What The Funk?

0:00 All right, we are back on the What the Funk podcast in midweek recording this time, and I've got my new friend from Newfoundland, who now lives nowhere close to Newfoundland. You got to be the

0:13 first person, Vicki, that I've ever met from Newfoundland. How many people live in Newfoundland? I believe our mighty island has about 600, 000 people, 350,

0:27 000 of which live in St. John's, and I think the biggest offshore platform in the world up until the ones in Ghana is off the coast of Newfoundland, Hebron. All right, so we're going to get all

0:33 of the Newfoundland facts. Oh, we need all of it. So that's good. Yeah, Vicki, you and Croc's OCM hit my radar a couple of months ago. I think there was some sort of announcement, press

0:46 release around raising funds and starting to expand more into oil and gas. I think you've got some AI technology. I'm looking forward to hearing about your company, but more importantly, I'm

0:57 looking to hearing about you. So I will just ask you, Vicki, who are you? Oh, who am I? Backwoods Canadian, who looks kind of not blue collar, but is really blue collar on the inside.

1:15 It's probably like what describes it a good way. Yeah, makes them family or all fishermen. Yeah, like First Nations and British mixes, we don't even know, we don't even know if our first name,

1:27 if our last name is spelled correctly, 'cause I don't think our ancestors could read or write when they read.

1:33 Everybody's sure there's no ways. So I am product of all of that. Yeah, so grew up in Newfoundland, really, really remote growing up. So I hadn't heard of things like engineering or really, I'd

1:46 heard about oiling gas, 'cause you know, Newfoundland has a great connection to oiling gas. But yeah, it wasn't something that I knew a lot of, so that path definitely became interesting So who

1:56 am I is probably more of a backwards kid. Backwoods kids, so 600, 000 people on the entire island of New Zealand, not quite like island life that people think of when they talk about Hawaii or

2:10 Fiji or something like that. But so what was it like growing up in such a remote place? And I understand it's what you know, but now you're in like a pretty famous city, I would say in the San

2:21 Francisco Bay area. So what was it like growing up in a remote island that has its own time zone with not a ton of people around? Yeah, I grew up snaring rabbits, picking berries. It was very

2:34 much like a like subsistence living type because that was traditionally what everyone had done. So it was very much a subsistence living type upbringing which like as I, you know, returned and kind

2:46 of into the world into these big cities, I realized that like the majority of the population, especially in North America, would really do not grow up that way. Like it's not how they grow up. So

2:56 that was very interesting you know, we would take some reveals to school. I like that something yeah, like you can ride your side-by-side like your offer vehicle like on the roads like it's kind of

3:05 normal So yeah, it's definitely a different definitely a different place, but but super fun. I like I loved it So it's yeah, it's all I know I actually have a house there in Rosemore National Park

3:15 now I spend about three months three months a year at least there cuz that's my primary residence. That's still very Canadian And it's and it's an absolutely beautiful spot So for anyone listening

3:25 hit me up if you want just recommendations of what to go see And I'm assuming that those three months are not December January and February Oh, yeah, I'm going to December this year Really? Yeah,

3:38 it's fine. You get the wood stove going. It's like you kind of tuck away, right? Like it's very like like you know how in the Nordic countries they have like like I think it's hegget hegget is

3:47 like the words It's like getting cozy in the winter. It's kind of like that. Oh neat neat Fascinating so so you grow up backwards you described your upbringing sort of like how I had to describe a

3:58 bare living, chasing rabbits and eating berries. So what, what did you, is there like a college there? Is that where you went to, you know, to school? Tell me a little bit about what happened

4:10 once you turned like 18. Yeah, so what's a turn 18? Well, I didn't know that I was good in math or physics. We'll chop that up to some good ADHD. That laid diagnosed. And so what happened was I

4:24 really wanted to study forestry because my dad was a forester

4:29 I think he's the first person on my dad's family to have a university education. So that was pretty exciting. So yeah, so he was a forester. I wanted to do the same things. I didn't really know

4:40 anything about it. So I ended up getting a job in the pulp and paper mill that he worked at. But as a summer night shift fill, so essentially I prefer those who know pulp and paper. They've heard

4:52 a fifth hand, sixth hand. So essentially I'm operating the air hose on the paper machines if people and she goes down, I gotta clean it up. I've got to change the schools on the like, you know,

5:00 20 ton paper rolls or two ton paper rolls over the bank. So yeah, so I did, I did that and that's where I got really interested in like the, the analytics side of it. I was like, I could see

5:10 pipe process smoke in these databases and I was like, okay, this is really cool. Like what is actually going on here? So that's how I got really interested into engineering and then that's when I

5:18 decided like, okay, there is a college memorial university of Newfoundland. And in Newfoundland, I did my first year there and I tried to get an engineering but I actually had to upgrade high

5:29 school physics and community college 'cause I didn't have high school physics. So I was working night shifts and taking high school physics and taking first year calculus in the summer to try to get

5:39 an engineering school because I thought it'd be really cool. And I figured if I didn't get into chemical engineering 'cause that was what, you know, like what the cool one was. I was like, well,

5:47 if I clunk out, I should be able to do civil engineering so I've been told. Yeah, you can always just settle for that. Yeah, so figured out the chemical Got it done, ended up going to New

5:59 Brunswick just to finish the chemical engineering degree, yeah. So the proverbial go west, young lady. All the way to New Brunswick. Yeah, you started going west, and now you've gone way west.

6:11 Went all the way. So paper mills, interesting. So like I told you, I'm from New Hampshire, I'm one of the Plymouth, which is like right in the middle of the state. And one of the schools that

6:21 we would play in sports is definitely a backwoods area. It's called Berlin, New Hampshire Like written out like Berlin, but it's definitely not Berlin. It's Berlin. It's Berlin. And in Berlin,

6:32 they had a paper mill. And oh my God, that town smelled so bad. Oh, I know, it smelled like that. Like if I smell it and you're gonna need it, you're like transported back. Yeah, it's, and

6:45 sometimes it's like, you know, you get off the bus to walk in and go to the gym for basketball and you're like, okay, well, it's just gonna be bad while we're outside. And then you walk in and

6:53 you're like, somehow the smell made its way inside the building. This is, how do we do this? Like what a home court, home ice, home field advantage when you've got paper mills right behind your

7:04 school and everybody's just focused on how bad it smells as opposed to like trying to focus on the task at hand. So that was always a very interesting, unique trip but super backwoods. And I think

7:14 they eventually closed the paper mill which was really bad for that small city because it employed, I don't know, 20 of the residents in the town type of thing. Yeah, same situation where we are,

7:25 like I think in Newfoundland had three paper mills, two of them have shut down, but one of them is actually extremely well positioned geographically, which is the one where I worked at. So it's

7:33 actually still supplies the newsprint. Oddly enough, there's still quite a market for some paper. It just had to like right size itself in the market. Yeah, yeah, digital has certainly

7:43 transformed everything which you've got a digital platform which is transforming things. So you move a little bit less, right? You head to New Brunswick Then what?

7:56 then I somehow got in at chemical engineering and I was like, wow, let's give this a try. So gave it a try. Got an internship at a pulp and paper mill because that was apparently what I was good

8:09 at. But having had that hands-on experience and like having worked the machines, it was actually really interesting because I was adding so much value to the actual workers as an intern compared to

8:24 any, but even the workers. It was really, really weird because it was like I was able to go walk the machines and I knew where I needed to go take samples to develop an algorithm because I already

8:32 done it, right? Like so it was a really interesting, it was a really interesting way to, I guess, really like get my hands dirty, but get my hands dirty in like a really fast way. So I made

8:44 this like subconscious connection in my head, which I think is important for the future of the story. If I don't want to operate this thing, then I don't know how to be an excellent engineer.

8:54 Right, so that was like my thought process, 'cause I had gone from operating this thing to now being interned, and I was like, this is easy, I know exactly what you do, I know how to add so much

9:02 value. So that kind of like embedded in my brain, and then when I went to oil and gas, I took that with me, which for better or worse. Yeah, I mean, I think that is quintessential oil and gas.

9:14 Like I think the people that are in the most respect are the ones that know how things work in the field, and then also understand both sort of the corporate ethos in the back office, but how to

9:24 create efficiencies and value both in the field and with technology in the back office. So

9:32 then fill in the gap for me between working as an intern or working at a paper mill, and then getting out to San Francisco and starting a company. I'm sure there's a lot of things in between there,

9:46 but I wanna hear about it. Oh, yeah, we'll start with a trip to Calgary. Calgary is where we went first So, I'm graduating. chemical engineering, and pulp and paper was obviously my best job

9:60 prospect. So I was one of those fortunate ones that had a couple of job prospects all in pulp and paper. I didn't, like at the time, it was exactly when the pulp and paper industry was really

10:09 plateauing and declining. And I was like, I don't know if that's where I really want to go. My brother was working in Fort McMurray as a shovel operator for an oil sands. And so most of my cousins

10:20 have moved to Fort McMurray So like I said to you earlier, I was like, Fort McMurray is Newfoundland's second biggest city. So it's just a joke in Canada, right? Like most Newfoundlanders who are

10:31 from the Moore Fisherman background, if they're not fishing right now, then they'll go and they'll work in oil sands. So that was my thing. I was like, all right, well, my brother's in Fort

10:40 McMurray, I'm in Fort McMurray. I applied for every possible chemical engineering job in Fort McMurray and got nothing, like absolutely nothing. And then I got a job offering Calgary And it was

10:50 like every other, you know. Great new grad I was with they were like dying to get jobs in Calgary and couldn't get it and like we're only getting offers important hurry So I was like, okay,

10:58 whatever. I guess I'll take it I'll go to the big city like and I've never lived in it a big city like New Brunswick Right, it was the biggest I did like I'd only ever seen like Like just for for

11:08 example like I grew up in town that street lights right like I hadn't even seen like buses like city buses

11:15 I moved to Calgary and that's where I started actually I worked at at Kogast first in natural gas distribution Which was really interesting But it wasn't really like didn't really say it wasn't really

11:25 exciting enough for me at the time So I applied for a job at Trans Canada pipelines at the time for the Keystone pipeline

11:33 You know sound like a really cool opportunity So I applied and I got the role it was so I was actually the 13th employee For Keystone commercial operations once that line was put in service and so

11:45 that was a really really cool opportunity So so yeah, I definitely was on the sharp end of that asset Well, interesting. Yeah, that that's one that made a lot of news here, right? Of course,

11:55 with the political perspective on all of that, it became like a, a sticking point for, for both parties. So yeah, that's funny. Like, I hear you, most of your friends and people in general are

12:10 like, yeah, I want to get a job in the city, work in the corporate office They're like, cool, we'll stick you out in the field. And you're like, nope, you're going to live in Calgary, right?

12:21 So now you're in a city. You can deal with the cold. That's, that's not an issue. But, you know, that transition. I'm with you. Like you mentioned no streetlights. My town that I grew up in

12:31 New Hampshire did not have streetlights either. The metropolis of Plymouth next door. There's a college there. They must have had maybe three or four streetlights I'll never forget talking to my

12:47 high school football coach about this. a really strong football team. That kind of small school, the, you know, New Hampshire. And I remember saying to my coach, I was like, Hey, you know,

12:58 why don't we play some of the bigger, why don't we scrimmage against like Nashua? Nashua's population's probably 100, 000. And he, he side-eyes me and goes, Do you know how many streetlights

13:09 they have in Nashua? So yeah, it is a

13:13 measure of the size of the town. Yeah, I was like, that is, that's fun. It's, I was like, yeah, probably more than we can count, right? It's like, we're not playing Nashua, right? Yeah,

13:22 delicious.

13:24 You know that street life. But yeah, that's like the purview of somebody who lives in the country for so long. But I also sort of feel like a fish out of water in cities. And part of that I think

13:35 is like Boston, I view as my home city, and it's like the hardest city to drive around in. It was meant for like horses, cobblestone streets, like every, because it's so old, every street has

13:45 like, every road has like 13 different names So you're on ways or something. Turn left on route 3A, 119, 128, old route, 136. And I'm like, okay, can you just tell me what you're going to be

13:58 calling? Just now, yeah. No, like it's a hard city to drive in. But just in general, like even public transit, because if you don't grow up with public transit, you're just not as comfortable

14:08 as it is. So like my thing is like I have a car, but then all of a sudden you're driving around in a car in a city and you have to park and you're like, 32 to park for an hour?

14:18 I'm gonna take transit 'cause it's only three bucks Yeah. Wait a second. This is, I guess I can't afford to have a car here. I don't wanna, and if I park in the wrong spot, you give me a ticket

14:26 or you tell me this is insane, right? I'm making29, 000 a year. What am I supposed to do? I know. You know, so I think we have a bit of a kinship with that. So you're in Calgary, right? And

14:38 like, what were you, what were you doing? What was the job? So the job was actually really cool.

14:45 So Keystone commercial, I had just gotten up and running And I was hired as like the junior engineer. to work on marrying the hydraulics forecast with the oil scheduling nominations forecast to make

14:57 the monthly plan. Like, that was actually my job. It was really, really cool. And like, but to me, I guess here's the fun part, you know, I was like, this is a really cool job, this is

15:06 exciting. And I was like, but if I don't know how to operate the keystone pipeline, then I will not be successful here. So my naivety, I just like was straight up, like I need to operate

15:15 keystone. And so I really thought I was nuts because nobody did that And I just kind of, I'm really stubborn. So I stayed at

15:24 it for about a year. And finally, the control room manager at the time, he was like, fine, 'cause I will do it. And he's like, you can do one shift a week. For only night shift, you can do it

15:34 for up to a year. So I did it for eight months. Like I never got so cute, but I trained on the console operating, yeah,

15:42 really cool. So you're like, it's one thing to schedule and nominate and, you know, figure out the plan. But like, now I want to see how everything actually flows, right? Yeah.

15:53 And I want to

15:55 touch the buttons to disconnect. Yeah. Yeah. No, not, not surprising at all. So that's, that's really cool. So this is still was the, the control room based in Calgary or was this a more

16:02 remote location? Control room is based in Calgary. So the Keystone pipeline, it was only the, it's only the expansion that K XL line that's not built, but Keystone and a lot of folks don't know

16:11 this. It actually does move over 600, 000 barrels of oil daily for Northern Alberta, all the way to the coast of Texas, as well as Illinois and Cushing. Yeah. So I'm sure you know that, but for

16:20 listeners, yeah, well, not all of our listeners are oil and gas people, right? There's probably some tech people. I know I have people back home in New England that are like, you know, it's

16:29 fun to listen to this because it's, it's so foreign, right? Like I didn't grow up here. Yeah, near oil wells or pipelines of the stuff is just like, you know, it's just so far out there. And

16:41 then you come to a place like this or West Texas and like you actually see the wells. Like you see the nodding donkeys and you're like, oh, so that's where it happens. It doesn't just happen in

16:50 the Middle East. Okay, that's kind of cool. Like it's, well, it's huge. Yeah, like, and then it's like, wait, America's like the biggest oil producer in the world. Yeah, yeah, very, very

17:00 liquids rich here. And that natural gas just flows from beneath our feet. So

17:07 tell me a little bit more. So you're operating Keystone pipeline, right? Literally operating the pipeline. Yeah. I did that for eight hours. Yeah, no more. Got a great turn. So did that,

17:20 that's when I was like, okay, I've seen more sophisticated automation technology and a 100 year old pulp and paper mill. How is this the most modern pipeline in the world? I don't understand.

17:31 Like it was like my brain just like knotted up. I was like, I just don't get this, right? So so that was a challenge for me and so I had heard about this guy named Roger shirt Like this lore of

17:43 Roger shirts in the in the pipeline industry and he was the only guy that was doing process control work So process control work is like really heavy like pulp and paper It's like that's like your

17:52 bread and butter and any chemical engineering you do a lot of press control work And I was like I loved it like most kids failed it. I write like I just rock it, right? I love it So so I love the

18:02 process of control work and that's what I was seeing in in Keystone was like this massive lack of advanced automation Yeah, and so I heard about stunning Roger shirt who was doing process control

18:10 work in pipeline at Ambridge And so I asked my manager like can you get me into I want to meet this guy? Like I want to know why there's no advanced control in in pipeline and like what he's doing to

18:21 bridge that gap and how we're thinking about this So I hunted him down

18:26 Got got to know him and that's when we started seeing like these like we had identified together some really simple Really simple control solutions on like on the Keystone pipeline or on other

18:39 pipelines that would just generate millions right and they were simple and I was like why aren't we doing any of this and it was almost like this massive knowledge gap in the pipeline sector of what

18:47 really advanced control could be that like refining already has there was this complete gap is what it felt like huh yeah so you found Roger shirt right and figure figured it out and then is that when

19:02 you started your company or what what's the what's next there's oh there's more so yeah so background on Roger though because Roger's interesting Roger has had consulted in pipeline space for 18 years

19:13 he has three papers co-authored with Enbridge and he co-authored Enbridge's pipeline process control standards so he's very like very much established very very much like the standard of how you do

19:23 this kind of stuff so So yes, I was working with him, and I was like, why don't we have - Why don't we have like advanced control systems that were like, you know, overarching like supervisory

19:32 controlling pipelines like I don't get it, why not? Roger was like, we probably could.

19:38 So yeah, so at the time, I was still, you know, of course, it was a good corporate employee. And so I, actually what I did was I did a huge historical database poll, did other hydraulic

19:50 calculations and what the opportunity would be if we were to actually, if we could automate it, so what is it that we're missing out on, what is the additional potential volume that we could

20:01 capture, because what a lot of folks don't realize on tight lines is you have your underpinned asset and that asset is essentially earmarked or contracted at a certain amount. That amount is usually

20:09 80 to 85 utilization and most people are like, well that's 100 utilization, that's it, no you're wrong, right? 'Cause there's inconsistencies in how control room operators operate, you can just

20:20 standardize it and that standardization will increase your frequency that your app max rate and generate more throughput, straight up free revenue, which we love. So, yeah,

20:30 so that's what we were really wanting to, that was the opportunity. So I did like, I pulled a bunch of historical data, I went through it and I was like, okay, there is like at least a32 million

20:37 year opportunity here, a free revenue on the table. Here's how we can go get it, let's do it. Big corporate, there was no structure for this, right? Like it's just not how it works. Like it's

20:47 nothing to the company. It's like, I absolutely love my experience there. It's literally just big corporate and I didn't understand at the time. It's like, no, I was a junior engineer My job was

20:56 not to innovate how the organization does business, right? That's not my role. It's not even really frustrating at the time, of course, because I didn't understand it 'cause I'm like 25 years old

21:06 and I'm like, I don't get this. So I, like any good 25 year old millennial, I got myself a therapist.

21:15 What do I do? Oh my God, I have all these great ideas I can change. I can revolutionize this business and they won't let me. They won't let me know I do what was me. And so we did psychological

21:25 assessments, and essentially the answer was, well, you really aren't an engineer of personality, and you're probably gonna be miserable if you stay in this job, so it's time to try something new.

21:34 I was like, oh, good call. And then they were like, you should probably start a business because all of your psychological assessments show that you should really be an entrepreneur. And I was

21:41 like, well, no, that's terrifying. I'm never doing that. Took another six months. Yeah, took another six month therapy, talked me into it. But then that's how Craig started. So what I did

21:50 was I actually, because we weren't able to make progress in the company, I actually asked for permission to take the concept and leave, and I got legal free and clear permission from the legal team

21:59 that. Yeah, so of course, you know, the company can still pursue the concept, but making sure that we're like well above, above bar with regards to, yeah, being respectful to former employers

22:09 is important. So we made sure we got that, that dialed, and then we were free and clear to pursue this. Super cool. And I think that's how, at least from my purview, how a lot of innovation

22:21 happens, how a lot of entrepreneurs get started. Oh my God, I see something at this company that I work for. Maybe this is the same issue for every company that operates a pipeline or heavy

22:31 industry. And maybe there's a much bigger market opportunity than just this32 million niche at this one company. That's exactly what it was. I can make this into a real business. So you're still

22:43 young at this point, right? So what did you do? Did you go out and try to seek investment to build something? Did you bootstrap it on your own? Did you find a business partner like talk me

22:52 through getting crux started? It was a gung show. So at first I was like, Roger, 'cause Roger and I hit it off so well. Like he's like 21 years, my senior, but like he's just like, you know,

23:04 when you meet like work people that you just jive really, really, really well. And it's like, okay, we can do this. Yeah, so Roger and I were like that. And so at first Roger and I talked

23:12 about like maybe I take over his consulting business because he was, you know, kind of like getting closer to retirement age. And I was like, I don't know if I wanna do that I don't really want to

23:21 be consultant, like I don't really like that, like I think.

23:23 And I hadn't heard of startups. I hadn't heard a venture capital at the time. I hadn't heard of Silicon Valley. But I was like, I think there's something bigger here. And so I took a little

23:32 vacation to try and think about it. And yeah, I came back from Life's Tower Beach in Thailand. And I was like, I think I need to start an actual software company. I need to figure out what that

23:42 even means. I called Roger and I was like, do you want to start a software company with me instead? And he was like, yeah, man.

23:50 So yeah So then I had, not only did I have a really cool idea, we also had a really, really highly credible co-founder in the space, which was huge, because I have zero credibility. That's been

24:02 one of my biggest challenges in entrepreneurial journey is I don't look or sound. Anyone who knows anything about what I do. So it's been getting that credibility constantly has been incredible. So

24:15 yeah, so that's how we got to spinning out the company So, Rob and I decided to give it a go.

24:22 So I obviously had to leave my employer at the time, right? Because then it wouldn't have been a conflict of interest.

24:28 That would have been - that was not an easy decision, because I would be what I tried to have a job. I was in a really fortunate personal position that many people weren't in. But I loved sharing

24:38 this part of it, too. So I think it's a part of the entrepreneurial dream. I had a partner at the time who was willing to pay my credit card bill while I gave this a try, because I paid rent while

24:46 he did his residency for medicine So I was so lucky, right? Like, I was so lucky, because I was covering - like, I was like, oh, yeah, like, no worries. Like, I will cover the bills. Like,

24:57 you know, med school. Like, you know, your residency, this is tough, right? Like, I'll cover as much as I can. And then the time just worked where I was like, hey, I'm miserable. Like, I

25:04 want to try this business. And he's like, you know what? Go for it, right? Like, residency's done. Give it a try. Like, I'll cover

25:11 until you figure it out. So we did it for one year. And then I was like, hey, can I do another year? Like, I think this is working. And he was like, yeah, I go for it, do another year. So,

25:20 but it took us two and a half years to even just kind of like, like I've never heard of procurement, right? Like as like a thing, like I didn't, I didn't know what a sales pipeline was. So we

25:30 were so like green, and Roger and I were deep tech engineers, like we were so green that like we, we just got nowhere for a long time, but we ended up getting into tech stars. And I think that's

25:39 when, that's when you had the funding and all that way you were coming in. That's when that started really happening That's, you've said a lot, you talk fast for the record. Sorry, I can slow

25:50 you down. No, no, no, no, no, it's great. But I'm just, I'm trying to keep up with you. It is early in the morning, I just finished my first coffee, but I'm hanging in there. But I want to

25:58 talk a little bit about the, what you said in terms of having support as an early entrepreneur. I think that is what holds a lot of people back. Oh yeah, absolutely, it's a huge barrier. Huge

26:09 barrier. It took me, you know, I'm the breadwinner, my wife has worked in non-profit of three kids. When I first wanted to like really had this bug of, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to

26:19 start my own company. My wife was pregnant with her third kid. Yeah. And I'm like, how do I do this, right? Like I can't really have a down year, like we'll have to sell our house, or I'll

26:29 have to like cash out my 401K or something that I've worked 15 years to build. Like, you know, I can't hit my parents, like they're teachers in New Hampshire, like they don't have any money, you

26:40 know? So how do I do this? And I think that's what kept me working as an employee for another, like probably four or five years since I had the idea of starting something. So I like hearing that

26:50 you have a level of appreciation and realize that you were fortunate. I'd even say lucky potentially at that stage to have that support. Because otherwise, you might've just stayed miserable

27:01 working as a W-2, which is okay. There's not, and I say this all the time. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact - No, most people are happy there, and that's fantastic. It's just there's a

27:09 portion of us that are not, right? Right, right. It's obviously in your DNA to build stuff, right? to lead, to sell, right, to figure things out. And that might even go back to when you were

27:23 younger that you like to get your hands, like literally dirty in a paper mill.

27:28 So you got into Techstars, that's Brad Feld's company, right? Yeah, yeah, so actually Boulder, Colorado is where they're, state where they're based. So yeah, you should know them. So we got

27:39 into Techstars Energy, which was a program in Norway. And so how we got connected with that is I met a startup lawyer in Canada. He's actually a Shopify's lawyer. Great guy, James Smith, shout

27:50 out.

27:52 And James was, yeah, I met him and James was just like, when I told him what we're up to and like the value prop and how it can generate just so much revenue for existing companies. He was like,

28:02 Oh, this is the thing. He's like, Let me do some intros. And so he introduced me to Y Combinator and Techstars. After time, I didn't know what Y Combinator was.

28:13 I probably wasn't as excited or putting my best before as I should because I got off the phone like an interview with the co-founder of Pebble and I didn't know who it was at the time. And when I got

28:23 off and I gave a look, I was like, Oh,

28:27 I can't show you some research. I was like, Oh, oh, I can't hear you're the best thing. That's huge. So yeah, needless to say, we didn't get

28:41 in there But tech stars we did, and that was great. So we went to Norway, Roger and I were like, Because at the time we've been grinding at this for two and a half years and getting absolutely

28:49 nowhere. So I was like, Hey, Roger, I want to go live in Norway for three months. What have we got to do? And he's like, Ya'll come for a month. I was like, Sweet, let's do it. So yeah, so

28:60 we went. And it was an incredible experience, like, for, I can't recommend it enough for technical powders. Like, you need something like that If you're not a technical founder, you can figure

29:10 it out. If you are like, you need it. And yeah, for us, it was an absolute game changer. Like we came out of it with like, yeah, five people that were just like putting their hands up for

29:19 angel investment. And like, and I was in the situation with you. Like I'm from a rural remote place. Like this rumor that like founders can raise 250, 000 from friends and family, like I call

29:30 absolutely bold. Like that's not a thing for normal people. Like you can't do that. Yeah, I mean, that's like five years salary for a teacher in Newfoundland, right? Or whatever So I'm with you,

29:43 it's still even a bit crazy to me 'cause my whole, like I hate owing people money, right? Yeah,

29:50 me too. I hate it. I'm like a human. Yeah. So then being an entrepreneur is tough 'cause you're like, I've gotta return this money as fast as possible. But in some cases, these investors, like

29:59 they're a little bit more measured and they're like, yeah, this is gonna return 250. But it's gonna take seven years. You're like, oh, okay. That's such a shame. Yeah, I'm realistic. So you

30:07 don't get that like weird pressure, right? Yeah, but you do get pressure, I'm sure. And you know that as well as I do. But yeah, this is fascinating stuff. So Norwe, did you like living in

30:18 Norway? Was it kind of like a homecoming for you since it's like cold in the north? You're going to laugh. It was oddly similar. Like there were certain, like the vegetation is the same, like

30:28 just weird things like that. Like a lot of the like pickled herring, like, oh, you guys eat that

30:37 too. So I'm like, it definitely wasn't like a culture shock of a place, we'll say that. Yeah, so I'm Jewish, right? So pickled herring was one of those things that was always like a round on

30:48 like, you know, Sabbath, like, you know, You guys eat

30:53 it too? Yeah, and I remember the first time, I'm like, this is, 'cause someone said pickled, I'm like, oh, I like pickles, right? I'm probably like nine years old. And I took a bite, I'm

30:60 like, what is this? This is disgusting. And that was it. I'm like, I could never eat pickled herring. I love that you guys know what I'm talking about. Yeah, and I'm guessing since you're in

31:11 the North Atlantic, right, or wherever you are up there. Yep, over there too. That you get fresh fish, right? Oh yeah. So maybe it's good pickled herring, but I'm sure like the cod is good.

31:22 Maybe lobster out there too. Like I'm sure there's a ton of really fresh, cold water fish, right? My uncles are all lobster fishermen. Well, of course, right? Like that's a good job out there.

31:33 Great job It's different from, you know, Massachusetts and Maine. It's dangerous work, but it pays the bills. Yeah, yeah, I know they do great. Yeah. So this is neat. So you're in Norway,

31:46 right? You spent a few months over there. It did feel comfortable for you because you're from, you know, a cold place, the north, right? For lack of a better term. And you learned a lot,

31:58 right? And you were able to get some angel investing. And now you're a few years into this and you're like, Okay, I think this is actually, this has some legs to it. Did you then move back to

32:07 Calgary or what happened after the Norway trip? Yeah, move back to Calgary. So one of the angel investors that came in with us, wonderful guy, he was like, Vicky, I will invest 50, 000 Euro on

32:22 the condition that you meet with me every Friday and I teach you how to raise venture capital. Cool.

32:31 All right. Let's do it So yeah, so we did the angel investment, got that close. For six months, I met with him every Friday and then it was time to raise a pre-seed round. So that was a really

32:42 interesting experience, really cool. I think he had an experience that I'd love to share with other early-stage entrepreneurs when it's more of a hands-on thing, if I can help him

32:51 with it. But yeah, he coached me through it. He coached me through the first capital raise, I think it took us about eight weeks to get through it you know, we're buying like a sales process, um,

33:03 we had, yeah, co-lead at the end. And a great round so some fantastic Silicon Valley investors actually Silicon Valley and London Israeli investor and angular ventures Colette the round So yeah,

33:16 so that was a really exciting way and then we learned like okay This is what a capital strategy is right and then having those Connections to that type of VC which you know we couldn't have gotten

33:25 there without text stars We wouldn't have gotten the connections to the angels. Yeah from having that like then that just opened up a whole new world Right like like just simple things like an

33:35 applicant tracking system I've never heard of that, but like you're doing a lot of hiring you need an applicant tracking system and so like just the the The leg up that I could see that we were

33:44 getting compared to other startups in in the Calgary area was incredible So yeah, so that that happened we moved back to Calgary, you know raise that round Then COVID happened of course So prior

33:58 right prior to COVID or actually it was dreams when I was 21 was when we raised our second round of capital

34:05 Yes, we raised a second round. That was a6 million round led by bullpen capital. And then COVID happened. I actually ended up getting divorced during COVID, which was also sucky. But that's, I

34:14 think, part of

34:16 the entrepreneurial journey, too, is this stuff doesn't work for everybody, right? Yeah, I mean, there's you still have to live your life, too, right? And I'm sure you're pouring everything

34:24 you had into that. And then COVID, like we said, even before this call, why I started this podcast was I just all of a sudden was home all the time. And I had, I had time and I wanted to get my

34:35 brand out there, get my name, connect with people still and COVID sort of forced that, right? So yeah, there are a lot of personal challenges and changes that happen during COVID. So I'm sorry

34:44 to hear that. It's not entirely surprising when your life has just flipped upside down by something out of your control. Yeah. So I think that it happened to a lot of folks and us as well, right?

34:56 And that's okay. But what happened then was our investors have wanted me to move to the Bay Area. And I was like, Well, I really have no reason not to anymore. like I have nothing holding me back,

35:06 like let's go. And I think it's the best thing we did for the business. I wish I'd done it sooner because the access to capital and talent here is incredible. Like, I know I'm not, I know like,

35:18 I believe I need to be your customers from Calgary and Houston, but I'm like, okay, Bay Area has kind of been between and I can get the talent and the resources and like my customers know me,

35:27 right? So like, like it's kind of a nice happy medium and I'd recommend it to other startups in this space as well Yeah, I mean, it's wholly unaffordable to live out there, I think, for a lot of

35:39 people, like I think that your situation allowed it to happen and clearly you've just poured everything into this business. So why don't we, I want to transition a little bit to like, so you moved

35:49 to the Bay Area in 2021, 2022?

35:56 2022, yep, so been there it'll be coming up on three years. Do you like living out there? Yes and no.

36:03 I'll serve with you, yes, I'm like, I'm already honest, you know, I'm ready for the real deal. The yes is the talent here for scaling software companies is incredible and that is just best in

36:17 class and that's just the reality and I want to be here for that reason and we wouldn't have raised our series A if I hadn't been here because the connections that I've saved the money here. So for

36:27 the business it's absolutely fantastic, anybody do want to start it if you could figure out how you're going to be here, be here, even if it's just part time, do what you can. Yeah, sorry. And

36:32 then, so what I don't like about it, I guess, is

36:34 back to,

36:42 you know, our similar roots.

36:46 My level of anxiety, default anxiety here is like a solid four to five not just higher than when I'm in there, like a smaller community. Yeah. I mean, we were talking about public transportation,

36:56 like you have to use public transportation out there. the way of life and it's very expensive and the pace can be fast and you get yelled at all the time by random people and I'm not used to

37:10 that. Yeah and you've got to pay California taxes. There's some different different things for sure. So like what is CruxOCM? What do you guys do? Yeah so what we do is we've developed software

37:21 to enable an adaptive cruise control type experience for pipeline control reform operators. Okay. So we started with liquid pipelines but essentially if you think of a control reform operator you

37:31 know they're sitting there, they've got their six, nine screens in front of them. If they're going to start a pipeline, do a batch transition, anything like that, they're executing their

37:40 pressure set points, their pump starts, their valve opens. What Crux does is we simplify that workflow. So instead of you executing all of those individual commands, you select your flow path.

37:52 So I'm going to go from flow path A to B and now I'm going to go from A to C. You select that and then you select your target flow rate or you select max rate. the system operates all those

37:60 intermediary steps on your behalf. So we think of it like an autopilot as well. In control, more operators love it. It acts like a cruise control. If you touch any set point, it immediately

38:10 kicks out, enabling them to always be in control. So I get it. And I think most of our listeners will get it too. I think what you just did and clearly you've pitched this to many potential buyers

38:23 as well as investors. But it's a complex concept, but you really have to simplify it and break it down for people. So there's, is there an AI component to it as well? Like do you pitch this as AI,

38:36 you know, autopilot, you pitch this as AI when you're talking to investors or potential buyers, or is it really just, you know, workflow process automation? So it depends on your definition of

38:46 AI. So we use model predictive control underlying, which is like a

38:51 system

38:53 of equations like calculus, right? And so using that, I'm using it in like - you know, various, various ways. But essentially that 30 years ago was like cutting edge AI. So if you want to call

39:04 us AI, sure, right? Microsoft calls us AI, but we don't use large language models, right?

39:12 Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. That's fascinating. So your potential clients are any company that has pipelines? Yep, right now that is exactly it. Yeah, so we're fully commercial on liquid

39:26 pipelines So Philips 66 is a public customer with us, actually one Oak is also a public customer with us. So yeah, so they're public, yeah, we're installing, we've been rolling out with Philips,

39:39 we've already been operating multiple assets for two years at time this late. Yeah, we're very proud of what we've achieved with them. Yeah, I mean, those are great logos that you can hang your

39:50 hat on. And I feel like consolidation has been happening. in the mid-stream space, so sometimes that's good, sometimes it's bad. I would guess we may have the majors, it's a positive. And also

40:01 the growth of other liquids pipelines, like water, right, is a big deal, like we're seeing where those companies pop up as well. 'Cause as you know, when an oil company produces oil and natural

40:16 gas, they produce way more water too, and then you have to do something with it, right? So what do you do with that, right? You have to take it somewhere, and then you have to clean that water,

40:24 and you have to filter it, and you have to make sure that it doesn't just destroy the Earth. So that's good stuff. So this is neat. So you're in the Bay Area. Excuse me, do you have to travel a

40:35 lot to, I don't know, Oklahoma and Texas and Calgary and internationally various other places to do your business? 'Cause I would guess San Francisco is not a hub for pipeline companies. You're

40:50 100 correct. They are a fantastic hub for, yeah, as I said, talent and capital resources. VI. spend a lot of time on the road, a lot of time in Houston, a lot of time in Tulsa, in

41:01 Bartlesville, a lot of time in Calgary. Our Chief Revenue Officer, he is located in Houston and that is very purposeful. Our kind of deployments is actually located in Oklahoma and that's also

41:12 very purposeful. Right, right. You gotta be near where the customers are, at least on the business side So what does the company look like today? Like how many people do you have and where you at

41:22 and sort of your stages of funding? Like where's the business today? Yeah, so we are about 34 people. Yeah, we're doing it. The last round of capital that we raised was led by M12, so it's

41:35 Microsoft's venture fund. That was a 17 million round, so we're very excited about that. Yeah, and One Oak invested in that round as well. And so did EIC Rose Rock, whose LPs are Devin Williams,

41:48 One Oak, and I believe Hess. So

41:51 yeah, so it was very much a strategic round this last one, but yeah, that's about where we are. Well, congratulations. I mean, that's super exciting. And I don't know why it took so long for

42:01 it to hit my radar, but it did. I think it was the most recent funding round where it's like, well, who are these guys? This is cool. We like

42:11 to fly under the radar. It's just a little, I think it's too late for that I think people, and especially after you go on more and more of these podcasts and get your name out there, people are

42:16 gonna know who you are. Let's shift gears since we just have a few minutes left. What do you like to do outside of work? Yeah, that's a good one. Oh, I forgot one thing, go, I'll say I'm going

42:26 to Abu Dhabi in two weeks, so Middle East is a poll right now. But anyways, so yeah, so on the travel side, that's a fun one. Yeah. Exciting, but yeah, so for fun, I'm a huge skier. So I

42:36 used to do a lot of mountain hearing and stuff, skiing definitely definitely stuck with me. I like rock climbing as well. I don't do as much as I used to, but definitely into into that stuff. And

42:46 yeah, and then I love reading fantasy. So I'm just a big nerd. Fantasy sports? Nope. Like fairies and dragons. I'm like, oh yeah, like all of that.

42:60 You're for sure a nerd. No offense, none taken, but no, I love it. And it almost sounds like you'd be a good fit to live here. I mean, if you like skiing and you like rock climbing, it's all

43:12 close here. But California is nice for that too, right? You're close to Tahoe. Yeah. It's fantastic for it. Really? Yeah. But I mean, you got Banff and Lake Louise, right? It's super

43:25 convenient. Yeah, it makes sense that you like the outdoor stuff and even like sort of the wintry outdoor stuff too.

43:33 Give me a couple of your favorite restaurants in San Francisco. I love San Francisco. I love the food scene, I just eat my way through that city. I gain like seven pounds every single time I go

43:43 for a long weekend. And for you. Give me some of your favorite restaurants in San Francisco. Okay, so I'll get a half, you're gonna die at this one, I saw that question and I laughed. 'Cause

43:51 like, I am like the least, I am like so not a foodie. I'm one of those people that eats to survive. And so I'll give you my boyfriend's favorite restaurant 'cause he's a foodie. That's right.

44:01 Like how's the prime rib? He loves how's the prime rib? That was, oh my God So my friend Andrew Chan, and he's an investor, lives in LA but he was going up to San Francisco all the time. When we

44:12 were planning a trip to San Francisco, we're trying to put all these on a list. And that was like his number one that he recommended. We didn't have time to get to it, unfortunately. But one that

44:21 he highly recommended, for my next time, we'll go to House of Prime Rib. Yeah, definitely do it. And then, okay, then there's, across the street from my apartment building, there's the best

44:31 nachos I've ever had. Hallelujah, in Oakland.

44:36 Yeah, and I'm not a foodie, so if I say that, like it's actually really good. Halal, ta-kah-riah. That is, that's sad. Al-kah-riah. Talk about fusion. Yeah. Yeah, I like those. I'll give

44:49 you a couple of mine. There's one, well, Tony's pizza. And some of Tony's, do you know Dave's hot chicken? That's another good one. I don't, I don't. Yeah, Tony's isn't like North Beach,

45:00 San Francisco. Oh, I know Tony's, yeah, but I've been to Tony's. It's

45:06 just amazing. Delicious Yeah, I took my dad there and he's like, and he's like 77 years old. He's like, this just ruined pizza for me. Like, I didn't know that it could be like this and the

45:14 Caesar salad is fresh. And he's like, oh, how do I go back to New Hampshire and eat the crap that they make out there? He's like, you've ruined it for me. I'm like, well, at least I didn't

45:23 ruin it for you when you were 37. I ruined it for you when you're 77. So. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right? So, but he just means he needs to go back to Tony's again, so fun Yeah, we'll get

45:35 another trip out there. Um, and I will say it was kind of tough because San Francisco is so hilly, right? And now that he's older, it's like he couldn't really keep up. But I mean, watching

45:45 your parents age is tough, um, somewhat of the reality that I'm facing this like sandwich generation, um, with kids, like, you know, my high school or left this morning to go to school. And

45:57 you know, my parents are now getting to their like late 70s. So things are, things are changing. Um, do you have any plans to expand beyond the pipeline space? Or do you think that this is

46:07 really just what you're going to focus on? You're going to nail this and take it where it goes. For now, nailing the pipeline space. Cause like, well, as you know, cause you're in the, you're

46:16 in the space, right? Like the, the pipeline market is massive, like it's so huge. And so I think like we really want to, I want to make sure that like we're getting the pipeline control room

46:26 operators, what they need, let's get them what they need. And then then I do want to expand into some other markets. Um, I know that gas plants are underserved. So I think that would be a great

46:35 place to have a look next 'cause a lot of the off-the-shelf advanced process control packages are too expensive for the smaller gas plants. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And I mean, we've seen this

46:44 in the methane monitoring space. We've seen this in the SCADA and automation space. The market is then created for, okay, this used to just be for companies that can afford it. And then with the

46:55 advent of cloud compute, not needing to host things on site, you're able to then create solutions and leverage solutions that don't break the bank so that everybody levels the playing field a little

47:06 bit, which is cool. That's exactly what we're enabled with the Microsoft investment, the Microsoft partnership, right? So 'cause we now have a trusted back-end for this stuff, for the small guys.

47:17 Like they don't have to worry that we're like, we're housing in a garage, right? No, I would think that that is important, especially as you're talking to large publicly traded companies that

47:27 have, security checkboxes. And you're like, well, cool, here's like the Microsoft certification right here.

47:34 We're good. Yeah, so two more questions. And this one, I really want to I'm curious what your answer is going to be. But like, what advice would you give to the 22 year old version of yourself?

47:47 Or and or? Like just the young woman that is going out and wants to be an entrepreneur and wants to change the world. Like, what would you tell her? Like, like first of

48:02 all, no, you know yourself first. Like, I think what I would have done earlier is, uh, yeah, as a good millennial, gotten on that therapy train a little sooner. I like, cause I would have

48:10 saved me some time. So, so yeah, I think for, for folks, you know, in their twenties, like learn yourself first, whether that's a therapy or a three, just like reading or three, just like

48:18 self discovery, whatever you do, it is all, all fantastic. But really understand what, what makes you tick because That's like, I think a lot of people like the idea of entrepreneurship. But

48:29 this is a personality type, is the way that I describe it, and if you don't have a personality type, you'll be miserable and you won't know why, right? And so then that's not fair. You don't

48:38 want to be miserable. So I think that's probably my biggest thing, is know yourself first, and then advice,

48:45 well if you want to know yourself, just

48:48 keep sticking it out. It's got the ups and the downs, but keep zooming out to big picture. What is the ultimate end goal? Keep that in sight, keep that vision, and then just keep building the

48:57 steps to get there. You're going to ups and downs, but the more you zoom out, the easier it is to stay grounded. Yeah, I think that's really hard to do when you're younger, and that's why that

49:07 is good advice. And I would say too, it sounds like you're experiencing therapy, and I've spent lots of money going to therapy over the years, and I'm glad that I have, but I would say, it

49:18 sounds like it was almost a combination of career coachingtherapy, and that's probably in part because when you went in there, you were talking about your career. right? So a good therapist would

49:27 be like, okay, like this is what's causing you anxiety or or holding you back or whatever. So then you lean into that. So I do like that type of therapy as well, where it's a combination of

49:37 personal as well as, you know, business coaching. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah, I really applaud you. It's super cool. I definitely want to learn more about your company. Maybe see a demo at

49:46 some point. And I hope you guys continue to crush it. Where can people find you? Where can they find your company? Oh, you can find us at cruxocmcom. You can find us on LinkedIn as well,

49:59 Vicky Knot. So I do like to post, you know, about the trends in the industry and things that I'm seeing, which are really fun. So please find us there. Yeah, reach out. We'd love to connect.

50:11 Yeah, why not? Yeah, and info at cruxocmcom or Vicky at cruxocmcom. Well, I love it. So you make yourself available. Yeah, I

50:22 think this was a really fun podcast. definitely made my brain move in a way in the morning that it doesn't always move. So thank you for doing that. I'm going to have an extremely productive day

50:30 now. So thank you so much. But yeah, kudos to you. I know what you're doing is hard. And I'm sure there were points where you're like, what am I doing? This would be so much easier if I just

50:39 had a job and we're going to run out of money and you get divorced and there's COVID and you're moving. And

50:47 you're like a prime example of entrepreneurship and the resilience that it requires. And I just hope that it results in everything that you hope it is. So keep going. I'm saying for yourself.

50:57 Thank you, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, right. Dickey Nott, thanks for coming on What The Funk.