Every owner knows that transformation is hard. But few realize that hesitation, not competition, is what quietly erodes company value. That’s the insight Rocky Ozaki, Founder and CEO of The NoW of Work, shared when we spoke ahead of BTF Vancouver 2025. Having spent the past decade helping established companies modernize for the digital age, Rocky sees a consistent pattern: most organizations know what needs to change but delay acting on it until the market forces their hand.

Every founder dreams of building a business worth millions, few expect the emotional roller coaster that comes after they do. For Kevin Michaluk, better known as CrackBerry Kevin, the journey from a $15,000 bet to a $115 million exit was both exhilarating and disorienting. The Winnipeg-born entrepreneur turned his love for BlackBerry into Mobile Nations, a pioneering tech media company that built passionate online communities around mobile brands.

For many business owners, selling a company is the most significant financial and emotional transaction of their life. Yet too often, preparation begins only when the decision to sell has already been made. Mike Milani, Executive Managing Director & Principal at Baker Tilly Capital, LLC and Chair of BTF SoCal 2025, has spent nearly four decades advising owners through M&A transactions. His message is clear: the owners who achieve successful exits start thinking years, not months, ahead.

Debby has advised countless executives through acquisitions, turnarounds, and restructuring. In every case, the first question is the same: do people believe what you say? “The leader needs to be trustworthy. Without that, no matter what you do, your organization’s not going to be successful because the people… they’re not going to believe your strategy.”

Every entrepreneur faces moments when survival feels uncertain. For Mike and his team at Manitoba Harvest, that moment lasted more than two years. The company was in negative equity (its liabilities outweighed its assets) and it was relying heavily on trade credit to keep operations alive. For many leaders, this would have been the time to go quiet, hide from creditors, and hope for a turnaround. Mike chose the opposite path.

Ari Pandes, Associate Professor of Finance and Associate Dean of Professional Graduate Programs at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, is sounding the alarm on a troubling trend in Canada’s economy: the steady decline of operating companies listed on public markets, and the broader failure to scale up domestic businesses.