Amanda 00:02
Welcome to purpose power brand, a podcast for leaders and brands transforming business into a force for good. I'm Amanda Stassen, business and brand strategist, social justice advocate and founder of BIZU Innovation Group. I'm speaking with leaders who are proving that not only does purpose drive profit, but the future of our world depends on it. If you want to grow your business, increase your brand loyalty and not get left behind in the ever-changing marketplace. This podcast is for you.

Today we're talking with Brian Harris, founder of Wild Coast Biologics and serial entrepreneur, having created and run not just one but several successful businesses, including Russell Breweries, one of Canada's fastest growing craft, brewery groups, and Bass, a global computerized ticketing system acquired by ticket master. Welcome Brian to the purpose power brand podcast, super stoked that you're joining us today.

Brian 00:54
Thanks very much, Amanda, absolute pleasure to be a guest on your program. I think you're doing incredible work.

Amanda 01:03
Thank you so much. Brian, before we dive in, we called this podcast the purpose powered brand, because we believe that whatever powers you becomes the core that drives everything you do. That goes for us as individuals, businesses and brands. So, with one word how would you answer the question? Brian Harris is powered by blank.

Brian 01:27
Curiosity. I believe I've been infected with a systemic case of trying to understand things and make a change that would be positive in in my own life. So I've got an insatiable curiosity about all things.

Amanda 01:48
Nice, nice. You're, you're the consummate entrepreneur, so thank you for sharing that. You know often we get caught up in business, as, you know, like a faceless entity, but businesses and brands are made out of people, they only exist because of the people who create them, they steward them and the people who buy from them. So, thank you for sharing that. Let's dive now into your entrepreneurial journey, which I have to say has been pretty awesome. I'm sure it's got highs and lows, but let's focus in on Russell brewery, and how that ignited your journey into purpose.

Brian 02:25
It wasn't a complete transition from one to other it's basically been a journey. Over the last 30 odd years after I graduated from college, I fundamentally had an interest in kind of like looking at what was going to be next. And seeing whether or not I could somehow or other jump into an industry a little ahead of the majors and hopefully be able to position myself and the company ahead of the power curve. So it's it was nothing genius. It simply was my insatiable curiosity. And after a couple of early-stage businesses that did okay, which I was lucky, I got involved in a software development program for entertainment ticketing, which at that stage was just coming alive and was successful in being able to be part of what is now known as Ticketmaster. So essentially, I had a pretty good run in that in that area. And from that I fundamentally sort of segwayed into, you know, internet-based technologies, voice over internet, etc.

One of my sons got into the restaurant business and was very successful in it and brought to my attention the fact that the craft beer industry was growing rapidly, even in spite of the fact that the industry itself had already consolidated with already maybe three or four major international companies. So I mean, I was fascinated by that. When I thought no, okay, the beer industry sounds like fun, and we bought a small craft brewery. And we were successful in building it up in spite of the fact that these majors owned a huge amount of power and influence. So you can imagine going into that and being competitive with a major beer brand. What did you do? Well, you had to basically talk local talk better, better taste, and be part of the community and that experience over 10 years where we were successful in being able to build a number of craft brands really got me reconnected into I kind of think what the what was going on in the in the general community and being able to kind of like feel better about what I was doing.

Being in the beer business was not only satisfactory, everyone liked you, but it was local, it was community and it fundamentally connected with with the people. And, and I noticed that fundamentally, everybody was talking about climate change, which I was totally unaware of. And I got fascinated by what was happening. And the fact that unless we do something about climate change, we all do something about it, maybe this good life that we're having will go away and, and my attitude towards everything changed. I fundamentally said, What am I building businesses that basically really don't have a social purpose, when I should be looking at how I could partner with the earth and fundamentally build successful businesses by also helping to reverse the problems that we were doing. And therefore, I ended up with Wild Coast, basically, Wild Coast Biologics, as a startup, where we fundamentally are been trying to marry the fact of good business opportunities, but also doing something positive to cleaning up climate change. And it's been a great journey, it's still just got a ton of challenges. But we're at the cusp of what I would call a revolution that's taking place. And our timing seems to be quite good in the fact that awareness from all avenues from consumers, producers, and the man in the street, are all aware of what has to take place and are looking for ways that they can be part of the solution. So my whole perspective on where great opportunities are in business has been has been expanded because of this journey I've been on. I don't know if that makes sense. But essentially, it's been a big change in me personally, and been very gratifying to basically say I think there is a marriage between business and profitability and growth, and also doing something really good for the planet. And I'm really happy about being involved in it.

Amanda 07:14
Yeah, no, that's, that's so good. What you're spotlighting here, Brian, is what a purpose powered entrepreneur is at their core. You know, at its simplest, an entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business and usually, you know, they risk their own money to start that venture. But a purpose powered entrepreneur has this added layer of starting that venture to solve a real problem for the benefit of more than just themselves, for the good of others, for the good of the planet. So and that's what you're describing, you're describing this awareness that developed in you through your experience building, Russell brewery, and what you were seeing there? Give us the three-minute science masterclass on algae. What is it? How is it made? And why should everybody care?

Brian 08:08
It's interesting that you asked me to give you the science-based end of it because I just spent the last four days with the scientists down in North Carolina, that are building our Algae based vertical bio reactors that that actually make the algae. But algae is one of these miracle products that you know, nature has created over hundreds of 1000s of years, that actually were sort of rediscovering or discovering now for a multitude of purposes. Algae as you as you likely know, actually sucks co2 from the air and produces oxygen. And between sunlight, co2 and water grows like crazy and is really a source of a large number of nutrients that everything on the planet required to exist and coexist together. So we're discovering that an algae really is got two sections. One is macro algae, we'd call that seaweed or kelp and micro algae are these microscopic molecules that are in the water that you can't see that fundamentally produce all of the essential nutrients that help everything grow and feed off of.

So what we've done is we we've analyzed where what we believe to be the largest opportunities for algae in a number of areas and have narrowed it down to a technology that involves growing micro algae in bio reactors. And if you can visualize kind of like you know, large tubes that have bubbling water in it, and turn from being clear water into, you know, lovely looking green water. And the green is the micro algae that is in it. And they do this every four days. You can start by inoculating into your bio reactors, small strain of algae, and there's hundreds of 1000s of algae strains. And we're just discovering, you know, a few of them now that have got magic benefits, one being chlorella, which is the micro algae strain that we're using in our bio reactor here in Canada. And so we grow them in these bio reactors and harvest them. And harvesting is like every four days or five days, we can actually harvest half of our crop. So in our bio reactors, they could be as small as a test one, which would be like 1000 liters, up until a greenhouse full. If you look at these large greenhouse operations, they didn't have to be with, with vegetables in them or other products, they could actually have bio reactors in them that was growing algae, and you could scale them up as large as you want.

So what does the product do that we're currently launching, do it actually the liquid that the micro algae is growing in, and the micro algae itself is strained off. In other words filtered out, as we harvest the product. And that product, that solution that's left over is a natural fertilizer, it you really can't call it a fertilizer, because it it's a chemical signaler in the soil, that actually helps all of the soil release the minerals that the plant is demanding. The plant actually says I need food, all right. And what this Algae product, this micro algae based product, does is that it signals to the to the bacteria and the fungi in the soil, which is required to be able to release the nutrients that the plant needs, it says, hey, get busy and start releasing these. Because over the last six years of industrial agriculture, we've actually degraded the soil. The soil quality is not at all what it needs to be because of the use of chemical fertilizers. And so what happens is, is that the nutrients in the soil are bound up and don't release naturally like they did. Now for some strange reason, which we're now discovering through additional research, micro algae in this solution, the molecules actually signaled the fungi and the bacteria to release these nutrients so the plant can get fed what it needs. And each plant wants different things. And for some reason, the actual micro algae solution does this, it actually signals and it gives you the right amount.

So what happens is the plants now there's been two or three years of research on this in the United States from the company that we're licensing the technology from that basically say hello you can increase your yields, you can increase the health of the soil at the same time, in other words, turn tired soil into healthy soil and increase the yields from the plants. You don't have to use as much chemical fertilizers to do it. In fact, you can reduce it down to almost nothing in some cases. And the product actually lasts longer on the shelf because it's got healthier tissue in it. So it's a win win for all aspect. The cost for the farmer or the producer is reduced because as you probably know, fertilizer is gone through the roof well, even when a year ago when it started using biostimulants like our product it provide a much better return for the farmer and much healthier for the soil. So it's a win win.

And, from an entrepreneurial point of view, we're solving a huge problem because this is an international huge problem. We got food scarcity, we got tired soils, and both of these and we're releasing all of the carbon into the atmosphere. We have to sequester carbon into the soil, make the soil healthy, keep more carbon in it and basically get rid of all of the fertilizers. Now that's easier said than that. No industry ever transitions overnight. But there's no doubt that this is going to change. And I believe that we're just at this cusp of sort of the hockey stick takeoff of the conversion from chemical fertilizers into biostimulants or biologicals. And that goes for not only fertilizer business that goes for the pesticides and anything chemically done, it can all be done nature to the nature solution. So it's a very, very interesting and exciting area and good for mankind. This is one of the major things that we've got to solve.

Brian 15:04
And so that's what I'm doing. And just by the way, the company is actually Wild Coast. It's Wild Coast Biologics, that's our little company. And the name comes from the west coast of the United States, the area on Vancouver Island, which is so incredibly beautiful with the rainforests and the natural habitat and all the good things up there. That's called the wild coast, that's synonymous with sort of our mission is to basically be connected with the Earth and the rainforests and the ocean. And it gives us kind of this sense, we have like our little meetings every so often with our partners and the people that we're working on, we try to actually have them in Tofino, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and back to nature. So that's us. We're the Wild Coast group.

Amanda 16:01
Wow. that's awesome. That's awesome. So you know, basically out of the, you know, 17, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals you're tackling, at least four from what I'm hearing, you're tackling clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, and then life on land, just to name a few. You know being an agri tech company whose purpose is to make and I'm just going to paraphrase what you said, you know, the world's soil healthy again, you'd think that governments and farmers would be knocking down your door to invest, but it hasn't been that easy, especially when you're disrupting the way people think about agriculture and fertilizer, share a little bit about the challenges of being a fore-runner in an industry.

Brian 16:50
If we look at what's going on in the world in the last 20 years. I mean, we see incredible shifts take place, and they seem to accelerate faster and faster. I mean, adoption of smartphones, you know, in almost every area blows you away. What's going on with EVs right now, you know, this massive, incredible mobility market that has to change from fossil fuels, in terms of power, into whatever else there is electrical, solar, whatever it may be. that transition is incredibly fast, but from an entrepreneurial point of view, the biggest challenge is being able to kind of like, enter the opportunity at the right time, and then put together you know, all the other pieces that need to mean to be done to be successful, put together, the team, put together the market fit the product fit into the market, being able to access capital at the right time, all of those things are variables and also very, very challenging.

In our case, I mean, I think we're our timing is a lot better, because it feels like the adoption rate and the awareness level of let's call it your customers, the farmers all right, it's moving into an awareness that organics are actually you know, a much better product to be able to take in the market. It looks very much like the consumers, our awareness level of actually being able to know where their food comes from, and be able to track it, and it will understand that what they're getting is got, you know, real nutrition and not industrial made products, more and more demand there. And it seems like our technology is really reaching the point where it's scalable. So in other words, everything changes with technological, let's call it innovation. So in this case, now, we've actually been able to prove through trials that not only does the product work, but we have the ability of being able to scale of technology so the economics will end up with a good deal for better profitability for the producers, a better deal for the consumers, and therefore investors would be interested in this kind of area where there's going to be a large industry transformation, we're sort of at the bottom of the hockey stick where the growth curve could take off very quickly, adoptions rates are there, and then the governments around the world are all actually on side, because if we don't solve these problems that we're dealing with, we really are into a no win situation for anyone, even if you don't really have that much interest in future generations, which most people do, but if you didn't, you're going to basically see that all industries are going to collapse because you know, growth stops so we need growth to be able to take in and solve the problems and keep the wheels on and keep people working and, and being able to buy food, and we've got to make sure that we've got these basic things this transition that we're going through going forward.

So timing is critical going back from our perspective is on to entrepreneurs, if you don't get your timing your entry into a market, even if you've got a very good possible solution that offers a big upside to you as an entrepreneur and to your investors, you know, it's a recipe for disaster, you run out of gas. Alright, so I think picking the timing of entry, and then making sure that you've got all these other elements that you need to be a winner anyways, are critical. So from our perspective, I think our timing is pretty good. And hopefully, within the next year, we'll see adoption rates go up. We know that governments are throwing a lot of money now at supporting industries that are basically into these areas and looking for solutions that can be adopted and fast. We know that in Canada, for example, you know, the Canadian government, as it is, you know stipulated that they'd like to see at least 30% of all of the inputs going into agriculture as biologicals rather than chemicals. And by 2050, hopefully, you won't see anymore. So that's a fast transition in $100 billion international industry, if we're able to pull that off. And I hope that will be part of that. And that's just one segment. That's one little area. In this in this whole area of you know, the impact of climate change and getting on board, I mean, we're talking about opportunities that we honestly couldn't ever even imagine with technologies that are now starting to be at the point of commercialization. There's been a lot of developments, it's just not electric vehicles, everywhere, in everything. So it's a great area, and it makes you feel good. You don't we're actually doing something.

Amanda 21:50
Yeah, no, that's great. I love that you immediately went to one of the challenges being timing. As an entrepreneur, you always you need to have your finger on the pulse of the next big thing. Certainly with your experience as an investor, you you've been reading the signs watching the trends, and it's one of the critical factors that drives innovation. On that know, what are some of the areas that you keep your eye on that serve as an early detection for you of what's coming down the pipeline? What what are some of your canaries in the coal mine that you're keeping your eye out for?

Brian 22:27
Yeah, that's a great question. You actually have to keep your finger on everything that's going on. And, you know, a good example of that is who could have ever foreseen that, you know, Russia would invade the Ukraine? I mean, who would that make any sense? I mean, not to most of us, okay. So, like, if you look at that and you say, geopolitically, there's so many weird things that take place, all right, for who's ever who's ever driving these decisions and, and alliances, you know, it's really important to actually try to try to figure that out too, because that can have such an impact on what you're trying to do in a local market, because we're all in there connected. And, you know, the next thing, you know, we're into an inflationary spiral, because things are that are not available that were available two months ago, all of a sudden, things have gotten upside down. So you've got to basically take all of those things into effect now. And I kind of like think that's part of the part of this entrepreneur flare is to have like a lot of information coming in, but actually be sensitive to things that could impact where you're at, because they can definitely throw your timing off. And you've got to kind of like take that into effect and I never would have thought about that 15 years ago.

Now, I think about it all the time. I actually think, okay, well, you know, the capital markets, like they don't change overnight, okay, they're economically kind of like stable, you get a certain plan, the government's kind of like sporting a thing, you got a five-year thing, everything looks good. Well, you know, if something changes that was not foreseeable, you'd better be able to react fast to that. So be nimble, quick, you got to understand what that may mean, it might switch a whole strategy that you're putting in place. You know, we for example, my background has been basically accessing capital through the public markets on a junior basis because entrepreneurs are always you know, much ahead of you know, the large money that follows once an industry takes off and goes through a change. And those markets are totally you know, sensitive to everything. I mean your money can dry up overnight, and you're gonna have to go and look for angel investors that basically share your philosophy, for example. But if you've not been down that road, you don't take that into effect. You can't change fast enough to keep the thing going. You'll get caught. And It's like, just keep your head. You know, as many of these things that you can absorb and talk to people and network, it works out much better for you got to be able to be nimble.

Brian 25:10
Yeah, yeah, this is not God

Brian 25:12
speaking, by the way, just experience.

Amanda 25:15
But you know what, it's not just experience that that makes the difference. And, you know, being a startup entrepreneur is tough. There's highs and lows. I mean, that's what you're describing there stops and starts. It's not for the faint of heart. It's one of the reasons why having purpose as your north star helps you to navigate through choppy waters, it helps you to filter the 1000s of data points that are coming at you that you've just described. How do you know that you're, you know, focusing on the right things? Well, when you're guided by a purpose, you have something to filter. We've often heard it described as being guided by something greater than yourself. One question that I have for you is, you know, what are some of the differences that you found in yourself as an entrepreneur today, as an entrepreneur of a startup today, guided as you are by purpose, versus perhaps when you first started in business, tell me a little bit about the difference in you,

Brian 26:14
I think we're in search of purpose from the day we're born. I think we lose our way very easily. As we, as we are exposed to the world as it is. And I think, you know, who I was at 16 is totally different than who I was at 30, is totally who I was at 40. All these things are interesting. We all go through different things. We are one person at one stage, because we haven't had much experience. We have relationships that changes who the hell we are, hopefully, they're good ones with good people. Well, I think this where we're at right now in terms of the world is there's more of us that are looking for a value-based life. Certainly we'd like to have enough to be able to be self-sufficient and take care of ourselves so we're not ward's of society or actually prisoners of government. But being a unicorn or a billionaire is no different than just being self-sufficient and putting something back and building a family and building a community, and actually living in a better way, where we take all of these things into account, and it make some reason for being alive. What the hell, why were we ever, you know, why'd

Brian 27:29
we come if unless we're actually going to take a leave it a little bit better.

Brian 27:33
So you know, that's the journey that I think all of us are on. Sometimes it's frustrating, because everything goes to hell in a hay basket, and you've got to readjust. But you still have got to have a reason for it. And the reason, the reason that this business of purpose makes sense is because, it's not that there's anything wrong with business, it's how we how we actually take and think in a holistic point of view. If you can actually take and say, I'm part of something bigger, I'm making a contribution, I'm doing well, I'm employing people, we all got a common purpose, we're here joined together to be able to do something good for ourselves, for the community, for the world, alright, and, and we're leaving in a better way. I mean, what could be a better way to live than, you know, to generate a ton of wealth and keep it all, what junk?

So, you know, that's just the evolution of let's call it awareness. I think we're all on that journey. If we're not, then we're in a lot of trouble. It just takes some of us a little longer than others to basically be able to put the two together and then what we do on a, on a daily basis, both in our professional lives and, and being able to build something that means something. We have to be able to take it and join profit with it, because profit is not an ugly word, profit is actually the result of building something. You build it, you add value, you reinvest, and you and you make it work. So, we're making a better world while making a better life for ourselves and our community. And I think everyone's trying to do that. Maybe they don't understand it, but they're trying it. And the next generation start a lot earlier. Boy, they're very vocal about the right things where we never even talked about them. Well, now we do talk about them, and we're doing something about it. But they're even more vocal and more involved at an earlier age, which is great. That means there's hope.

Amanda 29:25
I love it. I love it. I love the way that you just in a nutshell, encapsulated, you know, not just the reason for this podcast, but also, you know, the whole fundamental essence of purpose driving profit and purposeful business. That's so great. So you know, Brian, it's been a privilege and an honor. But before we sign off in every episode, we want to leave our listeners with two practical purpose tips that they can apply to power up their business and brand. What two tips would you share?

Brian 30:00
I'd say that who you, who you align yourself with, with a dream, that the more that you're in sync with each other, the more enthusiasm that you're getting out of the idea that you have, will generate more power to you, to the engine that you're putting together.

So what I mean by that is, is that if you're talking about something like an idea you have, and you're sharing with that, you'll find that it'll attract the right people to be part of what you're doing, whether it be investors or operators, or customers, that passion, that idea has to be able to be communicated, so that the power, sort of one plus one equals three. And so I'd say just your own internal commitment, your own internal, kind of like, gee, this is how I want the what I see, this is what I believe in, and this is a good opportunity.

That enthusiasm, when you're actually talking about, it's still in a conceptual form, find you the team that you're actually need to be able to collectively make these things grow. And, you know, to me, that's, that's the key to it all is, you know, when we when we met each other, we just talked and, and as a well, yeah, that's how I feel, too. And well, exactly. Well, what about this? What about that? Well, that's what makes it happen. You know, the world of business is not as, as hard as it seems, people still have an emotional feeling about about what they believe in, they may not the kind of like, you're going to talk to people as I go bottom line, well, that's not a good deal, I don't want to participate in that, you know, there's no money in it yet. Blah, blah, blah, money, money, money. Except that you actually put a vision out, and you're able to take in articulate that properly, what takes place is the money becomes just, well, it's good, well, there's got to be a, this has got to be a good business to be building, we're actually doing something that's significant. And if it's growing, there will be money in for all aspects, we then then you're not actually all talking about money, which is ugly to talk about it. It doesn't mean, but it's a necessary evil. If we don't have growth, we don't have that happening, then everything will stop. And when it stops, we have chaos.

So we have to keep growth with doing the right thing. And then you then you get power with it basically is multiplies. If he did it at the right time, it's even better. And you know, that's the that's where I started on this. Yeah, timing. Adoption. Yeah, you know, communication, enthusiasm, participation. All of those things kind of like fall in place. But I think enthusiasm drives at all, I think all of a sudden people turn turn on and say, hey, I'm voting with my, I want on this thing, because it's like a religion in a sense, that I don't talk about, but enthusiasm about a cause. And, the right thing will take in and, and multiply. And if you're part of it, and you're a start up, that's what you got to be able to communicate. And I think that's, you know, if it's a lesson well learned, if you're not enthusiastic, give it up.

Brian 33:26
You know, don't leave it. Yeah,

Brian 33:28
No because there's lots of lots of road bumps. And only that enthusiasm for the vision will actually take you over those road bumps. You know, it's strange how you can get disillusioned because you say this is never gonna happen. Well that's not the case. It's this, that bump that you'll go through and then they go, off it goes.

Amanda 33:48
That's so good. I love that alignment of shared purpose and enthusiasm for that purpose. Those are really great tips. So where can people find you and learn more? What's your website call out?

Brian 33:59
So it's Wild Coast Biologics. That's us. Wild Coast. We're on the West Coast over here, and biologics. And the biologic end of it is fundamentally we're doing a lot of what I said you know, algae and micro algae have got unbelievable potential. Now you've got to be able to take engage into the lab and look at it on a molecular value basis. And then say, okay, wow, we can actually take and be able to take and use these metabolites that are in the micro algae, and they'd work well as a bio fertilizer, a bio pesticide, a bio herbicide and, and reduce the use of these chemical and destructive products that are out there, transform those things. And that's just the start. Algae is a great source of protein that can be made into all kinds of new food products to be able to feed people in a very positive way. And I won't go into all that. But you know what's happening in that sort of like the transformation of the meat industry to basically be cell based or plant based, just in order to be able to feed people without the negative effects of the livestock industry in the way we industrialized our protein supply. I mean, it's ludicrous, but that will take time also. But that's, that's another part of where algae fits in. Bio diesels, bio plastics, pharmaceuticals nutraceuticals. So we're doing a lot of interesting plant based research with micro algae with using our bioreactor. We've had a very interesting three year program set up with the Institute of sustainable horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, out here in the valley. And the possibilities there look incredibly neat at this point in time. We’re even using the product right now that we've that we brought in from the US prior to setting up our own bioreactor, which we'll be doing over the next couple of months. But we brought in product, and we're actually using it in where we've had large floods out here last year, and a lot of the agricultural areas were actually flooded out and underwater for months on a time and those areas have to be brought back to life. And it looks very much like by applying the biostimulant this, it's called True solum in a brand name, to the soils, that the the actual soils that have been degragated, come back to life and get healthy much faster. Again, by waking up the bacteria that the elements in the soil and getting it going again. So it's just phenomenally interesting.

Amanda 36:54
It's so good. When we certainly have could keep going and keep going. But you know, I just want to thank you for joining us today. Thank you for sharing your story, your pearls of wisdom and for being an example of a purpose power brand. And thank you for all you're doing in and through wild Coast Biologics to make people's lives and the world better. Thank you, Brian.

Brian 37:17
Thank you. It's been a great pleasure talking to you, Amanda.

Amanda 37:21
Thanks for listening to the purpose power brand Podcast. I'm Amanda Stassen. If you liked what you heard, be sure to share and subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We'd also love to hear what resonated with you or if you have a guest suggestion drop us a line at info@bizu.co Special thanks to Mark Salam for original music and Lead Podcasting for production. Lastly, if you're ready to purchase power your brand to grow when and impact at scale. Let's talk visit www.bizu.co That's www.bizu.co. Bye for now.