April 21, 2023: What is holding Web3 back?

What is Willful?

Willful's estate planning platform makes it easy, affordable, and convenient to create end-of-life plans online. Create a will, power of attorney documents, asset lists, and funeral and burial plans for a fraction of the price of visiting a professional. Peace of mind from your couch for as little as $99.

(Left to Right): Erin Bury, Co-Founder and CEO, and Kevin Oulds, Co-Founder and Head of Research Innovation

What was the insight/inspiration that led you to launch it?

My husband Kevin's uncle passed away suddenly in 2015, and he had never discussed end-of-life wishes with his wife of 30 years, or with his other family members. Kevin and his family were scrambling to find answers and honor his legacy at a time when they should have been grieving. This inspired Kevin to get his own estate plans in order, but when we looked into it, the only option was to visit a lawyer's office and pay over $1,000.

We were using tools like Wealthsimple to invest money online, and we set out to build a similar platform that would remove the traditional barriers associated with creating a will, and discussing end-of-life plans.

How has it been received by the market? Why do you think it has been so well received?

Willful launched in 2017 and since then we've helped over 100,000 Canadians create their estate plans. We've also partnered with amazing brands like CIBC and Allstate Insurance, and we've raised over $2.5 million in the capital.

I think Willful has found a product-market fit because the majority of Canadian adults - about 57% - don't have a will, and an affordable online solution is much more appealing than the traditional process for folks who have a pretty simple situation.

How did you know you were ready to found a company?

I have to give all credit to my husband Kevin - he had the original idea, and he quit his job in trades to start it on his own, and I joined as CEO about a year in. Kevin was successful in getting it off the ground because he's willing to take risks, he's resourceful, and he's passionate about the problem we're solving.

I think I've been successful as CEO because of my approach as an empathetic leader, and because of my background building consumer brands.

How did you meet your founders/know they were the right people to start a company with?

I married him! In all seriousness, I never foresaw myself starting a company with my spouse - but Kevin was so passionate about the opportunity, and over time his passion rubbed off on me. I knew my skillset would complement his, and that building a company together under one roof would be an opportunity to create a legacy for our own family.

What has been the hardest thing on your journey so far?

Finding capital in the early stages. The only money available to founders in the early days is friends and family funding, which not everyone has access to, and personally guaranteed money from banks. We didn't want to tie our personal finances to our business, so we found ourselves leveraging tools like Clearco and managing the business off our personal credit cards. We need to overhaul how we provide non-personally-guaranteed capital to early-stage founders in this country.

What has been the most pleasant surprise?

Discovering how passionate I am about estate planning! Over the years I've heard countless stories about people who have been left with a mess to clean up when their loved ones passed away without proper plans in place - these stories have reinforced the mission behind the company, which is to ensure every Canadian adult has a will.

What is your super strength?

Building brand awareness through PR; building team culture driven by empathy.

Who is the unsung hero on the team? Why?

Our COO Julia Wilkie.

Julia is my right-hand woman and she's instrumental to our success at Willful. She manages a lot of the behind-the-scenes work at Willful like our HR and finance functions, and I don't know where we'd be as a company if she hadn't joined us 3 years ago.

What are you trying to achieve over the next 12 months?

Our vision is to build out a comprehensive platform that helps Canadians with any aspect of end-of-life planning, whether that's life insurance, funeral pre-planning, or legal documents.

The next year will be about building the product and partnerships that will bring that vision to life.

What advice do you wish you had been given prior to launching?

Understand your cap table from day one. Map out how advisory shares, convertible debt, and priced equity rounds will dilute you over time, and protect your dilution as much as possible.

What is your proudest accomplishment outside of your startup?

Our 18-month-old daughter Emilia. She's the absolute best!

Who are the 5 Canadian startups you like in your market?

Eirene.ca (direct-to-consumer cremations)

Afterword.com (guiding people through planning funerals)

Estateably.com (estate settlement software)

Cadenceco.com (estate settlement software)

PolicyMe.com (online life insurance)

Learn more about Erin and Willful, and connect here

What is the news?

Kitchener-based Miovision Technologies has raised $150m USD to acquire Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) for $107m USD and provide a secondary to early investors.

What is the goal?

Miovision's goal is to become a platform for smart cities with revenues of $200m+ to go public when markets improve.

This acquisition helps with distribution and product breadth, as GTT had 90k intersections in 3,100 cities compared to Miovision's 10k intersections in 450 cities.

What other acquisitions have they done to date?

Miovision has previously acquired MicroTraffic, Rapid Flow, and Traffop. Miovision won the GTT acquisition from Danaher Corp through a clean offer, which was most likely at the top of the bids and paid in cash.

Who are the investors involved?

The investors were three Canadian institutions: John Ruffalo's Maverix Private Equity, Telus Venture team, and Export Development Canada.

The acquisition automatically created $60m USD in value for Miovision, and the lower revenue multiples are here to stay.

What can we learn from this?

As we said a month ago, there is an entirely new batch of Canadian consolidators emerging.

They will change the Canadian landscape over the next few years. Success takes a long time - Miovision is now 15 years old but seems to be scaling faster.

Trends come and go but if there is a real problem and you solve it, you can build a business and raise money no matter what the trend is.

Lower revenue multiples are here to stay. A $120m company would be a unicorn 18 months ago. Now it is worth $500m give or take.

Learn more:

Kevin McBride of Miovision spoke to our TechTO audience at a past event in Waterloo on all 5 things that seem obvious (in hindsight) when building a startup

One of the investors John Ruffalo, spoke to our TechTO audience at a past event on all things innovation in HealthTech and on Founding Initiatives and perseverance

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SE Health and AGE-WELL have launched a National Impact Challenge | Bold Innovations for Living Pitch Competition, open to community/youth organizations, university students, startups, and others.

Two prizes of $25,000 in cash (plus additional in-kind support). Runners-up may be eligible for up to $10,000.

Application deadline: May 8, 2023

The challenge is focused on three themes: 

1. Aging in Place & Community

• Supportive Homes & Communities  

• Support Networks or Community Building  

• Products, Tools, and Strategies to Support Living at Home (e.g. Everyday Tasks, Services)  

• Cognitive & Mental Health 

2. Living with Purpose & Meaning

• Staying Connected, Intergenerational Programs  

• Financial Wellness & Employment; Reimagining Work – Transition to 3rd Act (e.g., Working Part-Time, Mentoring) 

• Arts/Recreation or Entertainment

3. Empowerment 

• Healthy Lifestyles & Wellness  

• Health Care & Health Service Delivery  

• Autonomy & Independence  

• Mobility & Transportation

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