BCBusiness

32 B C B U S I N E S S . C A S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24 how she was sewing her own underwear and selling it on Etsy and that the demand was growing," says Thompson. Soon, Thompson found herself thinking about the next steps in her own career—and she couldn't help wondering if she should take them with Revol. "Sara's brand and what she was developing was aligned with everything that I have been educating myself and my students about—people, planet, profit," she says. "I started to think, 'What am I doing? This is a meaningful, purpose-driven brand.'" At that point, Thompson had been mentoring Jonsdottir for about two years. Jonsdottir remembers the fateful exchange well: "She said to me, 'You know, Sara, I'd like to leave my legacy somewhere where it's going to be meaningful.' And I said, 'Wow, really? Where do you think that's going to be?' It was just going totally over my head. And she said, 'I think it's at Revol.' I was extremely honoured." Thompson officially joined the com- pany as vice-president of business devel- opment in the fall of 2022. Today, Revol has seven full-time staff and can be found in over 2,000 retailers, including London Drugs, Pharmasave and Save-On-Foods. In the last year, says Jonsdottir, Revol has quintupled its revenue. "A big component of Shirley coming on is that we wanted to see our products available in pharmacies, natural health food stores and grocers. She built out what that program would look like and spearheaded the mission to become the first medically recognized period underwear with the Society of Obstetri- cians and Gynaecologists of Canada." Jonsdottir describes getting to that point as a major boost for the brand: "Shirley said that, if we were going into retail, we were going to do it right and show the cus- tomer that they can trust our products. It's changed the trajectory of the business—our ability to get into these stores so quickly is because we're trusted and vetted." The experience has convinced Jonsdot- tir of the value of mentorship. "Get your- self a Shirley—your life will change," she advises, adding one caveat: "Just not my Shirley." –N.C. L E A D E R S H I P AN EYE FOR TALENT Vancouver optical retailer Kits Eyecare is quickly becoming one of the province's largest homegrown companies. Its co-founders credit a large part of that success to the team they've been able to build around them IF YOU listen to Roger Hardy and Joe Thompson describe it, building a company worth over $250 million sounds relatively simple: Find a market that's ripe for dis- ruption. Make it easy on the customer. Sur- round yourself with brilliant people. That's more or less the story of Van- couver-based Kits Eyecare, even if the actual nuts and bolts of it are much more complicated. In 2017, Hardy and Thompson met at a board meeting in Vancouver. Thompson, a hardened retail executive with companies like Procter & Gamble and Amazon, and Hardy, the famed B.C. entrepreneur who sold contacts business Clearly to French eyewear giant Essilor for $445 million in 2014, quickly became acquainted. "We're both really like-minded about the way we thought about business," says Thompson. "I'm always inspired by indus- tries that haven't been disrupted yet, and eyewear was one of them." Hardy was "blown away that Joe was a great communicator in a room full of great communicators," he says. "The key insight for this category—which Joe brought to us— is: how do we make eyecare easy? Having had experience in the category and hear- ing it articulated, the light bulb went on. There is something left to do here. We can make good-quality $28 frames. You can buy them online. If there's a problem, come back and we'll find you another one. Why is there this level of complexity in some- thing—vision correction—that 70 percent of people need?" The two started going for coffee at a Starbucks right across from Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach to pick each other's brains. That evolved into meeting up for walks and "BEING BATTLE- TESTED IS PART OF OUR DNA HERE. NO ONE FEELS LIKE IT CAN'T BE DONE." – Joe Thompson SEEING CLEARLY Co-founders Roger Hardy (second from left) and Joe Thompson (second from right) have created a culture of collaboration at Kits. That's part of the reason they were able to recruit Zhe Choo (left), Tai Silvey (middle) and Edita Hadravska

• Cover