Integration, Integration, Integration: An Interview with Elena Dumitrascu
What does it take to become an entrepreneur? To me entrepreneurship is about harnessing your passion and turning it into a marketable product or service. Entrepreneurship has become very “trendy” career choice, but a lot of people don’t realize the time and effort it takes to run a business. For a project in my Entrepreneurship 407 class, I was tasked with interviewing an entrepreneur in a field that I was interested in to find out more about their company and the technological tools they use.
As Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of TerraHub, Elena Dumitrascu is well-known driving force within the global field of blockchain and its adoption into business practices. She is a computer scientist and ecosystem builder, recognized as an expert and national leader in Canada and the United States. She has worked within the tech field for more than 20 years and is a pioneer in blockchain education and software development.
When Elena and her partner, Dan Guirescu, started TerraHub, there was a lot of questions surrounding Blockchain technology. Much like everyone else, when I think of Blockchain, the first thing that comes to mind is bitcoin. This is a common occurrence and mistake among people who have never studied Blockchain or know much about this new technology. Blockchain is so much more than just cryptocurrency. Blockchain is a record-keeping technology that allows for safe and secure encryption of data across networks.
Due to the growing need of businesses to have an integrated system for requesting and sharing verified documents, blockchain is the perfect solution. I have always had an interest in technology and artificial intelligence, and Elena and her company TerraHub seemed to be a perfect fit to learn more about– per a recommendation from my ENTI 407 instructor, Kris Hans.
Business Experience
Before going further into the specifics about her current company, I think it’s important to highlight previous career ventures that Elena has been a part of that led to the creation of TerraHub.
One of the first companies that Elena started was D2ESync which was focused on enterprise software solutions for oil and gas. In her role as founder, she worked on business development and strategic partnerships with technology products. The company partnered with the best in-class data miners, analysts and developers, and architects to deliver the best custom solutions.
The next business that Elena founded was Caledonia Solutions Inc., which dealt with software solutions for the trucking industry regarding hazardous substance data management. It was a one-stop solution for all data, from executive to government reporting. As a direct result from their team’s work, Canada and Alberta changed their regulations in 2015, regarding the elimination of paper documents, allowing for electronic capturing of hazardous shipping documents.
For 2 years, Elena was also VP Strategic Partnerships at Cortex Business Solutions. Elena was brought on as a turnaround role, where she focused on stakeholder returns and growing the company into an international electronic invoicing player. She helped to grow the company from $13 million to a $45 million market cap. During this time, she also worked on bringing together innovators and influencers, leading to the introduction of new technologies such as IoT and Blockchain.
Elena’s extensive knowledge and experience within the field of technology has helped to prepare her for the next generation of tech and everything it has to offer. After years with her other technology companies, her and her partner Dan Guirescu were inspired to start something new.
“What is TerraHub?”
Integration, Integration, Integration. YYC-based tech company, TerraHub is all about being a one-stop shop for everything needed for the verification and sharing of data such as certificates, documents, and files. Elena’s partner, Dan Guirescu, was the one to come up with the idea for TerraHub after noticing that clients of their previous record management company were asking them to DO MORE. Together they started to consider how companies want to connect with each other, and exploring “if a company gets audited, how can all the data needed be in one place?”, or “if companies want to bid for government projects, how can they show that the truckers they employ are from aboriginal communities?”.
Industries like Oil and Gas, and Aviation, run their business from across the country and around the globe. It becomes difficult for them to piece together annual reports, that not only include financial data, but also data regarding the verification of certificates. Lots of companies have digital systems where they store information but they are disconnected and lead to errors if the data ownership and understanding of the data set is not shared within the company, as well as between other companies and the government.
With TerraHub, it is all about connecting this data in one integrated system. They have designed a software solution that can work in conjunction with a company’s existing software and help with product, worker, and asset verification, to raise assurance. Blockchain provides a means to an end, as it is a superior database and communication platform to connect competitors, customers, and workers. TerraHub easily creates safe and secure audit trail for a company’s data.
“What are the 3 Streams of the business?”
TerraHub has three different streams within their business — Consulting, Product, and Education. The consulting portion of their business does not require the use of their actual product. An interaction with TerraHub starts with a business conversation with a company about their tech and how it is helping them achieve their goals. TerraHub’s team works to help a company manage their data to create an audit trail.
TerraHub’s main revenue generating stream is their actual software product, TerraHub Sync Suite. Their product uses blockchain to collect trusted information and optimizes it with AI. TerraHub Sync Suite involves four links, 1) Credential Link — which provides workforce management tools for sharing and verifying professional certificates, 2) Asset Link — provides asset transparency regarding chain of custody, environmental stewardship and emissions, 3) Cost Link — deals with cost compliance, contracts, business rules and invoices with customers, partners, and suppliers, lastly 4) Market Link — support for companies in finding each other within a verified business directory to engage in buy-sell activities. The Sync Suite’s main purpose is to be an audit engine for businesses.
Education is a large part of Elena and her partner’s lives as they don’t only involve education programs within their business, but they are also a part of a lot of mentorship programs. Recently, at TerraHub they have started a Co-op program in which 4 students are scientists at TerraHub, where they can get first-hand training at what it takes to be part of and run a tech company. Outside of TerraHub, Elena is part of the A100, where she provides support and advice to upcoming tech entrepreneurs. Elena has also helped Platform Calgary in creating a new program called Junction helps new entrepreneurs network with established entrepreneurs in Calgary.
“What technological tools does TerraHub use?”
TerraHub is a firm believer in integration and being able to access all the necessary data from one source.
“I follow my own advice, if I’m going to talk to my clients about integrating their systems and understanding the story from start to finish, then I’m going to run my business that way as well”
For internal management and communication, TerraHub uses Slack and GSuite. These applications provide an integrative service that allows for all messaging, video-chatting, and file sharing to be done within one system. Customer relationship management and marketing are important to TerraHub and are also connected through the use of Zoho Suite. It allows for them to connect their website traffic to their automated marketing campaigns and sales campaigns.
For accounting, the technological tools used by TerraHub are Quickbooks and Receiptbank. Quickbooks was an affordable tool that easily manages all expenses and syncs well with Receiptbank. With Receiptbank, they are able to quickly upload receipts and immediately link them to projects and clients which then synchronizes into Quickbooks and can then be imported into the appropriate bank accounts.
“What is the main challenge you have faced from running a tech company?”
Because there are so many questions surrounding blockchain tech and new tech, there comes the challenge of overcoming the complexities of running a business in a new and unprecedented area of technology. There is no solutions waiting to be found, you have to create your own solutions. This is exactly why TerraHub created an educational program, to help customers and prospects better understand the technology.
“What are some lessons that you find important for other entrepreneurs to know?”
Elena said that a very important lesson that took her time to learn and after many years in the tech industry, was learning how to compartmentalize and enjoy the small wins. Not every day are you going to have a great break through or find a magic solution to all your problems. Take time to accept the small wins and celebrate them. Another lesson was to be intentional in everything you do. Set goals and reach them. Aim high and shoot for the stars, but accept that you might fail sometimes.
Conclusion
This interview with Elena made me realize how much time and effort actually goes into created a business, especially one that requires tech. Identifying a problem and created a solution is what Elena has dedicated her life to and it is very inspiring to watch. What’s next for TerraHub you may ask? Well, Elena said they are focusing on commercializing and expanding into the United States. Within Alberta, the focus is created new tech and continuing to educate everyone on the new tech that is available.
A special thanks to Elena Dumitrascu for allowing me to interview her, and thanks to Kris Hans for the interview recommendation.
References:
Picture 1,2,3: TerraHub Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence for Business, Executive Team. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.terrahub.ca/about
Picture 4: Ebersole, B. (2018, May 4). New Jira CRM integration with Salesforce and top CRMs. Retrieved from https://www.atlassian.com/blog/it-teams/crm-jira-cloud-close-customer-feedback-loop-sales-support-development
This article was conducted between Elena Dumitrascu and Chyna Brown. (E. Dumitrascu, personal communication, February 28, 2020)
