Fresh off Martello Technologies’ listing on the Profit 500 list, CEO Bruce Linton told Techopia Live the coming year will likely see the firm make an acquisition or two and possibly even launch a public offering.
Martello led Ottawa companies on the 2017 Profit 500 ranking with 1,552 per cent revenue growth over the past five years. The firm’s business model focuses on servicing fellow Kanata company Mitel’s customers.
“I think the general guidance is that it was a bad idea to do what we were doing five years ago, which was to quit having five channels and just have one,” Linton told Techopia Live.
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Zaahra Mehsen was three years into a biology degree at a local university when she realized she wanted to take a different path. “I realized that it’s not my thing,”
Well, turns out that’s working just fine, as Martello now deals with more than 6,500 Mitel customers. Linton says the path forward is to not just to grow that clientele, but to sell more services to the existing base.
He says Martello is now positioned for acquisitions in the coming year, with the potential of publicly listing the firm shortly after.
“I’d be pretty surprised if we didn’t find an acquisition or two, didn’t find ourselves listed and didn’t use our public currency to do a little bit more.”
Linton also talked to Techopia Live about how he balances his roles at the helm of both Martello and cannabis producer Canopy Growth.
He says he contributes “zero” to daily operations of either firms, instead relying on the teams he’s put in place to run the day-to-day affairs of both companies. That frees him up to focus on long-term projects, such as acquisitions and looking at capital markets.
Though many probably look at Linton and see the busiest CEO in Ottawa, he says his mental perspective helps him stay balanced.
“They’re both enjoyable. If you’re going to something you want to do, it’s a lot easier to find time for it.”
To hear more about Linton’s thoughts on Ottawa technology, and to hear about how ViiMe is building an app to encourage restaurants and venues to give deals to groups of patrons, watch the video above.
