Colleen Pound: My name is Colleen Pound. I’m the CEO and co-founder at Proxure. And we’re here today to talk about the experience that we had with Ateko. We partnered to build a core part of our solution and they’ve been a fantastic partner along the way.

Colleen Pound: When we first met, and we talked about what we wanted to do, you were so generous with your time. And that was very meaningful. I mean, we were connected from, uh, someone in the tech community, right? Or reconnected, really, because we’ve known each other for a long time. And the thought that I got to work with someone I knew and trusted, who was well-respected, you were building this great company and doing some really cool things, that you had already done a version of what we were looking to do and had deployed it successfully at scale. Those were all huge motivators for us to want to work with you.

David Keith: That’s very kind. I mean, I think, uh, the individual you’re referring to, I was very fortuitous when I first started Ateko. He actually offered me rent-free in this building for six months.

Colleen Pound: That’s incredible.

David Keith: Because he believed in me. So I’ve always wanted to give back, and this individual had such a generous spirit. This provided the opportunity. And actually, I got to admit, it was… we were able to build on something we had already leveraged with some major oil and gas, uh, companies here in Calgary, uh, and leverage it even further on some pretty cool Microsoft technology. So we were really excited. And, you know, people, our people come to consulting because they want to try new technology, they want new projects, they want to build their career and build their skill repertoire. And this opportunity provided it for them. So it was, you know, it’s a win-win in many respects.

Colleen Pound: It was so fun, and the team was great. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a more different composition, right? Personalities, skills, even like location-based. And, um, we also really appreciated having the team local so that when if we wanted, if we had something we wanted to talk through or work through or, you know, through Teams or something wasn’t working for us, we could come to the office, we could show up with donuts, we could sit in the boardroom and we could kind of work through things. And we also really liked the social aspect of being able to get together with the team and build kind of that stronger, more connected, personal relationship as well. So, so we really liked that too.

David Keith: I think if people looked at Ateko, they’d be shocked at how large we are in Calgary. And now that we’ve opened offices in Edmonton and Vancouver, I’m looking eastward to Toronto, and the goal is to always have people on-site and help. That’s not to say that we’re not going to leverage remote work and remote skills. I think that’s, that’s the new world. But the fact that our clients can call up our consultants and they can walk down and look them in the eye and do what’s right, that means a lot.

Colleen Pound: Yeah, that’s huge. Congratulations on the expansion. That’s great news. Um, what do you think that you guys learned through our project? Because we learned a ton, but I’d love to know what you guys learned.

David Keith: So, we’re always confined by, you know, the budget and the requirements when we’re working in the big corporate world, which is the right thing to do and we love it. But what this offered us more than anything else was the opportunity to iterate, to fail a couple of times, and to try some cool new things. It wasn’t, you know, budget should always be at the forefront, but, you know, we wanted to give as well. So we were willing to go through some mistakes so we could push our limits and our skill sets so that they can be leveraged somewhere else. Like, I think the next corporate client that gets us and wants us to implement this solution are going to be amazed, not only at the benefit they’re going to get from it, but at the cost that we’re going to deliver it to them for.

Colleen Pound: Yeah, it’s nice to be able to iterate, and I think that’s part of a great partnership. We learned a ton. I mean, even the translation of what do I mean versus what do you mean and what does it actually mean, right? So, underscoring the importance of communication and giving examples, and also being willing to try something and then iterate and then try it again. So I would agree and build on what you said around the iterations and the learning and building on that. And, um, and also, what I really appreciate about the team is that they really care about the delivery, the quality, and that it works. And even after we completed and hit our major milestones, still getting follow-up to see how’s it going and can we see the next version? And don’t forget, we had some ideas that we couldn’t implement then, but you’re ready now, so let’s talk about that. So it’s not just a one-and-done, it is a real relationship and a partnership, and I think that that’s something that maybe other people might not understand or recognize that comes along with the Ateko experience.

David Keith: Well, and also a very unique experience here was that we built lots of data products. This allowed us to build an SDK. So when I started Ateko, people may not know this, but it was based on a book called Consumption Economics. And a key tenet of that book was that you needed to build IP that could be further leveraged within a customer base. And for me, to build an SDK like that was the next iteration, and there were tons of learnings for our staff there. But for the first time, I can see that coming to fruition as far as Ateko building out some product.

Colleen Pound: Well, we look forward to collaborating with you again. We can’t wait. And, um, we also look forward to you coming to the Stampede party next year.

David Keith: And likewise, we’re looking forward to you coming to ours.