A Look Back At The Mobile Greenhouse Journey

Years from now, untold numbers of Canadians may walk past a tree and have no idea about its secret connection to the history of entrepreneurship.

The exceptions will be those responsible for getting more than 790 of those trees planted — which is what happened when they shared their company goals on Twitter using #GrowYourBusinessCA.

That hashtag reflected a partnership struck between Salesforce and Tree Canada, but it was also part of a larger effort to encourage and support businesses across the country with research, expert advice and peer networking opportunities.

As we enter the year 2020, the work done as part of the program represents a perfect way to set the stage for a new decade of entrepreneurship.

Success starts with a few seeds

The program was based on the premise that, even though this is a vast country, technology makes it possible for entrepreneurs to grow something incredible on any square inch of it.

That’s not to suggest it’s easy, of course. What businesses often lack is benchmark data that helps them understand what others in similar markets are doing, particularly in how they use digital tools to achieve their business objectives.

That’s why the program kicked off with original research, the highlights of which we shared in a previous post, that provided a snapshot of the biggest opportunities and key challenges facing businesses today.

Not surprisingly, the research attracted a lot of media attention and provoked considerable online discussion, but we wanted to take it further — a lot further.

The greenhouse effect

Just as a greenhouse can create the ideal conditions for growing plants, Salesforce wanted to develop an environment that could help the Trailblazers behind Canada’s most promising businesses hone their digital strategies.

What we came up with was a real-life mobile greenhouse, where findings from the report were put up amid plants that reflected the different stages of growth — similar to the many milestones entrepreneurs need to reach to create successful companies.

People across Canada got to see the greenhouse first-hand at events like Toronto’s Elevate Technology and Innovation Festival, the Canadian Manufacturing Technology show, the Global Petroleum Show and the Western Manufacturing Technology show.

Along with the plants were insightful perspectives from people like Vala Afshar, Salesforce’s Chief Digital Evangelist, saying that digital technologies are as essential to companies today as electricity was a generation ago. As a result, he said he spends a lot of time meeting with successful businesses to understand how they harness digital tools.

“One of the things I find in common is a focus on continuity and flow,” he said. “It turns out that in order to win the hearts and minds of your stakeholders — your customers, your employees, your partners, the communities you serve — you have to appreciate movement and flow and ultimately remove friction. You have to remove it from the buying process to the service you offer, to how you market to organizations.”

Picking and choosing wisely

Of course, digital adoption also requires some thoughtful planning and decisions. Geoffrey Moore, best known as the author of Crossing The Chasm, said many companies struggle with the pressure of figuring out not only which tools to adopt, but which processes they can afford to change.

“You have to decide, ‘Do I apply technology to change the existing processes, the things that are feeding the beast, so to speak, or invest in digital for the next-generation kinds of stuff?’” said Moore, who taught a masterclass on prioritization to local businesses while he was in Canada. “In the beginning, there’s often enough money to go around and do it all. There comes a time in the journey, however, where there isn’t enough money to go around and you have to prioritize.”

Tiffani Bova, Salesforce’s Global Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist, agreed.

“What companies sometimes don’t realize that in order to do one thing, that means you have to give up something else,” she said. “Your first priority can’t be three things.”

The best part is that the journey doesn’t have to end. As more businesses continue to embrace digital technologies, we’re going to see a nation of entrepreneurs reaching new heights over the next 10 years — just like all those trees they helped plant.