🤝 Meet Arlene Dickinson. You know her from her 16 seasons on Dragons’ Den, where she’s backed hundreds of Canadian entrepreneurs and businesses, including Balzac's Coffee Roasters and OMG Candy. She founded the Calgary-based fund District Ventures Capital, which invests in Canadian food, beverage, health, and wellness companies. We sat down with Arlene to talk about what makes a good pitch, her passion for food security, and why she’ll never rule out a pivot to politics.
What do you think is the single biggest challenge and opportunity that Canadian entrepreneurs are faced with right now?
I think the biggest challenge is getting out of the mindset of how we've been operating for the past several decades. We need to shift our view of the world and where we can do business — that is probably our single biggest hurdle to overcome right now. And believing that we can do trade anywhere in the world, and not rely so much on the U.S. I think that's a mindset, and it requires a different way of thinking.
The other side of the challenge right now is making sure there's enough growth capital in the market to help companies that are scaling stay in Canada and not leave. This whole notion that they're leaving for tax reasons, that's just a margin discussion. The taxes are on the margin of what the real things are; they might represent 5% to 10%, they don't represent 90% of a decision. I think it's an excuse that's used too frequently. We need to be more entrepreneurial as entrepreneurs.
You’ve been on the other side of hundreds of pitches. Do you think there’s a secret to being persuasive in that environment?
The people who are particularly persuasive aren't just passionate about what they're pitching, they can really define their purpose for why they're doing it. Everybody's passionate, everybody loves to believe that what they're doing is great, but the ones who really resonate with me are the ones who can articulate the why.
You can love what you do, but that doesn't mean it’s going to be enough to see you through all the challenges and problems, or that you'll be able to build a scaled company just because of your love for it. I love baking cookies, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make a fortune doing it, although some people have. I think it's when an entrepreneur can really articulate why it matters, and why they get out of bed every day to work as hard as they do.
You’ve said that politics has kind of found you in recent years. Would you ever consider running for office?
I've learned in my life to never say never. I do think I serve our country in a different way. I think I can be serving Canada without being in public service, and I try my best to do just that. But I do understand that the country needs leaders, and in particular, I think it needs female leadership. So I'd say — again, never say never.
I've lived across the country in a lot of places, so wherever I'd be best, I'd consider it. But right now I'm still really interested in supporting entrepreneurs and supporting the agriculture sector in a way that's meaningful. I want to help bring economic and social impact to Canada through food security, food supply, and food commercialization. Right now, that's really where my why is.
The federal government released its food security plan a few weeks ago. What do you think it got right, and where do you think it might be lacking?
I think what the policy got right was trying to encourage the development of greenhouses and production facilities to make sure we're amplifying what we can actually grow here. You're seeing a change in climate. Canada's becoming a very moderate climate, and we can actually grow more things now than we ever could. We get a lot of sunshine, and there's lots of reason to look at vertical farming, greenhouses, etc. So I think it got that right.
I also like that it was focused on the retail environment and ensuring more competitive pressure there. I've travelled around the world, and every nation has food security at the top of its list in terms of what's important, and Canada is no different. But we produce 100% more food than we can consume. I think what we could do a better job of right now is ensuring there's more capital sitting on the sidelines available to support the commercialization of the agricultural sector. We've been a commodity nation for far too long. Not just in agriculture, but in energy, lumber, and all sorts of other areas. It's time we turned our attention to actually producing the finished products. There probably wasn't enough in that policy focused on supporting that.
The last mile of commercialization is where the margin is. When we're selling just at the commodity level, we're subject to the ever-changing global conditions for commodities. Sometimes that works for you, sometimes it works against you. But what it never does is give you the opportunity to make money on the upside of what happens with those commodities.
You’ve talked about how important it is to be a student of people when it comes to marketing. What’s the most important lesson you’ve picked up in your own observation of humans?
When you really listen with an intention to learn, and are curious about why people do what they do, that’s when you start to develop an understanding of what drives human behaviour. When we believe everybody thinks like we do, we're not good marketers, because that's very subjective — it doesn't give you an opportunity to understand the world. When you're a student of the world, you start to understand different tastes, different views, different circumstances, different cultural impacts.
A good marketer really studies what's going on around them. A good marketer is in the zeitgeist, watching what's happening online. Right now that's a bit of a landmine, because what's happening online is a bot farm and it's hard to differentiate. But you can still go for a walk in the street wherever you are and see what's happening.
Do you think it's harder to tap into what people want than it was 10 or 20 years ago?
Yes, because so much of what's happening in the zeitgeist is virtual. You really have to follow people who you believe are being genuine and authentic, and who are trying to give you not just an opinion, but an educated thought. You have to start listening to the people you don't agree with, the people you're not confident are thinking the same way you are. It requires discipline to curate your online environment. It's very different than it used to be.
What's one food and beverage trend that you love, and one that you wish would go away?
I love the trend toward better-for-you food. I love that people are connecting food as medicine. This notion of understanding that the efficacy of food impacts our health, and when our health is better, it impacts our healthcare system, our longevity, and our ability to live better lives. That, I love. What I don't love is the stampede toward "it's all protein," or "it's all creatine," or "it's all fibre.” I think it sways people to consume in ways that aren't necessarily healthy. Not everything needs protein in it.
This is partly a result of GLP-1s, but it's also a North American challenge. You go to Europe and they're eating healthy food. They don't even know what a GLP-1 is, they'd laugh about it here, because they walk everywhere and eat healthy, and their food is better for you. So again, it's important that we don't live under the view that North America represents what the rest of the world is thinking.
With GLP-1s, do you think that there will be a meaningful shift — not just in portion size, but in the actual taste of food that we’re all eating?
Yes, especially in North America. You can have a chocolate bar in Europe made by the same manufacturer you have in North America, and they could taste completely different, because they're shifting to different taste buds and taste profiles. You're seeing all the major manufacturers and processors thinking about how GLP-1 affects taste, size, quantity, nutritional ingredients, and so on. It's very interesting.
If you were starting from scratch today with none of the experience you have now, what type of business would you look to start tomorrow?
I love the space I'm in. And it's not just because of passion, I feel like food is something that impacts everybody. Everybody needs to eat. Technology is fascinating, and sometimes it can make our lives easier, sometimes more difficult. But food — I don't know an app that can feed me, or give me the water I need to stay hydrated. I love that there's a why here that I care about. If I was starting tomorrow, I'd want to do what I'm doing. I love helping entrepreneurs, I love applying my knowledge over the last decade to the fund side of things.
Is there a Dragons’ Den pitch you wish you could go back to and invest in?
There are a few. One of the things I really love about the show is when we don't see it succeeding. You'll often hear us say, "oh, that'll never do well," and then that company comes back on and has done incredibly well. There's been many of those. Instead of regretting it, I learn from it — why didn't I see it? Investing is an art and a science. It's understanding and seeing the trends and believing in the entrepreneur. So there isn't one, but there's been a few I wish I'd done.
What goes on behind the scenes to get the deals that we see on the show over the finish line?
We shake hands on the deal. They stand in front of us for about 45 minutes to an hour, though you only see 6 or 7 minutes of it on TV. So they're in front of us for quite some time, and we get as much information as we can to make a decision. But after we shake on a deal, we then go into due diligence — looking at the books, looking at the cap table, just like you would in the real investment world. That's what we move to, and that can take months and sometimes longer. A company that came on the show two years ago, we just closed a deal with her.
They’re long days. We start in the morning — I'm in hair and makeup at 6 am, and we usually end around 6 pm. We're usually seeing anywhere from 8 to 10 pitches a day. As you can imagine, when you're doing 20 deals or so it takes time, patience, a lot of effort, and there's a team behind everybody helping with that. I don't think deals fall through the cracks so much as they just take longer than everybody would wish.
How has your experience on Dragons’ Den evolved from your first season nearly two decades ago to now?
It's more fun. I left for two seasons because I thought, “Am I really adding value anymore?” I wanted to raise a fund and needed to put my focus there. I wanted to stay deeply engaged, so I left for two years, and when I came back, I was blown away. I thought, “Man, I'm so glad I'm back on this show.” There are so many interesting things happening, and people are really rising to the challenge for Canada. So every year is a surprise, and in a good way.
What would be your advice to a young Canadian entrepreneur starting a business today?
Believe in the country, to the extent that you're willing to bet on yourself in the context of Canada. It's easy to get attracted by the shiny baubles of other places and things, but Canada raised you. It helped your family live here. I think you owe things to the country as much as the country owes things to you. So I'd say to a young entrepreneur: don't be afraid, be courageous, be competent, and trust that you're doing it in a country that has a democracy and a freedom that's going to allow you to be all you can be.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
