As a 100% volunteer-run nonprofit, TEDxWinnipeg relies on the revenue we generate from ticket sales and generous donations from our sponsors in order to make our event not just success, but a reality each year!
As a result, we wanted to sit down with some of our sponsors and ask them what they love about TEDxWinnipeg, and how supporting the sharing of big ideas aligns with their company values.
Next up is Stefan Maynard Chief Brand Officer and Co-Founder of BOLD Commerce, check it out:
What made you decide to sponsor TEDxWinnipeg? Were you familiar with TED before?
TED is known world-wide and attracts some of the brightest minds. At Bold, we are also looking for the brightest people so sponsoring and attending an event filled with like-minded individuals just made sense.
How does TED and TEDxWinnipeg fit with your company values? What makes us a good fit for helping to present ideas worth spreading each year?
At Bold, we look for people who constantly want to learn, grow, and expand their knowledge and skills. We offer mentorship programs, education funds, internal talks, lunch and learns, etc. With that in mind, will be sending 25 people from our team to TEDxWinnipeg to give them even further opportunity to hear about great ideas and expand their knowledge.
Tell me about your role at BOLD Commerce; why do you do it?
I’m the Chief Brand Officer (CBO) at Bold. I’m aware this is not a common title in many organizations, however, we place a lot of importance on being extremely intentional in all we do. We live in a fast-paced world where you have the ability to scale a business at unprecedented rates, but also in one where a single false move can spread like wildfire on social media. My role is to oversee and maintain all aspects of Bold’s image, voice, communications, and experience, to ensure we deliver on our promise to our employees and customers.
What’s one topic you’re passionate about that you’d love to see discussed on the TEDxWinnipeg stage?
I’m a true Winnipegger at heart. I love our city, and believe the best part about it is our people. They are hard-working, loyal, and passionate. However, I do find that we have a general mentality that is behind compared to other markets. I’d love to hear a talk on “thinking bigger” specifically around Winnipeg and how we should be reaching higher, doing more, and not only hoping to be able to compete at a global scale, but going in with a mentality that we CAN lead and dominating markets around the world, from right here in Winnipeg.
What’s the best book you’ve read lately, and why?
“What would Google do?” is a great book about people and culture. It was particularly interesting for me as we have very similar philosophies and cultures at Bold. We are also growing very fast so it’s nice to learn from people who have been there, done that, to hear what they have learned along the way to hopefully avoid any mistakes they made.
“The Lean Startup” is a book that I’d recommend to all startups to understand the importance of MVPs and shipping products and failing fast.
“Measure What Matters” is also a great book that we just had the entire company read. It’s about Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), which are a way of introducing transparency and accountability into an organization. It’s great for companies of our size, or bigger to get a better understanding of what everyone is doing, with the goal of aligning the entire company towards the same goals.
