There are so many of you out there who are just sitting on the fence wondering when to take a deep dive into your #canadiansidehustlebusiness? In this episode, Brendan Lee Young, Co-Founder of Passiv sheds light on his entrepreneurial journey working as a full-time Technology Executive while working on his Side-Hustle Business on evenings and weekends. In our conversation he opens up and shares the very moment when he knew it was time give the business all of his time and energy to take a deep dive into the entrepreneurial world.
This is one guest whom I have the pleasure to call my friend from University days who hales from the Caribbean Islands just like me. Brendan and I met in Fredericton, New Brunswick many moons ago when he was a Student at the University of New Brunswick. He struck me as a ‘go-getter’ from the very moment we had our first conversation. Given his Caribbean background, Brendan and I hit it off instantly and built a great rapport swapping our island stories about Trinidad and Tobago tendencies versus Dominica. I distinctly remember Brendan when he was in a pivotal time in his Canadian career journey, job searching with a limited window to find a great job. It was my pleasure to help connect him with a few good people in my neck of the woods and surprisingly enough shortly after our encounter Brendan landed a very good job. I always remember him as the ultimate networker, who has a big bright smile and friendly demeanor. After several years, it was great to finally reconnect with him this past Summer to catch up on his career and life adventures.
Brendan, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, migrated to Canada with the goal of becoming an entrepreneur and building a world-class business right here in Canada. He is now the Co-Founder of called Passiv, a Y Combinator backed Fintech start-up, helping DIY Investors and App Developers get connectivity to over 100 million Retail Brokerages via its unified API called SnapTrade. SnapTrade allows users to link their accounts, view real-time account data and trade from any website or app. It also powers its own B2C investing app for retail investors. Prior heading up this company, Brendan worked with different technology firms for a few years while working on several different side-hustles including as a DJ, Event Planner and Marketer before his serendipitous encounter with Brendan Wood who changed his entrepreneurial trajectory, hence the birth of Passiv.
Fun Fact: Co-Founders Brendan Lee Young and Brendan Wood started Passiv with $30K of their own money and successfully completed a $2.6 million raise this past summer.
Three big golden nuggets which bubbled to the top of our conversation:
- Listen to your customers;
- Take calculated risks to grow and scale your business; and
- Focus on traction, optimize for profitability and most importantly drive sales.
This is a real Caribbean success story in New Brunswick, Canada. So many us coming from the Caribbean are making decisions every day to take care of our families while pursuing our dreams which is to elevate family; raise the bar for future generations by providing the economic empowerment needed to pursue their dreams. We belong everywhere and that is why we have to believe in ourselves because we can achieve our dreams with time and perseverance. There is no time limit on our journey just surprising adventures along the way.
If you are a Spotify listener, definitely click the link below to hear Brendan’s Story.
If you are a big Apple Podcasts fan like me follow me on this link here.
Listeners, this is by far one of the best of many fascinating conversations on this podcast. I hope you find this episode both enlightening and inspirational to kick you into action and say yes to your new adventure, whether you you take that deep dive in a fully fledged business or start your Canadian Side Hustle Business, it is up to you to decide.
If you enjoy my work, please take two minutes to leave review and rate this show on the Apple Podcasts App:
- Open the podcast app on your iphone, ipad or Mac
- Find the Canadian Side Hustle and Business Podcast which you will see all the episodes
- Scroll down and go to the Ratings and Reviews Menu
- Under one of the highlighted reviews select, “write a review”.
- Select rating from a range of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being the best.
- In the top box you can go ahead and type the title of your review, then select send or save.
- Voila – you did it! Thank you so much for your support.
I am in preparation mode creating a new exclusive subscription channel for you on Apple Podcast coming soon with bonus episodes and more so watch this space!
Resource links provided by Passiv:-
Five Steps To Investing for Retirement
Two Popular Model Portfolios Used By Canadians
To continue the conversation with Brendan to find out more SnapTrade services, head to the website here Link: https://passiv.com. You can also connect with him via social media on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thank you so much Brendan for this great insight in DIY investing and I look forward to collaborating again on future episodes.
Livewithirenia Audio Podcasts 