David Zimmer

David Zimmer wasn’t so keen on the idea of working for someone else or punching a clock, so to solve this dilemma, he started his own company.

Five years ago, Zimmer had just graduated from the WestLink Technology Commercialization Internship Program when he was deciding what to do with the experience he had gained during the two-year cycle. In his final placement with e-stage Capital, an early-stage venture capital company, he started thinking about his future.

“I saw good ideas coming from incubators, but the big challenge was in trying to convince researchers that being an entrepreneur is something they should consider,” he says. “It’s hard to do. Having that skill set of an entrepreneur is pretty rare.”

So Zimmer went to work on his sister-in-law, who was a recent pharmacy graduate. He convinced her to try the entrepreneur route and before long the pair was in business. The Canadian Pharmacy is an international and online pharmacy that has been running for five years. And Zimmer wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s an excellent industry but it’s a critical time for online pharmacies,” says Zimmer. “Mail-order pharmacies in Canada have been quite tenuous—you don’t know if you are coming or going half the time. We don’t know if the provincial or federal governments support us, but instead of holding our breath, we have to start investing and thinking about the future of our industry in Canada.”

In 2001, Zimmer had just graduated from the University of Manitoba with a commerce degree when he applied for the WestLink program. His first placement was with Novra Technologies, an international company specializing in satellite communication technologies. Heavy on the engineering side, Novra didn’t have anyone on the marketing or business side so Zimmer produced promotional materials and learned to conduct competitive intelligence, which he still uses today.

His next stop was with the Industry Liaison Office at the University of Manitoba. “At the time there wasn’t a culture of commercialization in Manitoba,” says Zimmer. “So I spent most of my time at the ILO analysing technology, working on early stage business plans or meeting with researchers to let them know we existed.”

At e-stage Capital, Zimmer’s final placement with the WestLink program, the company was bidding to be involved in the creation of Manitoba’s angel network so much of his time was spent researching other such networks in North America.

“WestLink gave me a little bit of experience in so many things that I didn’t know before and that I use all the time now,” he says. “I quickly learned that when you work for yourself, you may be your own boss, but the suppliers are also your boss, the clients - everyone is your boss. You need a lot of skills to be successful.

“Another thing the WestLink internship did for me was point out that I am an entrepreneur. I didn’t know that before. Now I get to apply everything I’ve learned - financing, business planning, marketing. It all gets used when you run your own business.”