321 - Mastering the Balancing Act: Entrepreneurial Strategies for Work-Life Harmony with Bahia AI's Danika Chilibeck

Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started. Danica Chilibeck, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the CEO and co-founder of a company called Bahia Ai, which of course can be found at behia.ai. And you, like many people I've talked to over the years, was— you were— grew up in corporate and made the leap and became an entrepreneur. So we're really interested in hearing that story. Welcome to the show.

Thank you. Excited to be here.

So you're talking to me today from Puerto Vallarta.

That's right.

Yep.

I spend a lot of time here in the winter. I would say this is where I met my co-founder. A couple years back, but I'm originally from Ottawa and spend most of my time actually in Vancouver these days as well.

There you go, Canadian to the heart. So tell us a little bit about your backstory.

So my background is in finance. I studied finance and then quickly went into this industry called mergers and acquisitions, which for finance people is, I would say, pretty cool. At the time, everybody really thought that was a cool space to go into and tough and Wolf of Wall Street vibes. But after a year and a half, I realized pretty quickly it wasn't for me. So I started looking at the tech space because I knew tech companies had a really good culture and it just looked funner to me than working from my gray cubicle in M&A. And so I discovered this company called Shopify at the time, which was an Ottawa-based startup, which is where I'm from. And they were just growing really fast. So I applied at Shopify and I would say that was my first taste at the tech industry and just what it was like working within a tech business. And then after being there for about 4 years, I decided, you know what, the startup scene seems pretty cool. Like when I started at Shopify, there were about 2,000 employees. And by the time I left, we were about 12,000, I want to say. Wow.

Massive growth.

Yeah, I really got to witness the explosive growth and what that looked like from within, which was really cool. But then, yeah, I just found that near when we were about 12,000 employees, you end up just going really deep on one topic and I wanted to go broader in terms of the different departments and areas within the business that I could play with. So I left and joined a company called Rewind, which was this other Ottawa-based startup that was growing really fast. And that was at the time, I want to say, I think we were 60-something employees when I first joined and then grew that, I guess, headcount-wise. I, when we left, we would have been probably around 120. And I was there for about 4 years, just getting a glimpse of working at, I want to say maybe a truer startup. And then eventually after those 4 years, I decided, you know what, I want to go even smaller and I want to start my own company at this point. Last year in June. Of 2024, I started Bahía with my co-founder and we are now, I guess that's what, 8, 9 months in and I'm, I couldn't be happier. So that's the long story short.

So tell us a little bit about Bahía. What it's, I went to the website and from what I can tell, it's an AI-based platform for helping HR professionals do recruiting and that sort of thing.

Yeah. So when I was working at Rewind, one team that I was leading was recruitment. And I was also having to fill a few roles on my own team myself. And a part of recruiting is finding people. We call it talent sourcing, which is essentially finding and headhunting people out there for your role. So let's say you're hiring a software developer and you're looking at your inbound applications and there aren't that many good prospect candidates that have applied. You would then do talent sourcing, which is essentially you go out and find those people, right? And you try to get them on a call. So it's very much like a, a lead gen tool that we are now building at Bahía to automate that process for teams that are hiring. And really we consider ourselves like matchmakers. We just try to find very high potential people and connect them with really awesome teams and yeah, make that whole process seamless for teams.

So you're out there looking for people who are not looking for a job.

Exactly.

And trying to induce them into thinking about changing. To another company.

Exactly. Yep.

That seems to me like it would be a tough sell in some cases, in a lot of cases. If people are not actively looking for a job, they're either happy where they're at or they don't have a clue about how to go about changing.

Yeah, you would be surprised. I would say we do a lot of A/B testing on our end. So we really figured out what kind of messaging gets people interested and you would be surprised how many people are just curious to learn about what else is out there, right? It's just a conversation. And from that point where we book that first interview with the team, uh, that's when we do our handoff. So I would say, and we also, it's very targeted, right? We don't, it's not really a volume game for us. It's very targeted, very customized. And so if you are getting a message from us, it's because we do, we have determined that you are a very high match candidate for this role. And the likelihood of you being interested is also very high. And yeah, Typically, I would say we are able to generate, I want to say, usually between 15 to 20 interested candidates for a given role. And of those, I would say upwards of 80% get approved from the recruiter to have that first conversation.

Wow. So you're using AI to facilitate all of this?

Yes, exactly. There's actually quite a few steps in the talent sourcing process.

Like it.

And when I was going through it myself, it was hell. I hated it. I had to find people, I had to message them, I had to remember who they were when they would respond. I'm busy, my team's busy, the, the communications get scattered. And then alternatively, if you went with an agency, usually agencies charge between 15 to 40% of annual salary, which I just thought was, you know, criminal for, for what it is. And yeah, that's where Bahia, the idea came from in the first place.

So you're not a tech person yourself. You're a business person. How do you go about? Finding the technical people to help you put together, to take the concept.

Yeah.

And turn it into reality. That sounds like it's a, that's a process.

Yeah. So we have an agency that we're working with of developers and it's been going super well. And of course we just have a really close feedback loop with our customers and our dev team. I would say our first version of the product was very basic, of course. A lot of it was stitching tools in the backend. There was a lot of manual work involved. Even today, there's still some things that we're really trying hard to automate, but when you first start any company, usually you have this vision in mind of where you want to be and your first version will be very simple. So when we first started out, it was me and my co-founder. We're not technical, but what I will say is we're really good at finding tools out there to automate everything that we do from sales to marketing to product development. It's actually pretty amazing how in this day and age you have so many tools available to you at your fingertips that even as a non-technical person, you can build a technical startup. And now looking at our product today compared to 8 months ago, it's like unrecognizable. It's already so different. And I think 10 years ago that wouldn't have been possible. So yeah, we definitely pride ourselves on building a software company without being necessarily technical people ourselves.

How did you get funded?

So we are completely customer funded with our business model because we don't charge on success. We just charge a flat fee upfront. People will pay us as soon as they sign up. And so we're able to take that money and invest it right back into the business. So we've talked about fundraising. It's like obviously a hot topic, especially being from a finance background. There's just so many ways that you can get crafty when it comes to funding. But so far we have decided to remain bootstrapped for now.

Good for you.

Could change. Could change. We'll see.

Yeah, no, that's terrific because you know, you keep people outta your back pocket and that just means more opportunity in the future for as long as you can do that. So what is it that gets you up in the morning and gets you really excited to go to work, especially in Puerto Vallarta where you might want to go to the beach?

Yeah. In comparison to what most people think, it's not the nice weather and the beach, although that helps. I would say I really truly love what I do. I think at Bahía, one of the best things about our job is that we help people both on the business side and on the candidate side, right? I've been there. I've been in that position where I'm looking for my next opportunity or not, but being exposed to new opportunities and then joining a company like Rewind when I did, it just, it's life-changing, right? So I think at Bahía, we really help people find those amazing opportunities. And like I said, we love finding people who are high growth, high potential, and putting them in teams and in roles that allow them to reach their full potential. And that's really exciting. And looking back at all of the roles that we filled and all of the candidates that got better jobs because of us, it's pretty amazing.

So you're really helping and serving people.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I, we love what we do and it really is It really gets me excited to, to get on my desk and work away all day. And the other thing too— Yeah, go ahead.

I was gonna say, it sounds like you— so it's pretty much a remote company. You got people spread out all over the place.

Yeah, we are a fully remote team. And that was my second point was I really love who I work with, not just my co-founder, but our other team members as well. And if I'm not awake for my first team meeting in the morning, I'm not just letting myself down, I'm letting the team down. And so. As much as when you have your own business, obviously there's a lot of self-accountability that play. It really helps to surround yourself with just awesome people who are also just very motivated and passionate about what they're doing.

I, I'll tell you, uh, Danica, that every single successful person I've interviewed on this show said exactly what you just said, that success is all about how you surround yourself with the right people. And let them do their thing.

100%. Yeah.

And if you wanna scale, then you hire people that know how to hire.

Oh yeah.

And that's the secret. It's not about you. It's about the people you can find to, to work with you. And that seems to be the number one mantra of success that I've heard over all these interviews that I've done.

Oh yeah.

I smile when I hear it because it's okay, she's found the magic bullet.

For sure. And even outside of your job, I would say that goes for your partner. It goes for your friends, the people that you decide to spend life with. There's a quote that someone said once, it's find the people you love and do life with them. And right. For me, my co-founder, she was just this really exceptional human that I came across and we clicked immediately. I loved her passion for life and zest for life, I guess you could call it. And working with someone like that every day, it's the best, right? And I think for anyone who's who's thinking of starting a business, I would say making sure it's someone that you truly look up to and enjoy spending time with is so crucial over anything else, right? I used to think I always had to work with a technical co-founder and I was completely wrong. I would take Delaney over anyone, any, even the smartest engineer out there, I would still pick Delaney over them. Yeah.

And to your point, I think we're getting past the time when you need to have highly technical people doing the work because so much of it can be outsourced. And AI is taking over a lot of technical jobs and it's only gonna, that change shift is only gonna continue as we move forward.

Yeah.

We're into some really radical times. Yeah. I'm working on my 5th book and I did, I've done more in the last 6 weeks with AI than I could have done in 8 months. By myself.

That's awesome.

It's incredible. It's incredible how it works. You got to be smart about it, but if you know how to use the tool, it's just— it's an incredible time saver.

Yeah.

So I'm curious, what is it, do you think, about yourself that you personally, that you bring to the table that has made this whole venture successful?

I would say Even before this business, I always loved challenging the status quo with everything that we do. Even with my previous teams, just because something is working, it doesn't mean that it's the best method. And that is really something I think we've ingrained at Bahía with everything that we do is we're constantly taking a step back and reevaluating, is this really the best way to go about something? And I would say we're constantly testing out new tools. We're constantly testing out new ways to do things. I am a hyper-obsessed person about productivity and efficiency. Probably why I was Director of Operations at Rewind before I left. I just love finding ways to move faster. And for even in life, like, I, I love automating my life even outside of work and finding ways to optimize everything. I'm like an ultra optimizer.

How did— where did that come from?

I just made it up on the spot. But that's—

No, I get the idea of being an ultra optimizer. I totally understand that. I'm just curious where that personality quirk came from.

Oh, I thought you meant the word.

No.

Where did that come from? I think growing up with my mom was just always so busy. And growing up seeing her working a full-time job as a first grade teacher and then also doing tutoring on the side, and then also trying to cook all of our dinners, do the laundry— like, it just seemed like her life was just always work. Like, she was constant, and she's constantly just working. And I think I see people like that. And for me, what makes me sad is that for a lot of people, they're capped in terms of their earning potential, right? Because they don't find ways to delegate those time-consuming, tedious tasks. And over the years, like, my mom has now figured out ways to get away from that, right? And to, to, to give herself more time. And I think for me, time is the most valuable thing. Like, it's the one thing that is finite. It's the one thing that we can all use more of, no matter who you are, how much money you have, anything like that. So I think growing up, just seeing my mom working so hard all the time, and I just, I didn't want that for myself. I just saw the stress that came with it. And so I always try to think, okay, how can I do more with less? How can I give myself more time? And how can I really increase my earning potential so that I can keep delegating those time-consuming, costly tasks and give myself more time. So if I think back, that's probably where it came from.

That raises a really interesting question. So you're a hyper-optimizer, right? And, and so you're finding ways to delegate, finding ways to do things more efficiently. What do you do with the time that you create in that process?

I'd be here I always think of everything in terms of return on investment, right? If I spend 2 hours doing straight outbound and reaching out to prospect customers, I know that about from those 2 hours, I can likely convert, let's say, 1 customer, right? And let's say on average that 1 customer will pay me, let's just say $1,000, hypothetically speaking. Mm-hmm. So my hourly. Potential at that point is $500 per hour, right? So really any other task that I would work on that is generating less than $500 or that's costing less than $500, I shouldn't be doing, right? I should be delegating that. I should be outsourcing that. I should be getting a tool that can do that for less than $500 an hour. And for me, I'm always trying to look at, okay, if I could spend an hour of my time on anything, where would it best be spent? And if most of all the other stuff, if it's less than that, then I shouldn't be doing that. And I think that's how I think about most of where I spend my time. I'm always trying to figure out, okay, long-term and medium-term, what will have the highest return on investment for what I'm doing today?

So you're looking for ROI and you're looking for the maximum leverage you can get on your time. So is what happens, this is what I'm curious about, is that, because I understand exactly what you're talking about, you, when we be, as we're looking for efficiency, efficient use of time and leveraging our time so that we can make more money in less minutes. It seems to me though that if you can, that you can fall into a trap and the trap is that you continue to optimize, you continue to optimize and you never stop. To smell the roses because you're constantly on the wheel, right? The hamster wheel, optimizing, optimizing, optimizing. How do you deal with that?

It's probably my biggest issue, to be honest. I think I wake up in the mornings and it— I'm sure other people have the same feeling, but you feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day. But I will say you're right. It is important to take a step back and to really just set boundaries for yourself. For me, we really do try to stick to the 9 to 5. Obviously outside of 9 to 5, we're probably listening to podcasts, talking about business, answering emails time from time to time. But I would say we do have an agreement internally of, okay, these are the hours where we're dedicating to the business. And then outside, it's really important to just put wellness first because I've been there in the past where I came close to burnout and I've, after having gone through it the first time, I realized, you know what, long-term it's just not worth it. You really need to set aside time to just relax and regenerate yourself and long-term you'll be better off. And I did come close to burnout, I would say once in my career so far, and it wasn't fun. Now I definitely remind myself, take that time to just reset, relax, take a step back and all that stuff. And I will say that is partially why I do spend time in Puerto Vallarta in the year because just that change of scene always really reminds me, okay, like you need to enjoy yourself, smell the flowers. That is like a big part of it. My partner is also a CEO and founder actually, and he's been great because he's gone through these challenges himself as well. And for both of us, whenever we come here, it's just that nice reminder of enjoy the weather, enjoy the beach, enjoy the sun, but keep working. But don't forget to smell the flowers.

Like you said, I think it's critical. My wife and I, We're going skiing this Friday, right? I'm gonna take her up. I got a meeting from 9, 8 to 9, and then we're in the car and up to the ski area in 30 minutes and ski for 2 hours and come back down and have more meetings. But you gotta really carve out that time. It's really important.

Yeah. And I would also say for me, success in life, it's not just making money off of business. That's not the only definition of success to me. I see there's, let's say I had 5 glasses. There's one glass for business, one glass for family, right? One glass for friends, one for hobbies, one for my relationship with my partner. And it's an opportunity cost, right? If you're spending all your time on your business, then your glass won't be half full for the other glasses. And so for me, success, it's, yes, right now we're talking about Behia and my business, but I'm thinking of ROI across the board. Like I'm thinking across the board with all the other aspects too. And yeah, I definitely try to make time for those other areas of my life as well.

Wow. One more, one more question and I'll let you go. What's, Danica, what's one thing about yourself that we would never know about unless you revealed it to us?

I am actually a very— I'm an introvert. And I think most people that know me would never think that because I love talking and socializing and I'm pretty out there. If, if you follow me on LinkedIn or on my socials, I, I'm trying to really be all over the place. But when you talked about how do I stay sane and how do I recharge and keep a balanced life, for me, I like crave alone time. And I don't think, I think many people who know me would be shocked to hear it, but I love—

so I will tell you again, you know, the big button. 98% of the people that I've interviewed who have been successful are introverts.

Interesting.

And I'm an introvert myself. Oh, I have seen very few successful CEOs or founders who are extroverts. Really?

That's very interesting. I wouldn't have expected that at all.

But no, I mean, that's, no, it's surround yourself with good people and be introverted.

Yeah.

Those are the two attributes that I see over and over again as I interview people on this podcast. So really interesting. Danica, you're doing great work, and I've really enjoyed our conversation. I know my audience has really appreciated it too. Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for having me. It's awesome. It's been great.

Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast. Doug Noll, DougNoll.com/podcast. If you got something out of this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Want to know more? Go to my website, DougNoll.com, or follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. That's @DouglasEnoll. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.