Annee Ngo

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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: It's VanCouver's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, I'm Angela Faye, Hub Builder and co-host of British Columbia's Podcasts.
[00:12] SPEAKER_00: Part of the Canada's podcast network, your source for great insights from entrepreneurs
[00:17] SPEAKER_00: from across Canada.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: We talk entrepreneurs who are making it happen here so you can listen, discover and engage.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: Today I'm super excited to introduce you to Annie.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: She is the co-founder and CEO of Startup League, which is an educational gaming platform
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: for students to learn creative, problem-solving through competition and play.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: She's a serial entrepreneur and who scaled global EdTech companies into more than 30 cities
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: across 12 countries in 103 years with clients like Adobe and Stanford.
[00:50] SPEAKER_01: So this is her first start-up, her first start-up was in 2016 and she went back to her original investors.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: She's very well connected in the tech scene in British Columbia here and also the proud recipient
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: of the Women's Tech Founders Award for Gaming, AR and VR, plus BC Businesses 30 under 30.
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: Welcome Annie.
[01:11] SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Angela. I'm really honored to be having this conversation with you.
[01:15] SPEAKER_01: Awesome. Well, I'm excited about the whole idea of providing a gaming platform for children
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: to learn creatively. So just share a little bit about your entrepreneurial story and how you got here.
[01:28] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I guess it all begins like every other cliche startup founder story.
[01:36] SPEAKER_02: I left law school in late 2011, started my first business out of necessity.
[01:44] SPEAKER_02: I was just learning about how to be a more healthy fit version of myself and just
[01:49] SPEAKER_02: became obsessed with sports nutrition. My interest in other at the time was also very well
[01:57] SPEAKER_02: versed in the industry and so we decided that we were going to solve this problem of not having
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: a retail space where we could comfortably go into and learn about these products as well as
[02:09] SPEAKER_02: more and affordable price. That was the first business and we were lucky enough in 2012 to
[02:18] SPEAKER_02: have grown that business into what would be a 30 store franchise across British Columbia.
[02:26] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it was a month off shop that I'm really so loaded.
[02:31] SPEAKER_02: For whatever reason, I like to say that it was a really great timing because
[02:37] SPEAKER_02: in SRAM was sort of this up-and-coming platform for lots of businesses to leverage and we
[02:44] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't want to take the credit but like we were one of the first really to understand
[02:48] SPEAKER_02: in influencer marketing and leverage that to find success in a business that would otherwise
[02:55] SPEAKER_02: be really challenging and that was that was it like once I got to try and experience entrepreneurship.
[03:03] SPEAKER_02: I was hooked and wanted with the rest of my life to continue doing this but more so teaching this
[03:12] SPEAKER_02: so empowering other people with the education to be successful entrepreneurs because of course
[03:18] SPEAKER_02: like in that three-year span from 2012 to 2015, 30 stores led to and it was a function of a lot
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: of mistakes too and mistakes are always part of your journey whether we like it or not.
[03:33] SPEAKER_01: Let's dig into startup league itself specifically. What is it and who's your ideal audience?
[03:40] SPEAKER_02: Who's the user? Yes, startup league is an educational and gaining platform. I know it sounds
[03:47] SPEAKER_02: kind of counter-intuitive because gaming is a completely different thought bubble. It's a completely
[03:56] SPEAKER_02: different category than education and when we think of like you know educational gaming it doesn't
[04:01] SPEAKER_02: sound very exciting or thrilling but what we've done is effectively created this library of game
[04:09] SPEAKER_02: for high school students to practice and to compete on creative problem solving skills that stem
[04:19] SPEAKER_02: from our work with design thinking and some of those games reward the students for things like
[04:26] SPEAKER_02: for developing skills like curiosity and empathy which we sort of forget are the pillars of
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: critical thinking and effectively the pillars of innovation. What problems are those students
[04:42] SPEAKER_01: solving so when they go in they have their own avatar and is this something that would be
[04:47] SPEAKER_01: independently run or are you working with school system, school boards who's your
[04:52] SPEAKER_02: for your collaboration partners? Yeah absolutely. Those are all great questions. It's funny we just
[04:59] SPEAKER_02: created avatars for the team. We have like there's six of us and everyone has a unique avatar that
[05:05] SPEAKER_02: looks sort of like them and it's fun having group conversations on Slack with those avatars
[05:11] SPEAKER_02: but okay so this sort of began in 2018 as a single game we worked with the first game which was
[05:24] SPEAKER_02: called QUP and it looks at the learning experience similarly to developing a skill like athleticism
[05:37] SPEAKER_02: so in basketball there's one thing that you do every day and that is dribbleable. You have one
[05:43] SPEAKER_02: goal and that's to get that ball into a hoop. You do drills, you practice and you exercise in order
[05:52] SPEAKER_02: to become better at being an effective and a powerful basketball player and I think that more often
[06:00] SPEAKER_02: than not we are not practicing those basic fundamental skills and other things of like that are
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: so important like critical to getting creative problems like we so our approach was really inspired
[06:12] SPEAKER_02: by that entire thesis and so the game that we developed QUP is a daily exercise that students can
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: work to develop their your ass you and empathy simply by answering two questions
[06:25] SPEAKER_02: ever has shown a unique problem statement each day that problem statement can be something silly
[06:32] SPEAKER_02: and made up like Justin Bieber is in jail or it can be something really serious and matter of
[06:38] SPEAKER_02: fact related to the world around us like the temperature is rising or global climate is real
[06:46] SPEAKER_02: and the students have to answer the questions who cares about that problem and why do they care?
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: I got to ask the question with you know the emergence of so many apps and so many tech platforms
[07:01] SPEAKER_01: I'll pick on just the tech ed space but what's your value proposition what sets you apart from
[07:07] SPEAKER_01: I don't know how many competitors you have in Canada but certainly it's a global issue
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: global field of competitors what's what's your what's makes you unique?
[07:16] SPEAKER_02: yeah so I would say this this sort of touches back into your previous question too is
[07:22] SPEAKER_02: the game that we built was tested and proved to be incredibly popular with students
[07:29] SPEAKER_02: but the reality is this can't be sustainable and the engagement is very fickle because it becomes a
[07:38] SPEAKER_02: a solely a solely education or what we call it a hit-based business if we are just producing
[07:43] SPEAKER_02: games for students and in our time watching the game we learn that the person we really want to
[07:49] SPEAKER_02: be supporting through this journey in terms of empowering with the skills and the tools to teach
[07:55] SPEAKER_02: creator problem solving is the educator so the last six more things we built a platform which
[08:01] SPEAKER_02: looks a lot like a library for educators to access and be able to host their own local games that
[08:10] SPEAKER_02: are rewarding these students with the ability or yeah the rewarding students for developing these
[08:15] SPEAKER_02: skills and the value proposition is in that I feel like teachers are inundated with so many different
[08:21] SPEAKER_02: roles responsibilities I forget often that like a teacher is more than just an educator inside the
[08:29] SPEAKER_02: school they're oftentimes the security guard a parent friend you know like a therapist and the one
[08:38] SPEAKER_02: skill that every teacher we've spoken to over the last three years of developing start-of-play
[08:43] SPEAKER_02: can agree on is that they truly want their students to be better off with those critical and creative
[08:49] SPEAKER_02: problems that are really intangible and really difficult to measure and so we've created a platform
[08:56] SPEAKER_01: that that does exactly perfect so and just three years of development thank you you tell me a
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: little bit about the how you financed your your start-up here all right so this is fun conversation
[09:11] SPEAKER_02: that I don't get to have often so we raised a precede round through family and friends I don't
[09:20] SPEAKER_02: really share this with too many people but I guess we're sharing it now with everybody I
[09:26] SPEAKER_02: after my first business we sold we sold to one of our franchise zers I saw a small profit
[09:34] SPEAKER_02: and took that money and I parlayed it into my next business which was Proto Hack
[09:39] SPEAKER_02: Proto Hack which we had to show sort of shared about in Dubaio was an educational education
[09:45] SPEAKER_02: company that you know we were able to scale globally and I took the team from Proto Hack
[09:53] SPEAKER_02: we had this new problem that we wanted to solve you know being on teaching innovation and
[09:58] SPEAKER_02: entrepreneurship we really wanted to solve this problem of a lack of problem solving skills
[10:04] SPEAKER_02: beginning in schools so we had saw two profitable years with Proto Hack took the revenue from that
[10:11] SPEAKER_02: and dad moved to New York as a team to join this incubator out of NYU
[10:17] SPEAKER_02: ran through all of the money because New York is incredibly expensive
[10:22] SPEAKER_02: but then left with an MVP with some market research that we were ready to really hit the
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: floor running with at that point I raised it small round about $250,000 through family and friends
[10:36] SPEAKER_02: a lot of those family and friends were actually a part of my poker community so we talk about gaming
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: we talk about creative problem solving talk about competitiveness in gaming and problem solving
[10:50] SPEAKER_02: this sort of becomes full circle when people learn that I also play poker in my spare time what
[10:58] SPEAKER_02: little spare time I have and over the course of the last year my poker earnings have also big
[11:06] SPEAKER_02: rolled my startup and so before raising any more capital we feel comfortable enough with that
[11:14] SPEAKER_02: as a resource so I haven't taken a salary from the business in three years and in place of that
[11:20] SPEAKER_02: and to support the salaries that we do pay with our business is a lot because of poker
[11:27] SPEAKER_01: and you know any it's not a non-common story right there's a lot of people that have a long game
[11:32] SPEAKER_01: and are so passionate about their business that and I've been in the say about right being their
[11:39] SPEAKER_01: asset rich cash pour or just purely you know going hungry in order to feed the tribe that's
[11:45] SPEAKER_01: actually helping you build your business with the hopes of a long run so I think that's a bit of
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: an entrepreneurial common story so I'm glad to you on that thank you that's absolutely so a little
[11:56] SPEAKER_01: bit about I mean you talked about your getting expensive and franchising often this incubator which
[12:01] SPEAKER_01: is very exciting but you're living in Vancouver tell me a little bit about what it's like to do to
[12:06] SPEAKER_02: be a tech company in Vancouver oh I love this part because growing up I never thought that I would
[12:13] SPEAKER_02: live anywhere else except for Vancouver I loved it so much and then when I went to law school
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: my eyes really opened up I moved to Toronto in 2011 and it was like whoa Vancouver is really tiny
[12:25] SPEAKER_02: compared to Toronto and then when I went to New York I was like whoa so definitely perspective
[12:32] SPEAKER_02: and like side note I encourage every person in this world to see the rest of the world before they
[12:38] SPEAKER_02: make a decision about where they want to live forever but there's something that's really special
[12:44] SPEAKER_02: about Vancouver that I cannot more proud of and that's the familial sort of like collegial
[12:55] SPEAKER_02: experience within the community nowhere else in the world and I've been to San Francisco to New York
[13:01] SPEAKER_02: LA involved in the startup scene because we were hosting innovation challenges for those respect
[13:06] SPEAKER_02: cities are every member is every member so supportive so we don't have a lot of capital and then
[13:16] SPEAKER_02: Vancouver for venture you know there's not a lot of tolerance for not high tolerance for risk
[13:23] SPEAKER_02: when it comes to Vancouver's investment scene but everybody here has access to the same resources
[13:32] SPEAKER_02: and us really goes out of their way to share with one another well and that's a good segue
[13:39] SPEAKER_01: into the question if you could sort of name two or three key resources that you personally use
[13:44] SPEAKER_01: either for an existing tech company that could take advantage of those or maybe even somebody
[13:49] SPEAKER_01: considering doing business in Vancouver you know whether it's a professional group or an event
[13:55] SPEAKER_02: or something what what would be your top tips oh okay so the first and foremost is a grant called
[14:01] SPEAKER_02: the ISI grant it's through new ventures BC it's effectively like I'm going to totally butcher this
[14:10] SPEAKER_02: you can get 50% of salary return to you if you hire a university student so one of our head
[14:18] SPEAKER_02: Oliver he's shy if he's extraordinary I don't know how we like Lord him away from school but he
[14:24] SPEAKER_02: took a break from UBCs currently enrolled in his third year and his entire salary has been subsidized
[14:31] SPEAKER_02: by the government because he's dedicated to building something innovative with our team so
[14:39] SPEAKER_02: somewhere between like you know 15 and 30 thousand dollars that was returned to us this last year
[14:45] SPEAKER_02: in addition to that is the shred credits so science research
[14:50] SPEAKER_02: east stands for something I don't know development so when you're doing something innovative
[14:54] SPEAKER_02: you can prove that your team in building technology that is really pushing the envelope and
[15:01] SPEAKER_02: discovering something new like the government will also give you up to 55% back on whatever
[15:08] SPEAKER_02: expenses like salaries and wages dedicated to that so also we so we're saving tens of thousands
[15:16] SPEAKER_02: of dollars annually that you know anywhere else in the world just wouldn't be possible
[15:20] SPEAKER_02: yes the task of this is the Canadian being government but specifically to Vancouver there's a
[15:25] SPEAKER_02: community called a volition they're a group of advisors and they host in like a monthly pitch night
[15:30] SPEAKER_02: and I am a very outgoing bubbly like I'm not nervous in group settings but there's something really
[15:40] SPEAKER_02: different about being in front of your peers and pitching being in front of investors and pitching
[15:45] SPEAKER_02: and that they provide this free opportunity for startup founders from all stages to come get up
[15:52] SPEAKER_02: on stage and relax those muscles and pitch and they do it I mean they did it for a long time
[16:01] SPEAKER_02: but no cost so I highly encourage every entrepreneur like if you're just coming up with an idea now
[16:07] SPEAKER_02: or are ready to go and raise capital to go through a volition fantastic now a little bit of
[16:13] SPEAKER_01: ending personally as far as how do you I guess a lot of energy expended when you're you know
[16:21] SPEAKER_01: managing staff and and starting up a business and going for funding right raising funds how do
[16:28] SPEAKER_01: how do you recharge what's your personal I guess protocol or routine that that naturally
[16:34] SPEAKER_02: recharges you yeah you're asking me this at probably my most zen state I've ever been in my life
[16:43] SPEAKER_02: and I have so much to thank for that the first and foremost is a new practice that I'm
[16:50] SPEAKER_02: you know committed myself to and that's conscious breathing we make me want to breathe
[16:56] SPEAKER_02: the first thing as we say that tells who my words listening to this are like you know for you
[17:03] SPEAKER_02: to think like as I'm saying it I'm thinking about my breath and it's the one biological thing that
[17:10] SPEAKER_02: we have control over that controls everything and at some you know we're anxious or stressed out
[17:15] SPEAKER_02: like our breath becomes shorter and more shallow and you know there's less less air going to our
[17:22] SPEAKER_02: brains in terms of muscles and so we're at the team then I think being conscious about my breathing
[17:28] SPEAKER_02: waking up each morning and doing something very simple so I highly suggest everybody do this you know
[17:33] SPEAKER_02: is to take two three four five however many you want to do breaths or you're breathing in
[17:40] SPEAKER_02: for as long as you can holding that breath for as long as you can and then breathing out for as
[17:45] SPEAKER_02: long as you can that's one breath so conscious breathing for sure working out regularly finding time
[17:51] SPEAKER_02: to just like be outdoors it's hard to make everyone to reading all the time but they're that just
[17:58] SPEAKER_02: gives you no excuse to get out on a sunny day or a bigger day and practicing gratitude so an exercise
[18:05] SPEAKER_02: that I do with my entire team each day before we start any conversation is we talk about three things
[18:12] SPEAKER_02: the first is what are we willing to let go up something as silly as like you know I'm willing
[18:18] SPEAKER_02: to let go of the the bus driver that didn't wait for me and the second is one I'm grateful for
[18:23] SPEAKER_02: it's like you can be silly like you know I'm so grateful that today the coffee shop had old milk
[18:28] SPEAKER_02: and and then what I'm looking forward to so I can be something really selfish too like really
[18:33] SPEAKER_02: looking forward to this hot dog I'm about to eat all to myself because my boyfriend's not around
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: well and is there any any particular mantra or saying either on a you know in a board on your room
[18:48] SPEAKER_01: or any computer that's definitely present with you personally oh there's so many but I actually
[18:55] SPEAKER_02: just saw this meme on Instagram courtesy of Will Smith he's great by the way he is great we love Will
[19:04] SPEAKER_02: she can't wheeled up here to thank you for I think yeah I would walk I would go and see him in person
[19:09] SPEAKER_02: and then it was just like a photo of like two characters and then he's like hey where did you get
[19:18] SPEAKER_02: that and then he's like the other one one character is asking hey where did you get that and the
[19:24] SPEAKER_02: others holding onto this jar and says you know I created it myself and on the jar it says happiness
[19:31] SPEAKER_02: and it's like man like that's that is ownership and that is understanding that you know what it's
[19:38] SPEAKER_02: not something that's easy or born into us but like we have the control to do for ourselves so yeah
[19:45] SPEAKER_01: that's that's something and you and I need a jar of happiness for those moments that we shared
[19:50] SPEAKER_01: for right I wish to you when you need it and you could pass back to me when I need it thank you so much
[19:57] SPEAKER_02: for that I think this is like so unrelated to the conversation we're having now but I if we had
[20:01] SPEAKER_02: as we've spoken before and like you are just such a blessing Angie you're well I look forward to
[20:07] SPEAKER_01: meeting a person if you could leave our listeners with one last piece of advice or something that
[20:12] SPEAKER_01: they could take away and germinate what what can we what would you like to leave with them um oh so
[20:19] SPEAKER_02: for all of our entrepreneurs as my entrepreneurs I just want to encourage you to continue to do
[20:25] SPEAKER_02: the great work that you're doing it's not easy but I promise you it will be worth it because even at
[20:33] SPEAKER_02: the outcome is the one you expected to be the learning along the way is everything you need it to be
[20:40] SPEAKER_02: and I have this inkling in my my body my my my my my soul that my thesis this entire time has always
[20:48] SPEAKER_02: been right and that is in the coming years AI is going to take over the world and if we are not
[20:57] SPEAKER_02: the critical thank you the critically thinking the creative um the clubbers that we are
[21:02] SPEAKER_02: and continue to have the entrepreneurial mindset that we have we don't stand a chance and really
[21:09] SPEAKER_02: so what I'm saying is that uh humanity is in your hand so wow that's a huge statement that's
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: awesome I love it and after today any what's the best way to get a hold of you oh yeah you can find
[21:21] SPEAKER_02: me on twitter okay any know oh that's my full name a and an e e and g o um or on instagram it's
[21:29] SPEAKER_02: any plays q up so a and n e e p l a y s q u p perfect well and i look forward to seeing you in both
[21:39] SPEAKER_01: of those slots after this and uh hopefully in person and thank you very shortly uh what's again
[21:44] SPEAKER_01: any thank you for joining us we were so excited to have learned more about startup league and and
[21:49] SPEAKER_01: supporting you in your uh efforts and broadcasting across Canada what amazing things you're doing
[21:56] SPEAKER_00: thanks for taking the time today to listen to british Columbia's podcast on the Canada's podcast
[22:01] SPEAKER_00: network we hope you enjoyed the show today make sure you sign up for our newsletters and write a
[22:06] SPEAKER_00: review for us on iTunes connect with us on twitter facebook instagram linked in or at canada's podcast
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: dot com you can check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country i'm Angela Faye see you
[22:20] SPEAKER_00: next time