June 14, 2023: This Founder shares his unique perspective on raising early

What is Bidmii?

Bidmii is a revolutionary online platform that provides unparalleled convenience and security to homeowners, realtors, and property investors interested in home improvement projects.

With Bidmii, you can easily access local contractors with the right skills and experience to fulfill your project needs at competitive prices. By holding funds in trust throughout a project, Bidmii has completely eliminated stolen deposits for homeowners and reduced accounts receivables for contractors by 98%.

Bidmii's mission is to unite the world's home improvement community by making life easier for both homeowners and contractors alike. We have established strong partnerships with Home Hardware, HGTV's Scott McGillivray, and countless brokerages across the country. In addition, we've launched embedded finance and AI integrations that make it fast and easy for contractors to do their jobs. It's no wonder Bidmii is quickly becoming the de facto resource for home improvements!

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

I'd worked in restaurant development for the majority of my career, where my team became very good at developing new restaurants quickly. We did this by implementing off-the-shelf automation products across real estate, franchising, design, and construction. It was messy, but it worked. At the same time, I struggled to find contractors to help me finish my basement. When covid hit and put a pause on restaurant development, the timing was perfect. We decided to take the domain knowledge and best-in-class practices from the commercial world and build it from the ground up, in an all-encompassing, easy-to-use platform for homeowners and contractors.

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

In the beginning, we knew we were solving the right problem because our system wasn't great, and people were forcing it to work. Since then we've learned, and completed rapid iteration by leveraging user feedback, and we have a platform that is now pretty awesome, streamlined, and growing organically and through channel partnerships.

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

I had developed a team building, problem-solving skillset at the executive level, and had a technical co-founder that is as crazy about perfection as me.

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

We met each other in junior high. He was a cloud architect before it was cool. Just great friends that became better friends throughout the process.

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

User onboarding. The people involved in home improvement are not likely to be digital natives. They don't want onboarding videos or help articles. They'd love a phone call, but those take too much bandwidth for a rapidly scaling company.

“Building the product so that it just simply works in the way that your users want it to work is one of the hardest things you can do, but as soon as you have it, you have one of the strongest competitive moats ever.”

We expected people to be pleased, but we didn't expect to have fans. There are people who come to all of our shows and ask to take pictures with us. It's a pretty surreal experience.

What is your super strength?

Team building and motivation around a large, seemingly impossible goal.

Who is the unsung hero on the team? Why?

I sing his praises whenever I have the opportunity, but Phillip, our CTO, and my co-founder. He is a mad genius and maniacal about making sure we get to the truth and finding a solution that's as close to perfection as possible.

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

Ironing out the kinks in all of our current processes and then launching in the US in early 2024.

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

Don't raise money too early. Grinding in the early days is easier than you think.

What is your proudest accomplishment outside of your startup?

I'm the Chair of the Board of Hopewell Children's Homes, and the work that the organization does is incredible. We opened a new home this past year, and are looking forward to more growth in the future.

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

• Biiibo

• Quick Contractors

• Billdr

• Part3.io

• SmartReno

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Jon spoke at a recent TechTO Event about his journey to building Bidmii

TechTO's Founders Journey Series gives you unparalleled access to some of today's top Founders and Leaders from across the Canadian Tech Ecosystem. We chat with our guests about their journeys to building their current business and the lessons they learned along the way.

Our most recent episode of The Founders Journey features Dr. Brett Belchetz, Co-Founder and CEO of Maple.

Founded in 2015, Maple is Canada's leading platform for virtual healthcare, providing access to 4 million Canadians coast to coast.

Maple was born out of the noticeable strains that the Canadian Healthcare system experienced on a regular basis, so Brett decided to make a change and find a way to use technology to improve the long-term stability of both the healthcare system and people’s access to it.

Brett takes us back through his time as a consultant at McKinsey, his inspiration to pivot into entrepreneurship and try his hand at improving the access to doctors and healthcare for millions of Canadians.

In today's podcast, we discuss:

• Brett’s early years in medical school

• Lessons learned at McKinsey

• How he got the confidence to leave consulting and try his hand at entrepreneurship

• The struggles of gaining success quickly (surprisingly)

• How Covid impacted his business (both the good and the bad)

• The Future of Healthcare in Canada

Listen now on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts

Where can you connect with Phil?

Find Brett on Twitter here

Brett recently joined us LIVE at our TechTO: Together event on June 5, where he chatted more about the healthcare space and how to differentiate yourself as a Founder.

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