Justin Rotman

About me

I was born/grew up in: Ontario

I now live in: Ontario

I completed my training/education at:  I have an Honours B.A. in Social Sciences from Queen’s University.

What I do at work

As the CEO of my own business, I am lucky to do something different on a daily basis. Managing our team of sales representatives, account managers, and operations leaders is the most important thing I do. This includes deciding on project scope and working with our customers to ensure our product is delivering value. This also involves thinking about how we can grow the business.

I also work with people outside of our business. These include partners, investors, future customers, lawyers, and accountants. To make decisions, I first look at what data we have to support the decision. Sometimes the decision will be easy to make. These are decisions that have good data to support a particular option. More times than not, we don't have enough supporting data and the decision is more difficult to make. Sometimes I have to rely on intuition and experience. At other times I seek guidance from more experienced entrepreneurs. I find that writing supports my thinking and decision making process. My writing skills are critical to my day-to-day work. If you cannot express something in short, clear sentences, you haven't thought deeply enough about it.

My career path is

I am privileged to have a father who is an entrepreneur. Self-employment is one of the most difficult things in the world. Most new business ventures fail. Often, it's not the fault of the entrepreneur. Sometimes it is a product of external circumstances such as timing and luck. Watching and learning from my dad as he navigated the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and new business ventures was a valuable learning experience. In many ways, I was learning how to be an entrepreneur since I was 10 years old! Learn more about my career path on my LinkedIn page.

I am motivated by

I get excited hearing about how our product improves our customers' businesses and their lives. I also love to watch our employee's grow professionally and personally. It has been rewarding building something from scratch.

Organizations give a lot of value to our software and are willing to pay a lot of money for it. Inventing is difficult and takes a lot of trial and error. Seeing our product in the market delivering value has been very special. I enjoy creating, building and growing businesses. Starting Goodkind with my co-founder has been the experience of a lifetime.

How I affect peoples’ lives

Our software provides customer engagement for nonprofits, universities and soon, enterprise businesses. It helps our customers grow their own businesses and organizations. This means more jobs and larger, more sustainable organizations. As well, we are able to employ folks in Canada and abroad, which is fulfilling.

Outside of work I

I try to play sports or do activities that are all-consuming and don't allow my mind to wander back to work! Some examples include mountain biking and skiing.

My advice to others

Learn by doing! It’s never too early to start. Don't let age be a barrier.