40 Under 40: Nicholas Fane

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has launched its “40 Under Forty” for 2020. The chamber is now calling for nominations.

This is the Kelowna chamber’s sixth year of searching for the city’s high achievers and bringing their stories to the public.

BDO Canada LLP will make up the independent panel of judges.

After university, Nicholas began his career in local media with the Daily Courier, it was this experience that sparked an interest in media and local businesses. Following this he joined a media start-up called Enquiro, led by local media veterans Gord Hotchkiss and Bill Barnes. It was at Enquiro that Nicholas developed a curiosity and passion for digital media, consumer behaviour and the challenge for growing an Okanagan-based company.

At Enquiro, Nicholas was lucky to be part of the team that grew the business in the US market and eventually was acquired by Yellow Pages Group in 2010. From here, he was able to continue growing the company under Canada’s largest SMB media group.

The knowledge he gained, started him down a path to understand the impact that ecommerce, traditional media fragmentation, and a changing economy has on small business in Canada, more specifically the Okanagan. This brought him to GetintheLoop, a mobile marketing technology start-up in Kelowna that was solving the modern problems that SMB’s were facing in Western Canada.

Nicholas joined the team in March 2017 with a focus to grow the company across Canada and build a better way for small and medium businesses to engage local consumers. Today, he helps lead a team of 35 employees and 125 entrepreneurs who are scaling the technology across Canada. GetintheLoop opens 3 new markets a month and are helping over 1,000 SMBs market their business, including over 200 here in the Okanagan Valley.

As the COO at GetintheLoop, Nicholas is extremely fortunate to be able to work with energetic professionals in many different aspects of the business. As an organization, Nicholas and his colleagues are working to solve a lot of business challenges that have not be addressed before and it has been an amazing and humbling experience to see the drive and passion that so many people bring to their organization every day.

Having spent the last two years completing his master’s while working at a fast-moving start-up has forced Nicholas to prioritize his time and focus on things that he is passionate about. Nicholas has had the opportunity to frequently speak with students about digital technologies at UBC and Okanagan College and work with classes as an industry example on many term projects. Nicholas has two young boys (5 and 7) and has been coaching their soccer teams through the Kelowna Youth Soccer Association.

Nicholas has his Bachelors of Business Administration Degree from Capilano University, and a Marketing Diploma Program at Douglas College. He recently completed the Master’s of Management Degree Program at UBCO and focussed on the intricacies of scaling technology companies. GetintheLoop has been recognized as one of the fastest growing franchises in Canada with over 50 locations sold in the first year of franchising.

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