v.1 Labs Inc.
v.1 Labs was the first technology software startup to receive funding from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) following the dot-com bubble bursting. This was a signal that tech startups were stabilizing again and for a time we were a 'poster child' for them. I was the CTO and ran development and operations in Ontario. Building off what I had learned at Rogers, v.1 Labs was essentially a tech support tooling company for ISPs and MSOs.
Our Flagship product (Frontline) was a modular Plugin / Framework desktop application that generated a unique code that could be conveyed to a support technician or directly communicate with the backend server. The process of calculating and generating this unique identifier was patented. Going through a process patent was an interesting and new experience for me.
I also sent one of my Lead Developers (Kal) to NovaScotia to build a self provisioning system for East-Link Cable routers. People in NS could purchase an un-provisioned modem from Future Shop and take it home and connect it and our software would allow it to provision itself on their network. This was something no one else could do at the time. Kal often tells me that this experience and my unwavering belief in his abilities helped fuel him for the rest of his professional career.
It was 2005 and a few years before the DevOps movement and DevOps Days conferences, but we were already automating our builds and testing efforts. This automation paired with a proper modular architecture made it not only possible, but simple to extend functionality of the base product.
v.1 Labs itself could have (should have) been a huge success, however I consider it one of my greatest failures. The lessons I learned about having business partners and partnerships in business was invaluable. Even though I never received my severance (a pretty penny still owed to me), I managed to end up off-the-hook and clear from the massive debt my partners had incurred, and was ultimately relieved to walk away when they opted to shut down operations in Ontario. One of the hardest things to do is let good people go.
I think this was the timeframe that I truly understood the saying "Business is Business and Friendship is Bullshit when it comes to Business". While that may sound cynical, its actually quite a healthy outlook and ensures that when in business dealings, you make the right decisions from a business perspective and not let emotions get in the way of what needs to be done for the business.
A few good ideas and a lot of new learning came out of this experience. I completely understand how to handle a large influx in my net worth now (I was sure clueless about it at the time to my own detriment), and I understand what "Broke at a different level" means when your cash poor even though you look quite valuable on paper. My CEO at v.1 taught me some great lessons that I will be forever grateful for. It was still a huge failure though.
Jeff Bradfield Kwame Bryan Kal Lodin Lee Kichko Mariano Christiaans