If you didn’t know Michele Romanow from the popular Canadian TV show ‘Dragon’s Den‘ (similar to the US’s version of ‘Shark Tank‘), then you must have heard of her through the various achievements and awards she’s received for her business ventures. Named as one of the Forbes Top 20 Most Disruptive “Millennials on a Mission” in 2013 and Canadian Innovation Awards’ Angel Investor of the Year in 2018, Michele has a history of interesting startups, that she’s been working on throughout her entrepreneurial career.
Starting with launching an on-campus coffee shop in 2006 with her While still an undergrad, she launched an on-campus coffee shop in 2006, her first successful venture. “I was a bleeding-heart environmentalist, and I thought ‘Why can’t we take some simple high margin business, like a coffee shop, and make it sustainable?”, shares Michele. But she didn’t stop there. After the coffee shop, alongside her partners Anatoliy Melnichuk and Ryan Marien, the three young entrepreneurs founded Evandale Caviar, Buytopia.ca, and SnapSaves without raising any external capital.
Michele Romanow is known for being tough and down-to-earth at the same time. Talking about her upbringing, “I grew up in Saskatchewan with really humble parents who taught me to work hard and not to think that any task is too good for me. I still remember when Groupon was trying to buy our company, they came to one of the meetings, and one of our bathrooms was broken. So I was just like, ‘Well, I’m just gonna fix this’. There is nothing that I believe I am above.” And when it comes to romantic relationships, her position is that “You want to look for a partner in your life that can really respect that and see you as an equal”.
In 2015 Romanow co-founded Clearbanc alongside her partner Andrew D’Souza. Clearbanc provides revenue-sharing funding and data solutions to grow online businesses. “We’ve invested a billion dollars into 2800 different e-commerce companies making us the biggest backer of founders in the world. We’ve done it all with AI which is really cool, not humans like most VC deals are done. It’s completely revolutionized how many entrepreneurs can get access to capital. And as a result of using AI, we’ve backed 8 times more women than the industry’s average. We’ve also invested in founders across all 50 states of America and then expand internationally. For people who go to the right school or know the right people, it’s not hard to venture capital, but for everyone else, it’s pretty difficult,” explains Michele. Clearbanc uses a unique revenue share to fund the growth of its portfolio companies. “We have powerful predictive models that look at your revenue, ad performance and other third-party data to generate rem sheets. And we can offer between $10,000 – $10,000,000 and can deploy that capital in less than 2 business days typically”, says Michele. This way more people can easily access the capital they need to build their businesses.
But the path to success wasn’t as easy for Michele as it might look. It took countless hours of practicing her pitches, doing the research, and convincing people to take her seriously. “All I knew was that the only thing I could control was my output. I just knew that if I kept pitching and practicing then everything would work out.” And even today Michele believes it is extremely important to go through the process of analyzing and working on your pitch if you want it to be successful. And being one of the ‘Dragons’ on CBC’s ‘Dragons’ Den’, Michele knows what a good pitch should sound like. She joined the cast on Season 10 in 2015, alongside Joe Fresh founder Joe Mimran and Manjit Minhas of Minhas Breweries after the departure of Arlene Dickinson, David Chilton, and Vikram Vij, and continues to appear in 2018 alongside new Dragons Lane Merrifield and Vincenzo Guzzo. Among some of her favourite pitches was RVezy, “In Canada, there are more than 2 million RVs and most people use them for an average of a week or two a year. So the founders created a platform that was like Airbnb for RVs, and they’ve been relentless in building this business. They are doing so well and I’m so proud of them.”
Being the President of Clearbanc, Director at Freshii and Vail Resorts, and one of the investors at ‘Dragon’s Den’ is definitely time-consuming but with the great team and task prioritization it all works out for Michele. “I always say I want to take a break and then I take on more challenges,” she laughs. And while her career is in full swing, her fashion choices have definitely changed. “For the first 10 years of my career, I took zero fashion risks, as I wanted everyone to take me seriously. So I dressed like 10 years older, and I looked like an older businesswoman. But now I want to dress as aggressively as possible with studs and spikes,” Romanow smiles. “Out of all fashion designers I like Alexander McQueen, and out of Canadian ones I like Greta Constantine, Pink Tartan, and Jenny Bird. But I think for me it’s more about the fit rather than a brand. A lot of my favourite things I found at vintage stores or something that I found 6 years ago, tailored it, and I can still wear it”
And with the recent backlash on fast fashion, many people prefer now to buy quality pieces and support local businesses. Especially with COVID-19 and all the restrictions, many small businesses were forced to shut down for good, and the ones that are still operating had to look for new strategies to stay afloat. “It’s pretty devastating to see those catastrophic effects of COVID-19. I think the best strategy for small businesses right now is to figure out how to build their online presence. The economy hasn’t stopped, it just shifted, so now even if you are a tiny shoe store, you have to have an e-commerce presence, so your customers can find you online.” And in order to survive the possible second wave, “we need to digitize these stores today.”
These past few months have been difficult and life-changing for many people, and a lot of us see things differently now, appreciating stuff that we took for granted before. “I really miss seeing people, especially my employees. I am an extrovert at my core and to see so few people is especially tough. There is so much joy being around people. And it’s just not the same with 12 hours of Zoom meetings. If you were to tell your kids that you were about to watch TV for 12 hours they would think you are crazy. Except we are on our computers for 12 hours a day which is kind of like watching TV,” shares Michele. The quarantine has definitely taught everyone some valuable lessons on what is really important and how some of our priorities were in the wrong place. “I think this is an incredible reset to remind people what deeply matters,” says Michele. But for now, we need to remember that it is our duty to act responsibly and support each other. This won’t last forever.
Photography by Beyond Fashion
Makeup/Hair by Gina Ozsvath
Styling by Daria Zotova
Location: Mint Room Studios
