Colin Szopa

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:15] SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Mario Tonigüzi coming to you today with Calgary's podcast, a member
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: of Canada's podcast network.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making it happen in Calgary, Alberta, so you
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: can listen, discover and engage.
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Colin Zopa, CEO and co-founder of Planck, a fitness and technology company.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show Colin, and thanks for taking the time today to be here for our listeners.
[00:43] SPEAKER_01: Awesome, yeah, I'm excited to be here.
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about Planck first of all, its history and how it started and what
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: exactly it is.
[00:53] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Planck has been around for about three years.
[00:57] SPEAKER_00: It's Planck with two Ks, so it can resemble a fitness move is what we originally thought
[01:03] SPEAKER_00: of when we came up with the name, but also a partnership platform.
[01:07] SPEAKER_00: Basically, three years ago, we thought, can we go and set up to build a platform for
[01:13] SPEAKER_00: health and fitness influencers that were used to selling PDF guides or eBooks online?
[01:19] SPEAKER_00: We thought, why not actually build them an app and a platform that would allow us to do
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: that?
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: Easiest way of thinking about at least the original concept of Planck is almost like a
[01:30] SPEAKER_00: square space for fitness apps.
[01:32] SPEAKER_00: We've been able to go out and build these custom apps for social media influencers around
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: the world.
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: How did you get involved on why?
[01:39] SPEAKER_00: Basically, what we'd seen was that there was a lot of people out there that were already
[01:44] SPEAKER_00: using the traditional PDFs or eBooks from fitness influencers and thought to ourselves,
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: why don't we actually have a better platform in place to build these apps for them?
[01:53] SPEAKER_00: I'd been in tech before and worked for another startup company here in Calgary actually.
[01:58] SPEAKER_00: That was in the oil and gas tech space and just had recently actually been laid off
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: from them and been looking at doing a bunch of different ideas.
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: My co-founder and I kind of brainstormed a bunch and this was the one that we thought,
[02:11] SPEAKER_00: hey, let's try a little crawl walk run strategy and go and build one of these fitness apps
[02:15] SPEAKER_00: for these influencers and see if people will wind up subscribing.
[02:19] SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits that you see doing business in Calgary?
[02:23] SPEAKER_00: It's interesting because we've had copious opportunities to move to LA and other markets.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: LA is one that makes a lot of sense.
[02:31] SPEAKER_00: We've got of our 62 fitness influencers about half of them in that area and we're actually
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: opening up a small office down there.
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: We have one open and we're looking to expand.
[02:38] SPEAKER_00: I should say the juggle for us was Calgary and Canada has some benefits through different
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: grant programs, some opportunities here in Calgary when we looked at leasing out our space
[02:50] SPEAKER_00: for some good deals on rent, giving the state of the market versus the competitiveness
[02:55] SPEAKER_00: on both resources, meaning tech talent and how quickly the turnover is down in the states
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: as well as price in your market.
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: We decided to keep HQ here in Calgary to take advantage of some of the new talent coming
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: in the market and some of the grant programs that would help us require in the talent
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: and things like office space leasing.
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: What are the challenges that you've had in doing business in Calgary and setting up business
[03:19] SPEAKER_01: in Calgary?
[03:21] SPEAKER_00: Probably the biggest thing is to that point of there's people that are interested in
[03:27] SPEAKER_00: tech and you can see the start of vibe starting to get going here.
[03:30] SPEAKER_00: It's still in its early stages.
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: People are still trying to figure out what it looks like to be a product manager for example
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: or to be a startup tech CTO and what that looks like to hire an engineer who's got a lot of
[03:45] SPEAKER_00: experience and swift for example.
[03:47] SPEAKER_00: We're finding that there's a lot more training that needs to go into that to build that skill
[03:51] SPEAKER_00: set and there are some programs that are helping with that but we're hopeful that the pipeline's
[03:58] SPEAKER_00: going to continue to build itself and there's a bunch of companies out there that are trying to
[04:01] SPEAKER_00: bring people here to Calgary but it's a matter of actually building that proper skill set so
[04:06] SPEAKER_00: that it just raises the bar of the tech talent in general here in Calgary so that we can all win
[04:11] SPEAKER_01: together. Why would you recommend the city to entrepreneurs who are looking to maybe start a new
[04:18] SPEAKER_01: business?
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd probably say one of the biggest things about Alberta that we get excited about is
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: an encounter in particular is obviously we have an entrepreneurial spirit.
[04:27] SPEAKER_00: You do see the change in the garden now happening with the energy industry in its current state
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: and people thinking, hey, well, if I'm 10 or 15 years into my career, I've been through two
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: serious recessions. Do I really want to sustain this right now and continue to cross my fingers?
[04:44] SPEAKER_00: It's going to come around and not come back to hurt us again.
[04:48] SPEAKER_00: So I think the benefit is that you've still got that mentality of people that are wanting to
[04:52] SPEAKER_00: take some risks and whether that's being business for themselves or going to join a startup company
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: or a small tech company like one of the guests that's growing and say, you know what,
[05:01] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to try something new and be part of something different here in Calgary.
[05:04] SPEAKER_00: So I'd say that's one of the biggest benefits is just that entrepreneurial spirit and that risk
[05:08] SPEAKER_00: tolerance that we have here in Calgary and that's why we're optimistic because it's the only
[05:11] SPEAKER_00: going to continue to get better for us here.
[05:14] SPEAKER_01: Where do you go or what do you do as an entrepreneur to sort of disconnect from work and maybe get
[05:21] SPEAKER_01: inspired and think about businesses and your business in a different way?
[05:29] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, huge fan of podcasts. So definitely try to spend my time with a diverse set of podcasts.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: So how I built this is one that is really incredible just to be able to go and listen to stories of
[05:40] SPEAKER_00: some of the most successful tech founders out there that I really recommend. But then I'll try to
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: balance that, you know, young and young of the work hard and then also work on the personal life as
[05:50] SPEAKER_00: well. So, you know, whether that's listening to podcasts like Sam Harris waking up as a strong one,
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: I really recommend to that point. I also try to to meditate and yoga and get fitness and obviously
[06:01] SPEAKER_00: we're a fitness focused company and just making sure that, you know, that balance is being brought
[06:06] SPEAKER_00: to my own life in order to then bring that positive nature and energy to, you know, my our business
[06:11] SPEAKER_00: every day and our team. What are you most excited about the business right now?
[06:17] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. Our latest product will be Planck Studio. This has been something that we've been
[06:21] SPEAKER_00: working up towards for a long time. Planck's been, you know, really fortunate to have the success
[06:26] SPEAKER_00: that we have in our short three years of becoming the world's largest fitness influencer company
[06:30] SPEAKER_00: and working with, you know, a total social range of 120 million people and it's kind of cool that
[06:35] SPEAKER_00: that's had courted here in Calgary and with the launch of Planck Studio, what we've done is we've
[06:40] SPEAKER_00: had selected our top creators to actually come onto the platform, which is really easy.
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: Best described as like a Netflix for Health and Fitness where people can actually consume live or
[06:51] SPEAKER_00: on demand workout classes that fingertips wherever they are. And so with the continued product
[06:57] SPEAKER_00: development and user growth that we've had there and the excitement that we're seeing with both
[07:01] SPEAKER_00: the users loving the product of these live stream classes that they can actually attend with
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: their favorite creators and the creators that we put on the platform being able to connect more
[07:09] SPEAKER_00: if they're with their community. This has always been the vision that company is how do you bring
[07:13] SPEAKER_00: an influencer closer to the community through technology and the live streaming classes and the
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: accountability that comes by way of this virtual studio that Planck Studio represents has been
[07:22] SPEAKER_00: really exciting for us and we're only getting started. What's your vision for down the road with
[07:27] SPEAKER_00: the company? Yeah, so I mean, that's where it gets really, really exciting with what we're doing
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: with Planck Studio is that we see that just continuing to grow of how we connect the community with
[07:37] SPEAKER_00: with their influencers that they that they're really drawn towards, that they no longer need to go
[07:43] SPEAKER_00: and say, okay, I'm going to sign up for this fitness class that I have to drive towards and
[07:48] SPEAKER_00: picks 20 minutes to get to and now we're to work out there in 20 minutes to drive back. I'm
[07:53] SPEAKER_00: able to actually just sign up for a class work with my favorite workout with my favorite influencer
[07:57] SPEAKER_00: rate and the comfort of my home and get a true boutique experience from the comfort of their home
[08:03] SPEAKER_00: or hotel room or wherever they are. So when we think about the vision of what Planck Studio is doing
[08:07] SPEAKER_00: is it's making these more high quality workout experiences accessible and we see that platform
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: continuing to grow beyond just these live streaming on demand classes but just a full fitness
[08:19] SPEAKER_00: experience of how people are actually able to get that and bring into their lives because obviously
[08:22] SPEAKER_00: the fitness industry is something that people really value and it continues to grow and we're excited
[08:27] SPEAKER_01: to be a part of it. Now in hindsight, what when you look back at what you know now, what kind of
[08:36] SPEAKER_01: things would you wish you had known at the time you started the company that you really know now?
[08:42] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean obviously there's always something new that can come up every week where you're kind of
[08:48] SPEAKER_00: like you're wishing that you've maybe done something differently and what you're learning but
[08:50] SPEAKER_00: obviously just moving forward is the best thing to do that especially in a tech world where
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: that moves so quickly. I think for us probably one of the biggest things that we've now rectified
[09:01] SPEAKER_00: that's really contributing to our success now is really just putting the user the consumer first.
[09:07] SPEAKER_00: So Planck's in an interesting position where we're kind of B2B and B2C and that we manage a lot
[09:12] SPEAKER_00: of our partner, we influence the relationships and try to make their brand and their company
[09:16] SPEAKER_00: successful while still managing the end user and the consumers that are actually at the end of
[09:25] SPEAKER_00: a way of a follower of each one of these Instagram influencers that we partner with and I think
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: early on we didn't put enough emphasis on just how important each one of these followers really
[09:35] SPEAKER_00: work at the end of the day and how much they meet every influencer partner that we work with.
[09:39] SPEAKER_00: So we've since learned that lesson and wrapped up things like our support team and user-focused
[09:46] SPEAKER_00: copy and messaging and just making sure that we're taking care of them because ultimately in
[09:50] SPEAKER_00: the end of the day that's what makes our partners happy and makes Planck happy. So what's the best
[09:54] SPEAKER_00: piece of advice you've ever received? Yeah, I mean, tons. I'd say probably the thing that
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: we really live by here is what we're trying to implement and create for today is not necessarily
[10:07] SPEAKER_00: this solution for tomorrow. So there's been a lot of times where we've just had to, like I said
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: earlier, whether that's failing fast or just implement something to help get the job done before,
[10:17] SPEAKER_00: knowing that that's not going to be the be all in solutions. So a couple of examples that
[10:21] SPEAKER_00: come to mind would be our very first app that we shot. We didn't know if it was the proper method
[10:27] SPEAKER_00: of shooting images as opposed to videos, but we knew it would be a little bit quicker to edit and
[10:31] SPEAKER_00: get those uploaded. We also knew it would be faster to fly down to Miami and work with our first
[10:35] SPEAKER_00: partner and do that shoot with her rather than trying to trust photographer we never work with.
[10:40] SPEAKER_00: So we implemented a process pretty quickly of the type of app that we built, which was image-based
[10:45] SPEAKER_00: that we control a lot more of and knowing that, hey, that this can change and it ended up doing that
[10:50] SPEAKER_00: as we moved into more video-based apps with photography crews that we now trust and work with
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: around the world. So just being able to continue to reiterate and not just kind of trust something
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: because it's working, but know that there could always be some better way if you can kind of look
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: at that to improve. Everybody's got a bucket list these days. What's on top of yours?
[11:10] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got a ton here at Plank. I'd say the biggest thing when you think about it is, again,
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: we're trying to take these massive communities and connect them with their audiences and their
[11:20] SPEAKER_00: influencers that they're drawn towards. When you think about one of the biggest influencers that
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: has the largest community in the fitness space, somebody that comes to mind is the rock. We feel
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: that one day we should be able to offer something pretty compelling to the rock about how you can
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: connect more with his community by way of a live streaming, really engaged experience.
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: I think we're getting close to doing that. What about on a personal level outside of business?
[11:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me is I noticed that when I'm slipping on the personal balance,
[11:52] SPEAKER_00: it doesn't bode well for the company or for anybody that I'm surrounding myself with. So,
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: you know, although I try to keep that daily practice and try to keep some sort of fitness and
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: meditation in my life, I think a big goal for me is just making sure that I'm able to sustain that
[12:06] SPEAKER_00: because if that's not something that I'm able to continue to contribute and work towards,
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: it's not bode well for anybody. If you weren't doing what you're doing now,
[12:16] SPEAKER_00: what kind of a career profession do you think you would be involved in?
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I thought about that actually a couple weeks ago because there was a fork in the road when
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: we started plank and I was looking at maybe getting some more tech experience before
[12:29] SPEAKER_00: founding this and kind of just looked at it as if not now, when and how you start some companies
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: before in the past. I mean, Exited Once before, I realized that this is just what I love doing.
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: And so, there's other ideas and concepts I've thought about and I've really tried to focus a lot
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: on even my own mental health as I'm talking about here and I think there's a lot of people that
[12:50] SPEAKER_00: could use that same help and so whether that's something that's not for profit space or the next idea,
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: it certainly be something else. And there's a lot of things that plank still yet to do that,
[13:00] SPEAKER_00: hopefully we can continue to grow into.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: With book, are you currently reading?
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I actually just finished a book called Just Listen by Mark Goldstein.
[13:09] SPEAKER_00: It's actually a really interesting book. He's a negotiator that obviously was a therapist by
[13:14] SPEAKER_00: trade but comes in with SWAT teams and deals with the hostage cases and it's just a really
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: strong understanding with a lot of depth on how to listen empathy from people and understand
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: where they're coming from and that's fascinating read.
[13:29] SPEAKER_01: If you had to pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
[13:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and actually, I guess not to piggyback off of that, but it'd probably be empathy.
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: I think that's one of the things that I've been fortunate enough to learn a lot in my personal
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: life and in my professional life of just how to see somebody see something from somebody else's
[13:48] SPEAKER_00: perspective and put yourself in their shoes and I think as a leader that can go a long way,
[13:53] SPEAKER_00: just for understanding this situation and what people are thinking and what drives them.
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: Now, is there anything right now that's keeping you up at night?
[14:00] SPEAKER_01: That's worrisome for you.
[14:02] SPEAKER_00: Definitely, the most interesting thing that has been a problem that's hard to sell off because
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: it's got so many layers to it. I just feel like you're always just peeling off another one off.
[14:11] SPEAKER_00: The onion has been scaling. No longer am I worried about starting a company, building a brand,
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: making that profitable, finding a place in the market. Once you've done that,
[14:22] SPEAKER_00: scaling a company is really tough and just the decisions you need to make and the processes
[14:27] SPEAKER_00: and people you need to find in order to level up. That's something that is just a constant
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: reminder at night or any time during the day.
[14:37] SPEAKER_01: Outside of Calgary, is there a place anywhere in the world that you enjoy visiting as your favorite
[14:43] SPEAKER_00: place? I'm fortunate enough to travel a fair bit, so thankful to have visited a lot of different
[14:49] SPEAKER_00: countries and cultures. Probably my favorite place that always comes to mind when you blast
[14:53] SPEAKER_00: me that question is Japan. There's numerous reasons on the culture side, the cuisine side,
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: the history, everything that's really interesting. From a business perspective, what's fascinating
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: about it, a lot of people don't understand is Japan was just shunned from the world after World War
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: 2. They didn't have any partners. They didn't take the deal and then the Hiroshima bombing
[15:12] SPEAKER_00: happened and obviously didn't have any allies in the East as well. They were kind of in a corner
[15:17] SPEAKER_00: for decades there and became this western version of Asia that became really innovative.
[15:24] SPEAKER_00: I think creating things like Six Sigma and becoming an automobile manufacturer powerhouse.
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: Even today, 23 of the top 40 oldest companies in the world are Japanese. There's just a lot
[15:36] SPEAKER_00: that's said about their integrity and how they do business. I find that really fascinating.
[15:39] SPEAKER_00: I haven't done a lot of business with Japanese people but I'd be really interested to do that.
[15:43] SPEAKER_00: Japan just always retreat intrigues me and I can't wait to go back.
[15:47] SPEAKER_01: Do you have a daily routine that you follow almost religiously?
[15:52] SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of alluded to it earlier but a big thing for me is I'm lucky enough to have a hammock
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: in my house and here in the office. In the morning, I like to make sure I get a meditation in.
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll just do that on my own or sometimes I'll use an app that helps me depending on
[16:06] SPEAKER_00: where I'm at and the rust cycle of that but I'll try to meditate almost every day.
[16:11] SPEAKER_00: Then it's really trying to get to the office and get at it. I tend to be thinking a lot before
[16:17] SPEAKER_00: I go bed at night about what my next day looks like and that's why that meditation is important for me
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: in the morning to set that day up. When I get home from work in the evening, I'll try to get some
[16:25] SPEAKER_00: sort of fitness in of either yoga or running or I play a lot of tennis as well and then back to work
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: for two or three hours at night before doing all of the next day.
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: I'm going to ask you a different question here. Imagine there's a small, beautiful
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: tropical island in the middle of the ocean with only one foam booth and no internet.
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: Now we're going to drop you off there with no technology at all. At any time you can use the
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: foam booth on the island to call the boat to come pick you up. Now how long would you last before
[16:55] SPEAKER_01: making that foam call and what do you think you'd be doing on that island?
[17:00] SPEAKER_00: To be honest, it sounds like paradise. Yeah, I mean, one of my I love the equator. One of my goals
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: in life is to live by the equator at some point. As much as Calgary is beautiful, we're now for
[17:10] SPEAKER_00: these four or five months and I'm confident in building a successful tech company here.
[17:15] SPEAKER_00: I certainly want to have a chapter in my life that's closer to the sun.
[17:20] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that sounds pretty good to me. So I would imagine myself probably never go into the
[17:25] SPEAKER_00: foam booth unless I needed to somehow work a deal with the guy to bring me some supplies to start
[17:30] SPEAKER_00: up some sort of coconut stand business or something. It depends of those other people on the island,
[17:34] SPEAKER_00: but it sounds like somewhere I'd want to set up shop and make it work.
[17:37] SPEAKER_01: Excellent. Is there anything you'd like to leave us with today that I didn't ask you about?
[17:42] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd say, you know, probably the biggest thing, you know, when we're talking about business
[17:45] SPEAKER_00: and Calgary, particularly in the tech space and the startup space is, you know, we're at a really
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: interesting time right now where people are really excited. There's a lot of people that get excited
[17:53] SPEAKER_00: about getting into this space and wanting to know where to start and some have some applicable skill
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: sets, some don't, and that's all okay. And there's a lot of great ideas and leaders out there. And I
[18:02] SPEAKER_00: think what is exciting is seeing more and more people start to rally together and where I'd
[18:06] SPEAKER_00: love to see more and feel free to reach out to me because I'm looking for this myself. If anybody's
[18:10] SPEAKER_00: listening to this, I'd love to see more people that are down that road, whether having the start
[18:14] SPEAKER_00: of the company, exit of the company going through issues like us with scaling and having us connect
[18:20] SPEAKER_00: more. One of the benefits of these A-type cities of tech cities around the world is that they do
[18:26] SPEAKER_00: have that community where they can go and learn from each other. And although we have a lot of good
[18:29] SPEAKER_00: mentorship programs and there are some money here, we need to rally together to get more of that
[18:33] SPEAKER_00: confidence both for the investors and for the people coming into the space to get that a little
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: bit more cyclical. So, you know, that's the precipice that we're at right now in Calgary,
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: that's exciting is I think we're on the verge of doing that and I'd love to connect to anybody
[18:45] SPEAKER_01: else that's interested in the same thing. Okay, thanks Colin for being our guest on Calgary's
[18:49] SPEAKER_01: podcast today. Awesome. Thanks again for having me. Hey there, thanks for taking the time today to
[18:56] SPEAKER_01: listen to Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network. We hope you enjoyed the show today.
[19:03] SPEAKER_01: Make sure you sign up for our newsletters and write a review for us on iTunes and then connect
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