Pitch Please

00:29.72
mike_flywheel
Welcome back everybody to the pitch please podcast. It's Mike here and today I'm joined by Kelly from poptronic welcome to the show. Kelly.

00:37.70
Kelly Bergeron
Hey thanks so much for having me.

00:42.63
mike_flywheel
Um, Kelly maybe like let's learn a little bit about you. Um your background and maybe a bit about your career journey.

00:48.17
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, for sure. So I grew up in a small city in Eastern Ontario called Cornwall and I was one of those kids of the 90 s who. Started learning visual basic on a big beige computer and reluctantly went to school for computer programming. Um, because my father thought you know you're not going to make it in theater. You may as well have a really good job. So he took his advice and I went to school for computer programming and essentially went to school graduated. Not really the top of my class or anything but I kind of found my knack in like design and Ux and. Kind of the whole idea of digital transformation and I worked in a lot of nonprofits I worked in Kingston I worked with the department of national defense and the rcmp building out websites working with databases and. Really found myself enjoying the nonprofit world and also learning a lot about government as well. So you know that's you know, twenty years ago that I've ah graduated and these days. Um I am working.

02:16.54
Kelly Bergeron
As a stem educator and I absolutely love it. I'm working with teens every day and I really love the whole community aspect around technology and I think we have like. This really important moment where we can really leverage what genz is bringing to the table and I want to be at the forefront of that I think with a lot of mass layoffs. We're seeing a lot of people focusing on climate. And that's why I wanted to create a startup with my co-founder Chatney Hearn um to be able to address climate um anxiety but also with a technological angle and also a consumerist.

03:12.44
Kelly Bergeron
Um, ah a consumerism circular economy lens. So that's kind of the long story.

03:16.50
mike_flywheel
So You've been in the yes you've been in the tech space for a while talk talk to me about. So You're the cofounder of poptronic but you were talking about. You know your role helping educate and bring some of your wisdom and experience in this space. So where where is that and and what type of work is is that that you're doing.

03:36.36
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so day to day I work with a program called Codeex where we engage with hundreds of high school students across the us in black latino and indigenous. Neighborhoods and communities and that work is so important, especially during the pandemic when we've seen the effect. It's had on mental health and technology has really kind of divided us even more. So. So I felt that it was really important to share what I've learned and share my experiences but also bringing people together in a tech space where we can talk about you know the ethics issues. The. The data sharing privacy. All those things. There's just so much responsibility that we need to have as ah futurists you know like people who are looking to use technology to change the world.

04:48.74
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. So you're inspiring future entrepreneurs.

04:52.49
Kelly Bergeron
Hope. So yeah, yeah I want them to be curious I think ah I think young people are really ahead of their time and we need to capture that and but we also need to make sure that we're prepared for.

05:10.51
Kelly Bergeron
The onslaught of like cyber security issues or just um, the inequalities in like access to technology and things like that.

05:22.34
mike_flywheel
That's amazing and so did your inspirations and journeys around the space. You've been in for a while helping you know, learn about apply technology and help others apply technology is that sort of what. Inspired you to become a entrepreneur and co-founder of Pop Tronic or is there a more mysterious journey of of how this how this got started and how you met your co-founder.

05:48.93
Kelly Bergeron
Okay, so the irony there's so much irony in this because it's exactly what inspired our journey so ah Chadney and I knew each other from about four or five years ago we built a ah tech training program. Um. And we educated over I believe 120 adults on the skills of the future. So we ran this program in eight months you know we finished it out and I was talking to her about this idea I had. This idea came from I was teaching virtual reality to my students online and so I was preparing curriculum. You know, putting together my lesson plans and all of a sudden I'm getting ads through Facebook. For a workout app for the oculus at the time and I was like what what the hell is this like I just was like keeps coming up this looks um, amazing I used to be a figure skater so I kind of like that. I don't know I just felt like I connected with it and then I tried it and I got sucked straight into like working out in virtual reality and I was just like oh my god this is a game changer. This was two years ago almost to the day.

07:16.72
Kelly Bergeron
And so I'm like if this pandemic continues to go this way like we need to get vr in everyone's house because they can't go to the gym or they feel scared to go out or anything like that they can work out at home and so. This app is called supernatural and meta literally just acquired it two days ago and they had all these issues with the Ftc before they acquired it. So it's an amazing app I love it because it's like you have. Amazing music. They've gamified working out and like the stories you see in their community like you see eighty year old Grandmas who are like able to lift you know a barbecue now because they work out in it every day. That's what I mean is like you're seeing this happen people are disconnected but they're connecting through this community and it was like oh my god we need to bring this to everyone so that's how pop tronic was born. It was like I want to rent out my headset to people. And then I was like let's rent that out. Let's rent out all kinds of things.

08:28.64
mike_flywheel
So It wasn't specifically a calling to entrepreneurship so much as an experience and a life kind of epiphany moment around mixed reality and virtual reality where you were inspired to use it and we're curious of how do you democratize. Ability for people to access that type of technology.

08:50.46
Kelly Bergeron
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely and like the change that we've just seen um, recently in the adoption of this technology is incredible like it's being used in nursing homes. It's being used for mental health. Um, training. It's being used for. You know you could go as um, serious as like police training but it has like an application for almost everything which is really interesting but I also felt like. Having women in this space is really important because if you only have the same you know people developing technology they're going to miss those use cases and you know there are some apps out there where it can get toxic. If you have kids in the metaverse somewhere so we wanted to bring this education aspect to what we're doing as well where we share with our customers like this is how you can do things. This is how you can protect your data and like you know, look out for these signs so we want to be really responsible with it. As well.. Thanks.

10:02.32
mike_flywheel
That's amazing, fun, fun fact about myself. So I actually when I was kind of mentioning to you just before we started around building I was the first ah hololens and mixed reality product lead for Microsoft Canada back in the time so I am deeply passionate about this space.

10:15.40
Kelly Bergeron
Ah, oh wow.

10:20.40
mike_flywheel
Totally empathize with like the access component because you know some of the technology is is more expensive and maybe use cases are still being built and so how do you kind of bring that to the masses. So I'm super curious to learn even more about poptronic.

10:28.99
Kelly Bergeron
Yep.

10:37.52
mike_flywheel
Have a bunch of questions. So maybe we we start off with with your pitch and then we go from there. So Kelly your pitch please.

10:40.36
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, yeah, so pop. Tronic we rent the latest technology at an affordable Price. You can come into our store in downtown Cornwall Our flagship Retail Space. You can try out the tech there or you can go online at Wwwwww.popchanic.sa You can choose a rental for as little as one week and it's affordable, easy to access and we ship right to your house So that's pop cha.

11:16.38
mike_flywheel
Amazing and so actually before we dive into anything I Want to know how did you arrive at the name pop tronic.

11:17.78
Kelly Bergeron
And.

11:26.10
Kelly Bergeron
So We arrived at the name because I love the Portmantos Um, and I I just have like such an affinity for neon and like. Pop and just like fun branding and I thought you know electronics and pop just went together but we did do a serious. Yeah, we did a serious exercise on like trying to find a name that made sense.

11:49.95
mike_flywheel
Cool Sometimes it.

11:58.20
mike_flywheel
Sometimes that Exerta exercise takes a while was it one of those like giant whiteboard days weeks bouncing names around is that sort of the the background how you got here.

12:09.20
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, and then you're googling and you're trying to find like oh who has this and so yeah, there are some weird like places um from like the seventy s that I've seen but essentially it was just fun for us to find that name and I. Was such a big blockbuster nerd growing up that I was like I wanted to feel kind of like a blockbuster for Tag. It is.

12:34.48
mike_flywheel
Naming naming is hard right? It's a fun process but figuring out your name your brand identity. That's that's always a fun but challenging part for for many startups. There's a startup I talked to.

12:39.75
Kelly Bergeron
Yet.

12:45.32
Kelly Bergeron
You.

12:49.38
mike_flywheel
Ah, one of my earlier recordings where they had a name and then they actually went through a Rebrand and there's a whole company just built around building brand names and naming. Um.

13:00.50
Kelly Bergeron
Oh wow.

13:04.55
mike_flywheel
Fun fact is they are actually the ones that came up with the name. The bacon eater for Wendy's and so she hired that company to to help them out and it was a whole cool experience. So you'll have to check out that podcast their name is wimble. Um, so when you when you talk about.

13:16.48
Kelly Bergeron
That's awesome. Okay, cool.

13:24.60
mike_flywheel
Renting of electronics who started with virtual reality so does poptronic mostly offer virtual reality or is that sort of where it started.

13:32.92
Kelly Bergeron
That's where it started and we just ah started having a lot of success from families being like oh we need a headset for this vacation or we have a birthday party coming up or whatever and so we just kind of. Pivoted from there to offer more tech and we found that there is a huge demand in organizations for virtual Reality. So Events event companies are looking for those experiences. Um, you're going to see a lot more adoption at like conferences and things like that. So um, we're getting demand like B Two B Demand as well as ah, B to c.

14:20.44
mike_flywheel
Got it So you have a wider array than than just virtual reality. But there's obviously been a big push there and you're saying so who uses it. You've talked a little bit about people renting it for their kids on a trip all the way to businesses who's.

14:30.40
Kelly Bergeron
Yep.

14:37.50
mike_flywheel
The primary market or is it actually this broad.

14:41.59
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so primary market that we found are mostly parents in their mid to mid 30 s to mid 40 s who have um, you know their kids on the weekend. Um or are looking for things for their kids to do. Um, while they're like out shopping or whatever. So and they also don't want to just like buy something and have it sit on a shelf because you know vr ah is not cheap so they want to at least try it first. But we're also seeing those parents. Getting it for themselves. We had 1 guy trying out. We have a hockey app that we've installed and he practices his for his like ear league. Um his shots in the metaquest headset. So. He came in he rented it out. He was like this is amazing I've already bought one like so we're like helping these companies sell devices just by renting them out.

15:44.52
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah, it's sort of like the trial period concept.

15:46.81
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, and like we saw at Christmas that there were a lot of returns this year and so we're also looking to address that issue as well by just like baking in the idea of we expect you to return? it. So. Yeah, we're working on those strategies.

16:07.24
mike_flywheel
That's super cool now talk to me a little bit about this space of rental like I I remember back in the day I used to rent you know audio visual equipment from long and mcquaid.

16:10.87
Kelly Bergeron
Ah, proper.

16:23.70
mike_flywheel
And so is this a similar concept. But for the diverse set of ah of electronics and sort of what's the spectrum like you know you mentioned vr you you mentioned some other gaming things. What's like the spectrum of the types of electronics you could rent from poptronic.

16:23.70
Kelly Bergeron
Yep.

16:40.65
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so we have we've really focused on sort of more I would say not traditional things like drones. Um, we've got like movie theater setups that we rent out these kits. Um, things that people just wouldn't have lying around their house for the most part but we do plan on um, focusing in on laptops cell phones. Um, we are seeing a demand from like new immigrants in the community who don't have credit. Like just want to come in and rent something for a couple days. Um, but we're definitely seeing a lot of interest in those um those products but we also want to promote sustainable products. So. We'll have a category where we talk about you know ocean plastics and like here are the you know manufacturers who are using ocean plastics and kind of having like a section that talks about how that's good for us. And there's already a ah billion dollar valueated company in this space that just expanded to the us. Um, and they're called Grover. So they've been doing this for about 7 years and um, they're you know they're constantly fundraising in the hundreds of millions.

18:07.70
mike_flywheel
That's super interesting. So talk to me a little bit about maybe maybe we just go down that path for a little bit so you said there's a competitor or alternative in this space. You said they're mostly in the us. So are you.

18:13.11
Kelly Bergeron
Ah, sure.

18:19.91
mike_flywheel
Are there multiple companies that do this where you sort of unique or differentiated. Maybe it's regional talk talk to me a little bit about that.

18:26.31
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so we're mostly focused on Canada at this point and want to kind of broaden our reach more so on the west and the East Coast um our focus right now is Canada and. And I don't believe Grover will try to come into this market because they have pretty much dominated europe for the past seven years there are some early stage competitors. Ah in you know South America I believe um Poland and a couple of Eastern european countries but it is a newer sort of startup theme under the circular economy. So the circular economy for tech isn't as big as circular economy for like textiles where you know you've got all these huge um these huge manufacturers who are now creating new pockets of revenue through you know. Thrift stores and um refurbish stuff and everything right? So you're seeing a huge popularity with that. Also with the various kind of like climate impact funding opportunities out there. We're seeing a lot of interest in bringing.

19:53.87
Kelly Bergeron
More sustainable ways. Um for consumers to um, you know, consume content. Um.

20:00.55
mike_flywheel
Makes makes total sense so where where do you get all of your electronics from. Are they all new equipment is part of this like a buyback program can people that are renting buy from you if they want to. Own the product outright at the end. How does that all sort of work.

20:21.10
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so we essentially work with wholesalers and we'll work with really high quality refurbishment programs for certain pieces of Tech. Um, we do try to obviously keep our costs low and because we want to. Be as circular as possible if we can get a high quality refurbished product will go that way because at the end of the day we want to make sure that we're reducing waste like we're keeping e-waste out of the landfills So We look to those kind of suppliers.

20:55.52
mike_flywheel
Hello world.

20:58.49
Kelly Bergeron
Um, and then after six months of a rental once that rental is kind of if you choose to rent that long and pay it off. We'll charge you a dollar and you can just buy it from us so you can have yeah so you.

21:10.42
mike_flywheel
Oh Wow So there is like a rent to buy type concept. So if you find that you're using it often.

21:18.15
Kelly Bergeron
If you're using it to the maximum amount then we'll just sell it outright to you.

21:25.40
mike_flywheel
That's amazing and how are people able to sell you. They're used electronics or you're generally buying wholesale or refurbish from the manufacturers like are companies. Okay.

21:36.80
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, we don't do direct. Yeah, we don't do direct from consumer just because the the standards aren't there yet? Um, we're hoping and we are talking to a large organization that will help us establish standards. That we can share with Canadians on like technology and um, what that looks like in terms of rentals and refurbishment and things like that. Um, but for now we stick with like wholesalers and um companies that are doing refurbishments.

22:11.81
mike_flywheel
That's awesome. How do you deal with the challenge that you know Tech's obviously always evolving and I'm sure even though you're able to get long life out of these products. Are how you managing the the need to kind of continuously refresh your inventory if you will.

22:27.76
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, for sure so in order to constantly keep that going. We don't buy anything until we absolutely have to so we don't buy things and have them sit on the shelves until we have sign-offs. And we give ourselves enough lead time in order to purchase that product. So then um, we're not risking. It's sitting on a shelf. We also will sell out older technology and recoup our um part of our costs. So. Our actual margin will grow based on our selling program. So a lot of companies are buying out tech as well. So We're just part of that circular economy right? um.

23:18.10
mike_flywheel
Super interesting now you mentioned that that you have a physical location in Cornwall um, but you can ship. You know you can ship directly to people's homes does that mean you can ship anywhere in Canada. So if people want to rent.

23:26.25
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, ah.

23:33.80
mike_flywheel
Electronics they can do so from anywhere in Canada.

23:36.31
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah I mean as far as we can go in terms of the post office. We'll go to those places because we think that people of every um geography should have access on.

23:40.39
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

23:52.18
Kelly Bergeron
But yeah, that's what we're offering to canadians is basically you know with a few days lead time you can rent from us. You can save hundreds of dollars on tech um, and with you know this apparent recession or whatever this is right now. Um, canadians need to save something like $3000 in unexpected expenses. So we can help canadians with that. Um, and just from our experiences in like working with schools and being in schools. We know that a lot of schools. Are wanting to teach you know the newest gadgets the newest thing but they can't afford to purchase the tech to teach so that's where we're also addressing that gap um by offering these rentals so it doesn't sit on a shelf for you know, five or six months of the year so we are working on those types of partnerships.

24:53.65
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. So I've opened up your website I'm just looking through some of the items now while while we're talking live can can we talk through a little bit about how that works. So if I click an item I'm gonna pretend I Want an Hgc vive pro. Ah.

24:56.21
Kelly Bergeron
Um, yeah.

25:04.32
Kelly Bergeron
Yep.

25:08.14
mike_flywheel
Maybe talk to me a little bit about generally what your range is on rental prices here. It's like it looks like it's as low as depending what I want $20 all the way up to maybe a couple hundred dollars for periods of time is that sort of how it works.

25:22.50
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, so right now our products are um, they're priced at a price point where the actual product will be paid off in six months so our minimum amount of rental time is one week and the higher you rent the more discount you get. So if you rent for I believe three months you'll get a 15 % discount and it'll be lower from there for depending on how much time you rent for. So we want to reward people who are renting longer but we are working on a subscription based hardware rental service. So instead of just renting paying upfront. It's subscription base so you can just pay once a month and that includes insurance and ah repairs up to like 90 so um, there are different things that we're working on to make the buyer or the renter's journey easier so that is coming. Probably this spring and we hope that that will um, continue our recurring revenue model.

26:41.50
mike_flywheel
That's cool and it also I guess for businesses helps it become an operating expense versus a capital expense because they can just sort of rent against it until maybe they own it or maybe they don't and and shipping does the user pay for for shipping.

26:52.15
Kelly Bergeron
Yep Yep! ah.

26:58.87
mike_flywheel
No worries. We've got another participant in the call. We'll just let them join.

27:04.56
Kelly Bergeron
Ah, um, part of me what what was that? yeah.

27:04.74
mike_flywheel
So yeah I was just asking about the shipping. So how does shipping work. Obviously if you're local in Cornwall you can pick up otherwise it's just like a flat rate I guess you pay on top of your rental.

27:16.40
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, yeah, so we will cover. Ah some of the shipping depending on how long they rent for but our flat rate is basically $20 so not I mean not free.

27:28.76
mike_flywheel
Okay, cool.

27:34.33
Kelly Bergeron
But we do offer um discounts rates um on the website as well.

27:41.89
mike_flywheel
Yeah, well I imagine you're you're not shipping you know pieces of paper here. You're shipping some pretty large objects so it it totally makes sense. Um, how do how does? Ah, how do you like manage all this there must have ah a big team a warehouse.

27:44.28
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

27:55.60
Kelly Bergeron
Well, we're not there yet. So we're basically Mvp. We're small right now and we're fundraising so that's how we plan on growing our team. Um, we also have our space so our space we allow people to hang out and rent tech in there. Um, but yeah, once we do start to grow our revenue we already plan on hiring at least 1 or 2 people in the next couple months um but right now we're small. We're mighty and yeah we have a lot of things that we want to build out I'm building or I'm continuing to build the website. So hopefully we'll get to that next level where we have those subscriptions and then um. Be able to bring on some more full-time people.

28:49.56
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. Well I wish you all the best and in that journey. Hopefully it becomes super easy and a quick path to success maybe talk to us a little bit about that journey where where are you at today. And sort of what are some of the challenges. Maybe you're facing or some of the best parts about what you've been doing thus far and some of those amazing stories that you were talking about.

29:12.48
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, for sure. So I mean it's been awesome for the past year and a half you know both of us we work. Um, a lot of the time so we pretty much work full time and we do this full time. So we're really busy but we love doing it. Um and we do it because we know that there is a space for sustainable opportunities in the tech space. Um, we know that there's a huge opportunity to educate canadians on. How to be a sustainable consumer and how to save money so we know like that messaging excites us because we've all been in that position of not being able to afford the newest iphone or laptop. Doesn't mean you don't want to try it. But once you see the joy of people trying things like vr and their reactions in that space. It makes it all worthwhile so introducing people to new tech is a huge opportunity. But also giving people who don't have the money or you know the space in order to try those new things. It's really exciting for us.

30:33.65
mike_flywheel
Yeah, you're reducing the barriers to entry for people to try things out. They maybe still won't be able to necessarily buy it out but they can have these experiences and try things that maybe they've always wanted to which I guess is a big piece of you know, creating moments of. Entertainment or enjoyment for people that maybe want to try it. Can't afford to buy it and this is like a little bit of a treat even to themselves. But I imagine even you're talking about businesses and I can just see the the need here because if you are say a startup in the virtual reality space. Making the capital investment for multiple headsets just to bring to your events could be quite heavy and so maybe you have 1 or 2 but when you go to an event where you maybe have to scale up to having 5 or 6 this is an amazing solution I remember we used to have that challenge.

31:18.32
Kelly Bergeron
Yep.

31:29.10
mike_flywheel
A lot of the companies that we were working with with hololens and mixed reality where you know the team or the company has 2 or 3 devices but whenever they have to go kind of do demo days. How do you scale up? How do you scale up to 8 units.

31:39.30
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, we literally have we have a company who has requested you know potentially a hundred headsets. So we've seen this and so there. You know a huge events company across North America and we know that this is going to be the next thing we have ah events companies in toronto contacting us for like summer events or just like family day stuff. So there is a big need to have. Multiple devices so that's a great you know story from you as well with the hololens and the the path for affordability for a lot of people just isn't there.

32:24.93
mike_flywheel
What would you say has been the hardest part so far.

32:31.29
Kelly Bergeron
You know what they say about? Yeah I say the hardest part is that we're not building a Saas company and um, getting people to take you seriously as a woman in this space.

32:45.34
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

32:47.23
Kelly Bergeron
Which is just such a cliche but it's true. Um, but it just makes it more fun right? It just makes it more like whatever I'm gonna like what I like you to each their own right? So when we have those conversations and.

33:01.45
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah.

33:05.20
Kelly Bergeron
Um, we aren't taken Seriously, it makes me laugh and I'm just like whatever we're gonna get to that next that we're we'll meet you again in the future. It's fine. Um, yeah, and it.

33:15.14
mike_flywheel
Yeah, you need you need thick skin as ah as an entrepreneur and is that mostly from a fundraising perspective. You're you're getting that kind of feedback.

33:23.32
Kelly Bergeron
oh oh yeah for sure. Um, or you know just people who've been in tech for 30 years telling us like oh this will never work and did you think of this I'm like actually this company's already doing it so they they're like oh okay. I'll listen to you then? So it's it's a good time but you know one of my good friends Mark Leffleur I don't know if you know Mark but um, he just well he sold this company a couple years ago true local for $17000000 and he's. In Cornwall he grew up here. We have lunch together and we talk about the the pains of fundraising and he went through the same thing as a black man right? But he's like the best. You know it's just the best when you get what you need and you can do you can live out your dream and do the thing you want to do so. That's what keeps me going.

34:24.44
mike_flywheel
And it makes the achieving of it that much better and you know it's never going to be super simple or a walk in the park and I mean there's obviously a need for it. You're demonstrating that because people are are renting this equipment companies that have.

34:28.67
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah.

34:43.17
mike_flywheel
Hardware or our hardware companies are constantly doing events and Demos or customer trials. So I imagine this is an amazing B Two B space with obviously some B Two C benefits. So I.

34:49.88
Kelly Bergeron
Ah, hurt.

34:54.67
Kelly Bergeron
Are.

34:59.42
mike_flywheel
I Imagine it's just going to take some time the return to in-person Events globally is obviously going to be a big driver probably of need and growth for you. So I wish you all the best and all of that is there is there a part for you. That's been sort of your your most.

35:08.17
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah.

35:17.93
mike_flywheel
Memorable Story Whether that be an experience with someone that was renting out products from Pop Tronic or maybe you know some other type of story of you and your cofounder's journey or something that happened.

35:33.17
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah I mean this past summer in August I was in Oakland um, doing some work with my team there and my co-founder came and flew down to Oakland. Um, chatney and we found out we got into the she boot accelerator we were top 15 out of 124 companies and Chaney got into the powow pitch and she plays in like. The top 1.5% in North America like 2500 indigenous entrepreneurs she came in the top 1.5 so you know like that journey with my co-founder was really awesome to be in Oakland you know celebrating. Margaritas it was awesome. So definitely you take those sweet moments in and you take the good with the bad and yeah, it all works out.

36:37.80
mike_flywheel
It I think it's all part of the the roller coaster every foundry that I talked to talks about those challenges but it sounds like the friendships. Um. Memorable moments along the way are always the people sort of things people sort of remember more than then the nose. The nose are sort of the motivation to keep going So I'm glad you're enjoying the experience in the journey with your co-founder.

36:59.22
Kelly Bergeron
Thank you so much Mike I really appreciate this and it was great to chat with you.

37:06.59
mike_flywheel
For sure now a couple last things when when you think about sort of the next. Um the next six months for poptronic is there anything specific that you've got in store. You mentioned launching something around the subscription base is that something that you plan to be rolling out over the next six months

37:25.41
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, for Sure. So That's one of our major um plays that we're working on right now is switching to that. Um, we also want to start incorporating an ewaste dashboard for our customers so that they can see how much. Um, or how many resources they're saving by renting as opposed to buying um and just finding more partnerships hiring a few more people and just expanding um that education piece So that. Canadians know that this is an option now.

38:03.84
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. So you're really gonna kind of double down around the sustainability goals and the ability to help drive that initiative forward and really bring that to life in the next six six to twelve months

38:13.57
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, for sure.

38:16.65
mike_flywheel
And so if people that are listening were interested in helping and they had the means to our ability to what are sort of the top 1 to 3 things that pop tronic or yourself would love. Help with or focus on. Is it just visiting the website sharing things out what what sort of is most important for you right now.

38:38.61
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, the most important thing for us right now is just sharing our service getting the brand out there definitely helps us um because a lot of people don't know that this exists um and breaking through. That messaging that um we are addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals of circular economy practices. Um, and I would say if there are people out there who are interested in partnering. Um, I'd love to hear from Them. We're always looking for suppliers or um partners who are willing to um, cross promote and potentially partner on some Vr projects essentially.

39:31.99
mike_flywheel
Super cool. Well we'll make sure to to put the call to actions in in the show notes and make sure that people can get connected so part of it is amplification part. The next piece is either around partnerships of of Manufacturers or Partnerships on cross promotion and advocacy.

39:41.60
Kelly Bergeron
Um, awesome.

39:48.31
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah.

39:49.84
mike_flywheel
Um, so we'll make sure to include those Kelly ah another fun thing that we do before we close up I sort of just spring it up on everybody but I realized it's actually pretty hard to say pitch please podcast fast so we try to see how many times the guests on the show can say pitch please podcast in a row without tripping up. Also means that to you know, join in to see where they rank amongst their peers. Um, you can sive as much water as you need before but whenever you're ready Kelly we'd love to hear you go pitch please podcast as many times as you can.

40:15.55
Kelly Bergeron
Um, ah pitch please podcast pitch please podcast pitch please call.

40:29.82
mike_flywheel
It's tough. You got 3 It's tough. You got three I can't say whether you're the best or the worst the best may be a little higher but I don't know I don't know I don't know I can't say if you're the worst there might be people out there with 1 or 2 It's tough.

40:33.86
Kelly Bergeron
I was the worst. If. Oh God it.

40:43.52
mike_flywheel
I realized saying it myself that it was tough and then I thought it'd be really funny to spring on guess and seems to be a lot of fun to close out. Kelly thank you for joining us today any closing words from your side or things that you want to make sure that we shut out.

40:49.50
Kelly Bergeron
Yeah, yeah, thanks.

41:00.59
Kelly Bergeron
No, just um, thank you for listening and thank you for lifting up the voices of entrepreneurs across Canada. We need more people like you might so. Thanks.

41:18.13
mike_flywheel
I really appreciate it and honestly this is just a lot of fun for me I hope lots of people listen but at a minimum I love hearing people's stories and the journey that they're on and the amazing work they're doing to impact the world around them. So thank you for joining Kelly.

41:22.27
Kelly Bergeron
Forgive you.

41:32.36
Kelly Bergeron
Awesome.

41:33.63
mike_flywheel
Thanks again, everybody who tuned in and look forward to catching you on the next episode.

41:37.92
Kelly Bergeron
Thanks.