Companies That Call Vancouver Home “Headquarters Vancouver”

IT’S NO SECRET,
IT’S PRETTY AWESOME HERE!

We all know just how amazing Vancouver is to live in, but did you know that Vancouver is one of the very few cities in the world where people actually live AND work in it’s core?

“Vancouver frequently ranks highly as one of the world’s most livable cities, and recently was ranked as the best city to live in North America.

Its scenic location near the ocean, tucked up against the North Shore mountains, makes living in Vancouver an ideal base for year-round exploration”… Vancouver clearly has a lot to offer the business world as well – check out all of these world class companies that are based in our very own Vancouver, BC.

What attracts Vancouver based companies?

Vancouver is consistently rated as one of the most livable cities in the world. Enough Said!!!…

The digitization of the workplace, growth of Internet and mobile communications and e-commerce and the increasing ease of starting a tech company due to the abundance of low-cost cloud-based software have prompted many Vancouverites, along with entrepreneurs elsewhere, to start companies.

“Why do these disruptors have to be in San Francisco?” says Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes. “They can be anywhere.”

Elsewhere, a lack of good jobs since the recession is also a factor. The tech industry in B.C., driven by Vancouver’s startups, is generating about 250 new companies each year, and growing at an annual clip of over 6 per cent, according to the Vancouver Economic Commission.

Potential risks for starting up in Vancouver

But talk to any hot tech entrepreneur in the Lower Mainland and you will hear the same story: While the city is awash in startups, “there is an absolute shortage of experienced and talented senior executive-level people” to steer such firms into giants, says Alex Fernandes, CEO of Avigilon Corp., a high-definition surveillance technology maker. Constraints on growth could compel companies to prematurely sell or move, a chronic situation in Canada.

Coaxing top executives to a world-class tech hub in the making is proving to be a challenge – and not just because of Vancouver’s high housing prices. “Our ability to attract those sorts of individuals [to Vancouver] … those are the pinch points right now,” says Bill Tam, president of the B.C. Technology Industry Association (BCTIA).

Vancouver’s high-tech hurdle: Attracting top-level talent

HOW ABOUT VANCOUVER AS A TECH HUB AS WELL?

Not only are there hundreds of companies that call Vancouver home for their head offices, but Vancouver is also among the Tech Hubs of the world!

SO THESE COMPANIES THAT YOU KNOW CALL VANCOUVER HOME!

LULULEMON

Founded in 1998, Lululemon is now practically synonymous with yoga apparel in North America. The company, which designs and sells pricey yoga apparel and accessories, says its ‘vision’ is ‘elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness.’

• Surfing and snowboarding enthusiast Chip Wilson founded Lululemon in 1998, shortly after taking his first yoga class in Vancouver
• Went public in 2007
• Lululemon refers to its store clerks as ‘educators.’ The company says its goal is to train its staff so well they can positively influence their families and communities as well as customers coming into the stores
• Lululemon’s moisture-wicking fabrics have proved so popular with the yoga crowd that now everyone’s getting into the game: Nike, Gap and even Loblaw’s Joe Fresh have developed their own yoga lines
• Lululemon’s corporate manifesto is printed on its bags
• The Lululemon name was chosen in a survey of 100 people

TOP 100 BC COMPANIES BY REVENUE:

1. Telus Corporation – $12 Billion in Revenue
2. Teck Resources Ltd. – $8.6 Billion in Revenue
3. Jim Pattison Group – $8.4 Billion in Revenue
4. Finning International – $6.9 Billion in Revenue
5. BC Hydro – $5.4 Billion in Revenue
6. ICBC – $5.0 Billion in Revenue

Check out the full list here
FYI: Teck Resources is Canada’s largest metals and mining company. Formed in an amalgamation of Teck and Cominco in 2001.

FYI: Finning International Inc. , headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is the world’s largest distributor of Caterpillar products and support services.

1-800-GOT-JUNK

The company’s business model consists of taking an old activity, junk or trash haulage, and giving it a ‘clean’ image through branding and marketing. According to founder and CEO Brian Scudamore, “It was just a different spin on an industry, which was historically a very fragmented, dirty industry.” The company keeps 61.3% of collected items out of the landfill by recycling and donating!

They were featured as Canada’s “most engaged workplace” in 2013 and recognized it in 2012.

In 2011, Scudamore was featured on Undercover Boss Canada and staff members won money for charity on the first season of Global Television’s Canada Sings

When Brian Scudamore was a kid, he didn’t have bookshelves piled high with stuff or toys scattered around his room—and his 4-year-old daughter sure won’t either. “In our house, we don’t have anything in our home that we don’t either use or love,” Scudamore says. “I don’t like junk.”

But when Scudamore is at work, junk is his buzzword. His multimillion-dollar business, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, collects and hauls unwanted goods to recycling facilities, resale shops like The Salvation Army and to the landfill. Got junk? Scudamore wants it.

FUN FACT: Cameron Herold’s book, Double Double was created out of his participation with, and him being instrumental in 1-800-GOT-JUNK’s success. Cameron Herold was Brian Scudamore’s CEO. This book is one of my own personal favourites and speaks to doubling your income/business success.

If you want a copy, let me know!

HOOTSUITE

• The world’s most widely used platform for managing social media, available in 16 languages and more than 175 countries
• Over 10 million users including more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies
• Pioneered social media management when it launched in 2008
• Close to 1000 employees, spread out across Vancouver, San Francisco, London, Singapore, São Paulo and others
• Over 1800 enterprise customers including PayPal, Oakley, Sony Music Entertainment, Orange, Adidas, L’Oreal, Swarovski, and more
• Hootsuite closes US$60 million in financing led by a Boston-based asset manager and included participation from existing investors Accel Partners, Insight Venture Partners, and OMERS Ventures, and technology lender, Silicon Valley Bank

ARC’TERYX

Arc’teryx (stylized ɅRC’TERYX) is an outdoor clothing and sporting goods company founded in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1989. The name and logo of Arc’teryx refer to the Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird.

Arc’teryx’s Tango and Charlie packs, are made in camouflage patterns and constructed to military specification. The US military uses Arc’teryx for their backpacks

THERE’S ALMOST TOO MANY TO LIST!

• A&W Canada
• Aritzia
• Blenz Coffee
• Cactus Club Cafe
• PlentyOfFish
• Purdy’s Chocolates
• Sony Pictures Imageworks
• Dairyland Canada
• Dollartree Canada
• Fundrazr
• Glacier Media
• HSBC Bank of Canada
• Macdonald Realty
• Pixar Canada

And many many more…

Quick right hook:

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