Andrew Reid

Date: May 19, 2016

Name: The Pacific Club – Andrew Reid, Founder & President of Vision Critical

Presenter: Andrew Reid

The main driver for many successful businesses is people. People matter and that is what drives business to the top. The Pacific Club invites Andrew Reid, the Founder and President of Vision Critical, to discuss his journey of building the top software companies in Canada. In addition, Andrew Reid will share his insight on customer intelligence and market research. Entrepreneurs will learn how to use customer research to influence the trend of their business today. Moreover, Andrew Reid will provide some of his leadership advice for entrepreneurs.

Andrew Reid is the Founder and President of Vision Critical. He was a Vancouver Film School student and Standard University Graduate School of Business. Over 16 years, he discovers new ways to leverage the power of social, mobile and web technologies. When he created Vision Critical, he redefined the meaning of customer intelligence. His passion motivates many young entrepreneurs in software industry. Andrew Reid is also a member of British Columbia chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and a Board of Director for the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.

Interview with Andrew Reid

Reid admits he is not a great morning person and he is more productive at night time. There is no right time for entrepreneurs as long as they enjoy what they do. Reid manages to fit work in his lifestyle.

Reid came from Winnipeg and he moved out in 1995. After Vancouver Film School, he was hired by a company named Blast Radius. He started his business in the year 2000, but he had had time reading financial statements. He managed to pick up the skill by attending Stanford University. Reid believes many entrepreneurs will discover the skills they need during their entrepreneur journey.

Reid did not follow his father’s footstep of becoming a professional Statistician. Reid was not into academic; instead, he approached to do something he understands. Because he lived in a family environment where everything was according to a same beat, it forced him to ignite his side of entrepreneur.

Reid believes there is a huge value in getting a Master of Business Administration. The education makes sense for Reid and he is able to take the recipe to business. Reid mentions many entrepreneurs might disagree with his perspective; however, he wants entrepreneurs to know that business schools normally do not teach passion.

Before he founded Vision Critical, he enjoyed working with graphic design. He loved talking to people. In 1999, his father asked Reid to work in his advertising department. Things were changing in 1999, and Reid was able to make traditional advertising to something innovative. Reid seek the opportunity of virtual shopping and started to understand customer behavior. He built a prototype project to test packaging, placement and price. In addition, the valuation was fairly accurate. The CFO pitched him to venture capital.

When the market was low, all the investors in his venture capital were exiting. His father suggested him to sell. Reid continued his passion and started his own business, which is Vision Critical. He mortgaged his house for rent and his father wanted him to shut down the business.

His big break was in 2002, where he accepted a project for Reebok. Reid created a simulation and Reebok decided to invest more. The simulation application was proven to work, so Reid started to sell it to other people. The application was repeatable. Vision Critical was able to go beyond the market in 2004.

“Do not let idea go if it can go beyond you”

Reid believes traditional method of market research is dead. Entrepreneurs need to have both brand and customers in order to build relationship to help others. Brands need to be close to customer. Entrepreneurs can use stories to connect with customers. Vision Critical is able to help entrepreneurs go far without hurting their brand. It is all about persona. People are exposed by many social media. Reid is able to help them understand with tactical questions. By getting ideas from them, Reid can validate them and create brand engagement for customers.

“It is about influence by your brand”

Reid is confident that Vision Critical does not have any real competitor other than themselves. Research is all about reactive. However, Reid mentions there is a limitation. Currently, there is no opt-out. The market needs to have a tool to prevent from people taking additional data. All data are stored in devices, which can make recommendation for customers. The market is now creating platform for people to upload data and reward them for figuring out the algorithm. The platform helps people to remind them to grow.

Reid believes every product has internal and external triggers. These triggers lead to action and eventually go to rewards. The hard part is to get people to work for it and show the community they are committed.

Reid states 5 reasons that matters people

1. Quantify themselves
2. Entertainment
3. Education
4. Sense of accomplishment
5. Social club

Vision Critical helps entrepreneurs to figure out the triggers for their customers. The average participation rate in Vision Critical is 45% in the community. Therefore, they can help entrepreneurs to impact their brand they care about.

Reid suggests entrepreneurs to take time asking themselves 2 questions.

• How to become more transparent?
• How to fit into the culture?

Customer is important and entrepreneurs need to have more intelligent conversation with customers. They can empower them from social, mobile and net. Vision Critical is considered as a technology company. As business grows, both products and services will compete with the matrix. Entrepreneurs need to focus one. For Vision Critical, Reid picked software. Reid believes all companies are now technology companies because it is the way of future and it is what drives what entrepreneurs do.

“Customer is important. Act on the value and create the dialogue”

The way research changes can impact future. Entrepreneurs need to think ahead. There will be the end of bias. The future technology will take the bottom 30% of the work today. However, there is still need of experts to come and navigate the water.

Reid believes he has the style of transparent leadership. He is honest on the journey. He motivates others together to have good time. Reid shares his best pitch. Reid once pitched to WestJet. He prepared a 45 minute pitch and it was sold to them after 16 minutes. However, he was still pitching after WestJet was sold. WestJet stopped him and said if he goes on for another minute, they will leave. After that comment, Reid shut up. Reid suggests entrepreneurs to get people excited before the start of the meeting, they will help them win because energy can be contiguous.

“In the effort of transparency, just go for it”

Reid restates the old way of doing market research is dead. The speed of data is huge and changes will impact every decision. Reid recommends entrepreneurs to speak up in the meeting. They also should have a list of things that could go wrong. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time on congratulation, and they should encourage others to say what they are wrong about. Entrepreneurs should have sense of purpose on growing their skills, making mistakes, and making their own decisions. Lastly, entrepreneurs should have a story that people can buy into.

Reid comments the virtual reality could stop people having two way conversations. Interact with people is important and entrepreneurs need to think how to take advantage of the change.