2025 company update from our CEO

This is a special note to you—our members—at the start of 2025, and I ask that you keep it confidential. Think of it as an internal memo, a shared moment between those of us who believe in this mission and what we’re building together.

Dear Members, supporters, and friends

First, Thank You.

Thank you for your ongoing support, your energy, and your belief in this community. To those who have recently joined us—welcome! I hope the year ahead brings you personal growth, professional breakthroughs, and financial success.

Four years ago, we made a bold decision to pivot to a membership model and double down on building something bigger, something that would have a lasting impact. It’s been a journey—one full of challenges, moments of doubt, and exhilarating wins. But most of all, it has reinforced our belief in the power of community and how essential it is to the success of this industry.

As we step into 2025, I want to share our vision for the future—not just a plan but a collective mission.

Why We Exist

For Ian, Cam, myself, and our incredible team, this is not just a business—it’s a calling.

We’ve all benefited from the wisdom, generosity, and support of others along our journeys. Building Innovation Bay is our way of paying it forward. We believe that collective wisdom is our secret weapon. The strength of this community isn’t just in the deals we do or the insights we share—it’s in how we show up for each other and the kind of wisdom we exchange.

Building a business in this country is f#%king hard.
I won’t sugarcoat it.

There are days I question why I’m doing this at all. Especially when I think about how much easier it was to build a business in the US. There, the current flows with you—capital is abundant, the ecosystem is designed to support builders, and scaling comes with fewer barriers.

Here? It’s different. And yet, we keep showing up.

Some days, I imagine an alternate universe—one where I’m sitting on the 32nd floor of a towering corporate building, never worrying about cash flow, enjoying 20-minute coffee breaks, planning team retreats, and watching McKinsey consultants roll in to teach us strategy.

But that’s not who I am. That’s not who we are.

We Are the Outliers.

We are the ones who chose to step outside the safe lane, to build something from nothing. We are the ones who put all our chips on the table and said, “Let’s go.”

We are elite athletes of business—but instead of running sprints, we run marathons. Instead of competing for medals, we are changing industries. We are builders, creators, and challengers of the status quo.

And that is what excites me.

Our Mission: Building $100M Companies

At the core of this community is a belief that innovation drives change. Whether in healthcare, commerce, or knowledge sharing, innovation is what reshapes industries and creates opportunities.

And here’s where we are making a bold commitment that works for our whole community.

We aim to build more $100M revenue businesses in our community.

Our goal? By 2028, we want 10 of our founder members running companies generating $100M+ in revenue.

Some of you might read that and think, “That’s unrealistic.”
Bullshit and hopefully some of you think that’s not big enough.

If we don’t think big, we are limiting our own potential.

Sure, some of you might dream of a $10M, $20M, or $30M exit—and that’s great. But that should not stop you from striving for something bigger. We want to build a community that is not only ambitious in the products it takes to market but also in the scale and impact it has on the world.

We believe this works for our whole community, not just founders, but also our investors who are empowering company creation and supporting it through the ups and downs.

And we don’t just want to talk about this ambition. We want to quantify it. We’ll be sharing more soon on how we plan to track and measure this journey together.

Our Vision for Impact

At the heart of our mission is a belief that great companies are not built in isolation.

Through collaboration, shared challenges, and collective victories, we can create an environment where ambitious ideas thrive and the impossible becomes achievable.

For us, this looks like:

More Unique Content: Member-led sessions that share hard-earned lessons and drive growth.
Forum Sessions: Honest, insightful conversations on the challenges that matter most.
Events and Experiences: Memorable, high-impact gatherings.
Platform Engagement: Tools and connections that elevate your personal and professional growth.

How We Measure Success

At the heart of our mission is a belief that great companies are not built in isolation.

Through collaboration, shared challenges, and collective victories, we can create an environment where ambitious ideas thrive and the impossible becomes achievable.

We track impact through:

Growth of our community and our members.
High Renewal rates.
NPS – on all our experiences.
Member feedback and experience scores.
Referrals and new member growth.
Participation rates at events.
Contributions to community content.
Connections and collaborations sparked within the network.
Impact on the broader ecosystem.

Why This Matters to You

Through this community, we can:

Enhance your journey and drive your success.
Reduce isolation and provide the support you need, both now and in the future.
Build something bigger than ourselves – a community that drives impact and creates change.

How You Can Help – We are the net sum of our parts

Lead Content: Share your expertise and insights with the community.
Be an Evangelist: Help us identify and welcome the right future members.
Aspire Together: Make Innovation Bay the community others aspire to join.
Give us Feedback: We need your help to continuously improve what we do.
Get Involved: Be part of our community committee’s, reach out with new initiatives that we can support or programs we can help create.

The Bigger Picture

Ultimately, we measure success by how well we live up to our mission: to empower tech founders and investors to succeed individually and as a community.

Our north star is this 600-strong ecosystem we are creating together – a place where ambition meets support, where challenges are shared, and where success is celebrated as a community achievement.

Together, we define what success looks like for Innovation Bay, and more importantly, for the entire tech ecosystem in our region.

Closing Thoughts

We are the sum of our parts – that means you. Each of us is time-poor, under pressure, and working to build mission-driven companies. But together, we have the power to build something lasting – a competitive advantage for our ecosystem, a place to drive success, and a community to lean on through the challenges of entrepreneurship.

This isn’t a service; it’s a passion project. And we would love your help to make it extraordinary.

FAQ’s

Why We Run Three Unique Communities
We believe in the power of interconnectedness. Founders and investors need each other, and while there’s often tension in these relationships, the outcomes are worth it. By fostering collaboration across our communities, we elevate conversations and unlock shared success.

Our North Star
We aim to grow to 600 members-a critical mass that enables richer insights, deeper connections, and more impactful collaborations.
We want to see more interconnected investments – not just financial, but also in the form of mentorship, guidance, and coaching.

Lessons from the Journey
Over the past five years, we’ve learned that building community is much harder than we expected:

Our community is volatile but resilient.
The high-risk, high-reward nature of our environment creates pressure, but it also breeds greatness.
We all tend to underinvest in ourselves because there’s always too much to do.
We are unsure about the community and tend to revert back to our needs.

Thank you for being part of Innovation Bay. Let’s continue to dream big, support one another, and change the world together.

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