Ken Harris- EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 – Winner

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Phil Bliss, Founder and CEO of Canada's Podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: Coming to you tonight from the EY Entrepreneur Award.
[00:14] SPEAKER_01: And with the winner, Ken Harris of Plusgrade,
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: who just fantastic achievement can.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, in the sort of way that we talk about the journeys of entrepreneurs,
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: maybe you can just give us a quick five minutes about Ken's journey
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: and building Plusgrade and getting to this high achievement.
[00:37] SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, my pleasure.
[00:38] SPEAKER_00: And thank you again for having me and it's incredibly humbling
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: and grateful to be here right after stepping off the stage and accepting the award.
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: You know, my journey as an entrepreneur and starting Plusgrade started 15 years ago.
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: So it's been an overnight success as I would say.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: But I don't think my story is unlike many other entrepreneurs
[00:57] SPEAKER_00: where it starts with an idea and a strong desire to actually go and execute on that idea.
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: And like most entrepreneurs, when you have an idea that you want to start something
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: and everybody knows the stats against all odds will this happen,
[01:12] SPEAKER_00: actually everybody is walking around telling you that there's no chance that you're actually ever going to succeed.
[01:17] SPEAKER_00: I remember and it's a story that I tell my team over and over is probably month two or month three
[01:24] SPEAKER_00: of starting Plusgrade.
[01:25] SPEAKER_00: And for those who aren't familiar with software company in the travel industry,
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: I got connected to a big shot in the travel industry and the airline industry.
[01:34] SPEAKER_00: They had been a former CEO of a big airline and big travel software company
[01:37] SPEAKER_00: and I was super excited to tell them about my idea and what was looking to accomplish.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: And I had a call scheduled then for a 3pm on a Wednesday and it was like the big focus for all week
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: that I couldn't wait for 3pm on that Wednesday.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: And of course I get on the phone and I tell them my idea in the most enthusiastic way
[01:55] SPEAKER_00: a new young entrepreneur can and there is this long pause and they stopped and then they said,
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: can run the other way.
[02:02] SPEAKER_00: Don't do this.
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: Don't do this.
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: This is not an industry that you're going to be able to crack into.
[02:08] SPEAKER_00: Run the other way, save your time, save your money, save your energy and your sanity and run the other way.
[02:13] SPEAKER_00: And I think like most entrepreneurs, when you hear that, you only know how to run now right at it.
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: And so the journey over the last 15 years started with two customers, two became four, four became 40,
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: 40 became 200 and now we happen to have built this incredible maiden Canada story that's a global powerhouse.
[02:32] SPEAKER_00: And it really starts with this drive and this desire and this unrelenting focus to keep going,
[02:39] SPEAKER_00: even against all odds and when everyone says, no this shouldn't work.
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: Now of course 15 years later everyone says, that's such a great idea.
[02:45] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how come I didn't think of that and I'm not sure to word but when everybody here in this room
[02:49] SPEAKER_00: was an entrepreneur started out and the odds were quite long and it's incredibly humbling to be standing here
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: with so many entrepreneurs who have seen such success.
[02:59] SPEAKER_01: Cool.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that's the bigger picture but it takes a leader.
[03:08] SPEAKER_01: And that's takes certain qualities.
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: What kind of particular quality do you think has made you able to pull this off?
[03:23] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great question.
[03:25] SPEAKER_00: So there's a quote that I heard probably near four or five of plus grade that was,
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together.
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: And true words never spoken.
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: Of course we wouldn't be here today without an incredible team who's brought us here.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: And the one contribution that I hope that I made to our team that will last forever
[03:48] SPEAKER_00: plus grade is sharing one quality that I think I have that I want to make sure that everybody
[03:54] SPEAKER_00: at plus grade has and it remains a core value in our company that we talk about,
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: we hire against, we perform to view against and it's called be hungry.
[04:04] SPEAKER_00: And be hungry is meant to represent an entrepreneurial spirit.
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: It's meant to represent this hunger where you're never satisfied.
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: The actual feeling of being hungry, where you need to keep going, you need to raise the bar,
[04:16] SPEAKER_00: you need to keep building and getting better.
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: And so we encourage everybody in my company to be hungry, to be an entrepreneur.
[04:24] SPEAKER_00: And I think that's one quality that hopefully I have that I've been able to share with my company
[04:29] SPEAKER_00: because I think that's what allows us to keep trying to strive for new heights over and over.