Jim Estill from Danby Appliances

Jim Estill is the CEO and President of Danby Appliances.

Jim's resume is impressive:

• Founder of EMJ Data (acquired by SYNNEX)
• Founding Board Member of BlackBerry
• Angel in 150+ startups like Miovision, Clearpath Robotics (acquired by Rockwell Automation), PostRank (acquired by Google) and Well.ca
• Founding member of Communitech
• Order of Ontario and Order of Canada
• Active philanthropist

Takeaways

Being a great board member, especially to high-growth companies.

Founding his first business in university.

What it was like being a Founding Board Member at BlackBerry and watching its meteoric rise.

How to be great at sales.

Hiring.

His new focus of acquiring "smoke stack businesses" and applying high-growth principles to unlock value.

His recent acquisition of Arctic Snowplows and future plans.

Chapters

00:00 University of Waterloo Experience

01:10 Starting EMG Data

02:07 Reinventing Himself

03:03 Constant Learning and Seeking Help

04:02 Continual Reinvention and Giving Things Up

05:07 Time Management and Prioritization

06:26 Growth and Change of the Team

07:52 Dealing with Challenging Moments

09:42 Asking for Help and Finding Mentors

11:41 Being a Board Member

14:17 Approach to Sales

16:12 Joining the Board of RIM

17:33 Being a Board Member for High-Growth Companies

19:47 Acquisition of Danby Appliances

22:53 Transition to Danby Appliances

26:38 Changes at Danby Appliances

28:31 Acquisition of Arctic Snowplows

30:46 Acquisition Strategy and Value Add

36:13 Being a Humanitarian and Giving Back

38:37 Favorite Book

39:09 Excitement for the Year

40:08 Dealing with Hard Times