Creating a Buzz: Daily Hive's Birth and Growth with Founder Manny Bahia

3, 2, 1. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Founder Journey. Today I got one of my good friends, Manny Bahia, one of the media moguls in Canada, started a company called Van City Buzz, which morphed into Daily Hive. And your spread, well, it's. It's not just Vancouver anymore. It's Calgary, it's Montreal, it's Toronto.

Edmonton.

Edmonton, yeah. Yeah. So Manny, welcome to Founder Journey. Tell us about yourself first.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thanks for having me. First of all, Ray, you know, you're one of the unsung heroes in Vancouver. Really have kept the tech ecosystem going and growing. So honored to call you my friend and also be on this podcast.

Yeah, keep showering the accolades. Come on.

I don't think you get enough love. Yeah, I know. So a little bit about me. Born and raised in South Van and we started a blog. My co founder and I were childhood friends and it was more opinion based. It was called Vancity Buzz, as you mentioned back in 2008. Long story short, we exited just a few months ago brand as daily hive across five cities in Canada. We were garnering about 7 million unique visitors per month, 2033 million page views per month when we exited. And it's still growing.

Yeah. And this is like a super interesting journey because you guys came in at a time when newspapers are dying. Media was evolving and changing and people were like, how do you consume content anymore? It's the Internet, it's mobile, it's all these different layers are coming in and you guys have carved that path out. And Daily Hive is super successful. What was that like? Like you started with just a blog, right?

Yeah. You know, we talk a lot about timing in tech as well. Sometimes certain technologies are too early. For example, you look at electric vehicles and you know, when they were invented and now when they've been become more commercialized and what it takes for that. For us, we started, yes, kind of in a sweet spot, but we could have started maybe a year later as well. But we saw where media was headed and the projections and we saw the influence that media could have, particularly social media. And really it was about building the following and then monetizing it after is how we saw it. And you see that also, like for example, Instagram, 100 million users and barely any revenue, if any, and sold for, you know, over a billion to Facebook. So I think it's really important in terms of the attention economy, which has, you know, become more popular now as a topic. If you capture the attention and the market share, then it's easy to monetize that after. So our goal in the beginning was just to capture as many eyeballs and users as possible.

And so we'll get into your journey in a second. But what is your opinion about the role Instagram and TikTok play play now in the news cycle and distribution of global awareness of things that are happening?

Yeah, I mean, there's so many layers and facets to it. They play an important role. At the same time comes with a lot of responsibility. Everybody has a voice, everybody is a content creator. Of course, everyone is also a consumer of content and you can't really get away with it. It's become a necessity to be in the know of your, even your family and friends, let alone you know what's happening in the news and popular culture and media. And that's how news is delivered really. And you've seen it in terms of its form. Go from obviously print, where you physically, you know, receive this newspaper, this piece of paper, which seems sort of cake now. And you know, you have to wait till the next day to get an update on what happened on the last day. And then of course there's broadcast television as well, which was, you know, 6pm every evening where you had your news delivered. Now things are instant and ahead of it. But of course it comes with its own pitfalls and perils with today, with misinformation and trying to verify and validate and sift through. And technology is only getting stronger with the deep fakes and what have you. It's an interesting time. Yeah, I think so.

There's three layers to this. One is everything used to be curated by organizations. Again, newspaper, there was journalists, there was an editor, then film of TV broadcasting. Everything was prepped and organized. Now it's instant and it's user generated content. So it's somebody just sitting by a traffic light and seeing an accident, had their phone out and they are filming it. And guess what? They're now a news anchor or newscaster because they're posting up something. And so the fake news is a serious issue because you've got people that have that power and that reach that can change that message. And what are your thoughts on the guardrails that need to get in place for media companies? Because that's the other side. So hard pressed to get something out right away because the, the speed of information being shared. But they were afraid of accuracy. Like the most famous one right now is those two guys that were outside the Twitter office when everybody was getting laid off and.

Right.

And they said that they were I won't go into the names that they use, but they said that they were laid off, but they weren't actually employees. They're just too guys trolling. Right.

And.

But the newscaster, she put it out and they blew up that these are two guys that were getting laid off and.

Yeah, fake.

Right, yeah.

And what goes out first and is disseminated first becomes everyone's perception and has that long lasting effect where people don't fact check or there aren't concurrent releases of that fact check by that publication or, or perhaps is buried because a publication doesn't want to lose credibility and say that they were incorrect and redact something or what have you. So yeah, I mean that's a. It's interesting. There's different types of content creators. You can call it citizen journalism. There's also the aggregators, of course, and there are aggregators making, you know, good solid income, for example, on YouTube and just cutting things up and editing and presenting news in a different way. Perhaps. Being first is always important. The algorithm has always amplified that further and created more of a need to be first. The algorithm being, you know, Google or any other social media platform. So yeah, there's been this huge push by media organizations to be first is a priority. Be factual is the second priority. It's important because if you're in the long game, you don't want to lose your credibility. So sometimes it is worthwhile as you build that credibility to be second. But be more accurate.

Don't rush to be that first person out the gate with the news, but be quick enough, but still have that conscience of making sure that's accurate. I want to dive into your journey now. Daily Hive was not. It's an overnight success, but it was seven years, eight year overnight success. It took a long time.

Well, 14 for the exit.

Yeah. What was it like? So we have to give a shout out to Supreme Pizza and how that layers into the story for those listeners. Supreme Pizza is a staple in downtown or east side Vancouver, the south side. Vancouver, South Bend. South Van. Born and raised here. South Bend. But that's where you met Carm, your co founder.

No, actually. So I know Carm since I was five years old. We were really. Okay, yeah, yeah. We lived at two doors apart from each other. So we grew up simple, you know, played outside, played tag, played cops and robbers, grew up in South Van. And yeah, it was a good time. And then he actually got me the job at Supreme Pizza while I was in university and so that's how I earned my income and I guess paid my way through university in terms of, you know, having fun and everything really.

So I know my mouth is watering right now thinking about Supreme Pizza, thinking.

About that supreme special or the hot, hot, hot pizza. So, yeah, I worked there for five years and drove and I, you know, got to learn a lot about actually Vancouver and the ins and outs and the city inside out, really, the different neighborhoods. One of the first topics that we had on Van City Buzz was about real estate. And so Carmen, I had a really good understanding of Vancouver and we could speak to that. And it's still one of the very strong topics and suits of Daily High Vancouver where we have. I got to give a shout out to Kenneth Chan, one of the best real estate editors in the country.

So.

So yeah, I mean it was a, it was, it was a fun job.

And then so the Daily Hive now goes toe to toe with some of the biggest media companies in Vancouver. What was that journey like? Like what were some of the highlights and lowlights of your going right against these big behemoths?

Yeah, at first it was more again, opinion based and fun and then as we grew and started accumulating more of a following, we started noticing some pushback from the legacy media and really they didn't take us seriously though. They just kind of thought of us as just, you know, a simple blog that is very informal and we don't have journalism backgrounds. Carm and I, we did business at SFU Simon Fraser University and we just kind of took it as a challenge and also we took it as motivation and we use that to continue pushing and producing content. And we knew that if we had personal quotas in terms of producing content and using social media and being engaged on that as much as we could, that there's a chance that we could become a publication that is on par with the major ones. Because every industry is disrupted at some point and it was just a matter of time and we saw the trend of where it's going and I think now we're very well respected, especially in Vancouver and you know, Alberta, we're very strong as well. And I say we because I was always going to be a co founder and technically I still own shares in the umbrella company. So still, you know, an advisor and all.

Still your baby?

It's still my baby, Yeah.

I mean no one left that nest, but yeah, or you left the nest.

Exactly.

But still yours.

Yeah, exactly. So now it's, it's different. We did have a lot of pushback. We had a lot of hate. We had a Lot of journalists, they even had a secret Facebook group at one point where they were bashing us back in the early, you know, 2010s, but we had our highlights. So, you know, so some of the lowlights, but we had some highlights where during the Olympics, we were kind of the go to guide. And we found that, hey, you know, what can be a discovery tool? And then we, in 2011 was a Canucks playoff run and posting people's reactions and the celebrations that were happening. And then, of course, the riot, you know, and then, you know, 2012 and 2011 is really when the mainstream started jumping onto Facebook as well. Notice that a lot of my friends from high school were starting to use Facebook that I'm like, okay, you know, this is something serious. Like, if they're using it and then, you know, and talking about and captioning their lives and getting it out there, I'm like, okay, this is really growing. Then, you know, you had Instagram become more popularized, and then 2014 or 20, even 2012 onwards, we started publishing more news content rather than just discovery of new restaurant openings and closings and, you know, different events and festivals and all that.

So. So for you personally, how did you handle that hate that was coming in? Again? Like, again, there's highlights. Like, you see your friends using it. There's all these good things. But then to find out, like, shit, these journalists are hating on us. Like, yeah, what was going through your head and how did you handle those emotions?

Yeah, I think it's just about understanding where they're coming from as well. I think they're very protective and of their industry and, you know, they went through a lot of schooling and education to get to where they are. And we were just passionate about Vancouver City. And at first, of course, you know, you read comments or you see these things and you're. It does affect you, but you learn very quickly in the business that you really need to just kind of shut that out and look at. Okay, I might have a few negative comments, but I have so many likes.

I have so many shares.

It's mostly positive. And people are more likely to, I guess, air their displeasure or grievances than they are about. Oh, wow, this article is awesome. This is amazing. I love, like, how you, you know, broke into this article with this byline or what have you. So. So we learned really quickly that we tell all the writers as well, just don't take it personally. It's just the nature of the beast and the Internet, just keep using it as fuel and just continue improving.

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Again, it was not a quick journey. It's like 14 years you as a founder, what are some of the things that you wish other entrepreneurs were talking about openly because you might have faced depression or challenges with co founders or whatnot? What are some of the things that you wish other entrepreneurs would talk about more openly on the journey?

Yeah, I mean I think that it is becoming I guess more publicized now. You know I saw a chart the other day in terms of how many how much more of a probability your chance there is for entrepreneurs to suffer from depression. ADHD is a big one bipolar and I think it was something else as well is on Visual Capitalist also another Vancouver success story. But also it is confusing because is that the reason or that the personality traits that make a good entrepreneur. It's tough to say, right? Like and so I wish that going into it I knew that how long I would be so broke what it would be and what it would take in terms of working a full time job and also growing a company that it would take a toll on really physiologically. So it does affect in terms of you don't sleep as much, you eat crap. Sometimes, you know, you forget to drink as much water. You might go through a phase of energy drinks, and then you quickly realize that's not healthy and sustainable so that maybe you go back to coffee. It's just you need to. Need someone to tell you that, listen, you have to take care of your body as well at the same time because you've been given this vessel for the rest of your life and it's okay to kind of sleep an extra hour or something. Maybe it's not going to make or break anything.

Yeah, those problems are still going to be there whether you have four hours or eight hours of sleep. But that eight hours are going to help you address those problems a lot more efficiently, Right?

Yeah, exactly. And I think it's important for. Do the A B test. Look at it as a B test. Have some days where you get better rest and take care of yourself better physically and mentally versus those days that you do not. And measure your productivity, I would say. And then see for yourself and see what works. And everybody is different. You know, I've met people. Like I met someone in Dubai who said he needs nine hours of sleep per night. You might know who he is. Whereas another individual I've met before who can live off of four hours per night and be completely okay.

So I'm kind of in that camp. I've been averaging four hours this last week.

Yeah.

For those of the audience that are not watching on YouTube or any of these visual clips, we're actually sitting in Dubai right now. We are beautiful. Burj behind us, the palms. What brought you here to Dubai?

The opportunity, really. So I left the umbrella co Zoomer Media in February and the umbrella company that purchased, that acquired Daily Hive. And you know, I had finished the integration and you know, it's on its way in terms of growth and I'm no longer, you know, it can add as much value as I would like and I think 14 years of it, it's. It's time to make that next leap now and explore other options. You only get so many opportunities in life to do that in 14 years. A very long time. So I came to Dubai. Let me backtrack my. My wife wanted to go on a vacation to Punta Cana. And I've never been that personality to be able to just sit on a beach or go on Excursions and I just find it kind of just so cookie cutter and boring. So I asked my wife like, hey listen, why don't we go back to Dubai? We've been here a couple times before. We love it, it's super safe, it's clean. We have a son, we can bring him here as well. And it's very family friendly and it's sunny every day. There's so many things to do, so many attractions. Let's make it happen in Dubai and we'll go for a longer period of time rather than just a weekend or a few nights in Punta Cana. So booked the flight. We were supposed to leave after 10 days. Started meeting some really cool people, networking as well. And that was one of the purposes for myself was to explore Dubai as a global hub and capital, as it's known as for expats, to find opportunity, whether it's a job, career or starting something new or just meeting people here that are doing some amazing things globally or it's a transient city as well. So people are in and out. Long story short, you know, just started meeting people and networking and extended our trip and you know, we're still here.

And Harpreet, she's happy.

She's happy. Yeah. Of course, it's a very convenient city as well. Anything that you need is at your fingertips. There's a Cream app, you can pretty much order anything. It's mind boggling context there.

A Cream app on audio might sound a little bit weird. What is Cream?

Cream is the Uber or Louischat of dub by. It actually got acquired by Uber so you could book your Uber Kareem vehicle, your captain as they call it, that will drive you. They have nothing less than a comfort vehicle here either.

Yeah. Dubai is a city of opulence.

And it is, it's interesting though because you can neither be rich here because to be rich is just like insane.

The bar is very high.

Bar is extremely high. That is like unfathomable. But neither can you be poor here. There's so much opportunity here. It just doesn't let you fall and it cushions you. So it's. Yeah, it's great.

It's great.

I mean this is where we are in the moment and we're living it and it's been quite the journey. And if you had asked me five years ago, I would have never guessed it.

And there definitely is like a good solid tech community that's building here of expats. My good friend and business partner Lloyd Lobo is here. Alex Popa is here.

Yes.

Mike Rowan. A lot of Vancouver names that our audience might recognize, they're here. And in that time that you've been here, you've seen a constant flow of other people coming through again, vacations, but there's others that have really settled down here.

Yeah.

And you run into familiar faces and you're like, oh, you're here too. And so that's been pretty fun. And to meet Canadian entrepreneurs who are really, you know, growing their businesses or doing something different and have moved here for various reasons. You know, another reason is the really strong family values that are here as well and raising children here. It's. And you're really sheltered away from all the noise and the toxicity that you can say of North America, really, the polarization and all that. And I'm not going to get into politics, but it's, it's agnostic here. And you pretty much just focus on your biz, really, and you focus on your work, you focus on your family. And you can go to the beach, like, pretty much any day. Right.

Like, everything's very, very accessible.

Everything's very accessible.

So, I mean, so habibi, come to Dubai.

Come to Dubai.

Let's dive deep into the networking here. Obviously, I've been here a few times as well myself, and the caliber of people that you meet, the variety of people that you meet, it's just. It's insane. How's that experience been for you?

Yeah, it's been unreal. It's, you know, I've always considered myself, even though, you know, I'm from Vancouver and Die Hard. We started Vancity Buzz more as a global citizen and, you know, I took the leap to move to Toronto, which is like, you know, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and all that.

Exact opposite of Vancouver.

Yeah, exact opposite of Vancouver.

The least hated rivalries, love, hate relationship with Toronto and Vancouver.

Absolutely. So, I mean, I made that leap.

You were the trader going to Toronto.

Yeah, a lot of my friends are saying that and a lot of the colleagues and all that. But hey, listen, I made that leap. We wouldn't have exited the company if I didn't make that leap. Right. Moving to Toronto.

And you would have met your wife.

When I've met my wife. Yeah, yeah, when I met my wife and all that. So when I've had a beautiful child and what have you so been able to grow the family and everything. And so now making the leap to Dubai and networking met some really cool people. Of course, those from around the world and, you know, different countries that I previously had never met, people from Those backgrounds. And it truly is more of a meritocracy here and going back to the fundamentals of capitalism of what value do you bring to the table? And I love that about Dubai. And one of the folks that I met recently, Bali Singh, he's been very successful in this region. He is from the UK and he has an agency called Hoco Agency and an events brand called Ayoka. And so we met just purely just to network and half hour meeting turned into, you know, a few hours and a couple days after that I was shadowing him and learning about his business. And throughout that found how much, you know, value I could bring to the table and how much value that I can gain as well into the knowledge and experience. And so I'm working with Hoko and IOKA now to grow those companies and they have a tech platform as well that, you know, we're developing, that uses AI as a kind of a pocket concierge with all the data and information that they've accumulated over the years, which is, you know, so fundamentally needed when it comes to developing an AI is firstly, you need as much data and learning as possible. And so it's a cool blend of mixing events, which are a high tier of events involved with F1 racing, where we have exclusive terraces and spots and we have access to the drivers and we have a great Rolodex of of people that attend these events. Then we do a bunch of white labeling events as well. Again, some amazing people that attend these events from all over the world. And then we have the tech app, which is cool too. So that kind of keeps you in the loop and fresh with what's happening in the world because you can't just take a year off of tech because it'll advance so much and you'll miss out on and you'll have to catch up all over again. So it's the best of all worlds and so really looking forward to that opportunity right now as well.

So you didn't waste any time. Like you exited, took some time off, but that time off brought you to Dubai and right away your head's deep into a new project.

Oh, yeah. Completely unexpected. But when you see that opportunity, and you know, I did give it one or two days, which is not a lot, talked to my wife, I'm like, hey, listen, this opportunity, it's pretty amazing and I get to learn as well and, you know, we get to live in Dubai and we're making a permanent move in a few months here. We're going to go back to Toronto to have some loose ends and all that. And it's a no brainer. She agreed. And it's great for our son as well. And it's a great family decision, but also a great, I think, career and learning and entrepreneurial decision as well. Because right now, I mean, if you look at even things like access to capital, it's so hard to come by in North America unless you're actually fundamentally strong with revenue and EBITDA and profit and your certain sectors. There are so many startups right now in North America that have PO orders that can't even get capital, that, listen, we can bridge the gap from Canada to the Middle east here. Why not? And I highly encourage entrepreneurs to make those global visits to these major cities, you know, like Dubai, like Singapore, go to London, you know, wherever there is growth and you've seen that there's opportunity and other entrepreneurs are attracted to, there's something there.

Yeah, I think one of the things that's lost on a lot of people right now, we're living in this age where remote work is very possible, it's feasible. Having distributed teams is kind of like the new normal. But people forget we're living in a day and age where it's so easy to travel somewhere. And like looking at human history, it was never easy for you to just jump on a plane and get to another country and see explore what's out there. So from a business perspective, you kind of own it to your business to think globally, build globally. But a lot of that does require some in person activity.

Yes, absolutely. And that human interaction element is important. And yes, you can at the same time have those distributed teams and meet virtually. But that travel element and actually being in that time zone and that city, even to conduct business goes a long way. And meeting the people goes a long way to really learn about the culture, the nuances, you know, whether you're opening up a new market or you're looking to do business with somebody in that market, you just learn more about the process. And you never know what one relationship in person can lead to years down the road.

It all starts with one conversation. And a lot of times that little box that you have on Zoom does confine those conversations to, okay, 30 minutes. But like you're meeting with Bala Singh, a 30 minute meeting that went two, three hours, that wouldn't happen in a Zoom call.

Absolutely not.

Matty, this has been an awesome conversation. I want to wrap it up with your thoughts or advice to other entrepreneurs that are out there.

Yeah, you know, there's different part chapters of your life. And I think it's important you can get very comfortable at times. Just push yourself to get out of the comfort zone and it could be really extreme and just kind of watch it unfold and see what happens. And then of course, you know, take care of your body. You may be doing some long term damage to yourself. I know. I think we all have as entrepreneurs, I think, you know, with extreme personalities especially. Take care of your body as best you can and do that a B test of your productivity. That's going to be a new hack.

Like a B testing but for your body.

Yes, yes, exactly.

Awesome. It's a great conversation. Thanks Manny and good luck with everything in Dubai.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

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