An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Time is not on your side — When I started my first business, I was not aware of how many years it actually takes to make my idea turn into a successful business. There are always going to be roadblocks and hiccups that are out of your control that takes time. That’s life. But I wish I could express to my younger self that realistically, a person only has the time to create five businesses that prove to be successful.

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Marc Morin.

Marc Morin is a co-founder of Auvik and its President and Chief Executive Officer. He is responsible for the general direction and management of the Company as well as the development of the overall growth strategy. This start-up mercenary has previously co-founded several successful companies, including PixStream, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2000, and Sandvine Corporation.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I had a pretty normal childhood growing up in Northern Ontario and participated in stereotypical Canadian activities like playing hockey. It was in high school when I was exposed to the concept of “engineering”, which was something I had never heard before. It was my electronics teacher who expanded my mind around this technology, more than just liking to take things apart, like my sister’s Thumbelina doll. This teacher without a doubt changed my life because, through them, my eyes opened to a whole new world which eventually became a passion of mine. In my young adult years, I went to a university in Waterloo and haven’t left that town since!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I can’t remember where or when I heard this but it has stuck with me for many years- “most people let life happen to them versus realizing they are an active participant in their life.” I had this wild realization in middle school that I am the only person that can change my environment. Now, I think of life as an “active player” game where it really just comes down to shaping your mentality on life. Now with that said, we all know life can be extremely hard at times and unfortunately, we are plagued with inevitables like death, heartbreak, etc., but it’s important to realize when you are going through these trying times so you can try your best to keep life moving along and not let these emotions rob you of your mental and emotional energy. I think it was in my mid-thirties when I was reflecting on some of my life’s events and thought to myself that most things arguably aren’t that important, meaning they may feel important in that exact moment but later on can be chalked up to what makes life, life.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

My high school years were very transformative for me in terms of my personal growth. That time period was really when I got into Ayn Rand’s work. She was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher, and I never read a piece I didn’t like. She has a very individualist approach to her writing and really promotes the message of shaping one’s own path. I would like to think my affinity for her work and what she stands for definitely shaped my viewpoint in the answer mentioned above.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

Before a person even takes that first step in transitioning an idea into an actual business, they need to ask themselves some bigger questions to find out if their idea is even a solid one. It’s also important to not fall in love with an idea. Infatuation will be the downfall of the success of an idea because a person becomes blind and loses their most precious form of currency- time. Having created five companies in my lifetime, I can tell you that a person really only has that many opportunities to start a company because of how much time a person can dedicate to that idea. I like to ask myself these questions below when evaluating the potential success of my idea:

• What problem is my idea fixing? Are there bigger problems that need to be solved more than just the one I’m focusing on?
• What evidence do I have to ensure this will be a successful idea?
• Have I done my homework to objectively compare similar ideas already out in the world?

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

Contrary to this common way of thinking, I’m completely opposite and encourage others to be the same. When I go looking for an idea and no one has that exact idea or one that is similar, I’m extremely skeptical. I just feel that no one is that clairvoyant to skip so far ahead. I would also recommend asking yourself the following questions in order to “win”, meaning make the idea flourish amongst others:

• How is their idea different from yours?
• How is their idea going to lose and yours win?
• What are they doing wrong that you’re doing right?

There have been many examples in business where the first movers don’t win, resulting in a second-mover advantage. What I mean by this is that the first mover normally is pumping out their ideas and educating the market, but all too early. It goes back to the saying “being too early is the same as being late.” My point is that it’s all about where you are in the window of opportunity. You don’t want to be too early or too late, but more so want to be in that window where the winner hasn’t been established yet.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

Everyone thinks the idea is the hard part but it’s just the beginning. There is an endless list of actions that need to be executed in order to succeed, one is deciding when the timing, space, and offering are right, and what that next move is. At that point, I encouraged people to ask themselves how to organize the company to “win” in that market. I firmly believe thinking through what kind of company you have in your chosen market will dictate the kind of financing it needs. As an example, if you find yourself in a fast, quick-growing market, you need financing very quickly, but if it’s something that has a longer timeline, then you can use different financing tools. Throughout my career, I’ve heard people state they don’t want to take any VCs, which is fine to feel that way, but I then ask them, “how would you feel if your competitor did? Is that an advantage or disadvantage to you?”

Moving onto the more tactical questions, let’s start off with patents. Patents depend on what the company will be and you should always question if a patent will be a useful thing to the company. Some companies need to have them because it’s easy to replicate the solution, whereas it’s less so easy in other markets. For sourcing a good manufacturer and finding a solid retailer to distribute, I encourage everyone to start researching what are the best options immediately.

Ultimately, there is no magic wand here. What it really comes down to is working hard, being curious, asking questions, exploring competitors, and seeing how they did it. I encourage everyone to not be afraid to reach out and introduce themselves to others despite how incredibly uncomfortable that can be. This is truly necessary since others may have more insights and have done things that you need to do in order to win.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?

1. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable — I am an extreme introvert so the idea of talking to people or hanging out in crowds is super uncomfortable to me. But I learned in my career that I have to put on an act because being the CEO means that the company and its employees depend on me to keep the business successful. From the way I behave to the things I say, I try to keep these all in mind in order to prolong the success of the team and company. I encourage others who are just starting out in leading a company to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable things I did like public speaking, the more comfortable I became.
2. No surprises — Don’t be surprised by the number of ideas that don’t work. I have created countless ideas that never came to fruition but there was a lesson in that that I didn’t know at the time. The lesson is, to be honest with yourself when it’s time to pull the pin on an idea. Also, don’t try to be a martyr. When there is a little voice in your head saying this idea is not going to work, listen! An idea that doesn’t work is not a failure because a real failure is when you end up ignoring that little voice and continue to push that idea for the next three years and ultimately waste your time. Someone told me in my young twenties that the act of failing is not a failure but giving up and abandoning is a failure.
3. Break up with burning out — When leading a company, you must have tough skin, be ready for hard work, and keep in mind that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I wish more people would understand that you should not be working 20 hours every day because that leads to burnout. What’s most important is finding a steady work cadence. When I was younger and didn’t have kids yet, I worked longer hours, but as we all know, life changes and priorities shift.
4. Company culture is key — During my early career, I never really paid attention to company culture but I learned it’s something you need to shape. You are going to have a company culture whether you know it or not so might as well make it the one you want! The key to this is to make the company culture authentic and to make sure it’s not too aspirational because employees can see when actions aren’t matching words. Company culture gives everyone permission to correct each other when we stray, which is important because that means it’s not driven by one person but actively being managed by everyone in the company.
5. Time is not on your side — When I started my first business, I was not aware of how many years it actually takes to make my idea turn into a successful business. There are always going to be roadblocks and hiccups that are out of your control that takes time. That’s life. But I wish I could express to my younger self that realistically, a person only has the time to create five businesses that prove to be successful.

Let’s imagine that a reader reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to invent. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

There’s a framework I like to use called “major waves” that helps me make those next steps of transitioning an idea to an actual product. In this framework, you are instructed to ask yourself what the macro-sociological impacts are affecting the world today. Is it global warming, technology shifts, aging populations, etc.? It’s crucial to pick a wave that is undeniably going to change the world and to not pick just one wave idea but two. As we all know, it’s very easy to see the first wave coming to hit the shore, but the second and third waves aren’t as easy to see.

It’s also important to try and position yourself in a market or problem that will be affected by these multiple waves. The thing to remember is that you won’t be 100% accurate in your prediction, but you want to be close. You shouldn’t forget to keep an eye on the market and its changes because then you can properly adjust or “surf” these complex waves. In doing so, your idea will be better than the surrounding ones and leave you to stack the deck so you can be more successful riding the impacts.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I’ve never used a consultant to help me with ideas so I’m not sure it’s worthy but if the purpose of hiring one is to validate the worthiness of an idea, then I think it’s absolutely a good idea. Hiring a consultant allows you to engage with the broader world, customers, people in the market, a.k.a. people that know things you don’t. In that phase, you want to try to expand your perspective and understanding of the idea that’s being validated.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

That depends on the type of business. I encourage everyone to ask questions like, “how fast does it need to grow?”, “what are the capital requirements?”, “is personal capital available?”. Also, please make no mistake that if you take money from any investor, it doesn’t matter if it’s a VC or a friend, they are going to want their money back plus a handsome return. Ultimately, there are no right or wrong answers to this question. For example, I think there is a dangerous thing occurring in the tech space where people are showing their “badges of honor” per se of raising money from a VC. What people sometimes overlook is that when situations occur like this, that doesn’t mean it’s good because what really matters is the reasoning behind the money and if it’s for a genuine purpose.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

As someone who refers to themselves as not very forward-thinking and does not like praise, I think my only answer is me taking the responsibility for the people who work within these companies very seriously. I not only want to change their lives, but their family’s lives too.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could start a movement — — As it relates to global sustainability, I wouldn’t start one, but I would put my energy behind things like The Greta Thunberg Foundation. I was so inspired watching Gretna give her speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in 2019 that I immediately became a fan. Also, who doesn’t want to support groups working towards a just and sustainable world?

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Sitting down and grabbing a beer with Elon Musk would be super interesting. His career is incredible, and he has done so much, from being an entrepreneur and business magnate to being a founder and investor. Clearly, he’s doing something right so I would love to hear about his experiences in his career in hopes his insights will make me become a better founder and CEO.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

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Making Something From Nothing: Marc Morin Of Auvik On How To Go From Idea To Launch was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.