It’s All About the Love
Interview with Gusto Worldwide Media’s Chris Knight
If you’ve ever seen shows like The Great Canadian Food Show, Cook Like a Chef, License to Grill, or This Food That Wine, you have Chris Knight to thank. Not only has he built an incredibly successful media production company here in Ottawa, he’s also found time to author nine best-selling cookbooks. We had the chance to ask him a few questions about how he got started, how he overcame some of the challenges of going out on his own, and what the future holds for Gusto Worldwide Media and the television industry at large.
Amber: So let’s start by talking a little bit about how you got started and what the beginning of your career was like. Have you always known you want to be an entrepreneur?
Chris: Nobody in their right mind would pay me the sort of money I can make working on my own. No, I’m joking. When I was in highschool I would run ski trips and underage illegal bars — I’ve always loved building things.
Amber: Ah ok, so it was the love for building things and the entrepreneurship that came before wanting to do anything with food?
Chris: Oh yeah, I’ve had a company since I was in highschool. I’ve always had a company and have always been trying things out. I have had lots of jobs but being an entrepreneur is in my blood.
When I left university I worked a lot and then, after awhile, I just decided that working for myself was more fun that working for anyone else. I think I have a healthy disrespect for authority.
Amber: And how about Knight Enterprises, how did that come about?
Chris: Well, I was a partner in a business management firm and it was the 90’s — the high-tech industry was doing well here. Food has always been my great passion; I love cooking and am most comfortable in the kitchen. I also love television. An opportunity presented itself to me and I went from being in business management to being a television producer. I was having lunch in 1996 with somebody who was just getting into the television business and they said, “Well look, you love food and you love to write. Why don’t you come up with an idea for a food show because they’re all the rage right now.” So I came up with an idea for a show called the Great Canadian Food Show. There was no food network or anything back then, so he sent it to CBC who told me not to hold my breath since they get a hundred of these every week. Sure enough, CBC called the following week saying it was a great idea for a show and that they’d love to do it.
So, when I talk to young entrepreneurs, I tell them not to use me as an example of how to be successful because luck has played a great part. Hard work is the cornerstone to success but often times luck is involved.
There are five words that have governed every business decision I have ever made, good and bad. How bad can it be? So if you go into something full of passion and joy, thinking those five words, your chances for success are considerably higher.
Amber: What were some of the challenges you faced at the beginning and how did you overcome them?
Chis: Well, it’s tough to get people to believe in you. We’re in a creative industry and there’s a lot of people out there who have the same dreams and ambitions as I do, so cutting through the clutter and getting noticed is difficult. The two words that are the bane of any startup, or any company really, are “cash flow”. I started my company working out of my basement. Overnight, I went from being partner in a business management firm with a really cool office and lots of support staff to working by myself in my basement. I went and bought a second-hand desk and stuck it in my basement, and now 20 years later I’m still sitting at the same desk. I kept this desk to remind me, to keep me honest.
Amber: What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs who might be having that cash flow struggle? What are some of the resources you used to help solve that?
Chris: Celebrate failure and expect it. If you fail, go and have a dinner or go out with your friends and celebrate your failure. I genuinely think that you have to love what you do. I know there are a lot of people in the world who work because they have to pay rent and they have financial responsibilities, but I’m amazed when people go and work at jobs they don’t like. I know there can be lots of reasons for that but it seems that if you don’t love what you do, what’s the point?
Amber: Right, and you’re probably not going to be as successful.
Chris: I have met entrepreneurs who are calculating and get into a business because they see an opportunity to make some money. If your motivation is making a buck then there are easier ways to do that than starting your own company. It’s all about the love.
Amber: So why Ottawa? What are you most proud of when it comes to our community?
Chris: A year after I got into the television business, my wife and I had a baby and wanted to raise him here. The television world is based in Toronto, largely for English language, and in Montreal for French language. There really isn’t much of an industry here so it was a challenge doing it out of Ottawa, but this is home. Ottawa is a great place to raise children. It’s a great city.
Amber: And do you think it’s a great place for entrepreneurs today? Do you think it holds a lot of opportunity?
Chris: So I was on the founding board of Invest Ottawa and on the Executive Committee as the the Chair of the creative industries working group. Certainly Invest Ottawa is a great resource for young entrepreneurs who are interested in high tech or life sciences. There’s a lot of really great resources there. As for other businesses, I think it depends on the business you want to get into. It’s not a great city to launch into for television. The City has never been particularly visionary or supportive of the television or animation industry. Ottawa has a proud tradition of success in “high tech” and that tends to be the focus.
But it’s a great city to live in. We’re now growing so rapidly that people are moving from Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal to work with us. The quality of life here is considerably better than it is in some of the other larger centers.
Amber: So you love Ottawa, you love what you’re doing right now, but is there anything that still keeps you up at night?
Chris: Worry about? As an entrepreneur, as a person who runs a business, you worry constantly. So by the end of this year we will have likely launched, and I say likely because it is very complicated, Gusto [the channel] in several new markets in Asia and Europe. Our partnership with Bell was to facilitate significant international growth because our goal is to grow Gusto into a true global brand. I worry about the lawyers I’ve hired in Hong Kong and I worry about the regulatory issues in Germany and China, and I worry about whether or not my staff are happy and whether or not there is more I could do to make this a cool place to work.
But here is what I do tell everybody, “We are not curing cancer and I do not have the launch codes, and while what we do is fun and is important and brings joy, you can’t take yourself too seriously. You have to have fun at what you do because if it’s not fun, it’s just not worth doing it.
And something really fun is that we’re going to make a significant seven figure investment into building our own studio here in Ottawa. It will be ready by the winter of this year. We’re doing really really amazing things and having a lot of fun with it.
Amber: If you could go back in time to when you first started out, what lesson would you share with your younger self?
Chris: Don’t take yourself too seriously is probably the biggest lesson. I am in a business that is full of egos so it’s really important to have fun. I would have probably said to a younger version of me, “You know, dude, lighten up a bit.”
I am often asked what the secret to our success is and it’s really simple; we just work harder than anyone else. It’s not a big secret, there’s just no substitute for hard work. I am very fortunate that I am surrounded by people who are as passionate about Gusto as I am.
Amber: What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are building out their team? How do you ensure that the person you’re hiring is going to be someone who fits with your culture?
Chris: I think that varies from business to business. I work in a very transient industry — camera guys, set designers, makeup artists, researchers, and line producers are all on contract. We’re very careful about who we invite on our adventure with us. If you’re starting out and you’re an entrepreneur, the first thing you have to identify is what the culture is you want to create. If you are sales/bottom line/billable hours driven, that’s going to be a completely different culture than one that’s more creatively driven. I think defining what your culture is and what is important to you as the lead entrepreneur is the most important thing. And then go find people that will fit your ethos and your culture.
So we have two non-negotiable rules here, would you like to hear what they are?
Amber: Absolutely. Shoot!
Chris: Rule number one, non-negotiable: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever be late for anything, ever. Or to put it in another way (in HR talk), always always always always always be on time for everything, always.
Over the years, when I was making television shows for other people like the Food Network, HGTV, CBC, TVA, etc., the one thing that I would constantly hear was, “You know, Chris, you guys make really great shows but what we love about working with you is that you are always on time, always on budget, you do not complain, and you do not make excuses.” That has always resonated with me. Now that doesn’t mean say if we’re going to miss a deadline or if you can’t make a meeting we can’t reschedule it. That happens all the time — just don’t be late.
And the second rule is there’s no such thing as a stupid question. I’ve seen more people make mistakes because they are embarrassed to ask something. You have to feel comfortable enough here to ask. If we can do that then people will ask questions and feel like they really belong. That’s where the emotional and creative investment begins.
Amber: My last question is around trends. What are you seeing now in your industry? Whether we talk about the food or television industry, what kind of things are you predicting for the next, say, five years?
Chris: Well if I knew that I would have a helicopter landing pad on the roof of my office. I attend conferences and everybody is constantly wondering where the future of television is. When I say television I include Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, etc. Our industry is very schizophrenic right now. On one hand, popular media is predicting the death of television but, on the other hand, women 18–35 are watching more live television now than they were five years ago.
Whether you’re watching on Netflix or on a specialty channel, the world needs quality content. YouTube’s great failing is that a lot of people get tired of watching videos of cats peeing in toilets. Consumers are sophisticated and they demand a better quality product.
I’m constantly reminded of how we don’t care where you watch us, just as long as you watch us. At Gusto, we believe that food is the one true global language. It is essential to our lives, and not just because of a biological imperative. Culturally, it binds us. We want Gusto to be like the global platform where people can come and share those things that make us the same while celebrating the things that make us different.
