2018年8月30日

對於連續創業者卡羅爾·利曼(Carol Leaman)來說，早期科技公司總是比大企業更有吸引力。但她在2011年決定掌舵微型學習平台Axonify，這讓她同時擁有了兩個世界。2011年，滑鐵盧(Waterloo)的小型初創公司卡羅爾•利曼(Carol Leaman)發起了對PostRank的主動競購。連續創業的利曼麵臨著一個選擇:是到這家科技巨頭公司任職，還是接受一對夫妻的邀請，運營他們不知名的學習平台17muscle。對於利曼來說，選擇很簡單——購買員工學習平台。利曼說:“(早期公司)真的是我的最佳選擇，這是我注定要做的事情。”所以她就這麼做了，將公司名稱改為Axonify，並製定了一個積極的產品路線圖，將這個核心轉變為企業通過遊戲化培訓員工的工具。利曼說:“他們給我帶來的是一個外觀非常醜陋的產品，不可擴展，而且是用一種非常簡陋的方式構建的，(但)它極大地改變了他們使用它的客戶端的行為。”“我就知道他們說得有道理。”在過去，利曼的直覺很少讓她出錯。十多年來，她一直在與早期公司合作，有時提供建議和指導，有時擔任首席執行官。 Her experience in the tech world spurred Communitech to tap her as the innovation centre’s first executive-in-residence (which is where she’d met the PostRank founder and eventually been asked to join the company). But Axonify was pure timing. The original founders had reached out for advice right before Google came knocking for PostRank, so Leaman was able to go all-in after the sale. And she says she’s glad she did. “We’re just light years beyond where we started.” Axonify boasts clients ranging from Walmart and Toyota to Bloomingdale’s and Johnson & Johnson. At its core, it’s a micro-learning platform, using three-to-five minute daily games adaptive to each individual and type of business. “It’s behaviour changing,” says Leaman. “(It) gets people to sell more, gets workers in dangerous environments to have fewer accidents – (it )reduces errors in claims processing.” And the platform can measure everything along the way to prove to employers it’s working. Plus, it’s fun, says Leaman. Not to mention the intellectual fun for the serial entrepreneur which comes with building an early stage product into a frontrunner in the microlearning sphere with 130 customers in 95 countries around the world. “I’m just thrilled, here we are five and a half years later and since the launch of the new platform it’s been a tremendous ride,” says Leaman. And a ride made possible by the support network in Waterloo. “Waterloo has such a great combination of things – highly skilled developers, low cost of living, you can reach anywhere in the world from here,” she says. “There’s support here for early-stage like nothing else, there’s capital you can raise… really there are no barriers to building a business in Waterloo.” Photo Credit: Cameron Bartlett ( www.snappedbycam.com )