CIBC Innovation Banking Videos

[Ambient electronic music. Timelapse of restaurant at night]

>> Jordan Boesch (voiceover): I was never satisfied knowing that our customers weren't over the moon about what we were doing.

[Jordan standing in the 7shifts office]

They thought it was good. They didn't think it was great.

[Jordan in front of a whiteboard talking to employees. Jordan working on a computer. Jordan standing in his office]

>> Michael Hainsworth (voiceover): So to make it great, this entrepreneur walked away from most of his paying clients?

[Jordan looking quickly to his right, then back to the left]

[Upbeat jazzy music. Jordan and Michael washing dishes in a restaurant]

[CIBC logo. Innovation Banking. #CIBCInnovationEconomy]

[Jordan and Michael washing dishes in a restaurant]

So how do you pivot your company for success?

[Michael and Jordan talking in front of a TV screen showing profiles of people. Jordan using the 7shifts app on a point of sale terminal at a restaurant. Jordan in front of a whiteboard, speaking to his employees. Jordan and Michael walking around the office]

[How do you pivot your company for success?]

I'm Michael Hainsworth, discovering the secrets to success in the innovation economy.

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: It was extremely scary to know that you're isolating two-thirds of your existing customers.

[Jordan and Michael in a restaurant, washing dishes]

>> Michael (voiceover): 7shifts founder Jordan Boesch never intended to get into the family restaurant business.

[Michael and Jordan sitting at a table in an empty restaurant]

>> Jordan: Labour management is a huge problem. The whole idea of starting to code was trying to solve a pain for my dad.

[Determine your customer’s pain point]

[Jordan using his computer at the office]

>> Jordan (voiceover): And that's really where it came out of. It was, “Can I solve this problem?” And, “Oh, this coding thing, it seems interesting. I'm gonna try that.”

[Jordan sitting at a table in an empty restaurant]

Building something where my dad could manage the schedules —

[Animated simulation of the scheduling service on the 7shifts app]

— and, and keep staff happy and informed, was a big part of, you know, retention.

[Timelapse of a restaurant at night. People with shopping bags walking down a sidewalk. Jordan and Michael walking through the 7shifts office]

>> Michael (voiceover): And Boesch soon realized that, from restaurants to retail, and everything in between, scheduling staff is a huge problem.

[1:00][Michael and Jordan sitting at a table in an empty restaurant]

>> Jordan: So what we do is, we send a push notification after the shift and say, you know, “Hey, Michael, how was your shift today?”

[Animated simulation of the rating service on the 7shifts app]

How was your shift at Burger Kitchen?

[Sad face emoji, neutral face emoji and happy face emoji. The happy face emoji is selected.]

Any Comments?

[Today was awesome! Made mad tips and everyone helped out!]

Sad face, medium face, smiley face, write some comments.

[Bartender serving drinks]

>> Michael (voiceover): But as the number of clients grew, Boesch had this nagging feeling in the back of his entrepreneurial head.

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: So we were kind of the jack of all, master of none.

[Step 1: Return to your roots]

And what it meant was going back to our roots. Why did we start the business? Who were we originally solving this pain point for?

[Solve your customer's pain point]

It was for the restaurant industry.

[Jordan and Michael walking behind an empty bar. Close-up of a whiteboard in the office that says “Team focus. Own your business.” Jordan speaking to an employee. Michael and Jordan talking in the office]

>> Michael (voiceover): So when should a startup take a hard look at its business model? Boesch says, “When your minimal viable product starts to take off.”

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: When you kinda get to that point, I think you need to first ask yourself —

[Ask yourself who you’re solving this pain point for]

— who’re you ultimately solving those pain points for? And I think that it’s so important to be true, and, and be —

[Michael and Jordan walking and talking in the office]

>> Jordan (voiceover): — be aware of that. And, um, from that, you’ll make some decisions —

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: — that you may have not have thought of. But it comes from the very top of really understanding who you’re ultimately solving these pain points for.

[Timelapse of a restaurant during the day]

>> Jordan (voiceover): And from that might come some really hard decisions. And you might have a fork in the road from, from going through that thought process.

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: I think the best decisions are often the hardest.

[Jazzy music. Step 2: Build partnerships]

[Jordan standing in his office]

[2:00] >> Jordan: Being at that fork in the road and, and kinda choosing the restaurant path — 

[Jordan and Michael washing dishes in a restaurant. Jordan using the 7shifts app on a point of service terminal and Jordan and Michael behind the bar in restaurant]

>> Jordan (voiceover): — meant we opened doors to all these other types of partnerships that were specific to the restaurant industry, that other people hadn't capitalized on. Driver for us, that we felt was a big contributor to our success.

[Step 3: Fund your growth]

[Jordan and Michael washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen. Quick shots of Jordan using the 7shifts app on a point of sale terminal. Jordan and Michael talking behind an empty bar. Jordan showing Michael how to use the point of sale terminal]

>> Michael (voiceover): 7shifts was founded in 2014 and raised more than $14 million through various venture capital firms, but 5 years after inception, turned to debt financing.

>> Jordan: CIBC's been great, uh, advocate for, for tech companies and, and growing business like ourselves, and they've been, they’ve been extremely supportive throughout our growth.

[Jordan talking to office workers at their desks]

>> Jordan (voiceover): And, um, you know, always kinda being on top of what, what we're up to, and making sure they can provide ways to help. So, you know, being partnered with them, from a banking perspective — 

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: — has just meant a lot of great hands-on work, and feeling like we're, we’re more of a partner, less of, uh, a client. When you choose to use debt financing, ah, over something like an equity round is, is really when you, you feel like, maybe you don't wanna take on that, that extra dilution.

[An office worker makes changes on a restaurant calendar. Two office workers discussing something that’s on a computer screen]

[3:00] [Jordan in office]

>> Jordan: So I think it's something people should consider as they look at different ways to capitalize the business, uh, because there are, there are more options out there than just equity.

[Jordan talking to office workers at their desks. Map with pin points over Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa labelled “Silicon Valley North.” The map moves as a dotted line connects to Saskatoon, SK. Saskatoon highway sign with an aircraft landing overhead]

>> Michael (voiceover): Boesch had the option to build his startup anywhere, but a software development team 2,700 kilometres away from Silicon Valley North, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan?

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: It's not a place where you think of, like, a massive technology hub in Canada.

[Close-ups of the office workers at 7shifts listening to Jordan speak]

>> Jordan (voiceover): However, there's amazingly smart, talented people that are hardworking and willing to do what it takes to build a world-class company —

[Timelapse of a Saskatoon riverside. A green checkmark appears.]

— in a place that most people don't think you can do that.

[Bell sound]

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: What we do have going for us there is, you know, smart people that are, that are extremely loyal and that want to be part of something bigger.

[Night shots of Toronto and San Francisco skylines]

>> Jordan (voiceover): We don't have the same level of competition that you might have in, uh, bigger metropolitan centres like Toronto or San Francisco.

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: And, and we can really stay laser-focused to deliver, uh, a great product and build a massive company.

>> Michael (off-camera): Plus, the nightlife!

>> Jordan: (laughing) It's got some great nightlife for sure. I mean, Saskatoon's a, a college town.

[A band performing on stage in a bar. The crowd dances]

>> Jordan (voiceover): So, um, it’s, there's always something going on. There's always bands passing through. It's, uh, it’s a great place to be, if you're young, for sure (laughing).

[4:00][Michael and Jordan talking in front of a TV screen. Jordan talking to his employees. Jordan on the computer]

>> Michael (voiceover): Boesch doesn't regret walking away from two-thirds of his clients. Today, 7shifts is expanding into AI and machine learning-based employee management systems. But only for the restaurant industry.

[Jordan standing in his office]

>> Jordan: If I'm gonna devote the amount of time that I devote to this company, it needs to be a world-changing company to me.

[Upbeat music. Presented by. CIBC logo. The CIBC logo is a trademark of CIBC]