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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:04] Speaker UNKNOWN: [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, a business visionary,
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: and welcome to Toronto's Podcasts.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: Part of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:26] SPEAKER_01: your source of the great insights
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: from entrepreneurs across Canada.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Today, we're going to meet up with Spencer Wall,
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: who is CEO of ACEH, a healthcare technology company.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: So Spencer, welcome to Canada's podcast,
[00:40] SPEAKER_01: and before we go much further,
[00:43] SPEAKER_01: why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself,
[00:46] SPEAKER_01: what you do, you know, that three or four-minute life story, if you like.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: I am my name is Spencer Wall, I'm the CEO of ACEH,
[00:59] SPEAKER_00: and we build an in-home medication dispenser,
[01:03] SPEAKER_00: helping people take their medication properly,
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: independently, safely in their own homes.
[01:09] SPEAKER_00: And I started this journey of this company five and a half years ago,
[01:15] SPEAKER_00: as my first step into being an entrepreneur.
[01:21] SPEAKER_00: But, you know, the entrepreneurial spirit
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: has always been part of my life,
[01:26] SPEAKER_00: where my father was an entrepreneur in the healthcare technology
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: and face recognition spaces,
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: aunts, uncles, siblings, always.
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: There's that familial interest.
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of that in my back.
[01:46] SPEAKER_00: So it's interesting to be that entrepreneurship,
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: being in charge of your own future is a comfort zone for me.
[02:00] SPEAKER_01: So we wired differently.
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: You've got lots of friends that aren't entrepreneurs,
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: I may be, but we wired differently,
[02:11] SPEAKER_01: we used sense of different persona,
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: an entrepreneurial persona versus other personas.
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: I'm always curious.
[02:22] SPEAKER_00: So I think everyone has the capacity to be an entrepreneur,
[02:27] SPEAKER_00: but I think you have to be a little nuts to take the plunge.
[02:31] SPEAKER_01: Why we are nuts?
[02:32] SPEAKER_01: What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?
[02:35] SPEAKER_01: You had a job before that.
[02:38] SPEAKER_01: Why step out?
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: I did.
[02:41] SPEAKER_00: I was well paid in the financial services sector.
[02:48] SPEAKER_00: Very comfortable how to have a good lifestyle,
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: but it ultimately wasn't fulfilling for me.
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: It's, I would go in, I would work my nine to five
[02:58] SPEAKER_00: and have a very regular standardized life,
[03:03] SPEAKER_00: which is attractive to a lot of people.
[03:06] SPEAKER_00: It's, and see you write down a paper.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: You go, that seems like a pretty nice way of living your life.
[03:14] SPEAKER_00: But I can definitely say the last five and a half years,
[03:18] SPEAKER_00: not one day has been the same.
[03:22] SPEAKER_00: And a lot of ups, a lot of downs has been,
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: no, definitely a roller coaster where,
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: I know there's days where I'll come back from whatever meetings
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: I was having, and I'll be on the moon.
[03:39] SPEAKER_00: Having had such a great time doing whatever it is.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: But then there's also days where you know you're kicked to the curb.
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: Especially, no, not so much now,
[03:51] SPEAKER_00: but early on when we were in the idea stage,
[03:56] SPEAKER_00: trying to, you know, where it was, this was my vision.
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: This is what I want to build.
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: This is how we can help people on their own homes,
[04:05] SPEAKER_00: going around and getting people to subscribe and believe in it.
[04:09] SPEAKER_00: So it's a, I think, no one I was mentioning that you have to be a little nuts
[04:15] SPEAKER_00: to go down the route of being an entrepreneur.
[04:20] SPEAKER_00: And especially in an environment where you have to raise money,
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: raise capital to be able to hire the team to execute on what you want to build.
[04:28] SPEAKER_00: I can say, it's a plunge.
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: No, you're jumping into the defense.
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: But I, you know, really have a full appreciation of how deep that water is
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: until you're in it.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I look to your background on LinkedIn.
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you work for international companies.
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: And you do business internationally.
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: I know. So, you know, why why why settle here?
[05:01] SPEAKER_01: You're in the health business.
[05:03] SPEAKER_01: They're biggest centers and you know, Toronto's that's Hamilton behind me or your, your wealth.
[05:09] SPEAKER_01: You know, then then, then sort of Toronto Southwestern Ontario hub.
[05:13] SPEAKER_01: If you like it, which is what I look at it as.
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: Why here? Well, you know, why didn't you go somewhere else?
[05:22] SPEAKER_00: So that's a, that's a great question.
[05:24] SPEAKER_00: I did have my, my start in healthcare and pharmaceuticals at a large form company in Germany.
[05:32] SPEAKER_00: And that was a great experience.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: No, I did personally prefer the lifestyle of Canada and having so many close friends and family
[05:42] SPEAKER_00: that know are a important support structure to have as a North for North.
[05:49] SPEAKER_00: In Canada, that's what brought me back.
[05:53] SPEAKER_00: Did I consider Canada as a, as a country for starting healthcare technology company?
[06:02] SPEAKER_00: Not so much on the healthcare system, dominant on the skilled personnel that we have here.
[06:10] SPEAKER_00: No, our team is no rock solid from our software developers to our product managers to our Q18 and our ops team.
[06:19] SPEAKER_00: You know, the skill of Canadians is, is very, very impressive.
[06:28] SPEAKER_00: But as for the healthcare world in Canada, no, we're operating in Canada.
[06:34] SPEAKER_00: We have devices deployed across our country.
[06:37] SPEAKER_00: If we were headquartered anywhere else would I be launching in Canada?
[06:43] SPEAKER_00: Very likely not.
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: No, we have a healthcare system that isn't conducive to new innovations.
[06:52] SPEAKER_00: The pair system is very, very difficult to navigate.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: And so, no, we're, we have majority of our business coming out of European countries.
[07:02] SPEAKER_00: And I'll see that, no, for the foreseeable future, unless, no, we're in the COVID-19 pandemic right now.
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: But that, there is changes coming.
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: And maybe there was some health system restructuring that comes out of that, I think.
[07:20] SPEAKER_00: Trudeau recently announced the 400, but the 240 million dollar investment into healthcare technologies.
[07:27] SPEAKER_00: The details of that are still to be uncovered.
[07:31] SPEAKER_00: But that is very promising in terms of responding to the crisis that we're in right now on, on bringing our country forward.
[07:38] SPEAKER_00: So, no, I hope, you know, I'll eat my words, no, this time next year that Canada is all a seven caught up with the rest of the world.
[07:49] SPEAKER_00: And so, the adoption of healthcare technologies and being able to provide healthcare services into people in the comfort of their own homes.
[07:59] SPEAKER_00: But we'll see on that.
[08:00] SPEAKER_00: But that's all that some rise when what I have started in Canada.
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: But this is absolutely not for the healthcare environment.
[08:09] SPEAKER_01: So, let's skewer around a bit to you again.
[08:12] SPEAKER_01: You know, so you've been doing entrepreneurship for five years.
[08:17] SPEAKER_01: You know, what's the best thing or things about being an entrepreneur?
[08:23] SPEAKER_01: I mean, the, just, he just didn't experience anywhere else at all.
[08:29] SPEAKER_00: So, I think the best things have been in the recent years as we become a more and more successful company.
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: At the start, it's definitely no drag, if you will.
[08:48] SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, to get going.
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: It's on, you know, now when we were talking before, we started recording.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: I have no meetings after meetings after meetings.
[08:59] SPEAKER_00: There's, there's, I get to interact with very interesting people.
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: No, I know that that aspect is great.
[09:11] SPEAKER_00: Early on, it's when it's when we're an idea.
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: No, I look at my calendar and I have two meetings throughout the week.
[09:19] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's, you know, now it's, I have two meetings before I have my morning coffee.
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: Well, you're also dealing with business in Europe.
[09:30] SPEAKER_01: So, like me, that's probably why.
[09:34] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, is there, they're working hours are much different.
[09:38] SPEAKER_00: And if we're also.
[09:39] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the big regions.
[09:41] SPEAKER_00: It's all sometimes have meetings, not at nine o'clock at night before their morning coffee.
[09:46] SPEAKER_01: So, what's the greatest challenge you've faced in your business today?
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: Well, today, being in the pandemic, it's a very.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: Interesting time for us where when we have a healthcare technology solution that's never been needed more than it is today.
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: But with the market downturn, with the start market number session rate.
[10:13] SPEAKER_00: Yes, in use today.
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: DC markets have dried up though the immediate reaction of the investment community.
[10:23] SPEAKER_00: I was checking on their existing investments makes sure that their deployable capital is going to protect their existing positions.
[10:33] SPEAKER_00: So, we were at a.
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: A stage where we had our series age, internship, no sign.
[10:41] SPEAKER_00: It was almost entirely funded and we hadn't expected close date of March 31st.
[10:47] SPEAKER_00: And it was two weeks prior to that right after the note, one of the largest downturns in.
[10:54] SPEAKER_00: And the TSEX history where we were talking to the venture capitalists that we were working with.
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: In a sense, look, we got a back out.
[11:03] SPEAKER_00: We had some funding calls, some cash redemptions and they no longer had the ability of financing our series A.
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: And so that of course was a gut punch.
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: No, to accompany that.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: Also because of the pandemic, we now have a responsibility to get our device out to as many people as possible.
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: I know losing that round.
[11:29] SPEAKER_00: No, definitely has had a negative impact on our ability to scale to meet the important demand that we have.
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: If you go back in time, what advice would you give your 20 year old self?
[11:49] SPEAKER_00: Oh, my 20 year old self, I would start this company earlier.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: That's good, that's good, that's good.
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received that sort of stays there?
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: You know, we hit certain mentors and somebody dropped that kind of advice that you just say,
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: and you keep using it for me.
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: So I think one of the very first pieces of advice I ever learned was when I was,
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: how do you say it was in high school?
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: That was before I had ever done any fundraising before I had never done any sales.
[12:35] SPEAKER_00: I was working as a life coach.
[12:38] SPEAKER_00: And part of being a life coach is once a year we did a swim the lake fundraiser,
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: where we did enough, you know, as a team, enough laps of our pool to equate to the lake of Lake Ontario.
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: And so I was calling friends, parents asking for a hate for every length that I swim,
[13:05] SPEAKER_00: will you donate 50 cents?
[13:08] SPEAKER_00: No, so I'll ask 100 links, no, it'll be $50 for you.
[13:13] SPEAKER_00: 200 links, no, as it goes on and on.
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: So I called one friends dad, who is, you know, I know I know he's known was like a strong salesman.
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: Very successful in his business, actually a notch for Nora himself.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: And so I call him up, I tell him over for all he said, great, I'm in.
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: And I kept telling him about the program is like, and I said, there's this other thing that's going to be beneficial.
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: These other things, he said, Spencer, what are you doing?
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: What do you mean? He said, you already sold me, get out of the room.
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Oh, the second you get the yes, it's like, great, meeting over, I got exactly what I needed.
[13:57] SPEAKER_00: From this conversation from this meeting, I'll see you next.
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: And I know I would have been, you know, 16 years old at that point in time.
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: But I plan that to every meeting that I know going to, which is what's the point of this meeting?
[14:14] SPEAKER_00: What is the desire?
[14:15] SPEAKER_00: The second you get that could be a six minute time slot or two hour time slot.
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: And you get that in 20 minutes.
[14:22] SPEAKER_00: Great. We got exactly what we need to do.
[14:26] SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
[14:28] SPEAKER_01: So just another kind of advice thing is when things happen that you don't expect.
[14:35] SPEAKER_01: How do you recommend people handle those kind of situations?
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: And I think probably in the last five years, you've hit a few of those.
[14:45] SPEAKER_00: Well, at a start, you have to always be able to roll with the punches.
[14:50] SPEAKER_00: It's, you have to be nimble, you have to be at the table to have the discussions.
[14:59] SPEAKER_00: There's a certain level of rent that's necessary as you grow.
[15:04] SPEAKER_00: This is our structure, this is our format, this is how we do things.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: I would never want to have that being able to get in the way of progress.
[15:16] SPEAKER_00: So I guess the piece of advice I can have on that is just to say that it's a necessity.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: Now, you have to do it without question.
[15:25] SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, opposed to, you know, stop being thinking and have a panic positive do it.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: It's just, you got to do it.
[15:33] SPEAKER_01: So some rapid what we tell rapid fire questions.
[15:36] SPEAKER_01: Don't think about them.
[15:37] SPEAKER_01: Just give us a quick answer.
[15:40] SPEAKER_01: If you weren't doing for what you're doing now, what would you be doing instead?
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: I'm actually as far as far as what we're doing.
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: Honestly, no idea.
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: It's not being five and a half years into being an entrepreneur.
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: I'd be really kind surfing while you sort about it.
[16:11] SPEAKER_00: I think it's a come far enough that it's made me unemployable.
[16:16] SPEAKER_00: I was there, you know, being at the helm of this sort of rapid growth company.
[16:21] SPEAKER_00: I couldn't imagine anything else.
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if you're a reader, but what book are you currently reading,
[16:29] SPEAKER_01: listening to, is there any books that you think people should grab and absorb?
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: So my favorite book is the 8020 principle.
[16:43] SPEAKER_00: It's all about efficiency.
[16:45] SPEAKER_00: You know that 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your customers.
[16:52] SPEAKER_00: So that is, I know the book that I would highly recommend anyone to read.
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[16:58] SPEAKER_01: Do you have a morning or a night person?
[17:00] SPEAKER_01: Pardon?
[17:01] SPEAKER_01: You have a morning or a night person?
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: Both.
[17:04] SPEAKER_00: No, I, anything more than six hours of sleep a night is too much sleep.
[17:10] SPEAKER_01: If you had to pick one word, only one word to describe yourself.
[17:13] SPEAKER_01: What would it be?
[17:16] SPEAKER_00: Grigarius.
[17:18] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[17:21] SPEAKER_01: Anything keeping you up at night these days?
[17:24] SPEAKER_00: Anything keeping you up at night these days.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: I make sure to keep a strong, well, balance isn't as the wrong word.
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: I definitely don't keep balance in my life.
[17:37] SPEAKER_00: I make sure to stay active.
[17:39] SPEAKER_00: So by the time I get to bed every night, I'm exhausted.
[17:44] SPEAKER_00: And so I generally sleep pretty well.
[17:48] SPEAKER_01: What's your favorite place in the world?
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: Somewhere new.
[17:54] SPEAKER_01: Somewhere new.
[17:55] SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: It's a new one.
[17:57] SPEAKER_01: I had that.
[17:58] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[17:59] SPEAKER_01: Unless just knew our last one, I don't really listen to this, but if you did, then the last one.
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the code would think.
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: I don't know what isolation is or anything that people would look for.
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, there's a small tropical island in the middle of the ocean with just one phone booth.
[18:19] SPEAKER_01: Remember whether that was no internet.
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[18:22] SPEAKER_01: We drop you off there with no technology, nothing at all.
[18:26] SPEAKER_01: At any time you can use the phone on the island to call the boat, come and pick you up.
[18:32] SPEAKER_01: How long do you last?
[18:34] SPEAKER_01: And what would you do?
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: Oh, geez.
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: I, this is a great opportunity to stick with that kite surfing theme.
[18:41] SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking that much.
[18:45] SPEAKER_00: Perfectly.
[18:49] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[18:50] SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, that's about it.
[18:54] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, we love people to be able to connect with others.
[18:58] SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, this means you need to give personal information.
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: But if people need, you know, listen to this.
[19:04] SPEAKER_01: I want to connect with you.
[19:05] SPEAKER_01: How can, how can they do that?
[19:08] SPEAKER_00: Well, I know.
[19:10] SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear from you.
[19:12] SPEAKER_00: email me at Spencer at asange.com.
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: That's S-P-E-N-C-E-R.
[19:19] SPEAKER_00: At asange, A-C-E-A-G-E.com.
[19:24] SPEAKER_01: Okay, Spencer.
[19:25] SPEAKER_01: That was really great.
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: Thank you for coming on.
[19:28] SPEAKER_01: Really appreciate it.
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: It's been fun.
[19:30] SPEAKER_01: Good to know you.
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: Great to meet you.
[19:33] SPEAKER_01: Thanks everyone for taking the time today to listen to Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast at work.
[19:40] SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
[19:42] SPEAKER_01: Make sure you sign up for a news service or write a review for us on iTunes.
[19:47] SPEAKER_01: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or at canvasspodcast.com
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: where you can listen, discover and engage.
[19:56] SPEAKER_01: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[20:00] SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next time.
