WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.049 --> 00:00:03.717 Laura Simpson: When I look back on it, she really invested in technology 00:00:03.717 --> 00:00:07.807 early, which I think helped me not be afraid of technology. 00:00:08.107 --> 00:00:13.297 She had, Macs before people had Macs and then people before her were doing 00:00:13.297 --> 00:00:16.807 recording and transcription with the normal stenographer machine that you 00:00:16.807 --> 00:00:21.097 would see in movies and stuff, which is like a very few character machine. 00:00:21.527 --> 00:00:27.907 And she started recording, basically with a four track cassette recorder with 00:00:27.907 --> 00:00:29.437 like multiple mics and stuff like that. 00:00:29.437 --> 00:00:35.437 And so she had a realistic recording, like an actual recording, instead of 00:00:35.437 --> 00:00:39.747 just like somebody's interpretation of what was said and she was able to 00:00:39.777 --> 00:00:44.557 really increase the turnaround time, by just using technology for how long 00:00:44.557 --> 00:00:46.027 people were waiting for transcripts. 00:00:46.027 --> 00:00:50.167 So she became the biggest in the Atlantic provinces for her company and 00:00:50.177 --> 00:00:54.527 got to travel all over the world with lawyers and yeah, I grew up, like, 00:00:54.527 --> 00:00:56.617 watching her just kick ass, basically. 00:00:56.757 --> 00:00:57.787 Raphaël: That's so cool. 00:00:57.787 --> 00:00:58.447 Hey folks. 00:00:58.477 --> 00:01:03.647 And welcome to this latest episode of the small tech podcast. 00:01:03.647 --> 00:01:07.477 I'm your host Raph co-founder of EC the digital product 00:01:07.477 --> 00:01:11.437 studio, building technologies for a more sustainable future. 00:01:11.437 --> 00:01:14.617 And today we have another amazing guest. 00:01:15.017 --> 00:01:19.477 She is the CEO and co-founder of SideDoor. 00:01:19.477 --> 00:01:24.098 A platform that brings together artists, hosts venues. 00:01:24.098 --> 00:01:27.128 Everything you need for a musical performance to come together. 00:01:27.528 --> 00:01:33.108 They allow artists and individuals who want to host a show in their 00:01:33.108 --> 00:01:37.148 living room to come together they also work with venues. 00:01:37.148 --> 00:01:41.528 And they have a ticketing platform to make it all come together into actual 00:01:41.528 --> 00:01:46.028 shows that you can pay for to support the artists in your community or people 00:01:46.028 --> 00:01:47.408 who are touring and coming through. 00:01:47.808 --> 00:01:49.788 It's a really, really wonderful platform. 00:01:50.188 --> 00:01:54.268 And it's doing something that I care a lot about, which is making the 00:01:54.268 --> 00:01:59.248 arts sustainable, making sure that artists can make a living and continue 00:01:59.248 --> 00:02:03.428 to exist and make the cool things that they do make us feel things 00:02:03.428 --> 00:02:06.318 and create stuff that we can enjoy. 00:02:06.718 --> 00:02:07.768 She is Laura Simpson. 00:02:07.798 --> 00:02:10.961 And I learned a lot about her today, even though I've known her for a while. 00:02:11.021 --> 00:02:12.731 And I think it's really valuable. 00:02:12.761 --> 00:02:13.871 So enjoy. 00:02:14.271 --> 00:02:15.641 Laura Simpson: Hey, Laura, Hello. 00:02:15.673 --> 00:02:16.013 Raphaël: how's it 00:02:16.013 --> 00:02:16.383 going? 00:02:17.281 --> 00:02:17.771 Laura Simpson: It's going? 00:02:17.781 --> 00:02:18.031 great. 00:02:18.031 --> 00:02:18.711 How are you doing? 00:02:19.023 --> 00:02:23.033 Raphaël: Yeah, I'm doing all right thanks for joining me on the small tech podcast 00:02:23.033 --> 00:02:23.983 Laura Simpson: oh, it's a pleasure. 00:02:24.033 --> 00:02:27.733 Raphaël: So kind of just gonna dive into it, I want to get 00:02:27.733 --> 00:02:29.983 a sense of your background. 00:02:30.043 --> 00:02:32.353 How did you end up starting Sidedoor? 00:02:32.363 --> 00:02:37.223 How did you end up where you were career wise or life wise, uh, 00:02:37.243 --> 00:02:38.873 that led you into this journey? 00:02:38.923 --> 00:02:45.363 Laura Simpson: Yeah, I guess I was like in a mid career crisis where I was 00:02:45.813 --> 00:02:51.513 working in a non profit that supported artists and helped them find funding for 00:02:51.523 --> 00:02:53.973 their marketing and touring, in Canada. 00:02:54.413 --> 00:02:58.983 And I just found, like, I sort of hit a wall, both with, like, the advancement of 00:02:58.993 --> 00:03:03.503 what I could do in that organization, and also just feeling like what I was doing 00:03:03.503 --> 00:03:06.073 wasn't as effective as I wanted it to be. 00:03:06.073 --> 00:03:09.067 I I just found, like, there's still so many barriers for artists. 00:03:09.097 --> 00:03:11.140 That weren't getting acknowledged. 00:03:11.200 --> 00:03:15.840 And on the side, I had been working in live music quite a bit, like doing 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.510 all sorts of different kinds of jobs, whether it's like, um, working at 00:03:21.510 --> 00:03:26.960 the local jazz festival, doing artist services for big artists, or, um, also 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:28.670 just presenting shows in my own house. 00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:35.020 Um, so that was sort of my deep love was to work in live music. 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:40.470 And so that was the main thing that I knew I wanted to do. 00:03:40.510 --> 00:03:43.560 Um, but really it took a trip to California, which was sort 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:48.670 of my, like, work and parental sabbatical for four months. 00:03:48.670 --> 00:03:54.400 I lived in Los Angeles, um, where I started to really crystallize things. 00:03:55.375 --> 00:03:58.315 And honestly, it still took a year and a half after that to 00:03:58.315 --> 00:03:59.775 really get started with SideDoor. 00:03:59.775 --> 00:04:05.815 So it was like this slow evolving process of just kind of stumbling along until I 00:04:05.815 --> 00:04:09.605 came across the right way to do things. 00:04:10.062 --> 00:04:13.412 Raphaël: So was it something like you were, you were aiming for this 00:04:13.432 --> 00:04:18.142 or did it just kind of, you knew that you wanted to help artists, but you 00:04:18.142 --> 00:04:19.812 weren't sure exactly what form that 00:04:19.812 --> 00:04:20.842 would take or 00:04:21.175 --> 00:04:24.965 Laura Simpson: Yeah, the shape of it was really abstract for a long 00:04:24.965 --> 00:04:27.425 time, and I never worked in tech. 00:04:27.425 --> 00:04:32.870 Like, I had I mean, basically I had turned our funding program, that 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:38.980 was paper based into an online, like, free software based program. 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:42.160 Like, that was the closest thing I came to, you know, working in 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.700 tech, was like, making things more efficient using free technology. 00:04:46.882 --> 00:04:47.612 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:52.190 Laura Simpson: But, yeah, I had no idea what being a start up would mean, or 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:57.070 raising money, like, I literally went to Volta, which is our tech incubator here 00:04:57.070 --> 00:04:59.720 in town, to hang out and find a developer. 00:04:59.740 --> 00:05:02.670 Like, it was a singles bar, which I always joke about. 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:06.170 I was just kind of, like, waiting around to meet people 00:05:06.170 --> 00:05:07.900 in tech to learn what they did. 00:05:07.900 --> 00:05:10.980 But it was, yeah, when I was there, I was like, oh, you should maybe 00:05:10.980 --> 00:05:14.370 join an accelerator program that will help really give you a break. 00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:17.070 Your abstract thoughts, some shape. 00:05:17.070 --> 00:05:18.100 So that's what I did. 00:05:18.432 --> 00:05:19.422 Raphaël: How, how was that? 00:05:19.422 --> 00:05:19.822 What was the 00:05:19.822 --> 00:05:20.622 accelerator? 00:05:21.340 --> 00:05:21.990 Laura Simpson: It was really good. 00:05:21.990 --> 00:05:24.240 It was called Propel, still in existence. 00:05:24.330 --> 00:05:26.840 and it was in person in those days. 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:27.820 It's virtual now. 00:05:28.510 --> 00:05:32.440 but I found a lot of value in just kind of being in a cohort of other 00:05:32.450 --> 00:05:36.540 founders, knowing that they were kind of stumbling along as well. 00:05:36.602 --> 00:05:37.002 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:05:37.580 --> 00:05:40.700 Laura Simpson: And they brought enough folks in to meet with us. 00:05:40.850 --> 00:05:46.731 To give us guidance that helped to answer some questions in my head. 00:05:46.731 --> 00:05:50.540 And some of those people they brought in actually became our early 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:52.128 investors, which was really nice. 00:05:52.128 --> 00:05:52.445 Um, 00:05:53.032 --> 00:05:53.662 Raphaël: Awesome. 00:05:53.902 --> 00:05:58.592 Was there, what was the most, um, like surprising or unusual thing when you 00:05:58.592 --> 00:06:03.792 sort of stepped into this tech world, um, coming from, from your background? 00:06:03.792 --> 00:06:07.422 Laura Simpson: I found the tech and business world language really hard. 00:06:07.502 --> 00:06:13.862 Like I found people speaking codes and it's shorthand for them, but I, 00:06:13.972 --> 00:06:18.167 especially the acronyms, I still, Google things while I'm in meetings. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:19.349 Raphaël: Yeah, totally. 00:06:19.659 --> 00:06:23.479 The KPIs and, I don't know, Shred and 00:06:23.479 --> 00:06:24.459 all of these 00:06:24.757 --> 00:06:25.387 Laura Simpson: All of it. 00:06:25.737 --> 00:06:28.677 And it's like, it's like people want to have a secret language. 00:06:28.677 --> 00:06:28.967 So, 00:06:29.559 --> 00:06:30.139 Raphaël: Yeah, it's So, 00:06:30.139 --> 00:06:30.559 true. 00:06:30.987 --> 00:06:33.407 Laura Simpson: you know, I used to work in journalism where it 00:06:33.407 --> 00:06:35.537 was like really beat into us. 00:06:35.537 --> 00:06:38.037 Like you need to speak in plain language. 00:06:38.067 --> 00:06:39.017 Like I worked in radio. 00:06:39.017 --> 00:06:41.467 So it was like, how do you put things into 30 second bytes? 00:06:42.147 --> 00:06:44.297 So that anyone can understand. 00:06:44.847 --> 00:06:47.397 So that was the biggest shift I found, honestly. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:52.199 Raphaël: Yeah, that background in journalism, and radio, I mean, that feels, 00:06:52.289 --> 00:06:56.759 of course, like, very tied, at least the radio, to, to music, but journalism, 00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:00.539 how does that fit into your way of thinking and operating in this space. 00:07:01.397 --> 00:07:03.008 Laura Simpson: Um, customer discovery 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:03.639 Raphaël: or does it? 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.559 Laura Simpson: Customer discovery is a lot easier 00:07:06.874 --> 00:07:07.424 Raphaël: Okay. 00:07:07.514 --> 00:07:07.964 Yeah. 00:07:07.964 --> 00:07:14.194 Laura Simpson: Like asking strangers constantly or even our users, just talking 00:07:14.214 --> 00:07:19.117 to people really curious and asking good questions comes really naturally to me. 00:07:19.117 --> 00:07:20.887 I have no problem doing that. 00:07:20.907 --> 00:07:23.797 So that's really helpful. 00:07:23.927 --> 00:07:27.707 And being a journalist kind of means you're a generalist, so that you 00:07:27.707 --> 00:07:31.117 just learn about different things constantly, and so you have little 00:07:31.247 --> 00:07:33.637 bites of experience in different worlds. 00:07:33.707 --> 00:07:37.837 And that helps you be empathetic too when you're approaching 00:07:37.887 --> 00:07:38.997 different things, you know? 00:07:39.697 --> 00:07:39.877 Yeah. 00:07:39.877 --> 00:07:40.937 So it did really help. 00:07:40.937 --> 00:07:44.387 Raphaël: Awesome, before Sidedoor, did you ever, do anything 00:07:44.387 --> 00:07:46.447 sort of, uh, entrepreneurial? 00:07:46.447 --> 00:07:50.117 Or was this kind of your first shot at, like, building something, 00:07:50.900 --> 00:07:51.490 Laura Simpson: Uh, oh yeah. 00:07:51.727 --> 00:07:52.187 Raphaël: or product 00:07:52.187 --> 00:07:52.247 or 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:53.130 Laura Simpson: No, no. 00:07:53.130 --> 00:07:54.710 I mean, my lemonade stand 00:07:54.828 --> 00:07:56.256 Raphaël: ha ha 00:07:56.840 --> 00:08:00.230 Laura Simpson: Like really, like I was in a busy street and I used to go 00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:04.880 out at the like time when there was so much traffic, cause it was just like 00:08:04.880 --> 00:08:10.230 a log jam at five o'clock and I sold loads of lemonade and then I added 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:11.870 different products and stuff like that. 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:16.415 I did that for a long time no, but seriously, I did, my first real company 00:08:16.415 --> 00:08:20.535 was, I started a company right out of college that was called Document, 00:08:20.595 --> 00:08:28.855 which just was sort of pre, would be the equivalent, ancestry.com, like, so it 00:08:28.855 --> 00:08:35.135 was pre that, and so I would interview people and document, their stories and 00:08:35.135 --> 00:08:39.975 their lives, for different purposes, for like retirements, for memorials, for 00:08:40.445 --> 00:08:43.145 you know, all these different occasions. 00:08:43.545 --> 00:08:46.895 And I would, I would put it into a hardcover book and it was sort of 00:08:46.895 --> 00:08:50.025 like putting it together with real pictures and stories and just like kind 00:08:50.025 --> 00:08:55.310 of having this like artifact that is your life at a certain point in time. 00:08:55.380 --> 00:08:59.680 And, um, yeah, I did that for a couple of years and really loved it. 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:04.400 Then I also had an artist services company right before, side door began. 00:09:04.410 --> 00:09:07.000 So that actually is just winding up now. 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:12.110 I, I passed it along to my partner and she's been running it for this whole 00:09:12.110 --> 00:09:14.580 time for I think nine years now. 00:09:15.330 --> 00:09:18.130 But she's just at a point where she's moving on to other things. 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:24.750 And then I also ran an off grid camp for adults, for two years. 00:09:25.340 --> 00:09:29.650 So yeah, I've had a few different ventures, if you call it. 00:09:30.262 --> 00:09:31.072 Raphaël: That's awesome. 00:09:31.492 --> 00:09:33.972 So a lemonade stand. 00:09:33.992 --> 00:09:34.662 Amazing. 00:09:34.762 --> 00:09:40.142 Um, hahaha I love that, so I guess entrepreneurship and building 00:09:40.142 --> 00:09:42.852 things from the ground up has always been sort of in your DNA. 00:09:42.852 --> 00:09:43.562 Laura Simpson: Yeah, my mom, 00:09:43.582 --> 00:09:45.162 my mom was a small business owner, 00:09:45.384 --> 00:09:45.934 Raphaël: Oh, cool. 00:09:46.352 --> 00:09:48.572 Laura Simpson: I worked in her business growing up. 00:09:48.572 --> 00:09:51.822 Her business was in our basement, and so I learned how to do everything from, 00:09:51.822 --> 00:09:56.872 you know, managing their garbage, to deliveries, to accounting, to, like, 00:09:57.004 --> 00:09:58.014 Raphaël: That's so cool. 00:09:58.492 --> 00:10:02.242 Laura Simpson: calling on accounts that were not paid on time, to, like, doing 00:10:02.242 --> 00:10:06.302 the actual job of, like, recording and transcription, which is the company, and, 00:10:06.394 --> 00:10:06.684 Raphaël: Oh, 00:10:06.712 --> 00:10:07.012 Laura Simpson: yes. 00:10:07.662 --> 00:10:09.222 So all sorts of different things. 00:10:09.264 --> 00:10:10.254 Raphaël: Interesting. 00:10:10.384 --> 00:10:14.804 So also, I guess, working with audio from an early age. 00:10:15.664 --> 00:10:15.914 Laura Simpson: Yeah. 00:10:16.064 --> 00:10:20.502 I mean when I look back on it, it really, like, she really invested 00:10:20.502 --> 00:10:25.562 in technology early, which I think helped me not be afraid of technology. 00:10:25.912 --> 00:10:31.822 Um, like, she had, Macs before people had Macs and then people before her were 00:10:31.832 --> 00:10:35.812 doing recording and transcription with like the normal stenographer machine that 00:10:35.812 --> 00:10:40.172 you would see in movies and stuff, which is like a very few character machine. 00:10:40.602 --> 00:10:46.982 And she started recording, basically with a four track cassette recorder with 00:10:46.982 --> 00:10:48.512 like multiple mics and stuff like that. 00:10:48.512 --> 00:10:54.512 And so she had a realistic recording, like an actual recording, instead of 00:10:54.512 --> 00:10:58.822 just like somebody's interpretation of what was said and she was able to 00:10:58.852 --> 00:11:03.632 really increase the turnaround time, by just using technology for how long 00:11:03.632 --> 00:11:05.102 people were waiting for transcripts. 00:11:05.102 --> 00:11:09.242 So she became the biggest in the Atlantic provinces for her company and 00:11:09.252 --> 00:11:14.122 got to travel all over the world with lawyers and, um, yeah, I grew up, like, 00:11:14.122 --> 00:11:16.212 watching her just kick ass, basically. 00:11:16.352 --> 00:11:17.382 Raphaël: That's so cool. 00:11:18.392 --> 00:11:18.942 Nice. 00:11:19.162 --> 00:11:23.402 Um, so actually you bring up the Atlantic provinces. 00:11:23.572 --> 00:11:26.882 Is there do you find, okay, so you went to LA. 00:11:26.952 --> 00:11:32.282 Were you, did you go basically, from Halifax to LA and back to Halifax or? 00:11:32.682 --> 00:11:33.082 Yeah. 00:11:33.432 --> 00:11:39.312 Um, do you find that there's anything, particular to the Atlantic provinces, 00:11:39.312 --> 00:11:45.672 to Halifax that helped you or that made it like a particularly like suitable 00:11:45.672 --> 00:11:48.272 environment for a company like Side Door. 00:11:48.572 --> 00:11:49.232 And yeah. 00:11:49.232 --> 00:11:53.152 How do you think about the relationship with LA and the time that you spent there? 00:11:53.152 --> 00:11:57.452 Laura Simpson: yeah, I mean, I think being from the East Coast, we're pretty 00:11:57.462 --> 00:11:59.832 necessarily laid back about things. 00:12:00.172 --> 00:12:04.357 It just, That's a mindset that I think some people would think is a deterrent 00:12:04.367 --> 00:12:10.067 or a bad thing in business, but I think it really helps you, not get too anxious 00:12:10.067 --> 00:12:15.087 or wound up about things and kind of ride out the storm a little bit and 00:12:15.087 --> 00:12:20.477 the other thing is that it's, you're naturally, I think, out here curious 00:12:20.477 --> 00:12:23.027 and interested in meeting people and talking to people and really getting to 00:12:23.027 --> 00:12:29.192 know them, which I think also makes you really good at sensing a good vibe and 00:12:29.192 --> 00:12:33.322 like understanding how people operate and honestly, LA had a bit of that. 00:12:33.332 --> 00:12:37.092 Like, there was a lot of like checking out each other's vibes and like, you 00:12:37.092 --> 00:12:41.232 know, yeah, like our first investor in our seed round is definitely like. 00:12:42.162 --> 00:12:45.742 we, we got along with really well, just cause we ended up talking about 00:12:45.742 --> 00:12:48.492 music and he's still a big music fan. 00:12:48.492 --> 00:12:52.332 And a lot of our investors and their partners are like that. 00:12:52.342 --> 00:12:54.082 Like we get each other, you know? 00:12:54.102 --> 00:12:57.712 So I think that's an important thing that I sort of picked up living out here. 00:12:58.059 --> 00:12:58.419 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:12:58.629 --> 00:13:00.349 That makes a lot of sense. 00:13:00.529 --> 00:13:01.979 Um, so yeah. 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:05.969 Your co founder, Dan, is on the other side of the country, 00:13:06.672 --> 00:13:07.062 Laura Simpson: Yeah. 00:13:07.319 --> 00:13:08.939 Raphaël: uh, here in Vancouver. 00:13:09.469 --> 00:13:13.549 How did you connect and decide, you know, let's start this thing together? 00:13:14.312 --> 00:13:16.622 Laura Simpson: Yeah, I mean, the music community is pretty small, 00:13:16.622 --> 00:13:19.212 but I did not know Dan before this. 00:13:20.162 --> 00:13:25.597 But I do the thing which I still tell people all the time is a good tactic 00:13:25.607 --> 00:13:28.227 is if you have an idea about something, just keep telling people about it 00:13:28.227 --> 00:13:29.667 and eventually it will come true. 00:13:30.889 --> 00:13:31.489 Raphaël: I love it. 00:13:31.937 --> 00:13:32.227 Laura Simpson: Not that 00:13:32.227 --> 00:13:35.687 I'm not working at the same time, but like, I would tell people 00:13:35.687 --> 00:13:42.217 about my desire to do something in a small DIY shows in that world. 00:13:42.429 --> 00:13:42.739 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:13:43.312 --> 00:13:43.512 Laura Simpson: And 00:13:43.512 --> 00:13:48.412 I had been talking to my friend Rich O'Coyne, who's a local artist from 00:13:48.412 --> 00:13:54.662 here, and he had known that Dan was working on a house concert network and 00:13:54.662 --> 00:13:58.042 so he connected us, it's so funny I'm telling this because I literally just 00:13:58.042 --> 00:14:01.502 saw him at the lake yesterday when we were streaming, still a small community. 00:14:01.532 --> 00:14:06.542 But yeah, he introduced us, actually when I was still in LA and so we started 00:14:06.932 --> 00:14:11.502 corresponding, online just about our ideas, which were still pretty loose. 00:14:12.112 --> 00:14:16.182 And then he was at doing a performance with the symphony here in Halifax. 00:14:16.272 --> 00:14:20.642 And when he was here, we met up and I tell this story cause it's fun, but like we met 00:14:20.642 --> 00:14:26.238 up for brunch at the Lord Nelson and had a really nice, like, just brainstorming 00:14:26.238 --> 00:14:28.156 about what we wanted to see in the world. 00:14:28.456 --> 00:14:33.596 Not necessarily like how we could like, not the shape of it necessarily, but like 00:14:33.616 --> 00:14:37.516 what we both desired, like shared values, shared goals, and that sort of thing. 00:14:37.516 --> 00:14:40.596 And we, and we started to come around to an idea. 00:14:40.636 --> 00:14:43.326 And at the end, he's like, I think we should do this. 00:14:43.326 --> 00:14:45.986 Notes And I think you should be the captain of this ship. 00:14:45.986 --> 00:14:50.096 And I was just like, just so excited, because when I had 00:14:50.226 --> 00:14:53.546 thought about it before, it's scary to think about things alone. 00:14:54.226 --> 00:14:59.076 But when you understand that there's super value in specially somebody 00:14:59.076 --> 00:15:03.616 like Dan, who's so well loved in the community, having his endorsement, but 00:15:03.616 --> 00:15:06.866 also his outreach power to join forces. 00:15:06.896 --> 00:15:10.046 And it's just proven, like, we've been through the ringer and back, 00:15:10.046 --> 00:15:15.096 and it's just incredibly wonderful to have somebody in your corner who knows 00:15:15.096 --> 00:15:18.596 exactly what you're going through, just to go through it with you, really. 00:15:18.823 --> 00:15:19.253 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:15:19.333 --> 00:15:23.293 That's awesome is there anything you would, I don't know, like advice you 00:15:23.293 --> 00:15:29.293 would, give someone, a new founder on how to decide, like, okay, let's 00:15:29.303 --> 00:15:32.033 actually like do this thing together. 00:15:32.053 --> 00:15:37.363 When you decide let's formalize the thing and like actually build 00:15:37.733 --> 00:15:40.263 a product or a company or whatever. 00:15:40.263 --> 00:15:43.431 Laura Simpson: I mean, I'm pretty big on managing expectations really 00:15:43.881 --> 00:15:48.001 clearly , recently somebody gave me that phrase, which is "clear is kind", 00:15:48.321 --> 00:15:52.881 you know, like if you can clearly define what your expectations and hopes 00:15:52.881 --> 00:15:57.871 and dreams are and in my case, I was really, wanting to put it in writing. 00:15:57.871 --> 00:16:03.241 And so like early on, I think I came back home and I wrote up an MOU, know, 00:16:03.241 --> 00:16:07.541 I just was like, here's what, I still have it, like we, here's what we want 00:16:07.681 --> 00:16:12.301 in this partnership and here's you know, I ended up going back out to 00:16:12.301 --> 00:16:16.671 Vancouver after that and, when we were in corporate, I think right before we 00:16:16.671 --> 00:16:22.141 incorporated and we followed up the MOU with like deal breakers and like rules and 00:16:22.203 --> 00:16:22.993 Raphaël: that's good. 00:16:23.531 --> 00:16:27.911 Laura Simpson: and like just kind of wrote it all down, but like kind of 00:16:27.911 --> 00:16:32.061 figured out each other's edges and boundaries and needs and wants and 00:16:32.061 --> 00:16:36.151 just like no goes and that changes sometimes over time but like that's a 00:16:36.261 --> 00:16:37.931 really great baseline to start with. 00:16:38.433 --> 00:16:39.233 Raphaël: I love that. 00:16:39.293 --> 00:16:44.323 I hadn't come across that as a way of, setting things up and yeah, 00:16:44.323 --> 00:16:45.443 I feel like that's really good. 00:16:46.063 --> 00:16:47.753 Really setting those expectations. 00:16:48.278 --> 00:16:51.358 Um, you're both on different sides of the country. 00:16:52.278 --> 00:16:52.958 So 00:16:53.061 --> 00:16:54.290 Laura Simpson: Uh, 00:16:54.538 --> 00:16:56.088 Raphaël: how have you managed that? 00:16:57.551 --> 00:16:58.071 Laura Simpson: Zoom. 00:16:58.148 --> 00:16:58.458 Raphaël: Okay. 00:16:59.278 --> 00:16:59.828 Yep. 00:17:00.201 --> 00:17:04.131 Laura Simpson: Yeah, we spend a lot of time on Zoom, and phone 00:17:04.131 --> 00:17:07.191 calls, I'm often walking the dog while we're talking on the phone, 00:17:07.478 --> 00:17:07.788 Raphaël: I love it. 00:17:08.246 --> 00:17:08.710 Laura Simpson: the 00:17:08.711 --> 00:17:13.131 time difference, and you know, and he's got kids and I've got kids too, so 00:17:13.131 --> 00:17:17.671 there's, you know, we're always juggling around the schedules, um, but, you know, 00:17:18.216 --> 00:17:23.646 except for the pandemic, like, I was sort of the operational founder, and he 00:17:23.646 --> 00:17:25.766 was more the out in the world founder. 00:17:25.766 --> 00:17:32.156 That kind of set those roles pretty clearly, and, you know, we have Slack and 00:17:32.156 --> 00:17:36.176 all the other things, but I think that the main thing is always coming back to those 00:17:36.176 --> 00:17:40.410 roles and responsibilities, and then using the tools we have, like Slack and GitLab. 00:17:40.831 --> 00:17:44.610 Zoom and everything like that to make it work and we went 00:17:44.610 --> 00:17:45.940 together to San Francisco. 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:50.500 We went together to South by Southwest, you know, being at those places 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:54.450 he's come out here and toured of course and we try to get together as 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:59.510 often as we can but it's funny, the Zoom relationship was pre pandemic. 00:17:59.510 --> 00:18:03.940 And so when the pandemic happened, that's why we were so ready to 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:05.540 jump on Zoom for online shows. 00:18:05.560 --> 00:18:10.035 Cause we knew exactly how it worked and we felt like we could tackle it, you know, it 00:18:10.067 --> 00:18:15.347 Raphaël: remember thinking, wow, they made this happen really fast 00:18:15.397 --> 00:18:15.877 yeah, 00:18:16.760 --> 00:18:18.470 Laura Simpson: but so was our initial product. 00:18:18.470 --> 00:18:22.870 Like we were doing shows before we had a platform and before we had ticketing 00:18:22.870 --> 00:18:26.560 and you know, we had revenue before we had any proprietary products. 00:18:26.610 --> 00:18:27.940 That's the kind of approach we take. 00:18:27.950 --> 00:18:31.820 We're just like kind of build the plane as it's taking off kind of thing. 00:18:31.852 --> 00:18:32.222 Raphaël: yep. 00:18:32.442 --> 00:18:36.542 I love that I remember seeing that first setup with, what 00:18:36.542 --> 00:18:37.962 was the tool you were using? 00:18:37.962 --> 00:18:41.212 It was like, I forget what it was, but yeah, like this sort of 00:18:41.262 --> 00:18:45.202 project management slash podio. 00:18:45.232 --> 00:18:46.022 There we go. 00:18:46.505 --> 00:18:49.495 Laura Simpson: so Podio is the software I used for the funding program. 00:18:49.496 --> 00:18:52.915 That's why I ended up bringing it up, because I'm like, I know how this works. 00:18:52.925 --> 00:18:56.135 And so, yeah, the early days of matchmaking, because it 00:18:56.135 --> 00:18:57.605 was like a CRM, kind of. 00:18:58.005 --> 00:19:02.440 So the early days of booking part of our platform where we help match make 00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:06.280 artists with spaces, we would just get people, it was basically like getting 00:19:06.280 --> 00:19:09.760 them to fill out a form and then just like holding them up literally next to 00:19:09.760 --> 00:19:11.240 each other and be like, do these match? 00:19:11.260 --> 00:19:16.250 You know, it wasn't, you had some filtering ability, but it was really good 00:19:16.810 --> 00:19:20.360 early days trial and error, because you would, you kind of do it and then you'd 00:19:20.360 --> 00:19:22.010 be like, Oh, well, I wanted to do this. 00:19:22.110 --> 00:19:23.900 It'd be so much faster if it would do this. 00:19:23.930 --> 00:19:28.030 But like practicing with a free software was really helpful. 00:19:28.077 --> 00:19:32.537 Raphaël: Yeah the ability to test things out and just sort of work with what 00:19:32.537 --> 00:19:35.697 you got is, so useful and so important. 00:19:35.787 --> 00:19:38.617 Like, do you have any other stories of things that you just kind of like, all 00:19:38.617 --> 00:19:42.097 right, we're just going to try this out this way and see what happens. 00:19:42.275 --> 00:19:42.515 Laura Simpson: Yeah. 00:19:42.515 --> 00:19:46.345 Well, first of all, I should say like, I'm again, not a technical person. 00:19:46.515 --> 00:19:50.589 Like I don't have like the resources and the knowledge to 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.869 do, like to make something myself. 00:19:52.889 --> 00:19:55.329 So I do have to rely on off the shelf stuff. 00:19:55.329 --> 00:19:55.789 So. 00:19:56.309 --> 00:20:01.249 I mean, I'm trying to think, like we used Eventbrite for the early ticketing, 00:20:01.371 --> 00:20:01.731 Raphaël: Nice. 00:20:01.761 --> 00:20:02.261 Yeah. 00:20:03.189 --> 00:20:07.139 Laura Simpson: and we used, like, just different iterations of Stripe after 00:20:07.139 --> 00:20:10.619 that, and we were using Zapier to, like, put everything together, Zapier, I never 00:20:10.619 --> 00:20:12.739 know if people are like, is it Zapier 00:20:12.811 --> 00:20:16.361 Raphaël: They used to have at the bottom of their site, tiny little letters. 00:20:16.361 --> 00:20:18.491 They said Zapier makes you happier. 00:20:19.129 --> 00:20:20.469 Laura Simpson: Ah, thank you! 00:20:20.731 --> 00:20:21.151 Raphaël: like that. 00:20:21.211 --> 00:20:21.431 Yeah. 00:20:21.969 --> 00:20:22.259 Laura Simpson: makes 00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:23.379 more sense, it's a Zap, 00:20:23.439 --> 00:20:25.019 so, that makes more sense. 00:20:26.179 --> 00:20:27.419 Um, Yeah. 00:20:27.419 --> 00:20:30.939 so like, little tools like that would help stitch things together, 00:20:30.979 --> 00:20:33.419 I think, and I'm trying to think. 00:20:33.954 --> 00:20:37.654 You know, we still have a Facebook group for the hosts to meet. 00:20:37.654 --> 00:20:39.204 We never put that in our platform. 00:20:39.204 --> 00:20:42.304 We're just like, everybody's on, all these people who are hosts, most of them are on 00:20:42.304 --> 00:20:47.834 Facebook, so let's just leave them where they are and they can talk there, you 00:20:47.834 --> 00:20:48.114 know? 00:20:48.156 --> 00:20:48.926 Raphaël: a lot of sense. 00:20:49.896 --> 00:20:50.406 Yeah. 00:20:50.666 --> 00:20:51.096 Cool. 00:20:51.736 --> 00:20:57.136 Um, is there anything, if you had to like, think back to when 00:20:57.136 --> 00:21:01.076 this first got started, is there anything you would do differently? 00:21:01.336 --> 00:21:04.546 Um, or any advice you would give yourself? 00:21:05.184 --> 00:21:09.384 Laura Simpson: It's really funny, but like definitely hindsight is 2020, but like, 00:21:09.764 --> 00:21:16.744 we probably wouldn't still be in business if we hadn't raised venture capital. 00:21:17.314 --> 00:21:17.564 But. 00:21:18.124 --> 00:21:21.824 We're at this point now where I'm like, all the investors are like, 00:21:21.824 --> 00:21:23.994 okay, this is going to be a slow burn. 00:21:24.074 --> 00:21:27.454 Like we're finally catching up after the pandemic. 00:21:27.544 --> 00:21:31.884 Cause we basically were going to a point with live shows, went online, 00:21:31.884 --> 00:21:33.914 had a huge bubble of success. 00:21:34.584 --> 00:21:38.349 The online shows raised our seed round during that time. 00:21:38.709 --> 00:21:45.039 And then had to basically start back from almost zero with live shows, 00:21:45.056 --> 00:21:45.406 Raphaël: yeah. 00:21:46.229 --> 00:21:51.139 Laura Simpson: pull everything apart, build it back up again, and then try 00:21:51.139 --> 00:21:52.939 to make it happen for live shows. 00:21:52.939 --> 00:21:58.709 So it's just been a really slow grind, trying to get to, you know, the scale 00:21:58.709 --> 00:22:00.859 that we really require to be successful. 00:22:00.879 --> 00:22:04.659 I don't think it's impossible, but it's just like, On the one hand, I'm 00:22:04.659 --> 00:22:08.649 like, we probably would have died if we didn't have venture capital, you know, 00:22:08.826 --> 00:22:09.256 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:15.839 Laura Simpson: but at the same time, like, the, the pace at which we're able to go, 00:22:16.689 --> 00:22:22.439 like, our industry is still pretty archaic and still slow and still relationships 00:22:22.439 --> 00:22:26.079 based and stuff like that, and people are very adverse to technology in the 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.492 music industry, as much as they like their gadgets and their production stuff. 00:22:30.542 --> 00:22:34.372 Like I was just at the National Independent Venue Association conference 00:22:34.372 --> 00:22:39.872 in New Orleans and I was sitting with a guy from a venue and a booking agent 00:22:39.902 --> 00:22:42.802 and they were like, I wish we had something that would just like tell you 00:22:42.802 --> 00:22:46.852 when artists are all free, like when they want a tour so that we could just 00:22:46.952 --> 00:22:50.392 access it and then we could just book them from like, you know, like maybe we 00:22:50.392 --> 00:22:52.092 should start a spreadsheet or something. 00:22:52.092 --> 00:22:53.262 And I'm like, are you kidding me? 00:22:54.162 --> 00:22:54.472 Serious? 00:22:55.152 --> 00:22:55.462 Right now? 00:22:55.772 --> 00:22:57.262 Like, I'm right here. 00:22:57.322 --> 00:22:59.112 I've built this, you know? 00:22:59.582 --> 00:23:00.782 It was so frustrating. 00:23:00.792 --> 00:23:04.402 But like, I think there's just still an aversion to learning something new. 00:23:04.412 --> 00:23:08.472 So you're constantly trying to make this thing that is technology 00:23:08.572 --> 00:23:11.382 as, like, dead easy as possible. 00:23:11.392 --> 00:23:16.002 Like, people want it to be, like, Apple level easy, you know? 00:23:16.622 --> 00:23:20.652 Um, without Apple level investment, that's the challenge. 00:23:20.694 --> 00:23:22.214 Raphaël: a disconnect there. 00:23:23.794 --> 00:23:26.804 Yeah, I guess, yeah, that's the, that's the work. 00:23:28.202 --> 00:23:28.822 Laura Simpson: That's the work. 00:23:29.054 --> 00:23:29.434 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:23:29.994 --> 00:23:30.494 Nice. 00:23:30.594 --> 00:23:31.754 what's, what's next? 00:23:31.754 --> 00:23:36.174 Laura Simpson: Um, probably more travel, like I'll be in and around the U. 00:23:36.174 --> 00:23:36.354 S. 00:23:36.354 --> 00:23:39.834 a little bit this year in different parts of Canada like I said, relationship 00:23:39.844 --> 00:23:44.884 building is still a real thing so I spend almost all my time with other 00:23:44.994 --> 00:23:47.934 music related people and groups. 00:23:48.256 --> 00:23:48.861 Raphaël: Mm hmm. 00:23:49.114 --> 00:23:52.104 Laura Simpson: Um, I don't really spend, like I don't really indulge in 00:23:52.104 --> 00:23:54.164 the tech community too much, honestly. 00:23:54.491 --> 00:23:54.941 Raphaël: that's fair. 00:23:54.941 --> 00:23:58.611 Laura Simpson: Although I am now on the Board of Directors for Volta, which 00:23:58.611 --> 00:24:06.061 is nice, and like, I get to be a very different voice in that community and 00:24:06.061 --> 00:24:10.021 then we're actually starting out with a indie promoters program, which 00:24:10.201 --> 00:24:14.511 actually allows for more people to be our quote unquote boots on the ground 00:24:14.511 --> 00:24:18.411 for shows and so we're rolling that out in Toronto and then if it's successful, 00:24:18.411 --> 00:24:20.111 we'll be rolling it out in other cities. 00:24:20.111 --> 00:24:26.331 And it just means that there's more, like, human interface to making the shows, which 00:24:26.431 --> 00:24:31.101 again, you know, as much as you're a tech company, we're in a people based business. 00:24:31.101 --> 00:24:32.391 So we have to work around that. 00:24:32.633 --> 00:24:33.103 Raphaël: Yep. 00:24:33.733 --> 00:24:34.323 Awesome. 00:24:34.993 --> 00:24:35.383 Cool. 00:24:35.403 --> 00:24:37.163 Well, thank you so much, Laura. 00:24:37.253 --> 00:24:41.133 Do you have a small tech product that you can think of on the 00:24:41.143 --> 00:24:42.993 fly, that you want to plug? 00:24:43.531 --> 00:24:43.791 Laura Simpson: Yeah. 00:24:43.791 --> 00:24:47.401 I guess I'm not allowed to choose my Fitbit, which has been helping me 00:24:47.401 --> 00:24:49.851 with my athletes triathlon training. 00:24:50.301 --> 00:24:54.481 You know, there's, there's so many great local companies. 00:24:54.531 --> 00:24:58.451 And, There was a company I actually just heard about on the radio this morning 00:24:58.451 --> 00:24:59.831 that I was really going to look into. 00:24:59.831 --> 00:25:04.526 So like early days knowing this, but they're called Carbon Run and they 00:25:04.526 --> 00:25:11.246 basically help make the water better, like make rivers better, manage the 00:25:11.246 --> 00:25:15.096 fact that, um, there's erosion and like pollution and that sort of thing. 00:25:15.096 --> 00:25:17.406 So I heard this clip on the radio about them. 00:25:17.406 --> 00:25:22.226 I'm like, I love companies that combine real solutions for the earth, like, 00:25:22.286 --> 00:25:25.776 and addressing all the terrible things that are happening with climate change. 00:25:25.846 --> 00:25:30.526 And, but also it's, That's a carbon credit business so that, you know, it's 00:25:30.526 --> 00:25:35.076 like giving those other companies like a way to feel a little bit better about 00:25:35.706 --> 00:25:37.466 not contributing to the environment. 00:25:38.526 --> 00:25:42.726 Um, so yeah I really get behind companies like that, that are, like 00:25:42.816 --> 00:25:47.036 either good for social, good for the environment, good for the heart. 00:25:47.273 --> 00:25:47.683 Raphaël: Yep. 00:25:47.893 --> 00:25:48.463 I love it. 00:25:48.793 --> 00:25:49.403 Awesome. 00:25:49.993 --> 00:25:50.583 Cool. 00:25:50.653 --> 00:25:51.393 Well, thank 00:25:51.393 --> 00:25:52.443 you so much. 00:25:52.916 --> 00:25:53.286 Laura Simpson: You're welcome. 00:25:53.686 --> 00:25:54.356 Thank you. 00:25:54.383 --> 00:25:54.523 Raphaël: was 00:25:54.523 --> 00:25:55.423 great talking to you. 00:25:56.056 --> 00:25:56.256 Laura Simpson: you. 00:25:56.256 --> 00:25:56.526 too. 00:25:56.526 --> 00:25:57.036 Raphaël: Folks. 00:25:57.096 --> 00:26:02.496 That was my interview with Laura Simpson CEO of side door. 00:26:02.496 --> 00:26:04.236 I really enjoyed chatting with her. 00:26:04.236 --> 00:26:10.326 I loved learning about her life, the way that she started working with her mom. 00:26:10.736 --> 00:26:16.046 Her journey to California, the way that she worked with Dan to come 00:26:16.046 --> 00:26:18.776 together and build this company. 00:26:19.236 --> 00:26:23.856 So, if you want to host a show in your living room or backyard, or you 00:26:23.856 --> 00:26:26.166 want to attend an amazing performance. 00:26:26.526 --> 00:26:30.946 Head over to a sidedooraccess.com and check out the amazing 00:26:30.946 --> 00:26:32.296 platform that they've built. 00:26:32.596 --> 00:26:36.556 If you enjoyed this podcast and you are not yet subscribed head 00:26:36.556 --> 00:26:43.186 over to smalltechpodcast.com or you can subscribe on any podcast app. 00:26:43.306 --> 00:26:46.966 If you're watching on YouTube, 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00:27:20.566 --> 00:27:24.586 You can also find the newsletter, which you can sign up for at 00:27:24.586 --> 00:27:26.356 smalltechpodcast.com as well. 00:27:26.706 --> 00:27:33.646 And if you need help building technology, make sure to come find us at goec.io. 00:27:33.666 --> 00:27:35.946 That's goec.io. 00:27:36.306 --> 00:27:37.146 Let's have a chat. 00:27:37.446 --> 00:27:40.296 In the meantime, we all want to do something good in the world. 00:27:40.326 --> 00:27:42.876 So go out there and build something. 00:27:42.876 --> 00:27:43.536 Good folks. 00:27:43.536 --> 00:27:45.516 I will see you in the next one. 00:27:45.996 --> 00:27:46.506 See ya.