Cederic Jeannot: Representing Canada at the G20 YES

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation has selected 30 dynamic young Canadian entrepreneurs to form the official Canadian delegation at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit (G20 YES) in Nice, France on October 31-November 2, 2011. The G20 YES is an annual international summit that brings together dedicated and influential entrepreneurs of the G20 countries. Cederic Jeannot is a Canadian delegate.

• My motto: “Work hard, play harder!”
• Company name:  I Think Security Ltd.
• Activity: IT Security
• Number of employees: 5
• Headquarters’ Address: 295 Hagey Blvd , Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA, N2L 6R5
• Website: www.ithinksecurity.com

Why I became an entrepreneur:

Becoming an entrepreneur came to me when I was in graduate school. I realized that innovation is what I wanted to do, and while large companies do have R&D teams, the best place for innovation and quick iterations is without any doubt a startup.

The skill set required when doing a PhD is actually very similar to running a startup: you need to be creative, innovate and come up with new things, you need to do a lot with limited resources, and in addition be able to talk and present your work. Most importantly, you must be dedicated and passionate about what you do.

In both cases, it is a long term strategy, for the PhD to graduate and for running a startup, a successful acquisition.

When I graduated, I saw that the research I had done had the potential to solve real world problem and went on to founding I Think Security. My goal was and still is to change the status quo on digital security and make data protection more robust and available to all.

My best moment as an entrepreneur, my success:

I actually had two. The first one was when I received an investment into my company. It is a great feeling to see people willing to give you a large amount of money because they believe in you and have confidence you can take this company very far. The second one was when we got our first client. To have someone willing to pay for what you have built and acknowledge it brings value to their business is really a great thing.

My next challenge:

My next challenge as an entrepreneur is to scale the business to a worldwide operation to deliver bullet-proof IT security solutions to businesses, small and large across the world. At the same time, I believe it is important to maintain and foster a strong culture of innovation within in the company.