Getting To Know: Our New YEG Lead!
Startup TNT has HUGE news to share this week - we are welcoming a new YEG Lead, Jillian Elizabeth! Zack Storms, our Chief-Organizer, sat down with Jillian this week. Here’s their conversation.
Zack: Hi Jillian!
Jillian: Hi Zack!
Zack: First things first, do you have a last name? Or do you just roll with two first names?
Jillian: Ummm, it’s complicated. How much time do you have?
Zack: About 30 seconds
Jillian: Well, my family has a bit of a feud with Madonna (my mom and Madonna were born on the same day). So in the spirit of American one-man-upship, my Mom gave me two first names and….
Zack: And now you’re a genuine superstar!
Jillian: Well, in my mom’s eyes of course :)
Zack: But you are the first Startup TNT employee that has an IMDB account, so you kinda are a superstar in our eyes as well. I’ll admit I was a bit starstruck when I first learned you are a genuine film producer with 15 filmography credits and no last name!
Jillian: You should get out more.
Zack: Like to America! I'm going back, baby, in August!
Jillian: I’m going back in July!
Zack: I see that spirit of one-man-upship hasn’t died :). Tell us about your filmography days
Jillian: Well I specialized in the film genres called cinema verite and sensory ethnographic documentary film. It’s patient. Meditative. Subtle. It’s a style where you let the people and the places reveal their stories to you rather than creating the stories for them. It’s quite beautiful.
Zack: I love that - that’s the type of storytelling we need for the YEG startup community!
Jillian: Well that’s one of the major things that appeals to me about TNT - the opportunity to develop relationships with the community, meet new people and find out their stories. What I love is that although TNT is raising all this money for startups, the money isn’t really the story, the people are. And TNT enables all these new investors to join the community, and invest in local startups and be part of the story themselves.
Zack: Let’s get back to my favorite topic: How did growing up in America prepare you for life in Canada?
Jillian: It’s funny, I hid the fact I was American when I lived in India, and now since moving to Canada… I have to own it. I’m proud to be American - but I’m not proud of American politics right now.
Zack: I hear ya. But we can both agree that one thing America does well, is start startups!
Jillian: I had an American based startup! But I partially learned about how to build a startup, right here in Startup Edmonton. The people here taught me so much. I was in the pre-flight series, and I learned a ton.
Zack: Yeah, just earlier today, you high-fived me for both of us having failed startups. Why’d you do that?
Jillian: Can we define “failed”?
Zack: Yeah, let’s! Was it really a failure? If I look back, I don’t think it was a failure, it was a learning experience. I realized it wasn’t the right place for me, and I moved on.
Jillian: Yeah, and for me, I would have loved to continue, but I would have had to invest a lot more time and money to do it, and I didn’t have either of those. The other 2 co-founders didn’t have the time, and didn’t get the cash together, but I did have such an amazing team, in both the US and in India. We had a really good working mobile app that I was super proud of.
Zack: Sounds like you were living the startup dream. How did that feel?
Jillian: Oh, it was amazing. I was so excited. And it helped me settle into Edmonton. When I first moved to Edmonton, being a filmmaker, there weren’t a ton of opportunities here for me. So I was dabbling in a bunch of different things, and then when I found the startup community, I was so stoked. I loved it, and that’s actually why I took the TNT job - because of how excited I am about the Edmonton startup community.
Zack: Oh really? Tell me more.
Jillian: I met so many great people, and there was so much going on, people with fantastic and great innovative ideas, and such cool scientists and researchers coming out of the U of A.
Zack: I had a similar experience! Meeting great people and doing great things. Which led to the Happy Hour.
Jillian: Which is a great place for everyone to connect.
Zack: 100%. Ok, let’s talk about your background a little bit more. Because you’re a former product manager, so that’s a different expertise that you bring to the table.
Jillian: For sure. I had run a couple of boutique companies, in the film industry, in the US, and so when I started in the startup community, I focused on operations, and gaining that general business knowledge. At the same time, I was also learning under a few Silicon Valley Product Leaders from Fintech, and when the money wasn’t really coming in from my startup, I decided to get a full-time job as a Product Manager.
I worked for about 2.5 years with Punchcard, and Sam Jenkins, a software consultancy in town, that basically builds mobile and web platforms for other companies and organizations. I helped lead a few products, from discovery to release, and also led multiple products that were already built, and my team iterated on them.
Zack: You mentioned Sam Jenkins, who was on the original founding team of Startup Edmonton and who has invested with us. This reminds me of how we first worked together.
Jillian: Yes, one of my favourite projects at Punchcard! It was a really cool discovery project for ERIN, and I got to work with you, Nathan Beck, people from Startup Edmonton, and government peeps I didn’t know yet.
I was able to look into the work you were doing, and was able to do interviews with users, service providers, etc. and I learned so much about the startup community through that.
Zack: It was a relatively broad and open-ended question, which was how can we better serve the startup community as a service provider. Are there any key takeaways that you think we should be implementing now?
Jillian: I would say that from doing all those interviews, and from interfacing with you, Nathan, Dom, etc., I had some really great conversations that led to the conclusion that the biggest thing that will help entrepreneurs, more than anything, is community, and having a space where people can come together, share ideas, interact with the community, and ask advice. It’s so important for them to have that safe space, where entrepreneurs felt cared about and included.
And another important thing that many people talked about was creating more diversity in the startup community. As we all know, *laughs*, the startup community is mostly run by white men. So it was really important to focus on including women, people of colour, and LGBTQIA+2S people in the safe space. And you’ll hear many founders say, the more perspectives you have when building a product, the better your product will be.
Zack: Yeah, definitely. The key to supporting entrepreneurs is creating a space that they can let their guard down, and you have to make sure you’re creating spaces that represent everyone.
Jillian: 100%.
Zack: What are you excited about doing, now that you’re full-time with us here at TNT?
Jillian: I’m mostly excited about developing relationships with the community, meeting new people and finding out what they’re doing, and getting new investors on board. It’s not about the money, it’s about developing the relationships and getting THEM excited about this community. Because there’s lots of people in Edmonton who are making tons of money, and who needs another Porsche anyways? You don’t. You can take that money and invest in a local startup.
Zack: And we’re so stoked to have you on board. So what does that mean for me? Where am I going?
Jillin: You’re asking me? *laughs* Well, I think you’ll always be the head honcho, our fearless leader.
Zack: You know, TNT is like a startup itself. And with you on board, making sure the Edmonton investors and the Edmonton entrepreneurs are getting lots of support, I’m able to dedicate some more time to the communities who want to have a TNT there, and employ our philosophies and operating model there.
Jillian: Which is very cool! We’re excited to keep growing.
Zack: Ok, and now, let’s do a quick round of random questions, so people get to know you more. What is your favourite beer? Or drink?
Jillian: Oh man, that is an easy question to answer….but if I mention it, I may have to run down the block to deVine right after work. Here I go… Italian white wines! Vermentino, Soave, Verdicchio, Passerina. I adore IPAs, but can’t drink too many of them because the next day becomes particularly difficult to face.
Zack: What was your first job ever?
Jillian: What constitutes a job? Well, I would say the first time that I started making money outside of 9 year old elementary school jobs like babysitting, was in middle school..I think Canadians call it junior high? I started a small business making Friendly Plastic earrings, broaches, and pendant necklaces and sold them to teachers at my school. I remember having a mini shop in a box in the administrator’s office and in the break room. I was featured in Scholastic magazine, and felt like a successful entrepreneur at age 11/12. It was awesome!
Zack: What’s your favourite place to go vacation?
Jillian: I’m sorry. I don’t do vacations. I do adventures!!!! I’ve spent a ton of time in Belize and in India. Hard for me to choose which place I’d rather go to. Honestly, I would like to travel to a new place….like North and/or West Africa. But I feel like I need a friend first who is from there to show me around. I feel weird as a white American/Canadian visiting places like that as a ‘tourist’. With India and Belize, I always had a clear purpose, whether it was schooling or making a film or visiting a permaculture farm….I am obsessed about agriculture and have been since I was 18.
Zack: Wonderful. And everyone, you can meet Jillian and hang out with her some more this Thursday, she’s hosting Happy Hour at Say Uncle!
Jillian: Yes! Come hang with me. I won’t have a beard or hat like Zack, but I can also talk loud like an east coast American and make y’all feel comfy and happy. I love hosting parties!