Meet Our Mentors: Doug Seaborn
Doug Seaborn, mapping and outdoors enthusiast and retired entrepreneur of three companies.
Meet Doug Seaborn, a mapping and outdoors enthusiast who co-founded and managed three companies for ten years each. As a retired entrepreneur, he now spends his time hiking, biking, kayaking, and skiing throughout the Grey Bruce region.
In fact, he revealed his childhood canoe trips were an early inspiration for his geography and mapping interests in a 2016 interview with Claus Rinner, Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Ryerson University.
Doug graduated from the University of Waterloo (UW) with a Bachelor of Science in 1968. His experience as an Applied Physics student paved the way for his entrepreneurial career because as he stated, “Waterloo was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
“The founders created some very bold and unique initiatives to be a university unlike any other, and that — quite frankly — fitted very well with my personality,” he said. “I discovered that so many of their dreams were coming true. I thought, maybe I can have the opportunity to have my own dreams and be successful as well.”
According to him, being a UW student instilled him the necessary skills and work ethic required to succeed in entrepreneurship. He found the Applied Physics program extremely challenging, but his perseverance, determination, and passion kept him going.
“I found that whole experience very much like growing a company,” he explained. “You're always facing setbacks and there's many times that you could doubt whether you'll be successful or not.”
“I find persistence pays,” he continued. “Persistence, determination, passion, all those things pay off. That's why I think Waterloo was very helpful to me in being an entrepreneur. I should say, in being a successful entrepreneur.”
And indeed, he is.
Doug began his career as one of seven founders of SHL Systemhouse. It became Canada’s first software company to open at the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1984.
In the 2016 interview, Doug stated that he was the project manager of AutoMAP, a computer system that produced topographic maps in Australia and Canada. Doug saw potential for AutoMAP in the utilities and telecom market, and according to the same interview, he acquired his AutoMAP team from the rest of SHL and transformed it into GeoVision.
Doug officially launched Geovision in 1986. The company’s main software, VISION*, provided geographic information system (GIS) services — such as mapping — for telecom and utility providers.
As explained in the 2016 interview, VISION* had several advantages that stood out from the competition, but it was a hard sell to telecom and utility providers. Doug found it difficult to convince corporate executives that GeoVision can and would deliver the promised gains for their companies.
“As you can imagine, the officers, the vice presidents of those companies are extremely conservative,” he said. “I had to basically convince them in person that we can and would do the best job of any of the vendors out there. This happened again and again because, for the most part, our market was large utilities, each of which would result in a million dollar plus sale to us. . . . I was interviewed by many vice presidents of many large utilities and had to get a passing grade from them in order for them to decide to select us.”
Eventually, his persistence paid off.
“Honestly, [it was] just pure persuasion, just being positive, being passionate, being firm, being clear,” he said. “Showing them I understood their business, showing them how my software would make their business run better — that's all I did.”
“I didn't think I could be successful. But sure enough, once one selected us, then others followed in their wake,” he added.
“To me, people don’t buy products. They buy from people, and once an entrepreneur can convince a potential buyer or a potential employee that they’re going to be successful, there’s just no way they’re not, and that they are going to persist until they will be successful.”
As the sales piled up, Doug’s confidence as an entrepreneur grew as well.
Doug sold GeoVision in 1993 and spent the next two years consulting for other businesses. However, his success in managing GeoVision kept him motivated to continue his entrepreneurial pursuits.
He co-founded VMI Medical in 1995 to produce software that helps detect and treat heart disease in children. In 1999, VMI was named one of Canada’s Top 10 Life Science Companies by the Ottawa Life Science Council. Additionally, by 2003, the company served 22 Children’s Heart Centers in the US, had 40 employees, and amassed $3 million in annual sales — according to the 2016 interview.
Doug was awarded a University of Waterloo Science Alumni of Honour in 2007 for his outstanding entrepreneurial efforts. Once inspired by the founders of UW, he now inspires other students and entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.
Doug acknowledged that he wouldn’t have been successful without the guidance from many others along the way. As a Fast Lane Plus™ mentor, he can now return the favour.
“Over the course of my career, many people went out of their way to help me, to counsel me as I built up my companies,” he reflected. “They gave me direction, advice, support, and encouragement many, many times. This is an opportunity for me to give back some of this learning and experience. And to the degree that some of these things made me successful, perhaps they might make the Fast Lane Plus™ participants successful as well.”
One of his main goals through the Fast Lane Plus™ program is to help entrepreneurs refine their business strategies to produce profit.
“You've really got to have the market strategy, product strategy, and employee growth strategy nailed clearly before you write the business financing plan, and before you can expect to secure funding to grow your business,” he said.
Additionally, he wants to empower entrepreneurs to pursue their business goals, regardless of the circumstances.
“To me, people don't buy products. They buy from people, and once an entrepreneur can convince a potential buyer or a potential employee that they're going to be successful, there's just no way they're not, and that they are going to persist until they will be successful.”
Click here to learn more about Fast Lane Plus™ and apply if you want someone like Doug Seaborn to mentor you on your entrepreneurial career.