A Serial Entrepreneur’s Process: Todd Dunlop, CEO of RingPartner (Part 1)

Most serial entrepreneurs have figured out certain unique ways in which they operate. In this story, we get to learn about Todd’s process.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Todd Dunlop: I was born in Montreal but I grew up in the suburbs just outside of Toronto. I have grown my entrepreneurial journey from my lawn maintenance business back when I was a kid and evolved that to where I now live which is on the most western part of Canada.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you do all your schooling?

Todd Dunlop: I did a dual degree up in Northern Ontario. I did Computer Programming and Business. Halfway through it, I realized that business was what I was more excited about. I remember that I stayed home one night and I was watching a show that featured entrepreneurs. I saw in the program that the university in British Columbia had entrepreneurial focus.

That night, my roommate came home and told him that I was not coming back next year. I was moving to BC. I called my girlfriend at that time. I hadn’t applied or gotten in but I knew I was going west. I was going to dedicate myself to this. I ended up at Royal Roads in Victoria where I still live now.

Sramana Mitra: What year are we talking?

Todd Dunlop: I graduated in 2001 – just after the dot-com boom and bust. It was an interesting time to come out of school.

Sramana Mitra: What was the first venture that you chose to put together?

Todd Dunlop: As a small kid, we had lawn maintenance, which amazingly, is still around today. My 15-year-old friend has morphed that into this big landscaping company that he still runs today. In college, I did all sort of stuff.

Where I really sunk my teeth into was in 2004. I put together a group of guys. We were working at a company that was on its way out. We decided to go off together and start this unique opportunity. That was when AdWords was just starting to take off. The idea behind that was we wanted to buy ads and find buyers for it. The whole opportunity was to find lead buyers and move up the food chain. We went from four guys in a room to about 80 people, and from zero to well over $50 million in sales a year.

This segment is part 1 in the series : A Serial Entrepreneur’s Process: Todd Dunlop, CEO of RingPartner
1 2 3 4 5