Colin Brown

Biography

What's your favourite thing about Appnovation? I like the chaos of it. It's in such growth mode, things move fast, we make decisions very quickly. Managing the fast pace nature is a lot of fun. We're dealing with not just local but global initiatives, particularly in Operations. You're trying to account for different people, time zones, cultures, etc., and make things work as effective and efficient as possible. It's all very exciting. What's your story/professional background? I'm a business builder. I've built a serious of my own companies whether I was the founder or the first employee in. I'm a generalist with a lot of experience across software, IT, pharmaceutical, etc. What do you bring to the table? A lot of what I do is long-term planning. I spend a lot of my time right in the details of the leads and day to day making sure everything runs as intended, as well as looking at 5-10 year long projects. There are two core approaches I have with my team: 1) I treat them as adults. 2) I am transparent with them. I give them the ability to ask/address what they need, I loop them in and letting them know what's going on. I may not have the answer, but I'm not hiding anything. I will always give them honest feedback, offer open communication and total transparency. This is very is important to me. What do you do (in/out of work) to excel in your role? On a part time basis, I study for the CFA. I love business and numbers. In fact, I've got a stack of finance textbooks up to my eyeballs right now! Aside from that, I'm constantly playing with new softwares and often found reading news from M&A or private equity point of view. To add, I always try to talk to people within the company. Understanding what's going on in their day and what can help improve processes is important to my team and myself. What do you enjoy outside of work? I'm more of a socialite. I definitely enjoy going out, eating, meeting people, and taking boxing classes. Do you belong to any boards/sponsor any charities, etc? If so, where? Informally, I advise early stage companies. Give them feedback on how to start their business. I also participate in some non profits.

Research Interest

Business and Management