Ten Terryisms to guide you

Ottawa-based tech and real estate billionaire Sir Terence “Terry” Matthews reinforces the following ten “Terryisms” for each startup he has guided to success:

1. Form an early (and lasting) attachment to your customer

2. Follow the fastest (least effort) route to revenue

3. Pursue only those goals that are consistent with the overall objectives of the enterprise

4. Stay team focused—superstars must park their egos at the door

5. Follow your mentor’s advice

6. Create a great business first, and cool tech second

7. Keep your costs down

8. Leverage your investment with government grants and OPM, other people’s money

9. Follow a global mandate from the get go—Canada is too small a market for it to be the primary focus

10. Not only should you go after every geography, you also want to go after every vertical.

These bon mots are called Terryisms by intrapreneurs hatching out of various Matthews’ incubators and by staff surrounding Sir Terence. I wrote these down after a meeting I had with him…

When a team proudly reports to Terry that they’ve met their quarterly sales goals, Matthews berates them for not having doubled or trebled it. They leave quite chastened.

Whatever, the formula seems to work: Every dollar invested in his group of companies over the last 30 years, has returned $13.

Prof Bruce

Bruce M Firestone, B Eng (civil), M Eng-Sci, PhD
Real Estate Investment and Business coach
ROYAL LePAGE Performance Realty broker
Ottawa Senators founder
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Terence Matthews net worth (2017): $2.12 billion; source: https://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/richest-people/rich-100-terry-matthews/