Maple Startup Visa Testimonial ft Turgay Birand | EditionGuard

Hi everybody, my name is Sam and I'm the head of programs at Launch Academy. I have a special guest here today. Please introduce yourself.

Hi, my name is Turgad Bianf and I am the founder of Edition Guard and I've been a maker and entrepreneur for all my professional life. And now here I am at Launch Academy Canada talking. You guys. Happy to be here. Awesome.

So let's start with what is Edition Guard, how to get started and what does it do?

Yeah. So Edition Guard is a software as a service company that I started around 2012 and it actually came out of a real need that I was able to identify when I was doing a lot of contract work as a software developer. So a lot of publishing companies, they wanted to get into ebooks. They still do, it's a growing market. But there was no real method for easily getting enterprise grade piracy protection on those ebooks. The systems that existed were really expensive, really complex. So while doing one of these projects I noticed, you know, there could be a SaaS that could fill the gap there. And so that's how the idea came to me. And I just did a little bit of lean testing and put together some duct tape websites basically and tried it out with a few customers and looked. Luckily it worked out and I started getting some customers. So I've been working on that ever since.

And so did you have to experience any pivots in your startup journey from where you started to where you are now?

Yeah, yeah. I mean the biggest pivot I guess we've done was last year. So we completely rebranded our website, changed our colors and everything, and did some quality of life improvements to target more of the enterprise or business plus segment of customers.

So I know you've lived in quite a few different countries and you've traveled and you know, running Edition Guard has allowed you to be all over the map while still working on something you love, building. What are some of those countries and.

What are your experiences there? Yeah. So back In, I think 2017, we were still living in Istanbul in Turkey. That's what I built additionally and started it. And my family and I, we kind of wanted to try something different and so we just embarked on a digital nomad lifestyle back then. And so we just packed our bags and put a lot of our stuff in storage and we just left Turkey and we started visiting countries in Europe first. So we were in Italy for a while. We were in of spite Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands went to a lot of places around the region as well. And we stayed in each country for A little bit, which was a great experience.

How many countries did you actually go to? Do you have a number?

Yeah. So in total, counting Canada, that would be 10 countries. That was over seven months. So we stayed in some longer, we stayed in some shorter, but the total number of cities was 19 before we got to Canada. And then we kept exploring here as well. We're still doing that. So yeah, it's a great experience.

So 10 countries, 19 cities, six months. What made you decide to come to Canada and settle down here?

Right, so we were in the United States during this period. Permanent travelers traveling. And while we're in the States, you know, we kind of thought that we'd like to live in the area, live in North America. It's a place that I'm familiar with. I lived in the United states for about 10 years, went to college there. I was actually there when I was very little as well. So like my first memories in life aren't from the US So I've had a long history there. But we stayed there for a bit. Wasn't looking very promising to stay there. And that's what I kind of. I've always been following Canada and been fascinated with the Startup Visa program. I've been doing a lot of research on this stuff as you know, and like, it's one of the most transparent, most, how can I say it? Very clear criteria that you need to meet. You know, you just put some ticks in some check boxes and you're able to apply. That was very enticing. The thing about the Startup Visa program that was stopping me from applying was the criteria for finding an investor that would support you. It could be an incubator, angel or vc. With my company being a later stage company, I wasn't really keen on giving away equity or I didn't need to raise money. I was fully bootstrapped with my own money, so that was stopping me. But then I stumbled upon Maple program and the Maple program is different from all the others that I saw in that first of all, Launch Academy is a non profit, so that instantly felt a lot better to me because by going through the program, you're helping nonprofit that's trying to cultivate entrepreneurial scene. It's already a really good start. And then I also saw that there's no like equity going around. You know, you just have a soft landing here and you go through it and get like, you know, you get, you get to learn a lot about Canada even before getting here. If you want to be here. I was already here. So my situation was very different. But, you know, even if you're in your own country, you get to learn remotely. So I felt those were really, really good and unique qualities in the Maple program, which just pushed me to, okay, I'm just going to do this and see what happens.

What type of entrepreneur or founder would you recommend to Maple program?

Right, so I would definitely, first of all recommend it to established companies because, like, there's really no other program that kind of addresses that segment. A lot of the programs that I've come across, they always expect you to be really early stage or they expect you to be funded in some way. It doesn't matter like if you have revenue, if, if you have customers. I believe that's always the biggest indication of success. But governments seem to think that getting investment is success. So that's why people like me or companies like mine don't really have many options. So I definitely recommend it to established companies, but also any other company who has a great idea, wants to disrupt the tech sector or something like that, wants to be based in North America. Awesome.

And it's not all, it's not all roses. So what are some of the sacrifices or some of the difficulties that you've had since you've been here?

Right, so for us, we were already on the road, so can't really speak to a lot of the difficulties that normally entail with it. But still, like, that means, you know, we just did it earlier than others. And you leave your family behind, probably you're going to leave a lot of friends, you're going to be leaving your comfort zone, which is a great thing. But it's also, like you said, it's not all those painful at times. You're going to be coming to a new culture, a new way of doing business, a new way of life. So for me, you know, getting a climate to all that and also having my family with me going through the same thing, that was, you know, that was the most difficult aspect. Also, there's always some uncertainty when you're trying to settle down in a different country. Even though Canada's programs were transparent, you know what's going on, there's still a lot of uncertainty. There's a lot of waiting, which is normal. But that period especially, it can be rough because you can't really plan for the future. You don't know what's gonna happen in a month or three months. You're here temporarily, you're in between worlds for a while. That was difficult in terms of risks. You know, it's also like, you're moving yourself to a new country and what happens if you don't like it? What happens? You invest a lot of time, a lot of money getting here, going through these things, and then suddenly you're not approved for whatever reason, or your company comes here, and then suddenly you hit a roadblock that's very specific to the place you're going to. Those are always risks that need to be taken. But then again, entrepreneurs are natural risk takers.

So.

I don't think anything extreme really.

But has the MAPL program helped alleviate.

Some of those risks for you? Yeah, definitely. So what I can say about the Maple program having been through it last year is gives you a soft land. That's how I like to describe it. So normally you would just end up here with your suitcases. You're going to be looking for places, you're going to be looking to find an accountant. Want to find someone who knows about immigration? You want to know, especially as an entrepreneur, you want to know someone who's connected to the scene. And you know, it's not the easiest place to make connections quickly. You know, that's one thing too. But when I have Maple, it's like, which bank is the best? You get a lot of answers from local people who are actually interested in helping you. Even simple things like that can be very painful when you find for starting out, even though, you know, back in your home country you've had a Bank account for 20 years or something, you don't even think about it, but you're in a new country, suddenly you can get all kinds of roadblocks. And then maybe you're looking for investment, maybe you're looking for a co founder. All these things, like you get an answer or you get someone who has the answer, has the potential to get an answer. So all the essential questions you might have during this transition, you can get a lot of those answered. And it's also good to have like, you know, you know, somebody has your back. It's a big thing. Like, you know, when I get stuck, I should just slack. Sam, maybe he knows something about it. Or just ask Shah Daviness here next. You know, these are great things to have. So that is a huge, like, it's not something that's on paper, so it's invisible, but it's actually one of the huge benefits that I really.

So just to wrap things up for everybody in the audience, what would you ask them if they're watching this video?

We're always looking to grow. So if you know someone who might have used for edition Guard. Please do send us email or send them our way. And yeah, I'll leave you with that note. It's great to be here.

So so thank you so much for your time.

Thank you sir.

Appreciate.