.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: And we knew what language we had to speak to the customer in order to.
[07:36] SPEAKER_01: Have them see that retrofitting with heat pumps was the right thing to do.
[07:41] SPEAKER_01: The decarbonized to increase the eye for buildings.
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: So we had to we've we've set the market and.
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: And between the two of us were just we're setting a new tone for how.
[07:52] SPEAKER_01: Canada is going to decarbonize and in one very specific way.
[07:56] SPEAKER_00: So it's a lot of fun.
[08:01] SPEAKER_00: So for those of us who.
[08:03] SPEAKER_02: You know, for example, don't really understand what a heat pump is or what the importance of this might be or why this matters.
[08:09] SPEAKER_02: Because for sure they're going to be people listening who are like.
[08:12] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've heard the word heat pump, but why should I care about this?
[08:16] SPEAKER_02: What it like so what can you tell me in the listeners a little bit about.
[08:22] SPEAKER_02: What this means, why this matters, why they should be interested in this.
[08:29] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'll take that one.
[08:31] SPEAKER_03: You know, why does it matter and why should we care?
[08:34] SPEAKER_03: And it has to do with carbon emissions greenhouse gas emissions and climate change at the end of the day.
[08:40] SPEAKER_03: So buildings are the second biggest contributor for greenhouse gas emissions behind only transportation.
[08:47] SPEAKER_03: So you have cars on the road trucks on the road and then you have buildings.
[08:51] SPEAKER_03: So buildings typically heat their space by burning natural gas or fossil fuels either burning oil burning gas for your furnace or a boiler system in a big building.
[09:01] SPEAKER_03: So it's a huge contributor and if we're going to you know reach our climate targets and GHD reduction targets, we're going to have to decarbonize buildings,
[09:11] SPEAKER_03: meaning getting them off of gas and heating them with a carbon free electrified heating technology.
[09:19] SPEAKER_03: So that's what a heat pump is.
[09:21] SPEAKER_03: You know, we talk about solar renewable energy, you know, generating power from renewable sources.
[09:26] SPEAKER_03: We talk about driving electric vehicles, but heating buildings with heat pumps is essential part of that whole equation.
[09:34] SPEAKER_03: So that's what we do. We go into buildings, we reduce their energy load for heating by putting in heat pumps as the new heating system.
[09:42] SPEAKER_03: And then there's also the flip side and the heat pump is basically an air conditioner that can work in reverse and also do heating.
[09:50] SPEAKER_03: So you're either rejecting heat outside which cools the space or you're bringing heat inside which heat the space.
[09:57] SPEAKER_03: So a lot of our projects are working in older buildings that don't have central air conditioning.
[10:02] SPEAKER_03: So while we're going in and putting a more efficient heating, it's also having the benefit of putting in cooling.
[10:07] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's that's why it's important and that's why it matters.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: And go ahead.
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: So I can actually use everyone has seen a heat pump before it's sort of like a square box that sits outside of a house and it pipes into each of the rooms.
[10:26] SPEAKER_01: And there's sort of a unit on the wall of each room.
[10:29] SPEAKER_01: So if you want to know what you what heat pump is, you've seen it a million times in your life.
[10:35] SPEAKER_01: You've passed it by a new technology, but the technology has really come a long way for cold.
[10:41] SPEAKER_02: It's interesting because I think of what I'm going to use it.
[10:46] SPEAKER_02: I swear a term that probably my parents use, but those like shaker style air conditioners, whatever they're called the ones that sit at the top of the wall and they.
[10:57] SPEAKER_02: Whatever that anyways, those when I was I assume is a version of that because I know from my family that lives in Europe that they have ones we probably do to I just haven't seen them here that they use in the summer for cooling and in the winter for heating as an additional source of heat for the house.
[11:16] SPEAKER_02: So it's basically that is what we're is a version of that maybe smaller whatever, but if people are familiar with those that would be similar to what you're talking about, I assume.
[11:27] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's exactly it. They're really popular all around the world, see them everywhere in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, even in the US and Canada, the East Coast has a lot of heat pumps installed.
[11:41] SPEAKER_03: Ontario specifically in the North East US it's getting there they're being installed more and more, but yeah, super popular all over the world.
[11:51] SPEAKER_03: And that's it largely for cooling, but to Aaron's point the technology has come so far that it can provide heating even in really cold climates like we are here in Canada.
[11:59] SPEAKER_01: And so you know at the beginning before we came on, we started talking about this stuff that people's eyes glaze over so I try to look at those with those window rather than seeing a window a heat pump.
[12:13] SPEAKER_01: So we call let's say it's an apartment and a two-bedroom apartment would be three zones or two bedrooms and a living area.
[12:19] SPEAKER_01: And you would have one of those units of wind out the heat pump could be in all three rooms and will be to provide air conditioning.
[12:28] SPEAKER_01: There'll be 25% more efficient than one of those window radars that are sitting in one of those windows. So it really is efficient.
[12:36] SPEAKER_02: And probably a lot quieter than some of those window those window.
[12:40] SPEAKER_02: Yes, for ever had to sleep in one of those.
[12:44] SPEAKER_02: And don't fall off and kill people.
[12:45] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, lots of lots of benefits.
[12:49] SPEAKER_02: So,
[12:51] SPEAKER_02: Bondi energies about three years, you said 2019 three-ish years old at this point.
[12:58] SPEAKER_02: So what have been the biggest challenges that you have had and what have been the biggest wins and successes you've had.
[13:07] SPEAKER_02: And this can be whether it's together because it's all partnerships are always complex and interesting enough themselves or individually in roles or as a company, whatever the case may be.
[13:20] SPEAKER_02: It's kind of a broad question.
[13:23] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think maybe Aaron has some ideas to share, but just the fact that we've gone from zero to one has been a huge achievement.
[13:34] SPEAKER_03: You know, you have an idea about what a company could look like or just creating a company and one day, you know, back in 2019, it was just an idea.
[13:42] SPEAKER_03: Just Aaron and I sitting in an office together and then now three years later, it's a real company with big clients and really impressive revenue numbers and a team behind us that's growing and it's real.
[13:56] SPEAKER_03: And just turning an idea into something real is a huge accomplishment and something that we're both proud of and we're proud of the team we built around us because we couldn't do it without strong employees.
[14:07] SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I think that's the biggest achievement just going from zero to one and taking that first step and seeing it come together.
[14:14] SPEAKER_03: You know, there's been lots of challenges every day is a challenge every day you get thrown a curve ball, you know, whether that's a deal you thought was going to go through and then has a setback or, you know, taking 12 to 18 months to get a contract with a client you've been trying to sell for so long because these are we typically have long sale cycles.
[14:33] SPEAKER_03: It's a complex high value contract that we're getting and it can take a long time to get the deal with a lot of challenges along the way.
[14:42] SPEAKER_03: But yeah, every day is a curve ball, you know, in construction, we're in the construction business.
[14:48] SPEAKER_03: You know, it's every day a problem will pop up. I'll give you an example.
[14:54] SPEAKER_03: So in our building, sometimes we have to make holes in the wall and you know, there can be a spestus in the wall.
[14:59] SPEAKER_03: So we want to do the engineering and make sure we know where the spestus is so that we can drill safely.
[15:05] SPEAKER_03: And you know, we get an engineering report to tell us that it's here, but it's not here.
[15:09] SPEAKER_03: And then of course, we drill into the wall one day where there's supposed to be no spestus and then we're muculate, starts pouring out.
[15:15] SPEAKER_03: So it's like, okay, we have to solution this problem, plug the hole, bring in another team.
[15:20] SPEAKER_03: And it's every day is like this in the construction world where you're just getting thrown curve balls and having to solution staff on the spot and you know, figure out what to do.
[15:29] SPEAKER_01: You know, I think in the very beginning, I was so nervous that someone was a stealer idea.
[15:34] SPEAKER_01: And we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were so hard, right?
[15:38] SPEAKER_01: Like really nervous, like, oh, we, you know, but then as we started doing our business and growing, we realized that what the cost of the customer wanted was the service delivery to ensure that in the trust that we're going into buildings that's going to get done right.
[15:55] SPEAKER_01: It's going to get done.
[15:57] SPEAKER_01: It's not easy. It's not like, oh, you walk in and just go ahead and put in some HVAC like there's a.
[16:02] SPEAKER_01: You miss the second part of that you started drilling the land and then the brick came out and then you had to cover off the entire ground floor with basically knowing to get heard of it.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: So we're good at that. You can see that happening.
[16:14] SPEAKER_01: I think, I think I can tell you that from from my perspective, I'm blown away. I've spent 20 something odd years building all the economy business.
[16:26] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, in the real estate business, it's not something, you know, I would like to say, hey, I'm the best at it, but it doesn't, it's been done before for thousands of years.
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: This is like a, this is like a tech company starting off with these insane increases in learning curve, like we're creating the market as we go.
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: And it's just been, you know, we wake up every morning out of bed running and we love it because we're able to really change like we know we're changing the world, we know it's fine.
[17:01] SPEAKER_01: It's been amazing. And we've learned a lot like there's every single day we've had to learn about energy in all kinds of forms from its generation to its capacity from the transformer down the street to the building.
[17:17] SPEAKER_01: And the challenges that face policy makers as late to things like, hey, we want you to go to net zero, we want to electrify all the buildings.
[17:26] SPEAKER_01: Well, the buildings can electrify because they don't have enough capacity and then the utility providers are not in line with the governments.
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking about Ontario. I'm talking about, you know, across North America.
[17:39] SPEAKER_01: But in, in, so we were trying to own the problem, these massive big idea problems that no one can understand and no one has any solutions to you.
[17:50] SPEAKER_01: We're like, oh, we're going to own that problem and we're going to put out a thing piece on that how to solve it and not just solve an Ontario and solve it across North America.
[17:58] SPEAKER_01: And, and, you know, we've, we've looked at it as well. We're going, we're expanding in about a year ago, said, when did I sat down? We said, okay, what are we going to do?
[18:17] SPEAKER_01: We're going to go out, so we expanded the US and we're getting our first pilot projects in Illinois and we're getting our big orders in Michigan.
[18:26] SPEAKER_01: And now we're doing the order and, you know, to give you context on tear market, Illinois market are pretty similar missions and smaller, the New York markets, like 10 times the size of these markets.
[18:35] SPEAKER_01: So we're now, you know, this, when people start waking up and seeing what we're doing and catch on to Belinda to see, you know, to see us really pushing forward.
[18:47] SPEAKER_01: Belinda is a, is a female president of an HVAC energy company expanding across North America.
[18:59] SPEAKER_01: That's, that's, that's, that, that itself is amazing. So we're, we're really, we've got a good long running.
[19:07] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we're learning every day. This is, this is where we're coming.
[19:13] SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious because you didn't know each other before you started this business, really. Right. It was fairly, it's not like you had been friends for years or had tried all these other things together, which is often what happens in partnership.
[19:27] SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious how you, how you found, and actually Aaron, I'm going to ask you a quick question before I asked this. Do you have a business partner in your real-t business or is it you as the head of it?
[19:42] SPEAKER_01: I do not have a business partner in this side of partners with other things, but not in my business.
[19:47] SPEAKER_02: Okay. So because it sounds like Bondi is, you know, growing really quickly is going to be a, you know, a big company. So how has it been having a business partner?
[19:57] SPEAKER_02: What have, what have you, Aaron, maybe from the perspective of having a business partner in a different way than you've had before? What has worked for you?
[20:05] SPEAKER_02: What have been some of the challenges? I asked this because we get asked all the time about partnerships, right? Like what is easy about them? What's the benefit of them?
[20:14] SPEAKER_02: What's hard about them? And it's always interesting, I think, especially with your relationship because husband and wives are going to have a different experience of working together than friends, than people who come together for a business, which is what the two of you've done.
[20:30] SPEAKER_01: I think for me, I understood my strengths and my weaknesses and my desires of what I wanted to be.
[20:42] SPEAKER_01: So I'm an alpha, I always talk too much, I keep suck up the oxygen solution, pick up the phone dial, just, you know, always that in, in, in, in, in, and I said to Bill in the very early, I said, look, I've already been the president of the company.
[21:00] SPEAKER_01: I don't need to be the president of this company.
[21:02] SPEAKER_01: I don't want to, like, this is our partnership, you know, you're the president and, and I have a saying that she's turned over and over again.
[21:14] SPEAKER_01: And so have I had the partners to do other things that I've done, but I defer to my partner that I trust in Belinda, and she trusts in me.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: And I think that's been like one of the most powerful things between us, that there are, we've never had a conversation about my, never.
[21:38] SPEAKER_01: Whenever Belinda wants, fine, if I want something fine, there's never a, we don't, we don't always agree.
[21:46] SPEAKER_01: And I may not agree with her, but I will always defer to her because she's the president.
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: I had to, and I think that was a very important part of setting the tone between us.
[22:03] SPEAKER_01: And look, every time when Belinda's like knocked in the door, like, oh my God, what do we do?
[22:09] SPEAKER_01: And other times when I knock in the door, like, what do we do?
[22:11] SPEAKER_01: Like, we solution everything, right?
[22:13] SPEAKER_01: Together.
[22:18] SPEAKER_00: I'm very frenetic.
[22:20] SPEAKER_00: Belinda is extremely controlled.
[22:21] SPEAKER_01: I mean, we signal a room with it with maybe a Zoom call with five wipes, males over 45, who are in real estate, have been in their business for, you know, their entire life and know everything about everything.
[22:46] SPEAKER_01: And in the locks, Belinda on a call, and by the time the call's over, like, yeah, she's the one.
[22:52] SPEAKER_01: She's, you know, that's absolutely, and there's this extreme level of trust that the clients put in Belinda.
[23:03] SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a, we, I know it from growing up and being president of one company, you know, there's an Elton John issue.
[23:12] SPEAKER_01: You know, when they, when, when the astronaut John, they show up, and John's got to show up. So Belinda's got to show, right? Like that, they really, it really is a, a quarter stone of the trust. And we've done really well by that.
[23:26] SPEAKER_01: Like, they, they, they understand that she's just, that we're going to come through. And Belinda doesn't do it alone. Like, I don't want you to think that like we have seven people behind us, plus another three other support.
[23:41] SPEAKER_01: And we're growing fast and we do things altogether. And we have a Malamakay and, you know, helping our growth. And she's amazing.
[23:50] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's not all landing on the road. But, you know, she, she'll be the first to say that, that, you know, that would break her.
[23:57] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, she really is setting a direction. So, the partnership has been on respect her. She was fascinating.
[24:04] SPEAKER_01: I, you know, the, the roles are very defined.
[24:08] SPEAKER_03: Yeah. And I think, yeah, just a second, a few things that Aaron said, it's, it's important to, and again, I don't have the experience of starting a business by myself or a different business with other partners.
[24:21] SPEAKER_03: You know, this is the first business I've started and Aaron's my business partner. But I recognize that it's super important to have a partner that complements your, you know, your skills and your deficiencies.
[24:35] SPEAKER_03: And together, you're stronger, right? So, Aaron is skilled at talking to anyone and solutioning problems and thinking, big picture and looking around the corner and, you know, knowing, you know, where we're going to have challenges and thinking about what could go wrong.
[24:53] SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I'm more reserved and more of, you know, figuring out how to solution-specific problems and maybe more tunnel vision on, you know, minutia, but, you know, together, we've been successful.
[25:08] SPEAKER_03: And that's really important in a partner is to have some of the compliments, your strengths and weaknesses.
[25:12] SPEAKER_03: And secondly, trust is huge. Aaron and I trust each other wholeheartedly. I trust them with my life and vice versa. We're really family at this point, but there's mutual respect and trust there that we have each other's backs.
[25:24] SPEAKER_03: And we have each other's best interests at heart. And, you know, my successes are Aaron's successes and vice versa. So, we're really a team in that regard. And we don't, but heads too often. We don't, but heads at all, even if we disagree. We can come to a resolution.
[25:40] SPEAKER_02: Thank you for sharing that. I think it's really, I appreciate the perspective. And I think it's incredibly important for people listening and viewers watching this to understand that that, you know, respect and trust are paramount to any successful partnership.
[25:57] SPEAKER_02: And it's really clear from both of you that that is the foundation here. And everything is, you know, gets built on there. And I think, you know, bull and duck to what you said around balancing each other's strengths and weaknesses out.
[26:11] SPEAKER_02: But slightly different language, but that's another, that's another thing that's really important when thinking of a partnership, if the more we can find someone to work with people who aren't the exact same as us and are actually different, the better and more successful we end up being.
[26:27] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's, it's really evident that the two of you have found a synergy there that's not because you are the same person. And that's really cool.
[26:38] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
[26:41] SPEAKER_02: So I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. This has been really interesting. I think, I think the people listening, not only your story of founding Bondi, but the two of you together.
[26:54] SPEAKER_02: And what Bondi does, which is really cool. And everyone can check them out at bondiecore.com or bond I energy core is on their socials. The links will be in the show notes.
[27:03] SPEAKER_02: I think it's a really cool place them to go and and learn more about what the business does and what you're up to in the world.
[27:12] SPEAKER_02: After hearing your story, because it's been really, it's a really interesting story. So thank you for sharing it with me.
[27:18] SPEAKER_03: Our pleasure. Thanks for having us, Celine.
[27:21] SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. And for those who are listening, thank you for listening to Canada's podcast. Like, comment and subscribe to all our channels to get the latest podcasts from entrepreneurs across Canada.
