It’s Your Own Volition: Building an Entrepreneurial Community with Melanie Ewan

Volition Advisors brings a community-centered approach to advising and events for entrepreneurs. Their pitch nights and events are built with a community-mindset, aiming to help entrepreneurs along their journey with collaboration, connection, and coaching. We spoke with Volition Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Melanie Ewan about what set Volition apart and what any beginning entrepreneur can expect from their first event with them.

Tell us about how you started Volition.

Funny enough, we actually started as a different company, Elevator Ventures. Back then I was in the role of Project and Community Manager, and was doing some consulting specifically on grant writing as well. The owner of the company, Paul Brassard, and I met when I was writing for one of his other companies, and immediately hit it off. I had wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship, and he offered me a role on the team on the spot—this was back in 2015.

In 2017 we decided to co-found Volition, along with our third co-founder, Tyler Higgs, in order to really make something that was really our own, and the company evolved from being a small advisory firm in Vancouver, to launching in Calgary and Europe, and bringing on eight other advisors, who each bring a new specialty to offer our clients. We had begun our Pitch Nights back in the Elevator days, and simply continued to grow these over the past two years.

We love Volition’s Pitch Night events. Can you tell us what an entrepreneur can expect?

Of course! So Volition Pitch Nights are based on our values of community and education, and as such our goal is to create a safe and comfortable space for early-to-growth stage entrepreneurs to come and practice their pitch in front of a live audience and expert feedback panel. The Panel provides valuable advice to the entrepreneurs to help set them up for success with investor conversations, and the audience votes on the top pitches of the night to receive some sponsored rewards.

While our panel comes with a bit of an investor lens, you don’t have to be raising to pitch, and you will receive valuable feedback on your pitch and presentation regardless. 

In terms of the community, we’re very proud to have built such an incredible one across Western Canada, Seattle and Europe. In 2018 we were honoured to receive the Startup Canada award for our work in supporting the entrepreneur community, and we go out of our way to ensure you have a positive experience. Once you’ve joined a pitch night you will be in the know with all upcoming events, be privy to special offers for our other events (workshops, non-technical hackathons etc.), and if you happen to win a Top Pitch spot, you will also be awarded a complementary advisory session with one of our advisors.

Why did you choose Madrid? What has been your experience about entrepreneurship and around the world? 

So I chose Madrid for two reasons. First, I was in the midst of a really bad burnout cycle, so was looking for somewhere with a slower pace of life where I could focus on recovery, and second, my husband works in visual effects, and we were aware of a studio in Madrid that he could work in. We were also looking at Montreal or New Zealand, but decided to put all of our eggs in the Madrid basket— I mean, sun, tapas and wine...it’s kind of perfect!

I’m only just getting to know the startup community here, and would call it small but mighty. Relative to Barcelona, it’s itty bitty, but everyone seems to be really friendly and open to opportunities, such as our pitch nights. What surprised me was that local entrepreneurs actually really wanted an English speaking pitch night to test their messaging!

I’ve also connected with the ecosystems in Amsterdam, London, Oslo, Dublin, and Paris. Every place has a bit of a different language of business, but in general all entrepreneurs seems to go through similar ups and downs, have similar questions, and need to fill the same kinds of buckets for their investors.

Being such a traveller yourself, do you truly see the world moving in this direction and boundaries breaking down?

So, I think I have a bit of a skewed perspective as I surround myself with entrepreneurs and digital nomads, so to me they seem to be everywhere haha. But honestly, it’s in working with youth that I see the difference. When I was in school, entrepreneurship was never something that was mentioned at all as an option, and now I find myself standing in front of groups of 50+ teenagers who all have these incredible ideas and a different brand of confidence in their ability to pursue their dreams.

It’s really inspiring, particularly as I truly believe that we need new kinds of thinkers and creators to join us in tackling a lot of the world’s big challenges right now. 

In terms of boundaries breaking down, that’s hit or miss. I’m meeting more and more people and that’s their goal (like me!), but I also experience push-back. It kind of feels like we’re at a bit of a crossroads in history right now where we have this incredible opportunity to do things in a new way...or not even new ways, but underutilised ways. I truly believe in the power of diverse teams and collaboration, and am optimistic that we will begin to see more boundaries breaking down...hopefully in my lifetime!

What do you think is a big misconception of entrepreneurship? And what do you think the reality is really like?

That’s a really good question. There are so many! I think that one of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to know what you’re doing and go it alone. These two combined can lead to a nasty combination of imposter syndrome and burnout down the line, when the reality is that most entrepreneurs enter the journey with very little knowledge of how to actually develop and execute their vision in a truly successful way.

Thing is, there is no one way. It’s all about listening, testing and iterating, over and over again. Being coachable and adaptable are way more useful than having a whole whack of knowledge to begin with. And the more you grow your support network, full of allies, cheerleaders, peers, mentors, advisors and the like, the more growth you will find. It takes a village to build a startup, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

You’ve said you helped people past that ‘now what?’ moment. Can you tell us a little bit about that wall? And what’s the best way to confront it?

The wall looks different for everyone, but if I were to paint a picture, it may look like you sitting at your desk with your head in your hands and a massive to-do list in front of you, not knowing where to start or what you should be spending your energy on. 

Perhaps you are looking to raise capital, you’ve just closed a round, you’ve won a pitch event, have just hired a team, or are coming to the end of your savings and struggling to figure out how to make ends meet. The trigger for the ‘now what?’ moment could be anything. And the absolute best way to confront it is to take a deep breath and ask for help. 

There are of course a ton of productivity tools I could also suggest for getting through your list (heck, even for how to craft that list in the first place), but honestly, in those head-in-hands moments, you need to lean on your support network, outsource the stuff you don’t want to do (and aren’t that great at), and find someone (a mentor, advisor, coach) to help clarify the situation and best next steps. Sometimes it takes that objective perspective to help you see what you already know.

What are some things on the horizon for Volition? Where will we see you next?

This is such an exciting time for Volition! Every month in Vancouver we continue to host our Pitch Nights, whether it’s Women’s Pitch Night, student showcases, or general pitch nights for the community. We are also continuing with our events in Calgary, Seattle, and Madrid, and in October I headed over to Dublin for SaaStock and am in Amsterdam for WiT Regatta and hosted mastermind sessions for women founders, as well as a Women’s Pitch Night. You can keep up-to-date on events on our site too.