Building an Enterprise from the Ground Up
April 2, 2019

Building an Enterprise from the Ground Up

Maria Pacella sits down with the founders of Point Grey Research, a global leader in innovative, high-performance digital cameras.

Subtitle: Point Grey Research

Maria was joined by Vlad Tucakov, Don Murray and Malcom Steenburgh who share stories from their days at the University of BC to building an organisation of over 300 employees worldwide. They give insights into how Point Grey Research grew over the years, the challenges they faced and the tough decisions that had to be made, until it was eventually acquired by FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions in 2016.

Key Takeaways

01:23Vlad starts the conversation reflecting on their time in UBC’s Computer Science Department working on a mobile robot which led to their first business plan.
12:39The founders discuss their business model and how it changed from their original plan.
16:20Maria asks about the roles each of the founders took on and their first hires.
21:49Malcom discusses the growing pains they endured and they share their business recipe and philosophy.
27:21They explain the set of Specific Methodical and Consistent (SMaC) rules they set for themselves.
32:12Maria asks what their views were on external financing and if they think they made the right decision by not accepting financing.
35:45The founders cover the details that led to their decision to sell the company.
39:20Maria asks the founders if they would do anything differently and what the main lessons that were learned.