I'm Neal.
I entered highschool a starry-eyed overachiever, fixated on the world of Psychiatry. Over time, my affinity for academia shifted towards something entirely foreign to me at the time. Business.
Being the first kid in my school with a PayPal account, I bought and sold modified laser pointers to my fellow highschool students for a profit. This was my first taste of entrepreneurship. I loved it.
Six years of business school later, I transformed from a shy science lover to a case competition fiend, a natural public speaker, and someone with the everlasting need to create.
Past.
I got my BBA in early 2018, and the jobs my friends were applying to terrified me. Ill-fitting dress shirts, stuffy cubicles, long commutes, and emails starting with "To whom it may concern"?
Not a chance.
I promised myself I'd never work for a big, soulless company after I graduated, but I wanted to move downtown and needed money. So I Googled "Best Canadian Company of 2018".
Enter Shopify.
Present.
On January 26th, 2018, I went out my first (and only) job application after graduation. I know you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, but I just graduated and saw no reason why I should have to settle for anyone else. After a month-long interview process, I signed the contract thirty days after graduation.
I've been at Shopify for two and a half years. The first six months were spent as a "Guru", followed by a brief eternity in enterprise support. The job slowly burnt me out, pushing me further away from small businesses and young entrepreneurs- the reason I had started in the first place. I felt myself slipping towards my resignation.
Somehow, mere weeks away from the day I promised I'd call it quits, I was offered a job on the marketing team, created specifically for me. I'd be running new media, and focused on building youth and aspiring entreprneurship.
Future.
I'd be lying if I said the end goal hasn't and won't always be entrepreneurship. Ever since that day in highschool where I sold my first laser pointer, I've been chasing this dream.
I don't quite know how I'll get there, or how long the process will take. But one thing's for sure. To make it, I'll need to run very far, very fast.