Catching Up with John Chabluk from QuoteToMe

Continuing our catch-ups with some of past Summit winners and companies that have received funding from our syndicate! Today, we’re checking in with John Chabluk (JC) from QuoteToMe. 

TNT: Hi John! How’s life been since receiving funding at Summit III? 

JC: It’s been great! When we entered the Summit, we were in our seed round, in a venture-backed fundraising round. So we had lots of our due diligence materials in place already, which allowed us to really take the time to build meaningful relationships with the investors. The due diligence team at TNT was super friendly and full of great information. The investment that we received in the Summit was part of the overall round where we received $2.7M. 

After raising the $2.7M, we looked at refining and realigning our team strategy. We had the resources to go down several paths, and we needed to make sure we were going down the right one. So we worked with David and Derrick from Opus Consulting, and they provided us with executive strategic support. After working with David for a few months as a consultant, he then came on board as our COO. 

TNT: Wow! Exciting times, and a lot of change. What are some other major goals that QuoteToMe has accomplished? 

JC: We built integration partnerships with leading construction project management, accounting and ERP systems, like Procore and Vista by Viewpoint, Sage and Quickbooks which has been  instrumental for our go-to-market and product strategy. It also allowed us to focus our sales efforts and onboard customers more efficiently. Having been live in the Procore app marketplace we were able to sell and onboard two new customers in less than 2 weeks.

We also grew to a staff of 15, and developed our board of directors, including bringing in an external director, Dustin DeVan. Dustin is the former Founder/CEO of BuildingConnected, which was acquired by Autodesk for $275M. That type of experience, connections and knowledge are invaluable for us. 

And in terms of traction, in Q1 of 2021, we had a transaction volume of $2.7M. In Q1 of 2022, that transaction volume grew to $7M, an increase of 157%. 

TNT: This was your seed round, but thinking back to your pre-seed round and your first round of fundraising, what are some lessons you’d like to pass on to other founders? 

JC: I actually really enjoy it! It’s one of my greatest passions to align with people who I can build meaningful relationships with, and you definitely can do that in the fundraising process when establishing capital partners

You talk with A LOT of people, and you have to treat each one as a potential new partner in your business. You have to look at the strategic opportunity for the capital - not just what they can invest in monetary capital, but also what they offer as a strategic partner. Their networks or their knowledge in taking a product to market, or supply and distributions, etc. It is important to build meaningful relationships with  partners who can add a lot of value to the company. 

TNT: Strategic capital - love it. And what are some of the biggest mistakes you think startups can make while fundraising? 

JC: I think being unclear in what you’re looking to accomplish is a big mistake. For example, if you’re raising capital for like 18 months, to give you a runway, be clear in what milestones you’re looking to accomplish in that time, with both your investors AND your team. You have to make sure that your team can execute what you’re trying to accomplish. 

And another mistake is rushing your capital raising process or not allowing yourself/your team adequate time to raise funds intelligently. You need to seek the right target capital partners - ones that believe in you as the founder, ideally understand your market and see your company as a strong addition to their existing portfolio. 

And founders need to remember that the capital market in Western Canada is a lot bigger than we may think it is. Make sure that you get as many valuable introductions as possible from people you trust to make good intros. Increase your exposure and deepen  your network of connections across the country and into the US markets. 

TNT: Great point about the capital market! It’s definitely NOT small. Ok, last question! What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned as a founder?

JC: I think the most important thing is to have faith in yourself and have faith in the vision and the opportunity that you’ve set out to accomplish. You have to remain committed to your dream, because there are going to be ups and downs. 

And make sure you brace yourself for a longer journey than a year or two. You want to act as if everything is in the immediate state, and be very hungry in pursuit of growing as quickly as possible, but recognize that smart growth takes time and requires efficient processes for scale. It’s a difficult balance being a high performer long term.  It is like being a  sprinter but recognizing that you are in a marathon, haha. 

Remember to align yourself with people who believe in you as a founder, and who believe in the business and its opportunity as a game changer for your industry and the world. Those are the people who will be in the trenches with you. 

At the end of the day, to build a great company, you have to surround yourself with great people: your friends, team, strategic and capital partners. 

TNT: I love that and that you’re such a people-forward person, John. Thank you so much for your time today! 

JC: Anytime! Love TNT. Have a great day!