Founder. Operator. Acquirer.
I started my first business at twenty — Clearview Window Cleaners in Winnipeg, a summer job that turned into a year-round operation. I handed it off when I moved to Vancouver in 1994. It ran for another thirty years. By the late '90s I had co-founded NetSet Home Solutions, helping Vancouver businesses navigate the early internet before winding down as the dot-com bubble burst. I've been running something ever since.
In 2000, I co-founded Ziptrek Ecotours in Whistler with an idea and little else. Over twelve years we built it into one of the most recognized adventure tourism brands in North America — operations in Whistler and Queenstown, 150+ employees, profitable, running without founder dependency. I stepped to the Board in 2012 and remain an active Director and shareholder today.
In 2014, I acquired Pink Solution, a Canadian eco-cleaning brand sold nationally across Canada. I rebuilt the operating model, more than doubled revenue through product and channel expansion, and exited in 2021. That full cycle — acquire, improve the business, exit — is the clearest demonstration I have that I know what to do once I own something.
More recently, I spent two and a half years as Integrator and COO at Jetstream Hospitality Solutions, a Vancouver-based hospitality SaaS company. I ran all operational functions — onboarding, account management, customer success, sales, and marketing — and built the team and systems to support sustainable growth. I remain an investor and Strategic Advisor in the business.
Through Udow Ventures, I manage this portfolio and look for what's next. I've been a founder, an acquirer, and a COO inside someone else's company. I know what each one requires — and I know what a business needs from its owner to get meaningfully better.
