Tough Commerce

Tough Commerce (YC W20) is a VC-backed B2B SaaS start-up delivering operations software for construction suppliers across Canada, USA, and Australia.

My role is to manage the business's day-to-day operations and strategy, leading Finance, People, Customer Success (Onboarding, Retention, Support, Expansion), Corporate Services, and Special Projects. I also serve as the Board Secretary.

Backed by Y-Combinator, MaRS IAF, Xploration Capital, L-Spark and more.

Vice President, Operations & Finance

Vice President, Operations

Amazon

Directed daily business operations for Amazon's largest site in Canada, leading a team of 180+, with a daily budget of $200K, consistently exceeding productivity, cost, quality, and employee satisfaction targets. Recipient of Amazon’s highest leadership rating in annual reviews.

Senior Manager, Operations (L5)

Manager, Operations (L4)

DirtMarket

Built DirtMarket, which became North America's largest soil marketplace, working with Fortune 500 construction teams including PCL, EllisDon, Aecon, Bird, LaFarge and GFL to re-use soil across project sites in Canada and USA and cut earthworks costs.

Backed by L-Spark. Featured in Canada Construction News, Top 10 Fastest Growing Start-ups in Canada by FoundersBeta, CKTB Radio, and more.

Founder & CEO

Brock University Students'​ Union

Elected President of the unviersity's student body, managing an annual budget of $13.5m and ~200 staff. Key projects included leading the Zone Fitness Centre Expansion project ($35m & 35,000 sq. ft.  award winning facility), managing and negotiating COVID-time transit contracts ($4m) with municipalities, and redefining the ancillary fee ($10.5m) structure to support students during COVID.

President

Vice President, Finance

Operations Associate

Dynacare

Coordinated the rebranding of 150+ Gamma-Labs locations to Dynacare after the acquisition.

YouTube

Launched and grew a YouTube channel from 0 to 4M+ subscribers with our team, gaining 400M+ views. Featured in hundreds of news outlets and magazines globally, including GQ.

Channel: @MyBollywoodBody

YouTuber

Empire Fitness Canada

Launched a fitness supplement retail business, achieving $150K in sales. Expanded to 10+ commissioned staff, serving over 300 customers across 3 countries.

Founder

Currently the Vice President, Finance & Operations at Tough Commerce, a Y-Combinator backed B2B SaaS startup. I lead core operations including Finance, People, IT, Corporate Services, Customer Experience and Special Projects.

Before joining Tough Commerce, I co-founded and led DirtMarket, a tech startup that revolutionized the way soil is managed by empowering earthmovers to utilize the circular economy. I bootstrapped the venture, built, and scaled from zero to over 1,000 customers (including Fortune 500), won multiple pitch competitions and awards, and secured funding to grow the business. I also worked as a Manager II, Operations at Amazon, where I cut my teeth in managing large scale projects and teams, directly managing teams of 180+ at Canada’s largest FC. I launched several initiatives to improve safety, quality, and productivity that had seven-figure impact. 

I studied professional accounting at the University of Toronto, and have a BBA (Honours) from the Goodman School of Business. I am currently advancing towards the CPA designation through CPA Canada.

Asad Jalib, PMP LSSBB

Hiive

Analyst, Operations

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Product Lead

Front Row Ventures

- Led 43% more VC deals than peers, writing 4 Investment Memos, leading to the deployment of $50k in SAFEs in early-stage startups.

- Championed the firm’s first-ever Web3 seed-stage deal (Avo.so); sourced the venture, engaged in extensive crypto infrastructure market research, and communicated a holistic investment thesis.

- Supported the growth of the nascent BC Investment Team through the creation of pipeline development KPIs, mentoring of 5 new associates, and representing the firm in 10+ ecosystem events.

BC Investment Team

- Completed a comprehensive 4-month training program covering all aspects of venture capital deal sourcing, due diligence, investment theses, venture financing options and startup evaluation.

About Front Row Ventures (FRV):

- Front Row Ventures is Canada’s leading university-focused and student-operated VC firm, with a presence on 20+ university campuses across Canada.

- We are early-stage and industry-agnostic investors. We back high impact student entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds and ambitious technology-enabled ideas, regardless of their field of work.

- Over the past 5 years, we have invested in over 30 companies, including Puzzle Medical Devices, Nomic Bio, and Valence Discovery. Combined, our portfolio has gone on to raise over $100 million in follow-on funding from top tier investors.

BC Investment Team Trainee

Active Impact Investments

- Created a talent tracking platform and accompanying data dashboard for 15+ portfolio companies via JavaScript in Google Sheets, enabling insights into portfolio company staffing strategy.

- Led outbound VC deal flow, pre-screening 200+ climate tech startups, kickstarting due diligence for prospective investments.

- Managed inbound deal flow; reviewed and communicated with 200+ startups as their first touchpoint in the funding application process.

- Facilitated LP updates by completing multiples valuations for 22 portfolio companies.

Impact & Finance

- Analysed 300+ startups, spearheading VC deal sourcing in the cybersecurity, logistics and ESG sectors, increasing deal flow across these verticals by 19% and resulting in 1 of PwC Holdings’ 7 total portfolio companies (ONEKEY).

- Collaboratively developed 50+ KPI requirements for the systematic evaluation of investments in industrial technology startups with ticket sizes up to $10M.

- Supported due diligence on three growth equity deals through extensive market research, competitive analyses, exit valuations and compliance evaluations, with respect to PwC’s position as an auditor.

- Created a comprehensive analysis of the 12 most pertinent global trends that might have an impact on (potential) portfolio companies, their markets and industry verticals.

- Supported the preparation of management presentations, including for the investment
committee.

Industrial Tech Investments

- Sourced and evaluated 20+ small-cap banks as potential clients or partners, improving management's strategic decision-making.

- Provided thorough overviews by completing 3-statement analyses to determine the overall operational position of each bank, alongside security and liquidity investigations.

- Invited to sit in for meetings and strategy discussions with upper-level management on a performance basis.

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Asad Jalib, PMP LSSBB

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