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At Best Startup Canada we track over 100,000 Canadian startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top British Columbia based CEO’ operating in the Advertising space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.ca.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Matthew Watson
Chief Executive Officer and Chair of STN Video
Matthew Watson is the Chair and CEO of SendtoNews Video, the leading sports video distribution platform in North America. Matthew graduated from UBC Law School and began his professional career as a corporate lawyer in the Vancouver office of Canada’s largest law firm. Matthew Watson made his first investment and founded an ISP called Seaside which he subsequently sold to a large public company. Matthew then joined the executive team of a client, ACD Systems, helping to take them public and then running the operations, business and corporate development as they went from start up to world leader in digital imaging management software. In 2003 Matthew Watson moved to Carmanah Technologies as COO helping guide them from small marine lighting company to world leader in Solar LED lighting and a public company. Matthew was the first investor and CEO of Armorlogic which was acquired by Alert Logic. Matthew Watson is now Chair and CEO of SendtoNews, North American’s largest sports video platform serving over 700mm video views a month to over 40 million unique viewers.
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About STN Video: STN Video is an Online Video Platform delivering content, technology and monetization to over 1800 publishers
Johann Starke
President & CEO of FCV Interactive
John Starke is the President & CEO of FCV, a full-service digital advertising agency with offices in Toronto and Vancouver. Before FCV, John was Director of Business Development at Expedia. Prior to Expedia, he worked with several organizations and was a consultant with Accenture. In addition to his role at FCV, John serves as a director at BC Assessment, an independent, provincial Crown corporation, and is an MBA mentor at the University of British Columbia. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Computer Information Systems from the University of Colorado and is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. In 2010,he was recognized in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under Forty, and his leadership and philanthropic endeavours earned FCV a 2010 Community Leadership Award from the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.
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About FCV Interactive, FCV Interactive: User-focused transformation agency
Chris Jensen
Co-Founder & CEO of Left™
Chris began his career in the UK working for multi-nationals and banks and continued on in the banking and brokerage industry upon moving to Canada. He has a strong understanding of the finance markets and has lived the pain of raising capital for early stage companies during the beginning stages of growth, from 25 to 80+ employees. He has founded several start-up companies in his career, two of which have now won BCTIA Tech Impact Awards. In his role as CEO for Left, Chris thrives on understanding the big picture and on moving the levers that drive the company forward. This includes financing, strategic partnerships, and corporate development. Chris holds a BSc (Honours) in Economics and History from Queen Mary University of London.
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About Left™, RightMesh: Left is a multinational media and technology company with holdings in a diversified portfolio of mobile and Internet-based businesses.
Ali Tajsekandar
Founder & CEO of Wishpond
Ali Tajsekandar is a Founder & CEO at Wishpond.
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About Wishpond: Wishpond is an all-in-one marketing suite that enables users to generate and nurture leads.
Jon Malach
CEO of Native Ads Inc.
Currently Jon is focusing on an amazing opportunity to change the landscape of online advertising by providing leadership to NativeAds.com. Native Ads, Inc. is a content discovery and in-stream native advertising platform that facilitates the native ad buying and selling process for publishers and advertisers at scale across websites, mobile web and apps. The company has developed a scalable, easy to use, self-serve system for publishers and advertisers with a simple user interface. Within minutes, campaigns and widgets are generated to start spending or earning. The recommendation engine analyzes visitor behavior, page content and thousands of data points building up millions of in-depth user profiles. By using the power of big data, these profiles are used to recommend internal or promoted content based on relevance, yield and popularity. Jon prides himself on leading by example in sales, product & platform development, business analysis, partner relations, marketing, staff training, and public speaking. Previously Jon worked as the COO of an online advertising and media company focusing on assisting both advertisers and publishers to increase results. Models supported ranged from PPI, CPM/CPV, CPC-search, CPC-Shopping, and CPA/CPL, and throughout his tenure Jon connected over 30,000 advertisers to over 80,000 publishers.
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About Native Ads Inc.: Native Ads is a content discovery and in-stream native advertising platform for publishers and advertisers
Sam Mehrbod
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Roomvu
Experienced , Award Winning, TOP 1% of all realtors in Greater Vancouver. Constantly Improving the World Of Real-Estate With Fringe Technologies at Roomvu.com
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About Roomvu: Roomvu uses AI to provide ready-made hyper local VIDEOS, that realtors personalize and publish on social media or promote via SMART ads
Kean Graham
CEO & Founder of MonetizeMore
Kean Graham is the CEO of MonetizeMore, an award-winning, 8-figure Ad Tech company. MonetizeMore is a Google Certified Publishing Partner with 200+ full-time employees around the world. MonetizeMore was conceived in the mountains of Machu Picchu and has since become a leader in helping ad monetized publishers maximize their revenue potential.
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About MonetizeMore: 100+ fully remote team shaping the future.
Tom Raycove
Founder CEO of Disrupted Logic
Founder at Disrupted Logic
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About Disrupted Logic: Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Interactive Media Experiences
Mariya Pak
Co-founder, CEO of Simple Matters
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About Simple Matters: Simple Matters attempts to find new solutions to old problems by removing complexity from every day life and make it simpler
Chris Milton
CEO of 323 Media Group Inc.
Growth driven founder who scales projects through sales, marketing and systems.
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About 323 Media Group Inc.: Building brands for the future.
Trent Stonehouse
Founder & CEO of Capstone Media
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About Capstone Media, Zasterr: Capstone Media is a recognized provider of strategic, quality media solutions.
Dave Davies
CEO of Beanstalk Internet Marketing, Inc.
Dave Davies is the CEO of Beanstalk Internet Marketing. Dave and his wife Mary started Beanstalk in 2004 and have grown it from a purely organic SEO firm to one offering a full range of services including SEO, SEM, social media and training and consulting. Dave is a regular author on Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and the Beanstalk blog. He also hosts a weekly radio show on WebmasterRadio.fm and has spoken at a number conferences over the years. With over 15 year of experience in internet marketing Dave has seen a lot of SEO strategies come and go resulting in a passion for understanding what is happening today, what’s being worked on, what patents are being granted and what does this all mean for the future. How does machine learning actaully impact search? What are the machines looking for? And of course, what do they as SEO’s need to do in this brave new world? These are the kinds of questions Dave will be answering at this years Pubcon conference.
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About Beanstalk Internet Marketing, Inc.: Established in 2004, Beanstalk is a full-service Internet Marketing firm.
Chris Stephens
Founder & CEO of Twirling Umbrellas Ltd.
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About Twirling Umbrellas Ltd.: Twirling Umbrellas is a web design and digital marketing agency in British Columbia.
Zachary Chester
Chief Executive Officer / Cofounder of ShoutExchange
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About ShoutExchange: Connecting brands with influencers on social media platforms. Influencers get free products and money to post about brands they love!
Arash Asli
CEO of Yocale
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About Yocale: Yocale is a local appointment engine that brings consumers and businesses together in every neighbourhood.
Bradley Higham
CEO of Collabo
Bradley Higham is an expert internet marketer specializing in Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). He is currently the CEO of Collabo as well as being the go to internet marketing consulting expert for a handful of other organizations. Bradley Higham is a certified Google Partner, Bing Professional Advertiser and Yahoo Ambassador. Bradley Higham also contributes to several non-profit organizations and charities in his free time.
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About Collabo: Collabo is an internet marketing services company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Brodie Kokoska
President, CEO of Krave Media Group
Founder and CEO of SalesBinder.com, an advanced web-based inventory management software system used in over 130 countries around the globe and managing over $50 billion worth of assets.
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About Krave Media Group: Krave Media Group is the website design and development company for small to medium sized businesses.
Mike Schmidt
CEO of iFramed (Canada Ltd.)
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About iFramed (Canada Ltd.): iFramed is a mobile application that enables its users to brand their content with personalized filters and frames.
Phillip Djwa
President and CEO of Agentic Communications Inc
Phillip Djwa has been working for more than 25 years in the high-technology industry. During this time, Phillip has worked on a wide range of technology and digital media projects in senior positions from Fortune 500 (AT&T), high-tech start-ups (Adcritic), to not-for-profit organizations (First Nations Education). He is an accomplished presenter and knowledgeable speaker on information and communications technology (ICT), especially as it applies in First Nations in BC. He has worked extensively with Aboriginal organizations on technology, including capacity building, connectivity to remote and rural communities, and elearning. He has sat on national Assembly of First Nations committees as well as the First Nations Technology Council, whom he continues to advise, as well as the Information Technology Council in Ottawa. Since 2000, Phillip has led strategy, and completed innovative web projects, as part of his company Agentic Communications Inc. Phillip’s credentials as a creative technologist offer a unique blend of technologist, creative lead and social scientist. His clients include Yale University, Global Zero, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Industry Canada, the Province of BC, Canadian Tourism Commission, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Canada Mortgage and Housing (Granville Island) and many other organizations. Lastly, as a career-long social entrepreneur, Phillip has volunteered for many worthwhile community initiatives, including Openmedia, the Western Front, the Vancouver Crisis Centre, the BC Community Connectivity Cooperative, the First People’s Heritage Council, and the Friends of Chamber Music.
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About Agentic Communications Inc: Agentic is a web development agency that provides core website design, strategy, and transformational digital media solutions.
Jon Thorpe
Founder / CEO of Flowmail
Founder & CEO @Flowmail, CEO Booth (Canada’s leading photo booth company), Past at Beer.com / D3. Lifelong adventurer and entrepreneur. Living the dream in Vancouver BC.
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About Flowmail: Flowmail is a simple, intuitive email marketing service.
Mike Agerbo
CEO of Blink
As one of Canada’s most well-known technology figures, Mike is an award-winning television producer and veteran TV personality. You can watch him weekly on his GetConnectedTV show on The Business News Network, AMI, CityTV and CHECKTV across the country. His weekly appearances as GlobalBC’s tech expert, reach hundreds of thousands of British Columbians. He can also be heard every Saturday on CKNW AM 980 radio show and the Corus Radio Network throughout Canada. Mike is a successful tech entrepreneur, having founded three successful tech and media companies over the past 20 years, including Chalk Media (sold to Blackberry in 2006) and currently Blink Media, a leading Canadian digital creative agency.
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About Blink: Blink is a creative agency providing social campaigns and digital content.
Michael Brown
CEO, President & Director of Adacado
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About Adacado: Adacado is the leading cloud based, data-driven platform for delivering personalized digital advertising and marketing solutions at scale.
Michael Tran
CEO & Founder of AppAddictive
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About AppAddictive: Addictive Ads is a full service mobile ad network with direct SDK traffic, high-paying campaigns and proprietary ad serving technology.
Gary Bizzo
Chief Executive Officer of Bizzo Integrated Marketing Corporation
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About Bizzo Integrated Marketing Corporation, New York Institute of Technology: Bizzo Integrated Marketing Corporation expertise in SEO, strategic marketing plan and reputation management.
Linden Schwark
Founder and CEO of Vancouver SEO Agency
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About Vancouver SEO Agency: Vancouver SEO Agency is a results orientated company that uses ethical SEO services to dominate the competiton.
Linden Schwark
Founder and CEO of Vancouver SEO Agency
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About Vancouver SEO Agency: Vancouver SEO Agency is a results orientated company that uses ethical SEO services to dominate the competiton.
Paul Stephenson
Founder & CEO of 47 Insights
Founder & CEO of 47 Insights. Advising software and publishing subscription businesses on marketing and growth strategies since 1995. Creator and host of SaaS Marketing Insights podcast.
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About 47 Insights: Marketing consultancy specializing in helping SaaS and subscription businesses to grow
Paul Stephenson
Founder & CEO of 47 Insights
Founder & CEO of 47 Insights. Advising software and publishing subscription businesses on marketing and growth strategies since 1995. Creator and host of SaaS Marketing Insights podcast.
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About 47 Insights: Marketing consultancy specializing in helping SaaS and subscription businesses to grow
Kari Graham
CEO of Funlists Inc.
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About Funlists Inc.: FunLists connects the world to event listings. We make finding, posting and sharing your events quick, fun and easy!
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