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Tag: Community

Katherine Regnier Speaks at TechTO 2018

Coconut Software - Blog Image - CEO at TechTO - Katherine Regnier and John Tory

Coconut CEO Katherine Regnier returns to TechTO to speak at the Best of TechTO event in February 2018. The Best of TechTO featured Katherine along with 3 other TechTO alumni speakers, all of whom have experienced tremendous growth and success in the booming Toronto Tech sector in 2017. Featuring a keynote introduction from Toronto Mayor John Tory, the event marked a major moment for Coconut after a year of rapid development and growth. In her presentation, Katherine shared the lessons she learned throughout her seed round all the way to her Series A. Watch Now Source: TechTO About Katherine Regnier: Katherine Regnier is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Coconut Software. In 2011, she quit her job at 3-months pregnant to solely focus on Coconut. After 5 years of bootstrapping the company to over a million in sales everything changed in late 2016. Katherine attended a month long mentorship program in Silicon Valley led by Neal Dempsey. Once completed she decided to seek venture capital. Fast-forward to 2017, Katherine has successfully raised $4.9M and has grown her team to over a staff of 50. In addition to running her business, she is passionate about giving back to Canada and wants to help pave the way for future centerpreneurs. Katherine is a founding board member of Co.Labs, Saskatchewan’s first technology incubator, regularly speaks at events, and is an advocate for women in tech. She believes in continuous learning and surrounding yourself with bright mentors and who have been there and done that. About TechTO: TechToronto is a mission driven organization, working to grow and diversify Canada’s technology ecosystems. Through best-in-class events, insightful research and meaningful advocacy, TechToronto is helping to support the growth and development of the Canadian tech community. TechToronto is a non-partisan advocate on behalf of the tech community, a tireless champion of local centerpreneurs and their companies. About Coconut Software: Coconut Software, a Saskatoon-based tech company, is an industry leading software company that provides sophisticated yet simple appointment and lobby management solutions. Geared towards managing walk-ins, on-site & pre-booked appointments, all while providing real-time insights to optimize results, Coconut provides enterprise level solutions that redefine how customers interact with organizations while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance. Born out of a need for real-time, easy-to-adopt scheduling and customer management, Coconut is the preferred solution for modern banks and credit unions across North America. Since its founding in 2011, the company has quickly become the leader in appointment scheduling and lobby management platforms for modernizing the customer experience, while saving companies time and money. Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.

Pitching Like a Woman

Coconut Software - Blog Hero - Pitch Like a Woman

Founder and CEO Katherine Regnier shares her experiences while meeting investors in 2017, specifically, being told she’s pitching like a ‘woman.’

Flip the Switch

Coconut Software - Blog Image - Flip The Switch - Saskatoon's Tech Landscape

Stephanie talks with investor Neal Dempsey and tech CEO Katherine Regnier about igniting Saskatchewan’s tech landscape. Watch Now About Neal Dempsey Neal serves as the Managing General Partner of Bay Partners, which is one of the earliest Silicon Valley Venture Capital firms. The Bay Partners Way is to focus on the finish line. With Neal at the helm, Bay has helped over 100 companies go from start-up to successful liquidity, resulting in over $2.5 billion in exit returns. He began his investing career by taking a chance on a young founder who had a compelling story and a commitment to see it through. Even though the company was outside of the technology industry, Neal was so impressed with the passion and determination of the founder, that he became a personal investor. That company was Starbucks. While he is a Silicon Valley legend for investing in some of the most well-known tech companies of all time, Neal now focuses on seed and angel investing as well as mentoring founders and students. Neal’s ability to drive successful outcomes landed him on the Forbes Midas List, which lists the top 100 venture capitalists in the world. About Katherine Regnier Katherine Regnier is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Coconut Software. In 2011, she quit her job at 3-months pregnant to solely focus on Coconut. After 5 years of bootstrapping the company to over a million in sales everything changed in late 2016. Katherine attended a month long mentorship program in Silicon Valley led by Neal Dempsey. Once completed she decided to seek venture capital. Fast-forward to 2017, Katherine has successfully raised $4.9M and has grown her team to over a staff of 50. In addition to running her business, she is passionate about giving back to Canada and wants to help pave the way for future centerpreneurs. Katherine is a founding board member of Co.Labs, Saskatchewan’s first technology incubator, regularly speaks at events, and is an advocate for women in tech. She believes in continuous learning and surrounding yourself with bright mentors and who have been there and done that. About Coconut Software Coconut Software, a Saskatoon-based tech company, is an industry leading software company that provides sophisticated yet simple appointment and lobby management solutions. Geared towards managing walk-ins, on-site & pre-booked appointments, all while providing real-time insights to optimize results, Coconut provides enterprise level solutions that redefine how customers interact with organizations while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance. Born out of a need for real-time, easy-to-adopt scheduling and customer management, Coconut is the preferred solution for modern banks and credit unions across North America. Since its founding in 2011, the company has quickly become the leader in appointment scheduling and lobby management platforms for modernizing the customer experience, while saving companies time and money. Source: CTV Saskatoon Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.

Bootstrapped to Silicon Valley

WP - Blog Image - TechTo - Katherine Regnier 1

Katherine explains how her view of Silicon Valley changed overnight as a growing bootstrapped business. Watch Now At its most recent meetup, TechToronto invited Katherine Regnier, the CEO of Coconut Calendar, an online appointment scheduling platform, to talk about how a little guidance from Silicon Valley helped her scale her startup. Regnier started her talk by celebrating the fact that they just earned a six-figure deal with US-based Jackson Hewitt, and planned to bring their solution to 6,200 locations. But Regnier’s talk was about how getting to this point wasn’t easy. Regnier, who started the company in 2007 in Saskatoon, said that when she heard from TELUS — Coconut Calendar’s first-ever client — she decided to take a vacation from her full-time job to fly to Toronto for a meeting. Three months after landing the gig and building the software, she quit her job to grow her business — only to find out that Telus was considering other options for appointment scheduling services. “I just quit my job. I was three months pregnant, and Romeo [her CTO] just quit his job. So how was I going to go in and say we just lost our only customer and we have to slink back to the place we worked at?” said Regnier. “I was crying like a schoolgirl.” Luckily, Telus decided to give Regnier the job to integrate Coconut Calendar’s platform, and has since been its client. Still, Regnier added that running her company by bootstrapping came with roadblocks, and after being in business for a few years, she wanted to explore the tech landscape outside of Saskatoon. “We’re not as different as we think, and [the] people that we see as legends have gone through a lot of the same things we’re going through right now and that made me feel like I can do this.” Regnier decided to go to Web Summit in Dublin — even though she said she didn’t know why — through which she was asked to come up to Silicon Valley and meet with Neal Dempsey, a general partner at Bay Partners and founder of Neal’s Running Start. “We were just meeting with rockstars. When I got there, I thought, can I do this? Am I good enough?” said Regnier. “Somebody said…we all have failures. We’re not as different as we think and these people that we see as legends have gone through a lot of the same things we’re going through right now, and that made me feel like I can do this.” According to Regnier, visiting Silicon Valley helped her see both the Valley and her company in a new light; instead of running Coconut Calendar bootstrapped, she took Dempsey’s tips to start raising capital, hiring more employees, and extending the startup’s reach, which has allowed her to “move faster and harder.” Source: Betakit Looking to boost revenue and deliver a premium experience to your clients? Schedule a consultation with Coconut Software to learn more about how our appointment scheduling solutions can get you there.

Meet Katherine Regnier

Neal Dempsey introduces Katherine Regnier as she prepares to attend Neal’s Running Start, a mentorship program in Silicon Valley.

3 Ways to Manage Babies and Business

Coconut Software - Blog - Balancing Babies and Business

Many mothers often feel the need to choose between career or family – we never talk about being able to manage babies and business. In this blog, I got over why you don’t really have to choose. Only 5 short weeks ago, I gave birth to our second child, Tyson and we feel so blessed to have this tiny little bundle of joy be a part of our family. There are many challenges centerpreneurial mothers face when starting a family. Do I pick my career or have babies? In fact, I have heard many young ladies when asked about having children state, “I want to focus on my career first.”  Once my husband and I decided there was never going to be a “right” time to become parents, I decided to look at this common perception in a different light. I didn’t want to pick one or the other. I wanted both. I wanted to continue to work on my business and care for my family. The photo below explains my choice. Seems like chaos I’m sure, and sometimes it is. However, for the parents who want to do it all, here are a few things that have kept me going. How To Manage Babies and Business 1. Be in the Moment This is the best advice I have ever received in regards to work life balance; When you are with your children BE with your children. When you are at work BE at work. Before I heard this, I suffered from the common feeling of guilt. Focusing on what you are doing is energy well spent – beating yourself up for not being there is not. 2. Let Go Letting go is a very hard concept for that “super woman/man” type who want to do it all. I was forced to “let go” when our largest customer based in Toronto wanted us to attend a weeklong discovery session the exact same week I was having our baby. I was devastated I couldn’t attend – no one else could have this baby for me. However, it turned out to be the best possible circumstance both personally and professionally. Letting go allowed my team to step up and shine. In fact, they are flourishing.Plus, I was able to take a step back, relax, and put my family first – as you don’t get those precious moments back. 3. No Apologies Once you are a mother, everyone has an opinion on  what a “good mom” does. I have heard disapproving comments on my choice to work while caring for my new baby. I have learnt to handle this with grace and listen to what they are expressing and leave it there. I do not try to explain and I do not apologize. You need to do what works for you and your family.  My choices work tremendously well for me, my husband, my children and my business. I am happy not picking. Learn more about Coconut Software’s Founder and CEO here.