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Fives Minutes With the Newest Dragon on CBC’s Dragons Den

Currently Head of Marketing at Snap by Groupon, Michele is a serial entrepreneur with four successful businesses under her belt—and she just turned 29. She is the co-founder of Buytopia.ca and Snapsaves (recently acquired by America’s couponing giant, Groupon). You can see her in action as one of the newest (and youngest) Dragons in CBC’s hit TV show, Dragons’ Den.

 

We recently sat down with Michele Romanow to learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship—and gather some of her greatest insights on balance and making strategic business decisions.


 

Your first company was the Tea Room, a sustainable coffee shop that you founded while studying your MBA at Queen’s University. What was the biggest lesson you learned from that?

When I started my first company I quickly learned that it was more important to make decisions and act quickly than over-analyze every situation.

 

By the age of 29 you had already launched four companies. What advice do you have for young female entrepreneurs?  

It’s the same advice I would give any entrepreneur—start now, work hard and stop believing you need a job or a career path before taking the plunge to do something on your own. This mindset that you need a certain educational or career path before you get started is so limiting. You just have to believe in yourself and then you have to do it.

 

You’re currently the Head of Marketing at Snap by Groupon, and you’ve just taken on a new role as a Dragon on Dragon’s Den. How have you managed to balance work and life?

Don’t kid yourself. For the first few years, there was no such thing as work-life balance. I think the most important thing was building a team I loved. Who wants to go home when your best friends are at work? But eventually, I built it in. I run marathons and make sure there is always good food found at the table.

 

 

 

Related: Five minutes with celebrity entrepreneur and host of ET Canada, Cheryl Hickey