It takes more than just an idea and a long-term commitment by a company’s founders to build a successful business.
It also takes mentorship, financing opportunities, sales and marketing advice along with a vast array of network connections to help any company move to the next level.
Nick Scozzaro and Jason Musyj, who Co-Founded MobiStream Solutions in July 2015, are a great example of what can happen when a great idea gets the wrap around support it needs from the very early stages.
Both had been working for BlackBerry when they realized that a great many large organizations were not taking full advantage of available new technology to enable their digital transformations.
“We decided to take a leap of faith and we launched almost five years ago with just Jason and I as fulltime employees,” said Scozzaro.
Today, MobiStream is a team of software development professionals changing the way its clients do business by building and implementing cutting-edge web, mobile technology and security systems with clients in many different sectors.
“We believed we had the engineering, innovation and creative expertise but we needed something more,” said Scozzaro. “We needed help with sales, marketing, financing, tax credits and connections related to research and development.”
Enter the beginning of a relationship with WEtech Alliance, one of 18 Regional Innovation Centers across Ontario. They are funded specifically to help startups just like Mobistream grow their technologies, and land in new markets across the globe.
Scozzaro said that WEtech was there to help every step of the way.
“An idea alone doesn’t make a company successful,” said Scozzaro. “You also need all the other moving pieces to mesh together along the way. WEtech helps you hone in what you really need and makes it easier for you to take what you are really good at and move in the right direction. They help you open the right doors and the contacts we’ve made through their guidance are still important to us today.”
The list of connections and programming available to startups through WEtech is exhaustive, but here are a few Mobistream has leveraged to scale their technology:
- They have worked with WEtech Alliance advisors, and the Venture Success Team, a total of over 78 hours over the course of the past two years.
- They won $10,000 in WEtech’s ScaleUP Tech Accelerator Program (powered by Libro Credit Union) which enabled them to move forward swiftly once they signed up Sabre Corporation, a global software system which helps airlines and travel agents search prices and book hotels and travel arrangements for companies across the world, as their first client.
- MobiStream took advantage of $228,500 value in WEtech’s Client Perks.
- In 2019 Mobistream was the successful recipient of CDMN’s Soft Landings Program, unlocking $4000 to land in a new market and close new business.
Scozzaro said accessing many of these programs is time-consuming and cumbersome for a small company but WEtech’s involvement made it all a great deal easier.
“They are very effective at what they do,” he added. “They are there if we need them and it’s encouraging to know they are in our corner.”
Moving forward, Scozzaro said MobiStream is constantly trying to improve its offerings and services to clients and will continue to make investments in research and development.
“If you’re sitting still in the technology sector, you have an expiry date,” he said. “You can’t rest because you have to figure out where your customers are going and get there ahead of them and the rest of the market.”